The Exploits of you fafltnn all the windows?" "Ton." "Were thiy all fastened 1 11 a morning?" "Yon." "You hav a mnld who has a ?writhart ? I think that you rrn.irkrd to your umlfl last nlht Hint she hud Iwen out to see him?" "Yps, and she was thi (flrl who wnltpd In th drawing room, and who miy hav hard uni Ip's remarks Hhnut the copiru't." "I see You Infer that she may hav fono out tn tell her sweetheart, and that the two may have plannM the rohhery-" "Hut what Is the good of nil these vague theories," rreld the hanker, Impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the: coronet In his hands?" "Walt a little. Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen doof. I presume?" "Yes; when 1 went to see if the door I met her was fastened for the night slipping In. I saw the man, Bloom." "Io you krow him?" too, in tho on, yes; ne is the green grocer who brings our vegetables around. His name IS Franrls Prosper." "He stood." said Holmes, "to the left of the doorthat Is to say. further up the path than Is necessary to reach the door?" "Yes, he did." "And he Is a man with a wooden leg?" Something like fenr sprung up In the young lady's expressive black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes' thin, eager face. "I should be very glad now to go up stairs." said he. "I shall probably wish to go over the outside of the house again, Perhaps I had better take a look at tho lower windows before I go up." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the large one, which looked from the hall onto the stablo lane. This he opened, nnd then made a very careful examlnntlon of the sill with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now wo shall go upstairs." he said at last. i ne nanners dressing room was a plainly furnished little chamber, with a gray car pet, a large bureau and a long mirror Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock;. "Which key was used to open It?" he asked. "That which my son himself Indicated that of the cupboard of the lumber room." "Have you It here?" "That Js It cm the dressing table." Sherlock Holmes took It up and opened the bureau. "It Is a noiseless lock." said he. "It Is no wonder that It did not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must have a look at It." He opened tho case and, taking out the dlndem, laid It Upon the table. It was a magnificent spec imen of the Jeweler's art, and the thirty- six stones were the finest that I have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Mr. Holmes, "here is the corner which corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost, might I beg that you will break It off?" The banker recoiled In horror. "I should not dream of trying," he said. "Then I will, strength upon Holmes suddenly bent his It, but without result. "I reel It give a little." said he; "but. though I am exceptionally strong In the fingers, It would take me all my time to breuk It. An ordinary man could not do It. Now, u.. you minK woum happen If I did break It. Mr. Holder? There would be a ' noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this hapened within a few yards ofyour bed and that you heard nothing of ' I do not know what to think. It Is all l.n t0 mR-" But perhaps It may grow lighter as we go. What do you think. Miss Holder?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity.1.' "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "He had nothing on save only his trou-" sers and shirt." "Thank you. We have certainly been fa- vored with extraordinary luck during this Inquiry, and It will be entirely our own fault If we do not succeed In clearing the matter up. With your permission. Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my Investlga- lions outside. He. went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet heavy with snow and his features as Inscrutable as ever. "I think that I have seen now all that there la to see, Mr. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my rooms." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "I cannot tell." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "My opinion Is In no way altered." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was acted In my house last night?" "If you can call upon me at, my Baker Street rooms tomorrow mornliig between and 10 I shall be happy to do what I can to make It clearer. I understand that you give me carta blanche to act for you pro vided only thut I get back the gem,', and that you place no limit on the sum I may draw." "I would give my fortune to hava them back." 'ery good. I shall look Into the matter between this and ,h r:.-..,,... '. 7. " ' possible that . - . . . , , , k inn may nave to come here again before evening It was obvious to nt that my compan ion's mind was now made up about the case; although what his conclusions were was more than I could even dimly imagine, beveral times during our homeward Journey I endeavored to sound him upon the point, but he always glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave It over In despair. It was not yet J when, we found ourselves In our room once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in a few minutes, dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned nn7 jv '(winnj&'iu iu5 1 siwipucbgQ Ail ot this can be avoided, however, by the use of Mother's Friend before baby comes, as this great liniment always prepares the body for the strain upon it, and J reserves the symmetry of her form. Mother's Friend overcomes all the anger of child-birth, and carries the expectant mother safely through this critical period without pain. It is woman's greatest 'blessing. Thousands gratefully tell of the benefit and relief derived from the use of this wonderful remedy. Sold by all druggists at $1.00 per bottle. Our little FuJdDtilkKBD0 book, telling all about this liniment, will be sent free. MMi Eenliter U, AtUiti, Cl TU Bni up. his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat end his worn boots, he was a perfect sam ple of tho class. "I think that this should do," said lie, glancing Into the glas above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Watson, but I fear It won t do. I may be on the trail In this matter or 1 may be following a wlll-of-the-wlsp, but I shall soon know which It Is. I hope that I may be back in a few hmirs." He cut a slice of beef from ths Joint on the sldeloard, sand wiched It 1 tween two round of bread and, thrusting this rude meal Into his pocket, he started off upon his expedition. I had Just finished my tea when he re turned, evidently In excellent spirits, swing ing an ofd elastlc-slded boot In his hand. He chucked It down Into a corner and helped himself to a cup of tea. "I only looked In as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Where to?" "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time before I get back. Don't wait up for me In case I should be late." "How are you getting on?" "Oh, so go. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham since I saw you lart, but I did not cull at the house. It Is a very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed It for a good deal. How ever. I must not sit gossiping here, but must get these disreputable clothes off nnd return to my highly respectable self." I could see by his manner that he hnd stronger reasons for satisfaction than his words alone would lrrrply. His eyes twinkled and there was even a touch of color upon his sallow cheeks. He hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the si am of the hall door, which told me that he was once more uff on his congenial hunt. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I retired to my room, It was no uncommon thing for him to be nway for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he came In, but when I came down to brenkfast In tho morning there ho was with a cup of coffee In one hand and a paper In the other, as fresh and trim as possible. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he; "but you remember that our client has rather an early appoint ment this morning." "Why, It Is after nine now," I nnswered. "I should not be surprised If that were he. I thought I henrd a ring." It was. Indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the change which hnd come over him, for his face, which was nat urally of a broad nnd massive mould, was now pinched and fallen In, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered with a weariness pnd lethargy which was even more painful than his violence of the morning before, nnd he dropped heavily Into the nrmehalr which I pushed forward for him. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man. without a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely nnd dishonored age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece Mary has deserted me." "Deserted you?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept tn, her room was empty, and a note for mo lay unon the hall table. T hnd nalri to her last night, In sorrow and not In anger, that If sho had married my boy all might be well with him. Perhaps It was thoughtless 'of me to say so. It Is to that remark that she refers In this note: " -My Dearest Vncle: I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and thnt If I had acted differently this terrible mlsfor- tune might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought In my mind, ever again be happy under your roof and I feel that 1 must leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is provided for; and, above nil. do not search for me. for It will be fruitless labor and an Ill-service to me In jfe or ,n death i arn PVPr your lovlns MARY.' "What could she mean by thnt note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think It points to sul- clde?" "No- n. nothing of the kind. It la per- haps the best possible solution. I trust, Mr- Holder, that you are neartng the end ot your troubles." "Ha! You any so! You have heard some- tnlnK. Mr. Holmes; you have learned some- thing! Where are the gems?" "You would not thing 1,0)0 apiece an ex cessive sum for them?" "I would nay ten." "That would be unnecessary. Three thou sand will cover the matter. And there Is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check book? Here Is a pen. Better make It out tor 4.000." With a duxud face the banker made out the required check. Holmes walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of gold with three gems In It and threw It down upon the table. With a shriek of Joy our client clutched It up. "You have It!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" The reaction of Joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "There Is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Holmes, rather sternly. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum and I will pay It." "No, the debt Is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that noble lad. your son, who has carried himself In this matter as I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to have one." "Then It was not Arthur who took them?" . 1 ,u,u ou yieraay. and I repeat to nav i n i. was not." - "You are sure of It. I-t us hurry to him at once, to let him know that the truth Is known." "He knows It already. When I hud cleared It all up I had an Interview with him, and. finding that he would not tell me the story. I told II to him. on which he had to confess that I was right, and to add the very few details which were not yet quite clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his lips. "For heaven's sake, tell me. then what is this extraordinary mystery?" i win uo so, and I will show vou the steps by which I reached it. And let me say Every wo mm covets shapely, pretty figure, and many of them deplore the loss of their eirlish forms after marriage. The bearing of children is often destructive to the mother's shapeliness. nr ttrTTS Jfl U U U (SuU Su THE Sherlock to you. first, that which Is the hardest for rue to say and for1 you to hear, there has been an understanding between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fled together." "My Mai ? Impossible!" "It is, unfortunately, more than possible; it Is certuln. Neither you nor your, son knew the true character of this man when you admitted him Into your family circle. He Is one of the most dangerous men In England a ruined gambler, an absolutely desperate vllllnn, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece knew nothing of such men. When he bvrathed his vows to her, as he had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, but at least she became his tool, and was In the habit of seeing him nearly every evening." "I cannot, I will not believe It," cried the banker, with an ashen face. "I will tell you then, what occurred at your house last night. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone , to your room, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window that leads Into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right through the snow, so long had he stood there. Blie told him of the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but there are women In whom the love of a lover ex tinguishes all other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had hardly listened to his Instructions when sho saw you coming downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly, and told you about one of the servant's escapade with her wooden legged lover, which was all perfectly true. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his Interview with you, but he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. In the middle of the night he heard a soft trend pass his door, so he rose and. looking out, was surprised to see his cousin walking very stealthily along tjie passage, until she disappeared Into your dressing room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad slipped on some clothes and watted there In the dark to see what would come of this strnnge affair. Presently she emerged from the room again, and in the light of the passage lamp your son saw that she car ried the precious coronet In her hands. She passed down the stairs, nnd he, thrilling with horror, ran along and slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see what passed In the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the window, hand out the coronet to some one In the gloom, and then closing It once more hurry back to'her room, passing quite close to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Instant that she was gone he realized how crushing a misfortune this would bo for you, and how all-Important It wus to set It right. He rushed down, Just as he was, In his bare feet, opened the window, sprang out Into the snow and ran down the lane, where he could see a dark figure In the moonlight. Sir George Burn well tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the coronet and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle your son struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something sud denly snapped, and your son, finding that ho had the coronet In his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your room, and had Just observed that the coronet had been twisted In the struggle and was endeavoring to straighten It, when you appeared upon the scene." "Is It possible?" gasped the banker. "You then rousod his anger by calling him names at a moment when he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who certainly de served little enough consideration at his hands. He took the mure chivalrous view, however, and preserved her secret." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! Tho dear fellow wanted to see If the missing piece were at the scene, of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "When I arrived) at the house," con tinued Holmes, "I at once went very care fully round it to observe If there were any traces In the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve Impres sions. I passed along tho tradesmen's path, but I found It ell trampled down and Indistinguishable. Just beyond It, how ever, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and talked with a man whose round Impressions on one side showed that he had a wooden log. I could even tell that he had been disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while wooden leg had waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had ulready spoken to me, and Inquiry showed it was so. I passed round the gar den without seeing anything more than random tracks, which I took to be the police; but when I got Into the stable lane a very long and complex story was written In the snow In front of me. "There wis a double line of tracks of booted man, and a second double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked feet. I was at once convinced from what you told me that the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other had run swiftly, and, as his tread was marked In places over the depres sion of the boot. It was obvious that he had passed after the other. I followed them up, and found that they led to the hall window, where boots had worn all the snow away while waiting. Then warned 10 me oiner end, which was a hundred yards or more down the lane. saw where boots had faced round, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, and, finally, where a few uii.p vi uiuou uau lanen, to show me that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and another ''little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been hurt. When he came to the high road on the other end, I found that the pavement had been cleared, so there an, end to that clue. "On entering the house, however, I exam ined, as you remember, the sill and frame work of the hall window with my lens, and I could at once see that some one had passed out. I could distinguish the outline of an Instep where the wet foot had been placed In cumlng In. I was then beginning to be &1j!o to foiui an opiiiiou as lo what had occurred. A man had waited outside the window, some one had brought the gems, the deed had been overseen by your son. he had pursued tiie thief, had strug gled with him, they had each tugged at the coronot, their united strength causing in juries which neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the prise, but had left a fragment in the grasp of i ins opponent. s far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who wus It brought him the coronet? "It Is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Impossible, what ever remains, however Improbable, must be the truth. Now. I knew that It was not you who had brought It down, so there only remained your niece and the maids. tfut tf It were the maids, wby should your son allow Wniscir to be accused tu tWr OMATIA ILLUSTRATED HED. Holmes place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should re tain her secret the more so as the secret W'as disgraceful one. When I remembered that you had se.n her at the window, and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture became a certainty. "And who could It le w?;o was her con federate? A lover evidently, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil reputntlon among women. It must have been ho who wore those boots and retained the missing gems. Kven though he knew that Arthur had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his own family. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took next. I went In the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that his master had cut his head the night before, and. finally, at the expense of 6 shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of his cast-off shoes. With these I Journeyed down to Streetham and saw that they exactly fitted the trac!:s." "I saw an Ill-dressed vagabond In the lane yesterday evening," said Mr. Holder. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to play then, for I saw that a prosecu tion must be avoided to avert scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would sea that our hands were tied In the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every particular that had occurred he tried to bluster, and took down a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he became a little more reasonable. I told him thnt we would give him a price for the. stones he held 1,000 apiece. That brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, dash It all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for tho three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had them on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1,000 apiece. Then I looked In upon your son, told him that all was right, and even tually got to my bed about 2 o'clock, after what I may cnll a really hard day's work." "A day which has saved England from a great public scnndal." said the banker, ris ing. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your skill has Indeed exceeded all that I have heard of It. And now I must fly to my dear bov to apologize to him for the wrong which I have done him As to what you tell me of poor Mary, It goes to my very heart. Not even your skill can Inform me where she Is now." , 1 "I think that we may safely say," re turned Holmes, "thnt she Is wherever Sir George Burnwell Is. It Is equally certain, too, that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient punish ment." (The End. Copyright by Harper & Bro.) Prattle of the Youngsters. ' Uncle Ned Tommy, did you throw your old shoes after the bride? Tommy (a born diplomat) Naw, throwed ma's old slippers. "Mamma," said Harry,"I wish you would make Mabel quit punching me with her el bows. I'm afraid she's' got it." "Got what, dear?" asked his mother. "The bargain-counter habit," answered the small observer. Miss Primlcigh was known as the village gossip. One day little Nellie, who had Just got a new dress, exclaimed: "Oh, dear; I do wish Miss Primleigh could see It!" 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