The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 8 (1/2)

”'I rave,' said I, 'which this butler of your thought it worth his while to consult, even at the risk of the loss of his place'

”'It is rather an absurd business, this ritual of ours,' he answered 'But it has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it I have a copy of the questions and answers here if you care to run your eye over them'

”He handed me the very paper which I have here, Watson, and this is the strange catechisrave had to submit when he came to man's estate I will read you the questions and answers as they stand

”'Whose was it?'

”'His who is gone'

”'Who shall have it?'

”'He ill come'

”'Where was the sun?'

”'Over the oak'

”'Where was the shadow?'

”'Under the elm'

”Hoas it stepped?'

”'North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by two and by test by one and by one, and so under'

”'What shall we give for it?'

”'All that is ours'

”'Why should we give it?'

”'For the sake of the trust'

”'The original has no date, but is in the spelling of the rave 'I am afraid, however, that it can be of little help to you in solving this ives us anotherthan the first It may be that the solution of the one may prove to be the solution of the other You will excuse rave, if I say that your butler appears to me to have been a very clever enerations of his rave 'The paper seems to me to be of no practical importance'

”'But to me it seems immensely practical, and I fancy that Brunton took the saht on which you caught him'

”'It is very possible We took no pains to hide it'

”'He siine, to refresh his memory upon that last occasion He had, as I understand, so with the manuscript, and which he thrust into his pocket when you appeared'

”'That is true But what could he have to do with this old famarole mean?'

”'I don't think that we should havethat,' said I; 'with your pero a little more deeply into the matter upon the spot'

”The same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstone Possibly you have seen pictures and read descriptions of the fa, so I will confinethat it is built in the shape of an L, the long ar the more modern portion, and the shorter the ancient nucleus, from which the other had developed Over the low, heavily-lintelled door, in the centre of this old part, is chiseled the date, 1607, but experts are agreed that the beams and stone-work are really much older than this The enormously thick walls and tiny s of this part had in the last century driven the fa, and the old one was used now as a store-house and a cellar, when it was used at all A splendid park with fine old timber surrounds the house, and the lake, to which my client had referred, lay close to the avenue, about two hundred yards fro

”I was already firmly convinced, Watson, that there were not three separate mysteries here, but one only, and that if I could read the Musgrave Ritual aright I should hold inboth the butler Brunton and the ies Why should this servant be so anxious toin it which had escaped all those generations of country squires, and froe What was it then, and how had it affected his fate?

”It was perfectly obvious tothe ritual, that the measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document alluded, and that if we could find that spot, we should be in a fair way towards finding what the secret hich the old Musgraves had thought it necessary to eiven us to start with, an oak and an elht in front of the house, upon the left-hand side of the drive, there stood a patriarch anificent trees that I have ever seen

”'That was there when your ritual was drawn up,' said I, as we drove past it

”'It was there at the Norirth of twenty-three feet'

”'Have you any old elms?' I asked

”'There used to be a very old one over yonder but it was struck by lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump'

”'You can see where it used to be?'

”'Oh, yes'

”'There are no other elms?'

”'No old ones, but plenty of beeches'

”'I should like to see where it grew'

”We had driven up in a dog-cart, andthe house, to the scar on the lahere the elm had stood It was nearly ation see

”'I suppose it is ih the elive you it at once It was sixty-four feet'

”'How do you come to know it?' I asked, in surprise

”'When onohts When I was a lad I worked out every tree and building in the estate'

”This was an unexpected piece of luck My data were co more quickly than I could have reasonably hoped

”'Tell me,' I asked, 'did your butler ever ask you such a question?'

”Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment 'Now that you call it to ht of the tree souroom'