Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1906-08-09
ADVENTURE OF THE
GOLDEN PINCE- NEz.-Continued

Win inc ATTENTION OF possessing herself
, of certain documents which We're in your
bureau. She had a key of her own. have
had an opportunity of examining yours,
and do not find that slight d.scol-
Grafton which the scratch made upon
the Narnish would have produced. You
We're rot an accessory. therefore. and
she came, SO far as ! can read the evil
dcnce, without your knowledge TO rob
YOU"
The professor blew a cloud from his
lips. This is most interesting and in
structive," SAID he. Have you no more
to add? Surely, having traced this lady
so far, you can also say what has become
of her
81 will endeavor to do so. In the first
place she was seized by your secretary
and stabbed him in order to escape. This
catastrophe j am inclined to regard as
an unhappy accident, for am convinced
that the lady had no intention of intlict-
Ing so groNous an injury. An assassin
/ does not come unarmed. liorrlied by
what she had done, she rushed wildly
away from tho scene of the tragedy I'm
fortunately Tor her. she had lost her
/ glasses in the scuftlc, and as she was eN-
trcnely short-sightca she was really help
less without them. She ran down a CORR
dor. which she imagined to be that by
which she had come-both We're lined with
cocoanut mating and it was only when
IL was too late that she understood that
sne had taken the wrong passage, and that
her retreat was cut off behind her. What
was She to do? She could not so back
She could not remain whore she was She
must so on. She went OH. She mounted
a stair. pushed open door, and found
herself in your ROOM
The old man sat with his mouth open,
staring wildly at Holmes. Amusement and
fear We're stamped upon his expressive
faft al
his shoulders and burst into insincere
laughter.
"All very fine. Mr. Holmes" said he.
But there is one little flaw in your SPLEEN
did theory. l was myself in my room,
and i never left it during the day
~ am aware of that. Professor Coram."
And you mean to say that 1 could lie
upon that bed and not be aware that "a
woman had entered my room?"
II never said so. You were aware of 1t.
You spoke with her. You recognized her.
You aided he. to escape"
Again the professor burst into high
keyed laughter. He had risen to his feet.
and his eyes glowed like embers
You are mad. he cried. You are talk
ing insanely. 1 helped her to escape?
Whore is she now"
She is there" said Holmes. and he
pointed to a high bookcase in the corner
Of the room.
saw the old man throw up his arms. a
terrible convulsion passed over his grim
face, and he fell back in his chair AT the
same instant the bookcase at which
Holmes pointed swung round upon Il
hinge, and Il woman rushed out into the
room. You are right she cried. in Il
strange. foreign voice You are right. i
am here"
She was brown with the dust. and
trapped with the cobwebs, which had come
he Is nf hrrl Ij.y
face, too, was streaked with CRIME. and at
the best She could never have been hand
some, for She had the exact physical char
acteristics which Holmes had OWNED, with
IN addition, a long and obstinate chin.
| What with her natural blindness. and
what with the change from dark to light,
she stood as one dazed, blinking about her
to see whore and who we We're. And yet.
+ in spite of all these disadvantages. there
was Il certain nobility in the womans
bearing-a gallantry in the defiant chin
and in the appraised head, which compelled
some thing of respect and admiration.
Stanley Hopkins had laid his hand upon
her arm and claimed hor as his prisoner
but she waved him aside gently. and yet
with an commissioning dignity which com
PEELED obedience. The old man lay back
in his chair with a twitching face. and
stared at her with broodng eyes.
Yes, sir, ] am your prisoner she said.
From where | stood ! could hear every
thing. and | know that you have learned
the truth. confess it all 1t was l who
killed the young man But you are right
-yon who say 1t was an accident did
not even know that it was a knife held
in my hand. for in my despair snatched
anything from the table and struck at
him to make him let me GO Ii is the
truth that tell
Madam said Holmes. IL ann sure
' "a f,..,r Vol ~.