The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-05-31
He HUNTING CROP AND STRUCK NAPOLEON

with a loud shout of triumph, he held
up one splinter. in which round, dark
object was fixed like plum in puG.
ding.
"Gentlemen,' he cried "let me intro
duce you to the famous black pearl of
the Borgias.'
Lestrade and l sat silent for a mo-
ment, and then. with a spontaneous
impulse, we both broke out clappng.
as at the we'll wrought crisis of a play
A flush of color sprang to Holmes pale
cheeks, and he bowed to us like the
master dramatist who receives the
homage of his audience. 1t was at
such moments that for an Instant he
ceased to be reasoning machine and
betrayed his human love for adniratio
and applause. The same singularly
proud and reserved nature which turn
ed away With disdain from popular no
toriety was capable of being moved to
its depths by spontaneous wonder and
praise from Il friend.
YES, gentlemen said he. 1T is the
most famous pearl now existing in the
world. and it has been my good for
tune, by a connected chain Of Undue
tive reasoning, to trace it from the
Prince of Colonna's bedroom at the
Dacre hotel, where it WAS lost. to the
interior OF this, the last OF the six
busts of Napoleon which We're manu-
featured by Gelder 4 Co. of Stepney.
You will remember, Lestrade. the sen
sation caused by the disappearance of
this valuable jewel and tine vain efforts
of the London police to recover it. l
was myself consulted upon the case.
but | was unable to throw any light
upon it. Suspicion fell upon The maid
of the princess. who was an Italian,
and it was proved that she had a
brother in London, but we failed to
trace any connection between them.
The maids name was Lucretia Venue
ci, and there is no doubt in my mind
that this pietro who was murdered
two nights ago was the brother.
have been looking up the dates in the
old files of the paper. and find that
the disappearance of the pearl was
exactly two days before the arrest OF
Beppo for some crime of vioence-an
event Which took place in the factory
OF Colder & Co at the Very moment
when these busts were being made
Now you clearly see the sequence OF
events, though YOU see them, OF
course, in the inverse order to the way
in which they presented themselves
to me. Bcppo had the pearl in his
possession. He may have stolen it from
Pietro, he may have been Iietro's con
federate, he may have been the g
between of pictro and his sister. II is
of no consequence to Us which is til,
correct solution.
"The main fact is that he had til,
pearl, and at that moment, When 1t was
on his person, lie was pursued by the
police He made for the factory il
which he worked, and he knew that he
had only a few minutes in which t.
conceal this enormously valuable prize
which would otherwise be found OIL
him when he was searched. Six plas
ter casts of Napoleon We're drying il
the passage. One of them was Still
soft. In an instant Beppo, skillfu
workman, made small hole in the
wet plaster, dropped in the pearl and
with few touches covered over the
aperture once more. 1t was an ad
mirable hiding place. No one could
possibly find it. But Beppo was con
demned to years Imprisonment, an(
In the meanwhile his six busts were
scattered over London. He could no.
| tell which contained his treasure. Only
I by breaking them could he see. Ever
shaking would tell him nothing, for as
the plaster was wet 1t was probable
that the pearl would adhere to it, as, II
fact, it has done Beppo did not Ge
spair, and he conducted his search will
considerable ingenuity and persever
ance. Through cousin who work.
with Gelder he found out the retail
firms who had bought 1the busts. III