The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-06-14
TODAY'S INSTALNIENT.

Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
 than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once more to fo- ment the bruise upon his mistress
 brow.
 q hope" said the lady, ''that you
 have not come to cross-examine me again ?'
 !No,'' Holmes answered, in his gen tlest voice, ''I will not cause you any
 unnecessary trouble. Lady Bracken- stall, and my whole desire is to make things easy for you, for am con- man. If you will treat me as 3, friend and trust me, you may find that l will justify your trust
 What do you want me ito do /! ''To tell the truth
 MT. HolmeSI'
 "No, no, Lady Brackenstall-it is no use. You may have heard of any little reputa tion which possess. l will stake it all on the fact that your story is an absolute fabrication-
 Mistress and maid were both star ing at Holnies with pale faces and
 SYou are an impudent fellow!" cried Theresa. ~Do you mean to say
 that my mistress has told a lie?'' Holmes rose from his chair. Have you nothing to tell me?
 q have told you everything"
 Think once more, Lady Bracken- stall. Would it not be better to be frank %
 For an instant there was hesitation
 in her beautiful face. Then some new
 strong thought caused it to set like a
 mask.
 .I have told you all l know"
 Holmes took his hat and shrugged
 his shoulders. ''I am sOrry," he said, and without another word we left the room and the house. There was a
 friend led the way It was frozen
 over, but a single hole was left for
 the convenience of a solitary swan;
 Holmes gazed at it, and then passed bIed a short note for stanley Hop kins, and left it with the lodge-keeper- +1t may be a hit, or it may be miss but we are bound to do some thing for friend Hopkins, just to jus tify this second visit,' said he. will not take him into my confluence yet. I think our next scene or oper. ations must be the shipping office or inc Adelaide de-Southampton line which stands at the end of Pail Maus II l remember right. There is a. second line of steamers which connect south Australia with England: put we VIII draw the larger cover first | Holmes card sent in to the man ager insured instant attention, and he was not long in acquiring all the | information he needed. In June of
 's5 only one of their line had reached | a home port It was the Rock of 1 Gibraltar, their largest and best boat.
 reference to the passenger list showed that Miss Fraser. of Adelaide,
 with her maid had made the voyage
 in her The boat was now on her way to Australia somewhere in the | south of the Suez Canal Her officers were the same as in '95, with one ex- ception. The first officer, MT. Jack
 Crocker, had been made a captain and was to take charge of their new | sbip The Bass Rock. sailing in two | days, time from Southanpton. He | lived at Sydenham, but he was likely 1 to be in that morning for instructions l if we cared to wait for him. 1 No; MT. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more about his record and, character. His record was magnificent There
 was not an officer in the fleet to touch
 him. AS to his character, he was re- | liable on duty but a wild, desperate | fellow off the deck of his ship-hot- headed, excitable, but loyal, honest, and kind-hearted. That was the plth | of the information with which Holmes | left the office of the Adelaide-South- ampton company. Thence he drove | to Scotland Yard, but instead of en- tering, he sat in his cab with his brows l drawn down. lost in profound thought | Finally he drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office sent off mes- sage, and then, at last, we made Tor Baker street once more.
 NO. I couldn't do it, Watson" said be- as we re-entered our room. "Once that warrant was made out, nothing on earth would save him. Once or twice in my career feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience. Let us know little more before we act" Before evening, we had visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things were not going very well with him. T believe that you are wizard, MT Holmes I really do sometimes
 think that you have powers that are not human Now, how on earth could you know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?" .'I didn't know it"
 "But you told me to examine it"