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CHAPTER IV. —OONTINUED,
“ ‘I will tell you how Morstan died,’
he continued. ‘He had suffered for
years from aweak heart, but he con-
cealed it from everyone. I alone knew
it. When in India, he and I, througha
remarkable chain of circumstances,
came into possession of a considerable
- treasure. I brought it over to Eng-
_ land, and on the niuht of M01 stan’s sar-
rival he came straight over he1e to
cbim his share. He walked over from
the station, and was admitted by my
faithful old Lal Chowdar, who is now
dead. Morstan and I had a difference
of opinion as to the division of the
treasure, and we came to heated words.
Morstan had sprung out of his chair in
a paroxysm of anger, when he sudden-
ly pressed his hand to his side, his face
turned a dusky hue, and he fell back- _
wards, cutting his head against the
co1ner of the treasure-chest. When I
stooped over him I found, to my horror;
that he was dead.
" ‘For a long time I sat half dis-
tracted, wondering what I should do.
My first impulse 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 mat-
ter, when, looking up, I saw my serv-
ant, Lal Chowdar, in the doorway.
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 hide him away,
and who is the wiser?” “I did not
kill him,” said I. Lal Chowdar shook
his head, and smiled. “I heard it all,
sahib,” said he.» “I heard you quarrel,
and I heard the blow. But my lips
are sealed. All are asleep in the house.
Let us put him away together.” That
was enough to decide. me. If my own
servant cOuld not believe my inno-
cence, how could. I hope to make it
good before twelve foolish tradesmen in
a jury box? Lal Chowdar andIdis—
posed of the body that night, and
within a few days the London papers
. were full of the mysterious disappear-
ance of Capt. Morstan. You will see
from what I say that -I can hardly be
blamed in the matter. My fault lies in
the fact that we concealed, not
only the body, but also the
treasure, and that 1 have clung
to Morstan's share as well as to
my own. I wish you, therefore, to
make restitution. Put your ears down
to my mouth. The treasure is hidden
in—’ At this instant a horrible change
came over his expression; his eyes
stared wildly, his jaw dropped, and he,
yelled in a voice I can never forget:
‘Keep him out! For Christ’s sake keep
him out!’ We both stared round at the
window behind us upon which his gaze
was fixed. A face was looking in at us
out of the darkness. We could see the
whitening of the nose Where 'it was
pressed against the glass. It was a
bearded, hairy face, with wild, cruel
eyes and an expression of concentrated
malevolence. My brother and I rushed
towards the window, but the man was
gone. When we returned to my father
his head had dropped and his pulse had
ceased to beat.
“We searched the garden that night,
but found no sign of the intruder, save
that just. under the window a single
footmark was visible in the flower-bed.
But for that one trace, we might have
thought that our imaginations had conv
jured up that Wild, fierce face. We
soon, however, had another and more
striking proof that there were secret
agencies at work all around us. The
window of my father’s room was found
open in the morning, his cupboards and
boxes had been rifled, and upon his
chest was 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 oeen, we never knew. Aafar as
we can judge, none of my fatherfls
property had been actually stolen.
though everything had been tu1 “11.1
out.
fear which haunted my father dining
his life; but it is still a complete mys-
l made measurements
‘ that not one inch should be unaccount-
tery to us
The little man stopped to relight his
hook ah, and puffed thoughtfully for a
few moments. Ve had all sat absorbed,
listening to his extraordinary narra-
tive. - At the short account of her- fa-
ther’s death Miss Morstan had turned
deadly white, and for a moment I
feare 1 that she 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 abstz acted
expression and the lids drawn low
over his glittering epes. As I glanced
at him I could not but think how on
that very day he had complained bit/4
terly 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 may imagine. much eXClle '1 a
My brother and I naturally asso- '
elated this peculiar incident with the,
WEEKLY noawnme- GAZETTE
to the treasure which my father had
spoken of. For weeks and. for months
THE LITTLE MAN STOPPED T0 LIGHT HIS
HOOKAII.
we dug and delved in every part of the
garden, without discovering its where-
abouts. 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 evi-
dently of great value, and he was
averse to part w1th them, for, between
friends, my brother was himself a lit-
tle 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 out Miss Morstan’s ad-
dress and send her a detached pearl at
fixed intervals, so that, at least, she
might never feel destitute.”
“It was a kindly thought,” said our
companion. earnestly. “It was ex-
tremely good of you.”
The little man waved his hand dep-
recatingly. “We were your trustees,”
he said. “Thatwas the view which I
took of it, though Brother Bartholo-
mew could not altogether see it in that
light. We had plenty of money our-
selves. I desired no more. Besides, it
would have been such bad taste to have
treated a young lady in so scurvya
fashion. ‘Le mauvais gout mene. au
crime.’
way of putting these things. Our dif-
ference 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 khitmutgar and
Williams with me. Yesterday, how-
ever, I learned that an event of ex-
treme importance has occurred’. The
treasure has been discovered. I in-
stantly communicated with Miss Mor-
stan, and it only remains for us to drive
out to Norwood and demand our share.
I explained my views last night to
Brother Bartholomew; so we shall be
expected, if not welcome, visitors.”
Mr. Thaddeus Sholto ceased, and sat
twitching on his luxurious settee. IVe
all remained silent, with our thoughts
upon the new development which the
mysterious business had taken. Holmes
was the first to spring to his feet,
“You have done well, sir, from first
to last,” said be. “It is possible that
we may .be able to make you some
small return by throwing some light
upon that which is still dark to you.
But, as Miss Morstan remarked just
now, it is late, and we had best put the
matter through without delay.” M
Our new acquaintance very delib«
erately coiled up the / tube of his
hookah, and produced from behind a
curtain a very long befrogged top coat
with Astrakhan collars and cuffs. This
he buttoned 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 cars, so that no part
of him was visible save his mobile and
peaky face. “My health is somewhat
fragile,” he remarked, as he led the
way down the passage. “I am com-
_ 'pelled to be a valetudinarian.”
Our cab was awaiting us outside, and '
our programme was evidently prear-
ranged, for the driven started off at
once at a rapid pace. Thaddeus Sholto
talked incessantly, in a voice which rose
high above the rattle of the wheels.
“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
somewhere indoors; so he worked out
all the cubic space of the house and
everywhere, so
ed for. Among other things, he found
that the height of the building was
seventy-four feet, but on adding to-
gether the heights of all the separate
rooms, and making every allowance
for the space between, which he as-
certained by borings. he could not
bring the total to more than seventy
feet. There were four feet unaccount-
ed for. These could only be at the top
of the building. He kocked. a hole,
therefore, in the lath-and—plaster ceil-
ing 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 center stood the treasure-chest,
resting upon two rafters. He lowered
‘it through the hole, and there it lies.
He computes the value of the jewels at
not less than half a million sterling.”
At the mention of this gigantic sum ,
we all stared at one another open-eyed.
Miss Morstan, could we secure her
rights, would change from a needy
‘ o
The French have a very neat ~
governess to the richest heiress 1n Eng-
land. Surely it was the place of a
loyal friend to rejoice at such news;
yet I am ashamed to say that selfish-
ness took me by the .soul, and that my
heart turned as heavy asllead within
me. I stammered out some few halt-
ing words of congratulation, and then
sat downca,st with my head drooped,
deaf to the babble of our new ac-
quaintance. He was clearly a con-
firmed 11 Vpochondriac, and I was dream-
, ily conscious that he was pouring forth
interminable trains of symptoms, and
imploring information as to the com-
position and action of innumerable
quack nos: trums, some of which he bore
abc ut in a leather case in his pocket. 1
trust he may not re: ncmber any of the
answers which I gave himthat night.
Holmes declares that he overheard me
caution him against the glue t danger
of taking more than two drops of cas-
tor oil, while I recommended strych.
nine in large doses as a sedative. How-
ever that may be, I was certainly re-
lieved when our cab pulled up with a
jerk and the coachman sprang down
to open the door.
CHAPTER V.
THE TRAGEDY 0F PON DIanBRY LODGE.
It was nearly eleven o’clock when we
reached this final stage of our night’s
adventures. We had left the damp fog
night was fairly fine. A warm wind
blew from the westward, and heavy
clouds moved slowly across the .sky,
with half a moon peeping occasionally
through the rifts. It was clear enough
to see for some distance, but Thaddeus
Sholto took down one of the side-lamps
from the carriage to give us a better
light upon our way.
Pondicherry lodge stood in its own
grounds, and was girt round with a
very high stone wall topped with
broken glass. A single narrow iron-
clamped door formed the only means
of entrance. On this our guide knocked
with a peculiar postman-like rat-tat.
“Who is there?” cried a gruff voice
from within.
“It is 1,,McMurdo. You surely knew
my knock by this time.”
There was a grumbling sound and a
clanking and jarring of keys. The
door swung heavily back, and a short,
deep-chested man stood in the opening
with the yellow light of the lantern
shining upon his protruded face and
twinkling, distrustful eyes.
“That you, Mr. Thaddeus? But who
am the others? I had no orders about
them from my master.”
“No, McMurdo? You surprise me‘! I
told my brother last night that I
should bring some friends.”
“He hain’t been out 0’ his room to-
day, Mr. Thaddeus. and I have no or-
ders. You know very well that I must’
stick to regulations. I can let you in,
but your friends they must just stop
where they are.”
This was an unexpected obstacle.
Thaddeus Sholto looked about him in
a perplexed and helpless manner.
“This is too bad of you, McMurdo!” he
said. “If I guarantee them, that is
enough for you. There is the young
lady, too. She cannot wait on the pub-
lic road at this hour.”
“Very sorry, Mr. Thaddeus,” said the
porter, inexorably. “Folk may be
friends 0’ yours, and yet no friends 0’
the master’s. He pays me well to do
my duty, and my duty I’ll do. I don’t
know none 0’ your friends.”
“Oh, yes, you do, McMurdo, ” cried
Sherlock Holmes, genially. “I don’ t
think you can have forgotten me.
Don’t you remember the amateur who
fought three rounds with you at Ali.
son’s rooms on the night of your bene-
fit four veers back?” ‘ '
“Not, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!” roared
the prize fighter. “God’s truth! how
could I have mistook you? If instead
'0’ standin’ there so quiet you had just
stepped up and given me that cross hit
of yours under the jaw, l’d ha’ known
you without a question. Ah, you’re
one that has wasted your gifts, you
have! You might have aimed high, if
you had joined the fancy.”
“You see, Watson, if all else fails me
I have still one of the scientific profes-
sions open to me,” said Holmes, laugh-
ing. “Our friend won’t keep us out in
the cold now, I am sure.”
and your friends,” he answered. “Very
sorry, Mr. Thaddeus, but orders are
very strict. Had to be certain of your
friends before 1 let them' 111. ”
Inside, a gravel path wound through
desolate grounds to a huge clump of a
house, square and prosaic, all plunged
in shadow save where a moonbeam
struck one corner and glimme1 ed in a
garret window. The vast size of the
building, with its gloom and its deathly
silence, struck a chill to the heart.
l Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at
ease, and the lantern quivered and rat-
| tled 1n his hand.
“I cannot understand it,” he said.
“There must be some mistake. I dis-
tinctly told Bartholomew that we
should be here, and yet there is no
l light' 1n his window.
- what to make of it. ”
“Does he always guard the premises
in this way?” asked Holmes.
.“Yes; he has followed my father’s
custom. He was the favorite son, you
know, and I sometimes think that my
father may have told him more than
he ever told me. That is Barthol-
omew’s window up there where the
moonshine strikes. It is quite bright,
but there is no light from within, I
think.”
“None” said Holmes. “But I see
the glint of a light in that little win-
dow beside the door. ”
“Ah, that' 1s the housekeeper’ s room.
That 1s where old Mrs. Bernstone sits.
She can tell us all about it. But per-
haps you would not mind waiting here
for a minute or two, for if we all go in
together, and she has no word of our
coming, she may be alarmed. But
hush! What' 1s that?”
He held up the lantern, and his hand
shook until the circles of light flickered
and wavered all round us. Miss Mor-
with thumping hearts, straining our
ears. From the great black house them
sounded through the silent night the
“This, Miss Morstan, is Pondicherry
. lodge,” said Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, as‘
' he handed her out.
of the great city behind us, and the.
“In you come, sir, in you come—you
I do not know-
stan seized my wrist, and we all stood I
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I
saddest and most pitiful of sounds—
the shrill, broken whimpering of a
frighten ed woman.
“It is Mrs. Bernstone.” sa/id Sholto.
“She is the only woman 1n the house.
Wait here. I shall be back in a mo-
ment.” He hurried for t_he dOOr, and
knocked in his peculiar way. We
could see a tall old woman admit him
and sway with pleasure at the very_
sight of him.
“Oh. Mr. Thaddeus. sir, I am so glad
you have come! I am so glad you
have (Some, Mr. Thaddeus, sir!"
heard her reiterated rejoicings until
the door was;closcd and her voice died
away into a muffled monotone.
Our guide had left us the lantern.
Holmes swung it slowly round. and
peered keenly at the house, and at the
afig'fihvp‘: ‘
VI%:. f'f-lm- 11:0 ///1M’\-\
illlll’" ‘
way/.1 ull
I“ l"?
-HE HELD'UP ITH}: LANTERN.
great rubbish heaps which cumbered
the grounds. Miss Morstan and I stood
together, and her hand was in mine. A
wondrous subtle thing is love, for here
were we two who 11 1d never seen each
other before that day, between whom
no word or even look of affection had
ever passed, and yet now in an hour of
trouble our-hands instinctively sought
for each other. ‘ I have marveled at it
since, but at the time it seemed the
most natural thing that I should go
out to her so, and, as she has often told
me, there was in her also the instinct
to turn to me for comfort and protec-
tion. So we stood hand in hand, like
two children, and there was peace 1n
our hearts for all the dark things that
surrounded us.
“What a strange place!” she said,
looking around.
“It looks as though all the moles in
England had been let loose in it. I
have seen something of the sort on the
sideof a hill near Ballarat, where the
prospectors had been at work.”
“And from the same cause,” said
Holmes. “These are the traces of
treasure-seekers. You must remember
that they were six years looking for it.
No wonder that the ground looks like
a gravelpit. ”
At that moment the door burst open,
and Thaddeus Sholto came running
out, with his hands thrown forward
and terror in his eyes.
“There is something amiss with Bar'-
tholomew!” he cried. “I am fright-
ened! My nerves cannot stand it.” He
was, indeed, half-blubbering with fear,
and his twitching, feeble face, peeping
out from the great Astrakhan collar,
had the helpless. appealing expression
of a terrified child.
“Come into the house,” said Holmes,
in-his crisp, firm way.
“Yes, do!" pleaded Thaddeus Sholto.
“I really do not feel equal to giving di-
rections."
We all followed him into the house-
keeper‘s room. which stood upon the
left-hand side of the passage. The old
woman was pacing up and down with
a scared look and restless. picking
fingers, but the sight of Miss Morstan
appeared to have a soothing efiectupog
her. - 3"
“God bless your sweet calm face!”
she cried, with a. hysterical sob. “It
does me good to see you. Oh, but I
ha ve been sorely tired this day!”
Our companion patted her thin, work-
worn hand, and murmured some few
words of kindly womanly comfort
which brought the color back into: the
other e bloodless cheeks. ‘
“Mast-er has locked himself in and
will not answer me,” she explained.
“All day I have waited to hear from
him, for he often likes to be alone; but
an hour ago I feared that something was
amiss, so I went up and peeped through
the keyhole. You must go up, Mr.
Thaddeus—you must go up and look
for yourself. I have seen Mr. Barthol-
omew Sholto in joy and in sorrow for
ten long years, but I never saw him
with such a face on him as that.”
Sherlock Holmes took the lamp and
led the way, .for Thaddeus Sholto’s
teeth were chattering in his head. So
shaken was he that I had to pass my
hand under his arm as we went up the
stairs, for his knees were trembling
under him. Twice as we ascended
Holmes Whipped his lens out of his
pocket and carefully examined marks
which appeared to me to- be mere
shapeless smudges of dust upon the
cocoa-nut matting which served as a
stair-carpet. He walked slowly from
step to step, holding the lamp low,and
shooting keen glances to right and
left. Miss Morstan had remained be-
hind with the frightened housekeeper.
”‘1‘.
The third flight of stairs ended in a _
straight passage of some length, with
a great picture in Indian tapestryIupon
the right of 'it and three doors upon the
left. Holmes advanced along it in the
same slow and methodical way, while
we kept close at his heels, with our
long black shadows streaming ' back- 1
wards down the corridor. The third
door was that which wewere seeking.
Holmes knocked without receiving any
answer, and then tried to turn the
handle and force it open. It was
locked on the inside, however, and by a
broad and powerful bolt, as we could
see when we set our lamp up against
it. The key being turned, however,
the hole was not entirely closed. Sher-
lock Holmes bent down to it, and in-
stantly rose again with a sharp intak-
ing of the breath.
“There' 1s something devilish in this,
Watson,” said he, more moved than I
had ever before seen him. “What do
you make of it?” ,
(To be continued )
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