Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-06-16

exulted in our dangers. With glow
Of admiration l watched Holmes I'M
rolling his case of instruments and
choosing his tool with the calm, scien-
titic accuracy of a surgeon who per-
forms a delicate operation. l knew
that the opening of safes was partlc'
ular hobby with him, and l understood
the JOY which it gave him to be con-
fronted with this green and gold mon
ster, the dragon which held in its NAV
the regulations OF many fair ladies.
Turning up the cuffs of his dress coat
he had placed his overcoat on chair
Holmes laid out two drills, Jlmm!
and several skeleton keys. For abou'
half an hour Holmes worked with con
centrated energy, laying down one tool
| picking up another, handling each Witt
the strength and delicacy of the train
ed mechanic Finally | heard a click.
The broad green door swung open, anu
inside had glimpse OF a number OF
| paper packets, each tied, sealed an;
| inscribed. Holmes picked one out, bul
| it was hard to read by the Pickering
fire. aud he drew out his little dark
| lantern, for it was too dangerous with
A,ilverton in the next room to switch
Oh the electric light. Suddenly l saw
him halt, listen intentiy, and then III
an instant he had swung the door OF
the safe to. picked up his coat, stuffed
his tools into the pockets and darted
behind the window curtain, motionlng
me to do the same.
1t was only when l had joined hia'
there that heard what had alarmed
his quicker senses. There was noise
somewhere within the house. door
slammed in the distance. Then a con
fused, dull mlclmur broke itself into
the measured thud of heavy footsteps
rapidly approaching. They were in the
| passage outside tue room They paused
at the door. The door opened. There
was u sharp snick as the electric light
was turned on. The door closed once
more, and the pungent reek OF strong
cigar was borne to our nostrils. Then
the footsteps continued backward and
forward, backward and forward, with
in q few yards of us. Finally there
was creak from chair, and the foot
steps ceased. Then a key clicked In a
lock- and heard the rustic of papers.
| So far / had not dared to look out,
but now l gently parted the division
| of the curtains In front of me and
peeped through From the pressure of
Holmes shoulder against mine knew
that he was sharing my observations.
| Right in front of us and almost within
our reach was the broad, rounded back
Of NIilverton. 1t was evident that we
had entirely miscalculated his move
| ments; that he Had never been to his
bedroom, but that he had been sitting
up in some smoking or billiard room
in the farther wing Of the house. the
windows of which we had notsseen.
His broad, grizzled head, with, its shin
| ing patch Of badness, was In the I'M
mediate foreground of our vision. He
was leaning far back in the red leather
chair, his legs oustretched, a long
black cigar projecting at an ANGLE from
his mouth. He wore semimilitary
smoking jacket, claret colored. with a
black velvet collar. In his hand he
held long legal document, which he
was reading in an indolent fashion,
blowing rings of tobacco smoke from
his lips as he did so.
l felt Holmes hand steal into mine
| and give me a reassuring shake, as if
| to say that the situation was within his
powers and that he was easy in his
mind. | was not sure whether he had
seen what was only too obvious from
my position, that the door of the safe
was imperfectly closed and that Mil
verton might at any moment observe
| it. In my own mind / had determined
that if were sure from the rigidity OF
his gaze that it had caught his eye l
would at once spring out, throw my
greatcoat over his head, pinion him
and leave the rest to Holmes But Mil
verton never looked up. He was Ian
guidly interested by the papers in his
hand, and page after page was turned
as he followed the argument Of the
lawyer. AT least, thought, when he
had finished the document and the
cigar he will go to his room, but before
he had reached the end Of either there
came remarkable development which
turned our thoughts into quite another
char
(To Be Concluded Monday.)