The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-10
T he Adventure
 of the Berlyl Coronet

! l
 own son do. should ever chance to have i one"
 Then 1t was not Arthur who took
 them?'
 T told you yesterday, and l repeat so- { day that t was not"
 You are sure of itl Then let Us hurry ! to him at once, to let him know that the l truth Is known"
 "He knows it already. When I had ] cleared it all up I had an interview with | him. and, finding that he would not tell me the story, I told it to him, on which
 he had to confess that l was right, and
 to add the very few details which were
 not yet clear to me. Your news of this ! morning. however may open his lips" "For heavens sake, tell me, then, what
 is this extraordinary mystery?"
 T will do so, and l will show you the
 steps by which 1 reached 1t. And let me | say to you, first, that which Is hardest for
 me to say and for you to hear. there | has been an understanding between Sir
 George Burnwell and your neice, Mary. They have now fled together
 My Mary? Impossible"
 | Tt is, unfortunately, more than pos sble; it is certain. Neither you nor your
 son knew the true character of this man when you admitted him into your fam
 fly circle. He Is one of the most dang
 erous men in England-a ruined gambler.
 an absolutely desperate villain, man without heart or conscience. Your niece
 knew nothing of such men. When he 1 breathed his vows to her, as he had done l to hundred before her. she fattered her | self that she alone had touched his heart.
 The devil knows best what he said. l but at least she became his tool and was
 in the habit of seeing him nearly every
 evening""
 T cannot, and I will not, believe!" cried the banker, with an ashen face. | H1II
 at your house last night. Your nelee when
 you had, she thought, gone to your
 room, slipped down and talked to her
 lover through the window winch leads
 into the stable lane His footmarks had pressed right through the snow, so long
 had he stood there. She told him of the
 coronet. His wicked lust for gold kind | led at the news. and he bent her to his 1 will l have no doubt that she loved you, ! but there are women in whom the love i of a lover eXtinguishes all other loves. 1 and 1 think that she must have been one. ! She had hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming down stairs.
 on which she closed the window rapidly.
 and told you about one of the servants
 escapade with her wooden legged lover,
 which was all perfectly true.
 Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after | his interview with you, but he slept bad l ly on account of his uneasiness about l night he heard soft tread pass his door, so he rose, and looking out, was surprised to see his cousin walking very stealthily along the passage, until she disappeared into your dressing room.
 Petrified with astonishment, the lad slipped on sosne clothes and waited there
 in the dark to see what would come of | this strange affair. Presently she
 emerged from the room again, and in the
 light of the passage lamp your son saw
 that she carried the precious coronet in
 her hands. She passed down the stairs,
 and he, thrilled with horror ran along
 and slipped behind the curtain near your | door, whence he could see what passed | in the hall beneath He saw her stealth fly open the window, hand out the coro-
 net to some one in the gloom, and then
 closing 1t once more hurried back to her room, passing quite close to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
 | As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action without hor- | ribie exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the instant she was gone he
 realized how crushing misfortune this would be for you, and how all important
 It was to set 1t right He rushed down, just as he was. in his bare feet, opened
 the window, sprang out into the snow ! and ran down the lane, where he could
 see dark figure in the moonlight Sir | George Burnwell tried to get away, but | Arthur caught nlfut ana there was a struggle between them, your lad tugging
 at one side of the coronet and his oppo- | nent at the other In the scuffe your | son struck Sir George and cut him over
 the eye. Then something suddenly
 snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to
 your room. and had just observed that | the coronet had been twisted in the 1 struggle and was endeavoring to
 straighten 1t, when you appeared upon | the scene"
 | '1s it possible?" grasped the banker. | You then reused his anger by calling
 him names at a moment when he felt
 that he had deserved your warmest
 thanks. He could not explain the true state of affairs without betraylng one
 who certainly deserved little enough con
 sideration at his hands. He took the more chivalrous view, however and pre- served her secret"
 l And that was why she shrieked and
 fainted when she the eoronetp cried MT Holder "Oh, my God what d blind
 fool I have beenl And his asking to be
 allowed to go out for five minutesl The
 dear fellow wanted to see If the missing piece were at the scene of the struggle.
 How cruelty have misjudged himl" | When l arrived at the house." con | tinued Holmes, T at once went very carefully around 1t to observe if there were any traces In the snow which might | help me. l knew that none had fallen
 since the evening before, and also that
 there had been a strong frost to preserve | impressions. l passed along the trades
 mems path, but found 1t all trampled down and indistingushable Just beyond l 1t, however at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and talked with a man whose round impressions on one side showed that he had a wooden leg. could even tell that they had been disturbed, for Lne woman had run back | swiftly to the door, as was shown by the 1 deep toe and light heel marks, while 1 Wooden-leg had waited a little. and then | had gone away. 1 thought at the time | that this might be the maid and her sweetheart of whom you had already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. 1 passed round the garden without
 seeing anything more than random ! tracks. which l took to be the police; but when I got Into the stable lane u | very long and complex story was written in the snow in front of me.
 There was a double line of tracks of a booted man. and a second double line which l saw with delight belonged to a man with naked feet was at once con vinced from what you had told me that | the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other had run swiftly, and. as his tread was marked 1 in places over the depression of the boot l 1t was obvious that he had passed after the other. 1 followed them up and found | that they led to the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while