The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 5, 1905, Page 1

le Prillips & Co.) 208 Col- and she, r iter Hilda ras particular engaged to Carstairs, ‘but broken off by ons 1ths before, e Was no sign ery profound feeling behind it the rest the man's life moved »w and conventional circle, bits were quiet and his na- g otional. Yet it was upon this ing young aristocrat that death most strange and unexpected etween the hours of ten and wenty on the night of March his b his ha dish and the Bagatelle card clubs. Was shown that, after.dinner on the I th, he had played a rub- He had noon. The had played 7, Sir John Hardy wed that the there was 2 Adair but not a ierable 1 a loss could not in any T hat every day at ome club or other, but he was a cautious player, and usually It came out in ewi- in partnership with Colonel actually’ won as much and twenty pounds veeks before, from l,\)rtlr) Balmoral. history as it , he re- y at ten. The heard him he second his _sitting > there, and as ed the window. rd from the room the hour of the aynooth and her to say good-night, be got to their Help was obtained and The ) found 1y 1ad bee) ng T horribly mu- revolver bul- sort was to he table in si and in little piles . were some a sheet of paper, mes of some club friends them, from which It that before his death he ing to make out his losses cards. nation of the circum- to make the case no ¢ the young d the door s the po d done this, fterward aped by the drop was at least twenty , and a bed of crocuses lay beneath. Neither the nor the earth showed any sign been disturbed, nor were marks upon the narrow strip which separated the house - road.. Apparently, therefore, »ung man himself who had the do But how did he is death? No one could have up to the window without aving traces. Suppose a man had ired through the window, he would ed be a remarkable shot who d with a revolver.inflict so deadly und Again, Park Lane is a thoroughfare; there * is cabstand within a hundred yards of the house. No one had heard a shot. And vyet there s the dead man, gnd there the. re- er bullet, whlch‘}ad mushroomed as soft-nosed bulletd will, and so d a- wound which must have stantaneous death. Such were circumstances . of the Park Lane which were further compli- entire absence of . motive, I have said, young Adair was n to have any enemy, and no ad been made to remove the money y or valuables in’ the room. All day I turned these facts over in my mw endeavoring to hit wupon some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find that line of least resistance which. my poor friend had declared to be the starting point of every investigation. I confess that I made little progress. In the evening I strolled across the park and found myself about 6 o'clock at the Oxford street end of Park Lane. A group of loafers upon the pavements, all staring up at a particular window, directed me to the house which I had come to see. A tall, thin man with colored glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a plain-clothes detective, was pointing out some theory of his-own, while the affect him. He had played DEArly. Zev others crowded round to listen to what he said. I got'as near him as I could, but his observations seemed to me to be absurd, so I withdrew again in some disgust. As I did so I struck: against an elderly, deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down. several books wheih he was carrying.’ I remember that as I picked them up I observed the.title of one of them, “The Origin of Tree Worship,” and it struck me that the fellow must be some- poor bibliophile, who, either as a trade or as a hobby, was.a collec- tor of obscure volumes. I endeavored to apologize for the accident, but it was evident that these books which T had so unfortunately mealtreated were very precious objects in the eyes of their owner. With a snarl of contempt he turned upon’ his heel, and I saw his curved back and white sidewhiskers disappear among the throng. My observations of 427 Park Lane @id little to clear up the problem in which I was interested. The 'house was separated from the street by a low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high. - It was pér- fectly easy therefore for any one to get into the garden, but:the window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no waterpipe or anything w could help the most active ‘man’ to climb it More puzzied than ever I re- traced my steps to Kensington. I had not been in my study five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person desired to see me. To my as- tonishment it was none other than my strange old book collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out:from a frame of white hair and his preclous volumes, a dozen of them at least, wedged un- der his right arm. “You're surprised to see me, . sir,” said he in a strange, croaking voice. I acknowledged that I was. “Well, I've a consclence, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into this house as I came hobbling after you I thought to myself I'll just step in and see that kind gentleman and tell him that if I was.a bit gruff in my, . IHEN ] TUENEL G SHEELOCK HOIHES S ST NG W AT T AECSS 77y OTUTY THEL T -~ = -~ manner there was not any harm meant and that I.am much obliged to him for picking: up ‘my book: “You make too much of a triflé,” said I, “May 1 ask how you knew who I was?"” - E “Well, sir, if it:isn’t too great a lib- erty, I am-a neighbor of yours, for you'll’ find my little bookshop at'the corner of Church street, and - very happy to see you, I am sure. May- be you collect yourself, sir. Here's ‘British Birds' "and._ ‘'Catullus’ "and “The Holy War~—a bargain, every one of them. /With five volumes you could just fill that gap on that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it not, sir?” ' I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose to ‘my. feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and" then it appears. that I must have fainted' for the first and the last time When I turned . swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand. “My- dear Watson,” said the well- ‘volce, “L owel i explanations, we hav BY A CONAN DOVIE s sand apologies. I had no idea that ycu would. be so affected.” I gripped him by the arms. “Holmes!” I cried. *Is it really you? Can it indeed be' that you'are alive? Is it possible that you succeed- climbing out of thatr awful ot it a moment,” said he. "Are you sure that you are really fit discuss things? I have given serious shock by my unnec: dramatic reappearance.” “I am all.right, but indeed,, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good heavens! to "think that you—you of ali men—should be standing in my Again I gripped him by the sinewy n Well, you're not a spirit, aid I. I'm overjoyed to see you. Sit: down, and tell me how you, came alive out of that dreadful cha€m.” - He sat oppesite to ‘me, and lit a cigarette in his old, noncha n ner.. He was dressed ' in the frock-coat of the book merchant, the rest of that individual lay in a p of white hair and old books upon t table. Holmes Jooked even thinn and keener thah of old, but there was a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told ‘'me that his life recently had/not been a healthy one. “I am glad to stretch myself, Wat- scn,” said he. “It is no joke when a tzll man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end. Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these if I may ask for your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night’s work in front of us. Ferhaps -it ‘would* be better if I gave you.an account of the whole situation when'!that. work is finished.” study.” T “I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now.” “You'll come with me to-night?” “Wien you like and where you like.” “This ‘is, indeed like the old days. thou~- We shall have time for a mouthful of ¢l gould desitoy them. “pected occ dinner before w about that ¢ difficulty need go. Well, then, I had no serious g out of it, for the agon that I never was s in it. My lutely genuine. Ik hat I had come to when [ perceived ster figure of the late tanding upen the led to safety. purpose in his some remarks u afterward re- and .obtained his to write the igarette box alked along the at my heels, end I stood at but he his long knéw that his was only an: weapon, threw He upon me. Wé upon tke brink of the me knowledge, how= g~ Japanese sys- h has more than 1 to me. I slipped he with a hor- adly for a few the air with both all his efforts he »alance, and over he over the brink, I a long way. Then s k a roc bounded off, and hed into the water.” Listened th amazement to this h Holmes delivered s of his cigarette. “ I eried. “I saw, hat tweo went e returned.™ is way. The in- sor had disap- what a really ex- chance Fate had I know that Mori- arty was not only man who had 8 s death. There were at least s whose desire for venge- would only be increased der. They wers One or other y get me. On the other orld was convineced 1 they would take liber- e men, they would soom lay open, and- sooner or later Then it would e to announce that I was still in the land ef the living. Seo rapid- ly does the brain act that 1 believe I had thought this all out before Professor Mo- riarty had reached the bottom of the Reichenbach Fall. “1 stood and ex- amined wall behind me. ‘In your pictupesque ac=- count of the matter, which I read with- great interest some months later, you as- sert that the wall was sheer. That was not literally true. A few small footholds presented them- selves, and there was some indication of 2 ledge. The cliff is so high that te climb it all ws ious impossibil= ity, and it w y impossible to along the wet path withe tracks. I might, it I8 ed my boots, as 1 have sions, but the sight acks in one direction » suggested a de- then, it was the climb. It ness, Watsom. 2 e. I am net ., but 1 give you my d 10 hear Moriarity’s out of the abyss. e been fatal. More f grass came out »ot slipped in the , I thought that “It c stant that the traordin placed in my y the death of ali mo: themselv ke ‘titne for T and at deep o feet »> and covered with soft green I could lie unseen in the rt. There I was . my dear Watson, were investigat- ing in the 1pathetic and inef- ficiert manner the circumstances of my death. when you had all formed totally erroneous u departed for the ho- tel, and I was left alone. I had imagined that I had reached the ead of yny adventures, but a Very umex- rrence showed me that there were surprises still in store for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant T thought that it was an acel- dent, but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head against the dark- en’ng sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was stretched, within a foot of my head, Of course, the meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alome. A confederate—and even that ome glanve had told me how dangerous' & man ‘that guard whil: me, - From