The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-02-25
CONTINUED from Yc.terday.p

cat my suggestion q couple of the
county police were summoned to be
present, and l then ~endeavored to raise
the stone by pulling on the cravat. I
could only move it slightly. and it was
with the aid of one of the constables
that I succeeded at last in carrying it
to one side. A black hole yawned be-
meath into which we all peered, while
Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed
down the lantern.
IA small chamber about seven feet
deep and four feet square lay open to
us. At one side of this was q squat,
brass-bound wooden box, the lid of
which was hinged upwards. with this
curious old-fashioped key projecting
from the lock. 1t vas furred outside
by a thick layer of dust, and damp
and worms had eaten through the
wood, so that a crop of livid fungi
was growing on the inside of it. Sew
eral discs of metal, old coins appar-
entity, such as I hold here. were scat
tered over the bottom of the box, but
it contained nothing else.
AT the moment. however, we had
no thought for the old chest. for our
eyes were riveted upon that which
crouched beside 1t. 1t was the figure
of a man, clad in a suit of black, who
squatted down upon his hams with his
foreh9dd sunk upon the. edge OF the
box gand his two arms thrown out on
each side of it. The attitude had drawn
all the stagnant blood to his face, and
no Enan could have recognized that
distorted liver-colored countenance, but
his height, his dress and his hair We're
all sufficient to show my client, when
he had draw the body up, that it was
indeed his missing butler. he had been
dead some days, but thdre was no
wound or bruise Upon his person TO
show how he had met his dreadful
end. When his body had been car
ried from the cellar we found our
selves still confronted with a problem
which was almost as formidable as
that with which we had started.
II confess that so far. Watson, | had
been disappointed in my investigation.
/ had reckoned upon solving the mat
ter when once / had found the place
referred to in the Ritual, but now l
was there, and was apparently as far
as ever from knowing what it was
which the family had concealed with
such elaborate precautions. 1t is true
that / had thrown a light upon the fate
of Brunton. but now | had to ascertain
how the fate had come upon him, and
what part had been played in the mat
ter by the woman who had disappeared.
L sat down upon a key in the corner
and thought the whole matter care
fully over.
you know my methods in such cases,
Watson. I put myself in h mans
place and, having first gagged his in
4rrr -. NJ in how ]
should myself have proceeded under
the same circumstances. In this case
the matter was simplified by Brunton's
Intelligence being quite first-rate, so
that 1t was unnecessary to make any
allowance for the personal equation,
as the astronomers have dubbed it. He
knew that something valuable was con-
cealed. He had spotted the place. He
found that the stone which covered
it was just too heavy for a man to
move unaided. What would he do
next? He could not get help from
outside, ever if he had some n whom
he could trust, without the unbarring
of doors and considerable risk of de-
lection. 1t was better, if he could, to
have his helpmate inside the house.
But whom could he ask? This girl had
been devoted to him. A man always
finds it hard to realize that he may
have finally lost a woman's love, how
ever badly he may have treated her.
He would try by a few attentions TO
make his peace with the girl Howells,
and then would engage her as his ac-
complete. Together they would come
at night to the cellar, and their united
force would suffice to raise the stone.
So far 1 could follow their actions as
If l had actually seen them.
eBut for two Of them. and n q
woman. it must have been heavy work
the raising Of that stone. a burly
Sussex policeman and bad found it
no light job. What would they 40
to assist them? Probably what !
should have done myself. / rose and
examiend carefully the different bill
let's of wood which We're scattered
round the floor. Almost at onee
came upon what I expected. one piece
about three feet in length, had a very
marked in%dentation at one end, whlle
several were fiattened at the sides as
il they had been compressed by some
considerable weight. Evidently, as