The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1905-11-08
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crimson with fury.
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 wordv 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
81 have not seen man who, II he
turns his talents that way, was more
calculated to fill 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. If
you would engage a front room and
purchase the necessaries for tie night,
I may have time to make few in
| quiries."
These few inquiries proved, however,
to be more lengthy proceeding than
Holmes had imagined, for he did not
return to the inn until nearly O'clock
He was pale and detected, stained with
dust, and exhausted with hunger and
fatigue. A cold supper was ready up
OH the table, and when his needs were
satisfied and his pipe alight he was
ready to take that half comic and
wholly philosOphic view which was
natural to him when his affairs were
going awry. The sound of carriage
wheels caused him to rise and glance
out of the window. A brougham and
door.
Its been out three hours" said
Holmes. Started at G: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 doctor in
practice"
But Armstrong is not really doc
tor in practice. He is lecturer and
/
general practice, which distracts him
from his literary work. Why. then,
does he make these long journeys,
which must be exceedingly irksome to
him, and who is it that he visits?'
His cOachman"-
"My dear Watson, can you doubt
that it was to him that first applied ?
do not know whether it came from
his own innate depravity or from the
promptings of his master, but he was
rude enough to set dog at me. Nei-
Their dog nor man liked the look of my
stick, however, and the matter fell
through. All that I have learned
got from a friendly native in the
yard of our own inn. 1t was he who
told me of the doctors habits and of
his daily journey. At that instant, to
give point to his words, the carriage
came round to the door,"
'sCould you not follow it?''
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 rushed, engaged a
bicycle and was able to get started be-
fore the carriage was quite out of
sight. rapidly overlook it, and then,
drcd yards or So 1 followed its lights
until we We're clear Of the town. We
had got well out on the country road
when somewhat notifying 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 and that he
hoped his carriage did not impede the
passage Of my bicycle. Nothing could
have been more admirable than his
way of putting it. l at once rode past
the carriage, and, keeping to the main
road, l went on for few miles and
then halted in convenient place to
see if the carriage passed. There was
no sign of it, however, and 50 it be-
came evident that 1t had turned down
one of several side roads which had
observed. l rode back, but again saw
nothing Of the carriage, and now, as
you perceive, it has returned after me-
OF course had at the outset no par
ticular reason to connect these jour
neys with the disappearance Of God
frey Staunton and was only inclined
to investigate them on the general
grounds that everything which con-
Germs DIR. Armstrong is at present Of
interest to u.s. but now that l find he
keeps SO keen lookout upon any one
who may follow him on these excur.
sions the affair appears more impor-
tant, and I shall not be satisfied until
l have made the matter clear"
1--WE can follow him tomorrow"
"Can we? It Is not SO easy as you
seem to think. You are not familiar
with Cambridgeshire, are you? 1t does
not lend itself to concealment. All this
country that passed over tonight is as
fat as the palm of your hand, and the
man we are following Is no fool, as he
very clearly showed tonight. l have
wired to Overton to let us know any