Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-09-10

OF hoofs, irad, looking up. saw a c>.x
cart coming at gallop down the
road. 1t pulled up at our door, and
our friend the vicar sprang from ID
and rushed up our garden path.
Holmes was already dressed, and we
fastened down to meet him.
Our visitor WAS SO excited that BIZ,
could hardly articulate, but at lasl
in gasps and bursts his tragic stor7-
came out of him.
I'VE ara devil-ridden, Mr.. Holiness
My poor parish is deyil-ridden!" he
cried. Satan himself is loose in Ill!
We are given over into his hands!.
He danced about in his agitation, a
iudiorous object IL 1t were not for his
ashy face and startled eyes. Finally
he shot olt his terrible news.
Mr.. Mortimer Tregennis has died
during the night, and with exactly the
same symptoms as the rest of the
family"
Holmes sprang to his feet, all EN-
ergy in an instant.
Can you fit US both into your dog
cart?"
Eyes. can"
Then, Watson. we will postpone
our breakfast. Mr.. Roundhay, we are
entirely mt your disposal Hurry
hurry, before things get disarranged"
The ledger occupied two rooms at
the vicarage, which were in an angle
By themselves, the one above the
other. Below was a large sitting
room; above, his bedroom. They
looked out upon croquet lawn which
came up 20 the windows. We mad al.
rived before the doctor or the police,
so that everything was absolutely ur-
disturbed. Let me describe exactly
the scene as we saw 1t upon that
misty March morning. 1t has left
an impression which can never be ef-
faced from my mind.
The atmosphere Of the room was
of a horrible and depressing stiffness
The servant who had first entered
had thrown up the window, or it would
have been even more intolerable. This
might partly be due 20 the fact that
a lamp stood flaring and smoking on
the center table. Beside 1t sat the
dead man, leaning back in his chair,
his thin beard projecting. his spec
tacles pushed up on to his forehead,
and his lean, dark face turned towards
the window and twisted into the same
distortion of terror which had marked
the features of his dead sister. His
limbs were convulsed and his fingers
contorted, as though he had died in a
very paroxysm of fear. He was fully
clothed, though there were signs that
his dressing had been done in hur-
ry. We had already learned that his
bed had been slept in, and that the
tragic end had come to him in the
early morning.
One realized the red-hot energy
which uIderlay Holmes phlegmatic
exterior when l saw the sudden
change which came over him from the
moment that he entered the fatal
apartment In an instant he was tense
and alert, his eyes shining, his face
set, his limbs quivering with an eager
activity. He was out on the lawn, in
through the window, round the room.
and up INTO the bedroom, for. all the
world like dashing foxhound draw
ing a cover In the bedroom he made
rapid cast around, and ended by
throwing open the window, which APP
peared tc give him some fresh cause
for excitement, for he leaned out Of it
with loud CALCULATIONS of interest and
delight Then he rushed down the
stair, out through the open window,
threw himself upon his face on the
lawn, spcang up and into the room
once more, all with the energy of the
hunter who is at the very heels of his
quarry. The lamp, which was an or
binary standard, he examined with
minute care, making certain measure
ments upon it's bowl. He carefully
scrutinizsd with his lens the tale
shield which covered the top of the
chimney, and scraped off some ashes
which adhered to it's upper surface,
putting some of them into an enve-
lope, which he placed in his pocket
book. Finally, just as the doctor and