The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-05-02
A M)N
OF Title
OWLS FOOT

Yet there they sat, driven clean mad
with terror, and Brenda lying dead Of
fright, with her head hanging over the
arm Of the chair. I'll never get the
sight Of that room out of my mind SO
long as l live"
THE facts, as you state them, are
certainly most remarkable" said
Holmes. Il take 1t that you have no
theory yourself which can in any way
account for them?"
tits devilish, Mr.. Holiness; devil
ish!" cried Mortimer Tregennis. ut
is not Of this world. Something has
come into that room which has dashed
the light Of reason from their minds.
What human contrivance could do
that?"
Il fear" said Holmes, that if the
matter is beyond humanity it is Ger.
tainly beyond me. Yet We must ex-
haust all natural explanations before
we fall back upon such a theory as
this. AS to yourself, Mr.. T~regennis, I
take it you were divided in some way
from your family, since they lived to-
gether and you had rooms apart?"
That is so, Mr.. Holmes, though
the matter is past and done with. We
were a family Of tin-miners at Red
ruth, but we sold out our venture to a
company, and so retired with enough
to keep us. l won't deny that there
was some feeling about the division Of
the money and it stood between US for
a time, but it was all forgiven and for
gotten, and we were the best Of
friends together"
Looking back at the evening which
you spent together, does anything
stand out in your memory as throw
ing any possible light upon the trag-
edy? Think carefully, Mr.. Tregennis,
for any clue which can help me-"
There Is nothing at all, sir"
"Your people were in their usual
spirits?"
Never better"
Were they nervous people? Did
they ever show any apprehension Of
coming d~anger?"
Nothing of the kind"
"You have nothing to add, then,
which could assist me?"
Mortimer Tregennis considered
earnestly for a moment.
There is one thing occurs to me-"
said he at last. "As we sat at the
table my back was to the window, and
my brother George, he being my part
ner at cards, was facing it. | SAY him
once look hard over my shoulder, so
l turned round and looked also. The
blind was up and the window shut,
but l could just make out the bushes
on the lawn, and IL seemed to me for
a moment that l saw something NOV
ing among them. / couldn't even say
If 1t We're man or animal, but l just,
thought there was something there.
When / asked him what he was look.
ing at, he told me hat he had the
same feeling. That is all that l can
say"
did you not investigator"
mo; the matter passed as unim-
p~ortant."
"You left them, then, without any
~premonition Of evil?"
None at all"
81 am not clear how you came to
hear the ews SO early this morning."
Il am an early riser, and generally
take a walk before breakfast. This
morning l had hardly started when
the doctor In his carriage overlook
me. He told me hat old Mrs. Por-
tor bod cont n how INu,, n,ith -, ,r
gent message. l sprang in beside him
and we drove on. When we got there
We looked into that dreadful room.
The candles and the fire must have
burned out hours before, and they had
been sitting there in the dark until
Brenda must have been dead at least
six hours. There were no signs Of vio-
lence. She just lay across the arm Of
the chair with that look on her face.
George and Owen were singing snatch
es of songs and %gibbering like two
great apes. Oh, it was awful to see!
l couldn't stand 1t, and the doctor was
as white as a sheet. Indeed, he fell
into a chair in a sort of faint, and We
nearly had him on our hands as WELL"
"Remarkable-most remarkable!"
said Holmes, rising and taking his
hat. 81 think perhaps We had better
go down to Tredannick Wartha with
out further delay. / confess that l
have seldom known a case which at
first sight presented a singular
problem"
Our proceedings Of that first morn
ing did little to advance the investiga-
ton. 1t was marked. however, at the
outset by an incident which left the
most sinister impression upon my
mind. The approach to the spot at
which the tragedy occurred Is down
a narrow. winding country lane. While
We made U way along 1t we heard