The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1921-07-08
PART FIVE,

But 1T was not our prisoner to whom
Holmes was giving his attention.
Squatted on the doorstep. he was en-
gagged in most carefully examining
that which the man had brought from
the house. 1t was a bust of Napoleon,
ike the one which We had seen that
morning, and it had been broken into
similar fragments. Carefully Holmes
held each separate shard to the light,
but in no way did it differ from any
other shattered piece of plaster He
had just completed his examination
when the hall lights few up, the door
opened and the owner of the house,
a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and
trousers, presented himself
Mr.. Josiah Brown, l suppose?
said Holmes.
Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are
Mr.. Sherlock Holmes? / had the note
which you sent by the express mes.
senger, and l did exactly what you
told me. We locked every door on
the inside and awaited developments
Well, / am very glad to see that you
have got the rascal. hope, gentlemen
that you will come in and have some
refreshment"
However, Lestrade was anxious tc
get his man into safe quarters, sc
within few minutes our cab had beer
summoned and we We're all four or
our way to London. Not a word would
our captive say, but he glared at u;
from the shadow of his matted hair
and once, when my hand seemed with
in his reach, he snapped at it like ;
hungry wolf. We stayed long enough
at the police station to learn that 4;
search of his clothing revealed moth
ing save a few shillings and Ions
sheath knife which bore copious trace:
of recent blood
That's all right" said Lestrade, a!
we parted. Hill knows all these gent
ry, and he will give a name to him
You will find that my theory of th'
Malta will work out all right. But
am sure I am exceedingly obliged t
you, Mr.. Holmes, for the workmanlik,
way in which you laid hands upol
him. ] don't quite understand it al
yet"
Il fear it is rather too late an hou
for explanations" said Holmes. "Be
sides. there are one or two detail
which are not finished off, and it i
one of these cases which are wortl
working out to the very end. If yol
will come round once more to m
rooms at six o'clock tomorrow, thinl
shall be able to show you that evel
now you have not grasped the entir
meaning of this business, which pre-
sents some features which make
absolutely original in the history o
crime. If ever permit you to chror
icle any more of my little problems
Watson, forsee that you will enlive
your pages by an account of the sir
gular adventure of the Napoleoni
busts."
When we met again next evening
Lestrade was furnished with much il
formation concerning our prisoner
His name, it appeared, was Beppc
second name unknown. He was
wel-known ne'er-do-well among tn
Italian colony. He had once been
skilful sculptor and had earned a.
honest living, but he had taken to evi
courses and had twice already been i
gaol-once for a petty theft, and one
as we had already heard, for stabbin
a fellow countryman. He could tai
English perfectly well. His reason
for destroying the busts were still III
known, and he refused to answer an
questions upon the subject, but the pc
lice had discovered that these sam
busts might very well have been mad