The evening world. Newspaper, May 6, 1905, Page 11

Last Story of This Series. DVENTURE « ey ECOND TAIN. By Sir A. Conan Doyle. (COPYRIGHT, 100 BY A, N DOYL WERKLY AND M'CLURP. PHILLIPS & CO.) HAD intended “The Adventure of the Abbey last of those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever communicate to the public. is resolution of mine was not due to any lack of material, since | had notes of many hundreds of to which I have never alluded, nor was it caused by any waning interest on the part of my readers in the singular personality and unique methods of this remarkable man, The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr, Holmes has shown to the continued publication of his experiences, So long as he was in actual professional practice the records of his Successes were of some practical value to him, but since he has definitely retired from London and betaken himself to study and bee-farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him, and he has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this matter should be strictly observed. It was only upon my rep- resenting to him that I had given a promise that “The Adven- ture of the Second Stain” should be published when the times were ripe, and pointing out to him that it is only appropriate that this long series of episodes should culminate in the most important international case which he has ever been called upon to handle, that I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a carefully guarded account cf the incident should at last be laid before the public, If in telling the story 1 seem to nge’’ to be the aaah ttn be somewhat vague in certain details, the public will readily understand that there is an excellent reason for my reticence, It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be nameless, that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two visitors of European fame within the walls of our humble room in Baker street. e one, auster: n-nosed, eagle-eyed and dom- inant, was none other than the illustrious Lord Bellinger, twice Premier of Britain, The other, dark, clear-cut and elegant, hardly yet of middle age and endowed with every beauty of body and of mind, was the Right Honorable Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman in the country, They sat side upon our paper-littered settee, and it was easy to see from their worn and anxiou that it was business of the most pressing importance which had brought them. Premier’s thin, blue-veined hands were clasped tightly over the ivory head of his um- brella, and his gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from Holmes to me, The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache and fidgeted with the seals of his watch- chain, “When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at 8 o'clock this morning, | at once informed the Prime Minister. It was at his suggestion that we have both come to you.” “Have you informed the police?” “No, sir,” said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive manner for which he was famous, “We have not done so, nor is it possible that we should do so, To inform the police must, in the long run, mean to inform the public. This is what we pa larly desire to avoid.” “And why, sir?” “Decause the document in question is of such immense importance that its public tion might very easily—I might almost say probably—lead to European complications of the utmost moment. It is not too much to say that peace or war may hang upon the issue, Unless its recovery can be attended with the utmost secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered at all, for all that is aimed at by those who have taken it is that contents should be generally known.” “1 understand. Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much obliged if you would tell me exactly the circumstances under which this document disappeare “That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes, The letter—for It was a letter from a foreign potentate—was received six days ago. It was of such importance that I have never left it in my safe, but I have taken it across each evening to my house RL DT SRAWD RS -¢ E This is the last story of the present Sherlock Holmes series. Next Saturday THE EVENING WORLD will ; commence the publication of a new series entitled i ; i ‘Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman.’’ x These stories, which have never before been published i in a newspaper, are from the pen of RK. W. Hornung, a i brother-in-law of Sir A. Conan Doyle. There will be Thirteen Stories in this New Sertes, and they will be published one each Saturday in THE EVE- NING WORLD for the next three months, Do Not Miss the First Story of the New Series Next Saturday. RRR HL ve acne aT TV TARR Wa HTT in Whitehall Terrace and kept it in my bedroom in a locked despatch-hox. It was there y opened the box while | was dressing for dinner and saw the document inside. This morning it was gone. The despatch-box had stood beside the glass upon my dressing-table all night. 1 ama light sleeper, and so is my wife, We are both prepared to swear that no one could have entered the room during the night. And yet I repeat that the paper is gone,” “What time did you dine?” “Half-past seven.” “How long was it before you went to bed?” “My wife had gone to the theatre. 1 waited up for her. went to our room.” “Then for four hours the despateh-box had Jain unguarded?” “No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid in the mornin; and my valet or my wife’s maid during the rest of the day, They are both trusty s vants who have been with us for some time, Besides, neither of them could possijfty have known that there was anything more valuable than the ordinary departmentat papers in my despatch-box.”’ “Who did know of the existence of that letter?” It was 11.30 before we