Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-12-13
son. even your modest mustacne
would have been singed."
ga

son. even your modest mustacne
would have been singed."
| "A holder?" suggested.
mo. no; the end is matted. sup
pose there could not be two people
in your rooms, Mrs. Warren?"
mo. sir. He eats SO little that !
often wonder 1t can keep life in one"
well. think We must wait for
little more material. After all, you
have nothing to complain OF. You
have received your rent, and he Is
not troublesome lodger. through he
is certainly an unusual one. He pays
you well. and II he chooses to lie con-
| cealed 1t is no direct business OF
yours. We have no excuse for an In
trusion upon his privacy until we have
some reason to think that there Is
guilty reason for it. I've taken up
the matter, and won't lose sight OF
1t. Report to me if anything fresh
occurs. and rely upon my assistance
If 1t should be needed.
There are certainly some points OF
interest in this case. Watson" he re-
marked. when the landlady had left
us. "It may, of course, be trivial
CCCSLltiiSity, VI ~ iiNJ c>
very much deeper than appears on the
surface. The first thing that strikes
one is the obvious possibility that the
person now in the rooms may be en-
tirely different from the one who en-
gagged them"
"Why should you think so?"
well, apart from this cigarette
end. was it not suggestive that the
only time the lodger went out was i'm
mediately after his taking the rooms?
He came back-or someone came
back-when all witnesses were out OF
the way. We have no proof that the
person who came back was the person
,who went out. Then, again, the man
who took the rooms spoke English
well. This other. however, prints
match when it should have been
matches l can imagine that the
word was taken out of dictionary,
which would give the noun but not
the plural. The laconic style may be
to conceal the absence of knowledge
of English. Yes. Watson, there are
good reasons to suspect that there has
been substitution OF dodgers"
But for what possible end?"
"Ah! there lies our problem. There
is one rather obvious line of investi-
CATION" He took down the great
book in which. day by day, he filed
the agony columns of the various Lon
don journals. Dear mel" said he.
turning over the pages. what a cho-
rus of groans. cries and bleatings!
What rag-bag of singular happen
ings. But surely the most valuable
| in that aypr was given to
student OF the unusual! This per-
son is alone, and cannot be APP
preached by letter without a. breach
of that absolute secrecy which is de-
sired. How is any news or any mes
sage to reach him from without
Obviously by advertisement through
a newspaper. There seems no other
way. and fortunately we need con-
cern ourselves with the one paper
only. Here are the Daily Gazette ex-
. tracts of the last fortnight. Lady
with a black boa at Princes Skating
club'-that we may pass. Surely
Jimmy will not break his mothers
heart'-that appears to be Irrelevant.
If the lady who tainted in the Brix-
ton bus'-she does not interest me.
Every day my heart longs Bleat.
Watson-unmitigated bleat! All! this
is little more possible. Listen TO
this: BE patient. Will find some
sure means of communication. Mean
while. this column.-G.' That is two
days after Mrs. Warren's lodger ar.
rived. 1t sounds plausible, does 1t
not? The mysterious one could un-
derstand English. even IL he could not
print 1t. Let us see II we can pick up
the trace again. Yes. here we are
three days later. Am making sue
cessful arrangements. Patience and
prudence. The clouds will pass.-G.'
Nothing for week after that. Then
comes something much more definite:
The path is clearing. II I find chance
signal message remember code agreed
one A, two b. and SO on. You will
hear soon.-G.' That was in yester-
days paper. and there Is nothing in
today's. It's all very appropriate to
Mrs. Warren's lodger. II We wait a
little, Watson, ! don't doubt that the
affair will grow more Ineligible"
So it proved; for in the morning I
found my friend standing on the
hearthrug with his back to the fire.
and a smile of complete satisfaction
upOn his face