Part 20

"You may be sure he has them hidden in a safe place. When the whole elopement had passed into history he would suddenly discover them, and announce that the guilty couple had relented and sent back the plunder or had dropped it on the way."

"You certainly seem to have met every difficulty," said the Inspector. "Of course, he was bound to call us in, but why he should have gone to you I can't understand."

"Pure swank!" Holmes answered. "He felt so clever and so sure of himself that he imagined no one could touch him. He could say to any suspicious neighbour, 'Look at the steps I have taken. I have consulted not only the police, but even Sherlock Holmes.'"

The Inspector laughed.

"We must forgive you your 'even,' Mr. Holmes," said he; "it's as workmanlike a job as I can remember."

A couple of days later my friend tossed across to me a copy of the bi-weekly _North Surrey Observer_. Under a series of flaming headlines, which began with "The Haven Horror" and ended with "Brilliant Police Investigation," there was a packed column of print which gave the first consecutive account of the affair. The concluding paragraph is typical of the whole. It ran thus:

"The remarkable acumen by which Inspector MacKinnon deduced from the smell of paint that some other smell, that of gas, for example, might be concealed; the bold deduction that the strongroom might also be the death-chamber, and the subsequent inquiry which led to the discovery of the bodies in a disused well, cleverly concealed by a dog-kennel, should live in the history of crime as a standing example of the intelligence of our professional detectives."

"Well, well, MacKinnon is a good fellow," said Holmes, with a tolerant smile. "You can file it in our archives, Watson. Some day the true story may be told."

Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London

* * * * *

By A. CONAN DOYLE

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. MICAH CLARKE. THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLE STAR. THE SIGN OF FOUR. THE WHITE COMPANY THE REFUGEES. THE STARK MUNRO LETTERS. THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD. RODNEY STONE. UNCLE BERNAC. THE TRAGEDY OF THE "KOROSKO." A DUET, WITH AN OCCASIONAL CHORUS. THE GREEN FLAG. THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD. SIR NIGEL. THROUGH THE MAGIC DOOR. ROUND THE FIRE STORIES. THE LAST GALLEY. THE LOST WORLD. ROUND THE RED LAMP. THE VALLEY OF FEAR. HIS LAST BOW. DANGER! AND OTHER STORIES. THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE. TALES OF ADVENTURE AND MEDICAL LIFE. TALES OF LONG AGO. TALES OF PIRATES AND BLUE WATER. TALES OF THE RING AND CAMP. TALES OF TERROR AND MYSTERY. TALES OF TWILIGHT AND THE UNSEEN. SONGS OF ACTION. SONGS OF THE ROAD. THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH, AND OTHER POEMS. POEMS: COLLECTED EDITION. THREE OF THEM: A REMINISCENCE.

THE MYSTERY OF JOAN OF ARC. BY LÉON DENIS. Translated from the French by A. CONAN DOYLE.