The farmer and mechanic., 1911-07-11

eS. l did
Was there a fellow about thirty,
pia bearded. dark, of middle size -
eS; he was the last 10 pass me
That is Your man. l fancy. / can
| give You his description. and We have
z very excellent outline OF his foot
mark That should BE- enough for you"
Not much. Mr.. Holmes. among the
millions Of London
| Perhaps not. That IS why | thought
/ IL Is best to summon this lady To your
/ aid :
We all turned round at the words
mere framed in the doorway. was a
tall and beautiful woman-the mys-
! terlouS lodger Of Bloomsbury Slowly
| she advanced. her face pale and
! drawn with a frightful apprehension.
her eyes fixed and staring her terrified
| gaze rivited upon the dark figure on
| the floor
You have killed him" she NUT
tered. "Oh, Dio mio. YOU have killed
him, Then l heard a sudden sharp in
/ take OF her breath. and she Sprang in
/ t. the air with a cry OF JOY. Round
and round the room she danced her
/ hands clappng, her dark eyes gleam-
! ing with delighted wonder and a
! thousand pretty Italian eXclamatiOnS
| pouring from her lips. It was terrible
and amazing to see such a woman SO
| convulsed with joy at such sight.
|
! AL with a questioning stare.
But you. You are police, are you
| not? You have killed Giuseppe Cor
giano. Is it not so? p?
We are police. madam"
She looked round into the shadows
of the room
.But where, then. is Gennaro?" she
| asked. 'He is my husband Gennaro
Lucca. I am Emily Lucca. and we are
| both from New York. Where is Gen
naro? He called me this moment from
this window, and / ran with all my
speed.
1t was | who called, said Holmes.
You. How could YOU CALI"
''YOur cipher was not difficult, ma
dam. Your presence here was desira-
BILE / knew that l had only to flash
| 'Nieni and you would surely come
The beautiful Italian looked with
awe at my COM DaniOn.
4 do not understand how you know
these things, she said. Giuseppe
Gorgiano-how did he She paused
and then suddenly her face lit III
with pride and delight Now I see it.
My Gennaro. My splendid. beautiful
GennarO, who has guarded me safe
from all harm, he did it, with his own
strong hand he killed the monster. Oh
Gennaro. how wonderful you are
What woman could ever be worthy
Of such man p?
well Mrs. Lucca,' said the prosaiC
Gregson. laying his hand upon the
lady's sleeve with as little sentiment
as if she were a Noting Hill hoolgan
Il am not very clear yet who you are
sir what you are; but you've sait
enough to make it very clear that WE
shall want you at the Yard
zone moment. Gregson,' said
Holmes. "I rather fancy that this lady
may be as anxious to give US infOrma
ton as we can be to get it. You un-
derstand, madam, that your husband
will be arrested and tried for tn
death of the man who lies before US
What you say may be used in evidence
But if you think that he has acted
from motives which are not criminal
and which he would wish to haF
known, then you cannot serve hin
better than by telling us the whole
story
Now that GorgianO is dead we feal
nothing" said the lady. He was &
devil and a m onster. and there can be
no judge in the world who would pun.
ish my husband for having killed
him
in that case" said Holmes, my
suggestion is that we lock this door
leave things we found them. gC
with this lady to her room. and form
our opinion after we have heard wha'
it is that she hsS to say to us
Half an hour later we were seated
all four in the small sitting room o.
Signora Lucca, listening to her re-
markable narrative of those sinister
| events, the ending of which hac
CHANGED to witness. She spoke in rapid
and fluent but very unconventiona
English which. for the sake of clear
ness I will make grammatical
Il was born in PosiippO. near
/ Naples" said she and was the daugh
~oII -1,r "
chief lawyer and once deputy of tha
part Gennaro was in my fathers
employment and / came to love him
as any woman must. He had neither
money nor positiOn-nothing but his
beauty and strength and energy-sC
my ia tn her forbade the match We fiet
| together. were married at Bari. an6
sold my Jewels to gain the money