The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 21, 1905, Page 1

t promiges { s It han Doyle Phillips d frosty tather cool to do another so soon and ear, but it is.they, beyond all doubt. a hanging matter this time,” ‘Siv Eustace is dead, then?” his head’ was knocked = i t in with his own poker."” *Sir ustace Bracken- stall, the .driver tells me xactly—one of the riches Kent—I in the morn- ing-room. Poor lady, she has had a most year. I suppose it is no use my at- tempting to conceal that our marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbors would tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault may be partly mine. 1 was brought up in the freer, less con- ventional atmosphére of South. Austras lia, and this English life, with its pro- prieties and its primness, is not conge- nial to me. But the main reason lies in the one fact, which is notorious to every one, and that is that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means for a scnsitive and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for gay and night? It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is binding. I say that these monstrous” laws of yours | bring a curse upon the land—God 1 not "let such wickedness endure.” For an instant shé sat up, her cheeks flushed and her eyes blazing from un- der the terrible mark upon her ‘brow. Then the strong, soothing hand of the augstere maid drew her head down on the cushion, and the wild anger died away ipto pas: she continues “1 will tell you about last night. You are aware, nerhaps, that in this house all the serv- ants sleep in the modern wing. 1 tainte again it “been - for “a . very.. few minutes, during which I was insensible. When I ope -my . eyes 1 found t they had col- lected &he silver ‘from the ird “and. they had drawn a bottle of wine which stood there. Each of%.them had a -glass in his hand. I have already told you, have I not,that one was elderly, with a beard, and the others: young, . hairless lads? They might have been ‘a father .with his two sons: They talked together - in whispers. Then they came over and made sure thet I was securely: bound.” Finally they withdrew, closing .. the - window after them. It was quite a quarter of an hour be- fore I got my mouth onate sobbing. At last free. When I g shail up an yvou possibly the E he in tur 1l that make here we a d. we shall a fair At of miles through ought us to a d for us by s haggard r some great T T avenue r through a park, between 1 of ' ancient i ended I a low, widespread use, ¥ red in front after the fash- fon of Palladio. The, central part was evidently of great age and shrouded in ivy, but the large windows showed that modern changes had,been carried.out, and one wing of the house appeared to be entirely mew. The youthful figure and alert, eager face of Inspector Stan- ley Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway. “I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you, too, Dr. Watson. But, indeed, if T had my time over again, 1 should not have troubled you, for since the lady has come to herself she has given so clear an account of the affair that there is not ‘much left for us to do. You remember that Lewisham gang of burglars?” “What, the three Randalls?” “Exactly; the father and two sons. 1t's their work. I have not a doubt of it. They did a job at Sydenham a fort- night ago and were seen and described, » tion dreadful experience. :She seemed half dead. when I saw her first. I think you had best see her'and hear her ac- count of the facts. . Then we will exam- ine the dining-room together.”. Lady BErackenstall ‘was no- ordinary person. Seldorh have I séen so gracetul gure, so womanly a presence and 8o uiiful a face. She was a blonde, #olden-haired, blue-eyed, and would no doubt have had the perfect complexion which goes with such coloring had not her recent cxperience ieft her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were phy- sical as well as mental; for over one eye roge a hideous, plum-colored swell- ing, which her maid, a tall, austere wo- man, was bathing assiduously with gar and water. The lady lay back “xhausted upon a couch, but her quiék, observant gaze as we entered the room alert expression of her beauti- es shcwed “that neither her wits nor courage had been shaken by her terrible experience. She was en- cloped in a loose dressing-gown of biue and silver, but a black sequin- covered -dinner dress was hung upon the couch beside her. "I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins,” she said, wearily; “could you not repeat it for-me? Well, if.you think it necessary I will tell these gen- tlemen what occurred. Haye they been in the dining-room yet?” ' I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first.” “I shall- be glad, when you; can ar- range matters. It is herrible to, me to think of himsstill lying there.” She shuddered and buried- her, face in.her hands.” As she did so the loose gown, fell back from' her foréarms. Holmes uttered an exclamation. “You have other injuries, madam! What is this?” Two vivid: red. spots stood out on one of the White, round ~ limbs. She hastily covered-it. > “It is nothing. It has no-connection ' with this hideous business tq-night. If you and your friend will sit down I will tell you all I can. “I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brack- enstall. I have been married- about a 2 This cen- tral block is made. up of the dwelling- rooms, with the il kitchen behind and i | our bedroom above. WY My maid," Theresa, BV ciceps above my room. ¥ There is no one else; and no sound could alarm those who are in the further wing. Thie must have been well known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did. “Sir Eustace retired about 10:30 o’clock. The servants had already gone to their quarters. ‘Only my maid was -up, ‘and she had remained in her room at the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat until after 11 in this room, .absorbed in a book. = Then I walked around to see that all was right before 1 went upstairs. It was my custom to do this myself, for, as I have explained, Sir Eustace was hot always to be trusted. I went into the kitchen, the butler’s pantry, the gunroom, the billiard-room, the drawing-room and finally the dining-room. As I ap- proached the window, which is covered with thick curtains, I suddenly felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it was oven. I flung the curtain aside and found myself face' to face. -with a broad-shouldered, elderly man, who had just stepped into the room. The window is a long French one, which really forms a door leading to the lawn. I held my bedroom candle lit in my hand, and by its light behind the first man I saw two others, who were in the act of entering. I stépped back, but the fellow was on me in an instant. He caught me first by the wrist, and then by the throat. I opened my mouth to #cream, but he struck ‘me 'a savage blow with his fist over the eve, and felled me to the ground. I must have been' uncomscious for a few minutes, for when I came to.myself I found that they had. torn down ;the belrope, and had secured me- tightly to the oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-table. ‘I was, so’ firmly bound that I could not move, and a handker- chief round my- mouth prevented me from uttering a sound. ; It was at this instant that my unforturate husband entered the. room. He had evidently heard some suspicious sounds, and he camne prepared for such a.scene as-he found., He ‘was dressed-in hM shirt and trousers, with ‘his fayorite black- thorn cudgel in his' hand. He rushed at the burglars, but another—it was an elderly, man, .stooped, 'picked the poker out of the grate and struck him a-horrible blow as he.passed. He' fell with a groan_and never moved again. i \ the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On the left weas a large, deep fireplace, with a ‘massive, overhanging oak mantelpiece. Bedide the fireplace was a‘heavy oaken chair with arms and cross- bars at the bottom. (In and out through the open wood- ‘work was avoven a erimson Jid jro my ‘screatts broufht. the Chen:side to. Ut oros Bicce B e oy e L her below. In releasing the lady, sérvants® were .soon alarmed,|and, W€ ‘gpo'coid had heen slipped off & sent for the local police, who instantly . per, but .the - knots with communicated with. London. That is \hich it had been secured really all that I, can, tell you, gentle- men, and I trust that it will not be necessary for me to go over so painful a story again.” : “Any questions, Mr. Holmes?” asked Hopkins. “I will not impose any further tax: upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and- time,” said Holmes. “Before I go into the dining-10om, I should like to hear your experience.” He looked at. the, maid. “I saw the men Dbefore ever they came into the house,” said she. '“As I sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. ‘Tt was fmore than an hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to find her, poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor, with his"blood and brains over the room. It was enough to drive a: woman out of her wits, tied there, and her very dress spotted with him, but she never want- ed courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and . Lady _Brackenstall of Abbey Grange hasn’t learned new ways. You've questioned her long enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her, room, just with her old- Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs.”- ‘With ‘a motherly tenderness' the gaunt woman- put her arm round her mistress and led her from the room. “She has been with her all her life,” said Hopkins, “Nursed her as a baby, and came with her to-England when they first left Australia, ~eighteen months ‘ago. Theresa ‘Wright is her name, and the kind of maid you don’t pick up nowadays. -This -~ way, "Mr. Holnies, if-yow please!” .. " The keen Interest had. passed out of Holmes’ 'expressive face, and I'knew that with theé mystery alli the' charm of = the case had:departed- .“There.still re-: mained an arrest to- be; effected, but. what were .these commonplace rogues. that ‘he’ should:. soil' His hands with them? . An. abstruse and- learned specialist who finds 'that ;he ‘has been:: called in for a :‘:1 e experience some X no which I read in.my.friénd’s eves. _‘:’g:, “the scene in" the dining-room of _his willing 4! windows the right Abbe; range ciently stra 3 to -.r:;‘e't his mnflau‘ugd to r A It ‘'wasa very ge of measles would . t still remained, These detalls only struck - our - attention afterward, for our thoughts 3 were entirely absorbed by ithe terrible object which ‘lay upon, the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire. It was the body of a tall. well-made man, about forty years of age. He lay upon_his_back, his ,(nce\upturneq. with his White- tee{lt grinning’ through' his short, black beard. His. two clenghed hands were.rajsed above his head. and 'a’ heavy, blackthorn stick . lay. across house without him. ‘them. His’dark, handsome, aqueline features were convulsed into a spasm -of vindictive hatred, which had set his .déad ‘face in @' terrible fiendish éxvres: sibn. ‘He had evidently been in his bed wore a_ ' foppish, ‘embroidered night- shirt, ‘and his bare feét projected from his trousers. - His head was horribly in- juréd, and the whole room bore witness to the savage ferocity of ‘the blow ¢ which .haed struck him down. Beside. him lay the -heavy. poker, bent into'a ‘curve by the concussion. Holmes ex- amined both it and the indescribable wreck which' it had wrought. : “He -must. ‘be a powerful mani elder Randall,”” he remarked. “Yes,” said Hopkins. “I have some reeord of the fellow, and he is a rourh customer.” % difficulty in this “You should have no getting him."” “Not the slightest. We have been on the lookout for him, and - there was some idea ‘that he had got ' away’to America. Now that we know that the gang are here, I don’'t see how they can escape. We have the ‘news at every seaport already, and a reward will be offered before évening. What ‘bests me is how they could have done 80 mad a thing, knowing that the lddy could describe them, and that we' could not fail to reco; the descrintion.” \“Exactly. - One ‘Would ‘have expected that they 'would Have - silenced’ Ladv “B) na!:; as’ welL.” et “They not have realized.” I sug- gwmnf’t!n sheé had recqvered: from' ers e e . JtFHa h.umy:.eiomlx: «If ‘she seem- to:be 5:: ; What about, this.poor felloy, ‘.";uomh éc;fll;:e heard some .queer stories about, 2* q“"fle was a good-hearted man when was'| , but’a perfect flend when e ek B they would. not take - his drenching a ‘dog with . petroleum and “setting it on fire—her ladyvshiD’s dog to make the matter worse—and that was only hushed up with difficulty. Then he threw a decanter at that maid, “Theresa ‘Wright. There was trouble about that. On the whole, and . be- “‘tweem? ourselves, it will be a brighter ‘What are you looking ‘at now?"* 4 Holmes was down on his knees ex- aminjng with great attention the knots upon “the red. cord with which the lady had been secured. Then Re care- -~when the alarm had broken out. fof he fully' scrutinized the broken and frayed end where. it had snapped off when the burgiar had dragged it down. ‘“When. this wds pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have rung loudly,” he remarked.; - ‘‘No _one could hear it. The kitche) stands right at the jback of the house. ‘How »did the burglar know no one would: hear it?. How dared he pull at a belltope.in that reckléss fashion?” - “Exactly, 'Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put'the. very questicn- whi¢ch I have asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that.this fellow must have known the house and its habits. He. must have perfectly understood that the servants would all be in bed that comparatively ‘early hour, and it No one could- possibly hear a bell ring in the kitchen. Therefore he niust’ have been in close league with one of the servants. - Surely that is evident.. But there, are- eight servants, and-all of good character.” 3 being . equal,” said nog’xr" ne would- suspect the one at whose head the master threw a de- canter. And .yet that would involve ‘ treachery ‘ toward the mistress to whom this’ woman ; seems devoted. “-Well,” well, the point is a minor one, . and when you have dall you ' will ' probably find no in_ securing his accomplice. “ ‘The lady’s story cer- ‘tainly seems to ‘be corroborated.if it needed corroboration, by every detail ‘ which we'see’ before us.” - He walked to the French window and threw .t open. . “There are no signs here, but “.the ground.is iron hard and cne would not expect them. 1:see that these ber,-with carved “He- ‘really went C2Rdles in’ the mantelpiece have been neling, and ‘a fine “devil’ seerried to - llghted.” . . ! flmnamcam we uch times. and he was '-’nu.w by their 1:ight and that ol A e el ehd i n8 chpubie S unyining Bt MhalL or thd may oo cndl e a . smalier " title, he very nearly camé-our way once - ‘“And what 'd1d they take?" - filled - or twice. There “Well, they did_ not take much—only. half ;a .dozen articles ot plate’ off the sidebeard. . Lady’ Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so dis- turbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the house, as t.hq would ‘otherwise have done.” «“No doubt’ that is' true, .and yet they drank some 'wine, .I' understand.” “To:steady’ their nerves.” “Exactly.. ‘' These ‘threeglasses upon the sideboard’ have' been untouched, I suppose ?” “Yes, and-the bottle stands as they left it “Let us look at it. ‘What is this?" - The three glasses' were grouped to- getker, all of. themr tinged with wine, and ‘one of théem containing some dregs of beeswing. The -bottle stood near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply stained cork. Its appearanee and therdust upon the bot- tle; showed that was mo common vin- tage which the murderers had enjoyed. A change had come over Holmes’ manner. He had lost his listless ex- pression and again I saw an alert light of interest in his Keen, deep-set eyeés. ' He raised the cork and exam- ‘ined: it minutely. “How did ‘they draw it?” he asked. Hopkins peinted to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen and a large corkscrew. “Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?’ ' “No, you remember that 'she was senseless at the moment when the bot- tle was opened.” “Quite 0. As a matter of fact. that screw was not used. This bottle was opened by a pocket screw. probably contained in a knife, and not more than an inch and a half long. If you will examine the top of the cork. you will observe that the sérew was driven in three' times before’ the cork was ex- tracted. It has neyer been transfixed. This long screw would have transfixed it- and drawn it up with a single pull. ‘When you 'catch thi# fellow, you will find ‘that he has one of these muitiplex knives in his possession.”” “Excellent!” said Hopkins. “But- these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. - Lady Brackenstall actually saw the three men drinking. did she not?” “ ; she was clear about that.” “Then there is an end of it. What more is there to be satd”? And yet. you must admit, that the three zlasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What? You see nothing remarkable? Well. well. let it pass. Perhaps, when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. Of course, it muyst be a mere ;chance about the glasses. Well, good gporning. Hobkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear to have your case very-clear.. You-will let me know when Randall / is arrested, and any further developments which may oceur. I trust that I shall soon have to congratulate upon a successful coneclusion. ‘Watson, 1 fancy that we may more profitably a: Halloa, halloa! you Come, employ ourselves home.” During our return journmey, I could ¢