The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-07-06
that bust which We haa already seen more

that bust which we HAD already seen nor,
than once in fragments.
Holmes took q paper from his poke
and laid O tert-pound note upon the table
You will kindly sign that paper, Mr.
Sandeford. in the presence of these wit
nesses. 1t Is simply to say that you trans.
fer every possible right that you ever hat
in the bust to me. l am a methodical man
o see, and you never Know what turn
events might take afterwards. Thank
YOU. MIR. Sandeford; here IS your money,
and 1 wish you a very good evening""
When our visitor has disappeared, Sher-
lock Holmes movements We're such as to
rivet our attention. He began by taking a
clean white cloth from a drawer and lay
ing it over the table. Then he placed his
newly acquired bust In the center of the
cloth. Finally, he picked up his hunting
| crop and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on
fragments. and Holmes bent eagerly over
the shattered remains. Mex instant, with
a loud shout of triumph he held up one
splinter, IN which a round, dark object
was fixed like a plum in a pudding.
Gentlemen" he cried, "let me introduce
you to the famous black pearl of the Bor-
gas"
Lestrade and 1 sat silent for a moment,
and then with a spontaneous impulse, we
both broke out clapping, as at the we'll
wrought crisis of a play. a lush ef color
sprang to Holmes pale cheeks. and he
bowed to us like the master dramatist who
receives the homage of his audience. It
was at such moment that for an instant
he ceased to be a reasoning machine, and
betrayed his human love for admiration
and applause. The same ~singularly proud
and reserved nature which turned away
with disdain from popular notoriety was
capable of being moved to its depths by
spontaneous wonder and praise from a
friend.
Yes. gentlemen" said he, 'it is the
most famous pearl now existing in the
world and it has been my good fortune,
by a connected chain of :nductive reason
ing, to trace 1t from he prince of Col
onna's bedroom at the Dacre hotel, where
1t was lost, to the interior of this, the
last of the six busts of Napoleon which
We're manufactured by Gelder & Co.. of
stepney. You will remember, Lestrade,
the sensation caused by the disappearance
OF this valuable jewel, and the vain eff
forts OF the London police to recover it.
1 was myself consulted upon the case, but
l was unable to throw any light Upon it.
Suspicion fell upan the maid of the prin-
cess. h was an Italian, and it was
proved that she had a brother in Londsn,
but we failed to trace any connection be-
tween them. The maids name was LA-
cretia Venuoci. and there is no doubt in
my mind that this Pietro who was murd-
cred two nights age was the brother. I
have been locking up the dates in the old
files Of the paper, and I find tina the dis
appearance OF che pearl was exactly two
days before the arrest Of Beppo, for some
crime of violence-an event which took
place in the factory Of Ge.der & Co.. at
the very moment when these Gusts We're
being made. Now you clearly see the Sc
quence of events. though you see them.
nF o0y,~So {~ xI~ -,,@-~@ u ~ 49,
in which they presented themselves to
me. Beppo had the pearl in his possession.
He may have stolen it from Pietro, he
have been Pietro's confederate, he
have been the go-between Of Pierto
and his sister. 1t is of no consequence
to US which is the correct solution.
THE main fact is hat he had the pearl,
and at that moment, when it was on his
person, he was pursued by the police. He
made fer the factory in which he worked,
and he knew that he had only a few min
utes in which to conceal this enormously
valuable prize, which would otherwise be
on him when he was searched. Six
casts of Napoleon were drying IN
the passage. One of them was still sof,.
made q small hole IN the west plaster,
dropped in the pearl. and with a few
touches covered over the aperture once
more. 1t vas an admirable hiding place.
No one could possibly find it. But
Beppo was condemned to a years
n in the meanwhile his
six busts were scattered over London. He
could not tell which contained his treas
ure. Only by breaking them could he see.
Even shaking would tell him nothing for
as the plaster was wet 1t was probable
the pearl would adhere to it-as, in
fact. 1t has done. Beppo did not despair,
and he conducted his search with consid-
ONO IL ~ --I
Through a cousin who works with Gelder,
he found out the retail firms who had
bought the busts. He managed to find en-
ployment with Morse Hudson, and in that
tracked down three of them. The
was not there, Then, with the help
of some Italian employee, he succeeded in
finding out where the other three busts
had gone. The first was at Harker's.
There he was logged by his confederate,
who held Beppo responsible for the loss Of
the pearl and he stabbed himtin the scuffe
which followed"
IF he was his confederate, why should
he carry his Photograph I asked.
LAS a means Of tracing him. IL he wished
to inquire about him from any third per-
son. hat was the obvious reason. Well,
after the murder I calculated that Beppo
would probably hurry rather thar delay
his movements. He would fear that the
police would read hts secret, and so he
fastened on before they should get ahead
OF him. OF course. 1 could not say that
he had not found the pearl in Harker's
bust. I had not even concluded for GER
tai1i that 1t was the pearl, but it was evil
dent to me that he was loktng for some
thing, since he carried the bust past the
other houses In order to break 1t In the
garden which had a lamp overlook it.
Since Harkcr's bust was one In three, the
were exactly as I told you-two to
enc against the pearl being inside 1t.
There remained W. busts. and 1t was OBJ
lot that he weu1d go for the London
one first I warned the inmates of the
house, SO as to avoid a second tragedy.
we went down with the happiest re-
SUITS. By hat time, of course, I knew
certain that 1t was the Borgia pearl
that we were after. The name Of the
murdered man linked the one event with
the o~ther-there emily remained a single
bust-tne Reading ene-and the pearl must
be there. I bought It in your presence
from the owner-and there 1t lies."
We sat IN silence for a moment
"weI,," said Lestrade. i've seen YOU
handle a good many cases, Mr.. Holmes.
but I don't know that I ever knew a more
workrnanlike enc than that. We're not
Jealous Of you at Scotland Yard. No.
sir, we are very proud of you. and IL you