Part 59 (1/2)

”The s are all dark,” remarked the inspector ”The house seems deserted”

”Our birds are flown and the nest empty,” said Hole heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during the last hour”

The inspector laughed ”I saw the wheel-tracks in the light of the gate-lae cooing the other way But the outward-bound ones were very much deeper-so much so that we can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable weight on the carriage”

”You get a trifle beyondhis shoulders ”It will not be an easy door to force, but ill try if we cannot make someone hear us”

He hammered loudly at the knocker and pulled at the bell, but without any success Holmes had slipped away, but he came back in a few minutes

”I have aopen,” said he

”It is a ainst it, Mr Holmes,” remarked the inspector as he noted the clever way in which my friend had forced back the catch ”Well, I think that under the circumstances we may enter without an invitation”

One after the other we e apartment, which was evidently that in which Mr Melas had found hiht we could see the two doors, the curtain, the lamp, and the suit of japanese lasses, an empty brandy-bottle, and the remains of a meal

”What is that?” asked Holmes suddenly

We all stood still and listened A lowfrom somewhere over our heads Holmes rushed to the door and out into the hall The dismal noise came from upstairs He dashed up, the inspector and I at his heels, while his brother Mycroft followed as quickly as his great bulk would permit

Three doors faced us upon the second floor, and it was fro, sinking soain into a shrill whine It was locked, but the key had been left on the outside Holain in an instant, with his hand to his throat

”It's charcoal,” he cried ”Give it ti in, we could see that the only light in the room came from a dull blue flame which flickered from a small brass tripod in the centre It threw a livid, unnatural circle upon the floor, while in the shadows beyondthe vague looainst the wall From the open door there reeked a horrible poisonous exhalation which set us gasping and coughing Holmes rushed to the top of the stairs to draw in the fresh air, and then, dashi+ng into the room, he threw up theand hurled the brazen tripod out into the garden

”We can enter in a ain ”Where is a candle? I doubt if we could strike a ht at the door and we shall get theot to the poisoned ed them out into the well-lit hall Both of theested faces and protruding eyes Indeed, so distorted were their features that, save for his black beard and stout figure, we nize in one of them the Greek interpreter who had parted froenes Club His hands and feet were securely strapped together, and he bore over one eye the marks of a violent blow The other, as secured in a sie of eed in a grotesque pattern over his face He had ceased to lance showed me that for him at least our aid had come too late Mr Melas, however, still lived, and in less than an hour, with the aid of a hi that my hand had drawn him back from that dark valley in which all paths meet

It was a simple story which he had to tell, and one which did but confir his rooms, had drawn a life-preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him for the second tiling ruffian had produced upon the unfortunate linguist, for he could not speak of hi hands and a blanched cheek He had been taken swiftly to Beckenham, and had acted as interpreter in a second interview, even lishmen had menaced their prisoner with instant death if he did not coainst every threat, they had hurled hi Melas with his treachery, which appeared from the newspaper advertisement, they had stunned hiover hiular case of the Grecian Interpreter, the explanation of which is still involved in so with the gentleman who had answered the advertise lady came of a wealthy Grecian faland While there she hadman named Harold Latimer, who had acquired an ascendency over her and had eventually persuaded her to fly with him Her friends, shocked at the event, had contented the her brother at Athens, and had then washed their hands of the land, had imprudently placed himself in the power of Latimer and of his associate, whose name was Wilson Ke that through his ignorance of the language he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and had endeavoured by cruelty and starvation to n away his own and his sister's property They had kept hie, and the plaster over the face had been for the purpose of limpse of him Her feh the disguise when, on the occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen hiirl, however, was herself a prisoner, for there was no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman, and his wife, both of ere tools of the conspirators Finding that their secret was out, and that their prisoner was not to be coerced, the two villains with the girl had fled away at a few hours' notice fro first, as they thought, taken vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the one who had betrayed the reached us frolishic end They had each been stabbed, it seearian police were of opinion that they had quarrelled and had inflicted mortal injuries upon each other Hol, and he holds to this day that, if one could find the Grecian girl, one s of herself and her brother caed

THE NAVAL TREATY

The July which ie was made memorable by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of being associated with Sherlock Hol his s of ”The Adventure of the Second Stain,” ”The Adventure of the Naval Treaty,” and ”The Adventure of the Tired Captain” The first of these, however, deals with interests of such importance and idom that for many years it will be impossible to ed has ever illustrated the value of his analytical methods so clearly or has impressed those ere associated with him so deeply I still retain an almost verbatim verbatim report of the interviehich he deue of the Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbau, both of whoies upon what proved to be side-issues The new century will have come, however, before the story can be safely told Meanwhile I pass on to the second on my list, which promised also at one time to be of national iive it a quite unique character report of the interviehich he deue of the Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbau, both of whoies upon what proved to be side-issues The new century will have come, however, before the story can be safely told Meanwhile I pass on to the second on my list, which promised also at one time to be of national iive it a quite unique character

During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad nae as h he o classes ahead of me He was a very brilliant boy and carried away every prize which the school had to offer, finishi+ng his exploits by winning a scholarshi+p which sent hie He was, I remember, extreether we knew that his reat conservative politician This gaudy relationshi+p did hiood at school On the contrary, it see to us to chevyfr hiround and hit hi when he cauely that his abilities and the influences which he con Office, and then he passed co letter recalled his existence: hiround and hit hi when he cauely that his abilities and the influences which he con Office, and then he passed co letter recalled his existence: Briarbrae, WokingMY DEAR WATSON:I have no doubt that you can remember ”Tadpole” Phelps, as in the fifth form when you were in the third It is possible even that you h ood appointn Office, and that I was in a situation of trust and honour until a horrible misfortune ca the details of that dreadful event In the event of your acceding to my request it is probable that I shall have to narrate them to you I have only just recovered froly weak Do you think that you could bring your friend Mr Holmes down to see h the authorities assurehim down, and as soon as possible Every minute seems an hour while I live in this state of horrible suspense assure him that if I have not asked his advice sooner it was not because I did not appreciate his talents, but because I have been off h I dare not think of it too much for fear of a relapse I a Do try to bring himYour old school-fellow,PERCY PHELPS

There was so pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes So moved was I that even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it, but of course I kneell that Hol his aid as his client could be to receive it My wife agreed withthe matter before him, and so within an hour of breakfast-time I found myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street

Holown and working hard over a che furiously in the bluish fla into a two-litre lanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation must be of importance, seated myself in an ar out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solution over to the table In his right hand he held a slip of lit furiously in the bluish fla into a two-litre lanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation must be of importance, seated myself in an ar out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solution over to the table In his right hand he held a slip of litmus-paper

”You come at a crisis, Watson,” said he ”If this paper remains blue, all is well If it turns red, it means a man's life” He dipped it into the test-tube and it flushed at once into a dull, dirty criht as much!” he cried ”I will be at your service in an instant, Watson You will find tobacco in the Persian slipper” He turned to his desk and scribbled off several telegrae-boy Then he threw himself down into the chair opposite and drew up his knees until his fingers clasped round his long, thin shi+ns

”A very co better, I fancy You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson What is it?”

I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated attention

”It does not tell us very much, does it?” he re”

”And yet the writing is of interest”

”But the writing is not his own”

”Precisely It is a woman's”

”A man's surely,” I cried

”No, a woman's, and a woman of rare character You see, at the co to know that your client is in close contact with soood or evil, has an exceptional nature My interest is already awakened in the case If you are ready ill start at once for Woking and see this diplomatist who is in such evil case and the lady to whoh to catch an early train at Waterloo, and in a little under an hour we found ourselves a Briarbrae proved to be a large detached house standing in extensive grounds within a fewin our cards ere shown into an elegantly appointed drawing-room, where ere joined in a few minutes by a rather stout e may have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the ilad that you have co our hands with effusion ”Percy has been inquiring for you all s to any straw! His father and his mother asked me to see you, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful to them”

”We have had no details yet,” observed Holmes ”I perceive that you are not yourself a member of the falancing down, he began to laugh

”Of course you saw theJHht you had done so clever Joseph Harrison is my name, and as Percy is to marry e You will find my sister in his room, for she has nursed hio in at once, for I kno impatient he is”

The chamber into which ere shoas on the sa-roo and partly as a bedrooed daintily in every nook and corner A youngupon a sofa near the open , through which caarden and the bal beside him, who rose as we entered

”Shall I leave, Percy?” she asked

He clutched her hand to detain her ”How are you, Watson?” said he cordially ”I should never have known you under that moustache, and I daresay you would not be prepared to swear to me This I presume is your celebrated friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes?”

I introduced hi man had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in that of the invalid She was a striking-looking woman, a little short and thick for sye, dark, Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair Her rich tints ard by the contrast

”I won't waste your tie into the matter without further preamble I was a happy and successfulmarried, when a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life

”I was, as Watson h the influence of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst, I rose rapidly to a responsible position When ave ht them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to have the utmost confidence in o-to be more accurate, on the twenty-third of May-he called ood hich I had done, he informed me that he had a new commission of trust for ray roll of paper froinal of that secret treaty between England and Italy of which, I regret to say, soot into the public press It is of enor further should leak out The French or the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to learn the contents of these papers They should not leave my bureau were it not that it is absolutely necessary to have them copied You have a desk in your office?'

” 'Yes, sir'

” 'Then take the treaty and lock it up there I shall give directions that you o, so that youoverlooked When you have finished, relock both the original and the draft in the desk, and hand the'

”I took the papers and--”

”Excusethis conversation?”