Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-09-13
THE REIoArE PUZZLE.
Continued from page 3.


with a strong, decp-lned, hcavy-eyed
| face; the other dashing young fellow,
whose bright, smiling expression and
snowy dress were in strange contrast
with the. business which had brought
us there.
sStill nj il, them" eaid he to Holmes
II thought you Londoncrs were never
at fault. You don't seem to he so very
quick, after oil"
"Ah, YOU must give us little time,
said Holmes, good humorcdly.
"You'll want it," said young Alec
Cunningham. "Why ! don't see that
we have any clue at all"
There, only one" answered the In.
spcctor. 1--WE thought that Il we could
only fnd--Good heavens, Mr. Holmes !
what is the matter"
MY poor friends face had suddenly
assumed the most dreadful expression.
His eyes rolled upwards, his features
writhed in agony, and with sup-
pressed groan he dropped on hia face
upon the ground. Horrihcd Mt the sud-
dennes. and severity Of the attack, we
carried him into the kitchen, where he
lay back in a large chair and breathed
heavily for come minutes. Finally,
with shamefaced apology for his
weakness, he rose once more.
Watson would tell you that have
only Just recovered from severe i'll
ness" he explained 81 am liable to
theee sudden nervous attacks"
"Shall -cnfd you home in my trap"
asked old Cunningham.
'Well, since l am here, there is one
point on which l should like to feel
sure We can very easily verify it"
"What was it,"
"Weri, it seems to me that it is Just
possible that the arrival Of this poor
fellow William was not before, but
, after. the entrance Of the burglar into
, the house. You appear TO take it fol
: granted that, although the door wa,
forced, the robber never got in"
Il fancy that is quite obvious" sale
Mr.. Cunningham, gravcly. why, IN,
son Alec had not yet gone to bed, anc
he would certainly have heard any ont
( moving about"
E where was he sittingg"
3 Il was smoking in my dressing
, room"
(Which window is that7"
|. 'The last on the left, next my fathers.
> Both Of your lamps were Int, o
: course?"
Undoubtedly"
= There are some very singular point
here" said Holmes, smiling. "Is it no
extraordinary who had some previou
: experience--should deliberately breal
y into a house at time when he coul'
g see from the lights that two of tn
e family were still afootp'
4. Al
s "Well, Of course If the case were no
n an odd one VIC should not have bee
n driven to ask you for an explanation,
y said young Mr.. Alec. 'But as to you
a ideas that the man had robbed tn
. house before William tackled him,
think il most absurd notion. Wouldn'
:, Me have found the place disarrangec
. and missed tho things which he ha
y taken7"
:. '1t depends on what tho thing
were" said Holmes. You must rt
member that we are dealing with
. burglar who is a very peculiar fellow
g and who appears to work on lines {
=. his own. Look, for example, At th
y queer lot of things which he took frol
- Acton's-what was its--a bail Of strinl
IL a letter-weight, and / don't know wins
a other odds and ends"
!, 'Well, we ere quite in your hand
Mr. Holmes" said old Cunningham
Anything which you or the 'Inspectt
may suggest will most certainly
: done"
,e ''In the first place." said Holmes,
IL should like You TO offer A reward
IS coming from yourself, for the officia
IT may take o little time before the
70 would agree upon the sum, and the
IS things cannot 10 done too promptl
/ have jotted down the form here,
you would not mind signing II FIT
pound WAS qnitc enough, thought
]. II would willingly give FIVE hundred
said the j. P, taking the slip OF pap
and the pencil which Holmes hands
= to him. This is not quito correc
however" he added, glancing over Il
document.
4 81 wrote it rather hurriedly."
1 "You see you begin, Whereas,
| about a quarter to one on Tuesds
morning an attempt was made and :
| on II was at quarter to twelve, :
matter of fact"
| ! was panied at the mistake, for
knew how keenly Holmes would fe
i any slip of the kind. 1t was his spe
cialty to be accurate rs to fact, bl
i his recent illness had shaken him, ar
this one little incident was enough
show me that he was still far fro
being himself. He was obviously CT
| barrassed for an instant, while the i
spector raised his eyebrows, and All
| Cunningham burst into a laugh. ~
| old gentleman corrected the mistak
| however, and handed the paper bat
to Holmes.
| Get it printed as soon as possible
| he said; 81 think your idea is an c
| cellent one"
! Holmes put the slip Of paper car
| fully away into his pockctbook.
I "And now," said he, ''it really won
i be a good thing that we should all
over the house together and make ce
tain that this rather erratic burgl
did not, after all, carry anything ava
with him."
Before entering Holmes made {
examination of the door which III
been forced 1t was evident tn
U chisel or strong knife had been thru
in, and the lock forced back with
We could see the marks in the woo
where it had been pushed in.
'oYou don't use bars, then?" he aske
eve have never found it necessary
'fYou don't keep dog?"
eyes, but he is chained on the 9th
side of the house"
'When Go the servants go to bed?"
"About ten"
'I understand that William W
usually in bed also at that hour?"
'Yes."
e slIf g einmnlar fhaf ON this raarficu