The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-04-07

the door.
Hes fne fellow" said Holmes. as
we came out into Whitehall. But he
has a struggle to keep up his position.
He Is far from rich and has many
calls. You noticed. of course, that his
boots had been resoled. Now, Watson.
l won't detain you from your lesiti-
mate work any longer. shall do moth
ing more today, unless I have an an
1 swer to my cab advertisement But
should be extremely Obliged to you
If you would come down with me to
Woking tomorrow. by the same train
which we took yesterday"
/ met him accordingly next morn
ing and we travelled down to Woking
together. He had had no answer to
his advertisement, he said, and no
| fresh light had been thrown upon
the case. He had. when he so willed
it, the utter immobflity of countenance
OF an Indian, and could not gather
from his appearance whether he was
satisfied or not with the position OF
the case His conversation, remem-
Der, was about the Bertillon system of
measurements, and he expressed his
| enthusiastic admiration of the French
savant
We found our client still under the
charge Of his devoted nurse. but look
ing considerably better than before
He rose from the sofa and greeted US
without difficulty when we entered.
| ANY news?" he asked, eagerly.
| my report, as I expected, is mega
tive one," said Holmes. Il have seen
Forbes. and I have seen your uncle.
and 1 have set one or two trains of
inquiry upon foot which may lead to
something"
You have not lost heart. them"
by no means"
God bless you for saying that"
cried Miss Harrison. eff we keep our
courage and our patience the truth
must come out"
I'VE have more to tell you than you
have for u.s." said Phelps, reseatins
himself upon the couch.
Il hoped you might have some,
thing" I
Yes, we have had an adventure
during the night, and one which
might have proved to be a serious
one" His expression grew very grave
as he spoke, and a look of something
akin to fear sprang up in his eyes.
do you know" said he, that I begin
to believe that I am the unconscious
centre of some monstrous conspiracy.
as my honor"
Ali" cried Holmes.
1T sounds incredible, for have not,
as far as l know, an enemy in the
world. Yet from last nights expert.
ence l can come to no other conclu-
sion"
! Pray let me hear it."
You must know that last night was
the very first night that / have ever
slept without a nurse in the room.
was so much better that / thought !
could dispense with one. / had 4
'night-light burning, however. Well.
about two in the morning / had sunk
into light sleep when l was sudden
ly aroused by slight noise. 1t was
like the sound which a mouse makes
when it is gnawing a plank, and lay
listening to it for some time under the
impression that it must come from
that cause. Then it grew louder, and
suddenly there came from the window
q sharp metallic snick. I sat up in
amazement. There could be no doubt
what the sounds were now. The first
ones had been caused by some one
forcing an instrument through the slit
between the sashes, and the second
by the catch being pressed back
There was pause then for about
ten minutes. as if the person were
waiting to see whether the noise had
awakened me- Then I heard a gentle
creaking as the window was very,
lowly opened. I could stand it nc
longer, for my nerves are not whai
they used to be. l sprang out of bed
and flung upen the shutters. A man
was crouching at the window. ]
could see little of him, for he was
gone like a fash. He was wrapped in
some sort of cloak which came across
the lower part of his face. One thing
only l am sure of, and that is that he
had some weapon in his hand. 1t
Hooked to me like a long knife. dis
tinctly saw the CLEAN of it as he
turned to run"
This is most interesting" said
Holmes. Pray what did you dc
them"
Il should have follow ed him through
the open window if ! had been strong
er. AS it was, l rang the bell and
reused the house. 1t took me some
little time, for the bell rings in the
kitchen and the servants all sleep up
stairs. l shouted, however, and thai
brought Joseph down, and he reused
others. Joseph and the groom found
marks on the bed outside the win.
dow, but the weather has been so dry
lately that they found it hopeless to
follow the trail across the grass.
There's a place, however, on the
| wooden fence which skirts the road
which shows signs, they tell me, a.
If some one had got over. and had
snapped the top of the rail in doing
so. l have said nothing to the local
police yet, for / thought had best
have your opinion first"
(To be continued)