own, so
she gave us all the slip and got away to london. she had
been engaged to me, and she would have married me, i
believe, if i had taken over another profession; but she
would have nothing to do with anything on the cross. it
was only after her marriage to this englishman that i was
able to find out where she was. i wrote to her, but got no
answer. after that i came over, and, as letters were no
use, i put my messages where she could read them.
"well, i have been here a month now. i lived in that farm,
where i had a room down below, and could get in and out
every night, and no one the wiser. i tried all i could to
coax elsie away. i knew that she read the messages, for
once she wrote an answer under one of them. then my temper
got the better of me, and i began to threaten her. she
sent me a letter then, imploring me to go away and saying
that it would break her heart if any scandal should come
upon her husband. she said that she would come down when
her husband was asleep at three in the morning, and speak
with me through the end window, if i would go away
afterwards and leave her in peace. she came down and
brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go. this
made me mad, and i caught her arm and tried to pull her
through the window. at that moment in rushed the husband
with his revolver in his hand. elsie had sunk down upon
the floor, and we were face to face. i was heeled also,
and i held up my gun to scare him off and let me get away.
he fired and missed me. i pulled off almost at the same
instant, and down he dropped. i made away across the
garden, and as i went i heard the window shut behind me.
that's god's truth, gentlemen, every word of it, and i
heard no more about it until that lad came riding up with a
note which made me walk in here, like a jay, and give
myself into your hands."
a cab had driven up whilst the american had been talking.
two uniformed policemen sat inside. inspector martin rose
and touched his prisoner on the shoulder.
"it is time for us to go."
"can i see her first?"
"no, she is not conscious. mr. sherlock holmes, i only
hope that if ever again i have an important case i shall
have the good fortune to have you by my side."
we stood at the window and watched the cab drive away. as
i turned back my eye caught the pellet of paper which the
prisoner had tossed upon the table. it was the note with
which holmes had decoyed him.
"see if you can read it, watson," said he, with a smile.
it contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--
{graphic}
"if you use the code which i have explained," said holmes,
"you will find that it simply means 'come here at once.' i
was convinced that it was an invitation which he would not
refuse, since he could never imagine that it could come
from anyone but the lady. and so, my dear watson, we have
ended by turning the dancing men to good when they have so
often been the agents of evil, and i think that i have
fulfilled my promise of giving you something unusual for
your note-book. three-forty is our train, and i fancy we
should be back in baker street for dinner.
only one word of epilogue. the american, abe slaney, was
condemned to death at the winter assizes at norwich; but
his penalty was changed to penal servitude in consideration
of mitigating circumstances, and the certainty that hilton
cubitt had fired the first shot. of mrs. hilton cubitt i
only know that i have heard she recovered entirely, and
that she still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to
the care of the poor and to the administration of her
husband's estate.
{--------------------------------------------------------}
{----------------------- end of text --------------------}
{--------------------------------------------------------}
{------------------ textual notes -----------------------}
{dancing men graphics are indicated by the term {graphic}}
{---------------- end textual notes ---------------------}
{--------------------------------------------------------}
{soli, rev 4, 1/17/96 rms, 4th proofing}
{the adventure of the solitary cyclist, arthur conan doyle}
{source: the strand magazine, 27 (jan. 1904)}
{etext prepared by roger squires rsquires@nmia.com}
{braces({}) in the text indicate textual end-notes}
{underscores (_) in the text indicate italics}
iv. -- the adventure of the solitary cyclist.
from the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive mr. sherlock holmes
was a very busy man. it is safe to say that there was no
public case of any difficulty in which he was not consulted
during those eight years, and there were hundreds of
private cases, some of them of the most intricate and
extraordinary character, in which he played a prominent
part. many startling successes and a few unavoidable
failures were the outcome of this long
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