Show I I I IV MR HOMES S REACHES EAUES AN UNHISTORICAL CONCLUSION u ui I I Ir j V VI Y I SHYLOCK HOMES Ills His Posthumous Memoirs r I I i I l I 1 BY JOHN KENDRICK Kf oR cK BANGS I i I I T WAS not long before I 1 was made trade aware ware a that there was to be no lack of occupation liT t tion Hon for me in the tho new sphere of my residence The he story tory of to frighten me away from the practice of or orm t my m profession soon got about and it be became became became came more or less of a fad among the social lights of to get up mysteries mysteries 21 for my solution Queen QUen Elizabeth lIzabeth I offered me a large arg sum of money indeed sent me in advance a u cheque for a considerable amount if I would attend att nd one of her evening receptions and there give to her assembled guests evidences of my m skill in such games as Hiding the Handkerchief and Twenty Ques Questions lions Considering drawing room work beneath my dignity I wrote my m regrets on the back baek of oC the time cheque and amI it to the royal spinster the story tor of which act at in some mysterious m fashion crept into print and for a time served to win for tor me ine the enmity of the for which I was sincerely sorry Bony for I have always held the lady in the highest esteem How the incident came to be published I 1 Ido Ido do not know for I 1 certainly told no one but James Boswell and Paul Pry Pr of or the editorial staff of the Gazette about It and they both assure me that they have told lold none but their wives under cover of confidence of the episode For a period feeling that I must mURt become avail acclimated acclimated mated before undertaking professional work seriously I kept close dose to my rooms at the hotel and declined many man commissions but one morning about three weeks after my m arrival I was forced Into action In a It most peculiar fashion While sitting alone In my room immediately after atter breakfast I became suddenly sud lenly conscious that someone was looking at me m but from what precise quarter I was unable immediately immediate to determine It was t as an uncanny te lh that came over OVE r me at first and It made me somewhat hal uneasy b ut t I deemed it the part of or wisdom in no way to I betray the fact that I was uncomfortable f I 1 con continued continued l therefore to appear to read my m morning pa lla paper Paper per as if wholly unconscious of this piercing eye ee which I 1 felt was fixed upon me 0 Occasionally I glanced casually about as a man may naturally do without giving evidence of a perturbed per spirit and began by a a mental process of ot elimination to solve the question the problem presented There was n none no nn noone one in the room but myself so it was clear that my disturber was on tl the outside somewhere Hence the placing of the intruder was not to one of my 10 habit of thought wholly holly difficult Ode glance in the direction of the window demonstrated beyond all peradventure per pei peradventure adventure that it was not thence that the annoyance sprang It was several stories ies up imp from the street and there was no coign of vantage upon which an in intruder intruder intruder might stand The door was closed dosed mud suid the skylight of or my rny apartment opened in an inner cham chain chamber chamber ber her and not upon the room in which I sat Conse Consequently Consequently my next thought was that the prying person who was eagerly contemplating my mj person was neither in the hall nor upon the th roof but hut In a mo Ino moment moment ment I 1 had reason to modify modi this conclusion in so far an it related to the hall hull I 1 rose from and sauntered idly across the room and was immedi immediately relieved of ot the sensation which had disturbed me It was evident that I 1 was everywhere In the range of the time staring eyes yes Then I walked again and observed as 1 did so 50 and confirmed he observation with further experimentation that it II i was only when within a limited range of the doorknob that the cause of ot my my m vexation operated oper ted The doorknob eh Impossible I muttered No one can ean see through a doorknob Then what ah all the keyhole Let us investigate I acted quickly Filling my cocaine Injector with ith soap and water at the washstand I let drive a good Jo d ly I of the resultant suds through the keyhole and was rewarded by an immediate response in the thc form of a muffled yowl owl It must be Le Lc Coq CoC the Key KeyHole Hole elective Detective again I muttered to myself and pd immediately opened the door Much to my m surprise I discovered leaning against the wall opposite no less Jess a a person seemingly than the time Man In the Iron Mask He was mopping his eye through the steel visor that he wore WOle and using language which while it certainly was apt I deem it well not to reproduce Is there anything I can do for tor you vou I tasked asked recognizing him at once in spite of his disguise by the grave accent upon his profanity for it was ind in iii indeed deed d ed my enemy Le Coq up to some new trick to get me into trouble I r was looking for Mr Shylock Sh lock Homes apart apartment ment meet he said saidI I am Sir Mr Shylock Homes t I 1 replied d Why did you ou not send Rend up a card cardI T TI I wished my m visit to you you o kept secret se ret he explained ex explained pla I am very anxious to solve the mystery of or my Identity and powerful persons here h re are ar are equally anxious that not and if they knew I was wasco co consulting suIting you be trouble for both of us Jo JAhI KAh I see said I Come Conie in Do you mean to toj sary j y that you too are in the dark as to who you ou really are I added as he came in and seated him himself himself self L Exactly Exa t j said he That knowledge k ol se was wa was always withheld from me Take off on your mask and be comfortable I 1 put in as I J eyed e ed him abstractedly I cant he h sighed Its locked on and I dont ont know lenow the combination Poor chap I said sympathetically Thad T r had sup posed that when you OU got here all an your our earthly r trou bles would be over Tell TeU me Monsieur Blank f l shall call you ou Blank until we get down to the real facts is there anybody hereabouts that really knows who you are Yes he replied Mazarin knows alien Louis Fourteenth knows but they wont n on t ten tell and the d draise raise the deuce if they thought the secret was likely to be unveiled Well Ill tell you Jou what rIt do said I Ill Til take tak your case because it interests me but you OU have hav got to put yourself unreservedly in hi my myha itla Ill do that with pleasure sard eJ V t 1 J Good Ill find out who you are lii l iJ Jes ten en days First thing thin I want a disguise said sa d I 1 s As what r l As yourself said I The Man lan in the Iron Mask What for he cried Because I t I want it said I V It is necessary n If It you OU are nM nt z willing to get it for me I shall have hav to give gi up your case But how can ran I he asked aske You cant find a mask like this every day da M H Le Coq the distinguished distin distinguished detective has the only other one ne I know of In existence Get G t me his then I rejoined curtly curti or employ him to ferret out the mystery for you your I r will try he replied and then he be rose up to depart but I was not yet ready rea y to have him go As Asyet Asyet Asyet yet while I was as quite confident of the real identity of the person hidden behind that face of steel I was unwilling to stake my reputation on it and it was w s only too evident that if it were Le LeCoq Coq it was noth nothing nothing nothing ing so much as my m humiliation that he was seeking Dont be in a hurry Monsieur Blank said L I ISit ISit Sit down a few minutes minute and lets Jets have a rooke Id like to ask you something as to your ancestry Im perfectly perfect willing to sit down and smoke Mr lIr Homes he replied but really real I cant ant tell yol yot Jo any anymore anymore anymore more about myself than you OU already alread know Olt OH very well wen I said as you ou wish And then thena a scheme of confirmation of my m suspicions flashed across my mind mindI I handed him one of my m prismatic cigarettes This was a little invention of my my o own to to aid me in th UC t Identification of criminals For ten days dUJos after smoking smokIng ing lag one of ot them the finger tips are so stained with the colors of the rainbow that they cannot be cleansed and I knew that if the man behind that mask smoked but one of them it would serve sene at least to identify the mask later which under the circumstances was w s most desirable My victim fell rendIl into the plot and as he smoked and chatted affably away I was pleased to note the slight discoloration of the steel sl l lips lips by b means of which I should be able irrefutably to establish the identity of the apparatus if it it ever eyer be became became became came necessary At the end of a half hour during which we talked of many thIns things and in ill the course t f l I lof J of which I sold my visitor a complete set o of oC my mp works he rose up to go Now said I as he started Dont forget For Fora a afew few days I 1 shall shan myself impersonate you To en enable enable able me to do this pray be good enough h to send me methe methe methe the necessary disguise Le Coqs mask will win do as well as another You shall have ha it he said shaking inwardly as r l thought with ith laughter and took his departure I closed my door and listened to his retreating foot footsteps footsteps steps and then a short time later saw him emerge into the street accompanied a by b no less lets a personage than Mazarin both of them seemingly exploding with mirth There was some great game afloat that was clear But they the reckoned without their victim icUm That afternoon the mask arrived from the office of Le Coq Hawkshaw C Sleuth I inspected it close closely closely ly and knew that I had h d my man The lips bore the prismatic matic discoloration so I was at once able a to see seethe seethe seethe the plot that had been laid to accomplish accompli l i my ruin Le Ie Coq was as merely merel going to get ge me to li tHe Ute tHeMan theMan Man llan in the Iron Mask as some distinguished pris prisoner prIsoner prisoner oner of the Bastille and then by removing the mask reveal recal only himself thus making a fool of me and a ahe aher aher he her of rIo La Coq Had this been done I 1 should have hae instantly in tanU become an object ob ct of derision But he was foiled Two days das later I returned the mask to Its owner and prepared for a second call eaU I 1 had not long to wait Within hours my visitor was at my m door again Well said he be heVery b 4 Very well en said I L Ive rYe spotted you I know who you Ou are perfectly well My benefactor he Ire cried falling upon hh is knees s sand and imprinting a cold kiss upon my i hand Reveal it it reveal my m identity so long Jong a mystery That the trick was a great one was at this point shown by the sudden opening of my m door and tie entrance nce of a dozen prominent members of the Sty Stygian gian club come to witness the results or of Le Coqs jest I greeted gr them pleasantly One moment sir I observed quietly as the others filed in 10 You have hae ot otten on one little far fol mality My er my retainer One thousand dollars dolla please Pay Jay It growled Hawkshaw who was a a mem merri member ber of the visiting party Its worth the money iri to show him up The money mane was counted out upon my m table tabe and an carefully secured before I went further Well gentlemen said L This mans identity has long been a mystery and I confess to muen sur surprise surprise surprise prise at the revelation which has come to me I nave nac had many theories as to who he was but none it f them is correct In the first place if It you will follow me closely I will show you several interesting things about him which prove proc conclusively to my mind who and what he is Note the condition of at his shoes sh es esThey They are worn away at the back of ot f the heel This proves that he walks and does not ride therefore he does not belong to royalty as has been thought hilt but butto to the common herd who pace the highways on the vehicles of nature I judge from the thickness of r f his neck that he is a man of great ambition but of or little capacity while the dust on his collar which upon closer inspection you will observe Is not brick dust or gold dust but just the plain ordinary a of f a walk along the thoroughfares on a windy day shows a strongly Irreligious bent bentI I r dont quite sOc see s e that murmured my victim I r suppose you would said I But please do not interrupt By looking at his hands I 1 con continued continued continued you will see the bulging knuckles and taper tapering tapering taperIng ing finger nails nalls which betoken one designed by na nature nature nature ture for tor a life of crime My victim winced but I was wa not at all disposed to let up on him who would have hae had no pity for Cor forme Corme me rue And moreover you will see when I poke him Inthe In Inthe inthe the ribs thus I suited the action to my words and he shrinks before so trifling an operation that he is a coward v The company began to grow restive and some seeing how this Joke on me was faring were inclined to interfere but there were others notably Sir Wal Yal Walter Walter ter Raleigh and Dr Johnson who insisted upon fair fairPlay fairplay fairplay Play Now for the final test said I taking the metal covering of ot a keyhole from my roy vest pocket and hold holdIng holdIng holdIng Ing it before my victims eye Can you see through that No he roared I cant Precisely as I thought said I That proves that you are untruthful for that is all you can see through Gentlemen this Man in the Iron Mask Is not only of low birth but of irreligious turn of mind Inherently a criminal and untruthful but he be Is worse He is an anachronism The Man In the Iron Mask Mak lived in the days of Louis XIV This Thie man Is 25 of th eighteenth century and his name is Pierre l Le e Coq the Keyhole Detective Its a lie Ue he be cried Remove the mask gentlemen and you will see for yourselves I put in with a careless shrug of my shoulders Alas Alasi The key is lost cried Le Lc Coq from with within within withIn in So you are foiled again after all aU allI I have a duplicate said I producing a kev ko which I had taken the precaution to have made from my pocket and unlocking the mask with It the heavy beavy steel teel mask was removed from my victims head ana there he stool revealed Le Coq us as T ru u imagined he hissed as a he from the room Well I 1 called after him Ive e got I good dollars to pay with And with that I bowed the rest of the company out with the exception of Raleigh and Shakespeare Sha pea who remained behind You have marvelous skill said Raleign Stupendous added Shakespeare But tell teU me melr Mr lr Homes how does dust on ones collar betray an irreligious nature Plainly enough I r explained ined People who so soto o oto oto to church always brush their coats thoroughly before going And I 1 bowed the th gentlemen out Lie Le Coq has hag temporarily retired from business and Is at present In the sanatorium ing from nervous prostration NEXT EXT WEEK Mr Homes Hon Shatters an a Alibi Copyright Cop Tight 1903 1303 by John Kendrick Bangs |