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The East Huron Gazette, 1892-12-01, Page 2e AN INTRICATE CASE. A TRUE HISTORY OF A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE. CHAPTER IIL Is -OUFST OF A SOLUTION. 2 'was half -past five before Holm tamed. He was bright, eager, and cellent spirits,—a mood which in hi alternated With fits of the blackest cion. " There is no great mystery in matter," he said, taking the cup which I had poured out for him. facts appear to admit of only one ex tion." "What ! you have solved it alread " Well that would he too much to I have discovered a suggestive fact, t all. It is, however, very suggestive. details are still to be added. I hay found, on consulting the back files o Times, that Major Shelia, of Upper wood, late of the 34th Bombay Inf died upon the 28th of April, 1882." " I may be very obtuse, Holmes, fail to see what this suggests." "No? You surprise me. Look at this way, then. Captain Morstan pears. The only person in London he could have visited is MajorSholto. or Shoito denies having heard that h in London. Fonr years later Sholto Within a week of hisdeath Captain Mors daughter receive° a valuable present, w is repeated from year to year, and now urinates in a letter which describes her wronged woman. What wrong can it to except this deprivation of her fat And why should the presents begin im ately after.Sholto's death, unless it is Sholto's heir knows something of the tory and desires to make compensa Have you any alternative theory which meet the facts?" " But what a strange compensation ! how strangely made ! Why, too, shoal write a letter now, rather than six y ago ? Again, the letter speaks of gi her justice. What justice can she h It is too much to suppose that her fathe still alive. There is no other injustic her case that you know of." "There are difficulties; there are certa difficulties," said Sherlock Holmes pens ly. " Bat our expeditionof to -night will s them all. Ah, here is a four -wheeler, Miss Morstan is inside. Are you all re Then we had better go down,for it is a li past the hdnr." - 1 picked up my hat and my heav stick, but I observed that Holmes took revolver from his drawer and slipped it his pocket. It watt clear that he thou that our night's work might be a se one. es re- in ex - 13 Case depres- this of tea " The plana - y. say. hat is The e just f the Nor - entry, but I it in disap- whom Maj - e was dies. tan's hich cut - as a refer her? medi- that mys- tion ? will And d he ears ving ave ? ✓ is e in inly ive- olve and ady? ttle iest his into ght nous Miss Morstan was muffled in a dark clo and her sensitive face was composed, pale. She must have been more than wo if she did not feel some uneasiness at stran e enterprise upon which we were barking, yet her self-control was perf and she readily answered the few redditi al questions which Sherlock Holmes put her. "Major Sholto was a very particu friend of papa's," she said. "His lett were full of allusions to the major. He a papa were in command of the troops at Andaman Islands, so they were throw great deal together. By the way, a curt paper was found in papa's desk which one could understand. I don't suppose th it is of the slightest importance, bu thought you might care to see it,se I broug it with me. It is here." Holmes unfolded the paper carefully a smoothed it oat upon his knee. He th very methodically examined it all over wi his double lens. "It is paper of native Indian manufa ture," he remarked. "It has at sone tim been pinned to a board. The diagram upo ak, but man the em - give me your word that neither of your ootnpanions is a palfce-officer." "I give you my- word on that," she an- swered.. gave a shrill whistle, on which a street Arab led across a four -wheeler and opened the door. The man who had ad- dressed us mounted to the box, while we took our places inside. We had hardly done so before the driver whipped up his horse, and we plunged away at a furious pace through the foggy streets. The situation was a curious one. We were driving to an unknown place, on an errand. Yet our invitation was either a complete hoax, —which was an inconceivable hypothesis,—or else we had good reason to think that important issues might hang upon our journey. Miss Morstan's de- meanor was as resolute and collected as ever. I endeavored to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan ; but, to tell the troth, I was myself so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly involved. To this day she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked into my tent at the dead of night, and how I fired a double- barrelled tiger cab at it. At first I had some idea as to the direction in which we were driving ; but soon, what with our pace, the fog, and my own limited knowledge of London, I lost my bearings, and knew nothing, save that we seemed to be going a very long way. Sherlock Holmes was never at fault, however, and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out by tortuous by -streets. "Rochester Row," said he. "Now Vin- cent Square. Now we come oat oa the Vauxhall Bridge road. We are making for the Surrey side, apparently. Yes, I thought so. Now we are on the bridge. You can catch glimpses of the river." We did indeed get a fleeting view of a stretch of the Thames with the lamps shin- ing upon the broad, silent water ; but our cab dashed on, and was soon involved in a labyrinth of streets upon the other side. " Wordsworth Road," said my compan- ion. " Priory Road. Lsrk Hall Lane. Stockwell Place. Robert Street. Cold Harbor Lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions." We had, indeed, reached a questionable and forbidding neighborhood. Long lines of dull brick houses were only relieved by the coarse glare and tawdry brilliancy of public houses at the corner. Then came rows of two -storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden, and then again intermin- able lines ot new staring brick buildings,— the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace. None of the other houses were inhabited, and that at which we stopped ra On in - ant ing ne- tal ay nd ng em ow ect, was as dark as its neighbors, save fo on- single glimmer in the kitchen window. to our knocking, however, the door was stantly thown open by a Hindoo sere lar clad in a yellow turban, white loose-fitt ers clothes, and a yellow sash. There was sot nd thing strongly incongruous in this Orien the figure framed in the commonplace door -w n a of a third-rate suburban dwelling -house. ous " The Sahib awaits you," said he, a no even as he spoke there came a high pipi at voice from some inner room. "Show th t I in to me, khitmutgar," it cried. "Sh ht nd en th c- it appears to be a plan of part of . a lar building with numerous halls, corridor and passages. At one point is a small oro done in red ink, 'and above it is '2.37 fro left,' in faded pencil -writing. 'In the lef hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic lik four crosses in a line withtheirarms touc ing. Beside it is written, in very roug and coarse characters, 'The sign of the fou —Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdu lah Khan, Dost Akbar.' No, I confess tha I do not see how this bears upon th matter. Yet it is evidently a document o importance. It has been kept carefully i a pocket -book ; for the one side is as clea as the other." "It was in his pocket -book that we foun it." "Preserve it carefully, then, Miss Morsta for it aray, prove to be of use to us. I begi to suspect that this matter may turn ou to be much deeper and more subtle than at first supposed. I must reconsider m ideas." He leaned back in thecab, and could see by his drawn brew and hi vacant eye that he was thinking intently Miss Morstan and I chatted in an ander tone about our present expedition and its possible outcome, but our companion main tained his impenetrable reserve until th end of our journey. It was a September evening, and not ye seven o'clock, but the day had been a dreary one, and a dense drizzly fog lay low upon the great city. Mud -colored clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement. The yellow glare from the shop -windows streamed out into the steamy, vaporous air, and threw a murky, shifting radiance across the crowded thoroughfare. There was, to My mind, something eerie and - ghost -like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light,—sad faces and glad, haggard and merry. Like all human kind, they flitted from the gloom into the light, and so back into the gloom once more. I am not sub- ject to impressions, but the dull, heavy evening, with, the strange business upon . which we were engaged, combined to snake me nervous and depressed. I could see from Miss Morstan's manner that she was suffering from the same feeling. Holmes alone could rise superior to petty influences. He , held --kis open notebook upon his knee, and trom time to time he jotted down figures and memoranda in the light of his pocket -lantern. At the Lyceum Theatre,the crowds were already thick at the side -entrances. In f ont a continuo :s stream of hansoms and four -wheelers were rattling np, discharging their en: cargoes of shirt -fronted men and be- shawled, bediamonded vTmen. We had hardly reached the third*liar, whichwas our rendezvous, before a small, dark, brisk • man in the dress of a coachman accosted us. " Are yati the parties who come with Miss Montan ?" he asked. - "I anfMissMorstan,and these twogentle- men are my friends," said _she. • He bent a -pair e" wonderfully penetrating and questioning eyes upon ua. "Yon will creme miss, • he said, with a certain dog;. faaa,i , "kit I lace to ask _you` to them straight in to me." CHAPTER IV. THE STORY OF THE BALD-HEADED MAN'. We followed the Indian down a sordid and common passage, i11 lit and worse fur- nished, until he came to a door upon the right, which he threw open. A blaze of ge yellow Light streamed out upon us, and in s, I the centre of the glare there stood a small ss man with a very high head, a bristle of red m f hair all round the fringe of it, and a bald, t- shining scalp which shot out from among e it like a mountain.peak from fir -trees. He h- writhed his hands together as lie stood, and h his features were inaperpetual jerk,nowsmil- r, ing, now scowling, but never for an instant 1- in repose. Nature had given him apendulous t lip, anu a too vieible line of yellowaad irreg- e ular teeth, which he strove feebly to conceal f by constantly passing his hand over the lower n part of his face. In spite of his obstrusive n baldness, he gave the impression of youth. In point of fact he had just turned his d thirtieth year. - " Your servant, Miss Morstan," he kept n repeating, in a thin, high voice. " Your n servant, gentlemen. Pray step into my t little sanctum. A small place, miss, but I furnished to,my otvn liking. An oasis of art y in the howling desert of South London." I • We were all astonished by the appearance s of the apartment into which he invited us. . In that sorry house it looked as out of place - as a diatnohd of the first water in a setting of brass. The richest and glossiest of - curtains and tapestries draped the walls e looped back here and there to expose some richly -mounted painting or Oriental vase. t The carpet was of amber-and-black,so soft and so thick that the • foot sank pleasantly into it, as into a bed of moss. Two great tiger -skins thrown athwart it increased the suggestion of Eastern luxury, as did a huge hookah which stood upon a mat in the corner. A lamp in the fashion of a silver dove was hung from an almost invisible golden wire in the -centre of the room. As it burned it filled the air with a subtle and aromatic odor. " Mr. Thaddeus Sholto," said the little man, still jerking and smiling. " That is my name. You are Miss Morstan, of course. And thesegentlemen--" - "This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and this Dr. Watson." - " A doctor, eh ?" cried he, much excited. "Have you your stethoscope ? Might I ask you—would you have the kindness ? I have doubts as to my mitral valve, if you would be so very good. The aortic I may rely upon but 1 should value your opinion upon the mitral." I listened to his heart, as requested, but was unable to find anything amiss, save indeed that he was in an ecstasy of fear, for he shivered from head to : foot.. " It pears to he normal," I said. "You have no cause for uneasiness." " You will excuse my anxiety, Miss Morstan," he remarked, airily. " I am a great sufferer, and I have long had suspic- ions as to that valve. al ve. I ato hear that they are unwarranted. Haddelighted your father, Miss Morstan, refrained from throw- ing a strain upon his heart, he might have been alive now." I could have straek the man across the face, so hot was I at this callous and off- hand reference to so delicate a matter. Miss Morstan sat down, and her face grewwhiteto the lips. " I knew in my heart that he was dead," said she. "I can give you every information," said he, " and what is more, I can do yon justice ; : and I will, too, whatever Brother Bartholo- mew inay say. I am so glad -to have your friends here, not only as an escort toyou, but also as witnesses to what I am about to do and say. The three of usean show a bold front to Brother Bartholomew. Bat let us have no outsiders,—ileo police or officials. We can settle everything satisfactorily among ourselves, without any interference. Nothing would annoy Brother Bartholomew more than any publicity." He sat down upon a low settee and blinked at us inquir- ingly with his weak, watery blue eyes. "For my part," said. Holmes, `.whatever you may choose to say will go no further." I nodded to show my agreement. "That is well! That is well !" said. he. " May 1 offer you a glass of Chianti, Miss Morstan ? Or of Tokay ? I keep no other wines. Shall I open a flask ? No ? Well, then, I trust that you have no objection to tobacco -smoke, to the mild balsamic odor of the Easters tobacco. I am a little nervous, and I find my hookah an invaluable seda- tive." He applied a taper to the great bowl, and the smoke bubbled merrily through the rose-water. We sat all three in a semicircle, with our heads advanced, and our chins upon our hands,- while the strange, jerky little fellow, with his high, shining head, naffed uneasily in the centre." " When I first determined to make this communication to you," said he, " I might have given you my address, but I feared that yon might disregard my request and bring unpleasant people with you. I took the liberty, therefore, of making an appoint- ment in such a way that my man Williams might be able to see you first. I have com- plete confidence in his discretion, and he had orders, if he were dissatisfied, to pro- ceed no further in the matter. You will excuse,these precautions, but I am a man of somewhat retiring, and I might even say refined tastes, and there is - nothing mare unaesthetic than a policemen. 1 have a natural shrinking from all forms of rough materialism. I seldom, come in contact with the rough crowd. I live, as you see, with some little atmosphere of elegance arand m e. I may call myselt a patron of h o<erts. It is my weakness. The land- scape is a genuine Corot, and, though a con- noisseur might perhaps throw a doubt upon that Salvator Rosa, there cannot be the least questi ,n about the Bouguereau. I am partial to the modern French sch,00l." " You will excuse me, Mr. Sholto," said Miss Morstan, " but I am here at your re- quest to learn something which you desire to tell me. It is very late, and I should desire the interview to be as short as pos- sible." " At the best it must take some time," he answered ; "for we shall certainly have to go to Norwood and see Bartholomew. We shall all go and try if we can get the better of Brother Bartholomew. He is very angry with me for taking the course which has seemed right to me. I had quite high words with him last night. You cannot imagine what a terrible fellow he is when he is angry." " If we are to go to Norwood it would perhaps be as well to start at once," I ven- tared to remark. He laughed until his ears were quite red. " That would hardly do," he cried. " I don't know what he would say if I brought you in that sudden way. No, I must prepare you by showing you how we ail stand to each other. In the first place, I must tell you that there are several points in the story of whi h I am myself ignorant. I can only lay the facts before you as far as I know them myself, " My father was, as you may have guess- ed, Major John Sholto, once of the Indian army. He retired same eleven years ago, and came to live at Pondicherry Lodge in Upper Norwood. He had prospered in India, and brought back with him a considerable sum of money, a large collection of valuable curiosities, and a staff of native servants. With these advantages he bought himself a house; and lived in great luxury. My twin - brother Bartholomew and I were the only children. " I very well remember the sensation which was caused by the disappearance of Captain Morstan. We read the details in the papers, and, knowing that he had been a friend of our father's, we discussed the case freely in his presence. He used to join in our speculations as to what could have happened. Never for an instant did we suspect that he had the whole secret hidden in his own breast,—that of all men he alone knew the fate of Arthur Morstan. " We did know, however, that some mys- tery—some positive danger—overhung our father. He was very fearful of going out alone, and he always employed two prize- fighters to act as porters at Pondicherry Lodge. Williams, who drove you b -night, was one of them. He was once light -weight champion of England. Our father would never tell us what it was he feared, but he had a most marked aversion °to men with wooden legs. On one occasion he actually fired hisrevolver ata wooden -legged man ,who proved to be a harmless tradesman canvass- ing for orders. We had to pay a large sum to hush the matter up. 11Iy brother and I used to think this a mere whim of my father's, but events have since led us to change our opinion. " Early in 1882 my father received a letter from India which was a great shock to him. He nearly fainted at the breakfast. table when he opened it, and from that day he sickened to his death. What was in the letter we conld never discover, but I could see as he held it that it was short and writ- ten in a scrawling hand. He- had suffered for years from an enlarged spleen, but he now became rapidly worse, and towards the end of April we were informed that he was beyond all hope, and that he wished to make a last communication to us. " When we entered his room he was propped, up with pillows and breathing heavily. He besought us to lock the door and to come upon either side of the bed. Then, grasping our hands, he made a re- markable statement to us, in a voice which was broken as much by emotion as by pain. I shall try and give it to you in his own very words. "' I have only one thing,' he said, which weighs upon my mind at this su- preme moment. It is my treatment of poor Morstan's orphan. The cursed greed which has been my besetting sin through life has. withheld from her the -treasure, half at -least of which should have been hers. And yet I have made no use of it myself,—so blind and foolish a thing is avarice. The mere feeling of possession has been so dear. to me that I could not bear to share it with another. See that chaplet tipped with pearls besides the quinine -bottle. Even that I could not bear to part with, although I had got it out with the design of sending it to her. You, ray c for ou to ex and:was admitted by my faithful old Lal best put - the matter through with Chowder, who is now dead. Morstan and I - delay." had a difference of opinion as to the division of the treasure; and we came to heated words. Morstan had sprang oat of his chair in a paroxysm of anger, when he suddenly pressed his hand to his side,' his face turned a dusky hue, and he fell backwards, cutting his head against the corner of the treasure; chest. :'Vhen I stooped over him I found, to my horror, that he was dead. " `For a long time I sat half distracted, wondering what I should do. My first im- pulse was, of course, to call for assistance ; but I could not but recognize that there was every chance that I would be accused of his murder. His death at the moment of a quarrel, and the gash in his head, would be black against me. Again, an official inquiry could not be made without bringing out some facts about the treasure, which I was particularly anxious to keep secret. He had told me that no soul upon earth knew where he had gone. - There seemed to be no necessity why any soul ever should know. " ` I was still pondering over the matter, when, looking up, I saw my - servant, Lal Chowdar, in the door -way. He stole in and bolted the door behind him. Do not fear, Sahib," he said. " No one need know that you have killed him. Let us Indo him away, and who is the wiser ?" "I did not kill him," said I. Lal Chowdar, shook his head and smiled. " 1 heard it all. Sahib," said he. "I heard you quarrel, and 1 heard the blow. But my lips are sealed. All are asleep in the house. Let up put him away together." That was enough to decide me. If my own servant could not believe my innocence, how could I hope to make it good before twelve foolish tradesmen in a jury - box? Lal Chowdar and 1 disposed of the body that night, and within a few days the London papers were full of the my erious disappearance of Captain Morstan You will see from what I say that I can hard lybe blamed in the matter. My fault lies in the fact that we concealed not only the body, but also the treasure, and that I have clung At the mention of this gigantic sum we to. forstan'sshare as well as to my own. all stared at one another open-eyed. Miss I wish yon, therefore, to make restitution. Morstan, could we secure her rights, would Put your ears dowr to my mouth. The change from a needy governess to the rich - treasure in hidden in--" Atthis instant est heiress in England. Surely it was the a horrible change came over his&expression; place of a loyal friend to rejoice at such his eyes stared wildly, his jaws dropped, news ; yet I am ashamed to say that selfish - and he yelled, in a voice which I can never nes took me by the soul, and that my heart forget, " keep hint out ! For Christ's sake turned as heavy ns lead within me. I stem - keep him out ! " We both stared roan i mered out some few halting words of con - at the window behind us upon which his gratulation, and then sat downcast, with my gaze was fixed. A face was poking in at head drooped, deaf to the babble of our new us out of the darkness. We could see the acquaintance. He was clearly a confirmed whitening of the nose where it was pressed hypochondriac,and I was dreamily conscious against &lie glass. It was a bearded, hairy that he was pouring forth interminable face, with wild.ernel eyes and an expression trains of symptoms, and imploring informa- of concentrated malevolence. My brother tion as to the composition and action of in - and I rushed towards the window, but the numerable quack nostrums, some of which man was gone. When we returned to my he bore about in a leather case in his pocket. father his heed had dropped and his to, I trust that he may not remember any of the had ceased to beat. answers which I gave him that night. " We reached the garden that night, but Holmes declares that he overheard me cau- found no sign of the intruder, save that tion him against the great danger of taking just under the wind° v a single footmark more than two drops of castor oil, while I was visible in the flower -bed. But for that recommended strychnine in large doses as a one trace, we might have thought that our sedative. However that may be, I was cer- imagination had - conjured up that wild, tainly relieved when our cab pulled up with fierce face. We soon, however, hadanother a jerk and the coachman sprang down to and a more striking proof that there were open the door. secret agencies at work all round ns. The " This Miss Morstan, is Pondicherry window of my father's room was found open Lodge," said Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, as he in the morning, his cupboards and boxes handed her out. had been rifled, and upon his chest was (To BE CONTINUED.) fixed a torn piece of paper, with the words "The sign of the four " scrawled across -it. What the phrase meant, or who our secret visitor may have been, we never knew. As far as we can judge, none of my father's property had been actually stolen, though everything had been turned out. My brother and I naturally associated the pe- culiar incident,with the -fear whichhaunted my father during his life ; but it is still a complete mystery to us. " Our new acquaintance very delibera coiled up the tube of his hookah, and pro- duced from behind a curtain a very long be frogged topcoat with Astrakhan collar and cuffs. This he battened tightly up, in spite of the extreme closeness of the night, and finished his attire by putting on a rab- bit -skin cap with hanging lappets which covered the ears, so that no part of him was visible save his mobile and peaky face. "My health is somewhat fragile," he re- marked, as he led the way down the pas- sage. "I am compelled to be a valetudi- - narian. Our cab was awaiting us outside; and our programme was evidently prearranged, for the driver started off at once at a rapid pace. Thaddeus Sholto talked incessantly, in a voice which rose high above the rattle of the wheels. Z!LATE BRIPISII Yf Fac, "Bartholomew is a clever fellow," said he. "How do you think he found out where the treasure was ? He had come to the conclusion that it was some where,out of doors: so he worked out all the cubic space of the house, and made measurements everywhere, so that not one inch should be unaccounted for. Among other things, he found that the height of the building was seventy-four feet, but on adding together the heights of all the separate rooms, and Braking every allowance for the space be- tween, which he ascertained by borings, he could not bring the total to more than. seventy feet„ There were four feet account- ed for. These could only be at the top of the building. He knocked a hole, there- fore, in the lath -and -plaster ceiling of the highest room, and there, sure enough, he came upon another little garret above it, which had been sealed up and was known to no one. In the centre stood the treas- ure -chest, resting upon two rafters. He lowered it throuvh the hole, and there it lies. He computes thevalueof jewels at not less than half a million sterling." The little man stopped to relight his hookah and puffed thoughtfully for a few moments. We had all sat absorbed, listen- ing to his extraordinary narrative. At the short account of her father's death Miss Morstan had turned deadly white, and for a moment Ifeared thatshe was about to faint. She rallied, however, on drinking a glass of water which I quietly poured out for her from a Venetian carafe upon the side.table. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair with an abstracted expression and the lids drawn low over his glittering eyes. As I glanced at him I could not but think how on that very day he had complained bitterly of the commonplaceness of life. Here at least was a problem which would tax his sagacity to the utmost. Mr. Thaddeus Sholto looked from one to the other of us with an obvious pride at the effect which his story had pro- duced, and then continued between the puffs of his overgrown pipe. "My brother and I," said he, "were, as you m•iy imagine, much excited as to the treasure which_ my father had spoken of. For we -ks and for months we dug and delved in every part of the garden, without discovering its whereabouts. It was maddening to think that the hiding place was on his very lips at the moment that he died. We could judge the splendor of the missing riches by the chaplet which he had taken out. Over this chaplet my brother Bartholomew and I had some little discussion. The pearls were evidently of great value, and he was averse to part with them, for, between friends, my brother was himself a little inclined to my father's fault. He thought, too, .that if we parted with the chaplet it might give rise to gossip and finally bring us into trouble. It was all that I could do to persuade him to let me find oast Miss Morstan's address aid send her a detached pearl at fixed. -in- tervals, so that at least she might never feel destitute. was `` It a kindly thought, " said our companion, earnestly. "It was extremely good of you. " The little man waved his hand deprecat- ingly. " We were your trustees, " he said. "That. was the view which I tock of it, though Brother Bartholomew could not al- togethersee it inthat light. We had plenty of money ourselves. I desired no more. Besides, -it would have been such bad taste to have treated a young lady in so scurvy a fashion. " Le inauvaisgout mene a't crime.' The French have a very neat way of putting these things. Our difference of opinion on this subject went so far that I thought it best to set up rooms for myself : so I left Pondicherry Lodge, taking the old. khitmut- gar and Williams with me. Yesterday, however, I learn that an event of extreme importance has occurred. The treasure has been discovered. • I instantly communicat- ed with Miss Morstan, and it only retrains us to drive out to Norwood and demand r share. I explained my views last night Brother Bartholomew : so we shall be petted, if not welcome, visitors. " Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, ceased and sat twitching on his luxurious settee. ' We all remained silent, with our thoughts upon the new development which the myster- ious business had taken. - Holmes was the first to spring to his feet. "Yon have done well, sir, from first to t," said he. "It is possible that wa may ab e to make you seine. small return by fi sons, will give her a -fair share of the Agra treasure. But send her nothing—not even the chaplet -until I am gone. After all, men have been as bad as this and have re covered. "' IwiIl tell you how Morstan died,' he continued. ` He had suffered for years from a weak heart, but he concealed itfroin eve/ y one. -I alone -knew it. When in India,= he and I, through a remarkable chain of circumstances, cameintopeesession of a con- siderable- treasure. 1; brought it over to England,- and on the night of Morstan's arra his las be thr val he came straight- over here to claim stil share. He walked over from the station, 1 Hudson Bay Railway. Major R. R. McLennan, M.P. for Glen- garry, has arrived in Ottawa from his trip to the Pacific coast. He was accompanied on the trip by Senator McMillan, Major Beattie, of London, and Mr. Lomax, or Alexandria. Speaking of the Hudson Bay railway, he said:—" Manitoba and the North-west are sure to become the richest agricultural country in the world. The people in that country who are - interested in ranching and farming are all of one opin- ion, that it would 'he a very great advan- tage to the province and territories if they could get an.outlet by the Hudson Bay railway, which would enable them to get their horses, cattle, and sheep, and also their grain, to the British market very much cheaper than at present. This road would also be an advantage to the Western States. They would be sure to ex- port their grain, etc., by this route, and thereby bring. Manitoba to the front. I be- lieve it would be an advantage to our Cana- dian railways in the West, which would do a large amount of the carrying trade from these Western States via the Hudson bay. With the assistance of the subsidy granted by the Dominion Government to the road to the Saskatchewan the promoters will now be able to build that portion as a coloniza- tion road. It runs through a most magni- ficent country, one of the best sections of Manitoba. To build and equip the remainder of the road from the Saskatchewan to Hud- son bay will cost about nine or ten million dollars, and I believe that the Province of Manitoba and the North-West will before i long undertake to tax themselves with that t amount.. As you will see, it would be a modest calculation to say that the e sport ot a wheat alone from that country within the f next five or ten years will be forty million t bushels a year, and the saving of eight cents y per bushel which will be effected will amount to over $3,000,000 a year, and this 2 saviug on the export in three or four years d would be sufficient to pay for the building and equipping of the road. This could be extended over a long term of years and B many people not now in the province would o assist in paying off the amount. The inter- est on the whole sum required at 4 per cent would be $400,000 per year, which would be is one cent per bushel on au export of forty is million bushels. However, they would not s regaire to raise this amount, as that portion b cf the roaa has received a land grant from fl the Dominion Government of 12,80) aeres e per mile. The company, I understand, has also a bonding power or $25,000 Fer mile. a With a sabtantial grant from Manitoba and re the North-West there is no doubt but the company could raise the larger amount re- quired for the construction of the road. The road would also"be the most direct route to bring immigration into the North- West, and a would laud thein upas oar own soil with less b� than one day's journey by rail." Major McLennan says that the appoint- ment of Mr. Daly a3 Minister of the Inter- st for has sl -ngthe•ied the Government great- a ly. Of r Manitoba school diflicu lty lie ri does nog ire to express an opinion at prey- co ent. j w r Most ti en like to see themselves in print, - th but w,imen don't; they prefer silk or satin. To see wrong done, and keep silence, is tacitly to be implicated. " Will your daughter take Latin tis year ?" Mhome.other—" I guess there is no danger of it ; we had her vaccinated before she left. h„ Nellie—" Mamma, Geordie's swallowed a quarter an' he's chokin' !" Geordie's Mam- ma—" Oh, my child, why did you do it? Now I haven t enough for carfare." The Bishop of Manchester ae s eat:, dila establishment would do no harm., bot that disendowment would be very serious. Archbishop Vaughan and Mgr. Stoner are to be the next British Cardinals. Dr. Carter, of Birmingham* ; elivering an address on brain work and brain workers, called special attention to the danger of working too soon after meals. At least half an hour should elapse before exerting the brain. An hour's close attention to one subject was as much as could profitably be given at a sitting. He strongly deprecated the use of sedative draughts by =r-ain work- ers who could not sleep. Seven years ago a Scotch women es- tablished in London a " Home for the Dying," ten beds being prepared for dying people. The applications for admission be- came so numerous and pressing that steps have been taken to enlarge the institution very greatly. OF fourteen torpedo boats ordered by the British Governm€rnt four are to be 180 feet long, of a speed of 27 knots, or about 31 statute miles. The extreme speed obtained by a torpedo boat is credited to the Adler, built at Elbing, Germany, 27.4 knots. She is only 152 feet long. Handkerchiefs, which used to be frowned upon by the British military authorities. have now been sanctioned, and a military handerchief has been patented on which shall be printed all sorts cf information concerning the use and contruction of the rifle, the flag alphabet, bugle calls and gen- eral rules for the soldier. The subjects of Great Britain are the most tremendous patent medicine swallow- ers on the globe. During the past year the revenue derived from the three -half- penny stamp upon patent medicines amount- ed to $1,200,000. Licenses for the sale of patent medicines have increased 1,340 in 'England and 111 in Scotland. A receptacle for cinerary urns has been erected in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. . It is a handsome structure of Caen stone, decorated with Sienna and rouge royal marbles. It is about eight feet high, and affords place for the reception of forty-two urns. The compartments for the urns are fitted with plate glass doors, and are arranged in tiers very much like the safes in the safe deposit vault. The thrifty Scotchmen who manage tht affairs of the town of Paisley recently dig covered a new means of turning an honest bawbee to the town's benefit. They have leased the public street lamp posts to an ad- vertising firm to be fitted up with frames for the display of advertising posters. The lease carried with it the provision that any work required in connection with fitting up the lamp posts should be done by a Paisley tradesmen. A'.1r. Grundy said at the Manchester Dio- cesan Conference that church service should be "bright, beautiful, and brief," and that churchgoing ought to be more so -dal than it is. Prayer should be condensed and sermons should not exceed ten minutes a most. He could see no reason why string and brass bands should not tal:e part in the services. The new tax upon bicycles in France will be $2. As there are about 225,000 cyclists, the revenue will be about $450,0:'0. Cycles used for business, such as those employed by street messengers, pay half duty. Those in ;he army, and the government service will be exempt. The cyclists, as a rule, do do not object to the tax, for the reason that they expect some special legislation in re- turn. The Vicar of Middlewich being consult- ed by a parishioner as to whether he would save his grain on Sunday wrote : " I am informed that the corn is already seriously damaged, and with more wet will soon be- come worthless. In the ordinary course of events an emergency of this kind is not like- ly to occur again for a series of years. As a clergyman 1 wish to say that in my opinion farmers will be justified in saving their corn should the need for carrying it on Sunday next in their judgement appear urgent." A Vancouver furrier was exhibiting a short. time ago what he claimed were the pelts of five white foxes. The man is an expert naturalist and has been dealing in furs in the Northwest for forty years. He says these are the first waite foxes he eve: heard of, but he is absolutely sure the pelts are genuine fox skins. The conformation has been carefully preserved, and the big brush is, of course, attached. Tte fur is snow-white, spotless, and beautifully soft. The furrier bought them from a seal hunter who caught the foxes at the Iast station to the north of Eastern Siberia, several hun- dred miles north of Petropaulovsky. The report on the recruiting for the Brit• sh army during the first seven months of his year, which has justbeeu issued by the nspector-General of Recruiting, is said to fford military men very considerable seas. action. Considering the very unsatisfac- ory state of affairs in this regard in late ears the satisfaction is most comparative. During the first seven months of this`year 3,067 recruits were raised, against 19,059 uring the same period of 1891. The return hows that where, on, Aug. 1, 1891, there was a deficiency in the establishment of the ritish army of 5,496 non-commissioned fiicers and men ; the deficiency on Aug, 1, his year, was only 2,183. Bat the gain in he infantry -of the line where the deticiency always greatest is only 337. There no improvement at all, for the in. entry of the line is still 2,637 men elow its establishment. Other arms of ie service are greatly • in excess of their stablishment. This would seem to show hat men cannot be had in' the place they re most wanted. They will join the crack giments, but won't join the infantry. Reports from the various districts in ngland and Wales, where the floods pre - ailed last week, show that there is little batement. Buildings have been tnndermin- d, and on the Pately branch of the North - astern Railway traffic was suspended. In orkshire farmers have lost much valuable ock. At Durham a bridge 'ol'apaed and train of waggons was thrown into the ver. Thousands of acres of outstanding rn in the Vale of Clwyd, Wales, ha\ e been ashed away. The steamship Belle of Usk oundei on the rocks near Porthcawl, but e e-rew were saved by the local tifeha t, A serious assault wasm corrnitted in Limer- ick late Saturday night, arising out of a strike amongst the bakers in that city against the use of machinery by the Croom Mills Company. Two meet, who ware sap• posed to be blacklegs, arrived tithe city on Saturday morning, and at night they were, attacked by some pan arm td with sticks. One of the son alled blacklegs, named Geoffrey Burke, of Clonmel, was kicked until he v„<,.s rendered senses. Hie skull was fractured, and lig.:• ns removed to the hospital, who a his riiL.posittons t:ere ora Sunday taken. Five baker* have bees& arrested, and wera ofi :sur ,ae Lope ecd by the magistrates A contemplative li 'e has more the appear - owing some light eon that. which e- ance of a lite of piety than any other ; but 1 dark to you. But, as iliss1C11orstau re - it is the—Divine plan to bring faith` into mar area it is late, and we had activity and exercise. - see CVhet. rot ani a stratur depth is -ha low and nese it, ti ire is as A e;Cc-+ t be.:_, boli -e; ers that loss of water disturi.ci sur Precise ri ever uuti, it stn?__n r_ad plot. Ras 1: soil was ea_e a similarly t unplowed rt four feet, 9 foot. than eft.::�icn1. u gate. . sant must alt lar c be used to year is taker an ia:p,r:a: t potato grouii the piewiug dry epi a:i. turn is to i.e disc i, , row upon tlti- grc a' oia 0 nee,. evapora;.c.:. is brevet water is not resints from clay soils an degree of dry the ;cast re left in t soils pass f throe_h the of ton li:tie into th annoying.- ventive of la to in -the a on April 2S, that which, days longer in it, during clods of extra and as a con go over this harrow, twi. with a heal- into eavinto a condi that which i plowed on A lay in plowi fitting the gi resulted in which was r: We are fa tillage dimi from the so' positive dat this saving studied at t' that during one square f the uncultiv. more than c A saving o equivalent t. 49 lbs. of wa dry matter water, in ti the yield of which is abo It should of water alr; tent indica - servicable to alent amo form of rain, large portion is returned a tug through Ren Wlien tire .Lsily and qu Break the a,•iil find its ” Whenev effective way The manur with their n The only year is to ma Do not exp to private c ity. If tobacco must be give farm. The best al progress i journal. The only weeds is to c to seed. To deter really pays, 1 for yourself. Sweet po the winter, u when harves. If the " fir tain his rank, learning all t The farm satisfaction s from your nee Something week, if we throughout t You can ne the faun, if y what can. be If the weed this fall, yo strawberry cr= If you exp you must per from it as he .It is a sour farmer works a day and is thinking and Hess can expe gent, thought What I 1 want my. hours each da I want the s cows each tim That them' milk bench of That as floe carried to the That the co being milked., chewing the but leitfng th That ifa mi whistle a good to his music. That every that the man That all er when the cows That whew yard or r pfd, - cow rather t of my wee. s55uar.aka