The Conshohocken Recorder, July 13, 1894

              RECORDER.
NO. 1370. (OXSHOHOCKEN, PBIDAY, JULY L3, 1894.
SI.00 PER YEAR
"•But why did you ttand all this.'' 1
asked. '1 suppose that yon can gel rid
of your boarders nrhen v<>u wish.'
"Mrs. Charpentier blushed at my
pertinent question. 'Would t'> Qod
that l had (riven him notice on the
very .lay he rain.'.' she laid. 'Bill it
was a sore temptation. They were
paying a pound a day eaeb fourteen
pounds ii week, an.l this is n slack sea-son.
I am n widow, and my boy in the
navy has cist UM much. 1 grudged t.
lose the money, [acted for the best
This last was too much. Inmiv.r. an.l
I gave him notice to leave <>n account
of it. That was the reason of his
going.'
' Well?'
" '.My heart grew light when I saw
him drive away. My son is on leave
just now. hut i did not tell him any-thing
of this, for his temper is violent.
and he is passionately fond of h
ter. When l .lose,i the door behind
them a loa.i seemed to be lifted from
m\ mind Alas! in 1,-ss than an hour
there was a ring at the bell, i.n.l I
learned that Mr. Drebber had re-turn.'.
I. lie wa- much excited, an.l
evidently the worse for drink. lie
forced his way into the room where I
was sitting with my daughter, an.l
made some incoherent remark about
having missed the train. lie then
turned to Alice and. before my very
face, proposed to her that she should
fly with him. "You are of age,'1 lie
said, "and there is no law to stop yon.
1 have money enough and to spare.
Never mind the old girl here, but
come along with me now straight
away. You shall live like a princess."
Poor Alice was so frightened that
she shrunk away from him. hut he
caught herby the wrist and endeavored
to draw her toward the door. I
screamed, and at that moment my son
Arthur came into the room. What
happened then I do not know. I
heard oaths and the confused sounds
of a scuffle. I was too terrified to
raise my head. When I did look up I
saw Arthur standing in the doorway
laughing, with a stick in his hand.
"I don't think that fine fellow will
trouble us again." he said. "I will
just go after him and see what he don
witli himself." With those words lie
took his hat and started >fl down thl
street. The next mornil f we heard ol
Mr. Drebber's mysterio i death.'
"This statement c me from Mrs.
Charpentier's lips v th many gaspi
and pauses. At t. ->es she spoke BC
low that 1 COUld 'ar.lly catch th.
words. 1 made si. -thand notes ,,f all
that she said, ho ever, so that there
should be no po; ihilitv of a mistake.''
"It's quite exciting." said Sherlock
Holmes, with a yawn. "What happened
next?"
"When Mrs. Charpentier paused,"
the detective continued, "I saw that
the whole ease hung upon one point
Fixing her with my eye in a way which
' always found effective with women.
i asked her at what hour her .son re
turned.
" "I do not know,' she answered.
" 'Not know?'
" 'No; he has a latch-key, and let
himself in.'
" 'After you went to bed?'
" Yes.'
" 'When did you go to bed?'
" 'About eleven.'
" 'So your son was gone at least two
hours?'
" 'Yes.'
" 'Possibly four or five?'
"'Yes.'
" 'What was he doing during that
time'."
" 'I do not know,' she answered, turn-ing
white to her very lips.
"Of course after that there was
nothing more fb be done. I frond out
where Lieut, Charpentier was. took
two officers with me. an.l arrest e,I him.
When I touched him .m the shoulder
and warned him to come quietly with
us, be answered us as bold as brass: i
suppose you are arresting me for being
concerned in the death of that scoun-drel,
Drebber,' he said. We had said
nothing to him about it. so that his
alluding to it had a most suspicious
aspect."
"Very," said Holmes
"lie still carried the heavy sticK
wl.i.h the mother described him as
having with him when he followed
Drebber. It was a stout oak cudgel."
"What is your theory, then?"
"Well, my theory is that he followed
Drebber as far as th,- Brixton road,
When there, a flesh altercation a.rose
bet Avi'" them, in the course of which
Drebber received i .., ,,„.
itick, in the pit of the Stomach, per-baps,
which killed him without leaving
iin.. in.,i .v. i ii, night ...- io w,-i that
no one was aiiout, so ( harpentier
bragged th.! body of his victim into
the empty house. As to the candle,
and the blood, abd the writing on the
wall, and the ring, they may all be so
many tricks to throw the police on to
the wrong scent."
"Well dune!" aajd Holmes, ia aa eu-s\%
Ma
sonraging voice. "Really, (h-egson,
vou are getting along. We shall make
something of you yet."
"I Hatter myself that I have man-aged
it rather neatly," the detective
answered proudly. "The young man
volunteered a statement, in which he
-aid that after following Drebber soma
time, the hitter perceived him. and'
took a cah in order to gctawaj from
him. On his way home he met an old
i -hipmate. an.l took- a long wall; with
him. On being asked where this old
-hipmatc lived, he was Unable to give
any satisfactory reply. I think the
wh.de.as,- lit, together uncommonly
well. What amuses me is to think of
Lestrade, who had started off upon the
wrong scent. I am afraid he won't
make much of it. Why, by Jove, here's
the very man himself:"
It was indeed I..-trade, who had
ascended the stairs while we were
talking, and who now entered the
room. The assurance and jauntinesa
which generally marked his demeanor
and dress were, however, wanting
l'is lac was disturbed and troubled.
while his clothes were disarranged
and untidy. Me had evidently e, in-with
the intention of consulting with
Sherlock Holmes, for on perceiving hi-colleague
he appeared to in- embar-rassed
and put out. He stood in the
center of the room, fumbling nervous-ly
with his hat, and uncertain what to
do. "This is a most extraordinary
ens,.'' he said at last—"a most incom-prehensible
affair."
"Ah, you Bad it so, Mr. Lestradel"
cried Qregson, triumphantly, "I
thought y.in would co,,,.. .,, (!,„t con-elusion.
Have you managed to find
the secretary. Mr. Joseph Mangel-son?"
"Thesecretary, Mr. Joseph Stangrer-son."
said l.estra.le. gravely, "wasmur-dered
at llalliday's private hotel about
Bix o'clock this morning."
CHAPTER VII
LIGHT IN TUB IlAHKNBSS.
The intelligence with which Lestrade
greeted us was so momentous an.l so
unexpected, that we were all three
fairly dumfounded. Gregson sprang
out of his chair and upset the remain, ler
of his whisky and water. I state.I in
silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose lips
were compressed and his brows drawn
down over his eyes.
"Stangerson, too!" he muttered.
"The plot thickens."
"It was quite thick enough before,"
grumbled Lestrade, taking a chair. "I
seem to have dropped into a -nrt of
council of war."
" Ire yon are you sure of this piece
of intelligence?" stammered Qregson.
"I have just c ■ from his r n,"
said Lestrade. "I \ as t lie Brst to .1 is-cover
u hat had occurred."
"We have been hearing Qregson's
view of the matter." Holmes observed.
"Would you mind letting us know
What you have seen and .lone'.1"
"I have no objection," Lestrade an-swered,
seating himself. "I freely
confess that I \\n-of the opinion t ha t
Stan.T is com erned i I lie dea t h
of l"r. Idi.r. This fresh development
has shown me that I was completely
BE8IDB THIS Wl.Niiow I.AV TUB B0DT OF A
MAN.
mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set
myself to find out wbal had become of
the secretary They had | ,, .,,.,..,
' ""•'' at Boston station about half-past
eight on the evening of the third.
At two in the morning Drebber had
been found in the linxton road. T)u.
question which confronted me was to
find out how stanger-on had been em-ployed
between half-past eight and the
time of the crime, and what had be-come
of him afterward, i telegraphed
to Liverpool giving a description of
the man. and warning them to keep a
watch upon th.- American boats. I
then set to work calling upon all the
hotel and lodging houses in the vicin-ity
of Huston. v,,u see, i argued that
if Drebber and his companion bad be-come
separated, the natural oonrae
tor the latter would be to put up some-where
in tl,,, vicinity for the night and
then to hang about the station again
next morning."
"They would be likely to agree on
some meeting place beforehand," re-marked
Holmes.
'So it proved. I spent the whole of
yesterday evening in making inquiries
■ itirely i it utuil. r.i
D vi i'. earl and ate t<i'cln:.i
I reached Ualliduy's private bo. I, in
little George street. On my inquiry |
as to whether a Mr. Stangerson
living there, they at once aicuered me
in the affirmative.
'No doubt you are the gentleman
he was expecting,' they said. lie has
been waiting for a gentleman for two
days.'
"'Where is he now"1' I asked.
" He is upstairs in bed. He wished
to be called at nine.'
"It .seemed to in,- that my sudden
appearance might shake his nerves a ml
lead him to sev something unguarded.
The boots volunteered to show me the
room; it was on the second H '.and
there was a small corridor lei i m
to it. The Moots pointed out Ib t
to me, and was about to go downstairs
again, when i saw something that
made me feel sickish, in spite of my
twenty years' experience. Prom under
the door thei iirle.l a little r, d rib-bon
of blood, which had men udered
across the passage and formed a
little pool along the skirting at
the other side. I gave a cry, which
brought the Hoots back. He nearly
fainted when he saw it. The door u as
locked on the inside, hut we put our
shoulders to it. and knocked it in. The
window of the room was open, and In-side
the window, all huddled up. hiv
the body of a man in his night-dress.
Me was .mite dead, and had been lor
some time, for his limbs were rigid
and cold. When we turned him
the Hoots recognized him at once as
being the same gentleman who had en-gaged
the room under I he name of Jos-eph
Stangerson. The cause of death
was a deep slab in the left side, which
must have penetrated the heart. And
now conies the strangest part of the
a Hair. \\ hat doyOU suppose was above
tin- murdered man?"
I f.lt a creeping of flesh, and a pre-sent
iinent. of coming horror, even be-fore
Sherlock- Holmes answered:
"The word rache." written in letters
of blood." he said.
"That was it." said Lestrade. in an
awe-struck voice; and we were all si-lent
for awhile.
There was something so methodical
ami so Incomprehensible about the
deeds of this unknown assassin, that
it imparted a fresh ghastliness to his
Crimea My nerves, which were steady
enough on the field of battle, tingled
as I thought of it.
"The man was seen," continued Lea-trade
"A milk-boy, passing on his
way to the dairy, happened to walk
down the lane which leads from
the mews at the back of the hotel.
He noticed that u ladder, which usu-ally
lay there, was raised against one
of the windows of the second floor,
which was wide open. After passing.
he looked bach and saw a man de-
■ end the ladder. lie came flown so
i nietly and openly that the boy Im-
■ fined him to be some carpenter or
] liner at work iii the hotel, lie took
i part loular notice of him, bej i >nd
i'linking in his mind that it was
early for biiu to be at work, lie has
an impression t: .t the man was
bad a reddish face, and was .lr,
in a long, brownish coat. He must
ed in tIn- room gome lit;le
' me alter the murder, for we found
1 lood-stained wat.r in the I
re he had washed his hands, and
marks on the sheet where he had de-
I berately wiped his knife."
[glanced at Holmes on hearing the
i .' '-notion of the murderer,which tal-lied
so exactly with his own, There
•■ as. however, no trace of exultation or
"ii upon hi - face.
"Did you lind nothing in the room
which could furnish a clew to the
murHerer?" he asked.
"Nothing. Stangerson had Dreb-ber's
purse in his pocket, bul ii i
t nit this was usual, as be did all the
paying. There was eighty-odd pounds
• In it. but nothing had been taken.
'• 'hatever the motives of these extraor-ry
crimes, robbery is certainly not
■ of them. There wen- no pa
■ inorandn in the mur
, cept a -;i le tel, mi. Ii
i com Cleveland about a moul h ago
a ml containing the words: \l. II. is in
Europe.' There was no name appended
to this message."
"And there was nothing else'.'"
Holmes asked.
"Nothing of any importance. Tie
man's novel, with which he bad
himself to sleep, was lying upon the
bed. and his pipe was on a chair beside
him. There was a glass of water on
the table, and on the window-sill a
small chip ointment-box containing a
couple of pills."
Sherlock Holmes sprang from his
Chair with an exclamation of delight.
"The last link," he cried, exultantly.
"My case is complete."
The two detectives stared at him in
amazement.
"I have now in ray hands." niv com-panion
said, confidently, "ali the
threads which have formed such a
tangle. There are, of course, details
to be filled In, but I am aa certain ol
a'l the main facts, from the time that
inrebber parted from stangerson at
trie station up to the discovery of the
body of the latter us if 1 had seen
them with my own eves I will give
i, i ,'uid
you lay your hand upon ,!,",'•"
"I have them," s; Id Lestrade, pro-ducing
a small white box "I tOOK
them and the pUTSfl njid the tele ram,
intending to have them put inn place
of safety at the police station. It was
nerest elanee, my taking these
pills, for I am bound to say that I do
notnttach any Importance U> them."
"Give them here," said Holmes.
"Now, turning to me, "are
those or linur, pills'.'"
They certainly were not. They
were of a pearly gray color, small,
round an.l almost transparent against
the light. "From tln-ir lightness and
transparency I should imagine that
they are soluble ill water." I remarked.
"Precisely so." answered Holmes.
"Now. would you mind going down
and fetching that poor little devil of a
terrier which has 1 n bad BO long,
and which the landlady wanted you to
put out of its pain yesterday?"
1 went downstairs and carried the
dog upstairs in my arms. Its labored
UK PLACED IT IN FRONT OP THE TEHI1IER.
breathing and glazing eye showed that
it was not far from its end. Indeed,
its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that
it had already exceeded the usual term
of canine existence. I placed it upon
a cushion on the rug.
"1 will now cut one of these pills in
two," said Holmes, and drawing his
p 'iiknif.' he suited the action io the
ord. "One-half we return Into the
■v for ' i"i," n HI, . Th • o:'i •,•
ilf I will ;..;.,.... ;„ this wine glass, in
which is a teaspoon in I of water. Vou
perceive that our friend, the doc-tor,
is right, and that it readily dis-
S. lives."
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