The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-04-05

all the time, or in the corridor which
you nave just described as dimly
lighted?"
ut is absolutely impossible. A rat
could not conceal himself either in
the room or the corridor. There is
no cover at ALL"
Thank you. Pray proceed"
"The commissionnaire, seeing by nv
pale face that something was to be
feared. had followed me upstairs.
Now We both rushed along the CORR
dor and down the steep steps which
led to Charles street. The door at the
bottom was closed, but unlocked. We
flung it open and rushed out. ! can
distictly remember that as we did so
there came three chimes from neigh
boring clock 1t was a quarter to ten
That is of enormous importance"
said Holmes, making note upon his
shirt-cuff
1.-The night was very dark. and a
thin, warm rain was falling. There
was no one in Charles street, but a
great traffic was going on. as usual, in
Whitehall. at the extremity. We
rushed along the pavement, bare
headed as we were, and at the far
corner we found a policeman standing.
ga robbery has been committed
| ! gasped. A document of immense
value has been stolen from the For
eign office. Has any one passed this
;, way?
! az have been standing here for n
quarter of on hour sir said he, only
| one person has passed during that
time-a woman, tall and elderly, with
a Paisley shawl
"'Ah, that is only my wife, cried
| the commissionnaire; has no one else
passed.
"'No one
Then it must be the other way
| that the thief took" cried the fellow,
Juggling at my sleeve.
But l was not satisfied, and the at
i tempts which he made to draw me
| away increased my suspicious.
(Which way did the woman go?' l
cried
al don't know, sir. l noticed her
pass, but I had no special reason for
watching her She seemed to be in a
| hurry
| How long ago was it?'
l "'Oh, not very many minutes
I within the last five?'
"'Well it could not be more than
| five
You're only wasting your time,
sir and every minute now is of i'm
| portance, cried the commiSsionnaire;
take my word for it that my old
woman has nothing to do with it, and
come down to the other end of the
street. Well, if you won't, I will And
with that he rushed off in the other
direction.
But was after him in an instant
and caught him by the sleeve.
Where do you live?' said |.
Sixteen Ivy Lane, Brixton," he
answered But don't let yourself be
! drawn away upon false scent, Mr..
Phelps Come to the other end of the
street and let us see If we can hear
of anything e.+s..' -ss>~ III
Nothing was to be lost by following
| his advice. With the policeman we
, both. hurried down, but only to find
| the street full of traffic, many people
coming and going, but all only too
eager to get to a place of safety upon
so wet night. There was no lounger
who could tell US who had passed.
Then we returned to the office, and
| searched the stairs and the passage
without results. The corridor which
! led to the room was laid down with a
kind of creamy linoleum which shows
an impression very easily. We ex-
amined it very carefully but found no
outline of any footmark."
I Had it been raining all EVENING"
Since about seven"
How is it, then,- that the woman
who came into the room about nine