The evening world. Newspaper, March 25, 1905, Page 11

No. 7 OF THE SERIES. | ff Ge MYSTERY fof CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON. By Sir A. Conan Doyle. Author of ‘‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” ‘‘The Adven tures of Brigadier Gerard,” ‘The Sign of the Four,” “‘A Study In Scarlet,” Etc. (Copyright, 1904, by A. Conan Doyle and Collier's Weekly.) (Copyright, 1905, by McClure, Phillips & Co.) (Copyright, 1905, by the Press Publishing Company.) 4ST Sotho ete « $3 yore ee y T is years since the incidents of which 1 speak took place, and yet itis with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, even with the utmost dis- cretion and reticence, it would have been {mpos- sible to make the facts public; but now the prin- cipal person concerned is beyond the reach of hu- man law, and with due suppression the story may be told in such fashion as to injure no one, It records an absolutely unique experience in the career both of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of my- self, The reader will excuse me if I conceal the date of, afty other fact. by. which -he might. trace the actual occurrence. We had been out for one of our evening ram- bles, Holmes and [, and had returned about 6 o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's evening, As Holmes turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. Ha glanced at it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on'the floor, I picked it up and read: CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVER70N, | APPLEDORD TOWERS, HAMPSTEAD. AGENT. “Who is he?’’ I asked. “The worst man in London," Holmes answered, as he sat down and slretched his legs before the fire, ‘Is anything on the back of the card?” I turned it over. “Will call at 6.80~-C, A. M." I read, “Hum! He's avout due. Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation, . Watson, when yon stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with thelr deadly eyes and wicked, flattened faces? Well, that’s how Milverton impresses me. I've had to do with fifty! murderers in my career, but the worst of them: never gave me the repulsion I have for this fellow. And yet I can't get out of doing business with him— indeed, he is here at my invitation,” “But who is he?” “I'll tell you, Watson. He {s the king of all the blackmailers, Heaven help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and reputation come into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and a heart of marble, he will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained them dry, The fellow is a genius in his way, and would have made his mark in some more savory trade. His method is as follows: He allows it to be known that he is prepared to pay very high sums for letters which compromise peop]: of wealth and position. He receives these wares not only from treacherous, i valets or maids, but frequently from genteel ruffians, who have gained the confidence and affection of trusting women. He deals with no niggard) hand. [ happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a foot- man for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result. Everything which is in the market goes to Milverton, and there are hundreds in this great city who turn white at his name. No one knows where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too cunning to work from hand to mouth, He will hold a card back for years in order to play It at the moment when the stake is best worth winning, I have sald that he is the worst man in London, and I would ask you how could one compare the ruffan who in hot blood bludgeons his mate with his man, wio methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?” | had seldom heard my friend speak with such Intensity of feeling, “But surely,’ said 1, “the fellow must be within the grasp of the law?" "Technically, no doubt, but practically not, What would it profit a woman, for example, to get him a few months’ imprisonment, if her own ruin must immediately follow? His victims dare not hit back, If ever he 4 et ry i x su} ” , Cipabel MRD a ld it yg. se ARR sere Me SRG st NN ata ORR Tall: CPN PR AS ca AN a a TZ a OAS Ne a il hl Si ih aa a lahat a a dj “ Pee tng te MERE MEER i | \ q