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gratitude t she said there is no way in which you could have earned it better let me tell you first the name of the who held the note which i it was the girl was so lost in wonder that she dropped her arms to her side do you mean that he would have taken s house from over his head to prevent mr s destruction of the mill power yes it was a case where he would have thought it right it is a very unhappy affair and it is likely to put me into a most unpleasant situation should mr attempt to carry out his plan there is but one person in the world who could stop him and that person is myself the colonel waited a moment to collect his thoughts and then proceeded if the river is allowed to upon mr s land it will inevitably injure it seriously for farming for a long time thus it will lessen the value of the security of the which i hold i could undoubtedly procure an from the court which would prevent him carrying out his but to do this i should have to show him that a thing that i am the real owner of the it would not be strictly honest for my agent to go to the court and say that it was his property at stake there would be to that could only be signed by the real person interested if i obtain this i can save the power to mr mill but at the same time i shall doubtless the enmity of mr and that may make a between us that will result in trouble for and you now you see my child why i came home to day with a cloud on my face did see it and she sat a long time in silence thinking the matter over in the case of the farmers who wanted she had concluded at once that right was right and that no question of ought to be allowed to enter into the discussion now that she found that s happiness which meant in a peculiar degree her own was involved she wanted a little time for consideration i will go and talk to mr she said at last he need not know that you have told me of your visit to him and certainly i shall say nothing about the secret you have committed to me but he has always liked me from the earliest time i can remember and never meets me in the street without stopping for a man of his reserved habits means a good deal i will go and talk with him about the brook and perhaps i shall have a better effect than an older and wiser head is at with mr so he will not be in the way colonel did not exactly like this plan but he saw no real reason why he should refuse to bis consent to it the ton at this moment discerned a familiar figure coming up the walk there is she cried in a low tone of delight how i wish i could confide this to her it is the only secret i ever had that she could not share but she must not share this one he answered decidedly i have told you with the understanding that you will confide in no one came upon the where they were sitting and in their invariable fashion the girls embraced each other warmly i had a letter from this morning said and so did i cried then they both laughed heartily colonel rose and himself walked into his library and shut the door ought not to keep on writing so often to he mused but after all there is plenty of time plenty of time chapter xl ik the upper berth was still away on his visit to when set out on her errand of to his father it was a lovely morning late in august and than the morning was as she tripped along happy in her youth happy in the thought of her good intentions serene with the serenity of one who has no real ache of j f upper bt l heart or of mind every whom she met addressed her with a cheery good morning for there was no man woman or child in all that ever failed to give this welcome to one who always received it with a pleased nod and smile in return her father might have more of this world s goods than had some of theirs but neither he nor she ever showed that they considered this a matter to stand between them and courtesy to their neighbors of whatever grade surly as was john with the world in general he also relaxed when he saw her bright face and he gave her what he now gave to few his hand good morning miss it was not a very long sentence but she knew that she was welcome and this was as much as she had hoped for i see you have begun your she said thinking this as good a way to begin as any you have had a good crop this year if i am any judge very fair it was all he said but from him it was ing i heard from a few days ago he tells me that he will be home again in another week yes he s coming and then said we shall all be off together don t you think it will make quite a in when we all three go at once and i whatever he thought about it he did not express in words but at the mention of s name his brow darkened a little the you know what friends we have all been since we were little children pursued and it will be very pleasant for us to finish our education so

0Arthur Conan Doyle

near together as we shall be at we are so glad over it that i fear we do not realize how unhappy it will make our parents especially s and mine for has been off already a good deal and you must have got somewhat used to it i hope nothing will ever happen that will separate us for we should not know what to do without each other he knew now what had brought her there and it did not please him but he liked too well to wish to injure her feelings and so he waited she went back to the crops again remarking that the corn was looking finely but she did not make much progress in the direction she sought at last mr brought the matter to a crisis let us come to the point miss you did not come here to talk to me about the corn she looked up rather alarmed to have the fact so plainly stated you came here to talk about an affair that two business men now i like you like you better than any girl in but i can t talk about that matter with any one but she protested when you think of and i do not think of and he retorted with least sign of anger i hope i shall never have to couple those names in my thoughts they are names that cannot be joined in that or any other way they have been friends as children but it is time even that ended my son will not con the berth an acquaintance with his father s enemy after he understands the situation which i shall make him do the next time he comes home grew pale at the force of his language uttered with a vehemence quite foreign to his usual nature as she had known it you would not separate them she gasped you would not forbid him to see her i would i will he answered he is nearly twenty two the fancy of the boy must give way to the common sense of the man i have hesitated to speak to him about it believing that he would learn wisdom of his own accord and believing beside that he had fixed his affections elsewhere but he stopped for the girl showed extreme agitation and the word elsewhere came faintly from her lips like an echo of his own she had feared for the moment she knew not what it sounded as if had another love of whom she had never heard you understand me miss said i have seen the friendship of you three and i have believed i still believe that it is not toward that s dearest thoughts have turned if i have been mistaken he added hastily as she to interrupt him i shall take action at once if i am right nothing that he could do would make me happier was powerfully affected by these expressions the more so as she was totally unprepared for them it was extremely grateful to find that this hard man entertained such kindly feelings toward herself and that he thought her worthy of the son thb whom he loved with the only warm spot in his being but a sense of to overpowered these sentiments and she hastened to reply i think you are in error mr if you forbid him to see you will give all of us great grief for it will a bond that has become than you can imagine you say that you like me for my sake then if for no other reason give up this plan and allow things to go on as they are going if it will influence you any she added with a blush i am confident that you need have no fear so far as she paused too much overcome with confusion to finish the sentence i knew i was not wrong he said in a low voice it is not necessary that some things should be spoken to have them understood but it is safer both for him and you that a stop should be put to their intimacy a feeling of guilt came over her that she should seem to share in such a thought as this oh no she cried not for it is not safer for me i do not need the protection neither does he sir and think of the it would seem as if you believed there was danger and that would set everybody to talking let things be as they are from your own it is the best way and i are like sisters she and are no closer i am certain of it so long as you force me to say so and that brings me to what i came here for yes it is about the water in the that i want to speak about let it flow on it is for my own sake i ask it and if the you really care anything for me you will do as i request her earnestness was so great that it affected him even while he was forming a reply you do not know never mind what your have been the greater they are the nobler will be your victory if you pass them by dear mr i shall never forget the happiness you will give me by this simple favor we are all going to together will call upon me often and if and he are forbidden to speak how unpleasant it will be for me wait till our year in school is ended if you can do no more promise me she urged with all her powers of persuasion promise me that you will wait a year john would have laughed the idea to scorn an hour before that any slip of a girl could have had this influence over him but he found his giving way before her pleading if it

0Arthur Conan Doyle

works harm to you mind for i can see how it may do so don t blame me he said i will be plain i want you and to spend your lives together is a girl of great strength of mind and you will need to be careful that she does not use her powers to you it is useless to sneer at such a possibility such things have been done and they may be again if i make you a promise you must make me another do not be to give him no cause to doubt the real state of your mind toward him many a lover has been chilled by pretended coolness you are both young but you are old enough to know your minds do not be too anxious to wait until s he is settled in his profession if he speaks encourage him and all will be well but even when i con sent to your request that i shall do nothing to separate him from her i fear i fear caught both his hands in hers you need fear nothing of course you won t tell about my coming here or that you have said any of these things to me we are very young indeed i feel i am hardly more than a child things alone that is all there is to do you have made me happier than you can imagine with that she ran away afraid to stay for anything more and went home to tell her father that she had secured at least a temporary delay in the threatened she did not tell him what else she had learned for she could hardly bear to think of it herself loving as she had done for so long knowing as she had known for the past year that there was something more than ordinary affection between them she had never till now put it into definite form even to her own heart mr had unlocked the secret chamber and enabled her to gaze upon the hidden treasures that she had hardly dared till then to call by their right name very sweet indeed was the sight but the soul felt something akin to fright at the revelation and thus it has ever been since romance began to be written and no doubt long centuries to that day came back when it lacked but a fortnight of the day on which he was to depart for his law office and the girls were to go with him to their his father faithful to his promise to said nothing to him whatever about lit neither did he utter any further threats against though he did not withdraw his name from the list of parties to the mill stream suit that case was originally set down for trial in november but mr attorney had had it postponed till spring in order that the jury might be able to see the full extent of the things remained in though it might be merely the calm that the storm the silence that is a of the earthquake repented the promise he had made when he heard one morning that several heavy loads drawn by oxen had been taken in the night time and lodged in an addition which had recently built to his mill it seemed to him like a defiance this preparation to the capacity of a concern which he had the power to stop at his pleasure at first he questioned the honor of in the matter fearing that she had informed mr of the agreement which he had made but he had too much confidence in her to hold this opinion for long it was more like a decided challenge on the part of the mill owner for him to do his worst john had no doubt that the mysterious loads contained another set of mill stones and the necessary machinery for putting them in operation he was very angry at first but he grew calmer on reflection the larger s the larger would be his loss when the power was destroyed he could afford to wait and when the year was ended not even the sweet voice of should persuade him from his revenge both mr and colonel with their wives had visited making the journey i thb tow company to inspect the rooms which their daughters were to occupy and to talk personally with the principal of the they had left word that was to have as free access to the girls as though he were a brother each of the fathers in language strikingly similar committed his daughter to the care of the young man who was to see her to her journey s end and act as a sort of guardian to her while there i know of no one else to whom i would said colonel with feeling you have long seemed to me almost like a son and i am glad you and she are to be so near each other visit her often and make her first separation from her parents as easy to her as you can you and seem more like brother and sister than anything else was the way mr put it i shall feel quite easy to know that she is where she can call upon you in case of necessity it is the first time she has ever been from her mother and me but she will not mind it so much when you are where you can see her every few days thanked both of them for their confidence and made some remarks to the effect that he hoped their faith in him was deserved to this they each responded that they had no doubt of that and the party set off the girls kissed their parents repeatedly and promised to write very often the station was crowded in their honor and the good that rent the air as the train

0Arthur Conan Doyle

moved would have done credit to a only one face that might have been expected to be there was missing that of s who had no mind to join in a im the ho which would have a share he had bade farewell to his son at his house on the plea of business engagements on the way to the spent their time much as they ordinarily did when in the company of each other their seats in the faced each occupied one and the girls sitting opposite passed the hours in conversation with him never seeming at a loss for enough subjects of common interest answering them when they spoke and even an occasional vein of his own s thoughts were most of the time far from the topics discussed he was trying to find some reason to prefer one of them to the other as had so confidently assured him he must at once begin to do was the more superb the fairer and more delicate d her rival at in brilliancy could rally her forces and convince by the clear and honest quality of her argument which of them would make a man happier as a partner for life that after all was the great he looked at the magnificent which exhibited even at her present age saying to himself that she would never be otherwise than perfect as a physical being he marked the rosy hue of her complexion indicating health and of temperament then he looked at s clear blue eyes the transparent whiteness of her hands and the sweet of her mouth could he part with either of them no no the time predicted when there would appear a preference had not yet come me slept in the upper berth that night with th girls clasped in each other s arms in the one beneath him an extra crush of travel had prevented his an additional section as he had meant to do he lay awake till past midnight thinking ot the picture that he could not see and yet which was so near him there was the form the more exquisite that belonged to and there were tha arms the fuller figure of which he cried almost aloud which and there was no answer he might have either of them for life by the asking which which which should it be i love them both he reflected pressing his pillow against his feverish head how can it end how can it end chapter xii do you love my son the girls liked their school having where they could see him nearly every day lessened the of their first absence from home they were bright scholars and made rapid progress the young men also did credit to themselves in the office of the law firm with which they were reading the three fathers in heard the news and were well pleased nothing of special interest worth happened to the principal characters in this tale during the winter saw nothing to cause him to change the waiting position he had assumed they all went home for a fortnight at christmas and then returned to their studies the second parting of and from their parents did not in the least resemble the first they loved them as deeply as ever but there was a good deal to both of them in the fact that they were not to be separated from had he remained at home or gone in some other direction there might have been a very different story to tell late in the spring or rather early in the summer the law suit of et al as the papers were now made to read against was tried in the county court neither the mill owner nor his counsel major had been idle they confronted the farmers with expert testimony to the effect that the land occasionally over flowed by the of the brook had not been lessened but actually increased in value and that the enabled the owners to raise certain kinds of crops which brought prices superior to the which they would otherwise have had to grow there not content with this the major drew out of each the price at which he valued his land per acre showing subsequently that the claimed were much greater than the entire area covered was worth and offering to buy every foot of it at a price above the that any fair set of would put upon it the result was that the jury composed though it was mainly of farmers who would naturally have felt a sympathy for their fellow of the soil had no choice but to find a verdict for the and s th tt the judge from his place on the bench took occasion to compliment them for their decision and to declare that he had never had a case of greater brought before him in the whole course of his administration of justice it may be imagined that john did not find his temper improved by the result of the trial he stood a silent listener to a conversation which took place among the and their attorney the lawyer of des outside the court house when the case was ended and only spoke when passed on his way to his carriage which stood with its driver awaiting him he s running the mill with my water anyway he said and when i am ready to stop him i shall to reply directly to this thrust meant evidently to anger him but what he had to say he directed at the crowd it is in no man s power to stop my mill i am not in the habit of much but if any person tries it you ll see that what i say is true before he could reach his carriage however mr stepped up to him in a state of intense anger you can do everything we all know that

0Arthur Conan Doyle

i he cried shaking his clenched hand at him you can our lands and spoil our crops and when we come to a jury they will decide in your favor you have money that s your hold how much did you pay to get that verdict eh if had reflected a moment he would have let this observation pass for the of a disappointed man but the stung him to the quick he himself on the of his ct mr honor and had the expenditure of a single cent been sufficient to him the verdict he would have the proposal to use it in any unfair of justice go along you old fool he retorted angrily if you were not too full of to know what you are saying i would have you put under arrest and made to eat those words had been drinking there was no doubt of that but he had a gray head and some of the audience cried shame there was little feeling in favor there and a crowd of that sort is not apt to be in its judgments oh you ve got money you can do anything trying hard to control himself walked nearer to his carriage the driver of which was becoming uneasy seeing him retreating several of the took up the refrain in more or less loud tones but all of them distinct enough to reach his ears as he heard them his rage was kindled anew and he turned about yes i have got money honestly earned as any money ever was and i don t propose to have a set of thieves and cheat me out of it either i can buy up every man in this crowd and have a balance left in the bank afterwards if any of you are dissatisfied with the verdict come to me tomorrow and i ll take every acre and building you own and give you the cash for it if you have anything to sell come to me like square men and say so but don t come like chicken thieves and try to get what doesn t belong to you the effect of this extraordinary speech was t the silence the party till he could get into his carriage and drive away when the smothered flame broke forth again all that could be said against was brought out and the disappointed and their exhausted in abuse of this tyrant who had grown rich beyond their power to understand and consequently faster than he had any honest right to do grew white about the lips when launched his epithet at them but when they turned to him for an explanation of his threat he only repeated it he is using my water to run his mill with and when i get ready to stop him i shall it was the only consolation they could obtain and unsatisfactory as it was they tried to find comfort in it some thought lawyer ought to be compelled to part of the money he had got out of them the sum having something over a thousand dollars but others that lawyers were not in the habit of doing business that way before they got through being in a vicious temper with everything and everybody they fell to quarrelling among themselves and several blows were exchanged after which the party broke up in confusion within the next month three of the becoming disgusted with life in that vicinity availed themselves of mr proposition sold him their estates and moved away and soon happiness was restored to his heart and household by the coming home of his daughter for the long summer a year had done much for her beauty had rapidly as she approached her twentieth m oo you love my bon birthday until it seemed at times fairly dazzling her dark eyes had never been so bright her brown hair so or her olive skin so perfect in its purity of blood she was a little taller a little a little more mature but still hardly more than a large child who had no notion of assuming the station of full womanhood as she alighted from the train and flew to meet her father and mother kissing each with the passionate of her disposition the villagers who saw the sight found a murmur of admiration passing from one end of the crowd to the other isn t she perfectly lovely remarked one young to his sweetheart too much affected by the apparition to think what a very thing it was to say to her but the crowd took up the expression and passed it along perfectly y was repeated over and over again had seen her parents from the window and hastily waving her hand to them had rushed to the door and left the car step almost before the train came to a stand one or two other passengers alighted and then came as miss came into view the doubt of as to which was the more lovely of the twain received its usual strain all eyes turned from to her friend and the expressions of admiration broke out afresh beautiful as a lily with a complexion such as wealthy would gladly spend a fortune to imitate with eyes fair hair the motion of a swan and the smile of an angel had her moment of adoration too there was a minute f consultation among the party and then a hasty oar separation the closed carriages of the and the families with their hired drivers the only ones in town drove away with their burdens and an open sent by a farm boy took to his father s john received his son with few words his was so well known that any thing else would have aroused surprise he questioned briefly as to whether he was satisfied with the year he had spent at asked about one or two minor matters and then into

0Arthur Conan Doyle

silence i shall spend most of my here said is there any way in which i can help you his father was astonished at the question he had never asked his son for the slightest assistance upon the farm knowing his for agricultural pursuits and he could not understand what put this idea into his head but he contented himself with a simple negative after eating his supper strolled over to mr house where both the girls were awaiting him as they had agreed to do before they parted at the train there was one thing that mr wanted more than anything else now and that was to see and have another talk with her he did not know how to arrange it and over a week passed before he happened to meet her where others were not present when the opportunity came and he encountered her on the road from the place to her own home he only stopped to say good morning and to ask her when she could find time to see him in private i have something to say to you said he it do you love my son will not take long but i do not wish to be interrupted i shall consider any time mine that you was the prompt answer the sooner it is over the better he mused i will send away to night on an errand if you will call at the house better make it nine o clock or about that i will be there she replied and they separated promptly at the time appointed she came and found him sitting alone on the awaiting her he had given a commission that would take him away for an hour or two and as he seldom had visitors no one was likely to disturb them i know you will believe miss he said coming directly to the point that there is no one whom i would rather please than you nearly a year ago i was about to arrange a piece of business which i thought necessary when in obedience to your request i postponed it you mean i trust that you abandoned it altogether she interrupted him to say i post it he answered deliberately for a year the time is nearly expired and i want no misunderstanding i have wished many times that i had not made you that promise but having made it i kept it nothing could induce me to make it again may i not hope she began he stopped her with a trace of impatience that is all there is to that subject if you please now will you tell me if you and are as good friends as ever she struggled with herself a moment for she felt the ton that she was defeated but she thought it best not to cross him she responded that she and were on the same pleasant terms that they had always been but excuse me you know why i ask it is there more nothing definite between you she shook her head with deepening color oh there is so much time for that why it be years and years before i shall want to think of it a ut meanwhile you have no fears of losing him she sm l ed now not nor that she is and always will be our dearest friend unless she added you are so cruel as to destroy that r he spoke with more earnestness than she had supposed him capable of exhibiting do you love my son ery much she looked into his eyes a startled at his manner yes she said timidly you would not like to have take him from you no and from the heavenly blue of her eyes there fell a on his hand then let me warn you not to let him be close in this friendship with that handsome girl he is easily influenced he has a soul as gentle as your own and the slightest thing may turn him it is the height of folly for you to imagine that they can be thrown together at all seasons without something do love my son more than ordinary attraction draw him away from her before you are too late listened to him with alarm but not with any fear that his words could come true she trembled at the thought that he should have formed such an idea why loves me she answered in a whisper it is not necessary that he should say so in words or that any promise should be made between us we have loved each other ever since we were children he has shown his affection for me in a thousand ways i know it i feel it is our dear friend whom i could never suspect of she knows our love for each other though it has never been talked over and why should it be ah mr you do her wrong if you entertain the slightest suspicion that she would separate and me she was so earnest that he wished he could agree with her but he was a practical man and he told her that he was fully convinced to the contrary if you think it to find from his own lips just how he stands said he i shall endeavor to discover it for myself i could never consent that son of mine should link his life with a daughter of you think you say you are sure that he never would do so i also must be certain for i assure you loving as i do and he is the only thing on earth for whom i care much i would never allow him to speak to me again never own him as a relation should he make a marriage of that kind he had spoken at an unusual length for him and she had the rest of the conversation principally to herself most

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of his replies being in say the what she might she could not move him from either point on which he had decided he would do as he pleased about the mill power and he would have a talk with him to have less to do with miss in fact to break off his friendship with the entire family i won t have him going there he said angrily if he is stubborn he must choose between us and if you are wise miss you will aid instead of me in that matter she felt the complete of arguing with him but she uttered a final protest declaring that she could not bear to think that a friendship as pure and sweet as they three had enjoyed for nearly fifteen years should be broken up for a mere whim and that she should be compelled to do all in her power to prevent and from sacrificing their old friendship for each other you will advise my son to my request is that it he asked you must remember she said that he is nearly twenty three but a boy still a boy who does not know his mind who must be guided as other boys are it is useless to talk longer with me miss we see things differently rose with a motion which clearly meant farewell and started to leave i will go part of the way with you he said no she interrupted pleasantly i am afraid of nothing all i ask of you is that you will think it over good night every word of this conversation had been heard by an listener none other than do you love my box himself he had started on the errand with which his father had him and becoming doubtful of a portion of the message he was to deliver had returned by a rear path to ask that it be more fully explained while searching for his father he had heard s voice and had paused from sheer wonder that she should be there the first words that caught his ear were these are you and as good friends as ever he could not resist waiting one moment to hear her reply and after that he was in a for either to advance or retreat might subject him to the suspicion of being the that he was and he did not wish to appear contemptible to either of them he had heard it all and when they separated he pursued his journey fain to let the message take care of itself as there was no way of it now as he walked along the road he heard over again what had been said he had known that his father did not like but he had not supposed the could grow to this proportion so it was to come to separating him from was it it was true that he was nothing but a boy who did not know his own mind but he would not willingly submit to like this never before had he been made to feel parental restraint and the first pull of the cord was not pleasant separate him from forbid him to see her what nonsense he could not and would not bear it then he thought of the loveliness of s confession made without fear or blush she loved him and had owned it to the one who was by the ties of nature nearest to him and had the best right to ask her it was very sweet to know that she cared s the dearly for him this girl whom he had loved ever since as she herself put it they were children he had never loved her as much as he did at this moment nor felt more the impossibility of going through life without her counsel and companionship how noble and generous she was in her to many girls he well knew would have sacrificed their friend rather than the slightest risk of losing their lover he was angry with himself that he was walking in an opposite direction on an errand of little importance instead of back to the village by her side with her arm linked in his if he were there at this moment she should no longer have to confess that he had never told her definitely of the love he bore her and the hope that lay next his heart and then there came a pain a sudden in that heart so and yet so true for he knew that however much he loved was no less dear to him chapter xiii there are in asia there was no corn on the farm that year nor any of the numerous varieties of small crops that late there was not even a garden planted nothing but the winter wheat that is in the latter part of june had covered his the neighbors upon this fact and there are in asia came to various conclusions some said with an air of wisdom that john wanted his money all at once in order to meet the payment of his interest and that was why he had raised the kind of grain that earliest others guessed at the true reason his desire to clear the fields so that he could tap the brook as soon as possible and cut off the supply of water that turned the wheels of mill had gone with her father and mother on a month s visit to relations at a distance she had parted with regret from even for this brief time and he had said many pleasant things to her during the calls that he made after her journey was decided upon he meant to tell her before she left that she held a place in his heart dearer than that of a mere friend meant to tell her in set phrase but when he approached the subject the words failed to

0Arthur Conan Doyle

come once when he stammered something of what was in his mind she quite prevented his going any farther by saying that she entirely understood him that there was no need of his saying anything more and that she had entire confidence and faith in his truth and honor don t neglect while i am gone she said at the last with a little tremor of the voice but don t forget either he assured her that he could never forget her present or absent and asked her to write often which she promised to do went from the station where he and had been to see the party off to the home of the somewhat depressed but the brightness of s spirits soon had their effect upon his own and he was than ever within an hour after thk the early tea in which he with the family he and strolled down to the grove where the house was and took a short ride on the little lake there she was an expert and insisted that as he was her guest she must do the wishing only to make her happy he consented with some reluctance to sit in the stern and allow her to furnish the motive power that impelled the small craft as she bent forward and put her strength into the work he noticed as he never had before the magnificence of her she wore a dress with sleeves of open work and the pink flesh showed distinctly as the of her arms stood out in relief the neck was cut low and the beauty of the throat was apparent she had worn her long hair in two from a sudden fancy and the loose locks that played about her forehead added to her expression but it was not her olive skin her dark eyes or her dress that made her irresistible to him on that evening it was the clear and shining star of love that had set itself on her brow and beamed through all obstacles into his very soul when they reached the of the lake she ceased he begged to be permitted to take the oars from her but she was saying that she only intended to rest a few minutes there where all was so still and then row back to the shore the night was cloudy and no one walking on the bank could have them he changed his seat to the one by her side they conversed in low whispers laughing at trifles in a suppressed way and neither was at ease the oars had been placed in position on the edge of the boat and nothing pre there ass ft obeying a sudden impulse to take s hand in his as he touched it all the blood in his body seemed at his brain let us not go in he said in a whisper let us never go in again i she leaned toward him as if with his words and as she did so he put his arms about her as long as he had known her this was the first time he had ever done that or anything approaching it the boat drifted but little there was no current in the lake which had an outlet only through a little brook that ran toward the wandering five miles at least to every one that a crow s flight would have taken to reach its destination felt the yielding form lying close against him and the effect on his senses was most powerful raised her face to his she had loved him all her life and now must be the beginning of that love s he felt her breath his lips but he was afraid to touch that sweet mouth with his own a moment my love he gasped astonished she drew herself a little away too far he in a i shall be myself she put her hand cool and moist even though she trembled with excitement upon his head and was to find the fever that raged there you are not well she exclaimed oh yes he answered i think i never was well till now she laid her cheek to his and for some time ther the was no sound but the beating of their hearts so near together i shall get used to it after awhile were his first words but at present you affect me like a strong battery just think i am nearly and yours is the first girl s face that ever touched mine there was never any one else she responded no he answered and there never can be with such of sentiment they passed the next ten minutes and then roused herself we must go back she said it is dark and we ought to be on the way how can you be so he exclaimed always light where you are nevertheless he suffered her to take up the oars and with noiseless motions she brought the boat to its landing he assisted her to tie it to the ring in the platform and then they took the path toward home as they passed the summer house gate he held back it is still early he said in low tones let us go in for a little while but there is no one there was her answer surely that is not necessary the strong sense of her training came to her rescue no she replied we will go to my house and sit in a corner of the he wore a look of disappointment as he started to seeing that he did not seem content she asked the reason you do not trust me was his answer there are in asia because i would rather go home than into the house yes m what has that to do with trusting you she simply for an instant he felt like a cross between an idiot and a villain he

0Arthur Conan Doyle

knew that the half formed thought of evil that had forced its way into his mind had been exhibited in all its naked she had it not with anger or an assumption of superior virtue but by a refusal to understand he feared that she never could forget this moment and he cursed the folly into which his mad humor had led him don t make a serious thing of it he said trying to force a laugh i was only trying you of course i did not think that you would go in there at this time of the evening and if you had consented i should have refused why it would be preposterous not that there would be any real harm but on account of what it would give people a chance to say that affair in the boat has turned my head i really believe come let us talk of something else was quite willing to talk of other things bat he had not in the least her she knew that he had wanted her to stop at the summer house and that all the gossip of mrs that might have been in would not have prevented his going had she not objected but what girl of nineteen can find the sun of her first day s love sky much obscured by such a small cloud as this before they had reached her home they were talking brightly of other things mr saw them coming and went to tell his the wife that had returned he heard their steps on the and refrained from disturbing them as long as they were together he was quite content never doubting that his daughter was the dearest girl on earth to he thought it only right to give him every opportunity to be alone with her it is the american method and though mrs having had a different training sometimes uttered a mild protest she always to what she considered her husband s superior judgment she had supreme confidence in her daughter of course was there ever a mother who did not believe that her daughter could be trusted under all circumstances other women s girls might forget but hers never and yet since the world began to on its some of them must have been mistaken it was but little after nine o clock when they came upon the but it was much later when they separated they talked of everything from the condition of the weather to the journey of do you know said suddenly i was almost inclined to be jealous of dear a few weeks ago of course i couldn t really have been so but somehow you seemed just as attentive to her as you did to me and well it s all right now i love her dearly and i wouldn t have anything come between us for the world she is so sweet but i don t believe she ever will marry when i get a home of my own i should be so happy if she would come and live with me the face of came back to him the sweet there asia h truthful face that had looked up to him when her confidence in his honor had been for but he was under the influence of a stronger nature and the that it gave him was only momentary how did you choose me when you have always had her near you was the next thing that startled him i am sure she is much the better looking and i never can hope to compare with her in grace you are the only man who would have turned to me with such a choice before him no i am not he interrupted there is cliff she asked him what he meant by that why cliff has been crazy over you ever since the first day i brought him here he has taken it for granted that and i would make a match and that you would favor him when you put me out of your mind nonsense he never showed it she said much pleased nevertheless no it is true cliff is too for anything but he loves you he will be all broken up when he hears of this and i suppose he must hear some time gave a start oh no he mustn t that is i mean for ever so long you have three years yet before you ar admitted to the bar and a good while after that before you can get into a practice i don t want you to tell any one and i shall not either no she added thoughtfully not even nor my father or the they were sitting close together and the influence of her affected him strongly do you think he said that i am going to wait years and years for you why it seems horrible cruelty that i must watch the clock to night even he pulled out his watch look at those racing hands it is a quarter past ten and they are doing their best to make it twenty minutes it will be eleven soon and then twelve and when my limit is up i must go and leave you his arm was about the back of her chair and she shrank into its curves very prettily the folks are ab d long ago said she and there is no hurry you can stay as long as you wish but still i shall have to go he responded with a clouded face no matter how long i stay i shall have to go at last that is what spoils everything she could not help feeling a little of what was in his words perhaps she said slowly we shall not have to wait many years perhaps you will get a law practice very soon after your admission that we can live on in a very quiet way

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of course it will not take much i think for a year or two my father will give me all that i shall want at the start and he would lend you some money if you needed it this severely on s my own father would do that he replied quickly but i cannot bring myself to think of any thing like years in connection with waiting for you months seem too long even weeks he turned upon her with the force of sudden and pressed his lips to hers for a moment she there in asia abandoned herself to the delirium and then she gently drew herself away from him hush she whispered soothingly we must be very wise and sensible there is nothing to do but wait in a few weeks you will be back at your studies and then with so much to occupy your mind the time will pass more rapidly and you he said will be at the within a few miles of me and i shall see you often as i have been doing do you think i can pore over and with your countenance ever before me no i shall think of you all day visit you every evening and lie awake dreaming of you all night this vivid statement of made laugh softly i will go to some other school if it will help you any she said there are plenty that are hundreds of miles away what is there to keep you from getting along as well as you have done during the last year he laid his head on her shoulder it will never be the same again he answered shall never be the same nothing will be as it used i had not kissed you then there are in asia i have read that having tasted human flesh will eat no other food you have made a tiger of me she bent her head and touched her cheek to hi a terrible fate she exclaimed to be eaten alive daily by a beast i tasted the lips again and then sat upright i cannot bear it he cried there is but one the choice for as either we must be married speedily or i must not be alone with you her heart beat wildly though her reason was in arms against him a do not speak like that i beg you she said a speedy marriage is out of the question we are both too young we must wait fix your mind on that fact and be strong stood up and stretched his arms above his head let me go now at least he said in a whisper i shall come to you to morrow with more sense in my head to night i have none absolutely none if i were to kiss you again i should bite you yes i am in danger of becoming a tiger indeed she felt the tears rising to her eyes but with a powerful effort she repressed them you must go good night she said you know best whatever you have said or may say whatever you have thought or may think i love you no she stepped backward as he to clasp her waist i think it is not wise to night we have been very happy i have at least come in the morning and i will sing for you he had his hat off and was brushing his hair back with his hand there is one way he said which would make everything right if you loved me enough to do it we might have a secret marriage and later we could have the public one just the same and nobody know the difference it has been done that way often and there is no possibility of harm looked the least bit insulted as she heard these in asia what for she asked are you afraid of losing me do you think i can ever change no he cried but i want you now f she stood there a minute revolving the proposition in her mind from the bottom of her soul she pitied him it could not be she said slowly at last it would be my parents who have a right to know every act of mine of such great importance as that it would be myself it would be you this is a temporary and will pass away let me be a help to your life not a go on with your studies and when the right time comes and i assure you i am as anxious for the day as you we will be united before the world i could not bear to carry a secret from my father and mother and whatever the ceremony by which we were joined i should feel guilty like oil on troubled waters were the words of the maiden the young man s brow cleared and he drew to his side with a tender movement i am not good enough for you he said his voice choking but you shall hear nothing more like this be as gentle with me as you can and time will make it all right with us the tears she had held back flew to her eyes as she gazed after his form which soon vanished among the trees that bordered the winding avenue the chapter xiv s all was awake to the fact that something was going to happen it was whispered about the village that john had at last been unable by any means that he could summon to pay his interest to the company and that his farm would be sold at public to the highest as soon as the necessary could be gone through with the mysterious way in which he had met the difficulties of former years were among the and some predicted that the luck of finding some way out of the would again be his but the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

greater number said his time had come they said that a first with interest in a second of unusual size and a on every animal and tool on his place could not be carried forever the price of wheat was low that year and even if it had been higher it would not have saved him for in of a custom not uncommon in the west he had pledged the entire crop as it grew to in exchange for accommodation no said the people who knew these things the farm must go who would purchase it they were not long in deciding that question who purchased everything in the way of land that was offered in why of course the man whose purse always full the place joined his s and besides his possession of it would settle the vexed subject of the mill power once in his hands no one could scare him again with threats to cut off the water from his profitable mill said nothing to any one about his troubles the notice of intent to appeared in the county paper there was but a few weeks lacking of the time when the would stand with his hammer on the steps of the house and offer it to whoever chose to buy this land that he had found in the midst of a wilderness and had broken to the almost literally with his own hands this dwelling that he had reared in which his wife had died and his son been born these stables and which had held his stock and wheat for more than twenty years all must be sacrificed to meet the demands of who had never even seen them that subtle thing called interest which labors day and night in fair weather and foul amid the of winter and the days of summer whether crops be large or small whether the one who owes it be sick or well had done the business for him long years ago he had admitted the monster to his house and it had refused to though fed with twice its bulk of bread and meat it had his strength his courage and his power to produce even the food which it demanded and now it him that it might claim all he had for its own did not see the notice in the newspaper he cared little for the county news and had he read the paper he would have been very unlikely to notice such a thing as an advertisement of but it had appeared twice and he had not shown the in any way that he knew of it mr thought it his duty to have a talk with him and advance a proposition the shock to the young man when he was made to understand the situation was very great until that moment he had not known that his father wai indebted to any man to the value of a penny mr told him the whole truth in the kindest and most sympathetic manner proposed various ways of over the difficulties which clustered about his parent but he was compelled to tear out the from under them one by one the first was equal to sixty per cent of the value of the property the second covered very nearly all the rest other entangled everything else that might have been availed of in the emergency til tell you the whole truth painful as it is said mr it is best that you should not be deceived in any way and my father in the loving kindness of his heart has kept it all a secret said sadly he has sent me to school with money that he could not afford to pay for that purpose he has labored on alone when i might have been of some use to him and has borne his burden without telling me of its existence it will now be for me to do something in return if indeed i am fit for anything mr bowed saying that these sentiments did honor to his young friend there is something more that i must tell you he added for reasons which i cannot feel are any fault of mine i have incurred the enmity of your father nothing more than arose out of a upon the mill stream question i think hastened to interrupt it is much older and deeper than that replied mr it is unnecessary to go into it for i might not be able to state the case as fairly as one could do it whatever the reason your father hates me cordially the suit you speak of went against him and his friends and he has since threatened to cut the bank of the brook where it borders on his land and shut off my power the result would be to a large part of his own territory to his injury but i think he to carry out the scheme this would of course result in a loss to me and in no gain to him what i want to say to you is this in the event of the sale of his place which it seems now can hardly be prevented this state of affairs will compel me lor my own protection to be a the young man heard with wonder it was all so new to him that he could not comprehend it in all its bearings he only said yes sir and waited for mr to proceed i need not say said the mill owner that i have the greatest regard for you i have felt since you were big enough to walk over here and take to school as if you were almost a son of my own and this unhappy has given me particular uneasiness on your account i have feared that it would trouble my my make annoyance for both of you which i naturally wished to avoid if possible you

0Arthur Conan Doyle

you understand me yes said i understand the at the same time he wondered if he did i want to prevent any that will trouble you and proceeded the elder man i want you to feel that you have a friend in me on whom you can call you can as freely as if there had never been any feeling against me on your father s part at the same time as a business man i wish to protect my mill said certainly like one in a dream what i wish to propose continued mr is this i will attend the sale of the farm and if possible become its after that i will leave it in your hands to do what you please with and you can arrange with your father to remain and cultivate the soil as he has always done if he desires when you have finished your law studies and become successful you can redeem the estate only to me enough to make my in the brook beyond question mr leaned back in his chair for they were sitting in his parlor with the air of one who wanted to know if anything could be fairer than that i do not quite see said how i am to pursue my studies any longer if my father is i cannot ask him to labor for me while i continue idle it will be my place to my career and do something in return for the sacrifices he has made a very natural thought said mr and one that i am glad to hear you utter but the best service you can render your father is to continue your studies and get into a position to earn a good deal more than you could ever hope to do in ways two or three years of successful law s fc practice and i could aid you a good deal in getting established would bring more than three times as much as if spent in ordinary in this world it does not do to think of to day alone we must keep an eye on the future if your father should not feel able to furnish you the means to continue your studies though with the plan i have he ought to have no trouble in so doing i shall be only too glad to lend you the necessary amount lend you on your personal note and let you return it at your leisure when you feel able in later years thanked him and said that he would consider the matter he wanted time to think the truth was he found the whole recital very disagreeable it is not pleasant to learn that one s father is and that one may have to depend on the of others for the comforts of life and it is difficult to be thankful in the proper degree to the person who brings us the tidings no matter how generous or considerate he may appear went to find and after a short talk with her excused himself on account of work in his study which he felt obliged to do he walked back to his father s thinking what a dreary world this was after all as he turned into the familiar gate which was to belong to his family but a few days longer he could have wept outright with vexation john saw that something unusual had happened as soon as his eyes rested on the clouded face of his son and suspected that the inevitable knowledge had come to him that knowledge that he had tried more than once to impart and had never found himself quite able to do so the what s the matter he asked with unusual solicitude in his tone you do not look happy tried to say something but for a minute he could not articulate a single word then he broke out passionately oh father why have you kept it from me so long why should i have told you would it have made you any happier was the answer i wanted you to get your profession first there is no money for an honest man in farming it takes a to a fortune out of land such a man as he added with flashing eyes a lawyer is all right any where i hoped you would be ready to get your own living before the crash came but i guess it s on us now he spoke with a quiet resignation that surprised the young man and made him hope that he would avail himself of the olive branch which he could offer what has made you so bitter against mr he asked he would help us i am sure in an emergency like this would he the resigned air was gone and an expression of intense hatred took its place i hope he ll wait till somebody asks him i ve no doubt he d like to help me and so get some hold on you he spoke now with earnestness i trust there has been nothing serious between you and i would rather see you in your grave than to have you join your blood to his the young man before the question put in the way it was there is nothing there must be nothing s the aroused father you and you have given her cause to think that your mind is fixed on her she is worth a thousand her father has always treated me like a gentleman it would make me happy to see her your wife but if you should so far forget my wishes as to marry the other one he paused overcome by the violence of his emotions and then added we should have to be strangers my boy from that day there was nothing in the nature of to withstand an like this his love for his father had always been strong and this morning it

0Arthur Conan Doyle

had been newly aroused by the light thrown upon the kindness of that parent in bearing his alone that he might have a calm ride on the sea of life he forgot the words he had so recently exchanged with forgot for the moment everything but the debt he owed to this the only relation whom he knew nothing shall come between us father he said firmly john caught his son to his breast as though he were only a child i knew it he cried i knew i could rely upon you you have some of my spirit in you after all and you will not marry against my will s heart grew cold in his bosom but he answered no you must leave it to me to arrange in my own way he added presently i must have lull the to sec and part from her as pleasantly as i can we have been intimate from and it will take a little time yes it will take a little time began the task assigned him that very afternoon by going to make a call she noted his extreme but when she commented upon it he said he had a headache nothing would content her but that he must lie on a sofa in the sitting room and let her bind up his head in water though he protested at first he found it not unpleasant when she sat by his side and held one of his hands in hers while with her other hand she smoothed back the hair from his temples which were really throbbing now was that afternoon in a light which in its simplicity became her well her dark eyes grew luminous from sheer tenderness as they shone upon him and he wondered how he could ever bring himself to say to her what he had promised to do after a while he changed his head from the pillow to her lap saying that the former position made the ache worse and the longer he lay there the harder it seemed to him to take the step he had contemplated i cannot lie here he said finally all the blood in me seems to rush to my head let me try sitting up a little while and won t you give me a brush so that i can make my hair look like that of a christian she brought the brush but insisted on arranging the hair herself and as she bent over it he felt her warm and fragrant breath on his cheek you can do it better this way he said drawing i s her upon his knee she made no objection to the new position but went on with her work stretching her neck to see where the parting ought to be this brought her fair throat within easy distance of his lips if you do that i can t finish your hair she said drawing her chin down over the place he had the hair is a secondary matter he answered i would have gone away looking like a chief rather than have missed that opportunity she called him a silly fellow but she did not act as if she thought so and after finishing the parting she continued to sit there on his knee putting one hand on his shoulder as a balance that s a pretty dress you have on he commented is it the cost was twelve cents a yard you see it is not expensive to clothe girls she responded oh but they wear so many other things yes they do wear some she hesitated laughing and blushing but the entire can be had for very little money mamma has always claimed that extravagance in clothing is almost a sin and she has brought me up with fixed ideas on the matter of economy your husband will owe her thanks he said in spite of all he had promised his father and although he fully meant in some way to carry out that promise he could not bear to give up thinking just a little longer of this beautiful creature as a possible mrs it was delicious merely to hold n on his knee and to see the glances that shot at him every time she raised those wonderful eyes to his face he tried even with there in his lap to think of but he felt there was no comparison from a physical point of view and yet it was and not that he must have had not his father it and had he not in a moment of weakness accepted the decree sat on his knee for a quarter of an hour and then remarking that she weighed a hundred and twenty pounds and knew he must be getting tired though he was too courteous to tell her so rose and took a seat on the sofa opposite to him they talked of for some time after that acting much as lovers usually do do you really weigh a hundred and twenty he asked suddenly precisely i was weighed yesterday in the village you have a very small foot for that weight she tried to hide the small foot under her gown saying it was impertinent for him to notice it and that it was not remarkably small anyway if you like small feet you should pin your faith on she said she wears a whole size smaller shoe than i he said he did not think feet that were out of proportion made their owner any more beautiful to this she answered that as weighed only a hundred and ten and was taller than she by several inches her tiny feet were a great addition to her good looks u it s only because you like me the best she said as a up i feel the same about you i s would give more for your smallest finger than for the entire body

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of any other person he laughed for she had put him into such good humor that the headache had taken wings and flown away he might not be able to marry this girl but it was very agreeable indeed to know that she cared for him he wondered if she would take it much to heart when he had to tell her that the separation was inevitable she did not seem as if she would cry herself into a consumption she would understand his position and not blame him for what he could not help it would be as hard for him as for her too and she ought to feel that when should he tell her not yet at least not before came home he pictured to himself a week without either of them and it looked like a very dismal prospect saw that he had become thoughtful and she tried to rally him with only partial success if any one should try to separate us he said as they were standing at the door what would you do keep my word was her calm answer supposing your parents objected supposing they said to you that they would never consent knowing that her father and mother fully approved of her choice this did not give the girl any uneasiness and her reply was prompt i should feel that the matter was one the only one perhaps in the world in which i was justified in their wishes but he persisted if they told you that such a marriage would forever cut you off from them that the they would never afterward recognize you as their child she put her round arms about his neck in all her innocent truth and love i should take you against them all for i should feel that they were the claim of relationship when they tried to make my life unhappy he stooped and kissed her wondering what there was in him to make so beautiful a being show this devotion then he went to his home with his problem farther than ever from solution chapter xv cutting the mill bank wrote to twice each week and he answered her as often he had been trying to himself to thinking of her as an inevitable partner for life and the letters constituted a sort of practice in matrimonial confidences with the which seems a part of some natures he had begun to like less from the moment when his father had selected her as the girl who must be his wife he still liked her a great deal but the parental direction to take her from that fondness which formerly made it impossible to tell any difference between her and there was a difference now and it was all in f of the creature who held his senses in whenever he was in her presence whose face and cutting the mill bank voice and the touch of whose hand followed him even to his dreams but he wrote to such letters as he used to write when he first went to school joined to a few more tender things which he thought the coming conditions her letters to him were sweet and tender without anything like passion merely the of a pure girl to the one she loves and and in whom she has never thought of having the least doubt little more was said by and his father to each other about the impending sale of their home the violent opposition of mr to the shut out all hopes of rescue that his son had formed in that quarter and there was no other part of the horizon in which they could discern a ray of light as far as either of them could see an evening was coming very soon when they would have to find another shelter had been so to thinking for himself in money matters that he relied upon his father to point out his path when the crash should come mr that all he could raise would not suffice to satisfy the charges due on his property had provided as well for the immediate future as he could by keeping all he received and thus there was a few hundred dollars ready for immediate necessities they would have time to look about and decide what it was best to try to do passed his time as he had hitherto done visiting writing to and lying at full length in the under the trees in the orchard there seemed little use in studying law books when it was so unlikely that he should ever back into the office of the things went on in this way till just a week before the was announced when a flew through the town that had begun to carry out his threat of tearing down the bank of the brook as it passed his land on the way to the and had gone on a stroll through the woods on the morning when this news startled the inhabitants of nearly everybody else in the town heard of it and the road leading to the vicinity was thronged with eager sight within the next hour some of the people who came with some with some were free in their expressions that both of them were fools and the great majority cared for nothing whatever but to see the fun it was not a very large job that had to be done to turn the waters of the stream upon s land and let it flow past the artificial into its natural course six good with and who could tear away the bank and use the materials to dam the current on one side could do the work in two or three hours had this number at work eagerly assisting them with his own hands directing the labor at the same time in a low voice and seeming not to notice the crowd that

0Arthur Conan Doyle

came to stand and comment it was the most exciting episode that had ever had in its entire history corresponding to a great railway strike or mill in a larger centre he s doing it this time said an old man who came up to the mill you ought to see the dirt fly by twelve o clock he will have all the the hill i t water in the brook run off and your mill will stand as still as a post do you think so was the quiet response think so retorted the old man yes and so would you if you had been over there i m sorry on my word for the mill is really a blessing to the neighborhood as i ve said all along perhaps after the farm is sold you can make arrangements with whoever it to fill up the bank again but it will take a good deal of time one man can tear it down faster than twenty could build it up this is a bad time of year for you to be idle with all the new wheat ready to grind i heard too that you were going to put in another set of machinery and i intended to bring over a load of grain to morrow myself mr heard the old man with patience when he had finished he said to him do i usually boast a great deal why no sir i can t say that you do well then listen a moment do you see that machinery revolving there the old man gazed in the direction indicated yes sir come over at twelve o clock said his voice rising gradually come at one come at two come at six to night come to morrow come the next day and you ll find it working just as you see it now bring on your grain grind it tell your neighbors to bring theirs not keep them waiting there s going to be more grain ground in this mill in the next two months than has ever been in three i the turned and went into the mill and walked slowly away the excitement of this thing has turned s head he muttered as he went along but the strangeness of what he had heard impressed him so strongly that he walked back to where the digging was going on and repeated the to the assembled multitude who was working like a heard it and thought he understood had probably sent to the judge of the court holding a special some miles away to get an issued against him he whispered to his men promising them double pay if they would work harder and taking up his he struck into the place in the until the sweat rolled from him like rain the excitement in the crowd grew to fever heat as the story that brought and the of this one and that were added to the stock of gossip it was eleven o clock when with a quick blow tore away the that held the stream and a second later the released waters breaking from their confinement like an poured down upon the the crowd stood on the higher ground on the side of the stream and they saw that the work would have its intended effect in a very short time almost no water flowed into the after that and the amount necessary to turn the large wheel was growing smaller every moment leaned on his and wiped the perspiration from his face he felt that the time of hie was at hand he could see the revolving the mill bank t mill wheel from where he stood and could with tolerable accuracy the fall of the water in the in half an hour the wheel began to show signs of weariness it turned slower slower yet and then stopped the of which included the villagers who were envious of his rival s prosperity not a small portion of the crowd which had gathered set up a wild shout of glee at this sight and their chief smiled with the triumph he could not conceal depicted in his countenance but the had only a moment in which to enjoy their success one of the party who was nearer to the mill than the rest leaned over and placed one hand to his ear in an attitude of intense attention others who had thought they detected something strange in the air stopped and listened also there was a sound coming from the mill as if the machinery were still in full operation a puzzled look the faces of the crowd and as one man they ran toward the edifice from which the sound proceeded did not follow them he knew what had happened his joined to his apprehension told him what it was that made the noise the mill had never stopped running some other power previously arranged for had taken the place of the water wheel what was it steam of course the heavy load that had been drawn to the mill in the night and which he had supposed to be another set of machinery for grinding had been an engine powerful w enough to do the work he had been at such pains to stop there is something in arrested triumph at the moment of apparent victory that may affect stronger minds than that of this farmer he went into his house overcome by the occurrence and hid himself from he had pictured the rage of and the laugh of the multitude at his discomfiture now the laugh would be heard to be sure but it was against himself that it would be turned he had been by the simplest of methods had chosen the most cutting way to show the superiority of his mental and the of his purse felt that he had been an idiot to think that he could combat such a

0Arthur Conan Doyle

man even temporarily only one thing was needed to make his humiliation complete would come to the and buy the roof from over his head a week from to day there would be no lower depth of disgrace into which he could sink and strolled back from their walk in the woods just before one o clock they had passed a morning together that had been to as beautiful and clear as the august sky above their heads and notwithstanding the troubles that encircled him had enjoyed it to the utmost she had his straw hat with leaves with red and he had gathered a great bunch of wild flowers and pinned it to her she had sat under a tree and held his head in her lap and he had stolen kisses from ever its part of her rosy cheeks cherry lips and rounded throat the wild passion that had affected him in his first close intimacy with her gave way on this occasion to a contented calm and there was nothing for which she had to him even by the mild method of a look he was to take lunch with her at her home but as she said when they heard the distant town clock striking the hour of noon lunch was a meal that one could take at any time so they had waited nearly an hour more and then strolled back under the trees the beaten paths their arms in fashion about each other s emerging into the travelled they met some young people who told them what had happened your father cut the mill bank at last this morning said one to and the big wheel is still grew pale while s face flushed with indignation but your father went on the gossip to was prepared in a quite unexpected way it seems that he had a steam engine ready the had only to be shifted from one to the other the mill never stopped a second not even for the usual noon hour the passed on when he was sure that they were out of hearing stopped in the middle of the street my dear girl this is going to make trouble for us he said she answered with a nod for she was afraid t her voice the ct whatever be the cause my father is against yours to a fearful extent he has had bad luck in everything as perhaps you know i was not told of it till very lately his disappointments have his mind i am afraid and this affair will not make him any in his feelings toward your people i must try and tell you everything now that i have begun he has asked really commanded me to have nothing more to do with you he paused and found her regarding him with a face that seemed made of stone well she said why have you not obeyed him because i cannot because you have been dear to me too long to make it possible but something must be done to tide over this temporary difficulty he is absolutely without reason in the matter if you will help me we can arrange it all right until there is some improvement in his feelings we must not be seen publicly together she sighed deeply if you love me i will do anything that is reasonable but tell me first do you think your father justified in trying to injure mine in the wanton way he attempted this morning and do you think my father wrong in taking methods to protect himself he hesitated a moment before he answered her let us not try to settle that question he said finally you love your father i love mine it is not for us to their acts and remember this also my father a week from to night will not have a house to call his own while yours is a prosperous man with large possessions i cannot cutting the mill ban see yet what the end will be i shall have to give up the law for one thing and seek for work in some common business oh no you must not do that she cried in protest you must take money enough not from my father but from me to finish your term and place yourself in the position to which you have it is nothing that you should be ashamed of your success is as dear to me as to you i am an only child and my father will do anything i ask s pride was hurt again it was ridiculous that a mere girl should have it in her power to offer him the means to live upon something was the matter with a world in which there could be such a reversed state of things we must pass the first bridge in this emergency he answered before we try those which follow in the meantime if i am obliged to keep away from your house or to ask you to meet me secretly you will not blame me now that you know the truth there is a flat stone on the wall near the entrance to your that is i will put a letter there when i am able to meet you and will look for your replies in the same place and now we must part here as my father will wonder what is keeping me away sadly the young girl took the bunch of from her waist and dropped them over a hedge by the roadside she took the hat from his head and removed the wreath also they would attract attention she explained oh how long must we act as if we were doing something not long he answered cheerfully but for the present you will readily admit that we have a divided duty no one was in sight and they were standing where a little of trees them from sudden

0Arthur Conan Doyle

surprise took the face between his hands and brought the lips into contact with his own i are you sure you love me she whispered if there is ever to be any doubt of it i had rather know it now he drew her close to his breast and kissed her again and again if you had consented to my proposal for a secret marriage you would not find such ideas creeping into your head he replied how would that have made any difference she asked innocently a ceremony of marriage would only hold where the heart went with the words if you truly love me nothing else is necessary does it seem so to you said he that shows the way a woman reasons if it would please me very much if i was sure that it would be the wisest and best thing are you certain that you could never consent i see before me a very bleak prospect i am to be turned out of the house where i was born perhaps compelled to labor in the fields like a common workman there is nothing in my whole horizon that contains a ray of light but you if you were truly my own if you would become my wife from whom nothing could part me i would even consent to take the money you have offered for there would then be no disgrace in it in as he spoke he drew her to him yet until she could feel something of the torrent that through his veins i am no angel and only your love strong real true can keep me right why should you insist on a point when so much is at stake he had almost her with his eyes his lips and his embrace but the womanly sense that was in her still held out it is a thing to think of a good while she answered i cannot bear to deceive my parents who have never refused me anything since i can remember if it becomes imperative that we should be married without waiting for you to finish your studies i had rather go directly to them and state the case their only aim would be to make me happy i am almost sure that they would not object when they understood everything this was not at all what he wanted it would a collision with his father and with he wanted a private union which could be kept from the knowledge of the world for a long time this would enable him to dispose of the obstacles in his way at his leisure did not want a marriage now with a wealthy law him out the cash he needed as though he were ten years of age he thought there would be something charming too in a secret union with such a girl as but the town clock had struck one and he had to tear himself away for the present at least he told her that they would both have to think of this matter at their leisure when their minds were calm she was pleased with this tone and they parted its the with less feeling on her part than she would other wise have had that she must maintain a sort of against him for her own preservation i will leave you a note later in the day he said as she left him don t fail to keep an appointment if i am able to make one did little that afternoon but watch the wall that bounded the estate on the street side which she could see plainly from her music room window it was nearly six when passed and paused apparently to break off a flower from a vine that clung to the rock when he was out of sight she tripped nervously to the place and lifted the flat stone but her heart beat faster than ever and her cheek grew crimson when she read the note my darling meet me at the summer house in the wood at eight o clock bring the key do not hesitate everything depends on your presence there g chapter xvi it is of course john had not been the most agreeable man in for a number of years he had been noted for his short answers his to take part in any gathering his way of driving or walking along the road as though he saw no one wanted no one to see him but from the day it is op course w when the steam engine began its work his manners were even surly than before he acted as if every man whom he met were his personal enemy never replying to the good morning with which old acquaintances greeted him and what little business he had to do in an ill natured in this way he lost what sympathy he had had among the villagers and became most cordially detested before the time for the arrived little by little he learned from bits of conversation that he overheard how deeply had laid his plans after he found that his enemy had determined to tap the brook he had brought to his mill not only a powerful engine but enough machinery to double its grinding capacity as the only fuel of the vicinity was wood and as this was not over plenty he had bought quietly through an agent all the available stock in town and had made a contract for a large amount to be delivered in the future as wanted it was much cheaper to run his mill with water of course than with steam but the engine would not prove altogether a loss there were several months in the year when the old power had been insufficient and with the increased machinery this time would be increased and another element in the scheme of the mill owner was developed the first time a new customer

0Arthur Conan Doyle

came with a load of wheat for grinding i shall take out an additional for my toil after this said to him handing him a as he spoke i have ground at a lower than i ought having the water power to rely on but the price will be increased hereafter machinery is the dear and wood is costly and i do not see why i should bear the loss when the cost of grinding has been through no fault of mine the man one of those who shouted when he saw the bank of the brook looked anything but pleased i suppose there s no law compelling us to come here he growled no and i should not grind any more for the public except for accommodation it me a little more to buy wheat and grind altogether for myself this was not long in being spread some who heard it were indignant at declaring that he was a bent on the destruction of his poorer neighbors but the majority traced the trouble directly to the act of john and heaped their on him as the cause of this injury to the farming industry of county you know what wheat was worth when started that mill said one of them in a knot that gathered in the evening at the post office and how it went up as soon as he began to grind we were wholly at the mercy of the until this mill gave us a double market you may talk of till you are tired but i tell you if there was ever a man of public spirit it is that he has taken the smallest of any miller in the state when he might have had twice as much if there had been anything mean about him what do you say to this increase that s the question put in another i say it s right i say the man would be a fool ip li of if he had done anything else what do you suppose it cost him to put that engine in and what will be his bill for wood in the course of a year do you think he wants that to come out of his own pocket would any of you no i ll bet you wouldn t he added as no one seemed able to satisfactorily answer his numerous if you want to blame any one blame if you pay extra lay it to him he s your man he s done it sh called a listener in a low voice there ae is now i don t care was the sharp retort as john the shop i d as say it to him as to you had heard it all coming to the steps of the store he had stopped to read a that was nailed outside the door and the harsh use of his name had come to his ears as plainly as to those of the he said nothing in response to the cast upon him but looked in his box took the mail offered him and departed what did he care whether this man or that in the village approved of what he had done he had no intention of remaining among them after his farm was sold he found a grain of comfort even in his hatred of in the reflection that they would all have to pay more than they had ever done to get their wheat turned into flour on the road which led to his home he met the handsome carriage that rode in with its smart driver and saw that and his wife occupied the main seat the dust from the highway rose as they approached covering him with its choking cloud he fixed his eyes on the ground and b pretended not to see them but before he could do so he had caught a vision of the frail woman whose love he had and for whom he had thrown a life away that might with her he fondly imagined have been worth something to him had her he had lands by seventeen hundred acres and more now a mill whose power no one could interfere with money beside everything that he could desire and the foot passenger whose form he covered with the dust of his carriage and who had started in life on precisely the same level as he had nothing no the dust covered figure raised himself a little did not have everything he wanted he had never had a son in that one thing alone the surpassed him he wanted now to gain the boy that he might make him one of his family that he might put him in the place of a child of his own john knew from a hundred sources that had set his heart on a marriage between his daughter and and he had nothing left now to live for except to disappoint him in that hope would obey him he had promised to break whatever friendship he had with and he would keep his word could sue for his son in vain his handsome daughter so like what her mother was at her age might fade and pine for the love she as he had for the love of but he would be could have his acres and his cash but the one thing that his child wanted to make her a happy woman it was in the power of his crushed neighbor to with bold it of on the morning when the sale of his farm was to take place mr had a brief talk with you have heard of course he said everybody has heard about my failure to stop his mill there was no need of anything more than the to explain who was meant i expect that he will buy the farm he has bought everything that has been offered for sale about here for

0Arthur Conan Doyle

years let him have it let him take the ground which i turned over with my breaking when he and i were poor together let him take this house where i have lived for so long and use it as he will for his i don t care but don t forget your promise my boy about his daughter let him not boast at least that he has beaten me with my own son as his assistant you have told me what you will do and i rely upon you said yes sir and that ended the conversation his feelings toward had undergone many changes during the past few days the meeting which he had arranged in the summer house was not carried out as he had planned for one thing to the wood at the hour appointed in his note but it was to tell him that she had purposely neglected to bring the keys to the gate and dwelling as she could conceive of no message that he had to give her which could not be told equally well under the shadow of the trees outside this threw him into a fit of which he could not wholly conceal and in response to her earnest request to tell what had offended him he his former charge of her lack of faith in him he said it made him miserable to feel that she him at every point the you ought to know that a man has some said he in an injured tone i asked you to bring the keys if you loved me as truly as i love you these precautions would not enter your head you would only say to yourself wishes it and that is reason enough for me if the case were reversed you would not find me about trifles he hurt her more than he meant to but she tried to answer him gravely i can understand that a man may have pride she said but a woman should also have a little to go into that summer house with you at this hour would subject us to the scorn of any person who might discover it for your sake as well as my own i thought it wise to disregard your request and if you think it over you will admit that i am right he did not know how to combat this statement which he knew did her honor but it was not in his mood to make what did you want to tell me she asked seeing that he still seemed unhappy i only wanted to talk things over we can t hold a private conversation here where any by may hear us i don t know but my father might take it into his head to stroll this way there would be an end of everything between him and me if he saw me with you is he so severe as that yes he has not only forbidden me to speak to you again but he has been so kind as to tell me just the person on whom my affections should centre it ib of ft then as she regarded him with an inquiring look he said half on account of the hateful temper that was on him it is of course looked thoughtfully at the ground near her feet he does not even propose to consult her it seems why he asked do you doubt that she would accept me i cannot tell she answered while an expression of pain flitted across her brow she has known my sentiments toward you for a long time though we have never spoken a word on the matter and it would probably take her by surprise if any one should couple you and her in that way somehow i never can think of as a married woman she seems destined to become one of those dear old maids that the world cannot get along without this touched his pride again in a new place he did not want to think that she was the only girl who had ever fallen in love with him and yet he did not know exactly how to her so you don t think would have had me if i had gone to her instead of you he said i wish i were at liberty to tell you something he stopped short with that air of wisdom which usually an of this sort and an added sadness came to the face of if she loves you i am very sorry for her she said simply i do not see how i could have been so blind as not to notice but perhaps i was so full of my own love she added that i could see ing else the this confession was sufficient to his wounded vanity and he rewarded her for it with a kiss they remained in the wood an hour or so longer and then he took her back to the neighborhood of her father s house and they parted with mutual expressions of chapter xvii buying a son in law never had an in or near drawn such an audience as assembled when si stood upon a chair under one of the big trees and proceeded to read the power of sale under which he proposed to dispose of the farm not three persons in the entire party had the remotest intention of putting in a bid or had the means to do so had they been ever so willing but this did not prevent them from each other for good near the chair on which stood and standing with wide open mouths drinking in each word of his as though it were heavenly no one had any doubt that would own the farm when the sale was over and they turned occasionally to watch him as he sat in his carriage a little out of the crowd looking pale and

0Arthur Conan Doyle

firm like a man who means to have what he has set out for the agent of the company was also pointed out though most of the farmers present knew his face only too well his buying a son in law had on some of the best pieces of land in that section and he was noted for his in collecting interest for the eastern who were his stood with at the front door of the house both of them showing the mental strain under which they were laboring everybody was relieved when the voice of the broke the stillness gentlemen he said i am under the painful necessity of offering to the highest here to day this estate which has long been the abode of one of your esteemed i say painful because no one likes to see a farm from a man who has met with and i must say also at this time that it is not the policy of the company to any of theirs who is able to pay his interest even though the time may have passed in which he agreed to pay the principal the principal represented here has been for the past nine years it is because of the failure of the to pay the interest gentlemen that we are obliged to sell this property the agent of the company whispered to to go on with his sale and to let further praise of his go till some other time the agent of the in this case has just informed me that he is willing to start the bidding at the amount of the and interest said mr though no one in the assembly had the least doubt of the different import of the whispered directions mr then offers three thousand one hundred and nine dollars he does not however wish to buy the estate and will not bid against any one else the while the crowd was trying to admire the of mr as thus set forth a sensation was caused by the arrival of a rapidly driven carriage it was the private vehicle of colonel and that gentleman himself occupied it the horses bore signs of having been put to their best speed being covered with foam which flew from every part of them as they were suddenly pulled up in the midst of the lawn party the colonel had an anxious look as he surveyed the and sprang to the ground has the sale begun he asked those about him just one bid said old as for the rest the began to read the deed as a matter of form describing the premises to be sold as colonel glanced about the crowd his eye met that of mr sitting upright as a in his carriage they nodded with some thing less than their usual without exactly knowing why each suspected that the other had designs not in with his own plans that day the colonel found what he sought at last it was he attracted the attention of the young man and to him to come a little apart from the others came here to see if there was anything i could do for you he said taking by the arm we only arrived in town an hour ago and just heard of this sale by accident was with me when i got the news and she said don t waste a minute father buy the farm do anything that is necessary to help him and here i am in good time as it appears a son in law quite overcome with surprise at the generosity of the colonel could hardly answer let me ask father he stammered i will return in a moment as quickly as he could convey the information told his father why colonel had come and a ray of light lit up the features of the discouraged man i will see him he whispered stay where you are the crowd was not of these and gossip began to the that colonel had arrived with money to pay up the interest and stop the heard these passed from mouth to mouth and his countenance darkened john heard from the colonel s own lips what he had already said to and thanked him quietly there s nothing you can do except to buy it said he the company wouldn t stop the sale now even if all the interest was paid and the principal on top of that i ve inquired it s against their policy when they have advertised a sale it has to come off it is a good bit of land and you could afford to pay more than their claim there s a second of fifteen hundred too said yes but the first holds i expected to see here to protect his interest i represent him said colonel not thinking it a time to go into particulars well mr i ll buy the place and arrange with you to remain if you wish told me to do whatever you the desired you understand sir that my daughter s request has brought me here do you think there is likely to be much of a contest the farmer looked across the lawn to where was the only one who ll bid against you he said is that man in the carriage he is here from hate as you are from good will his daughter had her heart set on and i have forbidden him to see her he wants to get the farm to hold it over our heads no one but you can prevent him saying this abruptly left the colonel and returned to the place which he had originally occupied the had finished reading his document and had also given a glowing description of the premises which he was offering and for this farm with its buildings as it now stands he said in up i am offered three thousand one hundred

0Arthur Conan Doyle

and nine dollars by the agent of the does any one bid higher colonel stepped forward representing a second of fifteen hundred and seventy five dollars reckoning interest due i bid that amount in addition to the sum you name he said there was a little surprise at this took up a which some one handed him and did his that makes forty six hundred and eighty four dollars that i am offered he announced then after the manner of from time he proceeded to tell his that such a farm never was offered for such a small sum in any age or country forty six eighty four he con a son ik law ill consulting the forty six does any one say forty seven mr from his place in the carriage raised his hand the crowd was delighted at the motion it a lively contest and that is what they hoped to see colonel came nearer to the s chair had barely repeated the bid when the colonel nodded to him sharply forty seven hundred forty eight i m offered cried he looked toward sir five thousand came the words of the mill owner it was certainly becoming interesting mr ton and looked on with breathless interest much to them would depend on the next few moments five thousand i m bid said the do you say six shouted the colonel in a clear voice seven came with equal clearness from the car where mr sat there was a pause every judge of real estate in the crowd knew that the actual value of the farm had been exceeded and that future on the part of these men were by other considerations the began to get warm the ordinary sale did not furnish such an episode as this seven thousand for this farm he repeated seven thousand he looked toward colonel who said seventy five he looked back at mr who said eight thousand but the words came and some one near the car ms the had to repeat them fifty dollars an acre for farms had hitherto been a thing unheard of and the buildings on this one were old and colonel uttered the single word nine and to his driver to leave nine thousand shouted is there any other bid nine thousand once nine thousand twice third and last call and sold to colonel for nine thousand a murmur of derision went through the crowd as it parted to let the that drew the carriage pass by the feelings of its were not softened by this demonstration and before he reached the gate he was in the worst possible mood to meet john who had hastened there before him i m going to stay here in spite of you you see he exclaimed with a look of triumph on his face the farm is mine still tell that to your wife damn you tell it to your daughter tell that will marry he could say no more for beside himself with rage sprang from his carriage and struck him full in the forehead with his fist he wore a heavy seal ring that he did not take into account when delivering the blow and it cut deeply into the flesh a stream of blood that down over s eyes completely blinding him for the moment had seen that something was going on and came hurrying to the spot just in time to witness this action waiting not a second he threw himself upon and bore him violently to the ground the whole affair occupied so little time that those who saw it had no chance to interfere but now a buying a son in law dozen hands grasped the young man and pulled him from the prostrate form while others assisted who was much dazed to regain his feet another party lent handkerchiefs to and bound up his head and colonel came up with his carriage and offered to take him to the nearest physician s as it was evident that several would have to be taken in his wound don t touch him cried to seeing that his son was kept with difficulty from again he wanted to get my home away and when that failed he tried to kill me but let him be only remember remember when this day is past that he gave me this blow was forced into the colonel s carriage while in anything but a pleasant frame of mind was driven home after s hurt had been attended to the colonel persuaded to go with him for a few moments to his own house saying that there was one there who was very anxious to see him after so long a separation brief as had been the time since the assault had already carried it to the mansion the story had reached there in two forms one of which made it appear that it was himself who had been injured and he found in a highly state she ran to the carriage to meet him satisfied herself hastily that he was accepted the embrace which the presence of her parents did not prevent him offering her and then fainted in his arms the chapter xviii you do not know my father there were many sad hours for on the u s that followed he deeply regretted the rash conduct of his father and was filled with mortification at the way his name had been mixed with s before that thoughtless crowd but even at the moment when the fair girl lay in his embrace giving him a clearer insight into the deep love she bore him than he had ever had his mind was far astray it was upon that other one whose parent he had thrown to the earth and who must now be the pangs as she listened to the story of the he carried into the parlor and placed her on a sofa where she soon recovered

0Arthur Conan Doyle

consciousness and when the rest of the family seeing that she needed no help had retired he sat by her side holding her hand and even kissing her pale cheek occasionally as he in as mild a manner as the facts would bear what he thought best of the afternoon occurrence poor said when she had heard him through it will be very sad for her i must go and see her in the morning do you think the hurt to your father will be a serious one not to his body said but to his mind it will be serious indeed he has cherished an enmity to mr for a long time and this wound will not help him forget it i will tell you something more as a secret he has already expressed in the you do hot know my father strongest terms his wish that i should never speak to again to whom this news was not wholly unexpected responded that she was very sorry and hoped that he would i do not see how he can carry his spite forgive me if the word seems strong against mr to such an extent as to visit it upon surely she is not to be held for the differences between him and her father i shall go to see him and try to talk him out of it smiled at the idea that she could have any influence with this man whom he his only son could not pretend to affect in the least you do not know my father or you would not cherish any such notion as that he replied the girl blushed as she recollected the former conversations that she and john had held i know him quite well she replied and he has always had a liking for me when he has passed others with only a nod or a word he has stopped to spend five minutes in talking to me he knows to some extent too how much i care for you and that ought to count the young man at these words he remembered again the disagreeable way in which his father had arranged this matter and it hurt him he wondered what had passed between him and the colonel when they went off together before the bidding by the latter began everybody in would know that the farm had been bought by solely on account of the understood intentions of his daughter and it was very to have things turn out in this way still had a deep regard for but he felt that at this time was the one who needed his sympathy and do what he might he could not get her out of his mind mrs came in and asked him in a way that he could hardly decline to remain to tea and managed to get to the table where she was placed as usual at his side the colonel was wise enough to turn the conversation upon matters with the events of the day principally the excursion he and his family had been taking we had a lovely time said he at least mrs s and i did i fear was too anxious to get back to for some reason to enjoy things to their full extent on the contrary replied i had a delightful trip of course it is pleasant to get home again though i shall have but a little while before school begins just think how soon it will be before we shall all be starting again for thought this a good opportunity to free himself of what had been for a long time on his mind you and will have to do without me hereafter i fear said he it looks as if my law education was at an end how is that asked colonel while the others looked at the young man as if they could not believe their hearing why everybody knows that we are as poor as any church mouse now was the reply it has come upon me all at once my father having been too kind in keeping his troubles to himself as long as he could but i am quite reconciled i shall have to go to work and get my living do not mr colonel put down a cup of tea that he wa raising to his lips what nonsense the boy is talking he cried good have you no friends whom you can call upon do you think we are going to see you throw up a career in this way for want of a few paltry dollars of temporary assistance the colonel was not in the habit of thinking of the american dollar in connection with the word paltry and knew it he found himself in danger of being surrounded by another set of from which he would have difficulty in escaping whatever bargain his father had made he would not so soon at least become a party to it and he answered with some spirit that he could not think of being to any one that he would rather look his fate in the face and take the position in life which his reduced circumstances pointed out sat a silent but most interested listener to this conversation she heard her father offer to lend all the money he needed or to make such arrangements with mr as would amount to the same thing would not yield however i am better prepared he said finally to consider your proposal because i have already had it in similar form from another source colonel his wife and stared at their guest who could have been so generous they gave up the instantly and asked him directly if he would impart the name of this would be benefactor oh i thought you would have guessed it at once he said with it was mr the of course i don t think he would renew it

0Arthur Conan Doyle

after what has occurred to day he added with an attempt to be humorous but he made me the offer in good faith a fortnight ago i thought there were reasons why i ought to decline to accept it and i did so but those reasons do not exist in my case interposed the colonel quickly you have done yourself honor thus far as i view it now it is quite another thing i feel toward you as though you were a son of my own and i cannot bear that you should give up your bright prospects when everything can be so easily arranged the speaker then launched into the description of a plan that he had by which mr was to have the farm to him under a large enough to enable him to pay every dollar of his debts and have enough left for a working capital instead of the fifteen and twenty per cent interest that he had been compelled to pay only eight the lowest rate ever known then in that section was to be charged this would enable him to send his son to the law school and with care he might in time remove all the from his estate heard him but imperfectly he thought of the of these two of bidding for him against each other he had loved both of the girls all his life but he thought he should learn to hate them if this sort of thing went on much longer let me think of it he said as he rose from the table i cannot tell to night what i will do followed him alone to the gate and he thb of a embraced her there in the semi darkness as he felt he ought beautiful as ever with new proof of her love in every glance that she gave him the money that her father was shaking before his eyes came between them as her mouth touched his that shy mouth that had seemed too reserved for such things until so lately he thought the delicate trembling of the lips could never be felt by any other man this side the grave such love as hers is apt to come but once and build its nest to endure all storms and seasons he went where he could see s home there was a lowered light in her chamber he guessed that she had heard the tidings with what bitter additions he knew not and that it had her instantly remorse took hold of him he would have given a year of his life could he have that peeped in at that blind lifted that window and thrown his arms around her as she lay there that she might shed her tears against the heart that caused them chapter xix the nature of a girl was as much excited as had been when she heard of the assault she was naturally of a more self disposition and ordinarily would have borne any bad news with the greater but this was so terrible that it quite upset her she learned the truth from her father soon after he reached home for he thought it wisest to let her gain her information from him than to receive it second hand from others and possibly in a shape she was sitting anxiously on the when he drove in at the gate and as his carriage stopped at the steps she hastened to meet him did you buy it she asked hardly waiting till the coachman was out of hearing her breath came in short and every in her face showed the anxiety with which she uttered the question no i did not he replied and she had time to notice that he wore an appearance of extreme the place was sold to colonel she looked the image of extreme surprise was he there i did not know he had reached home what did he want of it how much did he pay tell me everything she said rapidly wait a minute he seemed to want strength i have a very disagreeable story to tell and i need lime get me an easy chair flew into the music room through the window and returned with the article desired then she seated herself by his side and waited i don t know where to begin said her father clearing his throat of an that stuck there he put one arm around her and drew her to his side as if to keep something from her i hare bad news my child bad news for you ike nature of a girl her lips formed the words for me but she uttered no sound said mr with an effort you must think no more of she swayed a little under his arm but asked him why in a voice that surprised him by its firmness he is to marry john told me so before a crowd of them in the most insulting manner bought the farm and them with it i would not have believed it of him but i saw it with my own eyes it was this way again he cleared his throat and she did not move i had told that i would buy the place and after cutting off merely enough to protect the brook i would deed the rest to him so that his father could remain there if he chose just as the sale began drove up he left his carriage and called aside then went for his father and he and had a when john left he looked over to me with an expression that said i don t need any of your help the bidding began i bid five thousand dollars more than the place was worth and he bid six i bid seven and he five hundred more then i said eight and he said nine there was no use he would have paid the last

0Arthur Conan Doyle

cent he had rather than have allowed me to beat him and i let it go he was buying more than a farm he was buying a son in law as well and he could afford to pay high had raised his voice toward the end of his speech until it could have been heard by any person within two hundred feet s only action was to put her hand gently upon his lips as a signal to him the that he was speaking too loud having done which she waited for him to proceed i thought of you as the bidding went on i knew my girl that you loved him but i did not believe that you would think it becoming in me to buy you a husband in the public market where every spectator could see that he was the real article over which the contest was being there is too much of the blood in you for that you have the pride that goes with your race on both sides paid five thousand for the farm and four for i thought him too dear at that figure tell me was x not right the daughter inclined her head her brain was whirling her heart beat like a trip hammer she was afraid to make any pronounced demonstration lest she should betray the extent of her emotion but i have not told you all her father went on though it is really of small moment except for the disgrace of such an occurrence when john out the particulars of the bargain when he threw it at me before their all that his son was to marry and told me to tell you of it i forgot myself and and struck him this ring was in the way and cut his forehead he showed her the jewel still red from the blood he had drawn at that moment came up and threw me down then we were separated and i came home i was ashamed of the part i had played as soon as i had time to think but i couldn t help doing it john was fearfully rose feebly saying that she would go to hei room for a little while and her father went to tell his wife something of what had occurred the nature of a go up and see if there is anything she needs he said you can talk to her better than i car tell her to forget him to put him out of her mind and never let him come there again he and his father have outraged our feelings she will see that nothing more can ever occur between them and us when she came down an hour later the thin pale face of the invalid wife and mother was turned toward her husband with its usual of expression i have tried to console her she said but you must not under estimate the shock she loves him with all the strength of her nature and she will not get over it in a day she will require nursing and perhaps a change of scene and i cannot say that ven those things will cure her knowing nothing of what had happened except that her father and mr had quarrelled and that and had been engaged in a personal with the latter to call on the next morning as she would have done on any other day she could not see that the difficulties of their parents ought to cause any between herself and her friend and supposed that mr had had no interest in the sale of the property except to protect the brook which matter she was sure her father would arrange to his satisfaction she felt certain that s love was hers alone and that not only knew it but approved of it so she came up the walk as brightly as ever and saluted mrs with a kiss as she had done every time she had met her since she could remember we came home yesterday she said and i was too tired to run down last night where b it seems an age since i saw her she is in her room was the quiet reply and i think asleep she is not well i was up with her most of the night wore a look of the deepest regret why i had not heard of it she exclaimed i hope it is nothing serious nothing but what time will cure was the calm answer mrs wondered if all of this apparent surprise could be real she will have to be still for some days and see no company however that is too bad i want to see her so much j tell her i called won t you and let me know the very earliest minute i can go to her room i promise to be very thoughtful and not excite her an hour later a messenger arrived from the household with a beautiful of flowers on their grounds and arranged by s own hands s quick ear caught the purport of the words which the servant spoke at the door and a tide of painful thoughts swept over her toward evening she surprised her mother by asking what she had done with the flowers that had sent to her and on being told that she had feared the gift would annoy her answered gently how could you think that please have them sent up to me let me not lose with the rest it is not her fault poor girl this was taken as an encouraging the flowers were placed where could reach them easily and many times each hour she their fragrance the next morning another was sent to take their place and each day after that the nature of a another and with each was a tiny card with some words of and the s name but for more than

0Arthur Conan Doyle

a week did not leave her chamber on the fifth day mary chief among the of the came into the sick room and slipped a note under the sheets of the bed with a very mysterious air i hope i haven t done wrong to bring it miss she said without telling your mother but the young man particularly begged it of me and said it was most important that i should put it into your own hands glanced at the writing though she knew instinctively that but one young man could have sent her a note with such a request you did quite right mary she answered all of a tremble when you go down tell mamma that i am quite comfortable and shall need nothing at present yes miss the maid tripped away much relieved i hope there s some way for them to make it up she said to herself for she adored her young mistress and divined the cause of her illness when she was gone broke the seal of the letter and read what follows my poor child they tell me that you are ill and i feel that i am in some way the unhappy cause of your trouble though heaven knows i would suffer anything rather than that the slightest harm should happen to you i do not know what they have told you and that makes it hard for me to defend myself the but if i had an hour by your side i am sure i could convince you that i am not altogether to blame when i sprang upon your father i was not responsible for what i did i came up just in time to see my own father s face covered with blood from the in his forehead and i acted without reflection i hear that he said something to him about and me which enraged him and that this caused the blow whatever he said was caused by his anger and ought not to have been taken seriously for my own part i am very sorry that anything of the kind occurred but it is too late to talk about that now what i want most to tell you my angel girl is this i love you more at this moment than i ever did i want you to know that i have but one hope in life and that is your promise that i shall one day call you my own this you have vowed to me and i shall hold you to your word these miserable quarrels over money matters must not keep us apart my love i feel strong to wait now only send me word i beg that you still care for me yours while life remains girl nature is the same the world over faith in the one they love may be shaken until it seems as if not a could remain and then at the touch of the s it is in all its in all its strength had been trying to herself to the thought that everything was over between her and her lover she had grown faint and dizzy in contemplating a future in which the nature op a girl he had no part she had said to herself that she must be brave and bear up and remember her pride as her father had told her but now as she read the letter she forgot it all she remembered only the dear eyes that had looked into hers the arms that had encircled her the lips that had been pressed to her lips she read she comprehended she believed a burst of tears was the first effect of the news her nerves gave way before the unexpected change in the state of affairs then there succeeded to this an extreme calm a the like of which she could not recall in her experience she wiped the tears from her eyes bathed her face with a that lay near her and rang the bell for mary brush my hair if you please she said as the girl made her appearance i think i can sit up i am much better the maid who had been under a shade of doubt as to the possible effect of the note showed her gratification you must have had new medicine to make you so much stronger miss she said yes s face grew lighter as she spoke i have had new medicine mary and i owe it all to you believe me i shall not soon forget it when mrs came up she was gratified to see the marked improvement in the appearance of her daughter and after a short talk she was persuaded to go for a ride an exercise she had not taken since became ill the mary then brought a and other writing materials and was left alone while she composed an answer to s it was written in the warmest tone and was much longer than the one she had received i do not see how i could have doubted you even under such provocation was the burden of it whatever happens i shall never do so again you may trust mary to bring me your letters as she is to be relied upon leave them as you used under the stone on the wall and look for my answers in the same spot chapter xx considering his temptations the arrangements between colonel and john did not wait for any decision of s the morning after the sale the farmer met the colonel by appointment at the office of a village lawyer and they were not long in coming to an understanding the colonel paid the amount due the company and advanced enough beside to clear every debt owed on the personal property he confessed that the second was his own so that that required no other attention when all was disposed of he agreed to have a

0Arthur Conan Doyle

deed of the premises conveyed to under a of sixty five hundred dollars which would put john in possession of quite a little sum of ready cash with which to tide over the winter and send back to to the office of the generous nature of these proposals made considering on w impossible and the papers were made out oil the spot signed sealed and sent to the county clerk s office to be recorded offered last night to advance money enough to take him through said the colonel but he had a touch of pride that stood in the way it will be all right now coming directly from you i would not have him give up his career for any thing i thank you was the answer as mr stood in front of the office mirror to arrange the on his head i hope i shall be able to make it right to you some day i am not one of those who forget a kindness nor an injury either he added significantly oh let that drop said colonel pleasantly and you have fought long enough it was an ugly blow that he gave you yesterday but he couldn t have thought of the ring i ll he was sorry enough for it the next minute put on his hat and left the glass it s not the first blow he s given me nor the worst one he muttered well let it pass you ve got your farm again and if you do well you can clear it in a few years stick to wheat raising john and let old rest and by the way i d fix that brook up if i were you the water will spoil twenty acres or so of good land i meant to have spoken to you about it before the papers were signed did you the tone was almost impertinent considering what had passed i wouldn t have taken it under such conditions no not if it had been my the only chance fix up the brook for him t say not the colonel did not think it wise to press the matter for he thought he could get this concession later you ll send back to his law books though he said yes if he wants to go but i wish that girl wasn t going to be so near him i don t like the idea of their being off where they can see each other he s promised to break off all connection with her but young folks are uncertain the colonel was a trifle you don t think he cares anything for her anything special said he no not in one sense but they ve been with each other since they were children and she is strong minded is a good boy but he is influenced easier than i wish he was i ll be plain with you colonel if i had as much money as you have if i was in good circumstances i mean i should propose to him to get married at once instead of waiting three or four years he hasn t anything nor i either but it would have settled things if it could have been done colonel as he understood the but he rallied immediately i ve only one thing in the world to live for besides my wife he said and that is if i ve tried to put away a few dollars it s been in the hope that they would help her to ease and comfort when i could no longer provide for her her mind is all set on have seen that for a long time and as i have of the young man i ve his temptations been glad of it i can t hope to keep my daughter always and i don t know any one i d rather her choice would have fallen upon you ve been plain with me and i ll be the same with you if they re of a mind to marry this year i ll give them every help that i can then they can go back to with nothing to worry either of us still i must say that i haven t any real fear of why he s been attached to as long as he s known her on the third day after this one of those days when was ill in bed and before she had received s passionate letter colonel met as he was driving out on a road near the village and pulled up his horse to speak with him it was impossible to help seeing that the mill owner wore an air of reserve and did not seem over cordial in his but he could not let that keep him from saying what he wanted i ve asked john to fix up the bank of that brook again said the colonel and i think he ll come around to it in time though he s a little now you didn t take pains to put it in your paper when you sold him back the land it seems said no i forgot it till it was too late but i spoke to him afterward and i ll go at him again he s only a lot of good land and he ought as i told him to let by be by after this mr a fly from the of his horse with his whip don t put yourself out said he with i ve just bought the farm above me belonging to mr i shall cut a channel te rods long or so and run the brook water around there won t be any to bother him nor you in a fortnight more i could have got along with the steam alone and i shall mainly now but the water would be handy in case of a break down the a extra

0Arthur Conan Doyle

which i charge makes it about even there was a in his manner of delivery that the sarcasm of his words and the colonel did not know just how to reply i hope you don t feel anything against me because i bid on the farm he said presently it was a public sale i haven t made anything out of it i only wanted to help john as an old friend lifted his eyes and surveyed the speaker you ll get what you for of course he answered john wouldn t go back on his word after you ve helped him out of the hole i don t know what you mean don t you i thought maybe you did why you re welcome to the boy i ve forbidden to ever see him again so we ll not stand in your way your money has bought him he s yours i wouldn t give my girl to him if he came on his knees and begged it when i get a son in law colonel i shan t take him from under the hammer of an with this he hit the horse with the whip and drove away was too angry for a few moments to follow him or there might have been another assault to record when he could command himself he only said it s hit him harder than i supposed and went home to talk it over with first however he consulted her mother and that considering his temptations wise woman knowing her daughter much better than ne did advised she said was so high minded that she would resent anything that looked like showing distrust or fear of her lover and that the present was no time to push anything if mr is as angry as you think she said it is probable that he will refuse to let go back to school with that would things it is terrible to think that they must suffer from this business when they have been like sisters so long don t cut their friendship any shorter than is necessary and if you can let some one besides you take the first step so in ignorance of the extent of the storm that was raging plucked her each morning for who was delighted with its fragrance as well as with the kindness of the heart that sent it to her on the seventh day hearing that was out of bed she brought the flowers in person to her great joy she was permitted to see her friend in her room where she sat arrayed in white and looking as young and pretty who have hopeful minds always do very charming indeed my darling dear dear how had worried about her how she had missed her society without which did not seem at all like itself how happy she had been to learn each day that was better and how glad she was that she was now evidently on the road to complete recovery was told with all the earnestness that such when the one who gives them is twenty years of age this responded in terms hardly less warm and then both launched into the conversation in which everything in and vicinity bore a conspicuous part except the one person who had until that day formed the main object of all their neither mentioned nor in any way alluded to the name of which was certainly rather strange an hour like this and then departed saying that she feared to stay longer lest she should tax the wasted energies of her friend and that she should expect her at her house as soon as she could ride out hope and love are two wonderful it was but a few days after this that the invalid told her mother she wanted to go down into the grove and rest by herself in the summer house she would need only mary to keep her company there and she did not wish on any account to be disturbed as she felt the need of absolute quiet mrs consented immediately to the plan and mary joyfully prepared to accompany her if i should be out late don t mind mamma aid as she was starting i will send mary up for a lunch if i get hungry i feel that the air of the woods is what i want the air of the woods and perfect wondered how she could look her mother in the face and talk to her like this in all her life she had never till this day deceived her in anything she must be a very bad girl she reflected when such a falsehood gave her no but the letter from that mary had found under the stone that morning had begged her to arrange some place where he could see her some spot where neither of the parents could trace them she could think of none but the summer house and she felt that with mary to accompany her there would be no great in meeting him within its walls besides there would be a poetic for the doubt in him that she had expressed when he asked her the other time to meet him there his letters received of late had been so tender so passionately that she would have felt little uneasiness even had mary not been available and with that discreet young person upon the need not be too near either what more could mrs ask mary s intentions in the matter were of the most honorable kind though her part may seem open to criticism she adored her young mistress and had shared in common with others of the household the belief that she and were just made for each other when was by the news that her father brought the servants knew what was the trouble almost as soon as she and all called it a shame and said it

0Arthur Conan Doyle

was a dreadful pity that so nice a couple should be torn apart because their elders were silly enough to indulge in a quarrel over a piece of land or a mill brook mary was of a romantic mood she had read many tales in which the fair heroine experienced the before she became the wife of the hero and had there learned that no method however uncommon is deemed improper that has for its object the of young and faithful hearts had offered to pay her for carrying his messages but she would the take nothing she only desired to serve in what she fully believed to be a righteous cause it was about four o clock in the afternoon when and mary reached the summer house and it was but a few minutes later that opened the unlocked gate of the as had been arranged in accordance with s letter mary had retired to another part of the grounds and came alone to meet him if either had had doubts of the other at any time all was by the first glance his arms were opened and like a dove to its nest she flew into their embrace my darling my poor little pet he exclaimed a how tired and pale they have made you with their senseless stories come into the house and let me tell you over and over again that nothing can ever separate us that the more they try to me from you the stronger is my love they went in together too happy at first to answer him in words she lay against his breast that haven to which she had so long wanted to fly and to think that you have met me here of your own accord he cried could anything else in the world have given me equal delight i brought mary she whispered for the sake of appearances only you would not have been afraid of me alone she shook her head and allowed him to taste the honey on her lips without a pretence of how long can you remain f he asked as long as you wish considering his temptations until eight or nine if you desire but you will tire of my company before that hour shall i he looked and acted as if that was a not likely to arise when they could command themselves a little better they exchanged mutual confidences in relation to the state of affairs at home she told him that her father had become very bitter against him thinking it was all his fault that mr had insulted him at the and for the first time in his life had refused to listen to a word of defence from her she frankly related what he had said about colonel buying a son in law at public for mr had not to tell her the conversation he had had with that gentleman and replied that his father had said he would never own him as a son if he spoke to her again he was obliged he said to creep away like a thief under false in order to be there now but all this has only made my love the stronger he added seeing the thick cloud that her face if anything had been needed to my heart to yours and nothing was this action on his part would have done it there is so much said about she commented can it be that it has no foundation whatever in any act of yours it was a direct question and he knew it must have a direct answer you know my relations with her he said they have been those of a friend merely i know she likes me and perhaps if you were not in existence something might have come about between the ton us in time the colonel is altogether too in arranging things for me i am old enough to make my own choice in a matter of such importance i do not like to say anything against him after he has done my father such a service but he has made me feel contemptible you see how it is i have to go to his house and i have to see for she is always there and that makes people talk and then i have to see you in this way because of those confounded quarrels looked up at him for she still lay in his arms do you think she loves you or rather does she for if she does you know it very well he hesitated for some seconds she likes me at least he said at last i don t want to appear she likes me and she would be glad to please her father but what does it matter the girl was gazing thoughtfully on the floor matter it matters a great deal if she loves you she will have to suffer i know what it is to think you are going to belong to another i hope she does not love you enough to go through what i did a week ago he embraced her more tenderly yet and reminded her gently that all her fears might have been saved by the secret marriage which he had begged her to yes that would have disposed ot one set of fears she answered and perhaps given me another and a harder set to bear in its place i want to walk up to the altar with you before everybody if my parents continue as as considering his they now are i may have to choose between them and you but i want to do it openly and not like one who seeks the darkness to accomplish that for which he fears the daylight we will meet here till we can do better but let us hope that something will soon interfere in our behalf he reminded her that it would be but

0Arthur Conan Doyle

a short time now before he should have to return to his law office and she to her in that is the hardest thing i have to tell you she said with an effort i am not to go back there they are thinking of another school nearer here but at any rate i cannot return to the old one they do not want me to be near you nor near either she added lowering her voice i never knew them so set in anything before mamma does not say much but i can see that she with him was quite upset by this piece of tion i hardly care whether i go or not then he answered with a look i have borne the trouble at the house because i thought that in a few weeks you and i would be where we could see each other with no difficulties in the way if this keeps on i shall give up my studies they will drive me to it oh no she exclaimed not displeased nevertheless to receive this evidence of the regret that he felt at her information you must in your profession whatever happens i should hate to think that i had done anything to your success in life will be there she added with a trace of mischievous meaning so you will not be wholly s tub bi don t that hurts me he protested it should not she replied gently she and are the dearest friends i know i could trust with you i know i could trust you anywhere only don t be very careful don t do anything to make her think you care for her it it would be cruel he said hush in a whisper and then carried her to a sofa near by and placed her upon it she was a good weight for him to bear but what lover ever realized the meaning of when his beloved one was the object you are the sick one to day the last time it was i he said laughing now it is my turn to play the nurse all the medicine i need is to have you by me she murmured it was all i needed too if i had been so candid as to own it he smiled they talked about the school affair and could not reconcile themselves to it but it was agreed that wherever she was sent he would find his way thither as often as circumstances would permit and that each would write daily for the present they were to meet every other day in the summer house at the same hour mary brought a lunch at seven and they tasted it together but neither was hungry for material food grew more and more charming as she regained her spirits and they built a splendid future out of the very limited materials at hand in the course of the evening not once did the fair girl refuse or even question his right to all the kisses he wanted s protest which were numerous and when he reflected afterward thought he had behaved very well indeed considering his temptations chapter xxi s protest had never tried to ni daughter in anything until there came up this matter of she had been as free to follow her inclination in everything as though she were of full age and he had always congratulated himself that there was nothing in which they seemed likely to differ in this case however he had determined to use all of his efforts to put a stop to the intimacy of the young couple believing that their further friendship could only result in subsequent pain and mortification to what might have happened had the girl set herself in opposition to his wishes in an open way it is difficult to say he would have it hard to use severe measures and she might have been the victor but as time passed on and she appeared to recover rapidly from the shock which he had been compelled to give her mr congratulated himself that he had pursued the right course and that the love of the young man had not been so deeply in his child s heart as he bad feared in the course of a fortnight she went about her duties with very nearly the appearance of the former the big am t time she wore a subdued air that was new to her but there was nothing to show that she suffered from grief it was clear to her father and to her as well that the ill effects were passing rapid away mrs had long been in delicate health and it happened at this season that she was taken with a sudden failing which alarmed her husband seriously the physician who attended her recommended a trip to the and se about arranging to carry out his s school term would have begun soon but the girl settled that matter by saying that she had had enough of study for the present she would much rather she said remain and attend to the household affairs which would enable her mother to her visit east as much as she wished her parents came to the conclusion that it would be best to allow her to make her choice she had already a fair education and if she was content to remain at home it was undoubtedly better that she should do so had been giving some uneasiness to his father of late by the condition of his health he had become paler than usual and his appetite was he appeared to care for nothing but would lie for hours at a time in a with his eyes fixed on sometimes having to be called several times before he heard the person who him ascribed this state of affairs to his son s fondness for but assured himself that it would soon pass off

0Arthur Conan Doyle

and that he would be all the better when the reaction came he heard from the colonel that made his appearance regularly at his residence and often remained to supper spend s ing the evening in the sole company of the colonel had also noticed that did not seem in his usual health but ascribed it to physical causes it is nothing lasting he said a wedding journey would cure him young men are often struck that way i wish he would take the wedding journey replied john with a clouded brow i have talked with him and he says he cannot think of marrying until he can support his wife and himself he is proud and stubborn too in his quiet way the only method is to let him alone till he comes to his senses it is nearly the time he has set to return to is it not asked the colonel yes but the firm he is reading with are willing to give him all the he needs i don t want him to hurry when does go she concluded not to go at all was the reply she says it would be there without and i have let her do as she pleased she ll keep on with her music at home and have a french teacher come to the house cliff came to for a short visit and was more shocked at the condition in which he found than any of the rest not having seen him since they parted in the early summer when the bloom of health and the flush of happiness was on his cheek look here old boy was his first greeting you are looking like the devil i m not quite as well as i have been admitted but it will be all right in a little tom all right r echoed cliff all wrong you mean j why there ll be a funeral at your house in another month if you don t mend what is it something about our two friends eh i suspected as much tell me have you found which of them it is looked at the handsome face of his companion and groaned there is no change cliff he answered they make me the happiest and the most miserable fellow in the world as they used it has steadily grown worse to bear and i have had no one to confide in it does me good to see you for you at least understand my trouble little by little got out of him the situation of affairs as they drove to mr s house and when they were comfortably seated on the they continued the conversation for a the fathers of both of them became said they could not conceal their certainty that i was in each case destined for the position of their son in law they came with offers of financial assistance both to myself and father till it seemed as if i could stand it no longer i had rather have become a tramp and begged my dinners on the road than have endured it another month finally came to the as i have told you and bought the place saving us from being turned into the street and that gave him as he considered a first not only on the farm but on me thereupon got angry and ceased to bow when we met so i was relieved of that nuisance at least but the assurance of the other one has been doubled to make up for it between they were killing me now the r of the on s ft remaining is about as great as their combined weight before heard this with gravity did not know that your father was in any e of this sort he said if i had i should have offered to aid you myself i could have done it just as well as not that would if possible have been worse than the present said turn which way i could there was nothing but obligation to some one or what is called ruin i deliberately chose the latter as far as i was concerned i never asked the colonel to come over and buy the place nor did any one else he heard of the and drove there of his own notion it was very noble of him i think mused though considering you in the light of a future son in law it was a perfectly natural thing but he has no business to consider me as any of the kind broke out hotly caught eagerly at the straw of comfort then you no longer consider yourself a probable candidate for the hand of the fair miss drew a breath of despair i don t know if they would all let me alone for twenty four hours i might tell what i intend and what i don t it is a simple question after all said gravely do you love her no doubt of it then that replied the other a strange look does it i don t see it that way likes me thi like her it is not so easy as you think to part us rose and began to pace the room see here he said presently i think a great deal of you but this thing is getting where there must be something done to bring you to reason after what you have told me it is clear that you are going to marry miss all the logic of events points in that direction it forms a solution of all your troubles that being the case it is nothing less than wicked for you to lead miss to think otherwise if she cares for you it is all the more reason why she should know the truth as early as possible know what truth exclaimed that i can hardly live out of her sight that is the only truth

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in connection with her that i am fully persuaded of oh cliff i thought you would do something to aid me and you only make it worse and worse his companion grew dark about the eyes he was a good natured fellow but he was on the point of an explosion at that moment what is the matter with me cliff cried wildly rising and pressing his hands to his temples here are these two girls either of them fit for an angel both have a fondness for me which is as unaccountable as it is and what does such love such affection do to me beautiful pure and good as they are they have already made me a fool and they will yet make me a villain the anger that had been rising in s brain turned to sympathy as he saw the earnestness of his friend you are insane he answered no man in his senses would talk like this i know it said i am insane in one way and yet no body of would order me placed in confinement i am bad enough and yet i have been trying for the past month to give up one cf these girls trying as man never tried before i have met her three or four times a week against the wishes of her father and the commands of mine met her passed hours with her and every moment the thought has been uppermost can i give her up the more i have put that question to myself the less able have i been to answer it then i have gone to see the other one whom i can meet with the full approval of all our friends and have asked myself the same thing con her with the same result you you have met miss alone stammered with an aspect of not exactly a trusted maid of hers has always been within call of all the uncertain things which girls trust with their secrets said earnestly a maid is the worst to day she may be the soul of devotion to morrow something happens to make her reveal all that she knows and more you are my friend but this must stop i put it plainly it must stop it is not pleasant to be dictated to by a self con and felt his pride aroused you are very plain i must say he replied coldly i am said i will be yet that there be no possibility of a misunderstanding i t the esteem miss too highly to permit you to go o her as you are doing listened with increasing astonishment injure her injure he repeated yes every time you meet her unknown to her parents with only her maid to protect her good name you injure her and this is not the way to break with her as you profess to think the only way to do that is to write her a frank honest letter saying that your engagement to another makes it proper that you should cease attentions which might be this is the advice i give you follow it or not as you will now another thing i cannot longer stay here as your guest i shall go at once to the village hotel and remain there while i am in started up and caught his friend by the sleeve come cliff that is going too far he exclaimed i have done nothing against you you act as though we had had a quarrel you talk about my being insane i think it is you who are best open to that charge no said i have no quarrel with you but there is danger of one and if it comes it is better that i am not under your roof when the blow falls you are playing double with these girls i have no right to sit an idle spectator of your amusement i shall go to the hotel we have not fallen out and if we ever do it will be from no fault of mine but one thing is certain there must be a change in your conduct and that right speedily he continued assuming the tone of a pleading friend it is for your own sake as wall u tb a han in mine as well as theirs that i say this you are old enough to understand that results flow from causes chapter xxii like a man in liquor did not try longer to his friend from the step he had resolved upon in the first place he felt that it would be useless and in the second he was not sure that it would not be better for him that such a jealous spy upon his every movement was further away so went to the hotel and thought for a long time of what he had said to him could he give up he did not share his friend s idea about the letter he ought to write that seemed brutal considering all that had passed neither had he any fear of the of mary there had been servants in the history of love but she was not of that mould the summer house was secluded no one walked in the wood at night who would be likely to see him enter or leave it as for it was her father s property and she had a right to go and come when she pleased without question he did not mean to do her reputation harm certainly not had he not told her that she was the only woman in the world for whom he cared and yet he had said no less to what a tangled web he had been wearing and the how hopeless seemed the task of its from the limbs which it the more he thought of it however the he became that he ought to make a brave effort to give up

0Arthur Conan Doyle

and as a preliminary to that end he wrote a note and left it under the flat stone asking her to meet him that evening instead of the next as had been arranged received the note with joy when mary brought it to her her parents had that day departed for the east and she had been afflicted with ever since the train had out of the with them on board she met at the hour appointed with more than her usual tenderness and as he touched her ripe lips he knew that all the courage with which he had thought himself endowed had taken to itself wings and flown away she talked to him first of the departure of her parents who were not expected to come back for a month or more then she expressed the hope that he would not feel obliged to go to until near the time they would return as she could now meet him with the utmost freedom came to see her occasionally but there was not the old cordiality after all and told her that he was not going just yet at any rate he mentioned that cliff had come to town and was staying at the hotel saying that it was better to have him there than at his house where he would know his every movement and possibly become suspicious he said that his father had also become quite a and that ha had pretended to retire to his room at eight mi a ma account of without this deception he should find it hard to get these evenings to himself you ought to see cliff he said he is than ever you know he was always fond of you and i don t think he has given up hope yet she blushed and replied that he must not talk nonsense a mr never said a word to me except the ordinary she added i think you are too much inclined to draw on your imagination liked to see the roses come into her cheeks which were still a little affected by the that had come to her at the time of her illness oh he said cliff is a thorough gentleman there isn t a mean streak in him if you were my sister there isn t a man on earth that i would so soon give you to but as it is i don t see how i can oblige him this made her laugh and the conversation took on a lighter tone she told him among other things that they were entirely alone in the summer house that evening mary had wanted very much to go to a friend s where she should remain till eleven o clock and had given her permission after all it was just the same nobody would know she was absent and nobody would guess at any rate that was there oh yes it was quite the same they told each other this several times but one of them knew different from the moment that they heard that mary had gone and that there was no one on the premises but himself and there was a in the heart of he the could not sit still he walked about the rooms looking at the pictures and when he talked his utterance was not as distinct as usual m my head he said in answer to hei anxious she made him lie down and brought with which she bathed it the ache did not disappear however he could not stay there but got up and walked again she accompanied him growing paler as she saw his agitation she was alarmed but did not know what to say and thus the strange actions went on for an hour or more until she was nearly exhausted with her emotions darling he said suddenly stopping and facing her would it not have been better f you had married me when i asked you tell me from your heart do you not wish at this moment that i were your husband if if she began m if you insist upon it as necessary to your happiness i will marry you tomorrow she thought this would a cry of pleasure from him but it did not to morrow he exclaimed in so loud a voice that she feared lest it should pass the walls of the building and the limits of the to morrow i there is no to morrow there is nothing in this world but to day to morrow is a centuries off how can you talk to me of to morrow i the tears came into her eyes in spite of all that she could do to repress them but he saw them not he was blind its he mused she started to go nearer to him but he moved backward as she approached are you afraid to remain here alone till mary comes i think i shall have to leave you the tears that had gathered fell in a shower he did not see them no she answered i am not afraid good night then he walked to the door like a man who has been drinking liquor and opened it then he rolled out of the gate and went through the wood seeking not for travelled ways chapter it s for he mused there was something very noble in the position which young occupied ever since he had he had admired her and now that admiration had grown into the deepest love he had no and she was the only girl for whom he had ever felt a strong attachment toward he had a feeling that he could not put into words that made him assume a sort of over her when she seemed by danger but that was not love was the one who had his heart in yet there had been little to give him hope that he would ever have

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the opportunity to tell her of his sentiments so long as there was anything between her and s the he was barred out by the commonest rules of honor and more than that he had observed her too closely not to know that while was in the way the suit of no other man on earth would have the least effect upon her there was no reason why he should not call upon her indeed she would have thought it strange if he had not knowing that he was in town and he took an early opportunity of visiting the mansion she received him kindly but he saw at a glance that there was trouble in her face he guessed the truth that was not as regular in his calls as she thought he should be one of the first things brought out in their conversation was the fact that he was living at the hotel which he ascribed to greater convenience she asked him with an effort if he had seen and he said that he had once or twice but not for long and you have called on of course she said no i mean to do so soon however i know she will be glad to see you said m i have sometimes thought she added that she had an especially warm side for you he wondered how she could be so blind you are surely mistaken he answered then he continued unable to resist the inclination i suspect on the contrary that she has a decided preference for another she regarded him another no there can be none we are so intimate that if there were she would have told he how thoroughly both of these girls believed in their hold on it matters not said more than he was wont to speak i have set my affections elsewhere the natural curiosity of the feminine mind overpowered ah she said is it a secret or can you give me her name i cannot now there may be a time when i can said he with great deliberation but i assure you that it will be either her or no one you imply that there is doubt of your happiness said sweetly i hope sincerely that the difficulties whatever they are will be removed you deserve one of the best girls in the world he took up her hand and kissed it with the reverence of a you would aid me if you could he asked you may be sure of that she answered warmly he was afraid he should say too much and he soon after took his departure from s house he went to that of it was not yet late and he wanted to have a talk with her too the servant who answered his ring told him that her young mistress had gone out to spend the evening and she did not know at what hour she would return not liking to go to his hotel so early took a long stroll up the road ending by going into e woods and lying down under a tall tree to dream alone he had lain there perhaps an hour when he heard a quick step approaching and saw walking at a strange and reckless gait through the so peculiar was his friend s action that s first thought was that he saw a turned aside for the larger trees and bushes but over the smaller ones he stalked like a wild animal who had no idea of roads or clear spaces started to his feet and called his name three times before he received any intimation that his words had reached the ears for which they were intended then stopped like one startled looked around and replied in a hoarse voice who s there it is i stepped out of his concealment and saw that the face of his friend was ghastly his eyes were with red and his entire appearance was the reverse of natural where did you come from asked suspiciously have been lying here under this tree for an hour or more s eyes cleared a little as he spoke next you are a friend of mine aren t you i hope lam have you a pistol there was such a calm cold blooded tone in this inquiry that shuddered i have not what could i do with one he you could do me a favor you could place m against that tree and shoot me dead was thoroughly shocked what has happened he asked let me walk he t home with you you want to get to bed and rest you need medicine the soothing voice had a certain effect and suffered himself to be led in the direction indicated but he had no notion of telling this man what him how came you out here he asked it is a good way from the hotel i took the liberty of calling upon your replied we talked of nothing but you however so you need have no jealousy stared at him a moment before he comprehended do you mean m m i said your whom else could i have meant have you several of them a shiver passed over the form of the other man i don t know whether i have one he said there was never a formal engagement between and me if there were i should feel it my duty to ask a release for to night if never before i know i cannot marry her felt greatly agitated by this statement he knew not what to think when you have rested you will be able to talk more he said she fully understands that you and she are engaged and let me tell you that you trifle with the heart of a superior girl when you play at fast and loose with miss admitted by a nod that he had no desire to this statement i

0Arthur Conan Doyle

am not insane as you seem perhaps not to think he answered i may have been for a moment out of my mind but now i am quite the sober and sensible for three years i have been try ing to ascertain which of these girls i most cared for at last i have discovered there is one of them without whom life would be a miserable blank to me and cliff it is not stopped stock still in the road he had anticipated he knew not what but never this you mean he said that you love miss v beyond a doubt it is clear to me now as the sun at noon as soon as i can i shall try to communicate to the fact that there can be nothing more between us did not mean to introduce himself into the matter if he could help it and he thought it his duty to say something more it will be a blow to her he said she is a gin i might almost say woman of strong affections they are all on you there has been ing to prepare her for this don t cliff he exclaimed it is not an easy thing and you have no right to make it harder while as i tell you my eyes have been opened at last to where my love really lies i have a regard for which that which other men feel for their favorite sisters i would do anything in the world to spare her pain she is very very dear to me the knowledge that i must cause her suffering is terrible to me but how can i escape would that our friendly relations could have gone on forever but since custom me to the one when i take the other it must be she who is left i like as well as ever but there ig m n for i hb mused o language to express my adoration my complete worship of that girl heard him the colonel will be much disappointed mused he by god cried whatever they do they shall not buy and sell me there is enough of left in me for that at any rate i shall have to give up everything for and i am willing to do it my father will never forgive me if i marry the daughter of the man he considers his worst enemy and no one can reason with him will make an awful row perhaps his child and refuse to speak to her again will feel hurt will call me a heartless wretch when i have only tried to save her from the worst fate imaginable and you the last one left will cast me over everything will have to go and only will be me only i would rather live with her on a desert island than with any other girl in the midst of friends and plenty felt that was fully in earnest but it was all so strange how did this knowledge come so suddenly he asked it was but yesterday that you could not come to any decision between them and that you leaned if at all to the other side paused and turned his face toward the moon which shone upon and it it came to me as the truth came to on the road to i have been with her tonight ou left early said your at the moment when i you were not of the kind one ought to expect in a happy lover had for the time forgotten the events which sent him wildly through the wood and at the recollection of them his countenance grew sober that that was something else he stammered they were near his father s gate now and he walked slowly as he had professed to have a headache and had retired early he did not desire that his parent should see him re enter the house if by any chance he were yet awake when you have had a night s rest and tell me this again i shall know how thoroughly to believe you said as he turned to leave there is something unsettled about your mind to night which leaves me a little in doubt oh you may believe it all now responded i shall marry i must i am not good enough for her understand that cliff it is a miracle that she loves me but i believe she does if ever woman loved man as to that s the hard thing i don t know how i shall manage that it will give me sad hours as well as her he waited but could think of nothing more to say on tha point i wanted to learn which of them it was and until i did learn what could i do but wait don t be hard on me in your thoughts old boy my road is a straight one now and i should be a villain not to follow it was thinking of something else at that moment tell me before i leave you said he why if hb was that you asked m to place you against a tree and shoot you tried to laugh away the ugly incident perhaps i was a little crazy he said i can not tell you what caused my but it was nothing serious nothing that is going to be so now i am glad you did not take me at my word walked slowly up to his father s door it was now half past ten o clock and he was much surprised to see his parent sitting at that to him unheard of hour on the so you did not go to bed said his father in a tone in which no special meaning could be discerned yes i did but the room was close and i went out to stroll i think it has done me

0Arthur Conan Doyle

good whom where you talking with just now cliff i ran across him accidentally looked at his son and thought how well he bore the scrutiny i want to talk to you a few minutes he said have you considered that matter of marrying before you go back to the young man at the question though he had been white enough before i have he answered and as i told you i do not see the object of haste it ought to be something to you that i wish it said the father it is i have tried to agree with you but i cannot i entreat you not to press me further you surely wish me to be happy and this matter i must settle for myself without the least but as i f the con the naturally ended at this point bowed a polite good night and entered the house the next morning met colonel who told him that had not been to see for three days and that she was in some anxiety in consequence though she was doing her best to conceal it the colonel also said that business would compel him to take a trip to europe within a short time and that as he should be absent some months he would like to have this other matter settled before his departure rubbed his hands you ought to take the young couple along he said if it is managed right you can do so is through with her school and is not feeling well enough to resume his studies at present say nothing to anyone till i tell you the time is right then spring it upon them suddenly and you will have them for fellow passengers after that all will go easily that would be delightful said the colonel with beaming countenance can you start at short notice asked john at an hour s for such a purpose trust me then and be quiet till i speak there was such an exhibition of low cunning in s face that the colonel by nature a man of the highest honor felt a sense of shame of having become his partner in so a business but he had a daughter whose happiness depended on the arrangement he was trying to make and for her sake he sank his sentiments it s for he mused as he went his way no sleep f chapter xxiv no sleep for no sleep came to s eyes on that terrible night when her lover left her at the summer house she had been too frightened to try to stop him when he proposed going and yet she felt a vague alarm at what might happen to him after he had gone she knew he was of a peculiar disposition and in his excited state many things were conceivable mary returned at the time agreed and found her young mistress with the traces of tears on her cheeks though she had tried her best to remove them the maid did not dare inquire the cause of the trouble but in her own mind attributed it to nothing more serious than a lovers quarrel which she supposed inevitable in all cases of true love and without permanent effect on the following morning when did not rise from her bed mary grew more uneasy and began to wish she had had no part in an affair which seemed destined to bring more sorrow than happiness to the one she loved so well but at noon she brought a note found in the wall and saw that this magic force had still power to work a miracle half an hour after receiving the letter was dressed and about the house singing softly to herself and apparently more joyous than ever the letter was written in s most tender and strain it plead for forgiveness the the condition into which he had allowed himself to drift on the previous evening and declared that nothing of the kind should ever mar their future he told her that he had never realized until now how dearly he loved her and that his every effort hereafter should be to make himself worthy of the only woman for whom he i ever care to do justice he meant every word of this when he wrote it he had passed a miserable night and awoke with his conscience he dreamed of nothing but seeing again and convincing her that he was a better man than his actions had led her to think he was not without fear that she would take his conduct seriously and the dread that she might refuse to meet him again without the sanction of her parents troubled him exceedingly lean hardly endure the moments until you tell me i am forgiven he wrote if you are at the summer house this evening i shall know that i am to live if you are not i shall take it as my and in the morning i shall leave never to set foot in it again told mary that she should spend tne evening at the summer house and the kind hearted girl rejoiced to see in the eyes of her mistress the familiar smile of happiness which had disappeared it was mary s habit to take a book with her as the hours which she spent in the dining room at the cottage were dull and stupid unless she had something in the way of entertainment the young couple in the parlor with their imaginable and only made the position of the all the more lonely for mary was a wo sleep girl and had known what it was to have an of her own she usually read the book as long as she could keep awake and then into slumber until the voice of her mistress was heard telling her that it was time for them to go home on this occasion she took the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

novel she had brought and found herself absorbed in the woes of its heroine while watched and waited anxiously for the step of the one she loved who was expected at eight o clock did not arrive till nearly an hour later grew impatient fearing everything that her active brain could conceive of when he came at last she flew to him without a moment s delay oh i feared something had happened to keep you away she cried in a low voice what was the matter i could not escape the watchful eyes of my father he answered with a trace of bitterness i pretended illness again and went to my room but he sat up later than usual and i could not pass the is it not an outrage that i should be compelled to endure this sort of thing you must endure it a little longer she said close to his breast i am a with you in the deception for i meet you against all the commands of my father at first it made me feel very wicked but i am becoming hardened there will come a time when we shall look back on these meetings and be glad that we dared to have them they had entered so noiselessly that mary bad not heard s step and the future conversation was carried on in such low tones that it reached no other ears than their own the the first thing i want is your forgiveness he began but she stopped him say nothing about it your note quite sufficiently explains all but i must have made you suffer horribly own feelings were any you must have had an awful night i do not know what was the matter with me i was quite out of my head and really knew nothing after i left you until i met cliff half a mile from here she started alarmed at the statement he did not suspect no but he wondered what had happened to affect me so just to plague him i have pretended that i did not know which i loved best you or but when we met last night i told him the truth i said there was but one little girl in the world for me and that was you i didn t mean to be quite so confidential but i was afraid he would be calling on you and proposing and i didn t like to take any risks it pleased her to hear him talk like this for it showed that he rejoiced in the possession of her love t and was not willing that any other man should have an opportunity even to ask for it was very dear to her that night all the dearer for the little episode of the evening preceding mary is with you this time of course he said presently she assented and indicated the dining room as the present of the person inquired for you won t let her go again no she shook her head decidedly she will not be likely to come in though no sleep for not unless called laughed i don t think you ll need to call her he said she has great faith in us i really believe she thinks it a sort of christian duty to help us to these meetings agreed with a smile if she thought it wrong she would not do it i am sure she is the most devoted girl drew the figure which he had been with his arm closer to his breast we will have her with us when when we are married oh to be sure he drank in the sweet breath for a moment then he found his brain growing unsteady again when was it he asked that you first thought you loved me i don t know i can t remember but since we have met here my love has grown to be a very different thing from what it was before he asked her to explain but she could not i feel now she said as if i could not live were we to be parted why that he said is like of a wife to her husband yes if we were already married you could not be dearer than you are he drew a long breath oh i wish we were it is such a little ceremony and yet it means so much a few words from a clergyman and we could tell miss mary there to give up her post of i am so tired of waiting for you the she placed an arm affectionately about his neck why you have me already no he answered with lips i do not have you we are here at a risk to our we come in and creep out like you told me yesterday that you would agree to a secret marriage if i insisted upon it i think i must insist she had hoped that he would forget her rash promise for she dreaded above all things taking a step of that kind which seemed cruel to her parents who had always granted her every favor she asked them let us talk it over sensibly she said of what use would it be it could stop idle tongues if it were discovered that we have met here he replied quickly is that nothing to consider i could prove that mary had always been with us said the girl with a blush there was a covert sneer in the smile with which he met this she is your servant and herself only a young woman it would amount to nothing are you tying to avoid carrying out your own proposal you told me frankly that you would do it if i insisted she knew that this was true and yet she wanted to find some avenue of escape that should be at the same time satisfactory to him

0Arthur Conan Doyle

listen to me she said after a pause my father and mother are to return in three or four weeks i will make you this promise and keep it faithfully when they arrive i will go to them no sleep openly and tell them that i love you that i have promised to be your wife and that i want their blessing i will pray them to grant it begging it if necessary on my knees and i think they will give their consent if they do not if they say it shall not be no matter with what threats they couple the decision i will marry you as soon after as you wish but it must be before the world it must be before the world it would kill me to have it said that i the tears had risen to her eyes he soothed her gently and kissed away the drops in spite of all she could not help sobbing on his shoulder and he began to feel a good deal like a villain a of her rich dark hair fell upon her neck he begged her not to put it up again just then and soon his fingers were slowly it as he talked to her the which he were of unusual and he made a veil of them which hid both their faces as his cheek lay against hers she ceased to sob and they found contentment in silence mary had forgotten to fill the lamp on the table and at this juncture it went out there was light enough however from the windows through which the moonlight shone and they could see each other distinctly the sky must be full of stars to night said at last after neither had spoken for a long time i see but two he answered gazing full into her eyes i see nothing know nothing but you think the world has and left us two alone the there are of the sea of the land of the air a steamer goes down with a thousand souls on board a railway train from a bridge and the spreading fire the deadly work an with his party of pleasure dares the dizzy height and from the all come tumbling there are of the noiseless dagger the quick report of the ready revolver the pangs of the purposely administered poison and revenge their multitudes but love more lives than they out in pleasing attire coming velvet shod it works its ere suspicion thinks to wake the chapter xxv what was that sound it was bright daylight when mary started from her in the dining room and realized how long she had slept in another second sha opened the doors that led to the parlor and discovered sleeping soundly upon the sofa there the long hair of her mistress was and floated about her like a cloud while on her cheeks were the tell tale traces of tears o dear dear groaned mary to herself must they always end like this nothing but another quarrel could have made her cry she stooped down and awoke as gently as what was that sound she could the girl gazed at her with a fixed expression when first she opened her eyes as if she were uncertain whether what she saw was real or something in a dream it is morning said mary i have been asleep i did not hear mr when he came or went roused herself slowly sat up and allowed the maid to arrange her hair what time did he come asked mary feeling the oppression of the silence it must have been very late a shiver ran over the frame of her mistress he did not come at all she replied in a forced tone not come after his note and that is why you have been weeping my poor girl but you do wrong to weep it could have been no fault of his i am sure of that he loves you if ever a man loved i shall be so glad when the time comes for you to be married and all this unhappy business is over again the shiver ran over s frame but she repressed it as well as she could and began to put on her hat i can trust you mary can i not she asked avoiding her eyes i have something important to tell you a very great secret mary caught one of her mistress hands and kissed it warmly i would die for you she exclaimed i shall want i shall need your help continued with a reserve quite foreign to her usual manner of intercourse i the she staggered and would have fallen had not mary extended her arms and caught her but she immediately rallied and stood upright again i am going to be married she continued slowly it is to be a secret affair for my she hesitated long my mother would object but when they know of it they will forgive me and him you understand we are to be married quietly and it is not to be known to any one but you and the the person who the ceremony mary clasped her hands in oh miss is it wise she cried it is not my place to advise you but have you thought of everything choked down a rising in her throat at this evidence of devotion it is to be she said i will let you know when to morrow he will bring a justice here no no not here she exclaimed suddenly looking about the room not here that was a mistake but we will meet him somewhere and you will go as a witness do not ask me to explain there is danger that they will try to part us if they know it and when this ceremony is can do nothing he will be mine then mine forever there was no surprise at

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the mansion when returned just at breakfast time and said that she and mary had stayed all night at the summer house the weather was unusually warm for the season and it was much cooler by the lake found letters from her parents that had just been brought from the post office and she read them with flutter what was that bound ing heart had ever a girl such parents as she and had ever one so deceived them she thought of the sweet gentle face of her mother who was reported no better and felt hardly fit to call her by that dear name what would she say if she knew she had gone so far now that she could not the sooner she had a right to the name of wife the better to wait till her father returned was out of the question she heartily wished she had accepted s proposal to have the secret marriage a week ago probably no one would ever learn of her but whatever happened she would have the companionship the love long as life lasted of the man she adored she had no thought of him what girl ever her lover while he remains true there might be a great deal of trouble in store for her possibly the loss of parents friends the home where she had always lived but there would always be twelve hours must before she could meet him again how could she wait so long as evening approached she grew more and more impatient she was more anxious now than ever had been to have the ceremony of marriage take place and he had promised to fix the day and hour when he came again as soon as she had eaten a scanty supper she went to the summer house with mary though she had no reason to expect her lover for two hours yet she was exceedingly nervous trembling in every joint and starting at the least sound she declined mary s offer to sit with her till he came saying she would much rather be alone when she heard his step she sprang to meet him and the ton clung about his neck as a drowning person to a my wife there was something in that tender word that made her her hold and cover her eyes with her hands don t call me that yet she said i feel so wicked he kissed her mouth her neck her hair and when he had disengaged her hands he kissed them too and then the eyes he had uncovered so you are not my wife he said brightly yes before god you are and when is the ceremony to be she asked casting down her glance the ceremony are you then in such a hurry for that form she put her hands on each side of his head and drew his face close to hers with a movement oh you will not delay it now he laughed good for her intensity pleased him not an instant longer than is necessary he responded i have spent half the day trying to find a fellow who does such things justice whose home is over in they told me he was at one place and another and i kept up the chase until it got so late that i feared keeping you waiting but i have left word that i shall see him to morrow and no doubt i can arrange to have him meet us here the next day what wa that sound she heard him with the deepest interest and at the final words shook her head not here i cannot have it here anywhere else you please but not here he understood i shall have to think of some other place then he said we cannot be seen in public together for that would attract attention i will ask what he has to suggest he is all right he ll keep it as still as the grave and nobody ll be the wiser have you said anything to mary she told him that she had and that the maid had agreed to be a witness she told him also that she had fallen asleep on the sofa and had not been awakened till daybreak at which he expressed regret and i ran away at one o clock he said ah well it can t last much longer he seemed to be in great good humor and had an abandon that was new to him thought he was not as grave as he ought to be but she did not tell him so he was now all that she was sure of in the world and she did not like to annoy him by too much criticism it was midnight when he left and she went to tell mary that she had concluded to remain at the cottage again instead of going home has been making arrangements for the marriage she said he thinks it can be arranged to morrow or the next day there was so much of exultation in her voice that mary did not like to say anything to her a happy mood was better she thought than a tearful one she wondered at the same time if ther were any possible doubt of the full of a s marriage and determined to take a good look at the papers when the ceremony should occur still the more she thought of it her fears seemed foolish had loved ever since he was a child why should he wish to deceive her it was a fan conception and mary resolved to banish it from her mind or at least not to mention it to her confiding young mistress the next evening when he came he told that he had not seen the justice but that on the succeeding day he should surely meet him he seemed as happy as she at the prospect and

0Arthur Conan Doyle

they tried to plan out their future she had money enough of her own to support them for a year or two if both their fathers remained and after that would be earning something at his profession when i am twenty one there is nearly two thousand dollars beside for me she said from a sum my grandfather left me we shall want almost nothing till then i think i could live on your smiles and ask no other food and i on the honey of your lips he exclaimed my wife no don t tell me not to say it my wife my darling wife the tears that stood in her eyes now were happy ones it is too wonderful to last she whispered softly life cannot be a succession of days like this f it will furnish us many far brighter ones he answered ai that moment both of them started and each read the same thought in the eyes of the t was that sound his chapter nursing his i was the fifth day since had bee seen at the mansion knew that he was in town and his unaccountable absence gave her the deepest distress she knew that he was given to odd ways but there seemed no reason for his conduct in this instance the colonel asked each evening or each morning if he happened to be from the house has been here yet and when the silent negative greeted him his face grew dark and he felt in his own mind all the suffering that his daughter experienced the colonel did not mean to say much to if he could help it until something definite had been arranged but she anticipated him one evening and compelled him to enter on the dreaded subject sooner than he had intended u i want to talk with you father she said coming to his side in his library where he was trying to read a newspaper you know there is something wrong about it troubles me and that makes it trouble you now don t interrupt me please for a minute i care a great deal for him but he cannot treat me in this way much longer he is at his father s he comes and goes in the village everybody sees him i have sufficient love to bear almost anything but neglect it is five days since he has i shall wait two days more that will give the him a week and then i shall write saying that release him from all the promises he has made the father heard her with great distress wait a little longer said he is not well he is passing through a period that neither his father nor i can understand but he loves you and you must do nothing to prevent his return to a normal state let it go a few days longer and he will come back to you and very sorry i am sure for the neglect he has shown she did not seem in the least convinced i cannot share your opinion father and there is another thing i want to go with you to europe i could not stay here where people are already you yourself say that i am not looking well a voyage would do me good dear father if nothing comes to re unite us let me go with you the colonel hesitated but finally said that if would consent to do nothing until the time came for his departure which would give what he was obliged to admit was ample time to change his course he would take her it was his hope that would have his arrangements made by that time and that would be one of the party on the whole it was as well that had spoken it could give her something to take up her mind and if everything did break between her and the foreign journey would certainly be best he knew that the girl felt severely the blow that she had received a week passed and nothing was seen of at the colonel s during the day he usually remained at home he never arose to breakfast now and was given as a reason why he should his not be disturbed until he chose to show himself which was generally near the hour of noon every night he retired as soon as his supper was eaten but a light was always seen burning in his room and it was understood that he read a good deal on account of inability to sleep it was from no fault of s that this entire week passed without his marriage taking place he had tried honestly enough to find but fate seemed against him the justice was called away to another part of the state on the very day when left word that he wished to see him and not thinking that the young man had anything of great importance to communicate he had gone on his journey leaving word that he should be back in three or four days as frequently happens the three or four days lengthened out to six or seven and had many sad hours in consequence she felt each day that her position was growing more she bitterly repented that she had not consented to the union when first proposed it but each evening when he came he assured her that the affair would certainly take place on the morrow and clasped in his arms close to the heart she now loved with all the passionate of her nature she forgot at least for the hour what a narrow gulf separated her from the yawning chasm at her feet the perfect confidence that mary had in her young mistress and her lover the suspicions that might otherwise have arisen told her that it was useless for her to sit up longer than her usual home hour now that they were

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to sleep always at the cottage and that she herself would show out and lock the gate and door behind him mary did not know that the time the young man left grew later and later until at last he hardly escaped from the wood before the sun rose over the eastern hills even had she seen him go at that hour she would never have dreamed that anything wrong had happened she might have thought it not to avail himself of the cover of darkness but nothing more much must be allowed to the of the young couple whose wedding day unknown though it might be to the world was so near at hand john though he passed each night out of doors did not spend his mornings in sleep the near approach of his revenge was rest enough for him a nap in his chair after dinner brightened his eyelids again night after night he lay concealed within twenty feet of the which led to the cottage and heard the whispered confidences between his son and his enemy s daughter at parting confidences to their or at least to hers for john thought that in such matters men have no to lose was what he heard to that handsome girl so like her mother in feature so like her father in but soon to be broken like a reed by the man they had so long despised it was no small part of his joy that the boy they had not to take to their so much better in their opinion than his should be the instrument to bring shame and on their house the man with a deep seated hate forgets everything but his revenge he forgets what was the original cause of his hatred what circumstances have since arisen everything but that his be hat an account to settle and that it has grown heavier by long delay the night that and were startled bj that unexpected sound he had climbed into a large tree that overlooked the where the house stood and from a secure position in the branches had beheld through the window of the parlor the love making within it was a strange of the brain that the very sight he hoped for should cause him such indignation but the thought that his son his still loved this girl so blindly the strength in his limbs and for the instant he lost his hold before a second had passed however he had slipped noiselessly from the tree to the ground and concealed himself further away the young people listened with alarm depicted on both their faces but soon came to the conclusion that the wind was responsible for the sound and gave it no further thought they had become accustomed to each other s presence and the idea of interruption by mischievous never occurred to them at last was to tell that he had seen and that the justice would tell him the next day where he could meet the couple and unite them without danger of detection this pleased the girl so much that she her tenderness and thought she had never been so sweet and charming as on that evening but does it not have to be recorded she asked yes according to law but will take his time about it oh you need not fear he knows what is wanted and they will get the oar ton from him in a month or two more after you have arranged things with your father he may tell the whole county for all we care people would only laugh and say it was a young couple s adventure there is considered nothing in a match of that sort now a days she drank in his words as though they were the water of life and is such a marriage just as good just as honorable as one in a church she asked i want to be made yours as strong as the law can make me do you he answered laughing merrily that is the way all women talk before the ceremony at the divorce court they tell a different story she would not join in this mood of his i want to be yours till death she said i want to know that when i am laid in the earth your body will be beside me what a idea he cried in mock it is enough for me now that i am to be beside you while you are living she closer to him am afraid that you will respect me less some day because hush i should be a wretch to think of such a thing when if there is any blame it is all my own but it can never be the proof of your love which i have had will only make you dearer he believed it i men always believe those things when they say them it is not you alone sweet girls it is themselves they deceive what madness fills your brains that you listen to them on the last night that spent with they were longer even than usual in their parting at the gate and they had become so confident of their that their voices were not as low as they had once been the concealed spy heard the assurance of his son that the morrow should surely see them united though the marriage was to be kept for the present a secret he knew now that the time for action had come when the lovers had at last torn themselves from each other s embrace and the key had been turned in the lock emerged from his hiding place and followed rapidly in the footsteps of chapter l know her character the young man was so absorbed in contemplation as he the wooded path that he heard ing of his until they were close together when the step behind him smote on his

0Arthur Conan Doyle

ears he turned quickly to see whose it was thinking to shape his conduct accordingly the stern face of his father was something however for which he had made no preparation and his eyes fell before it as he stopped to allow of his approach you are out early was s first greeting yes i did not sleep well and i thought a walk would do me good the reply was delivered in a tremulous voice that the would not have been lost on even a less interested listener and she said in a meaning tone peer ing into the countenance of his son did she also sleep badly how much did he know how much did he only guess like lightning these thoughts flashed through s brain whom do you mean sir he asked don t play innocence with me cried angrily i am in no mood to bear it you cannot make me doubt the evidence of my eyes and ears i know where you have been night after night when you have pretended to be in your room a fine piece of work is it not you are proud of it i have no doubt the manhood that lay at the bottom of the son s nature though often obscured by qualities came to the surface i told you long ago he said his voice grown firmer that i loved her if i have visited her it is because you made it impossible for me to see her in any other way i tell you again that nothing you can do or say will make me change my purpose to marry her advanced as if to assault his son but refrained insane boy he exclaimed in a tone of fury do you know what you are talking about marry her is that the kind of girl you would select for a wife do you want to marry a girl who is totally wanting in a sense of what is decent who was the one this time to threaten i know her character stop he cried say another word against her and i shall forget you are my father strike me replied the elder man it would be in keeping with the rest of your conduct put another on my forehead to match the one he put there he removed his hat to show it and looked at the dark red mark with a feeling of pain i am only your father i have sacrificed my life for yours these twenty years but that is nothing strike me because i dare tell you that the girl is unfit for you strike me i say i assure you i know everything you forgot in your even to draw the curtains of your room yes for he saw the terrible effect this statement was making the fence is high and the boards are close but the trees outside are higher you can tell me nothing the horror of this revelation was so great that under it he sank at his father s feet and covered his face with his hands the ground seemed from under him was this a man or a devil that he had been accustomed to looked down on the prostrate figure trying to measure his words to the best advantage i could have forgiven you the folly of a temporary passion he said i know the temptations of youth and that any man is liable to yield to love disgraceful it certainly is but not it is only when you talk of my blood which though that of a poor man is yet honorable with that of a girl who has forgotten virtue the sentence was not finished the he figure on the ground sprang like a to hi feet before heaven he cried another word like that and i will murder you there is no claim that you have on me which you to the loveliest girl on earth whose only fault if it be one is that she has loved too well such an man as i you say i have done wrong if it be so there is only one way that i can right it and that is to take her to my bosom before the world and that i will do to day god permitting this expression roused again the anger of the father for a moment he had felt a sort of sympathy with his son whose impetuous fury had proved how deeply he had been wounded but now he hardened his heart again and seizing in a vice like grip he held him at arm s length as easily as if he had been a child never shall you marry that creature he exclaimed sooner will i take you to the lake there and drown you with my own hands decide he overcome with rage either give her up or meet a dog s death as he spoke he actually dragged toward the brink of the lake which was but a few feet away and the young man knew that he had one to deal with who was for the moment nothing less than a he did not want to die and he thought it best to if it were not too late with this terrible being who had that clutch on his throat let me speak he stammered at the hands that held him are you mad enough to carry out this fearful threat because we differ on a i know her character which is after all f more importance to me than to any one else tell you again she shall not be your wife cried white with emotion it is impossible think boy the mother of your children must be above reproach it were a thousand times better that you perished in the waters here than that you married such the mute appeal in his son s eyes stopped him this time her maid has always

0Arthur Conan Doyle

been with us faltered smiled it will not answer to say that to me he said u i tell you i am not going by guess work i love you with all my soul but i would rather see your corpse brought to my gate than to have you marry the daughter of after what i know s teeth ah he cried you are a cruel man your hatred has led you to this a hatred that you had no right to form in the first place and that has grown until even the happiness of your only son must be sacrificed to it no was the reply your happiness lies with a girl against whom no man can bring a word of accusation come home and think about it when you are calm you will admit that i am right and that this passion that has brought you to so a pass is only temporary tie continued his voice growing i love you if i have seemed rough it was because of my anger at your continued opposition to what is surely for mb your best good come home with me and let ms talk it over the two men vanished through the woods walking slowly and talking as they went and a third man came out of the thick of trees just above them looking as if he had received a blow it was who had started out for an early walk with no definite object in view and had come suddenly within hearing of the angry voices he had heard s threat to drown his son and had been ready at first to interfere if necessary to prevent that catastrophe then as he caught further bits of the heated conversation which showed him that had been visiting at the summer house under circumstances more or less open to suspicion he felt almost willing to offer his aid to the in case he was unable to carry out his purpose his father has taken him away and judging by the terror of his face he will mould him to his will mused as he walked back to the hotel he is a cur and a coward but and his face grew darker if talk comes of this god help him bald in a ram chapter in a fever was in such a highly nervous when he reached home that he was obliged to refuse breakfast and retired at once to his chamber in the hope that sleep would give him temporary relief his father had said such things in the way of argument that he hardly knew how to answer them even to his own mind he felt a certain guilt and he was obliged to admit that a good deal of his conduct was not whatever his parent s mistakes whatever his errors of judgment he had surely been a thoughtful father to him never had he tried to him in anything until this case arose after going into his room he threw himself on the bed where through his awakened mind ran the long list of kindly things that his father had done the education which he had provided when the stood at his elbow and he had to deny himself every luxury that his son might have it all the way in which his trouble had been hid lest it should annoy him to as well as a hundred other instances of similar and in payment for this he had that morning addressed his father like a young from the of south street wondered that the roof over his head did not fall and crush him for an ungrateful still this father of his had driven him frantic for s the the moment by what he said of words so totally for that patience fell before them reflected that the suddenness of the assault upon his feelings his action for it gave him no time to think poor it d break her heart if she dreamed of it he thought of awhile and of the sweet tokens of her love which she had given him he tried to repent of his wrong but it was only on account of being detected that he was truly sorry it is the getting found out that a of the latest and most the thoughts of kept returning to his father did he not owe him something in return for his years of kindness was there no way to reconcile his duty to others with that which it was the right of this friend to demand it must be hard to bring a child to the age of manhood and find him refusing to listen to advice meant for his best good there was too a gentle feeling crept over him as her vision came across his mind beautiful as a lily loving him with a tenderness none the less evident because partly hidden by a naturally reserved it was no wonder that she had made an impression on the iron mind of his father thought of the handsome way in which the colonel and mrs had always treated him of the sweet hours he had passed with he had given her cause to think that she was the one destined to be his for life and now he proposed to desert her contemptible as it was it had a double meanness after he had allowed her father to save his in his distress under an implied expectation ought he not to sacrifice everything in a keep this obligation could he justify himself even for love s sake in deserving the contempt of honest men after what had happened then there came into his mind ike the beginning of a great fog that is to everything in sight the awful thought that his father had placed there respecting the obligation of a woman who to be in all things above reproach he had it when it was uttered and

0Arthur Conan Doyle

had felt arrayed against it all the forces of his being but now it came back to him and would not be driven out of his memory a wife a mother by and by of his children was there anything in the that she who had permitted herself to yield once to love might again find herself in some new field unable to withstand temptation no it was outrageous had only surrendered when her great love had swept her into the of the stream and to the man whose wife she expected soon to be such a woman could never become the prey of the of a husband whom she had learned to it was a shameful the sweet pure gentle filled with the deepest affection her very innocence to blame for her he tried to banish the thought but it clung to him as poison ivy to a wall his mind would go elsewhere for the moment but it kept coming back to this he cried how can a thing so torture me so his father came to see him at noon and heard that he had not yet slept taking him by the hand he found that he was in a fever and begged him to and compose himself to rest replied s the that be was well enough and only wanted to be left alone he declined to see a physician stating that he was merely exhausted from his mental troubles and should be all right in a day or two knew that unless something was done a serious case of illness would follow and finally induced him to take a draught he feared it would not have the intended effect as s nerves were in such an excited condition but in twenty minutes he was in so deep a slumber that his father him and placed him in his bed without him i couldn t have had him going over there again to day muttered john to himself as he looked at the quiet form he won t be likely to awake for five or six hours and if he does i ll tell the housekeeper to give him a little more of it while he is still i ll drive over to see put him off the track mr was surprised to see mr alight at his door but he understood everything or thought he did when john stated the case to him s concluded to do the thing straight said john i found out what he was up to and as long as there s no help for it i gave in he didn t want to come himself and as i was driving over this way i said i d let you know here s ten dollars for the trouble you ve had s face which had grown rather brightened as he took the money it s you know said with bis finger on his lips oh ly i ve done too much of this ness to smiled with a nobody won t hear from me in a f when reached home he found that had not regained consciousness but that he had talked almost constantly in his sleep and had made with the bed clothes requiring constant attention several times he had tried to leave the bed and had been prevented with difficulty the case seemed serious enough to warrant the calling of a medical man and a messenger was for one dr was one of those country who use a good deal more of common sense and considerably less than some of their professional brethren he shook his head when he the which had given saying it would have been better if he had been called in the first place as such treatment would only the young man s recovery john smiled grimly to himself thinking that the doctor did not understand quite as much about the case as he might it was essential above all things to keep in the house for a day or two what has caused this asked dr when he and john were alone with the patient i find him in a good deal of mental excitement i suppose it s due to a love affair if you want to know was the answer i guess a little rest l and quiet will bring him around all right doctor dr glared at this man who thus presumed to tell him his business guessed indeed why he s got a high fever he replied his temperature is many degrees above what it should be his pulse goes like a race horse he ll have a month s sickness out of this if you re not careful the a month john was revolving it over in his mind well he could stand a month and win perhaps a month in bed would settle everything the doctor wrote out a and also a list of directions which he said must be closely followed then promising to call again in the course of the evening he took his departure a month that would dispose of her father would be home in a few days and some method could be adopted to let him into enough of his daughter s secret to put him on his guard some day when was safely married to and had gone far away meant to let know the rest he wanted to do this some time when the tidings would strike him like a but now the most that he hoped for was to obtain a complete separation between the young people he did not mean that they should ever meet if he could help it he laughed at the thought that the doctor had supposed him a fool when he administered the there were some things that even college educated men did not knew if he could keep that boy in bed a month or even a fortnight he would play a winning card

0Arthur Conan Doyle

and yet this father in the midst of his plot loved that son of his in anything else he would have laid down his life to save him his hatred had so choked his judgment that he really believed he was doing what would in the end bring to the greatest happiness it was late the next morning before the sick young man opened his eyes when he did it was only to call in a feeble voice for a drink of water and on receiving it he at once fell asleep again at noon the next in a time he showed consciousness he partook of a slight refreshment as he had eaten nothing for nearly two days then he again and when he next knew what was going on though it was only in a vague uncertain way he saw colonel and his father in the room you are better my dear boy said the colonel coming to his bedside do not him said mr i have no intention of doing so replied the other had forgotten most things the events of the preceding fortnight were not in his mind at all shall i tell that you are better asked the colonel she is very anxious for some favorable word from you i did not know till now said feebly that i had been ill but i am certainly better much better will be so glad threw off the clothes from his arms tell her that i will be down to see her to night said he not to night said his father the to s intense discomfort but soon tell her colonel that he will be down soon and he added cautiously if he has to remain in for several days more she can come here with you this struck as strange he had not got used to thinking of himself as an invalid and he could not imagine in that room under the circumstances but as he did not like to exert himself with too much thought he left it to his father to do s as it pleased him before the visitor had departed he was again in slumber or at least a stupor that passed for it was with grief when she heard from her father that was sick in bed and that the doctor laid it to troubles of the mind of which she feared that she had been in some way the cause her love had endured through all though her pride had been sorely tested by his apparent neglect but now she was ready to everything to the disease which was gradually stealing over him and to forgive more readily than she had been to when the colonel came home and told her that had sent a message that he hoped soon to see her there her heart gave a great bound from joy all was to come out right after all the clouds that had gathered over her head were only the fleeting banks of mist that come with september and they would be gone in a few days never to return meanwhile let the reader conceive the situation of or rather let him attempt to conceive it for it is one of those things that nothing short of experience can convey to the mind she had lived for two weeks on the presence of her lover and on his promise that at the very earliest possible instant the law in the person of its servant squire should spread its curtain over the relations which they had sustained on the last evening that passed with her he had the morrow as the day when the legal steps which she awaited so anxiously should be taken he was to come early mi in the evening and tell her where she and hei maid should meet the justice she went to the summer house and waited o clock it was perhaps too early to expect him but r he stood near the gate ready to open it at the sound of his step nine o clock he must some reason for till that hour ten he had never been so late her cheek until she was as white as he lying at that moment in his bed at home eleven t twelve one mary had retired and knew nothing ot the weary had no one to with her and she wanted none tor her secret was one that could not be confided to mortals with more than she had ever used in her life she knelt on the cold ground and lifted up her heart to god o thou who them that are in trouble do not altogether desert me i have been frail i have been wicked punish me if thou wilt but not this way send him to me o god before i quite lose hope send him to me and my every act through life shall be in of the grievous fault into which my wild love drove me but the deity does not always answer prayers ike this in the way the desires we are told that jove laughs at lovers from the broad vault of heaven there comes no response to the aspirations of the deserted maidens who day after day send up the same refrain a thousand prayers will not prevent your arm from burning pretty one if you hold it in the flame went in at last and fell exhausted on the sofa where mary found her in the morning she gave replies to the few questions that the the maid put to her and declined to leave tht summer house at all that day who could tell but he might come at some hour and what if he should come and find her absent her meals were brought to her and she sat there and waited of course vainly when it was evening again she felt sure he would come then her spirits rose as

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the sun went down eight o clock again nine i there was nothing to sustain her any longer and she gave vent to her grief in copious tears then as if she had not enough to bear her down a new trouble came a letter was brought to the cottage by one of the house servants bearing the new york and in it was most startling news her mother had suddenly grown worse and the eastern had advised that she be taken back at once to her home in mr had got as far as new york with her when she sank rapidly and further was out of the question he had taken her to a hotel where it had become only too evident that her days were numbered i cannot deceive you my poor child wrote her father and the paper was damp with the tears that bad fallen upon it if you would see your alive you must take the earliest train even then it may be too late prepare for the worst that strength that sometimes despair enabled to read this letter to mary and to make preparations for their departure with some show of courage there is something in knowing that fate has done its had deserted her and now her mother was to be taken ix a calmly the people at the house thought she prepared for a hasty journey and took the train for the east her mother had been dead two days when she reached there and her broken down father leaned upon her as the only comfort left to him it was an additional weight on her young shoulders to realize how little comfort she ever could be to him again to him or any one that knowledge which brings a happy light to the face of the wedded wife had come to her now but it was to blast and sting she knew that she should have to go far away from this kind father left with no one else to lean on and hide her shame as best she might from the eyes of the heartless world she might have gone to with an officer of the law or with a revolver as she had somewhere read of a deserted woman s doing and demanded justice but she had no thought of anything like that it was not justice she wanted but love if he had been willing to her so coldly she could never follow him for a mere justification he was safe from her wrath and as for her scorn how could it affect so brazen a heart as his the body of her mother was put for the present in the tomb as begged her father not to return yet to his home she said it would seem desolate there now that the dear voice would never be heard again within its walls and he yielded to the one day mary who had returned to to take charge of things sent enclosed in one of hers a letter from mr opened it by the purest mistake for he would not have stooped to touch his child s correspondence fit hi and was startled to find that it enclosed a brief note from the young man with whom he had supposed her acquaintance ended feeling justified now in seeing what he had to say he read it through my darling ran the letter after many days of illness i am permitted to go out again though i am still very weak my first trip was to the cottage where i hoped to find you but it was locked and wore a deserted appearance i shall send this by a messenger to mary knowing that she will see that it gets to you tell me that i still have your love and that you will meet me as soon as i am able to see you my father watches me closely under pretence that the doctor orders me to be kept free of excitement and i shall have to him as best i can i am too tired to write more but i shall see you soon and then all will be well yours till death mr put the letter into his pocket he had no idea of giving it to he was sorry to learn that still pretended to claim his daughter but there was nothing in the note to show that she encouraged him it was much wiser to keep it from her very much wiser father she said to him soon after i do not want to go home again for a very long time it as if i could not bear it there i am not well i want to take a long journey somewhere and see if it does not help me how would you like to cross the ocean he x i mm f asked looking at her tenderly i heard yesterday of a lady who wanted one more to complete a party that she is to i should like it she answered eagerly a yes that is it i want to go chapter i think i could kill him when mary started for home leaving the in new york gave her this parting write me nothing about matters in outside of our own family affairs mary did not think this enough to warrant her in or returning the letter which sent and the contents of which she had no means of knowing she was aware that something had occurred between him and her young mistress but had refused positively to discuss the causes that had led to their separation the whole truth or any part of it even she never suspected it was common gossip in when she reached there and she heard it from the other servants that had been very ill and that colonel carriage with as one of its occupants had been driven each day to the farm nothing

0Arthur Conan Doyle

less than an understood engagement could explain this though the were and gave no satisfaction to those who tried to pump them on the subject mary was greatly grieved at the turn affairs had taken as she knew that had suffered intense distress about it she had never ceased to think that they were a couple that nature had designed for each other but if men were so before marriage perhaps it was best mary thought on this so seriously that she turned an unusually cold upon a young of the village who had been more or less encouraged in his suit for her own hand at which the young man in question melancholy and began to contemplate the various methods of suicide at the house was al o in anything but a happy frame of mind his love for had given way to a pronounced sense of injury and even the reports of the precarious condition of the young man found in him but little if any regret the fortune that he had inherited made it easy for him to do without the profession that he had intended to follow and he wrote to the firm with whom he had been studying that he could not tell when if at all they would see him again in their office he said he was not feeling as well as he should like and wanted a rest as this very closely with a letter they had received from mr describing s case the lawyers began to wonder what there could be in the atmosphere in that had such a precisely similar effect on the two young gentlemen and they among themselves whether the handsome young ladies with whom they had sometimes met their students had anything to do with tke matter l think i kill him i stayed in until he could no longer doubt that the engagement of and was a fixed fact the county eagle with the enterprise for which that paper was famous announced it under the head of society notes the hotel discussed it at dinner the crowd at the post office made it the theme cf their evening s gossip and those who disliked always a large did not attempt to conceal their pleasure colonel walked or rode through the town with a wise air and s face was in smiles in place of the troubled look that had been seen there so frequently a few weeks before people took courage to ask her how was now that all could see the with which she visited him and she told them without hesitation that he was getting better rapidly and would soon be out again some of the more courageous asked if she had heard anything recently from and with something of the sad look returning she announced that she had received but one letter a brief answer to her she must be sadly hurt poor girl she said softly to one lady whom she thought an especial friend she was very fond of her mother as she deserved to be and i fear it will be long before she from the shock she does not mean to come home at present her father wants her to travel and divert her mind armed with this definite news the lady in question began to make herself a person of consequence by it right and left in the village and before night it reached the ears of s ab tow he did not wish to meet when he became able to be about again for he feared that his patience would give way at sight of him that he should forget that it was an invalid with whom he had to deal he packed his trunk took the train for and after passing a few days there made a sudden decision to cross the atlantic and see if he could not find somewhere on the other side relief from the distress that he was had no notion of dying of love he was much too healthy a young man to entertain any such idea as that but he had suffered a good deal of late and he did not feel like studying he wanted a complete change of scene and having the means to obtain it and nothing to prevent he saw no reason why he should hesitate to follow his in he had not been long in london when one morning happening to glance over the list of american he found the name of miss in that of a party headed by mrs at first he thought the in name a mere coincidence but as there was a possibility that it wag the of his acquaintance he went to the address given he sent his card to mrs and explained the object of his visit from her he learned that he had not come in vain and a few minutes later miss made her appearance was more than pleased to see him she had been suffering from a severe attack of that trouble which often comes during the first days that one on foreign soil and it was comforting to meet any one whom she had ever seen in dear america more than this she had the greatest respect l thin i could kill for and even in her unhappy condition ot mind she had no reason to avoid him their first conversation was upon the voyage they had both taken and upon the sights they had thus far seen i trust you left your father well he ventured finally yes except for his great depression of spirits you she indicated her garments to explain what she did not like to put into speech you have heard he bowed with an air of grave sympathy do you intend to remain in europe long i have no settled plan she as she said it for it seemed as if he could read her thoughts although i have joined

0Arthur Conan Doyle

mrs s party i do not mean to remain with it beyond a a certain time then you will return this winter perhaps no that is not certain she seemed so confused that he hastened to relieve her by saying that he supposed her plans were like those of other travellers on circumstances he asked however that he might have the privilege of calling upon her occasionally while she remained in london and of her to some cf the places of interest he was very courteous about it and she readily responded that she should be glad to have him do so you have been through a great deal of he said and your best way now is to vary your life all you can i too have received a blow harder perhaps than you think although you mu t have known that i cared very much for her i kept the my sentiments closely hidden and i believe real depth was never suspected by you any more than by miss when i read in the eagle that she that they were soon to be married he stopped alarmed had sunk back in h chair as if every of strength had left hei he sprang up saying that he would ring for assistance no she replied in so faint a voice that he could hardly hear her it is nothing i am quite recovered i regret said he that i alluded at all to a subject which could not fail to be painful in thinking of my own sorrow i did not take other things sufficiently into account but surely i have brought you no news she struggled with her emotions for a moment before she answered he is to marry you say i cannot doubt it not only the eagle but common report says so when i came away he was ill and she visited at his house daily you loved her he added gently she looked up at him mournfully loved her loved i love her still i shall write to her sending my how ghastly she grew my congratulations but i did not know mr that you cared for her no i never guessed that did you not then i succeeded in what i tried to do so long as there was the least possibility that wanted to win her i knew it would j useless to speak she contracted her brows in puzzled pain i could kill him t but it must have been something very recent he said you had no fear of his we were at school and after we came home he wondered what he ought to say to her knew you both so long before i did that i seemed to find no place ready for me that made me keep silence he looked at for a moment and then hi wrongs overcame him oh it is a wicked shame he cried hardly six weeks ago i met him in the wood one night and he told me with every appearance of earnestness that he cared for but one woman in the world and was you her breath came in short her countenance brightened yes yes she exclaimed it is his father who has influenced him continued she loves him too they have surrounded him with their toils she leaned toward him i must tell you something mr that you may understand the cruelty of my position we were engaged as honestly engaged as any couple could be why i had even in response to his repeated consented that we should have a secret marriage lest our parents should interfere and tear us apart he had spoken to a justice of the peace named who lives in wood and on the very next day after i last saw we were to be united he left me as happy and apparently as true as you could imagine and from that day x have never had a letter from him nor any whatever l ths london is net agreeing with mis he aid to mrs some days later how much longer do you intend to remain here with your party that is she answered we expect to go to the in jo but i do not know how much earlier we shall leave london i think her only trouble is that she has if you will be content mr to spend your at the hotel instead of in and galleries you will find her much better soon i am sure he blushed at the that he could thus easily control her movements i hope you are right he said and that all she wants is rest i shall certainly encourage her to take it to the fullest extent but i am afraid that she needs the fair skies of the south of france and that the london are her naturally happy disposition mrs looked at him she had recently received word by mail to encourage him in every way he went back to and found her so white that he was intensely alarmed this town is destroying you he exclaimed it is only a temporary affair replied though the pain in her face did not bear ou the statement i shall be better soon what is the matter he asked kindly tell me she started at the unexpected question he is here in london with her she slowly her eyes growing stony as she spoke i saw the names in the register he will marry her i m l i kill b expect it dear dear i can not even throw my poor arms about her neck and breathe the wish i have god knows i have it that she will be happy i dare not trust myself to see her it is useless to deny it to you i love him at this moment as much as i ever did could i ask a great favor of you one which i can ask

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of no one else one that i would not think of asking did i not believe in the and of your nature he trembled with apprehension but he said she could ask him what she wished and he would pledge himself in advance to do it you say i am ill she went on after a pause it is true there is no need of calling a physician for i am not possessed of any malady that he could cure in a week from to day i shall be better or i hall be dead yes i dreamed of it last night it will be one or the other now what i ask of i know how much it is to ask is this if i do die go to the sobs came again and nearly choked her utterance go to him and tell him where i lie in in my ask him to come to me just for a minute it will be no wrong to her i shall be dead and no matter what you may think don t blame him don t do anything to take away the chance of happiness that he will have with her she left the room abruptly unable to say another word and he sought mrs with a gloomy countenance miss is hysterical to night he said sin needs extra care you must not leave her alone i think i could kill him he added mentally as fee went down the steps of the house into the at feet the chapter xxx on the to london the visits of to the bedside of added to the confusion of mind into which he had been thrown by the extraordinary events of the previous few days weak from the illness which had been coming on for some time more or less under the influence of the which his father persisted in giving him in minute quantities notwithstanding the warning of dr and conscious that he had not treated well accepted her with few words beyond those of whenever he had strength enough to form impressions his mind turned to who must he thought be anxious about him and to whom he would gladly had there been any way have sent some message the still unchanged character of his affection one day it even occurred to him to ask to carry this word to her and then it came upon him like a that he had the double task of the distress of and soothing the injured feelings of his new nurse he saw that he was in danger of doing something foolish if he attempted anything in his feeble condition and he from forming plans preferring to wait until he could be about and decide with the full use of intelligence it was on the second day that he was able to wa i out of doors that he took his way to the summer off to loth house in the hope to find where he had left her his father knew well that this would probably be his move and knowing that the cottage was locked he did not try to stop him in this useless journey crept weakly through the path in the wood and tried the gate which was securely fastened he went to the nearest point at which the house approached the fence and called in a low tone then when nothing but the echo of his own voice answered him he turned wearily away and started for his home reaching there greatly fatigued in body and discouraged in mind the exertion compelled him to remain in doors for several days as soon as he could bear the strain he obtained writing and the letter which mary afterwards sent to and which her father it was easy to get this to the for the farm hands had no orders in relation to his correspondence and his father did not know or suspect what he was doing but when a week passed and no reply was received began to experience the greatest uneasiness dr declared that something must be done to calm his mind or he would fall into a brain fever with possibly dangerous results he needs a change of scene said the physician as soon as he is able to travel he ought to be taken away from here the county eagle contained a long article upon the death of mrs in the true country manner the virtues and high character of the deceased the paper containing this which at the same time stated that miss had gone to he east and would remain there some time was placed purposely where it could not help semi by he was much shocked by the news but experienced a sort of comfort in it as it explained to a certain extent the absence of any reply to his letter he had no doubt that as soon as the first flush of her grief was over would write and he tried to content himself to wait but the courage which he acquired was not to be of long duration for in a subsequent number of the same journal he found an item stating that she had gone abroad to finish her education and would not return probably for a number of years the paragraph giving this information was partly the result of ingenious on the part of the of the eagle but its effect on was most pronounced at first it him and then it aroused his fury he see nothing but that had deserted him when he was helpless from illness without even the formality of a written or spoken word gone abroad to remain for years was ever anything so thoroughly heartless could this be the had known had his brain under the effect of illness played him a trick were all those sweet memories mere illusions of a imagination he tried to think had she not lain in his

0Arthur Conan Doyle

arms with her lips to his and her hair wound around his eyes that he might not see the that her cheek a deeper color than had her form with youth never been clasped to his heart had she never whispered to hi glowing and had they never sworn to each other that life itself should be too short u prove their constancy v thb to london when was this a month ago by the a century by the suffering that the separation had given him could he be mistaken was it not true that she had urged that he hasten the day when she might vow her life to him had he never arranged with to come and satisfy the demands of custom it was all as clear to him as the sun shining there in the sky he had agreed with the official to meet him and he had told that the day was set what then why yes he had met his father in the wood and after that came had waited for him and the justice and when he did not arrive she had shown the of her love by suspecting him of the death of her mother had taken her to new york and afterward hearing nothing from him taking it for granted that he had deserted her she had concluded to go abroad what a specimen of the of woman there could have been nothing like the passion which animated him in her breast or she would never have jumped at conclusions in such a reckless manner thus the bitter reflections through his brain for hours after he read this paragraph and he saw no ray of comfort anywhere on the horizon when one has nothing to do but think and think and think one s mind is apt to lead him astray when one is rising from a sick bed one s brain is easily persuaded of whatever appears on the surface of things passed through agonies of regret for the girl he had lost agonies of remorse for the wrong he had done her and agonies of rage for the cold way in which she had taken her thk g self out of his reach his self love his conscience his desire for her presence him one after the other each taking its turn until he did not know what he thought or what he wanted out of the chaos only one thing loomed clear on his vision had gone and remained gentle sweet tender patient not a word of love had passed between them during these days when she had come to cheer his loneliness bringing that one ray of light into his life now tied to such narrow limits what could he do to reward such sweet devotion ought he to permit it to go on he had no strength to solve this problem it pleased his father to have her there and the bright smile on her countenance as she entered his room showed that it gave her pleasure to come had gone and remained he could remember when he had told cliff that he did not know which one of them he loved best he looked back now on his mad with when he had dared everything to be by her side had he chosen his path would have been as smooth as a sea of summer why had his fancy enveloped the other with all glories till he could see nothing in this girl who had loved and still loved him with a flame that no wind of circumstance could lessen then he went back again in memory to those evenings in the summer house what right had to lift him to heaven and then drop him into the depths of hell he wanted to see her once more and discover what had wrought this awful change but the thought of being again in her presence threw him into another fr er he did not ok thb way to know whether he should her with willing or unwilling or drive a knife into that now false heart that had beaten to his through the fair breast that him colonel and mr were pleased when upon approaching the subject delicately to him they found that he was quite willing to take a journey to the old world said he should go too as he had always wanted to see europe and the season of winter was the only one he could well spare for that purpose was to accompany her father and understood that this was decided upon wholly without reference to himself on the whole he was glad she was going he dreamed that it would be possible in those quiet days that they would pass on the sea to have tbe honest talk with her that he had meant to have for months past for there was no moment during this time that viewed as a possibility in marriage that might have been once but now their paths had it was too late to change things he had been too far on the other road ever to return the voyage was day after day sat with on the deck where their fathers left them to themselves with approbation acquired physical strength but the courage that he hoped for to tell that he had loved and lost and never could love again to her this in the delicate way that he felt was her due did not come to him there was something in allowing her to go on under the belief that things were different but try as he might he was unable to set her right thb ct john had many talks with colonel the burden ol which was that all that was needed was a little time the boy has been very sick you know he said u he will recover rapidly over here they will be thrown constantly together and only one result

0Arthur Conan Doyle

can follow do you think he has entirely gotten over his feelings toward asked the colonel nervously entirely have no fear you will return to america with a wedding party is in europe somewhere you know yes with a who will take good care that she does not get out of her sight i know he never sent her here without full instructions to meet every case he has been as fearful that there should be anything between them since that day of the as he was anxious for it before when a man is desirous of being convinced it does not take much to convince him and the worthy colonel found his fears for his daughter s happiness giving way to rose colored expectations as he noted the confidence of his companion they the steamer at took the usual short run through ireland crossed to scotland where they spent a fortnight and then by easy stages stopping at many places of interest came to world s metropolis a cry chapter a cry for help had not been twenty four hours in london before he began to realize that he was practically under he occupied the peculiar position of being in a foreign land with hardly a dollar in his pocket and with watchful eyes following his every movement it was no part of the purpose of his father that he should be able to take journeys of his own in any direction that he might fancy and his purse had been carefully with that end in view under the pretence that funds had not arrived john gave his son only the smallest sums and s pride prevented him from asking the only other person in the party to whom he could have applied s father for anything london meant to the young man more than all else the place where had undoubtedly been perhaps where she still was and the fever that had in his veins grew as time passed on they might surround him with all the they pleased but he resolved that it should avail them nothing if he could not find the one he loved at least they should not make him wed another he had never really recovered from his illness mr continued to supply him with disguised in his medicine generally he wore an appearance of extreme melancholy was much troubled by this and appealed to her the ton father to know if something could not be suggested to turn the current of his thoughts m i never saw so unhappy she said sometimes i feel as if he did not care for me i would rather die than marry him if i thought that the voyage does not seem to have done him much good thus far the colonel was all this time in a he had given out to the of the eagle that his daughter and were engaged and that they would probably return from europe man and wife all expected this and if it did not occur there would be a suspicion that had been was constantly at his elbow ready to meet any doubt and the colonel was more than willing to be convinced don t be in haste and all will be well said repeatedly all he wants is a little more time it takes something more than common to control the every movement of a young man of twenty three even under the conditions of a case like the one in question found by a newspaper that he picked up at the hotel that was at the victoria little as he had cause to hope for help from him it was a straw worth catching at in his helpless and he a note to the address stating his position and begging cliff for the sake of old times to come to his rescue i am still suffering from the effects of the long illness i have had he wrote and though they give me medicine constantly it does me no good i feel that it is too late for me to hope to regain the a foe help of and i shall try to reconcile myself to its loss but this steady pressure toward another alliance is wearing me out i fear that some day i shall yield and then there will be a future of misery for both myself and i have not a dollar that i can call my own if i had enough to take me back to america i would fly from this danger and once there i would take care that they never got me again into their power you hate me for the of which i was guilty but you can afford to be now that i have lost the only thing i care for if i have done wrong and heaven knows how dearly i regret my conduct my punishment is already severe enough if you can send me twenty pounds which i will repay as soon as i can earn it you may save two people from a lifetime of the messenger who took this note reported that mr had left the victoria and gone to live at some other hotel and that the clerks would forward the letter to his new address as soon as they could ascertain it there was something very in this report for it might mean that had left the city and in s mood he naturally looked at the darkest side of everything a week went by and nothing was heard from his former friend he thought it more than probable that the note had reached him and that his contempt for the had induced him to meet his request by a dead silence if he had done so felt that he could not blame him it would not be easy for cliff to despise him more than he despised himself he was plunged into the greatest despondency and in this state of

0Arthur Conan Doyle

mind his father found him when he came to have a final talk upon the situation thb bj m it is time that i spoke to you plainly he with that hard cold ring to his voice that his son had of late learned to know so well you have now been in england nearly a month what excuse can you find for longer your marriage i know what you will say that you do not love it is enough that she loves you and that you have given her every reason to think she is to be your wife there is no honorable way now in which you can escape making good the understanding you have had with her she is a beautiful girl the marriage will make me happy and relieve us all try to think of this as your duty and it will seem easier was too to answer for some minutes there was no avenue open to him in any direction except the one his father pointed out perhaps he sadly thought they were all right and he was wrong had turned her back upon him deliberately the only friend he had thought it possible could aid him had either gone from london or had to answer his letter imploring assistance if he could not hope for happiness himself here was at least a way in which he could impart it to others let me think of it till to morrow he said at last settle it to day it is much better was the reply say that i may arrange for the will be an entirely private affair and that will relieve me of the constant fear that i may be placed in the position of a to a gentleman and his daughter who have been the soul of kindness to both of us tell me that you will go to and ask her to name the earliest hour when you may a cry help carry out the promises that you made months and months ago the young man wavered and then consented to all that his father had asked it repaid him to some degree when his parent grasped him by the hand with a cordiality the like of which he had never known him to show and thanked him warmly having made up his mind felt an for which he was not prepared he had been for so many weeks in a state of uncertainty that it relieved him to have his course decided even though it was not the one on which he had fixed his mind he went to who was in her own apartments and surprised her by an affectionate embrace as she opened the door to him in quite his old manner tempered only by such as the occasion might well demand he told her that he hoped she would be ready for the ceremony that was to unite them as soon as the could be arranged there were few preparations necessary the plan was to send out for some non clergyman and take the vows quietly she had no to procure and no list of friends to invite all this was talked over and before he left her the day was set for the following thursday he returned to his father who anxiously awaited him and reported what he had done and john went at once to colonel and communicated the information the reader who is inclined very properly to the parents of these young people for their conduct should reflect that similar means have been used in all ages of the world to accomplish similar the ton ends and that the intended happiness of ihe ones to be married has been in most cases the reason alleged had his revenge against to satisfy but the colonel thought of nothing but the future of his daughter the fact that she loved was enough for him once united there would be he fully believed no between them to s doubts he always replied that s illness was responsible for everything that was strange in his manner and that she might be sure that all the clouds that lowered above them would disappear in the fair sunshine of their wedded life until the morning of his marriage day arrived did not give up hope of hearing from that was the only chance that now remained to him he looked in his box with eagerness rising before the others to make sure that he got whatever was sent to him but nothing came feeling that no other course was now open he put on the best face he could as he entered the presence of the clergyman a chill came over him and he feared lest the others should hear the chattering of his teeth when it was his turn to answer the questions put to him he showed much awkwardness but it was finally accomplished he had sworn before high heaven to take this woman for life for death in sickness and health and to keep himself unto her till death should them part may i kiss the bride it was john who asked it and looked up pale and trembling for she had noticed with pain that her husband in his had a help neglected to take that first kiss usually so eagerly sought by the newly wedded groom after she whispered and in spite of all she could do the tears came to her blue eyes heard her like one in a dream he kissed her and when both his father and hers had followed suit the clergyman left them had planned a little wedding breakfast but the condition of his son decided him against having it served he talked it over with colonel and they concluded that the best thing was to send the couple at once to another hotel where rooms had been engaged for them he handed a purse with more than the twenty pounds

0Arthur Conan Doyle

he had so now alas too late to be of use and with a few words that bade him be of better courage said good by to him until the next day clung with something like fear to her father ere they separated and he had all he could do to restrain his feelings had hardly entered the carriage which was to take his bride and himself to their temporary abode before he had resolved as well as he was capable of upon anything that he would never this union the touch of the purse that he had in his pocket had aroused all the old dread of this marriage and awakened a determination to escape it would be cruel to desert this fair girl at such a time but would it be any less so months hence he knew that the separation would have to come sooner or later he realized how he had acted but he thought the best way now was to act up to his convictions no matter at what cost he liked as he had always done thb but alone had taught him to feel what was he had done a wicked act in standing up and uttering those lies but he would carry it no far ther unconsciously with the tenderest feelings in his mind for his bride he placed his arms about her as they rode through the crowded streets and she knowing nothing of what passed through his mind gratefully against his bosom but before they reached their new hotel he had decided upon the course he would follow they were shown to their a little parlor bedroom and beautifully furnished and here for the first time they found themselves wholly alone it was not a pleasant situation for him he did not mean to arouse her suspicions and neither did he intend to himself by indulging in those extra attentions which the logic of events might have seemed to demand the first thing he did was to order breakfast for neither of them had eaten anything except the smallest lunch that morning when the waiter said you ll ave it ere sir course he replied with due certainly not serve it in the breakfast room and me when it is ready he meant to be absolutely alone with his wife gods how that word sounded as little as he could after they had eaten breakfast which filled in the time remaining till nearly noon he proposed that they a long ride into the country and as she felt in duty bound to do he selected court though it was not the season when many visitors go thither because it would take a long time to go and return and he must dispose of the afternoon in some way they talked of the scenes through which they passed and examined the paint in the galleries when they arrived and no person who saw them imagined that they were wedded that day it grew rather dark before they reached home and he found his arm her again he liked her and he felt a sympathy for her and after all it could not do much harm at the hotel dinner was ready and both ate with fair he lingered as long over the and wine as he could find excuse for and then went slowly with her to the parlor they occupied i shall have to leave you for an hour or two he said immediately there is a little business that i have to attend to it may keep me out quite late you had best not sit up if you mind being alone oh no not at all she replied he stooped and kissed her and she met his lips he would have avoided it if he could but it seemed necessary then he went out into the streets and inquired of the first policeman he met the nearest way to the offices of the american the man knew enough of the locality to answer the question for one of the offices was very near the place where they stood accepted the directions given and started to walk to it his plan was to take the first boat of whatever line that sailed for the western shores before leaving london he intended to write a full statement of what he was about to do to colonel and his father he proposed to tell them that under no circumstances would he ever return to toe tou and that he hoped they would all forget him as soon as possible he meant to tell them his regret that he had not had strength of mind to refuse the union and that his only reason for his present course was that he did not love his wife as he felt a husband ought he meant to ask them to make the blow as light to her as they could and to assure her that he felt the shame of what he felt compelled to do when he reached the office he learned that there was no boat going before saturday this was something on which he had not counted it seemed to indicate that he would have to his departure until the next day and he wondered what he could do in the meantime if he went back to what excuse could he make to her for seeking another apartment illness that was not sufficient to part a wife and her husband her place would be by his side and she would demand it bitterly he regretted that he had not done what he ought at the start instead of getting into this what had become of the common sense that he had once surely there had been a day when he was not such a coward should he not go direct to and tell her the truth no anything but that he could not meet her eyes her horror stricken face but he

0Arthur Conan Doyle

must do something what what what he went into a hotel and wrote the letter he had decided upon he walked after that through streets with the fearful question till the clock struck ten then he saw a carriage standing in front of a handsome residence and a man being forced down the steps and heard a cry for help where risk death chapter where women risk death seeking to find some relief from his own depression as well as from the constant strain which his meetings with now put upon him engaged the services of a guide and spent considerable time the parts of london into which the ordinary is not supposed to penetrate it is said that no one person knows the whole of that vast but this man came as near it as any one could he was a veritable of everything within ten miles of st paul s cathedral having made it a business to show strangers about ever since he was a very young man as had his father before him there s a house the business of which you would not be likely to suspect from the appearance of the exterior he said one day as they passed a handsome residence within a stone s throw of pall few of those who live in the neighborhood imagine what goes on within those quiet then he whispered the secret to who opened his eyes with astonishment and inquired why the police permitted such places to exist so openly rt they regard them as necessities responded the guide it is considered better that something of this kind should be allowed than that respectable families should find their names dragged in the mud i could though of course i would not give you th names of some ladies of the who hare been here here comes a carriage if we walk slowly we may see something a veiled lady alighted who gave directions to her driver to return in an hour and then silently vanished into the residence a little more careful than most of them commented the guide she is wise enough to her face was a good deal shocked but does not death sometimes p he asked y e s was the slow answer they take the risk of that i should be willing to that bodies are carried out of the rear exit once a month at least a certain proportion of the cases are fatal but bless you this is london it s a big city and they say that three hundred people go to the daily on the average shuddered and instinctively quickened his pace he wanted to get away from the vicinity it seemed to him the thing he had yet encountered he wondered if the lady who had just disappeared within those doors would be added to that horrible list of those who never came out alive he thought of that coachman waiting in vain hour after hour until a messenger came down the steps to say that he might go and he tried to think what report he would make to his master cruel heartless london in nothing had it seemed so terrible as in this den with its fair and shining front exposed to the smiling crowds who passed hour by hour never thinking of the within he did not know that every large city of his own america had just such places and that fortunes art by the doctors who this trade he had never the published every day by great newspapers which in their literary hold up their hands at books like thou shalt not and in s shadow he had never the books in the counting rooms of these journals showing sometimes as high as a hundred dollars a day thirty thousand dollars a year received from making the virtuous gentlemen who own the papers in a business which could hardly exist without their aid he was an innocent young man was and he thought london than new york or philadelphia or boston he was a very innocent young man or he would have known that take them by population the capital of great britain is in some respects at the rear of the fearful column could not get the house out of his mind and he found himself several evenings later in its vicinity as one where men have been or where have dashed their brains out on the pavement he marked the elegance of most of the carriages that came and went and the aristocratic bearing of the ladies who were the of the institutions occasionally a common cab was of the but it was conspicuous for its ordinary appearance and its driver usually drove off as soon as his fare had left h m knowing that she could easily engage another from the stream that constantly crowded the as he was about to turn away saw a veiled leave a carriage at the door and proceed up the th that at once his attention he could not tell for a moment what it was that startled him but he began to tremble violently and the perspiration started in heavy drops on his forehead there was something about the walk of the lady something about her figure that was strangely familiar he felt assured that he had seen her before but he could not at first tell anything more definite it must be merely a fancy he did not know personally ten women in england and how could he recognize this one out of all the throng that filled the vast city the lady disappeared at the and the door closed behind her the young man on the felt as if he was being he could hardly breathe he was sure the longer he thought of it that he knew the lady and he had an awful sense of guilt that he permitted her to enter the place without at least uttering a

0Arthur Conan Doyle

word of warning but how could he have the to do that when he did not even know her name the veil over her face concealed her identity the carriage that brought her had gone its way there was no one to ask and the lady herself was out of his reach it must be imagination he started to walk away trying to make himself believe that he had allowed his senses to wander and then it came upon him like a no it was too ridiculous it could not be and all the in the world did not make it more likely he thought he would go to her hotel to make sure she was there and thus dismiss the foolish but if it were if by any combination of power she was the where women death who went up those steps the time he would lose in searching for her might be fatal how could it be and yet when did any two women seem so much alike what could send that country girl from the farming district of into such a den as this if it was she must be there under a she could not know the character of the house that his guide had described then he thought of the night when he met through the wood and he asked him to take his life he recalled what he heard at the meeting between him and his angry father it came back to him much quicker than it takes to tell it that had said she did not intend to remain long with mrs s party and had hesitated when he asked her what she intended to do next it might be there was one chance in a thousand that the resemblance was real it was his duty to risk everything to ascertain himself with a prodigious effort walked up the steps and entered the house the door being freely opened to him to the guardian of the he said he wished to speak to the lady who last entered his manner was not calculated to arouse suspicion and a little bell called a young woman who was directed to show the gentleman to room it was evident that he was supposed to belong to the lady for whom he had inquired and that there was con nothing extraordinary in his presence there tell her that she will have to wait some minutes said the woman with a foreign as she indicated the room they are very busy to night tow he handed the woman a sovereign for which she thanked him and withdrew how could he open that door if he were wrong his gentlemanly instincts made him dread meeting with a lady who would have good cause to think him a spy and an but if he were right ah it would be much harder to tell what to do then his trembling hand was on the door and in another second he was in the room it was none other stood at a mirror with her veil removed trying to the look of apprehension from her face when she heard the door open she turned supposing it to be an attendant it is not easy to describe her when she saw she took one step toward him and then sank upon the nearest sofa you must not faint he exclaimed with startling you must take leave of this house and not an instant is to be lost she had not fainted and she did not mean to there was a great deal of force in her when she was aroused and for weeks she had been preparing her mind for this ordeal take your hand off she said for he had grasped her by the arm nonsense he replied excitedly you wiu leave here at once and with me there are other ways of committing suicide than to put yourself in the hands of the wretches who own this house you cannot frighten me by talking of death he answered coldly it is welcome in any form it chooses to assume where women death he was astounded at the audacity of her words and the determination of her manner if you death he said at least die where it will not also bring disgrace disgrace she laughed you know i am here and you know why or you can guess is there any disgrace that can equal that besides they will give me a chance to redeem my name it is only a chance but it may succeed what can you offer better he talked to her with all the force that he could muster for the next five minutes and nothing that he said had the least effect on the determined he told her he would find he said he would furnish her all the money she needed if there was any want of funds to go as far away as she pleased until her trouble was over but he insisted that she must not her life she had an answer ready for every point that he made she was there and she would not go you can tell my father what you please she said you can put it in the newspapers if you wish i know you will do nothing of the kind it will not avail if you argue till one of the attendants of the place knocked at the door and then entered he looked surprised to see there u we have concluded said in a firm voice that we will leave here the lady is related to you said the man yes then found her voice ths ton it is not true p she exclaimed indignantly j he has no right to dictate what i shall do the man looked from one to the other and shrugged his shoulders you must settle it between you said he we are going said taking by the arm again

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the hands of the attendant were raised you ought to know that this is no place for quarrels he said if your husband wishes you to go it is his affair give me twenty five pounds and retire quietly twenty five devils retorted he had not half the sum mentioned with him was trying vainly all this time to release s grasp which hurt her severely but he held her as in a there is ten pounds cried throwing down his purse it is all i have here and you must wait for the rest till i can send it make way we have wasted time enough he started to drag from the room but the attendant barred the way enraged beyond endurance struck the man a blow that him then taking the girl as if she were a bundle of straw he started for the outer door but here he had the door to deal with and the delay allowed the man who had been knocked down to arouse several of the other attendants who came running to the spot where was trying to escape with the unwilling girl seeing that it was becoming a serious matter released his hold on and struck out women s right and left he managed to get the door open in the me tee and to get outside of it but some of the servants who had been hit by his fists did not mean to let him off so easily they followed him and the battle was renewed on the steps being three to one they would soon have had him du combat had not aid come from an unexpected quarter a by seeing that three men had one down and were him without mercy sprang into the fight and turned the tide of battle what do you want to do kill him he asked assisting the prostrate figure to rise by this time others of the household had joined the party and seeing their friends by the new comer they set upon him like a parcel of wolves he had not time to put up his hands when a blow sent him to earth his head struck the aud he was immediately unconscious a policeman finally his way through the crowd the had previously scattered with he bent over the figure on the came from the residence being pushed out with no gentle motion the had received from her the balance of the sum they demanded but had declined to have anything more to do with a person who brought such discord into their house she tried her best to but he had her by the arm again and she did not like to make a scene in the street here is some one he said harshly whom you may wish to see s face was turned toward the sky and thb the blood that from the wound it sufficiently gave a smothered cry and threw herself upon the ground by his side she forgot her injuries in ihe presence of her beloved chapter god knows that i love you p do you know him asked the officer yes sir said if you will call a car i will take him to my hotel and procure the best attendance the officer and after some delay the matter was arranged by taking the injured man into the nearest physician s office that an examination might be had with the consent of the doctor was afterwards conveyed in an to s apartments where everything was done for him that skill could suggest it was a strange revolution that had come so suddenly to one so long filled with bitterness and who now finding hurt in his defence treated him as if he were a brother was crushed by the occurrence she accompanied the party to the hotel for she could not bear that should be taken out of her sight she explained to between her sobs that she had that day left mrs who had started for the and who had been instructed by mr adam that f lot tow to allow his daughter to remain in london if she preferred she had not told of her intention as she hoped to escape him and believed the easiest way was to let him think she had gone south with the rest of them as she had taken rooms at a new hotel there was no need of her hastening there and she wanted to help nurse back to consciousness and health did a good deal of thinking during the rest of that night for he did not close his eyes in sleep the doctor assured him that had received no hurt that would be lasting but the position in which he had found and the strange bringing of her and her lover together opened up a problem that required a great deal of study he knew that was in the city with his father with colonel and with he did not know that the marriage had already taken place or all his acts might have been different he endeavored to consider the matter apart from his own interests for he loved with all his heart and could not bear to think that she was to become s wife he tried to put himself aside and consider only the duty of toward this girl who now bent over his pillow in agony and whom he had driven to the edge of crime perhaps of death it was clearly s greatest obligation to right the wrong he had done loved him and unless he had greatly changed he cared more than a little for her when he knew what had happened he would see his duty thus thought and the long night wore away in the morning knew his friends though he was very weak they told him in a few word thb how they had found him hurt in the street and had brought

0Arthur Conan Doyle

him there he was much surprised to see and together by noon he felt strong enough to ask the questions that rose to his mind and when he was alone with having retired to take the rest she needed he began his i can t talk much he said but tell me one thing is she your wife stared at him she who he asked why what an idea certainly not such a thing was never thought of we happened to meet accidentally just before we saw you upon your word he said upon my honor but you have always loved her never said that was your mistake the was satisfied though he could not understand the last denial have you my my father of my condition no but i shall do so as soon as you tell me where he can be found i would rather you did not i would like to hide here for awhile away from all of them away from too asked from her most of all i have no right to ask a favor of you but i do ask this i beg it i have written to them that they will not see me again keep me where none of them can find me till i am well enough to travel od knows that i you ft was a very peculiar request but wa quite willing to grant it an arrangement was made at once with the hotel to provide an extra of rooms and was assured that he was more than welcome to stay as long as he pleased talked with when she awoke and then he left the hotel with a very sober countenance he went to the office of the atlantic cable and sent a long he was uneasy as a fish out of water until the next day when a brief answer came the answer contained but one word yes but it was sufficient and could not remember any time in his life when he had felt so happy recovered rapidly under the kind care of his friend now his friend again surely his old sweetheart and the able physician who had been summoned he was alone a good deal with and it surprised her that he said so little about the past or the future but she had taken s advice and waited with patience till he should be quite well again as he assured her something was certainly going to happen eleven days after the from america had been received an envelope of large dimensions was delivered at the hotel addressed to mr that individual opened it and uttered a cry of joy as he its contents he lost no time in going to see who was up and dressed and occupied at the moment in reading a newspaper i am going to talk to you more solemnly than i ever did in my life was his greeting are you prepared to listen a silent affirmative was the answer he received the was somewhat alarmed by the words and manner of his host i have known you for five years said i have loved you hated you despised you in turn to day when i reflect what i have to tell i pity you there was no reply but the still figure was in attention you used to tell me that you could not tell which of two beautiful girls you cared for most one night i met you coming from one of them in a state approaching insanity when your mind cleared you told me that you had decided between these girls and that nothing could ever change your love from the one to whom you had given it afterwards you left her left her without a word of farewell since then and the public prints have announced that you were to marry the other one i do not know out of all this which of them you now believe dearest to you but do know that there is a reason and one that could not well be stronger why you should select the one you told me you loved that night in the wood at uttered a stifled cry of anguish i cannot spare you for i do not know how to put iy story into delicate phrase what i came to tell you is will be the mother of your child unless the tortured man had sprung to his feet my god he groaned he staggered a moment and then cried you have come too late no said calmly it is never too late to repair a wrong to save you and her i have com god know that i loth you p s a that could make me liable to if il is ever discovered in i have justice lo send me a he married you and nearly four ago here is ihe he look out ihe paper as he spoke for the sake of the honor of a lovely girl i have made myself a criminal she does not know yet it remains for you to tell her if you wish to profit by it heard the concluding statement eagerly it has been recorded he exclaimed as tar as the record goes i am the husband of precisely he fell on his knees and kissed the coat of his friend with the air of a before the shrine of his saint send her here he said gladly withdrew and in a few moments entered the room where was did you wish to see me she asked surprised at the of his manner yes he answered read this he handed her the of marriage and she read it through then she looked up with amazement written on every feature what does it mean then he told her gently as he could what had done and asked her if she would accept him i am your husband he said according to the laws of

0Arthur Conan Doyle

our state but is it enough she asked half we have only lo live up lo il he answered she shook her head god knows i love you i she said i hare the ton been wicked once let me not make the mistake again he put his arms about her there is another to be thought of my darling you know she hid her face in her hands i cannot tell what to say she added after a long pause a l will not ask you to say anything now the record will save your reputation and we can never thank cliff enough for it i told you long ago that you were mine in the sight of heaven and so you are to day but i will wait till you are satisfied just then a waiter came to the door and handed him a card he saw the name on it as men see things in dreams you must go now for a little while he said i have a visitor waiting on important business he kissed her good bye and showed her to the exit of the hotel that was least frequented then he went back and told the waiter to show the lady up it was a queer name that he found on the card a name he had never heard before mrs when the door opened again was at th threshold an angel from chapter an angel from heaven was so overcome at the sight of his wife that for almost a minute he forgot to ask her to take a seat she was hardly less confused for his manner disconcerted her presently he came to himself however and handed her a chair each hoped the other would speak first but it was who did so i have not come here to reproach you she said in a voice that trembled in spite of all her effort neither my father nor yours know that i have found you it is too much to say that i have not suffered but i have no intention of complaining i feared that harm had happened to you and that in your desperate mood you might do something desperate i heard of the accident that brought you to this house in fact it was through the doctor that attended you that the news came very strangely to me i learn that you are now recovered and that i need have no fear on that score and all i want is to say good bye and to tell you that my earnest prayers will always be offered for your happiness if she had come with a knife or a revolver he could have met her better he bowed his head in humiliation and she proceeded her voice growing stronger i ought to have known i was blind that i did not see how distasteful it was to you to unite your life with mine i was over persuaded by my father who ascribed natural causes to your strange moods on the morning of our marriage i told him that i the ton felt it ought to be postponed until you were in a different state but he said so much that i reluctantly consented to go on with the ceremony all that day noted your and when you went out of my room at night i really did not expect you to return i sat waiting till after midnight and then sent a messenger for father he came and was much shocked by what i told him his heart was set on seeing me happy and he thought there was a disgrace in this desertion that i could never recover from we talked together till morning and then your letter was received settling our doubts your father was in a great rage when he heard of it he declared that you should be brought back and compelled to carry out your vows j told him there was one person who could effectually stop that i said i only wanted to tell you how free you were to go and come in any part of the world as far as i was concerned i knew you had not taken such a course except under a pressure you could not resist what that pressure was i could only guess but i think i guessed rightly i believed it the love of another of he tried to speak then but she would not let him yet if it was the reason i am glad yes from the bottom of my heart i shall rejoice if the of this matter is the happiness of two people whom i care for as i do you and and i have news that i know you will be glad to hear you and i are still single still single he gasped yes it has been discovered that the clergyman who professed to marry us had lost his standing in hit an angel heaven and had no right to perform the ceremony it seemed impossible that he could have heard her aright and yet there she was before him as real as she had been in those dear old days when he had carried her across and walked with her under the shade trees on the road to the school house in she spoke with the same gentle accents as if he had never done her that grievous wrong and introduced into her young life an element that must always cause her pain he said and the tender seemed more appropriate than ever i will not say i am sorry to hear this but you know that all the apologies i could make in a lifetime would not excuse what i have done and you are not aware either of the extent of the wrong i intended to commit she started slightly and looked anxiously at him for an explanation never did god send two such girls as

0Arthur Conan Doyle

you and to this sinful earth he went on during all my childhood during the early days of my manhood if indeed i have ever been worthy to be called a man i loved you both with such intensity that i could discover no difference between you i could not bear to contemplate the day when i should have to give either of you up out of that long struggle i emerged with my eyes partly opened i found that it was forgive me that it was she smiled for him to proceed saying only i know it it was that i could not live without he continued finishing the sentence why then did i not say so openly and honestly because my s the father s affairs the aid he had received from the colonel were known to me then mr did all in his power to keep and me apart i had my illness and you came to nurse me s mother s death took her away and letters which i wrote her were never answered i have since learned that she did not receive them and they were doubtless discouraged i came to england with you to see if i could regain my strength the way my father aided me in that is shown in an analysis that i have recently had made of the contents of this he took out the as he spoke and held it up before her astonished eyes this was the medicine he gave me three times a day the says it is of calculated to the judgment and to make him who takes it subject to easy influence while i supposed it was intended to build up my system it was really making of me a more creature than nature designed which god knows was unnecessary i knew as well as i knew i breathed that i had no right to marry you while my love was still s but i was in no condition to resist the strong mind that had determined to bend me to its will he had told me long ago that he would rather see me in my grave than the husband of the girl whose father he hated i am not trying to find an excuse for what i have done but only to let you see that there is after all a slight she leaned toward him with unmistakable sympathy i am very sorry for what you have suffered she an angel from heaven said sweetly you told me there was something more i am quite prepared he hesitated but was reassured by her manner don t despise me any more than you can help said he i had no right to marry you for another reason i i was married already she repeated the word already and looked dazed yes he handed her s and she grew radiant are you certain that your father will consent to let everything drop quietly he asked certain i can swear it then i am saved they talked together for the next half hour and his gratitude increased how can i ever thank you for your goodness he cried i do not wish thanks something makes me feel as if it were i who ought to thank you how can that be i have learned that i did not love you as i thought i did i liked you so well as the friend of my childhood and youth that i the sentiment for that of love had we lived together as husband and wife a few months i fear the knowledge would have come to me when it was too late to our steps told me once many years ago that she thought i would make a very nice old maid i have come to the conclusion that she was right she had arisen and he took her by the hand in an of delight if i can feel in the midst of my own happiness the he said that it has not been purchased at the cost of yours there will be nothing left for me to desire you may feel it said for i am convinced that it is true now before i go can you not send for that i may assure her also how much i desire that you both should be happy he went to a table and took up a pen but stopped before he had begun to write you are sure you will say nothing to cause her distress he asked she has suffered enough poor child already trust me he looked into the calm blue eyes and went on with his writing the note in an envelope he rang for a messenger and despatched it when came he met her in another apartment and revealed to her the situation she begged for some time that he would not ask her to see but finally consented and the two girls came into each other s presence an hour later found them with their arms about each other s necks as he had seen them a thousand times in the old contented days we understand everything said with her finger on her lips and there is nothing more to say as he looked at them thus the feeling of the past came back foi an instant he wanted both of them and dreaded the opening of the door that was to send one away but he looked again at and knew she was the only one whose loss he could not bear have been telling your wife said and she saw that both of them shrank as if she had as heave struck them that you ought not to think of returning to the united states for another year if you dislike to waste the time you should have devoted to study it is easy to send for a box of law books and read at your leisure there are

0Arthur Conan Doyle

pleasant and places on the shores of the where you can finish the winter and there are villages to the north where you can pass the heated term that follows and shall we ever see you he asked for it seemed like parting from a guardian angel perhaps she answered cheerfully it will depend on how well you behave is to to me often giving a minute account of your con she left them at that going alone to her carriage saying that she preferred it when she had been away an hour or so cliff came and was told of what had happened and you let her go without telling me she was here he exclaimed excitedly well if i ever da anything tor you again the chapter saved by a miracle the concluding chapter of a novel is like the of a school girl s letter there are so many things to say that one is almost sure to forget the most important of them ten years have passed since the occurred and the secret has been well kept outside of those intimately concerned only you and i my dear reader have ever learned of it and we are too honorable to what we know john will not reveal it either he was so affected when he heard that had really married daughter that he fell into a fever in london and died there his son came to his bed side but he dismissed him with curses and so ended his life if a parent s blessing be necessary for success on this earth will meet with losses by and by at present he seems to be doing very well indeed and otherwise he never went back to when he had finished a year in europe he went with his wife and child it would not do to forget the little fellow to new york and completed his law studies there after which he entered a pushing firm and achieved success in the profession he told when she came a long time after to visit them that he had always tried to give his talents to the side of right but feared he had sometimes made a mistake he lives in a residence of his own on seventy second saved by a miracle street it is unnecessary to mention the number and three children who look like him climb into the pony wagon at his door with their nurse and mother on pleasant and take a ride in the park when came to see them she did not come alone there i hear you exclaim i knew that was the way it would turn out well of course you did but i must tell the truth for all that has become but then you have followed his career as well as i prominent at the bar leader of his party in the assembly of his state and then member of at thirty two everybody knows that but everybody does not know that he once a justice of the peace to issue a false marriage we know it but then it was one of those wrong things which do so much good that a man ought not to be blamed too severely for them and made it right with their by taking the solemn vows before a minister in an italian village and the record certainly saved the reputation of a girl who though she did love has made one of the best of wives there are two old men of who are attached friends rarely spending an evening when they are there except in each other s company people remember when there was a temporary coldness between them but that passed away a since both of them go away quite often to see their married daughters and there are no more highly respected in all the country side thus we dispose of our principal characters happiness seems to reign among them and yet the o young and foolish reader do you think that has not followed step by step each of the moral law of which any of them have been guilty do you believe that an hour passes when does not wish from the bottom of her heart that one page in her life could be blotted out she has not quite the courage that she would have had to look all the world in the face and there are times when her sweet cheek because some lady in her presence raises her voice to a wanderer from the fold i was saved by a miracle she whispers to herself but for s bravery and s sacrifice i might have been even as those despised ones tm new books and new john marsh s millions a novel by charles and arthur mo cloth illustrated new faces a volume of eight stories by these stories first published in the saturday evening post woman s home companion and apple tons ine now in book form i mo cloth illustrated the house on a novel by r h hazard i mo cloth illustrated fr o a novel by wm m author of etc cloth illustrated children of destiny a play in four acts by cloth illustrated paper covers cents the of jewels a story by cloth the silver king from the great play by alfred i mo cloth illustrated and gold a new novel by author of everybody s secret i mc cloth illustrated he red flag by author of the a power fully dramatic story of the conflict between and men i mo cloth the a novel by l illustrated t ch i mo cloth in old a founded on the famous play by edward cloth op the lakes by r author ol same doth illustrated by right of conquest a powerful romantic novel by arthur au of novel the lion and the mouse the end of the game the etc x mo doth bound illustrated when i am

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in the city of paris they had traversed the place de la con with its its fountains and its memories of a great past and after creeping at that s pace which is the delight of the along the magnificent way they paused at the arch of triumph which stands the wonder of nations in the place de paris always lovely from april to october is at its best in june and this particular afternoon was as nearly perfect as one could desire the gentlemen were both young if being on the sunny side of thirty a man to that distinction each was in fact nine and twenty years of age and they had known each other ever since their boyhood days when they attended the same in one of the american cities though the husband friend attached of friends they were little alike either in their views of life their habits of thought or their manner of address was the name of the of the pair a bright sunny faced fellow with a good color a pair of blue eyes and an build he seemed to his own spirits into everything and entertained his companion with a constant fire of running small talk in reference to the sights of their drive the other was of mould with more of the aspect of the student in his make up and it would not have taken a very close observer to have detected in his appearance on this june morning a that seemed almost unnatural as soon as the carriage in which the friends rode paused before the arch of triumph burst into enthusiastic of it both as a work of art and for the genius which it is meant to to all of the praises which he his companion returned however only replies for a time was too much taken up with the of his own to note his friend s mood but at length it dawned upon him that his interest in the monument was not being wholly shared and he paused in the midst of an unusually glowing period to ascertain the reason it occurs to me my dear he said with a smile that you are not paying as strict attention to my as a good should give to his guide are you fully of tht fact that you are standing before the arch that the world now possesses if not as i believe the it ever has owned do df the place l know that this spot on which you are with its twelve great avenues from this star is the centre of all that is beautiful in france and the envy of every other capital in the other gentleman acknowledged the question by a slight bow but gave no indication of being particularly impressed by the points you must not forget harry he replied pleasantly that this is not the first time i have seen this arch i rode past here on sunday on my way to the i am quite sure for all that responded his friend that this does not explain your coolness people usually find the monument growing upon them with each visit i know it has been so with me the same as it was with the church of st peter at rome if i were to come here every day for a year i think it would impress me more and more to the end you have seen it twice and your interest in it is exhausted you have not a word to say in its praise there is no astonishment in your gaze no lighting up of your countenance in the presence of the perfect work grew slightly uneasy at the knowledge that he was being forced to make an answer he did not relish i will take no issue with you he said on its beauties but oh confound it don t bring your notions into such a discussion as this y cried harry with an expression of the greatest aversion try to understand what this arch truly represents it the vi y tones of the greatest soldier who ever the her s earth a nation does well to remember its noblest sons and france has done no wiser thing than to rear this arch to napoleon and to build that house for his ashes whose dome you can see over there at the the cab driver happy in knowing that he was to be paid by the hour sat on his box in the sun and wondering what the two were talking about so earnestly a slight gesture of impatience you know very well harry that i consider that sort of thing stuff and nonsense said he was simply and solely an ambitious soldier of fortune who coldly sacrificed a million mistaken followers to gain for himself an empire the greatest in the world and perished miserably in a prison as he deserved all talk about his grandeur is lost on me as for this monument if one could consider it solely by itself it is indeed a thing of beauty if i were able to forget what it means i might become as enthusiastic as you are but when i look at it with the light of history in my eyes i can see only the of an butcher let us drive on the memories that this arch calls up will be likely to put me in an ill temper and the sooner we get away from it the better harry met these rather expressions with a musical laugh and bidding the coachman continue the drive into the he entered the carriage with his friend as they passed down the avenue de la e he resumed the conversation at the point where it had been left off as you are of along line of french rulers if not of princes through your ancestors the i am surprised at you in the place l is it is

0Arthur Conan Doyle

a wonder of wonders that time has made such a king out of the happy go lucky chap i used to know at school when you first began to talk like this to me i thought it merely a new phase of the old humor i remembered so well but you have kept it up till i actually am compelled to believe you really mean it i should think such fellows as you would keep away from a place like paris if you had your way it would be a nice city to live in wouldn t it not a fountain not a monument not a flower bed nothing but one dreary dead level of equality as turned toward his companion his dark eyes kindled how you us harry not a monument if i governed france or rather if i were the representative of the people who ought to and will yet govern her i would place a monument in that very place de greater and that sign of the that now it instead of bearing titles that tell only of blood and it should be covered with the names of the men of all countries who have achieved true glory in the arts and it should the grandeur of peace and prosperity rather than the brutal murder of brethren at the whim of a i would tear down that s image and in its place present the of shakespeare and of and the new arch should teach the children to reverence the name of who invented the telegraph of who introduced in europe the first types of who the press of who the art of sewing it should tell to the world to whom we owe the theory of which has prevented the of countries the that lull to sleep the senses formerly with pain during operations think of the glories that a genuine arch of triumph might bear and then compare them to this pitiable tale of the most disgraceful page of history in so called civilized times most of the men you speak of have also their monuments interposed yes assented quickly i wish they could be ranged in a row by the side of that one yonder so that you could mark the contrast it would take the stone in all of them put together to reach half way to the top of this tribute to one man and the generation that is growing up judges their relative importance by just such visible signs as these everywhere is the lesson taught that no one is so deserving of as the successful soldier go to london and see which is the monument s which is second to it s here it is s follow the sun around the earth and see if it is not the same except where some hereditary king has given the preference to himself or one of his worthless ancestors and you and your will never change it either remarked ah my dear boy how silly it is of you to take all the wrongs of mankind on those not too broad shoulders of yours and set about the task of trying to right such a tangled mess as this world presents here we are in the city of paris the loveliest spot the feet of civilized man is permitted to tread the sky above our heads is blue the air we breathe k thanks to one of those you is thb place l hate so much we can drive along a hundred broad avenues or through a score of well shaded well paved well lit at night equipped in short with everything necessary to our peace and comfort with his beautiful napoleon rests in his palace at the enjoying the legitimate results of his daring and successful attempt to his uncle s throne from the princes who like their cousins the their usefulness i know what you are going to say that he took the throne not from other crowned heads but from the people at the time of the d mat i will admit that there was a little in the proceeding but as go eighteen years or so gives a very good title he is at any rate in the saddle and if you were to try to him you would not find it an easy thing now what has he done to deserve his place in imitation of the roman emperor he found paris of brick and he will leave it to his son of stone he found it full of lanes and he has made it a city of superb distances he has proved his capacity to govern these much better than they could govern themselves and if you will pardon me for the suggestion speaking to you as to a stranger in these parts it would seem much more becoming in you to enjoy the treat he has spread out than to growl at everything you see like a smiled for the first time i never supposed i was deserving of such a comparison as that he said but seriously harry how could any reform be brought about if all were to follow the rule you lay down how could greece or have escaped the foreign yoke how it not s could the american colonies have become a nation except by first expressing in vigorous language the wrongs under which they suffered it was only after the people had been aroused by those who could not be kept silent that they put their enemies to flight opened his blue eyes in mock astonishment then you believe in war after all he cried m you do think it proper to shed your brother s blood occasionally without doubt was the immediate n when freedom is the issue if that arch we have just left had been reared to a washington a or a it would not awake my contempt though peace has produced many nobler names than either

0Arthur Conan Doyle

don t stare at me like that harry i am fully aware of what i am saying i have sufficient pride in the name of the father of his country who was much more than a great soldier but i maintain that did a higher service for the human race than washington when in his at discovered the way to make a successful sewing machine he achieved a greater thing than can be to it is not the fashion to over these men it is not before such old that the world falls in speechless adoration to bring out the real enthusiasm of the people you need a general whose hands are red with the blood of a hundred thousand hearts that they are when will they learn that the men whom they are their greatest enemies most of the beauties of the drive the friends were taking were lost to them on account of the animated nature of their argument but at this moment a turn or the place l in the road brought them opposite to a particularly lovely sheet of water and they were compelled to pause for a moment in silent admiration it has just occurred to me what it is that you in the course you are taking said with a trace of mischief in his eyes when they had passed the object which distracted their attention you are consumed with envy you have an intense desire to see your own name across the top of some arch of the future as one of the most distinguished men of this age not being a soldier you could hope only for the common oblivion as things are at present arranged under the system you advocate however the invention which you have just and for which you are now in europe would secure you a in one of your arches of fame yes you are by the merest selfishness after all with your high flown ideas you are really no than the rest of us the of his friend instead of causing merriment in face only made it grow suddenly graver no harry he said i have not the least desire for admiration i do not wish any monument to record my name nor what i have succeeded in it is enough for me to feel that i have made a discovery or rather a new application of an old one that will the labors of coming millions if i had invented a or a new that destroy twenty men where the old of war would kill but one i could not take equal satisfaction yet it is the who wear the and the school children forget the is her husband s names of the and the almost as soon as they learn them declined to become serious no matter how great the provocation his view of life was to extract all the honey there was in it and forget the as soon as possible is there anything in this beautiful paris that exactly suits you he asked with delicate irony yes replied brightening this where i saw yesterday a great company of merry children in all the abandon of as they are never allowed to on a sunday in america i am delighted with this broad stretch of land and water and forest just at the door of that great where nature has been interfered with as little as possible consistent with comfort and where there is no unreasonable limit to the enjoyment of the poorest who has not one foot of other soil where he can the sweet repose that come with grass and trees and pure air this park is to me all admirable within a stone s throw of the that are a continual of a long and quarrel the poor or the little men and women of the future may easily imagine themselves in the heart of some country district a hundred miles away the grown up frenchman knows how to play a thing americans have never learned i saw here yesterday hundreds of families from the eldest son or daughter to the baby who had not yet learned to creep i marked how easily they seemed to forget their troubles and abandon themselves to the of the hour and then i thought how could i help thinking of the laws that stand ready to take the best years of those sons ik the l f if those years which in our more favored land are regarded as necessary in getting a start in the real business of life in a worse than useless service he is destined to pass from three to seven years of his youth learning to kill the neighbors he ought to cultivate as friends at the command of a ruler whom he did not help to choose he will go forth to men who never injured him or his giving and taking death wounds as if they were things the mothers and the wives will dim their sad eyes with weeping the sisters will be condemned to harder toil because of the support taken from them and so the frightful ghastly farce will go on until he paused so long that his companion felt it almost necessary to prompt him until you were saying until some great unselfish soul arises strong enough to teach the people the folly of which they have been guilty for ages virtuous enough to command their confidence and love and brave enough to sacrifice himself if need be to the lesson he has taught assumed an air of conviction and struck his companion lightly on the shoulder as if he had just thought of something of the greatest importance my dear fellow he cried with mock enthusiasm you are the very man i exclaimed starting you certainly was the reply still in an assumed tone of seriousness you are all that you describe brave unselfish virtuous strong put yourself at the head

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of the of paris and lead them out of egypt become the her husband s friend leader of a heroic cause earn yourself a name among the gods throw down this insignificant emperor from his ill acquired throne to the ground the marble columns and the brazen images that the real enemies of mankind and rear others in their places to the fellows who invented spring beds and cows the corn is ripe for the harvest oh put in your and gather the golden grain even this ridicule failed to arouse from the vein into which he had fallen fully the nature of his companion s expressions he seemed to find in them nevertheless only food for serious thought the hour cannot be far away he said and when it comes the man will be found as he has always been in the past i am not equal to the would to heaven i were but i will fight as best i can in the ranks when the time for action is upon us looked alarmed he could not doubt the perfect sincerity of his friend and he thought it time to try a more serious vein he said sharply what do you mean are you so far gone in this insanity that you would actually yourself with the paris if they attempted an outbreak do you contemplate the pleasure of standing behind with a lot of crazy to be down by the emperor s cannon or taken when the is over to the thank god napoleon is too shrewd to allow you the chance but if the should ever catch him asleep long enough to attempt a rising would you cast i your lot with them is that what you mean man it is time somebody talked sense to you quite raised his thoughtful eyes to the face of his companion you will see he said simply he could not had he used a thousand words have made a more convincing reply responded with a look of disgust and into silence for several minutes when he spoke next it was only to direct the to leave the by the and resume his way back toward the interior of the city it is he broke out some time later as the carriage entered the es to hear a fellow of your natural common sense talk as you do you are gifted with brains enough to an important industry by a wonderful improvement and yet you must needs wish to throw a governed empire into chaos what gang of would ever have laid out a beautiful like this one walled the down here and it with bridges filled a with statues and paintings or carried to a successful close an like that held here three years ago if the day of your ever comes the people may thank their lucky stars that a preceded it you have only to look down this avenue to see the place de la then called the place de la where your direct of the last century set up a knife and kept it for months with the blood of young and old men and women innocent and guilty alike is it not a pleasant picture to recall wouldn t you like to bring it back again a look of deep pain crossed s face i husband s think of the provocation those men had h replied remember the centuries during which they had been treated worse than beasts by their dainty aristocracy read once more the tale of two cities you call the poor of paris but you must not expect to starve beat and even dogs forever without counting on one would think that the ruling classes might have learned something by that flood but it appears otherwise had also grown serious and the answer he made was very unlike that which his ordinary good nature would have promoted oh yes they have learned something he said between his teeth these long straight avenues and show that they learned something though i admit the lesson was acquired slowly it is no longer the easy thing it once was to the streets of paris guns would down would be like before flame planted in a spot like that of l would clear the streets for miles they call the emperor in derision napoleon the little history will substitute for that the of the wise for eighteen years france has most of that time she has been at peace with other nations and she has won only glory in the which make an exception to the rule her present is due to the far seeing of the man you affect to despise f you claim to hate war and to favor progress how can you without desire the overthrow of a ruler who has done so much for his people if you must have a row why not go to russia where there is at least a pretext for your interference why do you wish to in th flags l ss spoil this lovely city just after it has been put in perfect order by good baron it was impossible for to maintain for any great length of time a thoroughly serious mien and toward the end of his remarks he dropped again into his natural you have asked a good many questions replied and i will answer the last one first we purpose trying revolution on the french at this time because they are much more nearly ripe for a change than the they are natural they discuss things they read the newspapers they are acquainted with their own history they know they have dictated terms and that they can do it again at the right yes and this napoleon lets them talk on and print their articles and hold their meetings instead of the whole lot to some french as he ought to do interposed to be sure he occasionally a journal that gets

0Arthur Conan Doyle

too outrageous or an especially maker of speeches to favor foreign parts with his presence but in most cases his enemies are left at liberty to drink to his discomfiture as often as they please and thus they go on treason with their coffee and their bread with against the best government they ever had it is the only kind of butter most of them can afford said smiling is not able to have many luxuries you know cried the other rather he is a surly fellow who dares look no man in the face and is never satisfied with anything no govern husband s friend ment could make an open hearted honest man of him he is always a never a foe to excite admiration butter what does he want of butter brandy is his meat and au is his drink i tell you if napoleon ever finds himself compelled to cope with these wretches he may blame the too policy he is pursuing but here we are at the hotel and what ought to have been a delightful drive has been quite spoiled by your senseless arguments the two friends smiled into each other s faces in a way that seemed to imply that it would take much more than a difference in political belief to strain their warm relations as they passed up the hotel steps together linked his arm in that of i am sorry harry he said in a more than way if i have spoiled the afternoon for you i fear i am becoming a very disagreeable companion several times lately i have solemnly resolved not to inflict my theories on you where they are so evidently wasted but each time something has occurred to arouse my indignation to day it was the arch of triumph saturday it was the emperor his troops to morrow it will be something else unless you are willing to risk a repetition of the same thing at unpleasant intervals we must decide to make our other about the city separately laughed merrily we will try it a little longer i think he said before we resort to such a heroic measure i despair of you to anything at all reasonable but perhaps we can reach some plane of mutual forbearance we might agree to make only mental w the de l comments where there is the least possibility of a difference of opinion thus they walked up the stairs to their several rooms at the doors of which they parted to prepare for dinner half an hour later they met again and proceeded to the large dining room where they took seats in a corner that had a window from which they could look out upon the public street there is one thing we can never differ about at least said as he finished the soup tht french are the best in the world and their are in quality as he spoke he filled his glass and raised it i am going to propose a toast though i know i shall have to drink it alone to napoleon iii emperor of the french may his reign be long and glorious a street band broke in upon the speaker with a somewhat rendering of the hymn smiled significantly as he noted it and filling his own glass he rose reverently in his place to the french nation he said in a voice dis enough to be heard in any part of the room may it soon cast off its royal and govern itself as a great republic perhaps there was no present who understood the language in which these words were spoken perhaps the of to allow their to eat and drink what they please even to may have influenced some who understood and said nothing be that as it may no one paid the least attention the two americans resumed their dinner and were soon on other subjects as if there had never been one on which their sentiments were so opposite they would have laughed that day had any one predicted that they could ever seriously quarrel chapter ii a modern in the town of in the state of not the on the maps of to day but a quite different one now called by another name a pleasant dwelling stood like s somewhat back from the village street in four or five acres of land reserved for the exclusive use of its occupants the house was at least fifty years old as the style of its architecture showed but there had been many modern improvements added since it came into the possession of its present owner that greatly increased its comfort according to the notions of the present day the single had been extended till it enclosed three sides of the edifice several bay windows of appearance improved the view of the inmates and lent a to the exterior of the edifice inside the rooms were large as was the fashion of our ancestors and the was not too high for easy warming in winter stairs ascended occasionally in unexpected and single steps were found where no reason could be assigned for the sudden change in there was no gas for had not thought necessary to indulge in this luxury in any a modern it part of her neither was there running water from street for a similar reason but there were many agreeable looking hanging lamps and a in the supplied by a force pump allowed hot and cold water in the kitchen and to the admiration of all the who had been permitted to witness its workings the chimneys were as large as any could desire and the window panes as small as any of queen anne could ask the furniture was a mixture of old and new and an air of ease quite different from that of many country homes pervaded the entire establishment the grounds were divided between lawn and garden with

0Arthur Conan Doyle

a little grove of pines on one side of the buildings left nearly in their natural state if any resident of the town had been asked off hand to name the most attractive home in it he would have answered without hesitation the place on the particular day when the reader is introduced to this residence and by a queer coincidence it happened to be that same day in june when and his friend discussed the arch of triumph and in the place de three thousand miles away there was a distinct ripple of excitement in the household tom the half grown who did the errands and general out door work on the place had just arrived from the post office bearing a letter with a foreign post mark a bright faced rosy young woman perhaps twenty six years of age had been watching eagerly for coming had discerned the which he held aloft and had run beyond the gate in the manner to meet him husband s the letter from the lad s hand she tore it open and devoured its contents on the spot leaning against one of the tall trees that bordered ihe walk the better to her whole attention upon the note she was of a little more than the usual height and of a most exquisite form neither too slender nor too stout the most noticeable thing about her was her eyes which were rather large being brown in color and shaded by very long lashes her hair was drawn back in what we learned many years later to call a knot dressed in a becoming light robe bound about her waist with a cord and cut low enough at the neck to display the outlines of a handsome throat she made a pretty picture as she turned the leaves and read the not very long arriving at the signature she suddenly kissed it with a delicious abandon totally the presence of tom who still lingered in the vicinity it was the action ot a woman who loves and no stranger who witnessed it could have doubted that the writer was to her the dearest person on earth for several minutes the picturesque figure remained leaning against the trunk of the tree like a lovely statue with the letter in her hand and her eyes on the ground in deep meditation but though the gaze was apparently fixed upon the grass at her feet the thoughts behind it were much further away a smile played about the ripe lips and an escaping lock of hair hung low over her forehead i hope mr s well ma am said tom at last despairing of finding any other way to attract bis mistress s attention a modern the lady looked up oh yes thank you tom he is very well indeed and he asks to be remembered to all of you the boy s face bore a pleased grin as he off to tell the news to the other servants and the lady slowly moved toward the house but before she reached the door a rush was heard and two little girls aged seven and three came tearing down upon her mamma mamma cried the elder in a state of great excitement read us the letter from papa mrs stooped first to kiss the little faces and then threw herself upon the ground under one of the tall pines and read to them from the letter the younger child who had only run because her sister did began to look somewhat bored but the other seemed aroused to by every word when the reading was finished she begged as a great favor to be allowed to hold the in her own hands and to touch with her fingers the dear characters that her father had see she said to her sister putting one arm around the little one s waist this is a letter that our darling papa wrote with his own hand do you see at the end his name i can read it that s what it says isn t i mamma our papa who is in europe away over the big sea to think that he remembered us from that long way off and to know by a letter that he wrote himself that he is well and happy the little sister did not seem as much impressed as the elder thought she should be an i an appeal ebb husband s was made to the mother to impress upon her tile mind a sense of the importance of the occasion mrs took both the children in her arms you must remember she said sweetly that is not as old as you then she noticed that her young est was putting one end of the letter into her mouth and she rescued it with a little scream would you destroy papa s letter she asked in a tone of some severity the letter that dear papa sent us from so far over the ocean i am ashamed of you the expression on the little face was something very like defiance as miss realized that she was being me don t know any papa was the unexpected reply of the don t know papa repeated the mother in accents of mingled horror and astonishment of course she doesn t how could she the latter words were spoken by a tall slender woman somewhat advanced in years who had entered at the gate by the little group under the tree and now stood several feet away looking down upon them with no very pleasant expression of countenance she had the unmistakable air of the superfluous woman the gaunt and icy appearance of the typical new england old maid her garments were as sombre as her face and she leaned for support upon a stout cane which added to the general of her aspect of course the child doesn t know her father repeated the apparition how

0Arthur Conan Doyle

is it possible that he should ever have become acquainted with a modern aunt said mrs remember that little ears may hear you the mother as she said this rose to her feet all the brightness that had her countenance had suddenly gone out of it the truth should hurt nobody retorted the slender female neither of s children have ever seen him often enough to recognize his face i doubt if they would be able to name him if he met them unexpectedly in the street don t look at me like that you know it is so mrs bit her lip she realized fully the impossibility of her aunt s tongue she stooped to kiss the little ones and to tell to take her sister away to play but the elder child had heard enough to arouse her indignation and she stepped angrily before her great aunt you shall not say such naughty things about my papa she cried stamping her little foot i love him loves him mamma loves him you are a bad woman that nobody loves why do you come here called the mother oh let her go on said miss lee her go on she is her father all over then she turned to the child you need not be such a little how can you tell whether you love your father or not when you never see him mrs was in a she had been brought up in that school where respect for elders is almost like a religion her aunt had an especial claim on her patience when her mother had left her an orphan a dozen years before this odd woman had supplied to the best oi her a ability the place of that parent and for the next tow years she had lived under her aunt s roof but she was distressed beyond measure at the now in progress for she dreaded its effect on her child as well as the suspicion it was likely to arouse in the young mind for a few moments she stood there uncertain what it was wisest to do or say it is not true cried taking a step nearer to miss and assuming a threatening attitude we do see papa he comes whenever he can and besides we have his picture in the parlor he writes nice letters to mamma too she got one only this morning does any one ever write letters to you t he has gone to france to do some business that is necessary you shall not talk about him i will not stay to hear you the looked down with contempt on the small advocate your father s steamer sailed six weeks ago she sneered and you have just got your first letter well well he must be very fond of you again the young champion took up the do you know anything about the sea she demanded in a fury it takes nine or ten days to cross it in a steamer my mamma told me so do you think he could get out and mail a letter in the water then when he got there he had a great deal to do and when he wrote it took another ten days for the letter to get here you hate my papa and are always saying ugly things about him if i was mamma i wouldn t let you come here ever f with this parting shot uttered in a voice that was choking with tears she ran into the house dragging after and the door modern the two women followed the vanishing children with their eyes until they disappeared and then they looked at each other well said the elder sharply has it gone so far that you hesitate whether to ask me to enter your house oh no was the reply but i cannot tell you how distressed i am that you should have spoken as you did before if you had come here with a purpose to inflict the greatest pain upon me you could not have hit upon a more successful way miss the air contemptuously they must find it out sooner or later what advantage will it be to bring them up in deceit flushed suddenly but you are quite wrong aunt as i have s often told you is very dear to us all he loves his family yes i am sure of it and does what he thinks is right at present he is abroad getting on his inventions he wants to make a fortune and it is as much for us as for himself for i am sure he us nothing and his personal habits are not extravagant you know he bought me this home putting the deed in my name and how much he has spent upon it until it is the most desirable residence in i have plenty of help a pony to drive a cow for the children chickens to lay us fresh eggs and all the money i could possibly find use for and yet you will persist on account of a dislike for which you have no real reason in saying harsh things of my husband as long as you only say them to me i can bear it for i know how unjust they are but you must not talk again before a you did to day i really bear it husband s friend miss leaned heavily upon the cane she carried and her eyes shone i suppose that means that you will refuse to receive your father s only sister she said not yet was the reply it surely cannot be necessary for you to say things that excite my children to such anger as exhibited just now i never saw her in such a fit and it is not true that she a bad temper from her father for no one ever heard him use even an impatient word i do

0Arthur Conan Doyle

not want you to cease coming and if there is no other way to arrange it i will see that the children are kept in another part of the house when you are here the of disposition which had become an part of the old maid could not be kept from the surface i don t think you want me to come she said as they entered the parlor where she took nevertheless a seat on the edge of one of the chairs and sat as bolt upright as any be frank niece say the word and i promise not to trouble you with my presence again i hope i shall never say that said mrs am under great obligations to you for the kind care you gave me when i was left without i cannot forget what you did for me as a child but aunt i am now a wife and a mother i feel a sort of guilt to have permitted my child to listen to such words about her father as you have more than once used in her presence this morning it was worse than usual and i cannot endure it in spite of the firmness of her tone tears filled her eyes the presented to her was a very sad we to the girl for she had no intimate a modern outside the narrow circle of her relations consisting solely of miss and the s bachelor brother you are a and you ought to have some responded the aunt more kindly had you begun right with that man you could have taught him his duty but now i fear it is too late it may be necessary for him to travel as much as he does though to tell the truth i don t believe it but if you are his wife he could sometimes take you with him what is the matter is he ashamed of you he could hardly treat you with less respect if you were a sudden gleam in the eyes of her niece warned her that she might go too far in this direction i tell you again that i am satisfied and i cannot see why you should trouble yourself so much you are satisfied repeated miss do you think you can make any one believe that what sort of a married life is it that you lead he is gone months at a time he tells you whatever story he pleases and you swallow it i love him and trust him said the wife proudly well i don t was the sharp reply you do not know what he is doing these long months that you never set eyes on him mrs but she did not i understand your she answered and i them absolutely miss leaned toward her and spoke in a low voice if i could show you she began you cannot you know you cannot cried the wife greatly roused it is cruel of you to make such statements i cannot listen to them you must excuse me for the first time in all their acquaintance she the room overcome by her feelings and miss had the pleasure of herself to the door but the seed the cursed seed of suspicion had been planted and it was to grow until its always bitter fruit should load the spreading branches of the tree chapter hi was it for this you married miss was a well known figure in and her brother was hardly a less one together for nearly forty years the couple both hopeless from matrimonial felicity had lived under the same roof attended the same church held the same opinions eaten the same food it was generally understood in that miss was the man of the house as the term was used and that her brother was nothing more than her shadow her orders as if he were a hired man instead of the real owner of record of all the property they enjoyed in common when their father died he willed every penny of his estate ally to his two sons leaving it to them to provide for the solitary daughter if they might choose to do so the younger b u s father took his ef the money to the city invested tin business it ft this you made quite a name for a few years and then saw everything swept away in one of those financial that come to clear the horizon as do to clear the atmosphere of the western states he returned to one day and announced to his sister for even then it was recognized that only did as she bade him that he had sunk his capital and wanted to raise twenty five thousand dollars with which to recover his position tradition had it that when she refused to risk the amount he went back with his heart broken and only lived six months his young widow struggled along on the proceeds of a small life policy for a few years and then she too gave up the fight was ten years of age when her aunt took her to her solemn home in where the stillness and the absence of other young people bore heavily upon her naturally spirits miss was now according to the standard a rich woman always remembering that she had not a single penny s worth of property standing in her own name was supposed to be worth rising one hundred thousand dollars carefully invested in of he always demanded the full pound of flesh that was in his carefully drawn bonds and if a little extra of blood resulted surely that was the fault of the men who did not know enough to manage their affairs successfully he was a gentle harmless sort of without the least ill feeling for any person in the world but who had certain business ideas not wholly peculiar to himself which were wholly opposed

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to anything like of time o web id s notes or mercy to in any other l he cultivated of the acres he owned only a little garden that supplied his table with vegetables and managed by the sweat of other men s brows not merely to live but to add handsomely to his earthly possessions all that he had was his by the law but it was his sister s as far as its disposition was concerned when some farmer or small wanted an accommodation he never went to to ask it he saw miss and made known the circumstances of the case and received the reply that she would see what her brother had to say every one of them knew that she would tell whether to lend the money or refuse it and that the laws of the and would be a very simple thing compared with getting her to reverse a decision but there was one part of the business with which miss always professed to have nothing at all to do when the lent were to be called in and the parties were not ready to pay she preferred to have her brother bear the entire of the affair her only reply to those who called on such errands was that she knew nothing about it and that they must see they all learned in time that the of a mill wheel were quite as much open to argument as he but the first time each one made this discovery there was apt to be a very interesting scene at the the of to day who has seen his hundreds turn to thousands with one from the electric current and perhaps thousands turn to hundreds with equal rapidity may smile at those who think themselves content with the slow of money at six or seven per cent but wai it for this married d knew that sums so invested would double in a dozen years and that the result thus obtained would double again in another dozen years and so on he was not averse either to accepting a larger rate where the security was satisfactory and his grew like the in s orchard until he was one of the solid men of his town at the breaking out of the civil war he had seen bis opportunity like many another he had confidence in the government and gathering in all the money he could raise he bought united states bonds in gold though purchased with and bearing gold interest at the rate of seven and three per cent perhaps he took a hand also at some other things done in those days of which the less said the better several years after the end of the war he noticed hat the farms on which he still held in price and he set about calling in all of his on that species of property a specimen scene at the house occurred on day that miss had the unpleasant experience with her niece recorded in the preceding chapter and a brief of it may be of interest to the reader she was sitting silently with her brother in their little sitting room late in the afternoon when a knock was heard at the door miss as was her habit went to meet the visitor who proved to be one of the named on whose land mr begging pardon for a title which the smallest boy in would have scorned to use held an miss bowed quietly and allowed the new her husband s comer to enter the room where her brother and offered him one of the wooden chairs it s mr was miss s sole remark as she resumed the position by the window which she had recently glad to see you mr said cordially mr was not as calm as was either his host or hostess he was in fact considerably distressed and his face was a mirror of his emotions he hesitated how to begin his errand and looked at miss who seemed of his presence it s been a fine day said at last to encourage him i thought at one time there was going to be a shower but it cleared off again the wind j around to the south ard and i guess that ll keep it off a spell longer i see you ve advertised my place for sale said mr thinking it as well to come to the point at once well yes sir responded cheerfully yes sir i i have sir the visitor repressed his excitement with difficulty i can t help saying i am surprised he rejoined it is the first time the interest has been behind and you have had my note for eleven years yes sir yes sir assented the unmoved i can t get it before next month do the best i can continued the i came and told you o i have had sickness in the house and there was a good deal of medicine to buy you know my youngest boy had the fever was it you yes sir yes sir said mildly i hope he is better now sir he is a fine boy sir the father was by this compliment for it touched him in a tender spot but he returned to the subject at issue i shall bring you the interest next month but the cost of the and serving will come hard on me when i came and told you how it was i certainly thought you meant to wait yes sir yes sir mr glanced at miss in the vain hope that there might be help in that direction but she sat like a image with her face turned toward the street if i get the interest by next week will stop the proceedings he asked desperately mildly behind his hand the hem the note itself is also he answered slowly the note you don t

0Arthur Conan Doyle

mean to press the payment of the principal exclaimed mr the perspiration breaking out all over him why the security is perfect the note doesn t half cover what i paid for the place you know that as well as i yes sir yes sir came the answer i know it sir but i am calling in all my in to invest them in another place yes sir mr looked at and then at his sister by the window again who might have been made of wood for all she seemed to notice anything that was going on around her he wa overpowered by the situation if you demand the principal of the note i owe her husband s you at this time it will simply ruin me he said in tones i could no more raise that money than than i could fly to the moon i put six hundred dollars in there to begin with and i have spent as much more in improvements i shall lose it all yes sir an inclination to into came over mr but he repressed it with the greatest difficulty you can t mean it he said instead trying to force a smile we ve we ve been good friends too long yes sir to be turned out of our home at my time of life would be mighty hard on me and my family yes sir it is rather hard sir u ah exclaimed mr then you won t do it i thought you couldn t be so hard hearted will bring your interest promptly on july and i won t ever get behind again even if i have to sell a cow though i should hate to do that as milk is now our main support he rose from his much relieved you won t do anything about it now will you yes sir i shall have to to sin i in fact hem i need the money ir mr could stand it no longer when the last grain of hope was thus taken away he poured out the of his wrath on the head of his with all the fury of a desperate man why you old he cried you ought to be and you haven t as much heart in you as there is in a piece of stone need this money you old liar you have enough laid was tt fox this you by to bury a thousand old like you and that is all the use you ll ever have for any of it you have robbed the poor men of this town for forty years taking their little to swell your own pile driving and to the if you d had your deserts they d have hung you to one of your trees long ago or burned you in a made of your own if i were to break this chair over your head the people of would pass me a vote of thanks you can t frighten me again before i d ask a favor of you i d take my wife and children out on the highway and see them starve and there you miserable cowardly dried up old fool yes sir yes sir came the low reply by the least symptom of annoyance the old man s partially the other in spite of himself it is no easy matter to continue kicking at you know said mr dropping his voice that i can t borrow anything in on that farm that all the men who have been in the habit of money here are going out of the business it is my home three of my children were born there we my wife and i have made every sacrifice to keep it i can t do a good day s work as i once could and the milk is about all we have to look to you know that yes sir yes sir and still you intend to yes sir a desire to murder this man to rid the earth of such a monster crept over the unhappy and he tore himself from the house by main force lest it should him it was a question for a hb g second or so whether he would go before he struck that heavy chair across s bald head and sent him to a place where he had an account of his own and not the to meet the obligation the old man had no idea how near he had to death and even had he realized it might not have altered a single word or action he was perfectly used to such and threats and their effect upon him was never greater or less than in the present instance neither did the excited words and actions of mr have any effect upon the stone statue at the window miss did not turn her face toward the men once during their conversation nor did she move for some time after her brother had risen to fasten the door and resumed his seat when she did speak her words had no reference to that occurrence in such an atmosphere as this had passed the few years preceding her marriage her aunt tried to into her mind that there was little worth thinking about in this world except bonds and notes of hand but there was another lesson that she used every endeavor to teach the young girl and that was the folly of marriage she never tired of telling her of instances where wedded life had turned out badly and where single had been proved to be by far the state it was her dearest hope that would be a credit to this line of teaching and when the day came that the inevitable was made apparent she received a blow to her pride from which she never recovered had seen not less than sixty and her temper had been bitten by the it this

0Arthur Conan Doyle

you f of every one of them that softening of the impulses that seems inseparable from the clinging arms of one s own children had of course never come to her had it that she had had her affair in the long ago when very young with a youth who had passed a summer at and who had her after the wedding garments were procured be that as it may she was a most husband at first being so young seemed to fall in readily with the ideas which she heard preached so constantly but she had hardly reached her birthday when the young prince came to the village in the person of and the all the easier because so totally unused to the arts of attack or how managed to see alone long enough to listen to his tale of love was a mystery in but listen she did and an engagement was made he was anxious for an immediate union and though she knew full well that her aunt would refuse her consent the girl promised that it should be as her lover desired it was an that the were equal to ten ordinary people miss being the figure i and the o and no thought of asking her uncle s opinion entered s head but one very warm day in more senses than one brought her promised husband to her aunt s door and told her the errand on which they had come we are going to be married aunt dear she said with that bold front of the bride which will never cease to be a marvel you have taken the place of a mother to me and i want you to give us your consent and blessing her husband s the silent rage of miss at this announce ment was pitiable to see she grew very white around the lips staggered slightly seemed about to and then recovering herself pointed to the door with a significant gesture and turned her back upon them on the whole this did not greatly surprise the young girl and she was too happy to allow it to distress her much at the time she went immediately with to the residence of one of the local where they were in the of the service made one from the the couple proceeded to rooms in the house that had engaged where after allowing her husband to snatch his first kiss wrote a note to miss asking her to send her effects as soon as convenient stating that she expected to continue to reside in the village at least for the present and expressing the hope that her aunt would think better of it later and come to see her she said she would not ask forgiveness feeling conscious of no wrong but trusted that the of her action would be excused as the circumstances of her husband s business had made haste necessary before night every person in knew of the affair and for the next and more it became the basis of most of the gossip of the neighborhood a sweeter or more modest girl than never breathed but like all whom we have ever known or of whom we have any record faced the world without the tremor of an the wedded couple took their meals by her suggestion at the public table and the number of transient was for a time greatly increased was it for this in consequence they rode all over the vicinity daily and it was the universal verdict that they were a very fine looking pair this line of policy turned the public tide in their favor with the young folks at least for there had been a little wave of sentiment against them at the start but now aunt was an old for compelling them to get married in this manner and the cards which were soon sent out in quantities were responded to by the population en mr though in fact much bored by these ceremonies succeeded in his feelings and created a distinctly favorable impression the young of the town who had been disposed to consider his action a slight on their legitimate right to the first pick of the beauties were obliged to admit that he was a thoroughly fellow with no airs about him the young ladies came away charmed after three days more had passed if there were any villagers who still with miss they were too aged and insignificant a part of the social world to be worth noticing in using the expression sided with miss the author does not wish to create an impression not only did that lady decline to her to any one whatever but she frowned upon the attempts of a few would be to draw her into a discussion in relation to the affair her always stern countenance may have been a shade more forbidding than before whenever she took her stick and along the public road she may have snapped up the s boy or the woman who came to do her weekly house cleaning a little more sharply than of h w h it pi t tf but not one word in relation to the departed issued from her lips several over zealous shook their heads and sighed whenever they met her as if to convey some grain of comfort to the stricken soul but she might have been deaf and blind for any sign she gave on the fourth day however the man of whom she had bought all her fish for a quarter century was enough to remark as he weighed out a for her we all have our troubles miss and the next week and ever after she the new fish dealer across the way whose coming into town she had two months before as a sin and a shame at the end of a fortnight from the date of his marriage became aware one morning that

0Arthur Conan Doyle

mr had gone to boston leaving his young bride at the hotel the dying flames of gossip were into a momentary by this announcement for the explanation that business required his attention did not satisfy the villagers the universal sentiment was that in that case he should have taken with him she had never been anywhere since her childhood and the opportunity was one that they all agreed she should have seized perhaps however some argued he had only gone for a day or two and she preferred to wait till they could take a longer journey together but the day or two passed and several days after those and still he did not return then the grew quite united in the belief that was not treating his wife with proper consideration and a party arose which began to hint openly that there had probably been a falling out between the pair wai it this you mr the landlord of the hotel contributed his to the general information by stating that mr had paid in advance for everything on a liberal scale and had left word that the best mare in the stable to which his wife had taken a fancy should be reserved for her exclusive use this staggered the party a little but like all similar birds of ill omen they their time it soon began to be generally that was in fault when an entire month passed without his return vague of an impending divorce were put in circulation the growing anxiety which tried in vain to hide was not omitted in making up the total the young man in the post office noticed that the post marks on the letters that mrs received showed her husband to be travelling and one of them was dated as far off as what a shame cried the that he should take a trip like that alone when it would have been so delightful for poor thing but when the excitement was at its greatest height and talk of a public expression of sympathy had begun the train one morning brought to the village no less a than himself who hastened with all speed from the railway station to the hotel who sat at her window saw him coming and rushing down the stairs flew into his outstretched arms the mutual embrace was so tender that all speculations were and was plunged into a state of stupid wonder the husband s stay lasted but days and from that time on he visited her but seldom often remaining when he came but a few hours never more than a night at the longest she never left tbe so her husband friend village either with or without him but there was na evidence of regret visible in her face or manner and the towns people at last found speculation about the matter a dull that behaved oddly they all admitted but as they could make nothing of it they gradually took up with new lived alone in her pretty rooms at the hotel for some months varying the monotony by driving about the town and vicinity the purchase of the house in which she was introduced to the reader and the extensive additions made upon it excited only temporary interest but the next spring the birth of a baby while its father was away in a distant part of the country called forth much sympathetic comment was alone with her medical man and her servants for the occasion by a nurse when this event occurred as soon as it was known in the village however miss astonished and everybody else by into the house and assuming the position of general manager of everything precisely as if no had ever taken place things are in a fearful here she remarked to her niece as she returned from an inspection of the and i am going to set them to rights yes dear aunt if you will be so kind faltered much relieved intended to be here but he is very busy you know and aunt like the war horse of job busy she snapped busy at a time like this ah h her opinion of in particular and was it tou s of mankind in general was into that awful was only nineteen years of age but she had a remarkable and an excellent constitution and all went well had been to the husband but the child was five days old when he arrived the frequent inquiries that made during this grew quite plaintive as time went on though she believed poor little woman that she concealed her anxiety from those about her when he came at last and was so sorry and explained how he had been moving about so from place to place that the had never reached him she was repaid for the long delay and when he took up the baby and kissed it and said it was as pretty as its mother a polite fiction she laughed so heartily that the nurse came and him out ot the room without ceremony stayed in nearly a week this time though any one could see that the place was dull for him he walked the long smoking innumerable cigars and enduring his with what resignation he could muster aunt never spoke pleasantly to him once in all the time and grew all the more when he showed that he had not the least intention of mind ing it i shall express my opinion by and by of the way he has acted she said to when she could sit up the next time he comes here i will give him one talking to if he never gets another dear aunt replied much pained if you have any regard for me whatever you will do nothing of the kind i can imagine no way in which vou could grieve me more has invented ft husband s something and is attending to

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the he has a great deal on his mind i understand the cause ot his and i am perfectly satisfied you must see that he loves me very much he paid a great deal for this house and i have a book on the bank with more money than i need to use you must not no you really must not say anything to annoy him the maiden lady had a strange expression as she looked at the pleading face before her was it for this you married she sharply you had a good home and you knew that every penny and i have put by was to have been yours you had all you wanted without this as harsh as were the words miss had and knew it she the rough old hand she held in hers no aunt i did not have everything i wanted i did not have nor nor this it was with a very pretty action that she indicated the baby lying by her in its cradle while a bright wave of color swept over her pallid face since that day seven years had come and gone and s pressing business had kept him from home in an increasing rather than the second child born more than four years after the first one was two months old when he first saw it he having taken a trip to south america sometime before its advent was expected and been delayed longer than he intended but custom is everything and the wife gave no outward sign of for what she had never known she devoted herself to the care of her little family mere unhappy than the average of her mt sympathy class she wrote weekly letters to the latest addresses she could obtain and read with deep pleasure the semi occasional answers that he found time to send aunt only made herself a member of the household on the most important occasions but she was at other times a frequent visitor and it is not believed that she ever came and went without having something very cutting to say of became quite to this as well as to the other trials of her life and would have uttered no protest had the remarks been confined to her ears alone but when little began to notice the wife s loyalty aroused the old spirit in her and as we have seen it brought her into sharp collision with her aunt chapter iv my nature demands sympathy the who were in such a state of wonder at the peculiar conduct of mr would have given their ears almost if they could have been as can the reader listeners at a conversation between that gentleman and his friend in the city of paris a few days after the one in which they held their argument over the question of the relative advantages of and of the monument in the place de her husband s it was morning and the lovely city shone again in all the beauties of early summer they left their hotel in the neighborhood of the and strolled over to the gardens by the way of the at henry s statue they paused and leaning together over the they watched for awhile the little passenger that run from to st cloud the who sit all day in expectation that is seldom realized and the and of the freight then they continued their course through winding and narrow streets left at the time when a general in the interest of improvement seemed to threaten the whole of paris who knew the city from centre to told many stories of the houses by which they passed and of historic events that had taken place in their vicinity in this building such and such a famous man had once resided on this corner an took place between the of this cause and that here so and so stood when he the citizens on a great occasion and through this lane a royal victim passed on his way to the imprisonment which ended only with his death was usually a very attentive listener to reminiscences of this kind which formed indeed one of the chief charms of his with his old friend but on this particular morning he showed an absent that was not lost on the other feeling sure that he had said nothing to him on any of his pet notions was somewhat puzzled to find a reason he said nothing in relation to the matter until they had reached th gardens and secured comfortable seat under one mt demands sympathy of the shade trees that bordered a semi retired cross walk then he asked with what is it who was at the moment in a looked up i do not understand you harry he said why your pre occupation this morning is something i have been talking in a steady stream to you for the last hour on the most interesting and i doubt if you can repeat a word that i have said recognized for the first time the truth of the statement for a minute he made no reply then he put his hand on his companion s knee with the confidence of years of friendship and replied i had a letter from my wife this morning it always makes me dull to get a letter from her he paused apparently to allow his companion to some comment if he desired but there was none i know harry he continued that you are growing to consider me an eccentric individual my married life has hitherto been a sealed book to all my acquaintances i have long felt that it would be a relief if i could speak of it to one as deeply attached to me as i think you are and yet i have a that such confidence would be followed by a loss of your esteem that i should regret still in spite

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of all if you will listen to the strange story of my married life i will tell it to you so intimate had been the relations of these two men that had reason to believe this matter of the only secret between them as they had been inseparable and husband s in later life harry had gone on his long voyage they had been the most faithful of every item in relation to his business and failures every movement in short that he made had been told by to harry with this exception until the moment just past he had never in the remotest degree alluded to having a wife at all in all his conversations and correspondence with him he knew through other means that his friend was probably married but he was not absolutely sure even of that he had had letters from him in the little town of and had suspected that the mysterious wife was in that place there was no reason for him to attempt to enter upon a domain so guarded and he had never by a word or hint betrayed his suspicions now that had of his own accord offered to open the gates however he was not averse to seeing the interior i will listen to anything you wish to tell me was his quiet reply cleared his throat as if the words he was about to utter required an especially free passage you knew me from childhood to manhood he began can you say up to the time when we parted that you ever saw me show the least interest in any woman mo you were rather noted if anything for a contrary tendency exactly but now i am interested intensely so in two one of them is my wife the mother of my two children the other he hesitated and his eye brows the other have my demands sympathy w nodded his head twas ever thus he mused how much better to do as i have done marry none at ail no responded not for me my nature though it was late in developing demands love feminine love sympathy feminine thy it is necessary to have some one who will share my views my hopes my aspirations and that some one must be of the sex i am as without it as one of the of a sphere such a partner a man should find in the woman he it has been my misfortune to have to find it elsewhere he sat silent so long after this that his companion felt the necessity of him how happened it that you married how he started at the question i will you within a week after you first left me i met the women who aroused in me the only passion of my life she was a year younger than i but with a brain fit for one ten years older i was in love with her from the beginning before i had known her two months all the current of my thoughts had undergone a change she was an i became one she was an i broke every hers that i had ever set up she was a opposed to the rule of any aristocracy either of men or money i followed her into every when we seemed to have grown inseparable when we had become one in soul i found the courage to ask the question that lay nearest my heart and this girl to whom my entire being was attached as by chains of silver expressed the greatest surprise at my declaration and gave me the finish ing blow by announcing that she was soon to bt her husband s friend united to a noted professor of political economy whose adopted daughter she was a man twice her age and without the least physical attractions shook his head slowly and even that did not cure you of your he asked certainly not my views had grown with slow conviction my love was a spontaneous outburst over which i had no control only a man who has never been in love can afford to laugh at its effects when miss told me my hopes were impossible of i could not conceal the terrible pain that it gave me she realized all at once what i was about to suffer she told me that professor had taken her when a child and educated her as if she were his own daughter and when he had asked her to marry him admitting the of the match in many respects she had not known how to refuse him though she had told him frankly that she felt no such love as she had always supposed ought to go with marriage i think it first came into her mind at that moment that she held a dearer place in her heart for me than she had ever realized forgetting the reserve that usage she threw her arms about my neck and sobbed out her sorrow at the she was compelled to inflict upon me she rowed to be to me notwithstanding her marriage a friend for life in every way consistent with duty and honor in the midst of this trying situation the professor opened the door the listener gave a low whistle of astonishment and interest the professor you must understand pursued as no ordinary man he was a os mt h sympathy not only in theory but in practice it probably occurred to him to propose or or even to announce with violent language that the sight he had witnessed would bring his engagement to an end he merely in all sincerity for the of his entrance saying that he had understood from the servant that miss was alone and he was about to retire when i arose and with considerable confusion insisted on being heard he thereupon took a chair and i was about to begin my story when miss took

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the words from my mouth and told him everything upon which the professor in the most open hearted manner expressed his regret at my disappointment and his approval of the conduct of his we shall be glad he said to welcome you on all occasions to our home and hope you will consider yourself whenever convenient a veritable member of the household our marriage is set for five weeks from to day the ceremony will be is simple as possible consistent with that formality which it is necessary under the present laws to observe only the witnesses required will be present and i shall be glad if you will consent to make one of them the calmness of his completely disconcerted me murmuring something about my appreciation of the honor i withdrew from the house miss kissing me again in the presence of her promised husband and leaving the impression of her still wet cheeks upon my own took occasion to remark at this point in the story that if either of the gentlemen interested had been at all like himself it would have had a very different in spite of all the philosophy in the he said few men would care to see husband s sweetheart kiss a fellow who had just declared his love for her and fewer yet could quietly accept such in the face of a successful rival you will better understand how completely crushed i was continued not seeming to notice the interruption when i say that i immediately abandoned my business and went into the country leaving no one but my aware of my address after wandering about for a week i found myself in a village that seemed sufficiently secluded for my purpose which was to avoid meeting any one who knew me i myself at the hotel of the place hoping in the of this rural spot to my disappointment i took long walks through the woods and fields one day while strolling in this manner i heard screams of terror running to the place from which the sounds i saw a young girl across a meadow pursued by a vicious horse it was but the work of a moment to spring over the fence and rush between the girl and the animal and by my heavy cane to turn his attention from his object until she was safely out of his reach the horse was really very dangerous and that evening was killed by its owner the girl i rescued is now my wife s face had become as sunny as his friend s was serious he declared the story positively romantic and said he should certainly write it ou for his favorite magazine i do not know what possessed me pursued the idleness had no doubt something to do with it but i found myself making arrangements to meet this girl on one pretext and another until there was rarely a day that we did not see each mt sympathy jl other and you must not judge of s conduct on the basis of the rules that prevail in larger there is in many of these quiet new england villages an almost simplicity still in the relations of the sexes perhaps no greater average virtue can be found in civilized lands and yet the young women do not think it necessary to hedge themselves in with the thousand and one ceremonies that prevail elsewhere a man is not in their eyes a necessarily dangerous creature and as long as no suspicion exists in relation to his character their meetings are quite but there was a double reason why must meet me if at all she was an orphan and her aunt with whom she lived was a maiden lady possessed of a deadly hatred of all my sex which she had endeavored by every means in her power to into the mind of her niece this told me in a perfectly manner in one of our walks as an explanation of the reason why she had not invited me to her home our acquaintance grew rapidly i was not too blind tf notice don t think me that i was ng a deeper impression upon her mind than i had intended and i was on the point of announcing my departure when a newspaper that i chanced to pick up at the hotel all the mischief that has since occurred a newspaper repeated yes i had avoided looking at a single since i had left boston but for some inscrutable reason i happened to pick up this one as i sat in the office of the house one morning after breakfast the first thing that met my wa the husband s friend announcement in the society column that the mar of professor and miss would take place at the house on the following wednesday the most harmless of you will say when you know that i was already aware of the date and that the item contained nothing whatever that was at all new to me but here is one of the peculiarities of the human mind though i knew that the marriage was to occur on the date and at the place mentioned i did not relish having the fact thrust in my face in this fashion it had the effect upon me of a challenge if not of an insult all that i might have felt and said when the professor came into the room and found his sweetheart s arms about my neck swept over me like a flood my mind began to be filled with ideas i thought of taking the first train to boston and doing i did not know what to stop the ceremony it seemed as if i could not live after she had given herself to that man whom i had every reason to know she would never love as she could have loved me i grew very indignant as i thought

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of her sacrificing herself to pay the debt of gratitude which he had charged up against her then a new idea gradually worked its way into my brain could not prevent miss s marriage could i not do something to convince her that i did not care what there was only one way i must also marry harry could not suppress an exclamation at this statement even to his light mind there was something quite blood in it yes that was how it came about said growing quite ghastly at the all ct nature sympathy night i struggled with myself but could find no rest when i met in the morning she remarked upon my heavy eyelids in a moment of madness i carried out my resolve and she unhappy girl already won and believing herself the cause of my manner accepted me without pretence or a hasty union was necessarily part of my plan and to this she also consented the next day we were made one or at least so the clergyman solemnly declared and i sent the news with feverish impatience to the woman i loved only hoping it would give her a of the agony her approaching had caused me the aunt of my young wife her on account of what she had done and while i could never hope to give her the affection she deserved i resolved as i took her to my rooms in the hotel that she should never learn from me the terrible sin of which she had been made the victim with all the tenderness of a bride she gave me a thousand pangs for the part i was playing i went through the next week as best i could we ate at the hotel table and drove out every day the of all the eyes in i met the crowds who called in answer to invitations and congratulated us with all the sang i could assume business letters soon began to press for my return and i was face to face with the question whether i should take my wife to boston and introduce her to my friends try as i might i could bring myself to this not now at least i said to myself i will go alone for the first time and pass through the ordeal of meeting professor and mrs before i take so i told her that i was obliged to make a hasty journey to the husband s city and that it was not expedient to take ner though her face was pale she without a word and i went away but my tale is a long one is it not you are becoming weary on the contrary was the reply i am growing intensely interested took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped from his lips the moisture that had gathered there perhaps when i tell you what i learned when j reached boston you will mingle a little pity the blame which you must feel for my conduct shut off as i had been from all news of the day foi i had seen no paper except the one to which i hav alluded a very important event had been hid me the first friend i met after leaving the station said very sad that about professor wasn t it you knew him of course i pretended te understand rather than excite wonder by my ance and going to my office i took down the file o the boston herald that is always kept there and searched its columns eagerly and there it was burning itself into my eyes like a frightful dr ann the story was to this effect yesterday evening professor solomon one of the most famous of our students of ths science of political economy died at the house under peculiarly distressing circumstances he had gone to the hotel in company with miss i and mr j p for th purpose of having a marriage ceremony performed both he and the lady holding views ch made them object to a religious mr informed our that the party partook of a supper in one of the small rooms and after it was finished and just as my demands sympathy ft ne was about to put the necessary questions the professor suddenly complained of a pain in the region of the heart and began to sink rapidly miss though naturally much agitated did all she could for the stricken man and dr who was in the house came without a moment s delay but the professor did not rally and within a quarter of an hour breathed his last we learn that the funeral will be entirely private and that the will take place saturday at mount as he finished the quotation throughout which his voice trembled continued was there ever such a combination just as my chance of winning the woman i loved had been made by an accident practically certain i had placed myself through an insane act beyond the possibility of possessing her my nerves as well as i was able i went that evening to tender my she received me with all the customary grace and courtesy and spoke in tones of her loss when she had given me in her own words a description of all that occurred at the house she asked whether my wife was in the city and expressed a hope that i would bring her to see her something in her manner convinced me that she was playing a very difficult part and in my state of mind i could not follow her you will never see my wife miss i cried you are too wise not to know that i married without giving to her one of that perfect love which less than two month ago i laid at your feet the error i have committed brings its own punishment when i return and earn for the first time that

0Arthur Conan Doyle

you are still single and that i may never again e in a position to ask you to share j her husband s my life i am tied by the law and i shall not attempt to break the bonds i placed so upon my own limbs but one thing i shall do i shall accept the invitation you gave me the last time i was here to call upon you as freely as ever for i need even more than i did then all the kindness all the charity all the friendship you offered me miss listened to me as if surprised circumstances have changed since i gave you that invitation she said mildly the alteration is not so great as it appears i replied we understood then that z were to be the married one now it is who am bound if i would have been welcome when you were a wife why shall i not when i am a husband your meetings with me would not have made you less true to professor they will not break my to looked at his companion a most remarkable story he said i do not know what to say to you say nothing said there is nothing for you to say nothing that any word of yours would help things have gone on at with no my wife has won my earnest regard and my profound respect if my long have not pleased her she has at least been wise enough to say nothing to me on the subject the aunt hates me cordially but so she would had i been a husband of the most devoted i have two children a thing to be regretted as they only tend to the situation i hope and pray there will be no more writes me every week now she wrote twice a week when i was in america and i answer most of her letters she is a good little demands sympathy t woman and i would not willingly cause her a moment s uneasiness but there is no brain sympathy between us she is a country girl who has probably never given a thought to the great problems of life never even heard the names of the authors i most admire she can do nothing for the intellectual side of me which fills completely when i get one of s letters i am elevated and inspired when i get one of s i am depressed and gloomy as you found me this morning the speaker rose and the friends walked slowly back in the direction of their hotel it is apparently quite a hopeless case said quite replied the other i see no avenue of escape i should owe everlasting gratitude to the man who would help me to find one how old are the children the eldest is seven she was born the first year is three they are beauties like their mother and inherit also her sweetness of character thank goodness they have no trait of mine have you any of their pictures with you yes i have them all in a group i will show it to you when we get to the hotel i will bring it in when i come to lunch began to have a strange anxiety to gaze upon the photograph of the wife whose peculiar story he had just heard he was glad when the lunch was ready but he soon saw that his friend had forgotten his promise for he neither produced the picture nor alluded to it during the progress of the meal as they left the dining room barrel remarked that he was going out on business and would probably not till late in the evening went to his own room took up a novel and tried to read before he had a dozen pages a came to the door with a packet that the other american had sent it wa the picture the likeness of mrs was a remarkably good one and was more than surprised at the beauty which it revealed for a long time he held it pondering over the sad fate of the deserted wife then he was aroused by a in form ing him that his presence was necessary in new york at the earliest possible moment he picked up a paris paper and saw that one of the french would leave the following morning at an early hour he looked for some minutes longer at the photograph wondering how the husband of a wife like that could treat her and speak of her as had done he liked but he wished he had never made him the of this experience it showed a side of his friend s nature that he did not admire leaving a note stating the circumstances which took him away so suddenly he the evening train for and the next day was on the sea nine days after he was in new york attending to the business that had brought him home and a week later he alighted from the train at and wrote on the register of the hotel his first two names he had decided to see the original of the photograph and do a little judging for himself j at chapter v miss at home the house that miss occupied was situated on avenue a was expected by its most enthusiastic friends at the time of which i write to hold for many years the charm that has since deserted it for the sand heaps of the more aristocratic back bay in it was considered a very desirable place indeed and miss s residence was in the best part of it only a minutes walk above street she lived alone here with her servants her time to the various in which she was interested her work included the of a magazine which the cause of advanced thought and which she published in with but the thing

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to the public about her house was the fact that the doors were thrown open on two evenings of each week to a very bright party of people of all shades of belief and opinions who found it a delightful centre for the of ideas and the making of interesting acquaintances there was usually a large party present but it was on sundays that the crush was the greatest men could be met at these who had spent their youth in fighting african slavery in the southern states with voice and pen who had labored to it with the and to the constitution ami who her g were now turning their superfluous energy the cause of improved total woman or some other of the hour women were there who had almost everything from free divorce to laws compelling their sex to don masculine attire there were ex whose views had lost them their there were men who professed to worship and others who could show that all wisdom had come to earth and died long before the birth of the there were also scattered among these business men of hard heads and sentiments and young people who had no settled views but came to listen and learn miss asked only one thing of any one who advanced a theory in her honesty it mattered not to her how foreign to her own convictions their doctrines were if they were sincere in presenting them it was one of her sayings that the absurdity of to day is the accepted truth of to morrow doubtless many good looked with a sentiment approaching horror upon miss and her set but then many good have looked with equal horror upon some of the best and noblest men and women who have lived within their borders and have afterwards monuments to them and sounded their praises as freely as once they cursed them on one of the june sundays when was absent in paris let me introduce the reader by permission of the hostess to miss s it was yet early and the mistress of ceremonies had not made her appearance when a small party were ushered into the rooms and proceeded in miss at home tl le to make themselves at home there was no on these occasions and very formality the early comers were in number and they found seats together beginning to talk with vivacity though in very low tones a habit of a great deal of conversation to one s neighbors i have found in advanced circles as well as in those of ordinary people and the members of the in question began at once to discuss their hostess and her expected guests with charming freedom she is really a most remarkable woman said one of the ladies a quite young woman named miss speaking to one of the gentlemen who was making his first visit to the house it requires positive genius to gather such a set as one meets here and prevent all you will see her pour tea for mr smith and out punch for colonel brown with equal grace she never forgets the and fruit for jones nor the glass of hot water for robinson she will listen with the greatest apparent interest to the development of some idea in which i know she has not the slightest faith and find in the of which has been offered to her some grain of wheat that she can without too much strain on her conscience she never never praise where she does not think it deserved and yet to make each one feel that his coming has given her a personal gratification her memory is perfect she the particular of each of the hundreds who come here and has the faculty of saying the especial thing that he would most like to hear mr to whom these remarks were made looked duly impressed at this moment a lady and gentleman entered the room and the others rose to greet them mrs st john my friend mr mt mr george there was something in the mention of the name that implied that mr had heard of the gentleman which was the fact miss had taken up a good share of the time on her way to miss s that evening in talking about this new comer to the fold whose had she said fascinated the hostess as no one s else had since went away i wonder if will tell us any news about mr to night said mrs st john as soon as the had taken place if she doesn t something i shall be tempted to ask her outright it is two months since he was here and it is time she revealed the secret this statement met with warm approval from miss the third member of the original and consequently from mr the young man who accompanied her mrs st john was the only one present who was on sufficiently intimate terms with miss to speak of her as which fact gave her an importance which she fully realized how long have you known mr asked miss who did not have a very high opinion of mrs st john but was willing to use the advantage of her knowledge for all that mrs st john paused to sum up it is fully eight since i first met him was living at that i ae on ml street oa at a long time is it not for such an attachment and have it amount to nothing suggested miss mrs st john arched her eyebrows with an air of superior wisdom that is s secret she said in a low voice but you know it of course said miss rather i know a thousand things in this little world of boston my dear that i am not at liberty to repeat mrs st john rose to welcome a lady who had just arrived and to whom she seemed

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to have something of importance to communicate and miss took occasion to express her doubts as to whether some people knew quite as many secrets as they wished others to infer i have heard a said mr that mr is married oh that s not possible i cried miss i am sure miss would not encourage him so openly if he were i don t see that she him at all put in miss keeping a man waiting eight years is hardly what i should call giving him much encouragement i presume he only comes the same as other men who attend her remarked mr who seemed to have developed a sudden interest in the conversation it is not necessary i suppose that she should promise to marry every man whom she here ah but it is quite another affair responded miss i thought everybody knew that mr was on special terms the rest of you come on and sundays at t husband s friend hour but there is no hour nor day to which is he is the most intimate friend miss has in the world much more intimate than mrs st john there with all her talk about dear she threw a glance not wholly free from spite in the direction of the lady referred to for which miss mentally thanked her you surprise me said mr this intimacy you say has been going on for years r undoubtedly and it causes no talk miss surveyed her with a look of the amazement talk she exclaimed talk of mr was crushed mr drew a deep breath of relief and left the group a number of new turned the conversation nd before they had finished their mutual greetings miss herself entered the room there are people whom it is difficult to describe with pen and paper and was certainly one of them it is easy to say that she was a little under the medium height of slender build neither dark nor fair and twenty eight years of age but so were a thousand other women in boston that night she had no especial in dress or speech her garments were plain almost to excess she wore no whatever and her manners were most the only thing that distinguished her especially was the extreme and whiteness of her hands which were almost transparent they had a highly nervous quality that might hare at home delighted one skilled in the science of and even to the ordinary observer they indicated a highly sensitive with perhaps a delicacy of constitution why easily any assembly of which she became a part nobody could tell that she did it nobody pretended to deny one by one she took her guests by the hand and said her simple words of welcome mrs st john took up a position at her side and introduced those who attended the reception for the first time with a question or two and a smile she won the heart of each visitor before she turned to the next when she had greeted every one she sought out mr george and they had a quiet talk together which no one else was privileged to hear i have been wondering why it is that you interest me so much she said to him after awhile and i have discovered it at last your manner of stating things reminds me of a friend who is now on his travels mr but am a married man responded son instantly it was rude undoubtedly it was rude but politeness was not a virtue that he placed above all others and he wanted to know then and there whether the suspicion of mr was true he had never seen in his life he had known miss but a month but it seemed to him that all worth having in this world and the far beyond on the answer to that question miss gave no evidence of having heard his a lady who had just entered the room smiled at her and she excused herself with charming sweetness to cross the carpet raged husband s inwardly as he saw how easily she had him and rose impatiently to meet mrs st john who was to see him you like miss don t you she said very much he replied but in saying this he at that moment he almost hated her and to save his life he could not have given a reason i knew you would like her when i brought you here continued the self satisfied lady she likes you too it is not often i assure you that sits down alone with any gentleman as she did with you except he said a oh well that is a different thing said mrs st john they own a magazine together and and there are various reasons why she treats him differently from the rest but likes you and i know it she asked me yesterday if you were certain to be here to night the sulky fit was on him and he tore himself from the woman as soon as he could do so he did not like to hear her speak of when he confine himself to the more formal term two gentlemen were discussing the subject of and were rather warm over it i tell you it would be a blow at our most tender feelings said one to burn the bodies of our dead friends seems to me rank our well kept are of religious and sentiments what do you say mr asked th other gentleman do you see anything lovely in a house do you not admire the beauties of such places miss a home as mt and forest hills put in the first speaker that is the question i do not replied i have never seen a that i admired they are all too full of little graves miss brought the friend who had last arrived where she could

0Arthur Conan Doyle

hear the did i not tell you he was very bright she whispered how could prevent the great among children inquired the gentleman it would not prevent it but the little would not rise up against us as we pass the gentleman declared that this was a mere begging of the question but somehow the new thought seemed to have the old one and a silence fell upon the party how do you like her asked miss of when she got a chance soon after to speak to him alone who mrs st john oh she is very agreeable now that is unkind responded the young lady when you remember that she first suggested to you to come here as she is telling everybody she did he was leaning with one arm on a mantel and half the eyes in the room were on him with one expression and another do you think i owe her anything for that f he asked without changing countenance then you are not pleased to be here p no it was a very abrupt negative indeed and miss s face wore a tinge of regret hke husband s position was such that no one could see that but him i am very sorry she said earnestly for now you will never come again oh yes i shall she glanced up in surprise and you don t like miss he smiled the lady of whom they were speaking was regarding him at the moment from a distant corner where she was pretending interest in the scheme of an elderly gentleman to all the southern to africa he thought it necessary to smile at miss and he did so do not me too much to night he said as an accompaniment to the remember you have never showed me that balcony you told me of and the garden hung with chinese she led the way gladly through a little hall the bit of land in the rear in which a few trees and bushes had been induced to grow had been made quite attractive by the shiny colored paper among the branches it was marvellous how so good an effect could be produced by such a simple process in two minutes he proposed returning to the par miss who liked the cooler air of the balcony and was not averse either to having him to herself for a little while complied with reluctance they arrived just in time to hear a gentleman named what he called the insane doctrine of private in land when it comes to social equality i am about as advanced as any one he was saying i favor universal women and all and the of the tax i think the government ought to the telegraph the and perhaps even miss at home the mines but of all the absurd things ever preached this talk about the soil from individuals is the worst why the desire to possess a piece of real estate is one of the most signs that a man can show the one who has secured a house and lot is a better citizen than the one who is content to pay rent all his life such a man becomes a of morals he stands for law and order as no rent can ever do is there any one here who will take issue with me on that he asked yes said will mrs st john was standing next to miss i think he would take issue with anybody or anything she whispered but did not seem to hear her mr eyed uneasily he had not expected that answer to his challenge in what way do you differ with me sir he inquired i differ with what you imply as much as with what you assert i do not believe for instance that law and order are always on the of right and justice indeed and who is to decide asked mr more than before the people by mere force of numbers they will say before long whether certain men shall pretend to own this earth or not why do you say pretend asked mr if i have bought a piece of land and paid for it is it not mine that depends on whether there is a man woman or child in the world whose need of it is greater than yours you own perhaps a plank that lies on the shore of a river if i see a man drowning in the stream i will the plank and throw it to him whether you are willing or not some day they will take your land and give it to a starving man who wants to raise potatoes how much land do you think you have a right to own all i can get a thousand acres perhaps yes a million or the whole of the earth s surface mr was a trifle disturbed by this question but he resolved to be consistent to the last if such a thing were conceivable he replied i should have a right to all the land i could purchase even if it included every acre in the world was happy at last he loved and he made his moves like a player a it is quite conceivable he said we live in a country where millions of acres are already the property of these acres may easily drift into the control of a few men and at last into single i do not hesitate to say that at the present rate half of all the land in america might be owned by a hundred individuals in it is quite possible that the time might come under our present laws when one man would own every hill valley and plain on this planet and you say if he or his ancestors had bought it and paid for it he ought to have it mr uttered a dogged affirmative and this of his continued

0Arthur Conan Doyle

making another move on his board would of course include the right of deciding what tenants if any he would have upon his land and the right to summon the constituted to all who miss at home to leave when even to the last soul that s a fantastic conception i must say exclaimed mr but under the conditions imagined quite a correct one is it not mr did not reply do you not see said that some future landlord might become the of life and death to millions of people by taking from them the soil through which nature meant that they should derive their even in this century there have been in europe that might have been averted or at least much if the had been permitted to turn the of my lord s and hunting preserves there the of property has ever been held above the of life if the life was that of a with all our boasted freedom in america we are drifting into the state of things that we have so freely in our cousins over the water mr rallied you are trying to us said he m by imaginative let me put the question in an easier way take the case of a man who has worked ten or fifteen years to pay for a little and garden denying himself and his family many comforts in order to accomplish that object would you take away his land and give it to the general government when it had become the staff of his old age and if you would not take one piece of land what right have you to take another there was an expression of triumph in mr s face as he this which he her husband s had no doubt was a miss looked earnestly at and though he had not once turned his eyes in her direction he knew he had her sympathy i will answer no in one word to your question about the old man said he my theory pre the right of your to live on that lot and cultivate it as long as it did not exceed the measure of his needs but what an outrage it is that he should have been put to such sacrifices to get that little spot to rest on he had s much natural right to it as he had to the air he breathed or the water he drank to get what nature made for him he has had to do double his share of the world s and miss half the comforts and pleasures of existence and why merely that some other man should live at ease some other family rest while his toiled for them the injustice of law had taken away his part of the soil and he had to it with excess of labor there is nothing more ridiculous than for individuals to go about pretending that certain parts of the earth s are their exclusive property and not only theirs but that of their forever our descendants will find vast amusement in examining in some museum of the future a book of titles of the n century they will wonder what sort of men used to undertake to deed to each other of land with such and such boundaries when they find a deed to cover soil enough for the maintenance of a hundred or a thousand people as many of them do to day their will be for it seem to them as to have sold exclusive rights in the earth as it would in the atmosphere or the sunlight miss at mr fell back upon a common retort you will never live to see that day but it is coming for all that replied confidently at this point the lunch was served miss thinking that the debate was likely to reach too warm a plane had whispered the directions to her maid the which stood in a little recess from which the curtains were now drawn contained an of and while the table adjacent had tea coffee and both hot and miss had helped with her own hands to some of the more solid you take brandy i believe she said sometimes he replied and sometimes take champagne and sometimes beer to night if you please she handed him the and glass and as he poured out the wine she said that really requires an explanation oh it depends on how i feel said he lightly if i have special need of mental strength i drink brandy but to night i knew that you were listening to every word i uttered and my powers wanted no greater when i only wish to talk of commonplace things i drink beer but this is not the presence of the commonplace when i am with a woman i love he spoke slowly and distinctly but very low indeed i want champagne because it is love s drink to night i drink which means nothing she heard she understood but gave no sign never the still lighter drinks she asked to keep him talking husband s yes i take coffee when i awake in the morning and after dinner when i visit once a year an old aunt who offers me nothing else and tea invariably when i am the guest of a lady who to always lead a single life a gentleman who was eating an ice near by spoke to miss who turned for a moment to reply she also saw that mrs st john was helping those of the guests who were not yet sufficiently at home to help themselves tell me one thing if you can said when he had her attention again why is it that bright women who are single always prefer the company of married men she looked the picture of and shook her head thoughtfully i am not good at you will have to tell me and you

0Arthur Conan Doyle

don t know really no i never could guess but there is miss getting ready to leave and i suppose she will not thank me for keeping you he bit his lips in suppressed anger she came with mr he said so she did how stupid of me it was mrs st john of course by the way i liked what you said to mr i wish mr could know you you have many ideas in common when will he return he asked darkly not before september i fear it must be for you a clear impertinence this but she did not seem to mind it i am too busy to be she replied my magazine takes up a great deal of my time i miss ca at home she added that you would write something for it perhaps i will he answered and shall i bring it here and read it to you when it is ready i am only at home thursday and sunday evenings you see and there is always a crowd it k would be better i think to mail it more people were beginning to leave and she had to divert her attention from him for a little while he wished he could control his better as he compared it to her self possession mrs st john was waiting for him and it was necessary to accompany her home when there was a place made in the group that surrounded miss he put out his hand like the rest must you go she said it is early yet i hope i shall see you often good night mrs st john it is marvellous with what ease a clever woman can exhibit regret at your departure express the wish that you would your stay and dismiss you all in one sentence noticed miss s facility in this direction and decided that she was wholly heartless but if she were why did she go to her bed room after the last guest had left and throw herself in a passionate on her pillow why did she arise after a long time had passed and sit by her window with her white and nervous hands clasped so tightly together and her hot and staring on why if she were wholly heartless her husband s chapter vi may we pray for you was the son of a man of wealth he was also the of a man of wealth and the nephew of a woman of wealth all of whom had remembered him liberally in their this being the case he saw no reason why he should devote his life to increasing his money especially when the beneficent laws of the land had arranged all that matter for him with no trouble whatever on his part after leaving college he studied medicine but only in upon receiving his degree in a german university he took to travel as a pleasant mode of spending his time he became perfectly familiar with the principal cities of europe and his own country and even penetrated into the more civilized parts of africa and asia he was not the sort of man who finds his amusement in boats or hunting an interesting book and a suited him better than a wild chase across country with an enraged elephant in pursuit he preferred a box at the opera to a climb over mountains and a chat with an entertaining woman to up a line with any other description of game fish at the opposite end he was strongly built and for all that and rather handsome in a way all women called him so at least and they are the better judges in dress h was of effects though by no mat you w a few men can afford to assume superiority to clothes and he never attempted it though he had known of many lands he had never thought it necessary to fall in love with any of them if he had more than once the of a mild he had never seen a girl who sleep from his eyelids he liked bright women and he liked good but he would almost as soon have thought seriously of proposing marriage to one as to the other life is a game that should be played for all it is worth said a friend to him once while urging him to take a partner i think i will have to call the game a draw he had replied with a laugh it was henry ward who said if you have only a dollar to spend spend it like a king had many dollars to spend and he spent them quite on occasion though his tastes were not of the most expensive kind he was quite generous with the money he had never earned and had much rather to a charity or hand a street beggar a piece of money than investigate the merits of the application blessed with health that never failed him and with spirits that seldom fell he could not understand why so many people found life a burden if i had been born into the lower he used to say to himself i would struggle with my unlucky stars till i got out of it as no doubt some of mine did for me as there is no need of exertion i should be a to enter the turmoil why had he taken this trip to it was as unlike him as anything that could be conceived certainly he had no idea of making trouble in the his friend family of his oldest friend there was a good deal of honor and chivalry in all his dealings with those whom he considered his social equals but idleness is responsible for many strange actions what do you consider the most desirable thing in life had asked him when they were having one of their in paris a new sensation had been the reply

0Arthur Conan Doyle

needed a new sensation agreeable as is elegant leisure in itself the man who has saxon blood in his veins can hardly help being after a while the far that contents the italian will weary the american in time realized that there was something very peculiar in the experience of his friend he pronounced it positively unique in the list of he had heard or read of he could not imagine a more interesting study than was to be afforded by making the acquaintance of the two women who swayed that hard headed so difficult to influence in everything else the face of the wife presented in the picture of her that he had seen the of being contented with her lot and yet of being just the sort of woman who would not be at all pleased with the state of affairs that the husband had detailed he had always had a theory that a woman ought to be able to hold her husband s love by the sheer force of her in other words that if she lost him it must be in some measure her own fault and so the wife he had seen in that picture seemed to this man of leisure worth a few weeks of study he was not fond of doing things in an way either but there seemed no open way may we pray you to do this particular thing he could not say to i am going to to see your wife and afterwards to boston to compare miss with her and discover if i can what it is that you to the one and causes you to neglect the other it was a case where secrecy was a prime necessity knew that all he would have to sa when his visits were discovered wa this it was all in your interest my dear boy things were in a you know and i thought i might manage to help them out might a little at first but iv any case there could be no serious the two men were too good friends for that landlord of the house took a great fancy to or mr as he called himself and before his guest had been there three days he was into no end of gossip concerning the family that s a mighty s case he said an i don t s pose anybody in the village jest rightly understands it she was the girl in an she s a good way yet from bein homely they ve got two jf the children i ever see he but he ain t never taken his wife out of town once an it s so seldom he comes here that some of the u ain t never seen him it was jest four times last year that he dropped into the town at all an then only from one train to as one might call it people ask ai we all call her ar na about it at first but all she v d say was that business was mrs li an aw here has the asked her husband s yes an an uncle too for that matter though nobody ever pays any attention to him old miss is a keen un i tell you for months after was married she wouldn t go near her at all an i ve jest heard there s ben another out lawyer s ben down there an everybody says she s had a new will made they re both well fixed miss an but miss can t over the marriage it didn t suit her an it don t suit her an i m s goin to lose a nice nigh two hundred thousand folks say looked highly interested perhaps the aunt is at the bottom of the trouble between and his wife he suggested no tain t that replied the landlord the fact is there don t seem to be no trouble between em before he d ben married a fortnight he went off an stayed a month they right here in my house most everybody thought they was goin to break up then an there but the day he come back she run down the stairs to meet im an they was as as two then off he went ag in an the next time he come it was three months i guess he bought her the house she lives in now though that time paid more n three thousand dollars out it up too the neighbors say she seems awful glad to see him when he does come an nobody understands what makes him stay away so much on learning that his guest would like to meet mrs the landlord said nothing would be easier we don t go much on here in said he an ain t no more stuck up may we you f w she ever was you jest open her gate knock at the door an say i sent you an you ll be welcome this apparently easy plan did not however on the whole commend itself to s judgment an opportunity that had more in its favor came on the succeeding sunday when mrs pointed out to him as he sat with her and her husband in their in the first church mr was not by any means a religious man but was a very moral place and he considered it policy to hire a in the principal church and occasionally at least occupy it if jim his chief was engaged during the same hour in up for the more of the population or if his chief clerk filled on the sly a few bottles and from a hidden store in the cellar mr s presence at divine worship proved that he at least had no part in the sinful proceedings a former owner of the same hotel who had been free to express his contempt for things sacred

0Arthur Conan Doyle

frequently in for of the liquor laws it was observed of mr that he knew how to use judgment and even the most ardent of the men admitted that if was a good thing to know where a little of the ardent could be got in a hurry in case of sickness once a minister s life had been saved by a dose of the landlord s brandy for private use and soon after that the same malady attacked a large part of the congregation happily however thanks to the brandy without fatal result sat where could see her m husband s friend without changing his attitude he looked at her a good deal remarking how much she was than her photograph which could not the lovely and of her perfect complexion what the sermon was about he had not the least idea she seemed a devout listener to the words of the clergyman but could not help wondering if her thoughts were not far away across the sea that that woman in her youth and beauty could be content with the life she led did not seem to him reasonable from any point of view when the was pronounced he asked mrs to give him an introduction to mrs and at the church door the took place in the off hand country fashion the plan of introducing gentlemen to ladies only on request of the latter does not prevail in the ceremony insignificant in itself was quite enough according to local usage to justify in raising his hat and saying good evening as he passed mrs s residence quite by accident toward sunset that same day she was sitting alone under the trees inside her grounds reading or pretending to read a newspaper now or never he thought when she had returned his salutation he said you have a pleasant home here mrs yes it is called so he decided at once that she was pensive and he wanted more than ever to know all about her all of seems very pretty he went on in fact i quite envy the people who have permanent homes here it was not wholly a new idea she had heard at the hotel say much the same thin mat wa you won t you come in she asked rising and approaching the gate in this was the eminently proper to do for a stranger who had been met for the first time five hours before thanked her made some remark about the inviting coolness of the shade trees and took a seat on one of the benches yes he continued the situation of this village is truly delightful the lake river and hill scenery is perfectly charming i can hardly recall a prettier spot and you have perhaps travelled a great deal she said drawing a natural yes considerable across the sea her thoughts were then where he had guessed when he saw her eyes fixed on the minister she was certainly pensive he answered that he had been across the sea several times and was acquainted with many countries you have seen paris of course there was so much more to him in this question than appeared on the surface that it disconcerted him for a moment a strange idea came into his head he wished that he could take by the collar and ask him what he meant by his neglect of this lovely creature carried on for years without regret or shame then he noticed that she was waiting for his answer i know paris from one end to the other it is a most beautiful city i wish you could see it it is prettier than is it not he realized that the question was but he pretended not to notice it is quite different you know paris has two million people it is more like boston or new york and yet much finer than either i have a book at the hotel with many elegant views of paris and long descriptions of the sights which shall be glad to bring you if you wish she thanked him quietly and he ventured to ask what especially interested ner in paris my husband is there she answered but he could make nothing of the words beyond their ordinary significance indeed has he been long away asked the with a facility that astonished even himself he left home three months ago he stayed a few weeks in london and the rest of the time he has been in paris and does he intend to stay much longer i do not know the new sensation that wanted was coming to him with a vengeance never had he felt as he did when he heard this wife speak of her husband as if he were a mere acquaintance of whose movements she could not be expected to have accurate information he listened in vain for any trace of bitterness and his wonder grew with every word she uttered it is strange to me that you should not have wanted to go with him he said most women regard a trip to paris a first trip as the event of a lifetime but he added before she could speak i forgot you have young children believe she assented and gave him their ages then yoa could easily have taken them per may we pray toe you f the man i have crossed in where there were twenty or thirty children they are as happy playing about the decks and as any of the older people let me urge you not to neglect such a chance again she received this in silence and he began to con a great respect for her it was more than loyal this clever concealment of her thoughts it was artistic ah paris is indeed lovely he cried throwing back his head as if in reverie the streets are so long and broad the public squares are filled with

0Arthur Conan Doyle

such fountains statues and beds of bright flowers the are so superb the river winding almost all around the city is walled with white stone and crossed bv many bridges under which the pleasure boats dart like at night innumerable lamps the where thousands of men and women sit out of doors at little tables eating drinking and while the play inside the life in paris is one perpetual holiday i do not wonder that your husband finds it hard to leave there was much too to suspect the deceit of which she was the victim she was not satisfied she never had been since that day when her aunt had poisoned her ears with her that was all he should be but she certainly had no intention of communicating her fears to this stranger so she answered him that her husband was an who had gone abroad on business solely and would undoubtedly return as soon as it was finished many a man has gone to paris with that intention and failed to carry it out smiled the of the city affects one until be bear to awake from the delightful dream take my advice mrs and see it next time for yourself when you have done so you will be less likely to other poor mortals for their thinking that it would not be wise to make too long a stay the first time he remarked that the evening was going to be lovely and rose to go the usual civil request not to be in a hurry was given and met and then she parted from him with the same dignity and courtesy with which she had him welcome the case grows mused the young man to himself as he strolled along a that led into the adjacent woods one would think that woman just the kind that a fellow like would want for a wife provided he wanted one at all which i could never see the object of he said something about a brain companion now that s nonsense a man whose brains are in a constant state of excitement needs a quiet little woman like that one who will give him an occasional chance to instead of always talking shop when he needs a rest she s pretty almost handsome to begin with she s not up in the ways of fashion of course how the deuce should she be when she was never outside the county in her life she s not well read though by this time that has become more his fault than hers i ll be bound that cross old aunt never saw the use of offering her a book she s naturally bright and would respond to cultivation unless i am awfully mistaken if i can get on sufficiently terms i ll talk to her and see what mat we you i wonder how much she know anyway the next morning letter came to him from forwarded from his permanent address in new york expressing regret at the circumstance that had compelled him to leave europe so suddenly and declaring that paris lost half its charm without him there was something else in the letter also that was of greater interest to the had decided he wrote to go to germany and attend to his business there in person instead of leaving it to his as he had he feared this would keep him abroad for several months longer but it seemed the advisable thing to do the letter ended with these words i have taken the liberty of sending your address to miss the boston lady of whom i spoke to you with the information that you are likely o be in that city at some time and that she should send you a card of invitation to her i have frankly told her that you are a man whom nobody need hope to convert into a but that you are after all a very good fellow and i would like to have her meet you of course you are under no obligations to accept if you get the card and not obliged to like her or the crowd you will there but i would go if i were you was well pleased with this paragraph he was in no hurry to have return to america and an invitation direct to miss s spare him the trouble of hunting for one in a way as he had intended to do a double stroke of he said to himself as he finished reading the er and yet what the is the whole thing to me anyway her husband s he away the day at a table with a who was waiting over to see a customer an when it was nearly dark he took the book about paris under his arm and sauntered down to mrs s house a servant showed him into the parlor and in a few minutes entered and greeted him cordially he exhibited the book as his excuse for calling and when the lamps were lit he turned some of the pages for her and talked about the illustrations she told him the name of hei husband s hotel as if he didn t know and he found several pictures of scenes in the vicinity with which she was greatly interested in five minutes he could walk to the avenue de i opera that you see here he explained he can look from his window on the built to the of napoleon i if he wants a little stroll before breakfast it will not be too much to walk around the and return by the gardens of the thus he went on turning the leaves and making his comments in the easy way he knew so well and he found her much more deeply interested in it all than he had expected she very few questions but she made a delightful listener and was evidently

0Arthur Conan Doyle

grateful to him for the pains he had taken while they were thus engaged a nurse called mrs away for a few moments and when she returned she told him that she had been to kiss her children good night upon which he begged her if it was not too late to allow them to come in for a minute the elder was dark not too dark like her mother while w fair they were mat w mat tou f pretty children and they went to the stranger without they had never been taught the art of shyness and you go to school i suppose he said to after at random a few mild compliments no sir not yet she answered but mamma has taught me to read and my nurse tells me a good many things about the earth and the sky i shall go to school next year i think the mother met the inquiring eyes with an affirmative smile i have been showing your mamma a book of pictures of the city where your papa is staying said unable to repress his anxiety to hear what the child had to say on the all important subject that weighed on his mind i hope she will let you see it to morrow s eyes dilated and her face grew radiant oh shall i see the very house he is in she cried clapping her hands please mamma show me just that one picture to night as no objection was raised took the book and opened it i cannot show you the very hotel he lives in said he as leaned over his shoulder in feverish expectation but if you were on this avenue that you see here pointing to the opera and were to turn that corner and walk a very little way you would be in front of the building it is very pleasant as i have been saying to your mamma i have been there and the child could not restrain herself you have been there then you must have een him he exclaimed her husband s she was fairly trembling with excitement both her little hands were on his arm and her eyes were gazing into his mr did not say he had been there this summer my darling corrected the mother your papa has been there but two months you must remember the child was disappointed a great lump came into her throat as she realized the error she had made was relieved at his happy from what promised to be a you miss your papa very much he said kindly oh so much she replied but we think he will come back very soon now then s family had not been of his change of plan he had taken pains to write about it to an and let his wife and children wait was sure he could have choked him had he had him there then he spoke to the smaller one how is it with you my little do you miss papa too no me doesn t was the reply she is so little sir said before her mother could speak she is only three children do not remember very well at three do they sir r the heads of both of them and began to think that he could make one of a party to a rope around the neck of such a father as they had then he bade the little ones good night telling to sleep well and be good children at the door paused and spoke to him again we pray to god every night she said may roof to bless papa and mamma would you car very much if we prayed for you too the question staggered him as he had never been staggered in his life i should be glad to have you he answered but his utterance was thick and he felt stifled when returned from the visit she paid to the little ones who must have their mother s kiss as the very last thing before falling asleep she found him standing are you going so early she asked in a slightly disappointed tone for she liked this man already and knew that the evening would be when he had gone i only came to night to bring the book he said i did not intend to remain long but i will again if i may i hope you will she responded cordially you are always welcome he walked in the silence of the woods that night until it was very late how could a child s words the thoughtless of a little one of seven affect a grown man so a man too who had never troubled himself about prayer and who had not always led the best life he knew would you care sir if we prayed for you he heard it over and over and he was pleased to remember his reply i should be very glad to have you there had been nothing wrong in s mind that evening before spoke those words but if there was the slightest possibility of harm to that household in the depths of his heart the childish voice had made an end of it forever i her s such a wife and such children and a husband i what blindness could have so affected and then remembered that he had not yet seen chapter vii when love has it has probably been the experience of most who have sat upon either in or out of that they have found themselves coming to a decision on the merits of a case some time before the first side had finished its evidence had declared in favor of the fair witness who had been the only one yet in the box before it occurred to him that there was yet another to be heard after a third call at the house he decided to absent himself from

0Arthur Conan Doyle

for a few days he wanted to see miss whose invitation came promptly to hand and he also thought it best not to allow the to note that he was too constant a visitor at the home of the deserted wife arriving at boston he went to young s hotel which was in those days the especial and popular place for the of single gentlemen and as he had no business of greater importance he visited miss s that same evening which happened to be a thursday there were thirty or forty other persons there when his name was announced but for a few minutes love has had eyes for her alone he was conscious of a disappointment when the slight delicate came forward to greet him he had imagined her a sort of whose physical charms would far the modest creature he had just left in when a man preferred the society of another woman to that of his wife thought this ignorant young gentleman the cause must be one to impress itself instantly upon the had few of the claims to beauty that he had noted in she had neither her height nor her complexion nor her brilliancy of eyes nor her of outline nor her of carriage she was to his mind quite insignificant in contrast to the woman with whom he must always compare her these were the first impressions perhaps the others would come later on an unusual for those white hands of hers almost a trembling seized them as they touched his fingers and it she gave him a clasp that was quite cold after a few she said in a whisper do not mention mr s name here i will explain why later then she introduced him to a group of which mr was the most conspicuous figure and turned to greet some guests who had just arrived you are a of course said to by way of beginning a conversation i am a citizen of the world was the reply i place no country nor people above another ah said the other you are evidently like myself a traveller not as much as i mean to be i have only spent a few months in southern europe and a year in germany i shall go again before long perhaps we shall meet there said as i expect to winter in italy which of the countries of europe do you prefer among those which you have seen france came the quick reply and why france t because it is the for revolution thought another full of his subject but for miss s the name of would have been immediately on his tongue others were listening among the number mr mr miss and miss it seems to me said that france is particularly well governed just now she has had many years of peace and her progress in the the arts and in has been how could it benefit her people to have a republic this question loosened s tongue and for the next ten minutes his reply delivered in the most rapid and impassioned manner drew nearly all of those present to his end of the room when he paused turned to miss who had approached with the others and inquired whether a discussion of this kind was perfectly agreeable to her being a stranger he said he did not wish to any of the rules but he would like to his ideas on the subject in question a little further say all you please she answered smiling that is just what we are here for at that proceeded to reply to he had just heard when love has while a republic may be the most righteous form of government he said in substance an has merits that should not be overlooked no city like paris for instance could bo reared by any mere it took power to tear down the old city and it in its present loveliness one of the first things that would follow the overthrow of the empire would be the destruction of the provisions for the safety and comfort of the very classes whose hands are now arrayed against it intelligent power in a few hands is necessarily better if honestly administered than the rule of ignorant masses paris is better governed than new york or philadelphia or washington it is true that the french emperor takes eight million dollars a year to support his establishment but in america the innumerable rings rob the people of ten times as much without returning an equivalent there may be countries where great power is abused but france is not one of them and so he went on for fifteen minutes or more and after that replied and the guests of miss sided some with one and with the other and the evening wore away on the whole enjoyed it he wondered at the which he had shown for h had never before made an argument in such a public manner and he flattered himself that he had done pretty well when miss bade him good night she asked him in low tones whether he could make it convenient to call upon her the following afternoon to which he willingly assented who was near enough to note that there was a secret between them a thing that in his heart because th re never was one with himself s passed down to the street with him and they walked along for some distance together it is a pleasant place to spend an evening said noticing that his companion seemed inclined to be you like it do you was the response yes if i were to remain in the city i should go there often you do not expect to remain in boston said in a tone that rather implied pleasure at the information oh no not more than a week or two at the most then you will miss the bright

0Arthur Conan Doyle

particular star of the circle said with an odd his name is you may have heard of him thought quickly he did not mean to break his promise to miss and yet he wan ted to hear all he could about s connection with the house the simplest and easiest way that of was decided upon i have heard of mr he said i have a friend who knows him and who tells me that he has decided to remain away for some time longer than he at first intended several months more i think he said looked thoughtful presently he asked with a vain attempt to appear indifferent do you know whether his wife is with him it was precisely because the question was such a thorough surprise to that he escaped the trap set for him and merely echoed his wife i don t know positively that he is married admitted but that is the opinion of when love has fled miss the subject i have a little curiosity to know that is all if he has a wife she must know it they have been intimate friends for a long time eight years i am told he said this more as if thinking aloud than as if talking to anybody miss seems to be held in high esteem by her friends suggested there surely can be no no suspicion looked out into the night and repeated the words of miss slightly varied suspicion of wondered whether there was any trace of irony in the answer but he would not show that he thought of that exactly what i said he replied the class of people who frequent her would not her in that case all classes go there said no one has to bring a of character to enter a reception of that nature but you are a man of some experience in the ways of the world supposing it turns out that he is married what is the why friendship i suppose do you believe in that sort of thing was trying to get at s opinions not to air his own so he merely said why not let us look at it for a moment for the sake of the argument only you know mused the other if has a wife whom h never speaks of never brings into society what is the reason husband s friend strained relations probably given a man with a wife with whom he is on bad terms and another woman with whom he is on good terms what follows friendship why to be sure he had ceased to disguise his sarcasm and his knew that for some reason he was very bitter on the subject i seem fated to your arguments to night said smiling allowing that mr is married which is only a guess a let us say and that he fails for some reason to produce the body of his wife before the of public to use a legal phrase is by no means the only possible explanation the lady may be an invalid who cannot leave her room she may be averse to all as so many women are in either case she may be fully aware of what her husband is doing and glad to have him cultivate so refined an acquaintance it is at all events something it seems to me of which the world at large has no right to demand an miss s character is supposed to be above question your very presence at her house shows that you have confidence in it you would hardly continue to go there i think if you seriously doubted it oh i would go anywhere said abruptly i intend to write novels by and by who says that is married asked after reflecting a moment on the peculiar of the reply oh nobody says so it seems to be in the air people are constantly asking each other about it it anybody could say so that would settle it it s a remarkable thing said slowly love has fled that no one thinks of asking miss the question looked at him again with that direct inquiring gaze of his would you do it if i knew her as well as you do and wanted very much to know i think i would i should seize the proper time of course when it came in naturally in the course of the conversation a contemptuous smile greeted this answer there is a proper time to kill a said he but though somewhat handy with a gun i never succeeded in an old one yet between the flash and the arrival of the shot the creature out of harm s way now a is a very wise and bird but he is simplicity itself when compared to a woman like this if you don t believe me try it sometime well here is my corner good night s interest in miss was not lessened by this conversation and it was with a feeling that the new sensation he was about to assume a deeper interest that he presented himself at her door on the following afternoon she met him in a loose robe of white goods tied at the wai t with a cord which gave her something the appearance of a her hair was rolled back from her high forehead and her face seen by daylight was somewhat paler than it had been under the gas i wanted to see you to day she said after the ordinary greetings had been exchanged because i could say little to you last night in the presence of o many people mr writes me that yo re a most intimate friend of his that statement her husband s friend would of itself make you welcome in this house o t besides that i have taken a great interest in you personally on account of what you said in the course

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of your argument last night she was certainly candid but the frank way in which she spoke surprised him a little yes and i have been friends from childhood he said he has known you for a long time also i believe quite long eight or nine years ah before his marriage then he did not think it very good to come to the point so soon when the words were out of his mouth but he had the joint in her and struck at it blindly she met him without apparent yes it was some months previous i expected at that time to be a wife soon myself probably he told you of my my misfortune her voice faltered as she uttered the words and he nodded a reply to the question she paused a moment and then said i need not ask you if you left mr well he was quite so and happy he had not anticipated the was it the friend or the jealous mistress who asked it i can hardly say yes to that he replied does not seem to me as bright as he used to be i was separated from him for several years and on meeting him again i find a great change and one that i do not like he has lost much of his old cheerfulness his head is full of and ideas like those of mr when love has fled ill whom i met here last night they may or may not be correct but i think they are bad for a man of his temperament they weigh constantly on his mind his spirits have lost their he sees less than he ought of the of the earth to his surprise this statement only brought a touch of sunshine into her face he knows as i do she said that a great is coming and that it is a time for those who wish to help it onward to adopt a serious mien standing as he does to day on ground which must so soon echo with the tread of an arisen people perhaps be with their best blood he does well to personal pleasure he smiled at her earnestness as we can never agree on that subject said he perhaps it would be as well to talk about something else i am glad to say however that our friend in his desire to save the down trodden of a does not forget the more important business of his journey he is using all efforts to secure the that he wants for his invention perhaps when he has made a million or two he will develop into an like the rest of us you do not know him cried miss with enthusiasm it is only the hope of gaining a fortune that he can use in our cause that spurs him on think there is no doubt that when he is in possession of his magnificent income he will devote it all to hastening the of and the of throughout the world v s smile faded all he repeated every dollar for and nothing for wife and children husband s her self possession gave way in a moment and tht nails of her white hands buried themselves in the flesh children she gasped and in a breath he knew that he had revealed a secret which he had not intended to do why not children as well as wife he asked pretending not to understand perhaps you are one of those who believe that a man s children should not inherit his goods but you would hardly claim that the father who is responsible for their existence ought to leave them to starve while they are young and helpless i can only think you do not mean to be taken literally when you say that mr should give all of his coming fortune t advance his theories we ask no one to neglect making proper provision for his relations she stammered he has a a child then thought of and his heart grew very hard and cold i said children he replied i know i understood you but sometimes people use the she was hoping against hope and the agony of the doubt was visible in every he thought it best to tell her everything now he had gone so far there are two the elder seven the younger three if i had not supposed you knew you may be sure i should not have alluded to the subject a criminal on the rack could hardly have suffered more than she did at that moment and she felt compelled to bear the pain with the fortitude of a martyr when love has mr never spoke to me of of such things she slowly i knew he was married and i supposed i understood i mean i thought very likely there was a child i did not know there was another and only three years old you say so he told me said fearing lest the next question would be whether he had himself seen them you have never met mrs i believe she shook her head making the greatest effort to appear calm there was no reason why i should mr and i are engaged in a social we publish a magazine together his private affairs or mine are never alluded to in our conversations all that i ever knew of his marriage is that it was sudden and unfortunate her voice had regained most of its natural strength and she looked more like herself again how unfortunate in what respect he asked determined to the matter as far as she would permit i do not think i ought to any more she responded you are his friend and if he has not chosen to tell you anything i should be at least as he has told me a good deal said i know he does not consider her

0Arthur Conan Doyle

his mental equal if that is what you mean she bowed an affirmative is not that quite enough to justify the use of the word unfortunate in the case of a man like she asked he admitted m but her husband s into a marriage of this kind in which the wife is an innocent victim does he not owe her a which the previously existing of mind cannot shake miss s agitation while it had been well subdued left her a more easy prey to the of her she wanted to justify and herself in the eyes of this persistent man probably you consider marriage a sacred thing under all conditions she said i do not a man or a woman has not only no obligation they have no right to throw away all the possibilities of a lifetime on account of one deplorable error i may as well speak plainly had continued the constant associate of an ignorant country girl he would inevitably have sunk to her level he has a mind too noble to be thus destroyed the thing to do when one that he has committed a great mistake is to seek the remedy in the instance of which we are speaking i believe an effort has been made to do this or at least partially if the wife had been as wise as the husband there would have been a separation long ago it would have been better i am sure than continuing a marriage which is only a pretence and an injury to them both to say nothing of the the children so under such circumstances smiled making new arrangements at the pleasure of either would seem to you i presume he said she frowned in spite of her determination not to do so my views of the marriage relation are not as you seem to think lighter than those of most but when love has more intense she replied to live with a woman after love has fled seems to me nothing short of a then new arrangements at the pleasure of either are of course quite proper he persisted i did not say that but excuse me do you not think it it is not easy to make a rule to fit all cases she responded like an animal at bay what may be right for one may be wrong for another he decided to throw everything into the scale then and there but we are speaking of this case he said the case of and his wife and you and me she cried and you her slight bosom with the quick am short no one has a right to question me she answered proudly you are going too far she was not angry he could see that very well but she had suddenly grown quite determined miss said quietly i do not know how we got into this strain in our conversation i can say with truth that it was not by me believe it or doubt it as you please i am speaking as your friend and s now can you two afford to brave the opinion of the world the last words brought a ray of light into her features that chased away the darkness that had lingered there the cause that us she said is so great that beside it ordinary attractions do not deserve to lift husband s friend be even named what compared to it are and children and lovers they are they will be gone to morrow but the of mankind the return to generations of their long stolen that is something that will endure forever in the meantime what is to become of the asked has ever proposed a separation from his wife and if so what provision would he think it proper to make for i know nothing of that she answered i only know that his family hangs like a about his neck him at every step he takes if you are his true friend you will advise him to himself he will soon have money enough and will be able to satisfy her he nodded with a thoughtful air you have never seen her i think you said never then how can you say so coolly that dollars will her for the husband she will lose because i know the type she replied growing earnest for eight years she has been his wife and yet he has spent nearly every hour away from her has she followed him remonstrated done any of the things that a woman of force of character would have done no or i should have heard of it how long do you think would have endured that sort of treatment not a month if she has been content with nothing but her support for eight years it will content her still oh it makes me hot with anger when i think of such a creature holding such a mat in chains when she not in when love has t her a single element needed to round out his life i miss clasped her nervous hands above her head and a tremor passed through her frame a woman s opinion of her lover s wife is not likely to be of the fairest he said stung by the way in which she had spoken of mrs she fairly under the words what do you mean she cried was never any more a lover of mine in the common of that term than you are nothing ever passed between us that the whole world might not have seen and welcome he is my friend my my my partner but my lover no my views of marriage are as i told you than yours never while another woman could claim him even by the shallow fiction of law could he be any more to me than he is but let me do him justice by no word look or has

0Arthur Conan Doyle

he the rules in all his intercourse with me he was enough to tell her that some people had thought otherwise yes she answered seeing me reflected in the mirror of their own minds what they think is nothing to me so long as none of them the subject and that the most intimate of my friends have not dared to do you are the first who has had the to me and for some reason which i hardly understand i hare condescended to set you right i think it was because i wanted you to believe in me and you do do you not it was an appeal uttered with startling earnestness lit her husband s friend and he replied with that he did believe in her she leaned toward him caught one of his hands and pressed it don t think i am she said i make no platform for others i no man or woman who find themselves unable to bear the weight when a marriage them i speak only of myself and she released his hand almost as soon as she took it but in the brief space that her fingers touched him he realized what an influence she might have on a man who loved her if she chose to exert it her had beaten time with his for twenty seconds you do not expect mr very soon he said not until late in the autumn she replied with a touch of sadness in her voice i need him just now very much but it is necessary that he should stay forgive a woman s curiosity but you said something about the opinion of people in relation to us did you hear gossip connecting our names last night he bowed how did it come about a question arose as to whether wa married yes the answer was that it was strange if he were that his wife was never seen with him her eyes dilated with gratification i think no one in my circle really knows she aid and you will not tell he asked why she cared whether they knew or not m because it would give rise to petty why do bee lit and perhaps injure us in the business we have to do the world is very big is it not when a man as well known as he can have a family within a hundred and fifty miles and no one here the wiser he assented though he did not share her evident delight and soon after they parted she inquired whether he would probably attend the next and he told her it was doubtful as he had some private business that might take him out of town but whenever he returned he said he should certainly see her when had gone turned to her mirror and was not surprised to see a bit of color in her cheeks she thought she had not felt better since went away then she recollected all at once what she had learned about the little and she wept for an hour as if her heart would break chapter viii why do vou her back to the village of back to that bit of modern rode harry the flying train sped merrily through the fair land of the rising ground of and the country of the traveller alone in a corner of his went over the events of the last fortnight foot by foot the space he had traversed again he saw at the church her eyes fixed on the clergyman but her her husband s heart he no doubt very very far away he saw her on her own premises under the pine trees and then in her parlor watching him turn the leaves of his guide to paris in every look and act there was devotion to the absent one who so little deserved it all then he found himself thinking of the domestic joys that would be possible with a partner like it chilled him to think of such a woman left like a wild rose to bloom and fall by the confirmed bachelor as he was it seemed to him that had he met a girl like this ten years sooner all his life might have been changed knew nothing of the world but it would have been exquisite pleasure to teach her she had never travelled beyond the of her own county but how much more delightful she would have been on the voyages that had taken him to every than a companion who had seen everything before and could find nothing to awake more than the most languid interest her simple manners might cause a smile in some refined circles but had he had this wild rose to develop all that would long since hare been past the train stopped at a station and he looked out at the people who were gathered there as the wheels began to again it occurred to him that he was dreaming of impossible things he must think not of what might have been but of what was he had not met in the golden days of their youth she was now his friend s wife n greater chasm could be imagined between them than this these reflections gave him a sort of chill ad to the surprise of his over heated neighbors he why do you visit asked the porter to come and close the window next to him then there passed through his mind the particulars of his interview with miss his up was that she was a clever intellectual woman for it must be remembered he had not seen her in tears he was surprised on the whole at her statement in relation to the innocence of her relations with or rather surprised that he believed her as he unquestionably did had a notion that he could read character in faces had her statement come to him in the form

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of a letter he might have at it because he was not an expert in hand writing and all the pointed in an opposite direction but he had seen and heard her and no shadow of doubt was left that she spoke the truth as he thought it all over he could not tell whether the state of affairs that he had found would tend to or the thing he most desired the of the husband and wife if miss had held for eight years and more by the mere strength of her intellectual what was to prevent her from holding him if he had not been drawn to his wife during that long time by her beauty and sweetness if his charming children had no influence to keep him at home what could do it to came in the guise of a revelation he had never seen anything like her but to she was now an old story and what was there to throw into the scale it seemed a hopeless task that the in tht car had set himself to do at the house landlord in him heartily he had taken a great liking to who had away many a hour n hi company both about the quiet hotel and in making various to places in the vicinity by means of a horse and from the landlord s well stables he had said nothing to mrs about his intention of leaving town for a few days feeling that he could not do so without conveying an intimation that he thought her more interested than there was any reason to suppose she would be in the movements of one who was so recently a total stranger to her he thought as he ate his supper that it would be a good idea to wait a day or two before he called on her but as he strolled out with cigar lighted the inclination came too strongly upon him and he turned almost involuntarily toward her house arriving at her gate he hesitated till that minute he had really believed that all he meant to do was to pass the house unless he made this mental she should happen to be out of doors and see him but it was too cool that week for comfortable sitting under the shade trees and he saw a light in the parlor that where she was one of the curtains was not drawn low enough to wholly hide the interior and he could see her at a table reading probably the volume he had left with her no one else was visible and her quiet attitude implied that she was alone clearly it was an opportunity not to be thrown away tossing his cigar into the street he swung back the gate letting it purposely behind him and rang the bell a moment later he was receiving a pleasant of recognition and an invitation to be seated in the parlor why do you visit her ist i am afraid you have come for your book she said pointing to it on the table where she had just laid it down i thought once that i ought to send it to the hotel but i have been very busy and have hardly finished it however you are quite wrong he interrupted not wish ing to lose the advantage offered by the opening i have no use whatever for the volume are welcome to keep it as long as you like i have been out of town for several days and only returned on this evening s train while i like very much and mean to spend some time here i have almost no acquaintances in the village outside of mr and his family so when i strolled out after supper and happened to pass your house and saw that your parlor was lighted up i thought perhaps you would take pity on a and allow me to inflict my presence on you for a few minutes she was used to plain straightforward ways this country woman and she answered him from her heart i have told you before that you are always come here mr and i should be sorry to think you had passed the house without calling if you have so few friends in i shall hope to set all the more of you you are very kind he replied much impressed with her frankness i think it must be impossible for one like you who has lived so long here to understand the oppressive loneliness of the place at first to one who like me has passed all of his life in much more busy it is true i came here for the very change of which i speak the change from the of travel and of cities to the calm peace of the country but at first the im husband s the lack of animation of crowds of the rattle and noise to which i had been so long drove me mad when you add to that the absence of any one to talk to except the hotel people and the occasional transient guests there it is no wonder that i found it difficult to stick to my resolution and remain i do not wish to alarm you but i fear your husband will experience something of the same feeling when he returns from europe though of course he will have the advantage over me of wife and children to the effect he had not intended to utter the concluding sentence it may almost be said to have uttered itself he had got into a habit of letting his words flow as they pleased when he talked with her there are undoubtedly advantages to be acquired from residence in cities not the least of which is the habit of saying what you do not mean and the quite as one of doubting what others say to you whose life had

0Arthur Conan Doyle

been passed among primitive surroundings was unfortunately ignorant of both of these accomplishments more than this she had no notion of the extent to which had discussed her family affairs she had no idea that a gentleman who happened to stay a week at the hotel would be likely to hear anything whatever about her private history she heard his remark without the least suspicion and replied with the frankness that she applied to everything mr is obliged by his business to be absent from home a good deal she said i think he has the feeling that you have expressed about country places he never seems content while in ti pushed the opportunity to say do to ft that he supposed he was mistaken then in the supposition that she had passed the whole of her life there no you are not she replied with slightly increasing color since i was brought here a child i have never been twenty miles from this spot my husband thinks it is the best place for the children is famous for its health you know when he travels he has every moment occupied and the constant change from hotel to hotel and from city to city would he thinks be unpleasant for me there was a good deal of hesitation in this speech and marked each with the deepest interest he had no doubt whatever of her loyalty what he wished to know was whether she was contented with the life she was leading whether she was willingly separated months at a time from her husband if she were really satisfied that things should continue as they were why should he trouble himself about her he felt for a moment that there was truth in miss s of a woman who could endure it for eight years without a protest then he took a look at the face before him and marked the slight flush that had come with her answer he meant to know whether she cared and how much he might not find out that evening but he meant to know and you never feel here during these long journeys when you are without him he asked taking care not to put too much meaning into his tone i i have the children ah to be sure he replied i suppose they re in bed before this hour i have thought ef them her husband s friend often they are great company for you especially the elder one still it must be a to have their father gone so much not only for you if you will let me say it but for him i never married nor do i think i ever shall but if i did i would never consent to go into any business that would take me away from my family it seems to me that no however great would for such a loss i might make occasional but to travel without them month after month year after year it would simply be impossible for me i hope for all your that mr will make his fortune early in life and retire from business it would be quite like another when you had him all the time again this was bold enough if what he wanted was to provoke a response the rounded bosom of the wife rose and fell with a rapidity that revealed the agitation she was trying her best to conceal he offered her an opportunity to speak but she could not trust herself with words just then i once knew a steamer captain he continued seeing that he was making an impression who was obliged on account of his profession to be absent from his wife five weeks at a time he told me that she had all she could do during the first year of their marriage to keep him from throwing up his which was a very good one as those things go i crossed the atlantic with him several times and after once himself to me on the subject it seemed as if he could talk of nothing i ve got the finest boat on this line he used to say and i draw as good pay as any of them but i m not going to stand this all my life with me on the sea or at liverpool and my and the little ones at why do you visit her ii new york no sir we re just saving every penny we can get our hands on and as soon as there s enough to pay for a decent interest in a sailing vessel i ll change my and go as an ordinary it s against the rules of this line for an officer to have any of his relations aboard even if he pays their passage but on a or i can take them all and there s no one to hinder the last time i was in new york i met him in the street and his face shone like the brass plates on a new engine i ve got a craft now he said where i can take them all and we re going to sail next week for the cape of good hope my cabin ain t quite as as the house we ve had in and the back yard is rather and the profits won t be likely to come up to the salary i got on the steamer but we ll be together as he grasped my hand with his great nearly all the i realized all the happiness he felt and congratulated him warmly before going to a store for a bottle of he threw in the at the end for he saw a drooping at the corners of her mouth like that of a child who is on the point of crying he was afraid to her say anything and he went on you know the saying mrs that

0Arthur Conan Doyle

old maids have the best children it must seem quite ridiculous to hear a bachelor over the delights of constant association between husband and wife but my theories are harmless ones or will be if they don t bore you too much i am not single from conviction that it is the best state in which to live but merely because the woman whom i could love as i think a wife should be loved never came across my path when i do marry if you chance to know a husband s me then i will show you a pattern of devotion i met once out in africa an english nobleman who was returning with his wife from a tour of hundreds of miles through the heart of that savage country she had been with him for three years where no white woman had ever gone before dressed for convenience in a semi masculine costume carrying a gun and riding a horse with as much ease as any man in the party the husband told me that he had got ready to go on this journey without her and went to bid her good by when they both discovered that they simply could not endure it it was impossible to give up the expedition and there was nothing for the wife to do but pack a hand bag and go along she took a comb and brush and a little mirror of course and just as few other things as was possible for three years she had been he told me not only no to him in those but a real pleasure and assistance i almost envied that couple i assure you if i could find a woman like that i might give up my own condition of single he laughed at this in a way that was quite and she could not help smiling a little it was easier for her to listen to this man than to talk to him he thought it best to leave the subject where it was and accordingly began to discuss the paris book which he took up and opened by questioning he found that she had read most of it and that it interested her i have never read many books she said simply but i mean to now the children are less care than they were and i shall have more time may i send for some of mine and lend them to you he asked i have rows and why do you visit ut rows of them in new york doing no good to anybody you are kind to offer it she replied a but i prefer to buy my books and keep them i n r ould like you to give me a little list of some that think i would need though if it would not be too much on the contrary he said quickly i shall be delighted what will you have have you any choice among the poets history that is always interesting novels books of travel and adventure you see there are so many books one never reads half of them i will write you a list just a few that i think you will like though very likely there will be some that you have already you need not be afraid that you will include many that i have read she admitted i have never cared much for books but now i want them yes she repeated i want a good many of them i mean to read much and your advice will be of great value before he went away that evening he led her into a discussion regarding and its surroundings and she gave him much information regarding the place and people talking on a subject with which she was familiar her countenance threw off its partially constrained expression and she grew animated i suppose you have relatives here he said he had finished laughing at one of her descriptions only two she replied growing suddenly sober an unmarried brother and sister of my father they are quite old fashioned people my never goes anywhere and my aunt took offence at mv marriage and now she never calls husband s friend either i might almost say i have no relations in at all it did not seem strange to her that she told him this she had known him nearly two weeks and was over again after that night he called often there was nothing else in that interested him spite of the little with which he met the few inhabitants with whom he had occasion to discuss its beauties of scenery he yawned away the mornings over newspapers and the latest light literature he disposed of the afternoon either at the table when he could find any one to play with or exploring the country roads when he could not he did not mean to call on mrs every evening but he usually managed to see her at some hour in the twenty four he attended every local affair that was worth going to and many that were not and it happened curiously that she always knew he would be there and managed to be present herself a local band gave monday and wednesday evenings on the common there was a praise meeting friday night he had not quite got himself up to the point where he attended the saturday evening prayer meeting but he rather liked the singing especially since he found that s voice was one of those he would hear there were several sunday school and society at lake grove in which he developed an astonishing interest and she was usually on the committee of arrangements sunday there was the sermon of course which he never missed he could sit in mr s and see her for an hour on and he was pretty sure to drop in after supper and many other times h why do you

0Arthur Conan Doyle

visit her happened to walk home with her from some public occasion and talk half an hour at the gate before they parted in this way he found it worth his while to remain in all the rest of the summer to be sure he went away occasionally for a few days at a time to new york or boston generally boston miss gave up her thursday evenings during august but received regularly on sundays there were so many of her followers she said who were unable to leave with the fashionable crowd which thronged the and mountain that she felt it her duty to open her doors at least once a week even though she had sometimes to come from a long distance to do so once or twice remained over until monday at her request for private but there was very little said on these occasions that is worth all she seemed to desire was to him of her regard and to avail herself of h s information in reference to certain events that were they always spoke about in a general way but both were careful to avoid being drawn into another argument in which they would be sure to differ at the sunday evening affairs who never failed to seemed to grow week by week those who knew him best were completely at a loss to account for his manner mrs st john remarked several times to miss that he had become so dull she was almost sorry for bringing him but could never be dull in the eyes of miss she listened to every word that he uttered as if it were the speech of an she could see without the least trouble that husband s friend he had taken a jealousy of for which she was quite confident he had no just grounds in fact he seemed displeased at every sign of confidence which miss had with any of her other guests and was clearly the of men one evening he left the house in company with and as soon as they were alone he launched into the subject that was him i want you to tell me one thing he said nervously i demand it as a right as a matter of between man and man let me know without do you love miss until he reached the words themselves had no conception of what he meant to say he had supposed that the coming question would refer entirely to but as he glanced at s pale face he could not help seeing that he was terribly in earnest such an idea never entered my head he replied candidly his inclination to say that was none of his business then why continued the other in a voice why do you visit her in private a little at this you have been acting the spy have you he aid coldly yes cried when a man is in my condition of mind he will do anything i love her she knows it i think everybody knows it when i first found it out was in the way he had gone out of the city but people were always talking about him when they mentioned her name four months have passed and still he does not return some are saying that he never will i was do t set f j fe just beginning to have hope when you came she pays more attention to you than to any one else who her you go to her house on other days and remain for hours why is it if there is no love between you why i say and he paused on the overcome by the violence of his emotions found his angry feelings melting away before the evident suffering of his companion mr he began slowly the three or four which i have had with miss have been solely on business matters if i had any intention of marrying assure you she would be the last person in the world of whom i should think in that connection as far as i am concerned you may set your mind wholly at rest searched his face and seemed satisfied of the of this answer but about he asked suddenly can you tell me whether i am in danger from him i have no right to say anything about that was the reply i think however that mr has no intention whatever of offering marriage to the lady in question but she loves him m m they are friends of many years standing that is all i am quite sure that matrimony is thought of by neither of them grasped s hand warmly thank you he exclaimed with you have given me new life regarded him with great curiosity it does not follow he pursued that miss will look with favor upon your suit i incline to the belief that she is single from choice and her husband s friend to remain so she is not young he added point past her at least and too full of tion and purposes j should say to think much of anything else but would not so easily give up the hopes which he had formed i know what you think he said that i am too much her junior i have no doubt she is three or four years older than i this should be no objection on her part and if i am content who is to care she is bound up in you say well i am no less so she has not an opinion on that subject which i do not share why should she treat me as he does he looked so pitiable that found his increasing to his great surprise if you wish me to advise you he began and short that is just it well then i should say to begin with that women are not won in the way you have adopted

0Arthur Conan Doyle

did not speak but he listened attentively how may a woman be won pursued speaking like a professor of the science by exciting in her breast admiration at first and affection afterward no man can excite admiration who a bad temper at the slightest provocation who never is seen to smile and who shows on all occasions such conduct must breed aversion no matter how the lady might have been inclined toward the broke in at that savagely m how easy it is to preach you would have me mile i suppose and act t e art of when why do my heart is being torn by the coldness she shows to me and the warmth she gives to others j the boy did just that replied he denied having stolen the fox which was at the moment him to death under his coat he did that merely to avoid being proved a thief cannot you do as much for a woman you love a groan was his only answer the man whose hand can never expect to hit a bull s eye said the english language is full of to fit your case faint heart never won fair lady none but the brave deserve the fair i do not say that you can ever marry but i do tell you that your greatest need is courage yes courage he repeated putting his hand on the other s shoulder and i will add this if it will do you any good i wish with all my heart that she would accept you and that the ceremony could take place to morrow why asked looking at him i have my reasons if there is any way in which you can aid m then i may call you certainly here is my address both here and in new york i am absent a good deal but my mail is promptly forwarded i cannot leave you without repeating that i do not think miss desires to marry added as they parted but for all that i wish you well and shall be pleased if i hear of your success only remember two or three things go to her hereafter with a cheerful face don t k like a thunder cloud if she speaks to husband s x man don t press your attention and above all things remember that rome was not built in m day and that jacob served fourteen years for au p the wore on did not go to boston again for some weeks but stayed in where things were more to his liking steadily he had grown in the good graces of mrs until he listened for his step as naturally as she did for those of her children and found herself growing impatient if he did not come at his usual hour sometimes he took little and to ride in his wagon and both of them grew very fond of him he could not take their mother that would have passed the limits even of decorum but he generally contrived to let her know in which direction he intended to drive of an afternoon and he somehow happened to take the same roads with her little ones and meet him at some place where they could rest their horses under the trees and gain another hour s chat together the two or three farmers who chanced to see them while thus engaged never gave the matter a second thought they took off their hats with old fashioned courtesy to mrs and lost nothing of their esteem by raising his own with equal grace in return not a look was ever exchanged not a word was ever spoken that all america might not hav seen and heard if only all america were not so suspicious and unreasonable had procured the books he told her of and read them with most of the conversation which they held referred to the great poets or why do you visit or and their works he knew so much that interested her now that this new world was so suddenly opened up her respect for his knowledge grew with every day they were together to her mind he was an of all learning but once when she hinted as much he laughed and said he had wasted the time that he should have devoted to study and was called upon too often to realize the depths of his own ignorance if you call yourself ignorant what must you think of me she asked with self oh you will soon your he said smiling had your opportunities been as good as mine i should have had to blush more than i do now for my hours since i left college i have had nothing to do and have done a great deal of it you have formed a taste for reading and will soon be familiar with the best authors when i leave you will have more time as i shall not be coming in to disturb your evenings she turned very white and was conscious of a momentary you will leave she not yet but by and by i suppose i shall have to go i have stayed much longer than i at first intended you have made it very pleasant for me here he said this ready to the expression if she wished it but she did not seem to take alarm it is you who have made it pleasant for me she replied with her eyes on the ground he laughed thinking it would cheer her and said he was glad if he had done so but he added m you know you are expecting your husband home her husband s soon after his long absence he will hardly care to share even a little of your time with strangers she called to the children without replying telling them to return at once to the pony carriage they had wandered into an

0Arthur Conan Doyle

adjacent field and came back with their hands full of wild flowers drove back to town as was his custom by a road and was much astonished and annoyed when he happened to glance at the register of the hotel to see the name george written in a bold hand he immediately sought out the landlord and called his attention to the signature i do not want that man to know that i am here he said you may send my meals to my room until further notice as he turned around he found at his elbow and knew that every word he had uttered must have been heard by him but he was not in the least disconcerted extending his hand he exclaimed with incredible what the devil brings you down to this god forsaken place mt husband tou know him f chapter ix my husband you know him mr george had made rapid progress since that evening when he and had talked so long together after leaving s house so marked was the change in his that miss could not help noticing it and it very impressed her she treated him with more cordiality than before and raised his hopes so high that he restrained himself with difficulty from a too of his love but still between him and the object he had in view always arose like a he heard a good deal about him from miss and others and whispers that he was soon expected home began to trouble him seriously it was hardly possible tc maintain the serenity of expression upon which he had resolved the question whether was already married was often and determined to settle it if he could it was not advisable to make too many inquiries of the circle at miss s and for some time he slowly but one day while looking over an old boston he hit by pure accident upon the right thread accompanying the name of s firm were these words house at mass here was a clue indeed reference to later showed that the words last quoted were missing which convinced that they had been omitted either by special request or on account of husband s friend change in residence at any rate it was an easy thing to go to and make somebody there would be sure to know the family and in case they had moved away the would undoubtedly have the new address the question of wife and children could be solved much easier where the lived than in boston as there was but one hotel in could not very well avoid running across about the first thing he did neither of the men was glad to see the other there for each felt that his movements would now have to be to some extent suspected from the first the real nature of s errand and saw that it was likely to interfere with his visits to mrs he could not however have imagined the extent to which the lover would go in his desire to remove from his path he could not foresee that he would make the acquaintance of miss and pour into her too willing ear under the promise to conceal the name of her all that he knew pr guessed about s visits to miss thought at first of telling him the truth hoping that it would his stay but in order to do this it might be necessary to explain some things about which he did not care to be in this way several weeks went by during which the two men became a constant nuisance to each other they had to pretend friendship when they met and they played a game of together once in a while but neither was in the least deceived soon found out what he came to learn and had the additional satisfaction of getting aunt to help him in his work he might have left husband you know town then except for his wish to watch whose presence there troubled him not a little he went to boston each saturday not liking to miss seeing the object of his adoration on sunday evening but he always returned on the monday morning train had it not been for this brief might have had the unpleasant experience of living in that dull village week after week without even speaking to the woman whose presence chained him there when she asked him why he did not call oftener he made replies which caused her no little distress he had always seemed so frank about everything that the least symptom of hesitation gave her much uneasiness she assigned every reason but the right one to his changed manner and the situation grew very unpleasant for them both miss was not as may be imagined willing to leave in ignorance of what she had learned when declined to do anything but wait until her husband came home her aunt paid an immediate visit to the office of the village lawyer mr and directed him to draw up without delay a new will for her brother the lawyer knew the well enough to be sure that would sign anything that his sister told him to and readily promised to set about the work at once he was rather than usual that week however and miss got quite uneasy has said anything more to you about the new will she asked her brother when nearly had gone by only that he s very busy and is going to write it as soon as he can how long did he think we were to wait husband s for him snapped the woman her black eyes you tell him to morrow that if he doesn t get it done this week i shall go over to yes if anything should happen to you continued miss every penny of our money would go t those after i am through with it i

0Arthur Conan Doyle

hate to have it left in that way a day longer i have told out and out what we are going to do and if she won t listen to reason she must take the consequences yes might have been only a lay figure with a capacity for uttering set phrases for all the he ever took with his sister she went on talking to him more to free her mind than because it made the least difference whether he agreed with her or not that young mr coming here at this time was very fortunate she proceeded after what he told me i was sure that the i had heard in boston were true pretended not to believe a word as long as there was any use in pretending and then said she should wait until her husband came home to give him a chance to deny it if he would i never was so out of patience in my life of course he will deny it and she is just enough to believe him oh the stuff and nonsense she talked to me she couldn t believe anything about the father of her children she said perhaps she hadn t done her whole duty herself he was a literary man and couldn t be expected to stay in a dull place like you can believe i knew how to answer her you ve had eight years or more of this sort of marriage i said and i should think that was long enough trial to give any my husband i you him man he has been gone this time most six months and you are getting to be the laughing stock of the whole place when he comes back you ll run down the walk to meet him as you ve always done and throw your arms around his neck it is disgusting and he off with other women while you are for his young ones of course she cried and said she couldn t believe he could do anything wrong and that she loved him very much and all that sort of thing i never could have thought a would act so the paused from sheer exhaustion at her own rapid speech i told her not to be a little but to stand up for her rights like a woman she went on presently to the lay figure i said here is the name where he visits at boston and the very street and number will you go down there or send some one to watch them when he comes from europe you can get a divorce and make him pay a good sum as but she wouldn t consent to anything she would only say that when he came she would ask him about it and she couldn t tell what she would do until she heard his side of the story then i got provoked in earnest you haven t anything of your own i said but this house and i suppose you are on me to support you when your fine husband goes off for good with his sweetheart now let me tell you that you won t ever get a dollar of mine as long as you stick to that man when he stops sending his you can go to the for all of me i will have the will changed before i am a week older and then i walked out of the house leaving her crying like a baby oh i wish she had half of my she wouldn t go on her husband s year after year letting that fool her as be does i yes there seemed to be nothing to call for any other reply on the part of the lay figure a few minutes later the clock struck nine and the signal was immediately recognized by both of them for thirty years and more they had gone to bed at nine o clock and risen at five summer and winter ten minutes after the ninth stroke had died away both of them were sound asleep aunt s prompt call as soon as she had her story to tell did not add to s peace of mind the had not crossed the threshold for a long time before the day when she came with the in her hands and threw it without pity into the quiet house to entertain a dim fear that her husband had improper reasons for his long was one thing to have a name given her with a number and street was quite another she had no one to go to poor child with her troubles and it seemed especially hard just at this time that mr whose presence had been such a consolation should come so seldom and at his visits appear so constrained and unnatural the situation grew so painful at last that resolved at whatever cost to have an understanding with one evening they strolled down the street together and he opened the conversation how much longer do you expect to stay in laughed it is a curious thing that i was just on the point of asking you the same question he said too know oh as for me responded i may stay here forever for all i know being without any business one place is the same to me as another you seem to find this one very agreeable said the other in a sly tone couldn t help understanding this and he flushed hotly but he only said yes very laughed again we might as well be honest with each other he said in a familiar tone you know what brought me here and i know what keeps you here i have found out what i came to learn and you he paused appearing to think that the sentence did not need finishing but his look was sufficiently expressive you came here said slowly biting off the end

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of his cigar to find out whether was married precisely i could have told you that the night you arrived or last august in boston when you wanted to know or years and years ago if i had had the honor of your acquaintance looked not only astonished but incredulous years ago he repeated certainly and i were school boys together we have been as intimate as men can be i left him last june in paris where we stayed at the same hotel he writes to me every week stared more and more there is some mystery about this he said why do they call you at the hotel and in the village her s for a very good reason was the response it is my name but there are places where they call you by another name let me set your mind at rest said coolly i have three names i was not obliged to tell miss which was my last one and still i say there is a mystery pursued more puzzled than ever you say you are s friend you have passed months here and called frequently on his wife now it appears that when you go to boston you give miss an assumed name you interest yourself in this matter month after month though it you to spend most of the summer in the town of america and he paused to sum up remains abroad what is it all for a h he exclaimed as if a light had dawned upon him i think i see what do you think you see asked inclined to be amused you came here to watch the wife responded stealthily the husband wants a divorce i am not flattered by your ridiculous guess said with great dignity can t you conceive it possible that a man may be by proper motives there is no mystery whatever in my movements i have for years and am tired of excitement i came here because the place is secluded and i am less likely to run across knowing caused me to make this selection there you have it was lost in thought for several moments if this is true he said finally you ought to be my husband you know him as anxious as i am to keep away from miss s why on his wife s account i think she is able to manage alone her own affairs he has been going there for eight years remember he had no intention of making a of this man whatever else he might do she doesn t care then exclaimed all women are not said mrs has never alluded to the subject in my presence she her husband and to do that it is natural to suppose that she must have confidence in him he makes no secret of the fact that he and miss are attached friends why i went to her with a letter of introduction from him he found that he was saying more than he meant to and resolved to control his words does she know that he is married asked desperately ah said that is another question i shall tell her the next time i see her or at least i shall let her see that i know it i wouldn t do that if i were you suggested it may give her an idea that you are jealous and make no end of trouble i say he added as a thought struck him you haven t been talking around this town have you he looked straight in the eye and the man under his gaze if the wife knows it all what harm could it do said though he seemed uneasy for all that her husband friend have you been talking to her demanded in angry tones no no not to her stammered only to a relative the old aunt you know miss and you told her what i am not obliged to answer you retorted the man very much you are though said you may have made no end of trouble that aunt is capable of doing anything to hurt mr and she hates his wife on his account she has been angry ever since he was married and would get them if she could if you have stirred up things here he added angrily i will stir up enough for you somewhere else under the words but if she knew it all before he said again knew it all if she knows that he has a friend in boston who shares his views on or some other confounded rot that is one thing if you have started suspicions that there is to boot that is quite another i don t know and i won t take your word for it either i am going to mrs and miss and find out yes and after that i shall go to miss to tell her what you have done he continued growing as he proceeded you may have been up to other mischief too mrs is miss s natural heir you may have made so much feeling with your confounded stories that she has had her will changed what the brought you here anyway the best thing you can do is co go as fast as you can and tell the old maid my husband i you know him f you are a liar and then get out of town on the first train was very much confused but he tried to put on an air of dignity i don t think you can make me leave town until i please said he i will tell you what replied turning upon him like a wolf if you are in at noon to morrow i will kick you out of it without replying turned abruptly away and walked towards the wood path which he was in the habit of he was a little ashamed of himself he could

0Arthur Conan Doyle

not remember when he had ever been in such a temper before he walked on until he was comparatively calm and then though it was monday night he bent his steps towards the residence before he reached there he believed he had succeeded in all traces of excitement from his face but in this he was mistaken saw at first glance that something unusual had happened you are not well to night mr she said oh yes i am well enough he said nervously taking her hand and holding it to her momentary consternation i have just had a talk with a scoundrel and it has me a little that is all but you must not call me mr again my name is she repeated yes he said suddenly discovering that he was her hand and it that is my name your husband must have spoken of me to you she stared at him wildly her husband s friend my husband you know him i have known him for twenty years then explain why you came here under the name of don t ask me too much to night i did it for his sake and yours but the man i have just left has been telling in the village for his own purposes he admitted to me that he has been talking to your aunt she uttered a little cry and sank into a chair she cried clasping her hands together did you say yes i don t know what anything but the truth has your aunt been here to poison your ears with them i suspected it let me urge you to your mind of all that she has said without a minute s hesitation the wretch from whom she obtained them is unworthy of the slightest he spoke very rapidly and his words seemed to overcome her with joy why am i here he asked as as before because i love your husband because i your children because i love you for i do love you and yet i think not with more love than i have a right to give to the wife of my dearest friend i love you and i love and my greatest wish is to see you as closely united as a husband and wife should be i am not going to him for what he has done or is doing that would not be my right but if there is a deeper possibility of love between you i wish it might be yours he is coming home in a week or two i received a letter from him saturday and he ought mt husband you know i never to go so long from you again as soon as he comes i shall see him i shall tell him i the violence of his emotion overcame him and he pressed his hands over his face h looked up again she was standing beside him how could he leave a woman like you and stay away month after month he exclaimed seizing her hand once more you are worthy of any man who walks the earth she trembled as he touched her you are very kind she responded in a whisper i can never thank you enough for the interest you have taken in me he looked into her face i do not love you too much no i am sure i do not he said very slowly i should have left any time when i discovered that you do not wish me to go he added no not from but from the house at this time yes i am sure it would be better but you have confidence in me yes oh yes he rose walked to the door more firmly than usual paused at the threshold half turned back nd then passed swiftly down the walk and into the street x tub spy there is a proverb to the effect that the good wilt even of a dog is to his enmity miss had learned this lesson much better than had it took her but a very little while to discover that george could be a very disagreeable personage when he first came to her house she was much attracted by the bright way in which he discussed social issues and thanked mrs st john warmly for bringing him to her attention but when he fell in love with her as she a little later his complaint when he ceased to say anything that had not in it some touch of irony when he began to make hints about to be surly at the least attention she paid to any other masculine guest and to drop suggestions of a desire to see her in private she was not long in changing her mind she could have settled the matter by conveying to the young man an intimation that his further presence at her was not desirable but the probability was that this would only transfer the field of his operations she did not like him as an friend she was not likely to be better pleased if she converted him into a pronounced enemy her intention therefore was to let matters take their own course in the b v that be would what the spy discovered see the folly of his conduct he was not the first man who had been stricken with a severe attack of affection for her she believed the affair would run its course and die at last of its own accord the sudden alteration in his manner on the night following his first conference with surprised miss greatly the side which he presented her on that occasion was one which she had never seen he her on her looks became specially attentive to several gentlemen with whom she found it necessary to confer at length and was in general as much unlike the former mr as one could possibly conceive but though she was much puzzled

0Arthur Conan Doyle

by all this it did not throw her off her guard she knew well that something unusual must have happened to cause this change and she her time to discover what it was when more than a month had gone by and his improved continued she was obliged to admit to herself that she could make nothing of it and then there came a day the one following his stormy interview with detailed in the last chapter when he boldly to her door in the middle of the afternoon and sent up his card with the message that he wished to see her on a matter of importance miss s reception evenings were open as has been stated to the very circle of people of all shades of opinion and of all of society her list of individual friends whom she saw on other occasions was the smallest perhaps possessed by any lady in boston so generally was this understood that few outside of her ever called upon her except by request and those who did were almost invariably met with a not at borne that polite fiction which has become almost a to very busy or very retiring people the servant took mr s card and carried it with his statement to her mistress there was a moment of and then miss directed that the gentleman should be shown into the drawing room she had thought it over very rapidly he might be there on some errand that would prove he might on the contrary have something of importance to communicate in either case the wisest way was to see him for if the former supposition proved correct it would be easy to make this visit a final one so miss laid down the pen she was using and went into the drawing room to meet her visitor who rose at her entrance and bowed profoundly i trust you will not think me she said before he could speak if i tell you at the outset that i can only spare you a very few minutes i am reading the proofs of my magazine which appears this week however if your business is really of importance i must my other work until i have listened to it she took a chair him to resume the one he had and assumed an attitude of attention which disconcerted him not a little he did fancy seeing things put on such a purely commercial basis i came here miss he began struggling to hide his confusion to say something to you that j believe is for your interest i may be mistaken b it i think it is worth your while to hear me she had not the least idea what was coming bat she bowed and uttered the brief answer what the it is in relation to mr dan ell he mid think ing it wisest to fix her attention at once she changed color in spite of herself m i do not know she responded slowly how there can be anything in reference to that gentle man about which you could feel it necessary to speak to me he regarded her attentively as he replied i have come here because i think you do not know i may be mistaken but i think so he replied with deliberation in one sense it is true tt is no affair of mine in another considering the regard i have for you but she broke in upon him to the point if you please mr if there is anything that you think necessary to tell me i pray you to do so without delay for i assure you again that my time to day is precious well in short replied becoming exasperated i have discovered that mr is a married man yes he continued the expression of her countenance as she received the information he has a wife and children living in the village of in the western part of this state he paused to mark the effect of this shell and was disappointed miss had quickly recovered her and was regarding him with an icy stare well proceed she said again proceed he echoed why what more is there that needs to be said u then am i to understand that this is all is it not enough he cried interest do you imagine this matter has to her husband s me she asked each word with perfect distinctness it was now his turn to stare you you are through with him then he stammered explain yourself she demanded sharply it strikes me that your last expression demands it the coldness of her manner his uneasiness why he ejaculated i thought everybody thinks that and you were more than ordinary friends i don t mean anything unpleasant you know but i supposed that there was an understanding an engagement or something of that kind there have been lately that he was married but very few of your acquaintances believed them they all said you would not treat him as you do if if he were you know and when happened to find out for certain why i thought it my duty to tell you as i couldn t help believing that you were being deceived she drew up her shoulders and surveyed him with an expression of contempt i fear you take me for some other woman she said do you know who i am my name is he felt like a standing before the face of the of as she thus launched personality at him did you think that chose hei friends before finding out what they were did you imagine that you could come here and tell me anything new about a man whom i have known for years and years i v before ae was married and i have known him ever what the ft y could tell you the very of his children the fifth of may the

0Arthur Conan Doyle