The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-02-06

couch. While WITH ME feet tilted over
inc side NJ IN .rm-, htif. ano hi-
head upon The grOuH4 Mar thr corncg
II the fender. WAS wing the anfoH'-
innate soldier stone dead I'D gaal
81 his oNr blood.
thought, au finding that m could II
nothing for his master. seas to open
1.-THE door. But here an unexpected and
@ingula3 difficulty presented itself. The
key "aS not iu the inner side u the
door. nor could he find III anyth ere
III the room. Re went L again.
therefore. through the WindoH, aud
having obtained the help Of a police
man and u a medical man, hc re-
turned. The lady. against whom nat
uraIIV the suspicion rested.
was removed To her room. Still III Il
state IF insensibiliN. TIE Colonel's
body was tl.en placed upon the sofa,
and 4 careful examination made Of the
scene ~ the tragedy.
The injury from which the unfor-
tuuate veteran was suffering was found
to b. a Jagged cut some two inches
long at the Jack part Of his head.
which mad evidently been caused by
4 violent blow from q blunt weapon
Nor was ii difficult 10 guess what that
weapon MAJ have been. Upon the
noor close 10 the body, was lying q
4 singular club OF hard carved wood
with a bona handle. The Colonel pos
sessed q varied collection Of weapons
brought from the different countries
in which he had fought. ana il is
conjectured by the police that this
CLUB was among his trophies. The ser
wants deny having seen it before, but
among the numerous Curiositics in the
house ii is possible that it may have
been overlooked. Nothing else Of i'm
portance was discovered in the room
by the police. save the incNPlicable
fact that neither upon Mrs. Barclays
person nor upon that Of the victim nor
In amy part Of the room was the miss
ing key 10 be found. The loon had
eventually TO be opened by d locksmith
from Aldershot.
THAT WAS the state Of things, Wat
son, when upon the Tuesday morning
/, at the request Of Major Murphy.
went down to Aldershot to supple
ment the efforts of the police, | hin
that YOU viii acknowledge that the
problem was already one Of interest,
out my observations soon made me
realize that it was in truth much
more extraordinary than would at first
sight appear.
Before examining the room | cross
questioned the servants, but only sac
ceeded in eliciting the facts which |.
nave already stated. one other detail
Of interest was remembered by Jane
Stewart, the hOusemaid. You viii re
member that on hearing the sound
Of the quarrel she descended and re-
turned with the other servants. on
that first occasion, when She was alone,
she say that the voices of her master
and mistress We're sunk so low that
she could hear hardly anything, and
judging by their tones rather than
their words that they had fallen out.
On my pressing her, however, She re-
melmbcred that she heard the word
David uttered twice by the lady. The
point is Of the utmost Importance
as guiding US towards the reason Of
the sudden quarrel. The ColOneI's
name you remember, was James.
There was one thing in the case
which had made the deepest impress
sion both upon the servants and the
police. This was the contortion Of
the COlOneI's face. 1t had set. accord
ing to their account. into the most
dreadful expression OF fear and hor-
ror which a human countenance is
capable Of assuming. More han one
person tainted at the mere sight Of
him, 50 terrible was the effect. 1t was
quite certain that he had foreseen
his fate and that it had caused him
the utmost horror. This, Of course.
fitted in we'll enough with the police
theory, if the CoIOnel could have seen
ms wife making q murderous attack
upon him. Nor was the fact of the
wound being on the back of his head
q fatal objection TO his, as he might
have turned TO avoid the blow. NoI
information could be got from thel
lady herself, who was temporarily in
sane from an acute attack of brain
fever.
Prom the police l learned that
Miss Morrison, h you remember
went u that evening with Mrs. Bar
.CI2L denied Iay aaI- l-ons--JaE~, -
what it was which caused the III
humor in which her companion had
returned.
Having gathered these facts. Wat
son, | smoked several pipes over them !
rying 10 separate those which were
crucial from others which were merely
Incidental. There could be no uues-
ton that the most distinctive and sue-
gestive point IN the case was the singu-
lar disappearance Of the doOr KEY.
A most careful search had failed 10
discover it in the room Therefore It
must have been taken from it. But
neither the Colonel nor the ColOneFS !
wife could have taken it. That vas
perfectly clear. Therefore. q third
person must have entered the room.
And that third person could ONLY |
nave come in through the window. It |
seemed TO me that a careful examina-
ton of the room and the lawn might
possibly reveal some traces of this
mysterious individual. You know nv |
methods, Watson. There was not one
Of them which l did not apply to the !
inquiry. And it ended in my discov-
erIrg traces. but very different one.
from those which | had expected.
There had been 4 man in the room.
and he had crossed the lawn coming
from the road. I was able 10 obtain
flVe very clear impressions Of his
foot-marks: one in the roadway itself
at the point where he had climbed
the low wall, two on the lawn. and
TWO very faint ones upon the staine1 |
boards near the Windo where he
had entered. He had apnarertfv
rushed across the lawn. for his toe
marks We're much deeper than his
heels- But it was lot the mar who
surprised me 1t was his companion,
His c~ompaniOni'
Holmes pulled a large sheet of It's
sue-paper out Of his pocket ana care
fully unfolded il upon his knee.
said.
FTl0 -