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ou have time to listen i will give you the entire story he said it may form the basis of a future novel and prove quite as interesting as one of your own invention i had the time to listen of course one has time for anything and everything agreeable in the best place to hear the tale was in a victoria and with my good on the box with the coachman we set out at once on a drive to the as the recital was only half through when we reached the house we postponed the remainder while we stopped there for an excellent lunch on the way back to my friend continued and finished the story it was indeed quite suitable for use and i told my friend with thanks that i should at once put it in shape for my readers i said i should make a few alterations in it for the sake of dramatic interest but in the main would follow the lines he had given me it would spoil my romance were i to answer on this page the question that must be uppermost in the reader s mind i have already revealed almost too much of the plot for the rest i must refer you t without more to the chapters that follow chapter i in a it was very early in the morning and the responded to the call of the young american on the the rowed leisurely to the bank for the gentry to which he belongs does not easily get excited and helped his fare into the with a grace inherited from generations of polite ancestors where he asked in his italian and the young man who hardly knew a word of the language had no difficulty in the meaning of the question anywhere he answered with a wave of his hand as easily understood as the term used by the other he wanted an early row among the of and as he had been in the silent city love gone astray but a short time one direction was as agreeable to him as another the took his long oar and began to his craft by those strange sweeping motions that so interest and puzzle one unused to this style of standing well back toward the stern he sent the beautiful creature of which he seemed a part as gracefully through the water as any swan he rowed slowly both from preference and because it was evident that haste was not desired by his passenger he rowed because there is no other mode known to the of from the attendant of a to the freight who brings a load of from the or of vegetables from the islands where the market gardens are for a while the course of the boat lay along the grand canal it passed under the venerable as solid as london bridge in effect one massive stone that will be as far as human judgment can foresee until the earth is in its final on either side of the canal long lines of palaces shone in the early light their occupants for the most part yet invisible was still asleep lovely as she is at all times this stately creature is never so pretty as when in repose a glide along her watery streets just before sunrise is like moving silently through a garden where lie in slumber in there is no wheeled carriage of any description not a horse mule ox goat sheep puts his foot upon her the station at which you arrive by train is at an extreme corner of the in a city and even its necessary noise is tempered by the surroundings the only of passenger or goods service are the boats which make hardly more disturbance for the ear than a fish passing over the same route every sound and when the city she is capable of many sounds proceeds from the voices of individuals or the of the sacred that are fed by thousands at all hours in the of st mark the of various wares seems to feel that it is incumbent upon him to mock the echoes of the winding over which one may stroll the themselves when there is a possible occasion cry out to each other in weird tones especially at narrow of the side to prevent collision with craft approaching silently from beyond the stone and brick of a corner besides in protest of the natural stillness of their city they quarrel for hours in front of the principal hotels with as much effect as a parcel of highly birds in an african forest but for these things would be as quiet as the in which the pin is about to drop or as a in a superstitious neighborhood at the morning hour when young gray rode in his under the these noises had only faintly begun and the delight he felt in his excursion was great he wanted the effect of solitude with the hidden from sight by his position the boat seemed by a sail or the force of a tide until men have mastered the currents of the love gone upper air and can voyage whither they please in the there will be no effect so nearly like it as to float on the bosom of a canal the drift the current of a river does not give the same impression for there is a tiresome row in prospect before the starting point can be regained no boat by machinery even the tidy little equals it for the noise of the wheels cannot entirely be and the smell of the themselves in spite of all precaution to the nostrils the may give more excitement as she bird like across the waters of the sea but she does not lull the senses and transport the into another world from which he may return at pleasure only the does this why did gray

0Arthur Conan Doyle

wish for solitude he was twenty years of age and in the possession of perfect health most youths like him would have the stillness of the and welcomed joyfully the first signs of that awakening that would come with the sunrise was sentimental the strangeness of the situation gave him a real delight he lay back in the comfortable seat stretched his legs and gave himself up to reverie his brain dwelt on the poetic quality of this peculiar place its history of which he had read much passed slowly through his mind he wished he had lived some centuries earlier to have seen these islands when the of the whole world came there with treasures of distant lands and when st mark s held a gorgeous from one year s end to another s in a to enjoy thoroughly one must himself into that dead and buried past for to day only the shadow of the mighty substance is left the young man had watched the litter of leaning from stately he saw that decay had fastened upon the of this glorious creature on whose breast he had been permitted too late to rest his head to appreciate he must forget the present the morning hour just before the sun comes out of the is the best time for this the grand canal is some hundreds of feet in width during the major part of its course the streets are seldom more than twenty when an hour had passed and the sun was peeping over the rosy tints of the east the passenger lifted a hand without turning in his seat and intimated that he would vary his course by entering one of the side streams he nodded still without turning when the said in an tone they understood each other very well and with a sweep of the long oar that bore no apparent relation to the effect it gave the italian turned his in the direction indicated and with another sent his between the high of buildings that bordered the the light on the outer world had little effect as yet on these secluded passages the undisturbed quality of the voyage was if anything improved by the change so little prospect was there of another approaching from the opposite direction that s forgot to utter his usual cry at the doubtful corners love gone astray the that seemed to offer a succession of impossible turns for the long craft proved equal to its passage in the of the whose art was little less than he found plenty of room where none was visible not even the walls with either end of his boat and all without the least apparent effort if anything was needed to make the young american certain he had passed from earth to the magic perfection of these difficult passages under numerous little arched bridges he floated and when at last he emerged upon the grand canal he uttered the word he had heard and was immediately rowed again into a succession of the minor ones finally the march of the early morning began to have its effect in various ways through windows women could be seen preparing other came toward the from which passengers might be expected market boats loaded high with the brightest potatoes and fruit appeared young people were seen as the public squares were passed going to labor beggars thought it not too early to their trade the most flourishing and perhaps the most in shutters were taken down from dingy shops and goods arranged to the expected customer services in the churches of which the city more than a hundred attracted those who had the time and inclination for them the city was awakening gray s beautiful dream was being spoiled he roused himself with impatience for he would have preferred that m a the reverie had gone on for some hours longer the morning had been slightly chilly for the date was late in october but the warmly dressed youth had experienced no discomfort the was now mounting slowly but surely and the less fortunate who had no means to purchase fuel were crawling out into the sunshine like a species of there were months before them of colder nights than these and they had not yet begun to the very poor are your true and the more ignorant of these people knew though they might not have been able to put it into words that what must be must be somewhat gray to his that he would return to the waters of the grand canal if was indeed awake she would look better he thought from that point the main street of the city repaid him for the change in the glowing colors reflected from her palace walls as the of the sun came in contact with the shades that art and time have combined to render lovely other foreigners were out now as well as himself taking what they thought a very early view of the city he marked the various types of and looked rather longer than was quite polite at a party of young girls by a sour faced and elderly female that they were english he made sure by the glowing color of their cheeks as well as by the peculiar fashion of their hair and the of their then his attention was attracted by an italian girl hardly more than fifteen years of age who the forward oar in a boat that transported love gone astray baskets of coal from one of the to the shore the girl was strikingly pretty with the dark hair and eyes of her race and there was a freedom in the way she moved her arms that would have given pleasure to a painter she apparently boasted but one garment a printed gown that came only to her knees and was loosely fastened at the breast the lower portion of her brown legs was entirely uncovered

0Arthur Conan Doyle

and the skirt blew in perfect freedom about the upper parts she wore no hat and her hair hung in a careless to the level of her waist the girl returned s interested look finding him quite as well worth noting as he found her and they were apparently trying to decide which should the other when a short crisp word from the master of her boat called her attention to her work with a farewell glance that expressed regret as plainly as any formed sentence the child bent her young energies with strength to the oar and did not look again in gray s direction how pretty these italian girls always are he murmured to himself and why is it that they grow so soon into ugly wrinkled sallow faced old does nature punish them for having taken more than their share in infancy to think this will look thirty years from now like that who waits on the ready to a from me if i carry out my purpose of landing on her territory at the risk of paying the tribute however the american to his that he wished to reach the shore and a few moments later he stood in a upon the marble steps that face the pillars after settling in a more than liberal way with the and seeing the shrug of dissatisfaction that of all nations are wont to use no matter what they are paid he put a silver piece of small value into the woman s outstretched hand and turned to see if the pretty child in the coal boat had disappeared from view there she was pushing with all her strength at her oar her face turned from him the print gown blowing about her legs having forgotten already no doubt that such a young man as he existed slightly he took a few steps up the walk turned to look at her again and then dismissed her from his mind though there was at least five years ee in their ages it would have been a pleasure had he found her stealing a covert glance in his direction such are the sentiments of a young fellow of twenty more often than one might think and there was nothing in this hero of ours to take him out of the common in this particular the three hours that he had been out of bed made gray quite ready for a cup of coffee and a roll even though so much of the time had been spent in dreaming as he walked briskly toward the he saw that a pall of clouds hung over the city broken here and there by the rising sun as if the elements were in clothes for which they had no use all at once young gray s eyes encountered an object that took his attention from the and brought it to the earth at his feet lying at the base of the column that bears upon its summit love gone the bearded lion of st mark was a man of but little more than his own age dressed in garments that showed him to be no native of and that also indicated the of his being in the habit of selecting the pavement for his bed the figure was in a very deep slumber and the face so covered by one of the arms the other being used as a that the features could not be distinguished paused and gazed for some minutes at the form not willing to leave it there and yet uncertain whether he had either the right or the inclination to disturb a sleep that whatever else might be said of it was apparently refreshing and grateful to its owner several paused to join the and then went their ways with a laugh a cloud of flew over from the and alighted near him in expectation of a handful of corn to be had of at three cents a half gray bought some grain and took up the time in scattering it on the ground it gave him an excuse for staying in the neighborhood the story of the came into his head and he was neither a priest nor a if the man on the stones needed any little help he would be glad to give it to him it was not likely he had selected that hard bed from choice still had a hesitation about interfering with the business of other people perhaps he would be not only but insulted if he took this by the arm and shook him into an idea occurred as the of what he was doing he could let the awake the in a and it would then be easy to see whether anything further was advisable scattering the slowly gray saw the birds it as as if they and their ancestors had not been fed for more than a thousand years within a hundred feet of that spot stray that he threw lit upon the coat and then upon the hat of the bringing the without delay to the same with the that centuries have bred in these of presently a dozen of the things were perched upon the figure of the prostrate man for every grain that could be found and still he slept on it was only when one of the birds flying from above lit on the rim of the soft hat and came with a great flapping of wings into his very face that the turned and made an involuntary motion to brush away the the removal of the protecting arm allowed the sunlight to fall upon his eyelids and the awakening that had taken so long was accomplished a h h he muttered rousing himself into a sitting posture and stretching his stiff limbs after making which remark he sat up and with his back against the column of st mark looked around the palace of the the church

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of san and the rows of shops opposite impressed themselves upon his vision then the and last of all young mr gray a h h he said again he reached his hand toward a pocket of his and finding neither watch nor chain there he said love gone astray ah for the third time and began to get upon his feet what time is it he asked yawning and gray delighted that the conversation had thus begun responded that it was between seven and eight o clock the man spoke english and was apparently a native of the british eight o clock he replied why it was after ten when he paused and contracted his eyebrows confound it i believe i ve slept here all night this looked so probable that the person to whom it was addressed only answered witli a smiling nod he had sized up the rapidly during the last minute the movement toward the watch that had disappeared told its own story hard luck of some kind had caused the owner of the to part with it the clothes of the were of good cut and they had not suffered seriously from contact with a dry and reasonably clean pavement he brushed off the dust with care and then stretched himself again if you will excuse the liberty in a stranger said gray i was just going to get some coffee would you like to accompany me the englishman cast a quick look of suspicion at the speaker and then tried to conceal his action i suppose i am a curiosity to you said he and such i must at least for the present remain it would be folly to pretend that i selected this place for my nap on account of its comfort it in a was merely a matter of i did not have a in my pocket i could not my watch or chain or diamond pin or rings because i had none my very linen is held as security for rent i cannot pay with these statements i leave you to say whether you still wish my company or whether you would rather hand me a as yon would to any other and let me go all the generosity in gray s heart forbade the acceptance of the latter proposition the man had told him nothing but what he already suspected he replied quick y that his invitation still held good and that he trusted all disagreeable subjects would be banished from the slight refreshment of which they were to partake very well was the reply as they walked along toward s i will go with pleasure all the greater as it is twenty four hours since i tasted food to the exclamation which greeted this announcement the stranger added oh that is nothing if i were at liberty to tell you let me say only this i have been robbed my enemies have me and as you see they have left me in a rather disagreeable plight but my courage is still good and when my turn comes i shall pay them back with interest what may i call you asked handing his new acquaintance his card as they seated them selves at one of the tables i shall have to refuse you my true name for the present was the reply i am but for the purpose of conversation you may call me mr mr william love gone astray chapter ii the strange mr mr william the in the square by the with which he devoured the light meal that was soon before him he was finishing the second cup of coffee he had poured from the generous pot and on his third roll when an idea occurred to mr gray would you mind he said if i ordered some eggs for you along with my own i am not yet used to continental and find need of something rather more substantial between morning and noon mr laughed i should certainly like the eggs he answered and for the sake of them will pardon the of your invitation ask the waiter to make it three if you please eating once a day has its but it certainly to a healthy appetite the manner in which the stranger received his new friend s advances made it easy to get on comfortable terms with him and the that had crept into s manner rapidly disappeared you are an early it seems commented when there came a suitable point into which to throw the remark i was in a at four o clock replied gray with a blush partly of pride the strange mb indeed and what did you want at that hour only to see in her greatest quiet and then he went on somewhat to give the impressions he had formed before the sun rose and warming as he proceeded detailed the sights and sounds of that half journey it was clear that this was a to which mr could not respond he laughed a little from time to time and shook his head as if to say he saw no pleasure in that kind of a trip quite but with no attempt to sacrifice truth to politeness you are evidently a he said i suppose you read and and that sort of thing i them was the enthusiastic reply and do you write verses yourself asked no it almost seems as if i could though i feel all a poet s without confidence enough to express it i think there is no place so poetic as these watery streets anywhere on the globe mr responded that he had found the streets of very wet and the a slow and unsatisfactory vehicle even when he had money in his purse he said it took an time to get one of those silly when he had not a and his course led up and down over the flights of stairs called bridges

0Arthur Conan Doyle

an hour s walk was as tiresome as three in a sensible english town v but the skies remarked gray with enthusiasm love gone astray have you ever seen such beauty in the of sea and air as there is at sunset i thought before i came here that the painters had drawn on their but they do not half the reality and in the evening when the singing parties go out on the water what a soul stirring effect they produce i had rather hear one of these of accompanied by their and than the best opera in one of our home theatres with a hundred picked in the would you really asked mr who seemed to find the statement most astonishing he said he had heard some of the singing from a distance and had not taken the trouble to go nearer as for the sky he had not even noticed it except to on the probability of rain but what do you find worth seeing and hearing in then demanded gray nothing whatever was the calm reply i assure you i did not come here for any of the poetic reasons you mention nor shall i remain a day longer than is necessary i was to by a business affair which has turned out as you may guess very badly i must remain as far as i can see till funds arrive unless some trusting individual wants to let me have a hundred with which to reach rome the suggestion was sufficiently pointed and gray was glad it had been in that direct manner he wanted to aid this distressed young gentleman and he had not known how to press a loan upon him without danger of giving when he heard the sum of one hundred mentioned he bright the mb immediately and said it would please him to lend the amount himself or twice as much if equally agreeable we shall not quarrel even over the latter proposition smiled if you can spare the money it is liable to come in conveniently before i hear from my people to get to rome to morrow will be of great value to the business i have in hand and a few extra in the pocket is not a bad thing when one is hundreds of miles from his natural base of supplies mr gray promptly placed two notes for a hundred or rather each on the table and suggested that as a train started toward rome within an hour he would not detain his acquaintance over any but laughed folding up the notes i can t go till to morrow for a very good reason all my linen requires and even the quick will need twenty four hours time to go to rome witli soiled and is not to be thought of we are such slaves to these foolish customs no gentleman is strong enough to brave the which that he must wear a shirt i will leave you as you suggest but only for the sake of putting my in communication with a being now able to satisfy the claims of my landlord i shall be allowed i presume to remain in my room to night instead of resting at the foot of st mark s statue and tomorrow in all the glory of a clean and polished boots i will make a descent upon rome which love gone astray i hope will be as effective if not as as that of the more ancient gray was sorry to have the important business that evidently awaited mr postponed so long but he saw no way to the points raised and after going with him as far as the he bade him farewell it is certainly more blessed to give than to receive mr gray felt all the happiness of one who has relieved distress at no real cost to his own comfort it was as easy for him to lend those two hundred as to feed the in the with the little of corn that cost three cents american money each and the result was so pleasant he wondered as he strolled back to his hotel on the grand canal why such a fuss was made over charity and why the least suffering was allowed to exist that evening he walked for some time in the the marble palaces that form three sides of the square were filled with a brilliant throng moving to and fro or sitting in front of the attending to the wants of the inner man from the coffee rooms bright faces beamed upon the spectacle over st mark s church the remnant of a broken moon hung in glory in the deep surrounded by a train of stars faintly to the right the palace of beautiful in its grace took on the tints of the numerous lights while the giant always a blot upon tjie of the surroundings rose coarse and powerful to dwarf all other near the strange mb a hundred were beyond the pillars each one casting a shadow as black as itself upon the blue on which it rode of passed wearing the one always finds in this minor of the east no one was still for a moment out of the the crowds came and into it other crowds returned movement movement it was all so adapted to time and place a touch more of light would have ruined everything gray knew that he stood in the human centre of all that s to the ear and eye when the crowd finally dispersed gray did not find himself inclined to go indoors he went to look at the bay again and finally engaged a to row him out toward the as the was engaged by the hour it made no difference to him that his passenger had no particular destination indeed it was rather pleasing to find in the course of time that the american was fast asleep

0Arthur Conan Doyle

on the comfortable seat the last thing had seen was the beautiful city under the deep blue of a sky lit by the stars alone the broken moon having gone to rest below the horizon when the beauty of morning came again he experienced anew the pleasure of finding asleep and witnessing her awakening a little earlier than on the previous day he dismissed his and went to s for his coffee something to his surprise he found his english friend already there of as substantial a meal as the house could furnish i found i could catch the first train explained love gone astray who looked far less like a man who had had a good night s sleep than the other so i m off by the way he added with a kind of in his manner i had the luck to get part of my money back and you can have those two hundred if you want them he took out a substantial of paper bills as he spoke and held them up to view it was easy to see that there were several thousand in the pile and gray stared very hard in his surprise two hundred doesn t look much in such company as that does it said almost fiercely if i had had this yesterday i wouldn t have asked a crust of bread from a stranger would i he crushed the mass of paper into one of his pockets as he spoke and swallowed the remaining coffee in his cup at a i told you i had been robbed added the englishman wiping his mouth on his with a movement well last night after i left you i got on the track of the robbers this tapping his pocket is the result when i get at them again there will be a still better story to tell gray gazed at the speaker helplessly but i don t understand why you should leave now he said you ought to stay i should think and fight them here if you know where they are the police could help you how can you do anything by going to rome a silent laugh played around the englishman s mouth they have in rome too said he i could lend you fifty thousand and in and in and in every large city of europe he gathered up a that held a and rested the weight on one shoulder prepared to start toward the station your watch and and chain stammered gray have you recovered them too i know where they are replied with another of his strange smiles but i must take one of those cursed and be off good bye the englishman disappeared with this abrupt salutation and it was half an hour later when it occurred to young mr gray that the loan of two hundred had not been returned and that neither he nor possessed the other s address chapter iii i could lend you fifty thousand the reader must have come to the conclusion by this time that mr william was a very peculiar gentleman and the author does not this paragraph for the purpose of that fact an english named who was spending a brief at the grand hotel and who made gray s acquaintance across the table said when he heard the outline of the story that it was love gone astray certainly remarkable gray happened to tell it to him on the evening following s departure and showed the deepest interest in the transaction did you say be repeated as if trying to remember where if ever he had heard the name yes said gray but i understood distinctly that it was a title assumed for the occasion very likely nodded the what sort of looking man was he now rather thick set broad shouldered not quite as tall as i mr gray stood something l e five feet nine in his stockings he was twenty five years old perhaps had sandy hair with a small moustache and was well dressed to each of these points mr gave an answering nod he did not act however as if they awoke any memory the main point is that your two hundred are gone he said smiling mr had a smile that was most agreeable it was this smile that had attracted gray to him when he first saw him on the other side of the table oh that is nothing was the reply he evidently forgot to give it to me for he had it in his hand along with many times as much when he was hurrying to get his train i shall run across him somewhere and if i don t it won t matter it is only forty dollars in american money you know mr smiled again that s a distinctly american way of putting it said he now to an englishman forty dollars let s see that s eight pounds is a matter for decided i could lend you fifty thousand interest on all occasions i have a or i might say a friend from your country who is spending a good deal of time in europe largely on account of his daughter i understand he started life without a penny and now he s as rich as you please the contempt with which he talks of pounds shillings and pence is enough to make one s blood run cold i ve seen him hand a half sovereign to a blind beggar he told me once he wouldn t take change from a if he had nothing to give him for a times but a five pound note oh but i m not like that answered i haven t the money to do it with in the first place my father left a very moderate fortune and i ve only received enough for my education and ordinary expenses mr that s my guardian is doing europe with me

0Arthur Conan Doyle

on account of his health which is very bad he s at now and i ve run over here alone for a few days because the doctors don t think it best for him to come to the shore he s quite a different man from the one you speak of he counts all his i assure vou and he s made a handsome pile doing it i don t think he d at all approve of my forty dollars to a stranger but what s mine s my own as the saying is from that went on in the open way that was a part of his nature to talk about his affairs he had been an orphan from his year had taken the place of a parent to him and when the doctors ordered the foreign trip had been asked to join partly for his own good and partly because the invalid needed some one with him in his feeble condition they had been abroad love gone astray now for over six months and expected to remain at least another year if mr lived so long the best had said to in confidence that to go back to america would be to hasten the end it was only by a succession of new scenes that mr could hope to survive a this they did not intimate to the sick man but gave him the hopes with which it is thought right to the dying when he was not absolutely on his back he thought he was improving and plans for entering his counting room on his return home were constantly in his mind mr was one of those pleasant fellows that a good always to meet one of those men who have acquired the admirable art of listening to any story as if they found it of all things the most delightful in truth he was glad to meet this young chap in a hotel where every one was a stranger to him and to while away an occasional hour by listening to his conversation when a came from a few days later asking gray to come there as soon as was convenient the parted from him with real regret and mutual hopes were expressed that the chances of life would throw them together at some future date little did either imagine how close would be the relations of which this accidental meeting was a mr who had had an ill turn was already better when arrived and propped up in his bed listened with eagerness to descriptions of the lovely bride of the from which his young friend had come he smiled at the thought that the l could lend you fifty thousand following spring would open these visions to his own eyes as the weather grew colder he meant to go to rome and perhaps to and and take in when the airs of april her shores and by autumn i ought to resume business again was the way the invalid always ended a recital of his schemes the medicine of expectation did its work once more and in a few days could be spared from constant attendance at the bedside he was glad to breathe the outer air again for the confinement told on his health and spirits he climbed the hills around both on foot and horseback and wandered anew through the country that lay beyond he visited the and palaces to which he had previously devoted some weeks never of the art treasures there displayed in short he drank in with a pleasure second only to that with which he had and was in no haste for the day when the state of his guardian s health would compel him to leave about the middle of december however a change to rome was decided upon and mr now quite able to walk about was full of over the sights that were soon to be his there is something in the very name of that great capital which affects most travellers whether their chief interest in ancient or modern after arriving mr took his daily ride to objects of interest and astonished his young friend at the strength and endurance he displayed began to think the idea of a full recovery might not love gone astray be a fiction after all but he the sick man against too great exertion and succeeded in keeping him within reasonable bounds i feel able to walk a mile was the expression with which the merchant alighted from his carriage on each return to his hotel after a stroll through the churches and in the evening being wholly free mr gray used to wander out among the ruins of the old city taking especial delight in visiting the and it in the splendor of the full moon s rays creeping among its arches he carried his mind back to the dead past when this gigantic pleasure house of pain was filled with multitudes of people hanging breathless over the terrible scenes at their feet and here one night he met for the third time the man he had rescued in the surprise was mutual still fond of night i see said you cannot me for what you are yourself doing was the good natured reply oh but i only came because i find it difficult to sleep and thought i should be quite alone here do you never think of the between men and animals that have gone on in that exclaimed waving his hand toward it never nor of the christian who have met death there certainly not i have no time to think of sublime and i don t believe more than half that is written about those ancient days all l could lend you fifty so called history is filled with wild of course i suppose they had some fights here and some christians eaten but not a part as many as you probably imagine

0Arthur Conan Doyle

at any rate whatever took place was for the mutual pleasure and satisfaction of all concerned and there is no reason to find fault with it at this late date with the horrors he had dreamed of still ringing in his head mr gray demanded an explanation of these why said the so called were whose death was decided upon in some form they had been guilty usually of making war against a superior force and according to the old custom would have been without mercy perhaps with preliminary torture if they had not been sent here with a sword in his hand one of these men died a thousand times as happily as if delivered to the in another way while his blood was hot in his veins he hardly felt the stroke that ended his misery they gave him the privilege of dying like a man instead of like a brute and at the same time the were taught a valuable lesson of the power of government to punish its enemies as for the lions and and that sort of thing i don t suppose you need a on the advantage of getting them out of the way the listener looked incredulous he had heard one of those arguments that do not convince however strong the logic may appear to be but the he asked the most perfectly contented people imaginable was the cool reply according to their love gone a doctrine they were going straight to eternal bliss the moment the animals got fairly to dining you or i would seize their chance this minute if we were sure the bargain would be carried out they were satisfied the spectators were pleased there was really no one in the whole affair who had the slightest right to complain it was a strange statement and somehow gray did not believe his companion meant it to be taken in earnest hope you found that business of yours all right the matter you mentioned at said gray as they passed along the streets i should say so was the warm reply not only did i recover all i had lost but a great deal more i could lend you fifty thousand to night on good security and not myself in the least as gray had no wish to borrow he did not accept the opportunity it occurred to him that mr might propose to the old loan but it seemed preposterous to suggest such a thing to a gentleman who boasted such present possessions as he walked along he also noticed several rings of no small value on his companion s fingers and when the began to strike mr drew out an elegant gold watch with the remark that it was well to have an accurate in a place where no two of those on the churches agreed with each other i don t suppose i shall be likely to meet you again said mr gray politely when they came to a point where their paths i don t know as to that said with an i could lend you fifty thousand that seemed habitual to him i am going away in a day or two but you may see me somewhere if you stay in europe i shall dance attendance in these parts at one place and another the rest of the winter i suppose my home address is on the card i gave you at if you still have it said gray oh yes i still have it replied and added into whose mind there kept coming in spite of him the two hundred you are not ready to tell me yet i presume your real name mr reflected a moment not quite yet he said presently my reasons for preserving an still exist in a few months i hope they will have disappeared upon arriving at his hotel gray was met by the with a very grave face mr had died suddenly they told him about an hour before love gone a chapter iv becoming a death is something for which no matter how long we may have looked upon it as imminent we are never prepared the dead mr was like a new acquaintance and entirely different from the living mr whom mr gray had come to know very well all the young man could do was to carry out for the dead the wishes that had been expressed by the living one though he was not certain that the latter had any right to dispose of the former without his consent it did not seem as if any man dead or alive would desire to be into a coffin and have the cover down over his face while he took a long sea voyage and afterwards elect to be put five feet deep in a there to remain forever yet these were the directions the living man had given long before when he had talked of the possibilities which he did not believe would but which now had occurred and mr gray saw no way but to obey the of the voice that had spoken since the tongue could utter nothing more although it was well into the winter the friends living and dead took passage for the united states the was made in the corner of a where other generations of had long since lain this matter disposed of mr gray was ready to listen becoming a to the statements of his guardian s now become by virtue of that position a person of peculiar importance to him this was a lawyer named one of those men who are selected out of a community to manage the affairs of deceased persons under the impression that the grim messenger will never lay his bony hand on them and that they will continue to collect rents and for a thousand years or so after the is in his tomb mr sent for gray at an early

0Arthur Conan Doyle

date with the information that there was a provision for him in mr s will a provision for me exclaimed why i never thought of such a thing mr waited till this outburst was over with all the dignity of a wooden image and then returned to his text u mr now deceased has made a provision for you sir he by the terms of his will his property is divided into two equal parts one half goes to various societies of a charitable nature which are the other half is to be held in trust for his nephew if he be living having recourse to easy mental mr gray was led to remark that the portion of mr s estate that was to come to himself after the disposition of two equal of it must be rather small he said this with a smile rather relieved than otherwise there is another provision of this will said mr waiting not only until his companion was silent but some twenty or thirty seconds a course of calculated to impress the more than any form of words which is the one directly affecting you in the event that this nephew is not found within five years or is believed or known to be dead before that time the half of the estate that was to have gone to him to mr gray so this was the explanation sat silent now a flood of sensations creeping over him the which he did not imagine would ever become his under this condition showed a regard for him in the heart of his guardian of a deeper nature than he had ever suspected what can you tell me about this mr mr he began uttered the precise voice of the lawyer almost nothing a sister of mr married many years ago a man of that name and dying left a child this between the husband and mr there existed little good feeling and there was no occasion to trouble himself about him after the sister passed away but when it came to making a will the of his mind led him to putting his property or a goodly part of it where the law of descent would naturally dictate he had no other relations and he with his feelings by dividing the estate between these societies in which he has long taken an interest and this nephew he had never seen gray nodded you will of course use every effort to find him he said becoming a i shall take the usual means of doing so replied the lawyer but i may say frankly that i do not feel it my duty to send to the four quarters of the globe mr was a gentleman fairly well known in the commercial world his death abroad was by the news to the principal papers the public he has made have been mentioned in organs far and wide his portrait with a sketch of his career has already been arranged for in an illustrated magazine the board of trade and a score of in which he was interested have passed resolutions on the subject of his which have been printed in the press in addition to this i shall in two principal journals one abroad and one here every three months during the years i am directed to wait at the end of that time if nothing is heard half of mr s property will belong to gray it was clear that the lawyer saw before him the probable and that he had little expectation of ever meeting the nephew mentioned in the will i hope you may be wrong said decidedly feeling that he was in a sense this mr of his just even by discussing a like the one suggested mr evidently meant to give this property to his sister s son and his wish must be considered sacred as for myself with what i now have and what i shall be able to earn i see no need of this alternative with which my ever kind guardian has honored me mr cleared his throat and adjusted his spectacles in a manner that implied much love astray do you know exactly what is your present standing he asked no replied gray but i presume you who have mr s accounts in your hands can tell me the lawyer bowed slowly two or three times i am afraid there is less than you think he said your father s were not all of the first order he had debts which neither mr nor i for i did the legal business knew about till some time after his death in short he was a poor man when the balance was drawn a line of grew in spite of him around the lips of the listener he roused himself and in a set tone demanded the figures it is disagreeable to tell you this said mr and that is why i it with information about the inheritance of your guardian s large estate there is no need of your going on short for with the probability that you will at the end of five years come into possession the young man interrupted the speaker with a rap of his hand on the table enough of that he cried how much is there of my own property the lawyer opened a book and read off the figures slowly two hundred and seventy eight dollars and sixty three cents there was a moment of angry pause and then mr gray demanded what are you talking about do you mean to tell me that is all i have becoming a that is all said mr and where is the rest exclaimed hotly my father had bonds stocks real estate do you mean to say i have used up everything why my expenses even in europe were only three hundred dollars a month i shall insist on an account sir before i

0Arthur Conan Doyle

accept such figures as these not at all excited by the outburst which he had in fact expected mr proceeded to say that the full account of every receipt and expense connected with the estate of the late mr gray was ready for examination and he added it was all in mr s handwriting as for the stocks and bonds he continued if you know anything about market i would like to have you examine them at once here drawing out a tin box are shares in the golden crown lead company the island the never mind the list interrupted gray for he found his temper rising instead of as is apt to be the case with those proved in the wrong if the account of my estate is in mr s writing mind in his own hand i shall be satisfied and will look no further there is another thing i do not understand and that is why he has allowed me to spend almost my last penny in idleness abroad instead of telling me the worst and letting me get started in some method of earning my living the reply which the lawyer gave to this only exasperated the young man further the sum he had mentioned was the entire estate of the elder gray and every dollar that had received since his father s death had come out of mr s pocket love gone he thought explained mr that as your inheritance was too small to be of any use in starting a business career it was as well for you to take some months of foreign travel as he had the benefit of your society he was glad to the joint expense it was also as i know his intention when he returned as he never lost faith he should do to get you into some good house where by industry and perseverance you could make your own way for a moment the anger of the youth was turned against his dead friend that person had no right to him with false hopes which were sure to be dashed to the ground then he turned again to the lawyer how soon can you have those accounts ready for me to see he asked sharply they are ready now i don t want to examine them to day i will come to morrow and whatever there is belonging to me whether it be two hundred dollars or ten cents i shall want to take with me there will be a few legal necessary explained mr as i am acting upon the trust of another it may require a month or two i cannot tell exactly but in the meantime you can have any reasonable sum you wish it s not best to be too hot headed young man there is no harm in money on which you are to pay interest and you might as well get it of me as of another too disturbed to argue the matter at that time could only to morrow and rid himself as rapidly as possible of the hateful presence he walked down the wintry street with his brow becoming a burning with fever he was a the knowledge was very bitter he had not expected to be rich he had always supposed he would have to work but he had never imagined that his could shrink to these proportions mr had not intimated anything that of such and he had spent his guardian s money with a free hand believing it his own and supposing that plenty more lay in the of the bank behind it as loudly as he had demanded to see the account he had not doubted the of mr statements for an instant two hundred dollars that meant a garret and bread and cheese with an immediate application to some counting room for a desk at low wages if indeed he were lucky enough to obtain one after a miserable night gray went back to the lawyer s office and listened in a kind of while the books that mr had carefully kept were explained to him the senior gray had been one of those men of mind who purchase the lowest stocks in the market and fan their belief that mills will turn to dollars some day as has happened in the case of shares they are always fond of the real estate he owned was heavily at the time of his death and the were absolutely worthless the debts he left had to be paid with the most available all that was left amounted at their present value to the pitiful sum that the lawyer had mentioned yesterday as the trust which mr assumed and which i inherit cannot be given up at once suggested mr for the second time i must again advise love gone astray you to accept a loan of what you need to put it in plain words if you want two thousand five hundred dollars a year for the next five years on your expectations at twelve per cent i will advance it to you with pleasure but shook his head with decision i want nothing of the sort said he i will not be put in a position where my interests are going to clash with the of this property and i don t think it would be honest for me to put your personal estate at risk in such a way that it would cause you loss if mr turns up oh as for that said the lawyer slightly i can afford to run my chances and i think my sufficiently established to place me above the suspicion of even if i you this sum and mr appeared he should step into possession of his own as freely as if i were not twelve thousand five hundred dollars out of pocket but i feel so certain that he never will come in fact that he is

0Arthur Conan Doyle

long since dead that i want you to begin as soon as possible to reap the benefits mr intended for you to this refused to listen though he began to think he had been rude to the man of the law he persisted that if mr had intended him to have two thousand five hundred dollars a year or any sum from his estate he would have made his will in that manner instead of that he should wait five years and then depend upon a he would have been glad now had the will read differently he did not like to be left face to face with poverty but his honor was in becoming a tact and he had not yet experienced that sharp contact with the world which it i will take nothing but what is mine he said in response to every argument but i owe you an apology for my manner of receiving the unpleasant news you broke to me yesterday and i make it freely and now can you think of any situation which i could fill for i want to with out delay to earn my bread mr after casting about in his mind a few moments said he could think of nothing at present but would make some inquiries in the meantime gray would do well to look about for himself with this understanding they parted at the end of a month though he had looked about with diligence had found absolutely nothing that he could do and his distress increased as he went from place to place and saw his for the positions offered he went to mr office again in a much frame of mind than before and told that gentleman frankly what had occurred this leads me to make you an offer on my own account said the lawyer gravely which i should otherwise have hesitated to do i am a very busy man and have now with mr s estate and others that are in my charge more than i can attend to just at present i think you could if you chose be of some assistance in caring for my trust property collecting rents seeing to etc as well as making journeys to various places and looking into matters that require attention for this work i am not able to offer you a large compensation but love gone astray it might keep you occupied until something better turns up i will take it gladly was the quick reply the prospect of earning anything whatever seeming too good to be lost you are very kind to make the proposition but to this mr saying it was wholly a business matter with him and he wanted it treated as such he was willing to pay fifteen dollars a week with necessary expense of travel etc and possibly the salary might be raised to twenty later gray seized upon the offer without more and it was arranged that he should begin his duties the very next morning never having had the slightest business experience it is doubtful if the young man ever really earned the meagre salary which he began to receive but he brought to the work an honesty of purpose and a of conduct if mr had been wholly in him the connection might have gone on much longer than it did to the mutual advantage of both the fact was however that the engagement was only a scheme on the lawyer s part for bringing gray to the agreement he had first suggested mr believed thoroughly that this was the only sensible thing for him to do and felt that the obstinacy with which he held out deserved to be overcome if he could reduce the youth to actual want and then give him no other alternative than to accept his offer he believed he would be doing him a real kindness but gray proved a subject to handle he lived after a fashion on the fifteen dollars a becoming a week that was paid him and all offers to take the first penny from his inheritance then who knew that mr had never believed his nephew alive and had only intended to give this young man a little experience of the value of money determined to force matters he therefore announced to gray one day that he should not need his services after the following week somewhat but not at all ready to give up looked about for another situation and soon heard of one at a fair salary in where a concern wanted just the sort of man he conceived himself to be one acquainted with america and able to talk a certain line of goods into americans travelling abroad correspondence passed and he was advised to come to holland at once arriving there he was given the position and held it just three weeks by which time both he and his were satisfied that he was wholly for its duties the termination of the engagement that naturally followed did not include a payment of a return fare across the ocean and he walked out of the office in a very low frame of mind at his lodging was a letter from the offer to loan him whatever money he needed in case he ever should get short of funds he tore it up in a violent rage and stamped on it with his feet i will live on a crust a day and finally die of in a garret he exclaimed before i will accept of a dollar from that man and he began to carry out his he went to london where he hired the poorest lodging he love gone astray could find and dined in his room on the food while he followed all possible that seemed to offer a chance to earn a living however poor at last he almost made up his mind to take a passage home the only one

0Arthur Conan Doyle

he could the money for and search among his distant relations for some one to help him out of his but this course of he postponed in very shame and wandered a most figure up and down the streets hoping against hope that something would put him on his feet again one day while strolling in park he saw a familiar figure riding a spirited horse up and down the road so well dressed and wearing such an air of importance that he hesitated a long time before he could summon courage enough to make himself known but at last he stepped up to the path and when the rider returned called him by name mr the stopped his horse with a jerk and looked in astonishment not to say alarm at the speaker the devil it s gray he exclaimed then in a lower voice you must not call to me like that in a public place what do you want speak quickly by this strange manner could hardly open his mouth i want the two hundred you borrowed of me a year ago he managed to in an injured tone the rider touched one of his spurs to his horse and made him spring backward with a handsome movement that s a nice way to a gentleman isn t it he said coming up like a with a stand and deliver on a public road it s not a question of ways replied gray i need the money badly i don t know where else to find you and i want you to pay me now but i haven t got it with me was the answer i don t go lined with and i can t be seen here talking with you either he reflected a moment you know where is i suppose be there to night at the corner of new bridge street two hundred eight pounds english a pretty sum to make such a fuss about and before the american could say any more on the subject the handsome horse had given another bound and was off like an arrow in the direction of the gate chapter v young mr gray was so indignant at this manner of being received that he started to leave the park in a state of unusual temper had the case been reversed he was certain he would have given his benefactor double the amount borrowed besides a thousand expressions of gratitude he was so full of his wrongs that he did not hear a gentleman who was gone as hastening after him and had called his name twice until one of the drew his attention to him turning he saw mr the he had met in the previous year and the next moment he was grasped warmly by the hand delighted to see you were the words with which he was greeted when did you come to london and why have you not called on me now although reduced to short in the matter of food and lodging had managed to keep up his personal appearance and there was nothing to indicate the straits through which he had passed but with the honesty that was a part of his inmost nature he at once told mr the entire truth as fast as he could make the explanation the latter listened to the recital of mr s death of the disappearance of the expected of the various attempts to earn a living and their successive failures and he did not interrupt once ing the narrative you have been unfortunate he said when gray finished but that sort of hard luck can t last forever it s no reason why you should neglect your friends because you re not for the moment at the tap of the heap but i lost your address stammered gray had really forgotten that such a person lived in london and wanted to get out of the as easy as he could well you shall have it again smiled the for you must go to my office and get it well fixed in your mind there should be an opening for a bright young fellow like you somewhere in this city and i intend with your permission to find it let me ask however before i forget it who was that that i saw you talking with a moment ago it seems to me that his face is one i have met before he had taken gray s acceptance of the invitation to go to his office quite as a matter of course and was walking with him in that direction as he asked this question the countenance of the younger man which had lightened a little clouded again i don t know why i shouldn t tell you he said though in ordinary circumstances i should hesitate do you recall a story i related in of money to a fellow i found sleeping on the stones of st mark s mr indicated that he recalled it very well that is the man said gray bitterly yes he repeated as his companion met the statement with an incredulous look that s the chap i fed when he had eaten nothing for twenty four hours and to whom i gave money enough to enable him to go to rome where he succeeded in recovering the property he had lost and when i meet him here and ask politely for what is my own telling him i absolutely need the amount he treats me like a beggar the said he could not express his surprise i do not wonder you say so answered this is the third time i have met him when he was in circumstances and he still has my money he promises to give it to me this evening if i will attend his convenience at a place he and i suppose i ve got to humble myself to do it love gone astray mr

0Arthur Conan Doyle

showed the greatest interest in the statement much greater than one would expect to find in a casual acquaintance gray could not help feeling grateful to him for in his present condition even a kind look was not to be despised the also eyed his companion intently during the progress of his and seemed to take a mental of his physical attributes he is the very man i want he murmured to himself good luck has thrown in my way the identical individual i have been searching for at a tall building he halted and indicated to gray that this was where his office was when the pair had ascended the stairs they entered a handsome room furnished in much better taste than is ordinarily found among members of the bar after exchanging a word or two with one of the clerks that were busy writing at an inner chamber closed the door between the rooms and sat down beside his friend what particular line do you think you would like to follow he asked pleasantly to this the younger man responded with a shake of his head that he was in no position to make his were at their lowest ebb and unless something was soon done he would presently be at the end of his resources even counting the eight pounds you are to receive from your ungrateful acquaintance smiled mr yes assented gray even with that and i feel by no means certain that he will keep his ap if i were not in such pressing need i would decline to meet him the conversation continued for an hour during which the learned everything he chose to ask of the history of his companion a great deal of it had been told him in their talks at bu he now had more reason than before to possess himself of the details he was evidently pleased with the frank answers he received to all his questions and rubbed his palms together softly as each reply confirmed the opinion he had originally formed well mr gray he said at last i have been thinking about your case and if you will put yourself into my hands i will see what can be done no don t thank me just yet i am a rather selfish sort of fellow and perhaps i have an axe of my own to grind in the course of a few days i hope to be able to tell you something definite but to day i can only make a offer attached to these offices is a of rooms which i occupied for a long time myself in the days of my they are rather and the man who used to attend to my wants is still within sound of the bell you can move into those rooms at once and consider yourself at home there in addition you may draw on me for five pounds a week in advance if i find that i cannot make other arrangements for you i agree to give you a fortnight s notice or your salary for that time whenever our engagement ends what do you say quite dazed by what seemed a bit of love gone a good fortune stammered an acceptance and requested to know what his duties were to be for the present nothing said mr gravely you have a fair wardrobe i suppose i see your watch and chain have not yet found their way to the no was the blushing reply i have not reached that stage in the way of clothing i need no more than i shall now be easily able to get and i am to do nothing the bowed perhaps it would be more truthful to say that you are to appear to do nothing i shall introduce you to my clerks and to others as a friend who is to spend some weeks with me the character you are to assume is to be precisely your own that of a young american gentleman of good family and education who is looking for a chance to place himself in life you will not be expected and i think you will not desire to reveal the full extent of your previous ill fortune as nothing else in your career is to be concealed i do not give you a very difficult to play of course there is no denying that i have a purpose in view in making these arrangements but i promise you that your interests will be in no manner the proposition was truly a strange one and the young man wished for a moment that his duties were to consist of something more in which he could feel that he was really earning the wages received however he was in no condition to make terms and he intimated again that he was wholly at the service of mr as i have some matters to attend to said the much pleased at the prompt agreement of his new friend let me show you your rooms and ask that you have your sent here this afternoon if you are obliged to pay in advance for your present quarters on account of leaving so abruptly i shall consider that an extra to be charged to me amuse yourself as you please until six o clock when i should like to find you in evening dress ready to accompany me out to dinner he called opening the interior door my friend mr gray who has come to stay some time with me will occupy my old apartments here if you want anything mr gray you will call freely upon and upon our domestic in case i am out the clerk and mr gray exchanged and mr proceeded to introduce the american to his new home which he found furnished and quite a contrast in every way not only to the one he was to leave but to most london lodgings to

0Arthur Conan Doyle

get my trunks and get ready for dinner that is all for to day asked still feeling the duties assigned to be very strange ones that is all and to morrow will be very much like it smiled the the dinner is it to be at a private house no mr inquisitive at a public the day was certainly the most agreeable that had spent for months as he said to himself when he lay at last among his pillows he had dined with several friends of mr who had treated him with the courtesy due a foreigner and love astray stranger who comes with a good introduction after the dinner all had gone rather late to one of the theatres where devoted less attention to the play than to a family in one of the opposite boxes among whom was one of the most beautiful young girls he had ever seen wearing an appearance of reserve that amounted almost to sadness and which excited his utmost interest he noted that mr exchanged bows with an elderly lady in that party who seemed to be the young lady s mother but the appeared so well known that from the various boxes were the rule rather than the exception an unusually pretty girl that was all that mr said about her except to add and a of yours by the way chapter vi then there s a father too it was in the morning as the clock was striking nine that gray awoke he sprang out of bed with a he was his duties and then that there were none to perform he rang and requested the domestic to ask mr if mr had arrived or if any message had been received from him a negative reply was received and a light breakfast was served in his rooms somewhat to his surprise for nothing had been said then s a father too about that when he had eaten and dressed he strolled out of doors to his and returned about eleven o clock to find the busy at his desk how are you this morning was the question that greeted him quite well i am sure judging from your appearance i have a lot to do just now and shall have to beg you to excuse me at lunch but if you are here at four i shall be glad of your company for a drive nothing particular to say i suppose nothing said gray for was present and his character as a genuine friend of mr was at stake i should advise you to lunch at the to day continued mr with his eyes on the papers he was examining to morrow i will put you up at my club where things are much better you found the morning newspapers in your room i hope i told the man to have them for you when you awoke it was a strange kind of employment dining with a party of gentlemen being taken to the theatre given an elegant of rooms to live in and a drive in the park for the afternoon the manner of mr took away the feeling that might otherwise have the enjoyment of these things and strove to overcome his few remaining scruples at present he saw no reason to refuse the change of life he had been terribly tired of the narrow quarters he had occupied and the miserable meals he had been obliged to eat if it that the wished to be repaid for his kindness by the gone a of anything inconsistent with honor felt that he was fully able to meet the he could not however reconcile a fear of this sort with the correct and the position in society which his new friend gave evidence of possessing there was one matter that i forgot last evening said gray to the when were driving that afternoon and it did not occur to me till an hour ago you may remember that i had an appointment with my for the payment of two hundred so you had said mr with a laugh well all i can do is to credit it to your account it was clearly my fault that you were unable to be there to get your money oh no replied the young man earnestly if i remain in london i shall be almost sure to meet him again and the amount is not so vital to me as it was yesterday very well but if you meet him and he asks questions please don t say anything about our arrangements in fact if he is the kind of fellow he seems it would be best to avoid all unnecessary talk with him i am afraid he is a bad one you need have no fear said gray he is not a man i would care to have anything to do with the conversation was interrupted at this point by the sudden appearance at a turn in the road of a carriage in which were seated the young lady and her mother that had noticed at the theatre the preceding night as the passed closely to each other both gentlemen lifted their hats and then there s a father too received a very agreeable bow from the elder lady accompanied by a hardly perceptible one from her daughter a decidedly handsome young woman said mr rather cold however was mr gray s comment appearances are not always to be relied upon in such matters said his friend wisely i do not think that dignity from the merit of a young woman in this age of there seemed something in this observation which took as rather a rebuke and he the thrust by asking if mr knew the family well very well indeed was the reply they are americans of wealth and position the father is really quite eminent i understand then there is a father too said gray why yes is

0Arthur Conan Doyle

that addition to a household so uncommon in your country he is a little out of health has some special trouble just now that keeps him at his hotel this daughter is his only child and will inherit everything a lucky man he ll be who gets her for his wife nodded assent the girl was certainly very fair and the addition of a fortune to her charms was not one he was in a present position to mr talked a great deal about the family and the young man listened with due deference to all that was said then other drivers were met with about whom the also in the charming way he had and the ride was brought to an end by another invitation to dinner which proved as pleasant as that of yesterday love the succeeding days passed in much the same manner and gray was becoming accustomed to his novel position among the things that his new friend insisted upon was that he should ride in the row each morning on a very spirited animal which he secured for that purpose having been a from his early youth gray made a fine figure as he galloped along the path on his handsome mount and attracted the attention of other who asked with surprise whom the be the exercise brought the blood to his cheeks and secured for him the admiring glances of many of the fair sex who were like him taking their in the favorite resort of london fashion as mr did not ride gray was left to his own devices and came to regard the which he took between nine and eleven as the most part of each day but as might have been foreseen one of the persons he met while engaged in this way was his old acquaintance well as the latter appeared he saw himself no match for gray and a very dark frown settled upon his countenance as he beheld the handsome rider gray saw him at the same time but affected not to recognize him and would have kept up the to the end if had not finally his animal in front of him so as to completely bar the way at a point on the row where the two were nearly alone oh don t pretend not to know me he said i only want to understand your game say what are you up to then there s a father too i am attending to my own business was the sharp reply and i wish you to attend to yours the other with a cunning not quite so nearly a beggar as you were the other day are you there must have been a sudden turn in your affairs you didn t even come after the you were so good as to me for the wrath of the other was slowly rising he could not trust himself to make any reply lest hi temper should get the better of him and provoke a scene not to be desired so he whirled his animal about and galloped away without a single word he felt that he should do that man a mischief if getting thrown together and for the next he took his rides in s park to escape a disagreeable meeting about a fortnight from the time when he first went to live at mr apartments gray found seated with that gentleman one evening at a rather late hour an elderly man of and dejected mien who sat in the shadow of the very room and answered when presented to the young man in he was tall and slightly bent and his hair and beard were but beyond this could have nothing in regard to his appearance had he been put on oath the next morning mr requested gray to sit down and engaged him in a conversation that lasted half an hour or so quite as if there were no third party in the room they talked of a wide range of matters mainly related to foreign travel and gray was led to speak of the places he had visited mr con love gone astray himself with questions when he left to go to his rooms for it was evident that the stranger had some further business to the followed him to the door with an engaging smile and said in a whisper that his had a raging and must be excused for his to which made a courteous reply and bade them both good night at first it seemed like imagination and then it became a certainty that the with the had thrown off his silence and was engaged in talking not only but loudly to the gray tried not to hear them it was no affair of his if mr for any reason had the condition of his now friend but in spite of him expressions were across the corridor and through the that showed a state of mind on the part of the gentleman not to be envied gray could hear the of mr but it was a long time before he succeeded in his companion who acted more like one than a sane human being i hope you weren t disturbed said the the next day referring to the affair the old gentleman s tooth got worse after you left us and his groans were so loud i was afraid you would hear him no i went to sleep at once said thinking that it was time he did his share of the lying and he looked so honest that mr accepted the statement without reserve and seemed relieved you ll be required to chapter vii you ll be required to marry when three weeks had elapsed since gray became a resident of mr chambers the thought it time to the reasons that had him in his singular conduct the young man had carried himself with ease and grace in his new position

0Arthur Conan Doyle

at the club on whose books he had been temporarily inscribed he was regarded as a most desirable companion the number of his new friends was only limited by the list of received once or twice he had accompanied mr to private houses where he himself as might have been expected with full credit the wanted a young gentleman of good appearance and education who would do no to any circle of life and he congratulated himself that he had found him you are doubtless still in a state of wonder as to what this all means he said one night when they were riding home from a brilliant party at one of london houses yes said are you going to tell me the looked at his companion perhaps he replied cautiously let me however ask you in the first place if you are tired of the life you are leading the young man shook his head decidedly love gone astray and you would perhaps prefer to have it continue rather than return to the one you were following when i met you in park a ghastly shade came upon the young face at the mere suggestion i thought so said mr not waiting for a more definite reply well mr gray i have a proposal that only requires acceptance and then as pleasant a life as you have passed with me yes a much pleasanter one is yours for the rest of your days a dim recollection came to the younger man of a story he had read in which the devil demanded the soul of a mortal in exchange for all earthly blessings he wondered if beneath the dress coat of the a tail was concealed and if within his patent leather boots there were hoofs instead ol feet i am listening he answered catching his breath to come at once to the point then you will be required to marry caught his breath again an faced old maid he asked with a shiver on the contrary a young and very beautiful girl with some terrible mental defect no with a bright brain and an disposition the breathing grew easier to marry such a girl and still enjoy life was a conceivable possibility i am listening he said again this young girl will inherit a fortune her you ll be required to band will be placed beyond want at the beginning of his married life the family is highly respectable is is there anything else that you wish to know mr gray was staring with all his might out of the carriage window it is very mysterious he remarked to this the assented with a bow when must the wedding take place immediately this year to morrow there was a gasp that of alarm and then the youth into deep thought what could it mean something had not yet been told him there was some reason to marry a pretty girl with a fortune was not a fate men usually struggled to avoid nor was it necessary to a man into society on semi false to find one who would accept the hand of such a lady but to look at the other side of the question what would result from declining this offer simply to be turned out into the street with ten pounds advance wages in his pocket and starvation to face again it was clearly a case where a gift horse must not be looked too closely in the mouth and yet he felt how thoroughly this plan if carried out would affect all his future that future for which in happier days he had built up a home by the side of some woman whose love he had won and whose hand he had gained in no such way as this he began to talk to mr of the marriage he had had in mind of the of that association and its importance upon character love gone and even as he talked the of the argument overcame him when it was compared with the situation in which he was placed that situation into which he had been so unexpectedly plunged and which altered everything do you accept was the business like question with which the smiling mr met these when the speaker came to an end of them accept echoed with a start perhaps after all i shall do so if you would only give me a day or two to think not an hour it is impossible well then said gray breathing deeply and after a long pause unless there is some reason stronger than any you have advanced why i should not i i yes i accept the hand of the strayed over and clasped his with a motion that indicated eminent satisfaction it would be idle for me to attempt to convince you he said that the proposition i have made is exactly what it appears on its face you have divined that there is a thorn with the rose a fly in the soup as the french say that makes the matter a little more than it yet looks with handsome faces and intelligent minds are not disposed of ordinarily in this manner they are pursued on the contrary by a of admirers from which it is difficult to choose the most eligible a young man without a sou with no friends to speak of and with no better prospect in life than to secure at the best some petty is not to put it plainly the sort of mate commonly selected for these you ll be required to marry positions it is necessary at this stage for me to speak plainly and i trust you will not my motives mr gray swallowed the bitter as best he might he could not dispute that the portrait drawn fitted him exactly i have taken a liking to you pursued the other after a momentary pause and it will be a pleasure

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to me in addition to any professional satisfaction if i can put you into the comfortable circumstances for which your nature is so well adapted there is no reason why you should fight your way in a cold and cruel world when ease and comfort may be yours at the same time there is as you must guess a feature to this marriage that you might prefer did not exist when you hear what it is do not into a state of excitement but deliberate on the matter calmly the chance is one that will not be likely to occur again in your lifetime it is yours to accept or reject and the opportunity is for to night only into the brain of the young man there came the most preposterous reasons as possible ones in this strange affair but nothing agreeing with mr statements could be found that seemed in the least degree go on he said himself for the revelation it is this said mr slowly and distinctly the young lady if she becomes your wife will probably present you with an heir within a period somewhat less than that ordinarily expected in such cases c astray chapter viii a very blunt refusal the first impression of mr gray was to strike the man who coolly uttered these words which he felt contained a burning insult to himself the next idea was to open the carriage door and spring to the ground himself of a companion capable of such an outrage but before he could execute either of these things a overcame him and he lay back against the carriage cushions helpless it was as if he had been offered a drink of cool water and had found a bitter and draught when the cup was pressed to his lips this it was that stood between him and this i did not suppose it would be agreeable to you pursued the quiet voice of the in itself it bears a harsh front but as an alternative proposition it looks somewhat different the young lady of whom i speak has made one slip which may be kept from the knowledge of the world with the exception of a moment of madness for which even she cannot account she has i am sure led a pure and creditable life there were only two persons to whom she dared confide her grief and the pain it would give to either of them i leave you to imagine to her mother already in delicate health it might mean instant death to her father a man of the highest reputation and as jealous of his honor as one a blunt refusal can conceive it must be a blow compared to which there is no other conceivable he has brought her up delicately with the best of teachers as free apparently from danger of this kind as an angel in paradise her mother has been her most constant friend and the girl had never shown the least partiality for the opposite sex so far as they knew nevertheless the deed was done and when she went in terror to this father and told him the truth he came at once to me i being his legal adviser i have never seen a human being in such mental agony in spite of himself mr gray was listening and with the deepest interest to this remarkable story he began even to excuse the for the part he had taken in him into this net from which he would presently make good his escape aged ten years in one hour continued mr this old man told me as men tell things to lawyers and to priests of the curse that had fallen on his house as was my duty i tried to the effects of the injury by suggesting ways to lessen the force of the blow i said we could take the guilty one in hand and make him right his wrong as far as was possible at the marriage altar to this the father responded in the most vehement manner that he would rather see his child in her grave and himself with her than to own as a son in law a wretch who had such a crime against them he believed the fellow had proceeded deliberately with this expectation in view and had hoped to attain by to a position he could never reach in a straightforward and honest manner love gone astray the father disposed of him in one torrent of and i saw that further talk on that score was useless even had i thought from my own after what i knew that it was advisable the carriage was approaching mr home and he called to the driver to make a to the journey he then looked narrowly at young gray who lay quite still to see if he was paying attention and finding that he was proceeded cautiously as if addressing a jury on whose verdict his entire case depended there was another proposition at which i vaguely hinted and which i was relieved to have rejected as quickly as the first i found a good deal of determination in this old man in spite of the hurt he had received when we had discussed the matter for several hours he announced his either his daughter should be taken to some secluded place and remain till the birth of her child which he would amply provide for or and this alternative he came to but slowly and by my suggestion she should marry some respectable man who had a full knowledge of her condition and accepted her accordingly in the latter case there must be arranged a pretended marriage of an earlier date while for the public must be prepared the tale of a romance with love at its base something the world always when the nine days wondering is over there was the mother to consider a woman devoted

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to her child and full of womanly instincts that would excuse any act that came within the pale of law and to her daughter s happiness a very blunt al it was to be this or nothing and the father left me to see what i could do in the language of the shop it seemed a difficult order to fill my sympathy for my and his unhappy child me to make the strongest efforts in their behalf i had an interview with the girl and found her perfectly to the paternal will ready to do anything required and only anxious that her mother should be kept at all costs from a knowledge of the trouble she had evidently experienced her share of suffering more on account of others even than for herself i told her my plans admitting that i not be able to carry them out and she in their wisdom then i began to look about for the young man who should wed her and i found it easier than i had imagined to arrange that part of the programme the silent figure in the carriage raised its head and the startled eyes those of the i found explained mr that there were plenty of young men in london of good birth and education and of empty pockets who would jump at a chance to make a marriage of this sort several of them i tried with a recital of the case and in every instance their answers convinced me that no time would be lost in case i settled upon either with this knowledge i an assistant to a distant place where he was able to secure for a small bribe the promise of a that mr blank and miss dash were married there in september last whenever he should be able to send in the names we shall thus save the reputation of the lots gone astray husband and wife from of the or the envious and the facts in relation to the offspring will be known only to the family and to myself for i have concealed and shall until the latest moment the names of the persons involved now to be very candid with you mr gray yoa are the only man i have in mind to whom i am wholly satisfied to give my fair young and her future i regard you as an honorable gentleman who would conduct yourself in a proper manner and bring a true and loyal support to your word if you will reflect a little i think the situation will not seem wholly bad to do what i suggest would be to bring sunshine into a life to temper the anguish of an unhappy father and perhaps to save from death a loving mother it would assure you of a sufficient income with ability to follow your tastes as to living in america or abroad and in time i truly believe would make you a contented family man no worse off in actual condition than if you had married a young widow it is for you to say as i told you there is no longer time for your marriage must take place at once if ever the driver thinking that the inmates of the carriage ought to have finished their conversation by this time had resumed his way toward the residence of mr and now paused before the door well asked the man of law is it yes or no it is no was the hoarse reply no by all means no and i want to add that you will not find me at your rooms when you come in the morning i shall pack up and leave at once a blunt refusal m i am disappointed said mr and he looked it thoroughly well that settles it then he added with a sigh remember there is two weeks salary due you i shall not take it said gray coldly if it is ever in my power to return what you have advanced i shall do that i wish i could express how mean and low i feel when i reflect on the time i have spent with you and think what its object was i shall go now to toil or to starvation with a lighter heart when i think how much worse a fate might have been mine mr alighted and simply gave the right direction to the into whose hand he pressed a sum in excess of the fare there was no use in talking to a man in that mood gray was driven to the home he had been occupying and as he walked up the stairs he found himself staggering against the he was cold his hand trembled as he pushed the key into its his rooms were well heated but he shivered still there was a fire in a grate and he sat down close to it and tried to warm himself it did not take long to pack his effects and when the trunk and bags were locked and and the other things laid conveniently for moving gray found himself not the least inclined for sleep he therefore decided to walk for an hour or so thinking that exercise might compose his brain wrapped in a he into oxford street and strolled at random toward the city pay ing little attention to the sights about him the late among the that that locality after midnight gave him plenty of invitations to ac gone astray company them to warmer quarters but he paid no heed at another time they would have disgusted him but to night when he had been on the brink of selling himself he could not too deeply blame them for engaging in a like occupation with his collar turned up about his ears and his hat well drawn over his eyes he went on and on until he had reached the vicinity of the snow began

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to fall gently from a small hotel he saw a couple and heard a hasty good night exchanged as they separated at the doorway in opposite directions the man who was dressed whistled for a passing cab and was driven away leaving his companion alone the woman walked slowly looking about as if expecting some one and presently a second man came out of the shadow of a building and walked up to her how much he asked holding out his hand four pounds was the answer in a disappointed voice i told you to insist on five said the man angrily he would not give it i did the best i could what an idiot you are was the response as the speaker took the money well i ve no time to lose i ll see you in the morning he was turning away apparently in great haste when the woman spoke again am i to walk home i haven t a shilling with an expression that sounded like a curse the man took a piece of silver from his pocket and a blunt refusal it into her hand the movement was so abrupt that the woman staggered with the force of it then he left her gray could not doubt the full significance of the proceeding he had witnessed the man was one of those creatures who live on the of women and he had taken from his mistress the for which she had just sacrificed her and her honor she had given it to him not unwillingly only making a slight protest when he left her to walk through the streets at one o clock at night for want of a cab fare it was a proceeding gray had heard of before but of which ha had always entertained some doubt stunned by the scene he was walking on in a sort of when the woman who had no suspicion that her recent actions had been noticed by him hastened on his track it is a cold night sir she said he walked faster but she caught up with him and for nearly a minute into his ears invitations that filled him with horror at last he saw a policeman in the distance and stopping short threatened to give her into if she did not leave him at once the startled look of the woman when he uttered these words made him sorry that he had spoken so sharply he drew out a half sovereign though he had little enough to spare and told her to take it she reached for the money with an that was astonishing and only to be accounted for by hunger or some equally strong reason then with a searching look at his face she vanished up one of the streets love gone astray and gray went back to his temporary lodging wondering if he could trust his eyes and his ears for the man he had seen lying in wait for this poor creature and taking her shameful to the last penny was none other than the one he had rescued in and encountered again in rome the elegant rider he so recently met in the park his old acquaintance chapter ix shall it be you or he f nature had its way with him before lie was aware of it and he fell into a deep sleep when he awoke it was past eight o clock and the room was brightly illuminated with the wintry sun he rubbed his eyes as he realized what must have occurred and was about to go to the street to summon a cab when he heard a familiar voice in the outer entry how early do you expect mr asked the voice about half past nine was the reply of the domestic addressed i must see him sooner said the first voice give me his house address he never business at his house said the domestic and i have orders to give the address to no one shall it be you or he there was an angry and impatient exclamation at this i shall find it in some way said the stranger if i do not i shall be here again within an hour would the gentleman leave his card no the gentleman would not the gentleman in an ill temper and in great haste for he went out with a of the door that shook the building mr gray had risen from the chair in which he slept and stood staring in the direction from which these sounds proceeded the voice he had heard was a familiar one good heaven how could that man appear at every turn in his path it was tolerably clear was one of those eligible young gentlemen whom mr had selected as possible partners for his fair such a fate for the poor girl was too horrible gray seized a sheet of note paper and wrote rapidly dear mr see me without fail before you make any arrangement in the matter of which we were speaking i shall wait in my room till you come do not fail to heed this yours g g take that as fast as you can ride to mr he said when the domestic answered his bell put it into his hands yourself it was only half an hour before the domestic returned bringing the message that mr would be at his office as soon as possible love gone and fretted however as the time dragged on he had come to feel that the of a crime lay in his hands the character of had presented itself to him so that he could not endure the thought that a young girl of the sort the had described of her one fault should be condemned to such a life it would be even better to endure the pangs of to face the cruel world with her guilt exposed than to marry such a man

0Arthur Conan Doyle

as that the hour before the came seemed interminable to the young man and when he at last arrived there was no time lost in coming to the point you are surprised to find me still here began gray when he had closed the door to shut out possible that can be explained in a moment after packing my effects with the intention of leaving at daylight i fell asleep in that chair and did not awake until eight o clock when i opened my eyes the first sound that i heard was a voice in the corridor talking to your servant i recognized it as that of the man you saw me talking with in the park the day you first met me and i drew my own conclusions he paused nearly out of breath and the s pleasant face assumed an air of disappointment what were your conclusions he asked rather coldly that this fellow was one of those you were considering as a husband to your s daughter said with and if that were true ha ll it be you or he mr raised his hand in interruption wait a minute he said i think this is farther than you have a right to go in one sense yes replied the young man nor have i any wish to interfere in your business but i appeal to you as an honorable gentleman which i have never doubted you to be to consider the chances of happiness of a woman joined to a man so utterly destitute of principle oh there are worse men then he repeated the thoughtfully you don t know anything really criminal against him gray hesitated an instant but too much was at stake now for trifles and he told what he had seen the previous night a sarcastic smile crossed the s face as he listened a smile of the kind that was not common there you take remarkable interest in a girl you felt insulted by being mentioned with a few hours ago said he i may seem inconsistent was the answer but i hope i am not so when you told me of her situation and asked me to share her shame i was i admit shocked i felt that you had formed an opinion of me altogether too low and that i had done nothing to merit the estimate but on the other hand i had and still have the utmost sympathy and would do anything in my power to help her if there are others in this city of london with a less fine sense of propriety who are willing to sacrifice themselves in consideration of the to be gained i have nothing to say against the plan love gone you are to carry out i can conceive a form of mind and a temperament fitted to such a union where good might in the end result to all concerned but you must admit sir that it is not enough to discover a man who will give this girl his name you must find one who will not make her life a hell when by your aid he has been given the power to do so the sarcastic smile faded from the lips of the listener long before mr gray finished he was a new respect for this young man as well perhaps as an enlarged notion of his own the trouble is said he my time is getting short i had counted so absolutely on you pardon me that my choice in other fields is reduced to a very limited one why had i placed so much reliance on you not as you intimate because i thought you lacking in any quality that makes the but because i candidly believed the opportunity one you ought to embrace ought i say both in duty to yourself and to this unfortunate young lady she has made one slip it is true and what is worse the consequences stare her in the face an arrangement has been made by which concealment of this error will be secured and her life saved from ruin she is in a frame of mind to give all her devotion to the man who her and i for them a happy and peaceful existence the fortune she will bring to the husband is not a thing to be ignored either this is not an age of the world in which money should be despised you can give some testimony on that head i shall it be you ob he have promised her father to introduce him to the man i have selected he is impatient and will not e put off so when you refused me so abruptly last night my choice fell on another man who to be candid i would not have chosen had i been able to help it gray the table with his clenched hand and that choice is william or what other name he may decide to give you he exclaimed the shrugged his shoulders by way of reply very well ejaculated gray i have only this to say i would not have your responsibility for all the wealth of london the other man started in his chair there is another whose responsibility is greater than mine he said another repeated yours is by far the greater said mr the opportunity to save this girl from a fate you so much is in your hands it is not in mine you are single eligible a mate for her that the final jury society would declare perfectly suitable i am not only ten years too old but i am already married i have done all i could to help her much more i assure you from sympathy than from any call of a business nature but you with this drowning child before your eyes refuse to stretch out your hand gray moved uneasily under this strong in love gone do you mean

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to tell me as an honest man that you would marry her if you were single he demanded if i were of your age and of your circumstances before god yes said mr ah cried that is the point after all the money to be paid for the service not wholly this girl is as pretty a creature as lives at this moment in europe she is only eighteen years of age amiable educated with every personal i am sure if the case had been presented to me at your age exactly as i present it to you i would have accepted her without question shook his head slowly knowing that she had so far forgotten her honor knowing everything a child like her may give way to a moment of impulse ignorant of results unable to guide her passions but a woman with that experience is safe forever the man who gets her a pearl that he will not need to watch he can rely on her gratitude her affection her as he could not on one with less to love her husband the man who this young girl a knock at the door interrupted the speaker and the domestic who entered presented a card to mr ask him to wait a few minutes said the in a low voice then when they were again alone he added to mr gray this card is that of the person you so much object to the young man rose and paced the room uneasily his temples were burning his nerves were he has come for his answer i presume lie said when he could control his voice mr bowed silently and what asked pausing before the s chair what shall you tell him that is for you to say was the sharp reply for me exclaimed the young man precisely it is to be one of you which drew a long breath of pain the choice is not so limited as that he said you told me there were others that you had in mind they do not meet the of said mr no it has resolved itself to you and him he rose and took out his watch i must give him his answer the violence of mr gray s feelings were too strong for him his pressed with an overpowering weight he sat down and covered his eyes with his shaking hands come said the is it to be you or he delay was the first thing thought of delay that always gives a chance for something to what is the very latest time you give me to answer asked gray without lifting his head how long do you need give me till to morrow morning absolutely impossible till this evening love gone astray it cannot be done i will give you it is now half past nine i will give you till ten mr was proceeding to leave the room when the young man interrupted him in his progress what shall you tell him i shall ask him to return in half an hour the struggle in gray s brain was terrific but he wanted one thing disposed of then and there tell him he ejaculated slowly that he need not return mr leaned over his companion and took both his hands in his own then i am to understand he began yes yes anything but that he the smile that belonged on the s face came back to it he pressed the hands he held with a vice like grip and vanished rapidly from the apartment chapter x an american girl a few moments later the ears that had become in some sort with the rest of mr gray s senses heard angry and half intelligible sounds proceeding from the office mr evidently did not receive with pleasure the news that had been brought him his voice raised far above the usual height penetrated the inner chambers occasionally the an american lower but firm tones of the with his not wishing to act the part of an went to one of the windows and threw it open admitting enough of the noise of the street to drown the sounds within the cold air blew gratefully on his heated forehead he felt like one in a dream what had he agreed to do he hardly knew the violence of his feelings had driven him to something desperate well there was such a thing as fate he had been by fortune until was no longer left the tide must take him whither it since he could not control the movements of his as he stood in the breeze a kind of came in place of the old struggle he had given his word and there was nothing now but to act the assigned him when mr returned saw that he had passed through an unpleasant experience he was flushed and heated the perspiration the roots of the hair that hung carelessly over his white forehead his collar usually the perfection of neatness was and his out of place well that matter is disposed of he remarked drawing a long breath but not otherwise referring to the interview he had just closed now for business as so much time has been lost we shall have to proceed with you are a sensible fellow and will i am sure put nothing in the way of finishing this affair as rapidly as possible i am in your hands said simply love gone astray he was wondering what had happened in the office to so affect the man of law in the first place said mr wiping his brow you would like to know the name of your future or i should say your already wedded bride for by the document which i shall soon have you were married on september by the rev august at to daughter of colonel henry of an american girl was glad to hear that at least but

0Arthur Conan Doyle

do you tell me that a clergyman has consented to alter the date of his he asked astounded in the interest of a young girl s honorable future and for the consideration of five hundred yes smiled mr it is a little but quite right looked at from a broad now you would like to see a photograph of the lady with whom your is almost ended and here you have it he produced a cabinet sized picture from his pocket as he spoke and gray uttered a slight scream as his eyes fell upon it the girl i saw at the theatre and in the park he cried the same did i not tell you she was beautiful i took you to the park and theatre to show to her as i took others it may flatter your pride when i add that it was she who made the selection rather than i though we agreed upon it perfectly the young man stared at the portrait and she seemed so cold he said so entirely an american girl different from what one would imagine i am at the idea that this can possibly be the picture of a girl who has passed through such experiences the was recovering his so pleased was he at the final of his plans you must remember he replied that miss has had enough to her spirits and give her the reserved look you for coldness during the past two months she has suffered intensely it will be your pleasant duty to drive that from her face when the news of her secret wedding has been imparted to her mother and that shock is ended i think you will find the natural brightness of her disposition returning of course much will depend upon the judgment with which you treat her but the worst should be over in a week from to day mr gray asked hesitatingly and with a deep blush when the birth of the child was expected to take place the last of next june was the answer at which time you must manage to be far from here a northern climate is more favorable than central or southern europe for such events but this is too distant to need immediate discussion it is your present task to obtain with your bride the forgiveness of her father and mother gray asked half dazed when he should meet the father very soon but you must see mrs gray the young man this afternoon and agree upon love gone astray the story you are to tell it is necessary to have the colonel pretend ignorance of everything and he will carry out that to the letter when it is settled that you met miss by chance in or rome or last winter where your love into a declaration and that fearing a from the parents you finally met in holland and were united there it will be for miss to inform her father of these facts and beg his paternal pardon colonel knowing best how to break the news to his wife will attend to that part of the affair he will say to her that while the error of their child is a grave one it is best to overlook it with as few words as possible as he has discovered that you are a very decent young fellow who will not disgrace the family then mrs will forgive her daughter and clasp her to her breast and the next thing is for to bring her husband who will plead his excuses and accept the reconciliation that him the that frequently came into the manner of the did not please his but he could utter no complaint with good reason he had laid himself open to this kind of thing by accepting his position the he was asked to practice were distasteful but he saw no way to escape them and he bowed consent to each of the schemes he realized that a strain was taken from the mind of mr and that the of his discussion was partly the result of the relief he felt did not dare in fact to think too deeply an american girl about anything lest he should be tempted to break his word the most thing he could conceive of at this stage of the affair after considerable further talk the left him with the understanding that at three o clock that afternoon a meeting was to take place with miss at a private parlor in the hotel where she was at present going out of doors it struck the young man that nothing would be more to his present mood than a gallop in the park he wanted something to stir his blood that seemed in his veins he felt fully justified in ordering the horse which had been placed at his disposal by mr and which he had mentally resigned the night before with all his other he therefore proceeded to the stable and mounted the beast and as park was nearer than s he rode to the path there without a thought of the reasons that had induced him for the past week to avoid it if he had forgotten for the moment the existence of mr william he was soon to be brought back to a remembrance of it he had ridden up the path but a few seconds when he saw coming toward him the object of his and evidently in a mood quite the reverse of amiable the horse that rode was plunging fearfully and on both sides the blood showed where the spur had been driven in his bit was covered with and his nostrils were while his eyes as could be seen at a glance were saw gray at the same instant and rode straight at him a moment later the two animals love gone with terrific force and lay with their a tangled heap on the ground some

0Arthur Conan Doyle

people who saw the occurrence together with a policeman who was somehow found hastened to the spot and held the horses heads while the were assisted to their feet gray however discovered that he could only stand with help one of his ankles being the other though considerably bruised was able to his horse and did so it was this man s fault cried one of the spectators pointing to yes exclaimed another he rode straight into the other gentleman like it was a purpose sat his animal with a very red face brushing the dirt from his clothes with a air he saw gray one boy for a carriage and give his beast to another with directions where to lead it he evidently was for the du combat do you wish to enter a complaint sir asked the policeman taking out his note book it was gray s first intention so to do but at that instant the pain in his ankle increased so much that he was near on the spot no he said i only want to get to my rooms he whispered the direction to the officer who gave it to the just arrived as he was helped into the vehicle he heard a laugh from who waited no longer but galloped rapidly away husband and wipe chapter xi husband and wife mr was still in his office when a man came up the stairs to say that mr gray had been injured and required assistance to bring him to his apartment the hastened anxiously to the street taking two of his clerks with him for several seconds he had a terrible apprehension that an accident had upset all his carefully prepared plans when he reached gray s side and learned the full extent of the hurt to be a limb he breathed a sigh of relief the young man was carried bodily up the for he could not now bear the least weight on one foot and a physician who was summoned proceeded to the affected part in and stating that no attempt to walk should be made for some days bad as this was it might have been much worse when mr had time to learn the manner in which the injury was caused he thought gray lucky to have escaped as lightly as he did it was a nasty performance he said and one that might have resulted even as motive he could ot understand it he had no doubt been working himself into a passion over his disappointment and was ready to vent his on any person who happened to get in his way however nothing be gained by a as the of the case would affect his victim also love gone astray besides added the he is going out of the country i understand within a day or two to remain he told me as much he explained in response to gray s inquiring glance i only hope it is true and that he will stay as long as he lives gray eyed his companion intently from the place on the sofa where the doctor had left him he does not know you are sure that am to marry miss not by any means was the decided answer he has evidently conceived for you one of those that some minds learn to entertain for their he is a disagreeable fellow as i found before he left this morning and the best thing to do is to dismiss him from our thoughts whether he leaves england or not you and the will go as soon as you are able to travel and in the meantime you will not be about the streets where you can meet him let us talk of matters that more immediately concern us are you able to hold a short interview with your wife here this afternoon with my wife repeated with the lady to whom you were united in marriage at in september last you must get used to this fact must your mind with these dates when i send word to mrs gray that her husband has been injured she will fly to your side it even occurs to me that this accident may prove of benefit to our cause as it will furnish a plausible excuse to reveal the truth don t dispute my phrases to her father while her husband was well he could get along without her being ill he re husband and wife her care and attention every one with a man who smells of we shall have her here shall we not at three o clock for a preliminary as gray had put himself so thoroughly in the hands of the man of law he made no objection to the proposal there was a certain advantage in receiving his bride while in this semi helpless state she would not expect him for instance to offer any form of affection which was a gain of no little moment if he was paler than a man should be she would lay it wholly to the effects of his fall and and if the interview was brief the same reason could be assigned so he told mr to bring him miss he begged pardon m r s g r a y at the hour mentioned and he would prepare for the ordeal before him that is arranged then said the rubbing his hands together but bear in mind please that you are not the only one who has an ordeal to go through you will meet a very young girl who is obliged to confess to you by a fault which she would rather ordinarily sacrifice her life almost than admit to a husband her mind will be at an extreme nervous which you must do your best to relieve your conversation should be kept to the largest degree upon matters that are purely business in their nature no allusion or for instance must

0Arthur Conan Doyle

be thought of at this time in reference to her condition the young man started so suddenly at this that he his aching limb and uttered a cry of pain you ought to know he complained his face con love gone astray with suffering from a double cause that such a warning is unnecessary not only to day but never if there is any way to prevent it shall i allude in the most remote degree to any peculiarity in that matter i trust though my present position may lead you to doubt it that i have still in my veins the blood of a gentleman the made haste to the disagreeable effect of his suggestion and when he had succeeded in so doing he went to write the note to mrs gray informing her of the reason why she must come to his office instead of to the parlor of the hotel which had formerly been for the meeting he smiled gravely as he began the with the words my dear mrs g i regret to inform you that your husband has met with a slight accident when he had placed the letter in an envelope he did not write any address on the outside but gave it to his most faithful assistant with orders to put it into no hands but those of colonel s daughter at the hour came to the office and was escorted into gray s presence mr remained only long enough to make his and then with a smile left them together it took but a glance to show mr gray the beauty of the young girl he had promised to take foi his wife even the terrible suffering she had under gone could not blot out the loveliness of her features which must have been handsome short months before her form was rounded show husband and wife ing an earlier than usual development and she dressed with a quiet taste that spoke volumes for her judgment in such matters her eyes and were dark these observations were the easier made because the girl kept her gaze to the carpet for some seconds after she entered the room but before she spoke one opinion that had formed itself unconsciously in his mind there was nothing in her of the he had supposed if she was pale she was not weak her veins were full of rich blood that only the strangeness of the occasion had driven from her cheeks and still she seemed withal the of modesty and he could not understand no not in the least how it could be true what he had heard of her and there was nothing yet to testify at least to his inexperienced eyes the cause of her presence in that chamber it was she who first broke the silence i am sorry you have been hurt she said in a low but rich voice you are kind to say so he answered and his own tones sounded strange to him as if they were another s a horse with mine as i was riding this morning the doctor says i shall be out in a week then he paused having reached the end of all he wanted to say on that point he realized now with eyes averted that she was studying him as intently as he had been studying her she had as much reason perhaps when a girl is to live with a man for love gone astray the rest of her days it is important to know what he is like saw that her future lord was not ugly in appearance and that his bearing was agreeable though naturally somewhat strained at this time with a thought to the opinion of the world which she had begun a little late to care for she decided that he would satisfy as a suitable mate for her i am glad it is no worse she said when the silence became painful she looked about the room the pictures while he stole another searching glance at her features how he asked himself again could such a girl as that be won to it was inconceivable she who could hardly muster courage to talk there with him in a closed room while he lay helpless on a sofa this reflection was in his countenance when turning suddenly to speak again she saw it there and paused with a crimson cheek oh this is too hard she exclaimed bursting into sobs yes it is too hard for both of us i did not think you would mind not in the same way i do i did not realize what it must mean to you much distressed gray raised himself on an elbow and her to be calm all the chivalry in his nature was aroused he pitied the girl from the bottom of his heart her unexpected flood of raised her immensely in his estimation everything is arranged now everything is understood he answered soothingly mr has husband and wife procured the of of our marriage let me beg you not to repeat these she arose and threw herself on the floor by the side of the sofa laying her head on his bosom while she wept softly he was distressed as much by this move as the former one but he had not the heart to forbid it at least it led in the direction they would ultimately have to take listen he said when she had grown a little we must understand everything exactly alike let us see if we agree on all points for as we have one story to tell there must be no miss i mean mrs gray take your chair again and let us see if there is anything in which we differ the girl rose and took the seat fixing her gaze on a figure in the carpet and answering with that like accuracy which often of mind it was the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

best course he could have taken it avoided for the present the and of argument for which neither of them were prepared as i understand it he began clearing his throat we met by accident for the first time in over a year ago each was attracted by the other although no word was then exchanged the next time we met was at the the palace of the she said in a low voice taking up the strain there we learned each other s names and that both were americans next we were thrown together at a reception of the american minister in rome mr gray bowed in the affirmative love gone astray where in one of the rooms he said i begged permission to write to you and you consented giving me a name under which i could address my communications from that time our took new life i returned to america and not being able to live without you returned joining you at last september then fearing a possible refusal from your parents we decided to be married secretly looked up at last what a miserable of lies it is she exclaimed how can i consent to let an innocent man like you share the sin of those with me placed a warning finger on his lips to indicate that such expressions must not be used there is no point in story at which we he said which is very good the name of the clergyman who married us was august we can be accused of but of nothing more to night you will go through the form of telling your father the girl gave a cry and pressed her hands over her face explaining that the accident do not forget this the accident that has befallen me you to reveal the truth and his forgiveness he will find it best to take a sensible view of what cannot be helped and will impart your confession with such excuses as he can find to your mother there was another cry from the listener a exclamation that how deep was the feeling the holy name inspired your mother continued will be guided husband and wife by your father s superior force of will and as soon as i am able to walk they will receive us with arms began to sob again the ingenious story that the had invented differed so widely from the cruel truth that it only and the latter whatever face her father might present to the world whatever tale he might be willing to adopt she knew her fault had struck him a blow from which his proud nature would never recover as for the mother while she in her ignorance of the facts would suffer less there was something in deliberate deceit to that loving and indulgent relation that of the deepest and to this must now be added the of another person to all this there said gray forcing a smile to his face in the hope that it might bring one to hers it is all settled as far as you are concerned the only thing left is the blame that should properly fall on me for securing the hand of an when i have nothing to to her worldly wealth this i am prepared to meet but i prefer if possible that the exact truth should be colored a little to match with the rest of these transactions and as soon as possible i want to be put in a position where my services may be i have no desire to eat my wife s bread after an opportunity of earning my own can be obtained had tried several times to stop him while he was saying these things but he persisted to the end then she him for his expressions and said she hoped he would never repeat them com a gone to the immense load he had agreed to carry these minor matters were not to be spoken of between her sentences there came waves of color and little that to her agitated state of mind and mr gray to pursue a subject that evidently so much distressed her at the end of an hour they parted without special demonstration and a few minutes later a knock at the door came from the who inquired if he might enter well you have been nicely i hope was his greeting everything arranged i trust everything answered mrs gray and i have no differences whatever in his delight at finding matters in such excellent shape the was in great spirits a truly remarkable couple said he may this beginning find its parallel in long years of contented life together your parts have been then and you are both ready for the more serious matter of playing them to the public let me a successful in your new characters seriously he added as he saw that his was not very cordially received i believe both of you will look back upon this day as the happiest in your whatever clouds there are will vanish you are sensible young people who will take care to the esteem you have already conceived for each other i learn from mrs gray that you have done thank you was the quiet reply and now will you let me ask with no intention of being that you will restrain your comments for the future i have to all your i husband and wife am now i understand the lawful husband of the lady that has just left here there is nothing so far as i know that we cannot ourselves arrange in reference to our affairs from this moment i wish no word to pass between you and me that in the remotest way to what has happened i have married a daughter of your if you please the marriage is now three months old you have but recently discovered it and have set about the task

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of between the young couple and the parents you have succeeded or will by to morrow in bringing about a satisfactory state of affairs now is there any reason why you and i should have a different understanding than that possessed by the rest of mankind shall we not forget absolutely all that passed up to the hour when i came to your office and told you that on the day of last september i was married at to miss though somewhat taken by the manner in which these suggestions were delivered mr was obliged to admit that there was wisdom in them he therefore responded that he would accept the situation and do his best to forget that any other had ever existed do you feel able he asked to hold your interview with colonel this evening he will be perfectly and treat you with all respect i should be very glad to have it over said mr gray very well i shall ask him to come after dinner you have seen him once perhaps in my love office do you remember the old gentleman who had the ah here is the doctor who wants to look at your ankle come right in dr well and how do you find him a little heated but doing nicely replied the physician after counting the pulse beat slowly chapter xii you must let me thank you when both the doctor and the had left the room gray was plunged into a prolonged reverie his situation was so incredible that he half believed all the events of the past month a dream from which he must sooner or later awake while he felt keenly the position into which he had permitted himself to be drawn he accepted it as inevitable and would hardly have escaped if by one dash for freedom he could have done so the gentle of his bride impressed him strongly it was something to have brought relief to that distracted mind placed by fate in a condition where he was not the master of his own destiny it was well that he had been used as an instrument of mercy to others he resolved to make the best of his marriage and win whatever of credit there might remain in a union entered upon so the dinner that the domestic brought him was w tou must let me thank you fairly well treated for the appetite of youth is hard to destroy and the injury to his ankle did not affect his hunger when the were cleared away he lay quietly awaiting the interview which had been arranged it was like a operation that could not be avoided and the best way was to endure it with all possible as on the previous occasion mr only remained in the room long enough to make his and to say that he hoped the meeting would result agreeably to all parties concerned when he had gone colonel whose face gray now saw distinctly for the first time seated himself in an a little way from the couch he was an elderly man in years and a decidedly old man in appearance much older since the trouble in his family had no doubt there was a tired look about his gray eyes a in the movements of his hands that told its own tale he had a large quantity of hair that persistently fell across his forehead in a style that might at a former day have added to his good looks but was now a pathetic of the suffering he had undergone he was tall or had been for the stoop of the broad shoulders lowered his stature considerably his dress was careless and his voice naturally strong trembled there was a moment during which neither of them spoke and the clock at the other end of the room so loudly that both were aware of its sound then gray courage and thinking it the part of wisdom to set the conversation in the right direction at the beginning addressed his companion gone astray i want to say to you he began that i realize the feelings you must have towards me and hope you will do as little as possible to that point your daughter and i have committed an no doubt both of us feel it now altogether too plainly but at the time we decided to marry in last september neither foresaw the injurious effect of that course nothing remains for me but to ask your forgiveness and to live hereafter in such a manner that you will forget what has passed these things uttered not without many pauses and for the right expressions when he had finished unable to say another word he felt that he had himself very badly colonel listened at first with a look of wonder on his distressed face but gradually seemed to comprehend the which gray had elected to use when it became his turn to speak however he could not bring himself to take up the thread that was offered him his sentiments were too deep for all he could do was to confine himself to the future he knew very well that this man was not responsible for his daughter s fall he knew that the marriage between them was but a few hours old and that the of the documents was the fraud i have come here he began to assure you that i shall make the best of the situation and treat you sir as far as i can as if there was nothing peculiar in this affair if i am tempted to speak of of anything that i would have given my life to have had otherwise i will try to suffer in silence must let mb thank you ill you are represented to me as a young man of good character and of a good family your appearance is decidedly in your favor to these

0Arthur Conan Doyle

kind remarks returned a bow which hid for a moment the blush they brought to his cheek he felt that the worst was over and that he had nothing to dread from this man he therefore went on to speak of his former life of his youth of his travels with mr and of his surprise at learning that the fortune he had expected to inherit had vanished i have not ten pounds that i can call my own he said candidly but i have youth sir and courage and perhaps a little ability and i hope you will soon help me to some employment that will relieve me from the shame of idleness it was plain that these remarks were agreeable to colonel and that their effect was to lift in some small degree the cloud that hung upon his face he had begun already to like this young man we will talk of that in good time he said when i return to america which he paused a moment will not be for for a year or so something can be arranged at present however it is not to be thought of for you will have some some and some other duties i wish you to feel mr gray that you are now my son and that the greatest treasure he gasped that i own yes still the greatest treasure except my wife is in your hands while you give her the care and attention she needs at present i want you to think of nothing else when the love gone astray right time comes we will talk about it yes we will talk about it the rest of the time that colonel remained was passed in a general discussion of the manner in which the year should be passed and the two men found themselves in perfect accord i want to take your hand said the colonel as he rose to depart i wish you to feel that you have a friend who fully who is glad that a ray of good fortune that came with so much that was ill threw you in his way and i hope he added that you will soon be able to be about and none the worse for the of this morning the proffered grasp was taken and returned interest and the tall bent form of the elder man passed through the doorway and disappeared five minutes later mr came in and looked a hundred questions from his business like eyes everything is satisfactory said gray shortly from his place on the sofa and turned the conversation so abruptly into other fields that the took the plain hint and did not refer to the family again that night on the succeeding afternoon when mrs gray came to see her husband she brought tidings that the news had been broken to her mother and that she had received it as well as could possibly have been hoped mrs her child and when the case was presented with due by the colonel as one in which the heart had been too strong for the judgment she found excuses for her child and took her to her arms you must me thank you he wants to see you too added the young wife blushing at the earliest possible moment that is the worst trial we shall have to go through present and it seems to me the hardest my dear mother has been so good so indulgent we have been such companions it is terrible to deceive her even for her own good tears followed these expressions but mr gray interposed to stop them i want to ask you very earnestly he said to say nothing more now or at any time in the future in reference to these matters i plant myself on one statement that you and i were married three months and more ago in my conversation with your father nothing else was allowed to be intimated nothing should be between you and me we must ourselves to that story and forget that we ever believed otherwise your father has forgiven us for that marriage in made without his consent your mother is ready to give us her blessing notwithstanding the same act of on our part we have the whole world to face and unless the truth the truth understand is very clear in our minds we shall have a difficult task slowly his plan dawned upon her mind and when she fully understood it she came to his side and would have fallen at his feet again in her gratitude as she did the day before no not there he exclaimed you are forgetting the very of your lesson do you not comprehend we married for love we are devoted lovers a prostrate wife at my feet would tell another tale accidents may happen a door gone a tbat that we think locked may admit a suspicious in a may carry a sound that will expose us if we fail in you are my wife we are still in the stages of the we have passed a dangerous point of securing the favor of your parents for us this day can bring nothing but joy that troubled look on your face must give way to one of happiness think in a few days as soon as i am able to be on my feet we shall have to show our bliss to the public already a has been to america informing all who know us of our marriage dazed by the of these things held her breath a she echoed faintly exactly shall i read it to you he took a paper from his pocket here it is copied word for word american society will be surprised to learn of an interesting event that has just in london after being kept a positive secret for more than three months it is the marriage of only daughter of colonel

0Arthur Conan Doyle

and mrs henry of to mr gray of new york the young couple have made their peace with their elders and are said to be the happiest pair in england they will remain abroad for some time longer on account of mrs s health which continues delicate stared hard at her husband and that has been sent to an american paper she repeated to a hundred of them to the associated press which reaches all the great morning journals who you must let me thank you sent it did it was one of the duties that fell to me i had concealed my marriage from the world it was time i admitted it the way was through the newspapers so i sent it to the london agent in my own handwriting the young woman could only shake her head in bewilderment she thought of her friends in and elsewhere over the tidings but it was one of the things that had to come and this was as mr gray said the easiest way to announce it now he began again and paused as he saw her eyes open widely what is the matter he asked at the end of three months married life should i not call you by your christian name when we are alone you will understand if you stop to think how necessary all these little things may be to our success in the business we have undertaken i cannot be your husband part of the day and somebody else the rest we cannot have met this week for the first time and still have been married a hundred days it is husband and wife with us and an affectionate husband and wife or we are lost i agreed that day in to love honor and cherish you as long as i should live it is my duty to carry out to the full that obligation and i am ready to do it i should go upon the witness stand if necessary and raise my right hand to heaven to swear to that day and you are a part of me as much so as my arms or my eyes that is why when i can hear nothing from others against my wife i shall lots astray also to hear anything of the kind from her all this must end here and now at the mention of her first name mrs gray started again she was much impressed with the deep significance of what she had heard but as before the of the she had placed upon this stranger rose before her like a section of the he had taken upon himself a load that might break him down and for what was there anything on the other side of the bargain to for the he had conceived so fully and was so well prepared to execute again she wanted to fall on her knees to him it seemed as if no other position was becoming to her in his presence mr gray she stammered when she could command her voice i beg your pardon he interrupted very gently but also very firmly that name will not do when we are in private she and with the greatest effort began again g i i b e r t well you will you must let me thank you only this once from the bottom of my heart i will let you do nothing of the kind he smiled then to change the subject he added i want to leave these rooms as soon as i can the doctor thinks i can bear moving by day after to morrow shall you be ready for me then she sprang from her chair with a frightened look ready for him ready for him this man talked you must let mb thank you of coming to live with her this man whom she had never spoken to till yesterday i don t know she ejaculated a syllable at a time are you not comfortable here he understood what was passing in her mind and for an instant he was angry it is not that he answered but these quarters are for a lady and a young husband and his wife cannot be separated without danger of criticism to morrow the printed this morning in the united states will be in london and the people who know you here will expect to find you where a wife belongs by her husband s side it was true there was no denying what was so plain she was his wife recorded as such on the register announced as such to the world he had a right to demand that she her i i will talk with my father about it and make arrangements she whispered but she had grown very pale us love gone astray chapter xiii to the on mr gray s limb was so far recovered from on the fourth day after it occurred that he could walk with the aid of a cane and he took the opportunity of going in a carriage to the hotel where his wife and her family resided to pay the visit to mrs for which that lady was anxiously waiting in the meantime he had had another interview with the colonel and two with which served to make them all feel better acquainted the interesting character of a semi invalid served him a good turn on his first meeting with his law acting as an excuse for the conversation between them mrs met him with tact bidding him welcome in discreet terms and saying with great grace that her daughter s husband would always seem a son to her she was far from strong as could easily be seen and thought in spite of his resolutions not to dwell on such things that a knowledge of the truth would certainly have killed her outright the spectacle of the daughter hiding her face in her mother s

0Arthur Conan Doyle

bosom while the latter relieved the situation with her thoughtful words was very affecting whatever might have done the attachment to her mother was too deep to be questioned and at last when mrs gently to mamma forced her child to lift her eyes and receive a warm kiss the tears that flowed down the young cheeks were tempered with a sad smile that could not have been i have wondered for some weeks said the sweet mother voice what made my little girl so absent minded and why the laugh i was accustomed to hear had been i tried to have her consult a physician but she declared that she was quite well and only the victim of a melancholy that would soon ass off she should have known her parents better than to conceal her marriage from them however we might feel she was sure of our pardon and our love the young heart cannot always control its impulses and a wise parent is the best friend but she added we are very glad that our daughter fixed her choice on so good a man and one with whom we cannot doubt she will be happy to this mr gray replied in a few words mrs by his manner which she found very agreeable colonel did not open his lips once during the interview but signified when appealed to by his wife s eyes that he fully agreed with her the advice of mr gray s that he undergo no unnecessary fatigue was quoted and the very brief meeting with his new parents closed i want you to go back to my rooms with me said to his wife as they passed out of mrs s parlor it is necessary he explained the public eye is already upon us my dear a of the telegraph called this morning to ask about my marriage and i had to explain why i was love gone astray living in those chambers instead of with you on account of the accident which i sustained he will inform his readers to morrow i feared to frighten you by being taken helpless into your presence i therefore used the rooms to which i had gone for the doctor s examination and have since been unable to leave them you will come with me for that reason and for another i have had a talk witli your father and we have agreed upon some things which i want to discuss with you much agitated at the prospect saw no excuse for refusing and went to get ready for the ride the carriage was a closed one and she met no person on the way so far as she knew who recognized her but there was a strange sensation in being shut in with this man of whom she knew so little that seemed to choke her she feared each moment that he would presume upon his to make some move that she dreaded it was very well for him to marry her that was a most convenient act but to claim the privileges that go with matrimony she felt was a far different thing however to her great joy limited his remarks to the scenes through which they were passing and they reached his rooms including the climb of the stairs without special incident there was an entrance that could be used without passing through the office of mr and they availed themselves of it well said the husband after the door to the mute horror of the young lady here we are again to mamma he was undoubtedly her lord and master before the law and before the world but she was very slow to recognize this fact in its full significance she did not take a chair as he his hand for her to do but stood before him a picture of uneasiness why do you lock the door she asked you do not think i will run away do you not at all he smiled i did it to keep others from entering under any without being invited particularly and here the smile left his face our good friend the she looked at him he would not enter she replied i think mr claims to be a gentleman does he inquired gray as if unprepared to admit so much then i will give him no opportunity to prove he is not one an accidental lifting of that latch on the plea that he did not know we were here is at this time consequently i have turned the key now each time he used this name the young wife started this is not what i asked you here to talk about there is a matter of much greater importance i have taken you for my wife the announcement of that fact is spread over two we are as married as far as the law goes as we can ever be but if i stay here and you at your hotel are you listening doubts as to our condition will inevitably arise we must live under one roof we must act like married people if we expect the public to believe what we claim do her best could not conceal the agitation that she was she opened and fi love gone astray closed her eyes looked at her husband repeatedly and away again clenched and her hands and he missed nothing of these evidences of what was passing in her mind you might think you might remember she answered after a long pause how little i know of you how recently we have met you should you ought you must give me time it is not you can see it is not the same as if we had been married in the usual way as if you had made love to me and i had accepted you and that sort of thing and then there is another reason and she uttered a sob

0Arthur Conan Doyle

another reason that i cannot talk about i appreciate all you are doing for me oh don t doubt that but she fell back faintly into the old form of expression you should think you should remember her eyes opened and closed again her hands clenched and her lips were drawn in until they appeared as white as her forehead the husband did not interrupt her for he knew it was best to let her say all she wished and in her own way excuse me for remarking he answered coldly when he saw she had finished that the sentiments you to me are not complimentary as far as words can be clear and distinct i want you to understand my position i desire nothing i would accept nothing but an opportunity to carry out the agreement i have made with you i am not going to be put nor will i allow you to be put into any ridiculous position we are married and we must act as if so to all interested in that fact your father and i are to mamma in perfect accord in this matter we must live under one roof the people who see us nearest the friends who call the servants who wait upon us must have nothing to arouse their suspicions we must there is no other word we must occupy the same of apartments but understand me now if you never do again that shall always when its outer door are closed find you at one end and me at the other there was an earnestness in the young man s tone that approached was frightened as she felt how thoroughly he meant what he said even while her heart gave a leap of delight she did not want him to hate her she wanted to be on good terms with him you are speaking bitterly she said with a slight touch of reproach in her voice i am using the best words i can to convey my meaning he answered sharply there are a thousand things i ought to say but i cannot bring myself to say them suffice it that while the world calls me your husband and must find no cause to doubt it i shall be only your brother until until a very long time has elapsed if ever she shivered at the ominous ending you are not angry with me i hope she said t gently oh no it is only that i want you to comprehend my full intentions that this conversation may answer once for all you and i have made a bargain that most people would not think to our credit if they understood it perfectly my reward is to be paid in cash there is no other way to put the love gone astray cold bald fact i shall take it in cash according te the letter of the bond in return i shall give you the protection of my name which the world thinks and my companionship to whatever extent is needed to satisfy mrs as to the rest let us be candid i do not love you neither do you love me and without love i would accept a caress from no living woman unless it were in the honest open market where such goods are sold without if these things sound harshly they have more kindness than any was it the native discontent latent in woman s nature that made her dissatisfied at what she had most wished to hear this being the case he proceeded after waiting to see if she had any comment to make i think it wise to leave england immediately and go to some place where we are not known there to learn the habit of appearing before the world in our new capacity your father has consented as far as he is concerned that we should go to the south of france and stay until he us your mother will i am sure when he presents the matter to her in its right light feel as he does at the end of a month or so or sooner if an emergency arises they will come to us there was no flaw in his reasoning but felt her hands growing as she thought of leaving her mother and in the sole company of this man who was still to her almost a stranger she could not doubt the sincerity of his statements and yet she had a nameless fear of the life that lay before to mamma her oh it had so many hardships in it this new relation she had been so eager to secure where do you think of going she asked to or its vicinity i should certainly meet people there whom i know she said but not as many as you would here if you meet a few it can do no harm they have got to see your husband some time a rosy hue spread over the fair cheek at the and the wife ceased to argue she saw the of she did not wish to seem opposed to her husband s wishes when there was nothing vital at stake the only trouble was that each step came so hard she must shut her eyes and make the plunge since it was necessary very well she said i will leave it entirely to you it is the first time i have ever been so far from mamma but i won t mind that any more than i can help if we are going it might as well be at once and as you say she can be sent for if necessary and i don t want you to think she added earnestly that i intend to oppose you in anything that is right you realize how new all this is to me how completely i have been under the care of my mother and father you realize it all

0Arthur Conan Doyle

i am sure and you must have a great deal of patience till i get a little used to things gray could control his tongue but not his thoughts and he wondered more than ever how this mother s girl this father s pet had strayed so far from reserve and duty as to have come gone to her present pass but he shook off these reflections with all the force he could muster he had not only to forgive he must try also to forget chapter xiv good night mrs thoroughly under the influence of her husband agreed with but slight resistance to the departure of the young couple a little in advance of us as she put it for the exact date she was to follow was not yet arranged she troubled mr gray when he came for his good by covert allusions to the natural desire of young married people to be away from their elders where they could enjoy with absolute freedom the society of each other she had once been of their age she told them and her memory was good ah they should make the most of their youth and their love for years crept on and there would be an end to all things earthly if only their affection grew brighter with the lapse of time as hers and her husband s had done they could ask for nothing sweeter and to this play of words and lent themselves with whatever was necessary to deceive while the sober face of colonel with its new lines of pain and care even when it encouraged the deception good night at parting bent above the sweet countenance of his mother in law and kissed her reverently on the forehead at which she drew him down and pressed her lips to his cheek declaring at the last moment that could not be in better hands than his and that he had her entire confidence and love here is purse and yours said colonel pressing it into gray s hand when they retired to be for a few minutes alone and here is a letter of credit that you will use at your discretion say nothing i pray you about this matter but consider yourself as i told you before one of my family and entitled to a full share of all i have i also want you to know that i like you more than i ever dreamed i should and that there has been a weight lifted from my heart since i have found to what a true man the happiness of my child is nothing was to be gained by any reply to this speech except a simple thank you colonel and an hour later the mail bore the wedded pair rapidly toward the channel gray was not surprised because his wife curled herself into a corner of the and wept softly during most of the journey she had enough to weep for god knew and tears he had often heard were a blessing to women in trouble the kindest thing was to arrange her about her with a gentle hand and leave her to herself at the steamer pier he assisted her to the ladies cabin glad to remember that the rules prevent men and women occupying that part of the boat together and gave special directions to the love gone astray with a good fee to make madame as comfortable as possible then he went into the men s cabin and lighting a cigar passed the time before reaching france in contemplating his future in wreaths of smoke when he went for his wife on the arrival of the steamer at he found that she had dried her tears for the in the experience of a new form of discomfort for which they offered no relief she had suffered from and presented a most spectacle as women are apt to do on such occasions she clung closer to her husband as he took her to the train and shivered as the wintry wind blew around the corners with a suggestion of fine snow in the air when the train started she began to talk referring to her illness on the boat and showing her feminine nature by remarks in relation to her appearance to which he gave suitable replies the was also occupied by another couple a young man and woman whom no one could doubt were on the first day of their wedding trip the young woman close to her husband and laughed when he tucked the about her feet and felt occasionally to see if her hands were as warm as they should be their conversation which did not for an instant was conducted in so low a tone that the man s lips almost and once or twice quite touched his companion s cheek happiness the purest and sweetest that is given to the children of men was theirs and the couple who sat in the other corner felt the contrast in all its intensity this girl thought might also be leaving good night her father and mother for the first time but in the overpowering love for her wedded mate she could feel her heart throb with joy even after that parting in the new arms to which she was going nature would teach her to forget for the those that had so long been her refuge against the breast of this lover she would find compensation for the one which had nursed her baby lips with this champion to fight her battles she could spare the father who had guarded her from every danger since her little feet took their first step and i reflected i what have i thrown away what have i gained in exchange for all this if only the past could come again and i could see these things as i see them now thought of it all too he saw as in a

0Arthur Conan Doyle

mirror what he might under happier conditions have enjoyed but the beggar who watches an imperial progress does not think ill of the emperor and while grinding his teeth together in an effort to forget he had only good wishes for the couple whose delight his contrasted state it had been decided to remain over night in paris and three pleasant rooms at the grand hotel had been engaged by wire a bright fire was burning in the grate of the sitting room where shortly after their arrival a pleasant was served asked his wife when the dinner was cleared away if she would like to take a ride or a walk and she replied that the journey had tired her a little and she believed she did not care to she said however that he must feel quite free to go if he wished and love gone astray he thanked her saying he believed a stroll of an hour would do him good when he returned not one hour but three later he was surprised to find her still up you should have gone to bed my dear he said kindly i i will go now she stammered i i did not know which room was mine he laughed a little uneasily she looked than he liked to see her the choice is for you to make said he let us go and inspect them but she remained by the open grate and let him go alone it is hard to choose he said when he returned but on the whole i think the further one is a little the best and i suggest that you take that he was so honest so sincere that her confidence made a great leap i don t see why i should have the best she answered looking hard at the fire it seems to me that it is you mr gray not mr gray but he it seems to me she avoided any name at all t a you ought to have the best i owe so much to you i hope you think me grateful he broke in upon her again i cannot hear another word like that he said now or at any time come it is late she bit her lip at the reproof gathered up the that lay about the room and turned to leave good night at the threshold she faced about with hei hand extended good night mr i mean she said with a supreme effort good night he answered taking the hand and it at once sleep well and as late as you like remember we do not take the train till evening the door closed behind her and for an instant gray s head fell into the palms of his hands while a stifled groan issued from his lips then he roused himself and took a few steps up and down the room if i had known how hard this would be i never could have agreed to it he muttered but one gets used to everything in time mrs gray mrs gray ha ha my wife what can it be but a nightmare from which i shall pass to a sleep as i get used to my surroundings the days will probably come when i am accustomed to her presence and she has ceased to be annoyed at mine and the price i for will be paid with so much money in exchange for a name i have a part of it here in my pocket honestly delivered by her father he will his and i must mine he stretched his arms above his head and closed his eyes with a prolonged sigh i must not fail in one or no not in one she is my wife and has been for more than a hundred days i am prepared to swear it on all the in her child when it is born is my legitimate offspring her child love gone astray the stretched arms fell slowly to the speaker s side as another thought came a thought that made his brain to whirl and his teeth to chatter that pointed its bony finger at him and defiance from its teeth the real father of that child is doubtless living and you may yet find him standing across your path chapter xv life on the there is almost nothing to which the human mind cannot grow accustomed the wretch to twenty years in prison finds the first month harder than any six that follow it gray gradually became used to the presence of her husband which at first gave her such vivid alarm the with which he treated her contributed much to this result she grew to regard him without apprehension to consider his no menace to that tranquillity of mind she had so much need of he inflicted his company on her just as much as was expedient for the he had to play and never any more than that to the world he presented the spectacle of a young and loving husband when the curtains had shut out the eyes of mankind he was only the respectful friend the obliging and attendant life on the also began to find his new position easier as time passed on but for the that had been raised a possible appearance of the father of his child he might have settled into a dull sort of contentment with his lot that like others of its came and went appearing sometimes in a guise that drove sleep from his eyelids and then vanishing for days when the ghost haunted him most severely he would vow to make inquiries at one of the sources from which information might be obtained and learn something of the man who was responsible for the lapse in virtue of this lovely and till then innocent creature he wanted to learn whether this fellow might not return to annoy the woman he

0Arthur Conan Doyle

had so greatly wronged whether he really knew the extent of the harm he had done her whether his low mind might not lead him in the latter case to attempt to gain some advantage through the fears he could excite mr gray felt that he ought to know these things in order to make preparation should any annoyance be inflicted upon his wife he had heard of the extent to which has sometimes been carried when he tried to think however of the best way to gain this knowledge he was compelled to admit that his task was a difficult one he had expressly said to mr when in london that he wanted no conversation with him in reference to that terrible page in his wife s history that he wished it closed forever and forgotten to write for the information he desired after this was likely to be attended with a corresponding reply besides a sacrifice of personal love gone dignity from which he shrank besides it would be to put on paper the questions he wished answered which might fall by some into other hands than those for which they were intended and lead to infinite mischief when colonel came he might be asked but there was no certainty that he would be willing to answer at best the inquiry would arouse the most painful feelings in the breast of that old man already broken in spirit and struggling to the crushing blow he had received nothing else was left but to appeal to directly and of all the means proposed this seemed the most contemptible and cruel so the months passed and the that had been raised grew less and less impressive in his bearing colonel and his wife were now at mrs had been made aware of her daughter s condition and it was quite pathetic to note the joy with which she received the information she congratulated upon the coming event and dilated at great length upon the circumstances connected with the unique occasion when she herself had passed through a similar experience she reproached her husband because he did not exhibit as much delight as she thought he ought and beamed on as she revealed to him the fact that she was possessed of the great secret nothing so a married pair as the presence of a child she insisted is still very young but she is in good health and nothing is to be apprehended you must be a very happy man mr life on the gray i am sure it is no sin to say you ought to be envied the expected event was a sufficient excuse to to decline the invitations to various society functions gotten up by the english american and other that poured in later in the season it did not however prevent every woman she knew from calling upon her more frequently than they would otherwise have done and bringing with suitable and often very lame apologies all the of the same sex they chose each of these women who had the pleasure of being presented to mr gray pronounced him too sweet to live and went away convinced that a happier man did not exist on the continent he was just dignified enough they all declared and so delightfully reserved in the presence of his wife and her friends they were willing to forgive him for having a fortune smaller than that of his bride which had taken pains to announce though the full extent of his poverty was never known for a man like that several of the boldly they would resign their single without hesitation in short removed almost wholly from society for the reasons stated mr and mrs gray were among the best liked of the during the winter they remained there and received countless smiles when they took their daily drive along the fashionable to s suggestions made on various occasions to colonel that he wanted something for his idle hands to do the reply was always love gone astray the same he must wait till another summer at present he must not leave his wife when the the right time came they would all set sail for the united states and if the young man wished to put his brain to work an opportunity would be furnished him in the exciting grain market of the colonel was in constant communication with london by wire and was arranging to take part so understood in various that were under way so long as his daughter was in her present state he would not leave europe although he had previously expected to take a run over to america for a couple of months in spite of the terrible suffering he had undergone the father was still passionately devoted to perhaps even more so than before she was his only child beside her lie had nothing but the delicate wife who was fading slowly away before his eyes he had consented to the scheme of hiding fault by this marriage and there was no business that could weigh in his mind with the importance of making that marriage a success the conduct of the young couple was so when others were present that even the father had no suspicion of the manner in which they avoided each other in private he supposed that the youth of one and the beauty of the other had met their natural in spite of the disagreeable past they strolled together up and down the of the hotel and in the paths adjacent they talked as freely at table as the circumstances would lead one to expect they were a great deal alone in the special they occupied how was the father to life on the know that buried himself in his books and in her fancy work without a single word passing between them for hours like others who met them colonel grew more and more impressed with his

0Arthur Conan Doyle

son in law he would not have believed until he had seen it that such a thorough gentleman would accept that questionable place and fill it in such a perfect manner had never returned to the full of her days and her father had no reason to expect that she would it must be a long time before she could the memory of what she had passed through besides she was now a wife and would soon be a mother the change in her manner was not more than he felt the facts should lead him to anticipate the life of the was singularly regular one day was very nearly like another rose earliest and generally took a short walk before breakfast on returning he found in their mutual sitting room and ordered the coffee and rolls to be sent up across the table a few words were exchanged referring to the weather to something in the newspaper or to slight matters connected with the life at after the first week they were at their ease during these while no demonstration of affection was thought of by either there was nothing like coldness friends who did not mean to get too intimate this they were and no more they kept out of each other s way and yet took good care that they should not seem to do so during the morning they met mrs new love gone and the colonel for an hour or so in the rooms occupied by the latter on account of the invalid character of the mother here and mrs talked about the thousand little things that interest women while her father and discussed such events as concern the business and political world the noon as well as the dinner was usually taken in common also in the colonel s apartments on account of the state of his wife s health in the afternoon the men went frequently together to the sometimes for a walk in the town at five o clock took his wife regularly to drive occasionally with her parents as companions but usually alone at a hour the separated for the night without with a simple word indicating that one or the other was about to retire the they occupied had but one entrance and not even the servants suspected how thoroughly their lives were lived apart chapter xvi the family secret the only break in the regularity of the winter came with a visit of mr who took a brief from the duties of his profession and made it the occasion for a little business with colonel as well as his the family secret acquaintance with mr gray the was entirely as far as knew though it appeared afterwards that the colonel had been expecting him for some time his presence did not bring much pleasure to the younger man who however endeavored to treat him with due politeness and succeeded fairly well it was distressing to sit at dinner as he was several times compelled to do with an who could the depth of his degradation and accuse him in his thoughts of what he would not for wealth have had revealed colonel seemed to have something of the kind in his own mind also and acted in a constrained manner during the it seemed to be the mission of mr to remind them both as well as the young lady herself that he had invented and carried out the plan under which everything was working so and that they ought to be thankful to him for it naturally they did not like this and the time when the must return to london was looked forward to without regret by both on the last day that dined with them mrs gray was and he expressed his regret in such warm terms that her husband felt a kind of personal the remarks were met in perfect silence by the gentlemen and it was left to mrs new to reply in her innocent courteous manner i am going to morrow morning on an early train said mr to gray when he happened to meet him alone later in the evening i have business at and shall not see you again so good bye love gone he put out his hand and as he knew no reason under the skies why he should not accept it mr gray did so coolly and silently the seemed surprised at such a leave taking and lingered instead of ascending the stairs to his room as he had made a movement to do you re all very comfortable i see he remarked with a motion of his head toward the other side of the hotel everything as as a cat in a rug never been sorry have you well i told you you wouldn t you ought to feel nicely toward me for putting you into such a pleasant position these expressions fearfully on the of the man to whom they were addressed and he grew white about the lips you seem to have forgotten what i once said to you he answered there are things about which i never talk and of which i try not even to think your part in them was ended long ago i ask you once more never to allude to them in my presence mr shrugged his shoulders and on the railing of the stairs by which he stood there must be things you would like to know he answered with a of revenge in his tone there are questions which must enter your head that no one else you would wish to inquire of could answer it was the again the familiar ghost of the only doubt that troubled the husband s mind in the presence of this horror he was silent you have taken a dislike to me for some reason i can t guess what said mr the only tee family explanation is the tendency of the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

human mind to hate those who show us the greatest kindness you remember i alluded to that when your friend he called himself i believe abused you after you had saved him from by i saw him in london a few weeks ago and he is thinking of coming this way soon mr gray clenched his hands and bit his lip this man was getting a sweet revenge for the sharp words addressed to him once you you what i said replied gray stumbling in his words it is not a hatred for any special person but an absolute necessity that my course i have done all i agreed to do if permanent good is to follow everything that has passed must be buried a thousand beneath the surface never to be your allusions to them sting me like fire the played with the of his and regarded the other with a expression and before the door of that past is closed he asked is there nothing are you sure there is nothing upon which you have a curiosity to gaze it was a trying moment the young husband was torn between anxiety to know the father of his wife s child and his intense dislike to accept a favor from this man he for several seconds showing in every the torture he was feeling tell me only this he said at last is there any that the person about whom i might inquire will ever attempt to trouble me or her love gone mr smiled at the inquiry only the gods can foresee the future he said let us certainly hope not if he ever does however call on me to deal with him perhaps you would rather suffer his though he added in a faint vein of irony the alternative was getting too strong for mr gray i think we will call the door closed he said gravely and with a firmer tone i have taken certain risks and while i hope for the best i will not shrink from my fate if i need you he added as a sort of at the end i can write the shook his head slowly but mr gray said good bye to him and walked toward his own apartments his wife had not arisen from the bed to which she had gone early in the afternoon under the plea of a severe headache and he paused at her door before going to his bedroom to ask in a low voice if there was anything he could do for her open the door a little was the strange reply that greeted his ears he opened it two or three inches with a guilty feeling as if it were the room of some woman toward whom he meditated a wrong what time is it asked ten o clock where have you been she had never shown the least before as to his movements or the hours he kept and he had stayed out much later only into the reading room and just now i the family have been talking a little with mr who is going in the morning open the door further so i can see you said conquering an inclination to fly the place and still with a feeling resembling an amateur s on his first expedition gray slowly pushed back the door he saw his wife lying in her bed her head enveloped in a white and sunken in the depths of the pillows one of her arms in a night dress or what he took to be one lay outside the white come in she said softly i i am going to bed he answered looking about the room from sheer curiosity he saw the clothes she had worn heaped in pretty on the sofa and the chairs a pair of white slippers lay by the side of the couch the dainty things that women love to surround themselves with were to be discerned on every hand i hope your headache is better he added after a moment it is much better he started at the word uttered by that woman in are you angry with me for anything by no means he replied why should i be angry with you she put the hand that lay outside the cover to her lips and bit nervously at her nails nothing she said down a sob nothing particular only you look troubled i m sure sob i mean to be very good to you and some time another sob i mean to be much better than i have love gone ever been just now you know i am not well sob and and you ll forgive me if i act a little sob distant won t you he could not help feeling that the she heaped upon herself were more to him but he wished of all things to avoid a debate he answered hurriedly that she was nervous and that she had best let him ring for her maid who had a room in another part of the hotel she replied that she did not want any one and that she was recovering as idly as could be expected and would be quite well the next morning at which he congratulated her and disappeared before she could find an excuse to the conversation within a day or two he began talking of leaving and going to as he had no particular reason to give at first for she did not wish to be separated any sooner than was necessary from her mother and feared mrs would be to travel but when to the subject the second time she made no more objection luckily mrs had also grown tired of and was much pleased at the prospect of a change early in april therefore the and the were comfortably at one of the best hotels and breathed easier if william was coming to the it would be a blessing

0Arthur Conan Doyle

not to meet him and was not a place at which mr of london was likely to be called by any of the of his profession of the baby chapter xvii arrival of the baby as the time grew nearer when mrs gray was to become a mother her husband found his position growing more and more peculiar mrs never tired of talking to him of the impending event to impress upon him the immense gratitude due from a man to a woman who him such proofs of her affection the gentle hints as to the duties of a coming father nearly drove him wild he could only respond as politely as possible and make his escape at the earliest opportunity as for the colonel he behaved extremely well though full of anxiety he to question or to advise he showed his regard for in a thousand agreeable ways and strengthened the resolutions of his son in law to the obligation he had assumed at whatever sacrifice a month in was followed by a fortnight in and then a proposition to go to for the was carried out two of the in with a of nurses were engaged by mr gray after a consultation with and the date of the expected event communicated to them as nearly as might be the husband was kindness itself and the on y times when he had to speak with an air of authority was when tried to thank or to compliment him there love gone astray must be nothing of that sort he said nothing whatever when they finally brought him a tiny morsel of humanity in gray s feelings were so intense that he had no need to agitation it was the first time he had ever been brought into contact with that great miracle compared to which the changing of water to wine and even the raising of the dead sink into he knew that the breath of god had been blown into these tender nostrils of the fact that man s sin aided in working the wonder they told him that the mother was doing well and that he could see her in a few hours but he kept out of the sick room till the third day a proceeding which won him golden opinions from the haired nurses who thought him a model of consideration when he did go in and was left alone a few minutes with his wife he could not speak he was frightened to see her so pale and there was something in the atmosphere of the room that stifled him much the calmer of the twain at first surveyed his face with deep interest like all young mothers she felt herself a superior creature for what she had passed through and yet so much depended on the attitude of this man s mind you do not say anything she remarked wistfully what can i say he answered you surely are glad i am doing nicely oh yes she closed her eyes with a gesture of despair arrival of the baby u ah she cried you are going to hate me forever no no i am only stunned a little overwhelmed i do not hate you and i never have she caught one of his hand and in spite of him covered it with kisses and my little girl you do not hate her either i love your little girl already he said gravely a delighted expression came over her countenance then perhaps the time will come when you will even learn to like me he took the hand from her gently though she struggled to retain it and told her she ought not to say such things that she knew she ought not he liked her very much nothing she had done since her marriage had lessened the regard he had for her she must not continue to fill her head with wild but that baby girl of mine that child that is not yours she will always stand between us she answered with a groan hush he replied glancing fearfully around the room you shall not in this manner that child is mine do you understand i am its father as surely as you are its mother let any one say otherwise who dares she tried to take his hand again and would had she possessed the strength have crawled to his feet there never was another man like you she murmured never one so noble so pure so true i have not been worthy of you but i will make myself so if you can forget if you but he stopped her with a gleam in his eyes that she love gone y did not see saying that she everything by those wild words and that he would listen to no more of them the interview had lasted as long as was consistent with the physician s advice he was now going if he heard that she talked nonsense to the attendants he would it to a wandering brain the result of her illness and he vanished from the room without permitting her to reply mrs had been an idea which was submitted to him on the following day it was that he should get a number of tiny cards to be placed in of the corresponding size stating the fact of the birth of a daughter to mr and mrs gray these cards to be to several hundred of his and friends on both it was a custom she had found to prevail in some parts of italy and she thought it very charming gave his consent to the plan immediately and the cards were duly he personally writing most of the addresses he had begun to be anxious to establish his in that pretty child whose father he must appear the congratulations that came back were nearly as numerous as the cards was able to listen to most of them

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in the presence of her mother and husband to the infinite pleasure of the elder lady who herself immensely on having originated the notion of communicating the great event to her circle of friends in this manner mrs gray was able to do one thing on these that gave her much satisfaction as it was necessary to a of connection be arrival of the baby herself and in the presence of mrs she could take one of his hands and it without danger that he would force it away from her and when he left the room there was no escape from lightly touching his wife s forehead with his lips an act that gave her the most exquisite bliss it mattered not that she knew these things were solely by the need of her mother received them eagerly as a symbol of what she hoped might follow in due time when she was restored to health and strength and the further lapse of weeks and days had done their work for the young wife who had been growing and of her husband had fallen violently in love with him while she lay on this bed of illness she pictured to herself a wonderful hour when this of men should feel a sentiment in his own bosom time time would bring it about he loved the baby why should he not at some distant day love her also she would wait for it to come patiently and when it arrived the black shadow that had settled over her youth would fly away before the glorious morning of that new this hop gave her something to live for as well as the happiness that she felt in the of her child the delight with which heaven women for the pain they undergo began to make a new creature her father s brow lightened as he saw his beloved one so much like what she used to be in the old days she was no less beautiful in her young than in her innocence as a school girl the plan he had con love gone a with so much to try had worked wonders he began to talk of the entire party going to america in the autumn and there was no objection on any side wanted to go because he had tired of dependence and idleness wanted to go because her husband did mrs who faded said she would like to see her western home and the colonel had a dozen irons in the fire that needed his attention there as it was thought best for mrs as well as for the baby to travel by easy stages the party went to for a week or two in september on their way to england it would be pleasant mrs said for the to the city where they had been made one naughty sly young people that they were flushed crimson for she had associations with that were less agreeable to remember and bit his lips but the failing eyes of the elder lady noted nothing of this she continued to them in her indulgent way until she was tired if there had been any excuse for avoiding would have availed himself of it but as there was none he consented to the plan but something occurred during his stay in the dutch capital that made him wish he had gone to england by the way of the cape of good hope rather than through holland in one of his rides with through the city he saw the disagreeable face of william staring at them from the of course he pretended not to see and of course he knew very well that knew he did arrival of the baby see him and purposely avoided him from the one glance he had taken it struck gray that his old acquaintance was not in the best of luck he had that air of in the purse that itself so rapidly on some persons the and span look so becoming to the rider at park was absent he had even less of prosperity in his appearance than when found asleep at the foot of st mark s column in reflected that the contrast between him and the well dressed gentleman in the carriage must be extremely and he hoped their meeting would not occur again in this desire however gray was bound to be disappointed the face of haunted him wherever he went he could not walk or drive without seeing that unwelcome countenance hardly could he glance across the street from the window of his room without beholding the figure he detested on the opposite side once when he happened to be gazing from his closed shutters his wife came up behind him as her eyes followed his she uttered a little scream and her husband who turned suddenly upon her saw that she was pale what is the matter he asked assisting her to a chair what has happened it is that man across the street he added his face you have seen him before she nodded a great many times before she could command her tongue it would not do to trifle with in his present mood i saw him in london she stammered the love gone astray week before met you he was one of those you understand one of his of mr people but why does the sight of him frighten you he demanded never showed you to him of course no she said catching her breath but he that awful time that time i try to forget and i thought by the attitude you assumed you must know it was plain enough and the young man regretted his harsh manner with a few direct words he related the particulars of his meetings with and his reasons for him he also suggested that the presence of the fellow made a very good excuse for cutting their stay in short and

0Arthur Conan Doyle

going to england on the following day to all of which agreed striving to calm herself as best she might it was the first time had actually spoken in angry tones to her but on the other hand it was something to think he had been jealous if only for a moment for jealousy affection if he entertained the green eyed monster on her account he must care more for her than he was willing to admit this was why went to her own room as quickly as she might and cried and laughed there all by herself for the next two hours mr gray was not to leave the city however without another disagreeable experience after dinner that evening the following letter was put into his hand my dear gray you may think it little short of impertinence for me to apply to you for another loan of the baby that the first is still but the fact is am absolutely broke and know no one so able as you to help me out of the mire in this city of where i understand you had the supreme felicity of marrying the charming lady with whom i have seen you driving you should be able to forget small and act a noble generous part to a fellow mortal in distress i only want five hundred and i could possibly get along with four hundred if you will send the amount by bearer it will be a great accommodation if not i will see you at the railway when you depart having no business to my hands and you can give it to me there yours ever w n n b that affair with the horse in park was pure accident he was an beast and i sold him the next day if this letter had been a one pure and simple gray would have thrown it in the waste paper basket and bade defiance to its author there was just enough doubt on that point to make him give it a second and then a third reading perhaps questioned that the marriage in was a genuine one but there was nothing in his note that indicated this the city had been mentioned in all the published notices of the wedding the offer to come to the station in case it was more convenient to give him the money there had a sinister look but it was too carefully veiled to be called a threat supposing the money was refused and came to the station what could he do there he love gone astray could only ask for it again whatever he suspected he could give no new information to mrs gray or to colonel yet there was mrs a disagreeable word might reach her ears and cause her annoyance it was best to send the money and settle the fellow in a few weeks they would all be in the united states and beyond his power to bother them four hundred thought it better to send the smaller sum was therefore enclosed in an envelope and handed to the messenger and the congratulated himself that he had disposed of the matter so the arrival in england was made without special event and the hotel servants welcomed the mother and child who had come in place of the young girl they had parted with less than a year ago everything seemed going finely when mrs developed an alarming phase of her illness that compelled all thoughts of taking her on a journey to be abandoned nothing could well have happened worse colonel passed his hours between the bedside of his wife and his desk where were sent and received without number although his family was still first in his thoughts he had felt so sure of the date at which he would arrive in that he had launched into some business of magnitude that required his presence on the ground as time passed he confided the entire details of his and purchases to gray saying that if mrs got no better it might be necessary for the young man to start for america without him and arrival of the baby attend to some of the more pressing matters in his stead showed the greatest and surprised the colonel by the readiness with which he comprehended what was told him mr called frequently but beyond exchanging the compliments of the season had no conversation with gray the liking between them had not increased but they seemed to find it best to let each other completely alone since there was no cause for quarrel at last an came late in november when it was decided that gray must depart for america the very earliest boat in which a berth could be had was selected giving him but a few hours to prepare for the trip he was with the most important orders on which hundreds of thousands of dollars depended for once in his life he had been thought worthy of something above a he went to his apartments and communicated the information to his wife remarking that she would next see him probably on the other side of the ocean to his intense surprise rose from her chair pressed her hand to her side toward him and fell in a on the carpet he rang for her maid who assisted him to lift mrs gray upon the bed in her room and for the next quarter hour they busied themselves to restore her it must have been the suddenness of the announcement he thought and since the birth of her baby she had been subject to that it was her grief at the idea of being separated from him never entered his mind gone astray as soon as she had sufficiently recovered left her and went to pack his trunks for the voyage chapter xviii it is my husband s room when mr gray came home that evening after attending to

0Arthur Conan Doyle