The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-07-19

III trouble you to walk out OF my
house. sir" said he. "You can tell your
employer, Lord Mount-James. that /
do not wish TO have anything to do
either with him or with his agents.
No sir-not another wordP He rang
the bell furiously John. show these
gentlemen out" A pompous butler
ushered us severely to the door. and
we found ourselves in the street
Holmes burst out laughing.
"Dr. Leslie Armstrong Is certainly a
man Of energy and character" said he.
II have not seen man who. If he
turns his talents that way, was more
calculated to ell the gap left by the
illustrious Moriarty And now, my
poor Watson. here we are, stranded
and friendless in this inhospitable
town, which we cannot leave without
abandoning our case This little inn
Just opposite Armstrong; house is
singularly adapted to our needs. II
you would engage a front room and
purchase the necessaries for the night.
I may have time to make a few in
quiries."
These few inquiries proved, however
TO be more lengthy proceeding than
Holmes had imagined, for he did me-
return 20 the inn until nearly o o'clock.
lie was pale and detected. stained with
dust, and exhausted with hunger and
fatigue. A cold supper was ready up
on the table, and when his needs were
sdtisned and his pipe alight he was
ready to take that hah comic and
wholly phiiosophic view which was
natural to him when his affairs were
going awry. The sound of carriage
wheels caused him 70 rise and glance
out of the widow. !. brougllsm and
pair Of grays stood before the doctors
door.
IT'S been out three hours" said
Holmes. started at 6:30 and here it
is back again. That gives a radius Of
ten or twelve miles, and he does IT
once or sometimes twice a day"
mo unusual thing for a doctor in
practice"
But Armstrong is not really a doe
tor in practice. He is a lecturer and
a coRsultant, but he does not care for
general practice, which distracts him
from his literary work Why. then,
does ne make these long journeys,
which must be exceedingly irksome to
him, and who is it that he visits7"
His coachman"-
"My dear Watson, can you doubt
that it was to him that first applied
do not know whether 1t came from
his own innate depravity or from the
promptings Of his master. but he was
rude enough to set a dog at me. Nei-
ther dog nor man liked the look Of my
stick, however, and the matter fell
through. All that / have learned
got from friendly native in the
yard Of our own inn. 1t was he who
told me OF the doctors hajits and OF
his daily journey. At that instant, to
give point TO his words, the carriage
came round to the door"
Gould you not follow itT'
Excellent, Watson! You are scin-
tillating this evening. The idea did
Cross my mind. There is, as you may
have observed, bicycle shop next TO
our inn Into this l rushed, engaged
bicycle and was able to get started be-
fore the carriage was quite out OF
sight j rapidly overlook it, and then,
keeping at a discreet distance OF hun
dred yards or so, followed its lights
until we were clear OF the town. We
had got well out on the country road
when somewhat mortifying incident
occurred. The carriage stopped, the
doctor alighted, walked swiftly back TO
where | had halted and told me in an
excellent sardonic fashion that he fear
ed the road was narrow sand that he
hoped his carriage did not impede the
passage OF my bicycle. Nothing could
have been more admirable than bis
way of putting X. / at once rode past
road, ! went on for a few miles and
then halted in convenient place TO
see if the carriage passed. There was
no sign Of II, however, and so It be-
came evident that It had turned down
one of several side roads which / had
observed. l rode back. but again saw
notlEng Of the carriage, and now as
OF course / had at the outset no par
ticular reason 10 connect these four
neys with the disappearance Of God
frey Staunton and was only inclined
TO investigate them on the general
grounds tAat everything which con
Germs DR.. Armstrong is at present OF
Interest 10 US, but now tirat fnd he
laar,p 50 Isoa,, a loobaVt ,,ra,, ann ,.,,.
who may follew him on tlrese excuF-
sions the AFFAIR appears more impor-
tant, aud ] shall not be satisfied until
l have made the matter clear"
I'VE can follow him tomorrow"
"Can wef II is not so easy as you
seem to think. You are not familiar
with Cambridgeshire, are your 1t does
not lend itself to concealment. All this
country that passed over tonight is as
nat as the palm Of your hand; and the
man we are following Is no fool, as be
very clearly showed tonight / have
wired 70 OvertOn 70 let Us know any
fresh London Developments at this ad-
dress, and In the meantime We can only
concentrate our attention upon DR..
Armstrong, whose name the Obliglng
young lady al the ONCE allowed me 70
read upon the counterfoil OF ataunton's
urgent message. He knows where the
young man is--to that III swear,-and
II he knows, then II must be our own
fault II We cannot manage TO know
also. At present Il must be admitted
that the odd trick is Ia his possession,
and, as you are aware, Watson. il Is
not my habit g. leave the game IN that
condition"