The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-02-24
CONTINUED from saturday.

pond on the estate.
Continued from Saturday,
-
"Of course we had the drags at once,
and set to work to recover the remains,
but no trace of the body could we find.
On the other hand, we brought to the
surface an object of a most unexpected
kind. 1t was a linen bag which con-
tanned within it a mass of old rusted
and discolored metal and several dull
eolored pieces of pebble or glass. This
strange find was all that we could
get from the mere, and, although we
made every possible search and inquiry
. yesterday, we know nothing of the fate
either of Rachel Howells or Of Rich
ard Brunton. The county police are
at their wits end, and I have come
up to o as a last resource
you can imagine. Watson, with
what eagerness L listened to this ex-
traordinary sequence of events, and
~endeavored to piece them together, and
10 devise ONE common thread upon
which they might all hang. The but
Ter was gone. The maid was one. The
maid had loved the butler, but had
afterwards had cause to hate him.
She was of Welsh blood, fiery and pas
~sionate. She had been terribly excited
Immediately after his disappearance.
She a flung into the lake a bag con
tanning some curious contents. These
We're all factors which had to be taken
into consideration, and yet none of
them got quite to the heart of the
matter. What was the starting point
of this chain of events? There lay the
) end of this tangled line.
II must see that paper, M~usgrave,'
said ], which this butler of yours
thought it worth his while to consult,
evel at the risk Of the loss of his
pRce.'
4 1T is rather am absurd business,
thps ritual of ours he answered. But
it lhas at least the saving grace of an
.tiduity to excuse il. L have a copy
of the questions and answers here ii
you care to run your eye over them
II handed me the very paper which
/ have here, Watson, and this is the
strange catechism to which each Mus
grave had to submit when he came tp
mans estate. l win read o the ques-
lions and answers as they stand.
"'Whose was it?'
ellis who is gone
"'Who shall have it?'
"He who will come
"sWhere was the sum-
lover the oak
"'Where was the shadow?
"'Under the elm
"tHow was it stepped2'
"'North by ten and by ten, east by
five and by five, south by two and by
two, west by one and by one, and SO
under
"'What shall We give for it?'
".All that is ours
"'Why should we give it?'A
"'For the sake of the trust.
""The original has no date, but is in
the spelling of the middle of the sew
enteenth century, remarked Musgrave.
4 am afraid, however, that it can
be of little help to you in solving this
mystery
cat least said l, 1T gives us anoth-
er mystery, and one which is even
more interesting than the first. 1t mag
be that the solution of the n may
prove to be the solution of the other.
You will excuse me, Musgrave, If
say that your butler appears to me TO
have been a very clever man, and to
have mad a clearer insight than ten
generations of his masters
~ hardly follow YOU said Mus
grave. The paper seems to me to be
Of no practical Importance
"'But to me it seems immensely
practical. and / fancy that Brunton
took the same view. He had probably
seen it before that night on which you
caught him..
1t is very possible. We took no
pains to hide it,
HE simply wished, / should mag
inc. TO refresh his memory upo that
last occasion. He had, as l UNDER
stand, some sort Of a map or chart
which he was comparing with the
manuscript. and which no thrust into
his pocket when YOU appeared
".That is true. But what could he
have to do with this old family GUS
tor Of ours, and what does this rig
marole mean?
az don't think that we shall have
much difficulty in determining that,
said I; with your permission we VIII
take the first train to Sussex, n go a
little more deeply into the matter
upon the spot
"The same afternoon saw us 10Th
at HurIstone. Possibly you have seen
pictures and read descriptions of the
famous old building, so | Will aeonhae
my account of it to saying that 1t IS
built in the shape of an l., the long
arm being the more modern portion
and the shorter the ancient nucleus
from which the other has deyolyed.
over the low, heavy-lintelled door
in the centre of this old part, is chs
eled the date, 1907, but experts are
agreed that the beams n stonework
are really much older than this. The
enormously thick walls and tiny win
dows of this part had in h last CEN
fury driven the family into building
the new wing. and the old one was
used now as a storehouse n a cellar,
when it was used at all. A splendid
park with n old timber surrounds
the house. and the lake, to which my
client had referred, lay close to the