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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

various matters connected with his impending journey he went immediately to his own chamber and began to write some letters in passing through the little which formed the ground of the apartment he noticed that his wife was not there and he had no doubt she had retired for the night on account of the manifested earlier in the day his mind was so filled with the importance of the errand on which he was about to that it had no room in it for anything else the affairs of colonel on the board in were in a perilous state with immense interests that required a careful hand on the spot the colonel was held in london by the condition of his wife and the telegraph proved a poor substitute for his personal presence his son in law had been given a power of attorney to act in all respects as his agent and the speed of the ocean vessel was like the pace of a to both of them until should arrive in the colonel is my husband s boom must continue to direct his campaign by wire and while nearly every moment was passed at his wife s bedside even his being taken in her room the strain was sure to be tremendous on his already vitality after his letters were written and a few other things attended to the young man sat silent for a long time the past and upon the future if he proved his ability in this business the days of idleness would come to an end and the active life for which his spirit would take its place he had eaten the bread of till his soul against it to be of use to the man who had treated him so nobly to feel the pleasure of handling money he had actually earned that would be glorious indeed the emergency that called for his efforts was a painful one but it meant freedom the ability to walk erect the right to look men in the face all this if he succeeded and he would succeed if there was such a thing possible he would his value to those who trusted him the door between his chamber and the private was not entirely closed and gray became aware after awhile that some one was moving about in the latter room a long mirror on the opposite side reflected the of the person and he soon saw that it was a woman clad only in the loose robes of night walking up and down like one who finds no rest the reflection flashed upon him for a moment and then was lost again over and over as the passed in front of the glass he knew it must be love astray though she looked so strange in that costume that he hardly recognized her and as he gazed trying to catch a sufficient glimpse of her face to guess the meaning of this walk she stopped directly in front of the mirror and herself in it she had been weeping and indeed was weeping yet for the large drops flowed one by one down her pale cheeks touched her round shoulders and disappeared beneath the snowy of her garments the attitude which she assumed was sorrowful in the extreme her long hair quite hung far below her waist her arms feet and ankles were bare and the transparent silk of her revealed completely the outlines of her handsome figure as she stood between the light and the she was beautiful beyond compare and sad enough to stir the sympathy of a stone gray had never seen his wife in before unless we except that evening when she lay in her bed covered with blankets the sight of that half draped loveliness made him tremble he did not want to look and he had no power to turn away his eyes what limbs she had what magnificence of bust what perfection of as he watched she stretched her arms above her head shivering as if a wave from the icy north had blown upon her soft pink flesh and the tears fell still one after the other as from a statue of despair if there was any way he could comfort her it was clearly his duty to do it though he saw nothing distinctly in regard to the matter he knew no reason it is my husband s boom why she should have these terrible moments of misery was it the never to be conscience that roused the memories of the past was it sorrow for the mother whose days were now numbered was it regret for the pain she had given her father who was bowed under a weight he could scare bear whatever the reason she must not be allowed to suffer without an attempt on his part to aid her he called softly the form in front of the mirror shrank together in a listening attitude did you call it asked yes what are you doing up at this time of night have you your gown on if not dress and come here where i can talk to you instantly the round limbs strode across the carpet and the door of mr gray s bedroom was flung violently open the pink statue in its robe of ent silk stepped over his threshold have i my gown on cried to the astounded man why should i have it on in your presence i am your wife it is more than eight months since i began living with you how long am i expected to appear before you in hat and cloak with boots and collar pinned i have a right to come into this room in any garb i please of all rooms in the world what is the matter with me am i not fair enough is my flesh too brown my arms too slender am i old ugly you never knew

0Arthur Conan Doyle

till this moment what i was like it is time you saw me as i am gray shocked measure the husband drew him love gone astray self away from her protesting that she had forgotten herself wholly and must come to her senses i have not forgotten myself she answered vehemently though her lip shook it is you who forget you are seed that may into a harvest you may not wish to gather look at me i am not yet twenty and all the warm blood of health flows in my veins i am already a mother to my shame if you wish it so but a mother i am why was i led into that awful path was it from love my child s father i hated him at the moment i received his caresses what then why the impulse to be kissed to be to be told that i was beautiful and sweet do not interrupt me i must have this out it has burned in my heart too long he could not speak for astonishment and she continued for that sin i suffered the of hell cannot exceed those i passed through and then i was told that a man had been found so generous so noble that he would forgive that error and take me for his wife as if it had never occurred i had seen his face and my heart still virgin in its affections went out to him i knew it would require time to make him love me and i wanted time as much as he i anticipated a struggle with him perhaps the need of prayers and that he would wait for proofs of my love until the first fault had been in some sense when he began to treat me like a brother i blessed him in my heart for what i believed his consideration and i loved him more and more but months have passed and it is my husband s what i took to be i find was only a subtle cruelty a refined torture to which he has compelled me to submit and which i begin to think he means to carry out to the end i warn you gray you are on dangerous ground i cannot be driven too far so rapidly were these sentences delivered and with such vehemence of utterance that the husband hardly l understood their full purport the had fallen upon him without warning the most he realized was that this woman whom he had esteemed for her modest bearing had thrown decency to the winds and was delivering a of abuse in a costume in which he had never imagined she would allow herself seen on the other hand it was plain that would not have done these things unless driven forward by some extraordinary emotion he had seen her silent weeping in the reflection of the mirror and was ready to make what he could i am sorry for anything i have done to you he said and when we meet again i will talk it over with you and see wherein we differ to night you must remember is the last i spend near you for present and my head is too full of your father s errands to think of anything else so if you will calm yourself and go to bed she interrupted him fiercely then you intend to drive me away f see i am on my knees begging for your love she fell at his feet as she spoke to his consternation i am here your wife praying for the kisses the caresses are mine by right what do you me love gone astray when i lower myself like this will you not me in your arms for one moment will you not press your lips for the first time to mine she had thrown those bare arms around his neck and was trying to drag his face down to hers in the fury of desperation it was all he d do to her clasp and when he succeeded and rose much disturbed to his feet she fell a limp heap of loveliness across his i am astonished at you was all he could articulate but she did not answer lying there in perfect carelessness as to her appearance and giving vent to a flood of tears that he could for some time do nothing to arrest this has gone on long enough he said at last raising his voice if you do not cease i shall send for your father she sat up on the rug and brushed her long hair back from her swollen eyes send for him she said send now let tell him what kind of husband he gave me let me tell him that in eight months you have never offered me a caress except in the presence of my mother ask him if he thinks a girl like me should be contented with a man of ice and snow he knows what i am to his sorrow ask him if he believes you the man to trust my future with she was pretty rosy round sweet and fair had she not been his wife he might have been unable to resist her but her conduct had outraged his feelings of propriety his sense of what mrs gray should be and he remained firm it is my husband s boom you put me in an awkward he answered if i send for your father i shall give pain i would prefer to spare him on the other hand it is very certain you cannot remain here all night why not she retorted it is my husband s room i have been a true and faithful wife in spite of his coldness and neglect by what law can he drive me forth she cried changing her defiant tones to pleading ones again help me there is no one else that

0Arthur Conan Doyle

can do it i want love i must have it or die he strove to think of something that would influence her and at last the baby entered his mind if you continue to excite yourself he said will suffer she her life from yours and you will make her ill another of tears followed this thrust ah the poor darling i said the mother supposing i should treat her as you treat me supposing when she opens her lips for the bread of life i poured into her mouth and yet she is not more dependent on me for her happiness than i am on you he said a few words that he thought would influence her but they were of no avail if you will go to your room and get your sleep he added desperately i will promise to see you very early in the morning my train before noon she rocked herself to and fro on the carpet clasping her knees with her arms as she swung you have not said a word about my going she love gone answered one would think you intended to leave me in england that is a very foolish remark said he impatiently there are a thousand reasons why you cannot go your mother as you must not forget is very ill your father cannot be left alone then if there were no other reason there is not a vacant berth on the steamer i happened to find the only one that had been given up in a cabin with three other men that was engaged a month ago it will not be long before i return or before you come to me to talk of going with me to morrow is merely madness she rose slowly and stood with the same carelessness of pose and dress leaning heavily against his mantel and to night when you have determined to cross the ocean without your wife when weeks possibly months may before you see her again can you treat me as as this she said vehemently has it not occurred to you that the day before such a parting should be devoted to a woman s distracted mind to her trembling heart to awakening every thread of her affection thus making her against temptation in whatever form it may come there is not another husband in this city of five million people who has not instinct enough to do the things you neglect not a on the thames not a in but could teach you the lesson you so much need to learn he began dimly to suspect what she meant him to understand it is my husband s boom you are a mistress of said he and into that field i do not propose to follow you as to the temptations at which you darkly hint i do not believe you care to risk your life again let me tell you in all kindness that you have adopted the worst possible method of winning my esteem but if you insist on having these things discussed listen to me a moment since i have lived under the same roof with you i have steadily learned to like you that liking might in time have developed into love and i do not say it may not yet do so but such as this that hour to a distant future love cannot be taken by storm you cannot walk into a man s room in a state on and expect him to see in you the woman he wants for the mother of his children what you have done to night has made the closer union between us a matter for a day you asked me awhile ago if you were ugly old or with all my heart i tell you that i never dreamed such beauty as yours dwelt outside of marble if i had taken no vows and such a form had come to me i fear resistance would have fled to the winds but marriage is either holy or it is i have contracted to live true to you to keep myself from all others and i want to find you mentally as well as physically perfect when i take you to my heart a smile of derision sat upon the lips of the young woman as she listened if things like this must be discussed she replied let me suggest that you have recently adopted a very exalted how long is love gone astray it since you sold your vows as you call them to the highest coupled even with a suspicion of my father bought you for me with money you have no more right in honor to the ordinary terms of your contract than you have to proclaim them up and down the public street but she added wearily i am tired of argument i have myself more to night than i did when i gave my lips to my you have determined to humble me and you are master of your own actions all i ask is that you do not speak to me again except in the presence of others some day the knowledge of what you have done may come to haunt you if it does remember it was not without warning as she turned from him and started for her own room a wave of regret rolled across gray s brain while she disputed with him and his conduct he could be as as she but now that she was going he wanted to part with her on a better basis he was not sure but he was partly in the wrong a minute he called and she paused at the door we have said a great many hateful things to each other and i don t like to have you leave with their i don t know how it all started and i m sorry it happened one thing led to

0Arthur Conan Doyle

another i suppose we ve been very good friends and i don t want to remember any of this when i am on the sea and beyond it in some inexplicable way they were in each other s arms he had forgotten for the instant his horror at her condition and she had opened her heart to him directly he gave way a little it is my husband s room hold me like this just one minute i she stammered overcome with the sudden joy held me like this r if it was a minute it was a very long one the longest perhaps that old time has ever had to record for the morning sun came and found them there in that room where they had the one kiss the wife had had not been finished yet thus love in spite of all his enemies forever finds a way when we think him conquered and his army put to he his through the walls and his banner on the no general yet born could successfully combat him and when the victor has the that his progress how he the planting flowers and shade trees where the noisy cannon stood how he brings the little children at their games over the fields of strife every grave with love gone astray chapter xix i the wheat pit during the week before he reached new york gray was in a he walked the deck of his steamer mechanically ate his meals with only the slightest attention to his neighbors at table and lay awake far into the night thinking of his parting hours with how had the sudden change come to pass how had their relations altered in the twinkling of an eye from those of ordinary friendship mingled with a certain element of distrust to the warmest and most that can exist between a man and a woman he was in a whirl of doubt as to whether he ought to be proud of what had occurred or very much ashamed the unusual manner in which his marriage had taken place the reasons that had naturally made him reserved in his wife s presence the acceptance on the part of both of them of the situation as it seemed to outline itself all came back to him then there was the tumultuous rush of blood to his head the clasping of that warm and yielding figure to his heart the forgetting of everything as he lay in his berth night after night he had but one wild overpowering wish that and not uninteresting masculine passengers occupied the cabin with him he wanted her that woman he had rejected so long with a severity he could not now thk wheat pit whatever she had been whatever might be between them in the past he wanted her now it was not reason it was the mad impulse of youth she was his wife but that was not it she might have been any other woman under the sun and it would hate been the same he wanted her upon landing he received several from colonel and one from the first were of the utmost importance to the business he had crossed the ocean to accomplish the latter was brief and contained only these words come back as soon as you can to the woman you have made the happiest on earth it was only with the greatest effort that he could turn from this message which he a hundred times and fix his mind on the others he sent an answer not happier darling than you have made me and then devoted himself as well as he could to the duties before him there had been a terrible time on the board at in a week fortunes are made and lost in speculation the entire amount that colonel had at stake trembled in the balance tied to the bedside of his suffering wife he could only depend on this the final merely told mr gray to use his judgment whatever that might be he felt as his mind grew stronger that he must accomplish something to justify the kindness and confidence in him by this man who had acted toward him like a second and most indulgent father love gone astray but there are places where the human mind finds itself overpowered by circumstances the that had taken place in the market could only be compared to an in its sweeping force strong hands were in the deal to lower prices and the effort had succeeded to a startling degree when gray arrived at colonel s were at their wits end to keep him from being called on the floor of the exchange brought little to change the situation he had authority to borrow money if necessary but at a time when everybody knew the business of everybody else that was not easy to get for a man who held the wrong side of the a little was obtained in one place and a little in another but it only matters a trifle and the downward tendency continued to make all efforts seem useless when some days had passed and he had exhausted all his funds gray heard of a new firm of who were taking risks for those ready to pay exceptional figures in despair of finding what he wanted elsewhere he decided to pay the interest they were said to demand if he could get them to loan enough on the security he could give he was ushered into an furnished office and a boy in buttons took his card to the members of the firm who were invisible to that part of the public with whom they had no dealings in a few moments the boy returned with the statement that mr would see the in his private office the wheat pit nothing that had happened in the rush of events astonished gray so much as to find himself confronted

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in that private office by mr william he was half inclined to leave the place at once but cut him short by asking in the cold crisp tones of business what he could do for him i asked to see mr gray managed to reply with an air of that is my name said the other in set tones will you be seated overcome by this announcement gray dropped into the nearest chair he did not think anything could him after that i know what you are going to say pursued or as it may now be better to call him you have an impression from something that passes in your mind that my name is not that impression is i am joseph junior partner in the firm of and quite at your service had the business on which he had called been merely his own would have said to mr that on reflection he believed he had no business to with him but he was acting for colonel he had tried every other concern he could think of and it was this chance or none clearly it would not do to be the wonder how could have transformed himself into a of money when he had met him so recently in the guise of a beggar and also the strangeness of his being at this end of the world he proceeded to state his errand i wish to borrow fifty thousand dollars for thirty love gone a tbat days he said and i offer as security the stocks and of deposit is this loan for yourself in person asked mr no it is for colonel henry a peculiar gleam lit up the face of the ah he said colonel s note was good for a million three months ago but i fear it is not the best that might be offered in these times it is by the i mentioned replied gray stoutly and i am prepared to pay a good rate mr turned to a book at his side the present on all the things you offer he said slowly hardly exceed the amount you wish to borrow aside from them i think colonel is not possessed of much property it was true the of a few months ago depended on the tide in the exchange for his pecuniary existence now he has a fine residence on street faltered which answered again consulting his book belongs to his wife mrs being very ill in london is not in a condition to execute a even if she desired to do so the colonel has an again looking at the book of forty thousand dollars on his life upon which something might be raised but certainly not the sum you ask he is in fair health i presume the wheat pit he added with a coolness that his s blood in short gray said rising you do not care to make the loan i don t see the way clear to do so answered and i am sorry too for we have a great deal of money on hand at present and would like to place it you would expect to pay something unusual of course ten per cent a month or so the figure was not greater than has often been paid under similar conditions and gray who had turned toward the door faced the speaker i would pay it he said to get the money but if you will not lend the rate makes little difference you can have forty thousand on your security was the slow reply with the understanding that we are to protect ourselves in case of another fall in the meantime and if you wish ten thousand dollars additional on the life the latter at a double rate being an exceptional kind of security we cannot do better and you know whether you are able to get as good terms elsewhere as the life was not considered in any of the talks or of colonel gray did not feel to pledge it he therefore told the that he would send a wire to london and report as soon as possible whether he could accept the proposition or not that s all right said and now before you go allow me to return you the of two small you were once so considerate as to make to a friend of mine on the other side of the sea i believe it came altogether to about two hundred love gone a dollars which with interest at five per cent a year we may call two hundred and ten if you will sit down again for a moment i will give you a check at this offer gray hardly knew what course to take even in his nervous condition he had not failed to notice the difference in the rate of interest which paid and that which he on the other hand he wanted to attend to his as soon as possible and had no time to spare for smaller matters so instead of himself he remarked that the loan referred to could be repaid at a later time and that he should not in any case accept interest toward the door he was on the point of saying good bye when the spoke again i would rather he said that you did not mention to any one at any time the name under which you knew my friend who borrowed that money from you poor fellow he is dead and gone now and i his heir do not care to have the days of his poverty recalled to this mr gray responded with a bow and was glad when he found himself in the street again he heard the cries of the indicating that a change for the better had taken place in the stock market and his heart beat faster as he hurried to the office he had taken and found the news to be

0Arthur Conan Doyle

true the improvement was but slight but at least it was better than another fall it put off for the moment the necessity of money and gave him time to take breath he seized the opportunity to answer a letter he had that morning received from full of r the wheat pit love that seemed to her ability to express in her new found bliss she was happy in spite of the clouds that hovered around her house her mother was still very low when she wrote and the doctors gave no hope that there would be any permanent improvement her father was silent and haggard never leaving the loved one s side except to take the of sleep and to receive and send the necessary of the baby she said nothing feeling that this subject did not lend itself to the kind of love letter she was writing and in spite of all the troubles that are about me she wrote am i not wicked to be happy although my husband mine at last in deed as well as name is four thousand miles away although i am told that out of this horrible crash we may with half our fortune lost although sickness and possibly death stands at the door my heart sings a new tune of joy for i have been loved and i shall be loved again oh when will it be that blessed time that i am to feel your arms around me your lips against my own i can wait for i am so sure of you now so confident that nothing can steal away my love or my lover i love gone chapter xx colonel ruined among the people that gray saw at was who happened to come to the same hotel in the course of one of his professional visits to that city the lawyer looked precisely as of and smiled with what he could summon as he held out his bony hand i am not going to stand on ceremony he said just because you treated me coolly when i tried to do you a favor you ll have to come around and deal with me yet for the five years we were to wait by that will of mr s is passing away pretty fast i suppose you won t refuse the property when all of the conditions have been fulfilled wished heartily that he could take it at that moment with a good conscience for he believed in his soul that with his knowledge of the market and the low figures stocks had reached he could rescue the whole of his father in law s estate had he a hundred thousand dollars to work with he replied that he hoped he was not so as to decline to accept his own and the reasons he had always given for refusing to touch the funds before the time in his friend s testament as soon as the legal space had elapsed he assured the lawyer he would put in his claim in the meantime you are doing everything to discover mr i hope he added colonel i am doing all i intend to do was the civil reply i an advertisement regularly every three months in a london and a new york newspaper if he is anywhere on earth that ought to reach him or some one who knows him my opinion has never changed on the subject i believe him to have died long ago that s why i was willing to risk you enough to live on until you could come into possession of what belonged to you by the way the story goes that this father in law of yours is in a pretty tight place over the drop in things i hope he s provided well for his family no man has a right to with everything when there s people depending on him feeling that he was one of those depending on colonel gray at this statement in which he could not help agreeing he asked mr his opinion as to the future of the market and received the honest reply that he had not the least idea as for himself the lawyer said he had never to the extent of a penny and never would he believed these gambling operations in and were the curse of the country and should be by law not meaning of course to be personal from what he had heard however he thought things would get another drop before they began to rise much all of which as may be imagined was not very to the anxious listener during the month that followed the market was in a state it rose a few fell again rose once more went down to the old point and disappointed all the made for it love gone when some of the biggest had got things fixed to suit them the newspapers said it would go one way or the other with a rush if colonel henry was able to take a hand in person remarked the in its financial article things would become more interesting a big deal without him on the ground is an at last there came the expected move in the prices of stocks but to the horror of gray it came in the wrong direction for him what looked like a began and one after another of the who had held out gave way before the gigantic forces arrayed on the bear side he to england and waited for weary hours with no answer there was nothing left that he could throw into the scale except the old stocks and the life and in this matter he had recently been instructed as in everything else to use his judgment it was a hard position to be placed in by supporting the colonel s for one day for one hour it might be the fortune he had been all his

0Arthur Conan Doyle

life might possibly be saved on the other hand every cent thrown into the pit might merely be added to what had gone before it but the pressed gray had to choose and he chose to make one more attempt to save his father in law from ruin there was no help for it he must go to again during the month that had passed much might have happened to influence the opinion of the new firm but it was either there or nowhere well said the when he had been colonel he was the of business coolness and sagacity i should like that money we spoke about the fifty thousand dollars and the security the same as before with the life added cats always love to play with the they intend to eat that talk was a month ago i think said mr yes stammered gray but as the market has been so easy i could get along without the money till now and when you cannot get along without it you want us to take the risk for you the other was silent was he to be refused after all well said that is in a certain sense our particular line of business all we ask is that the profits shall for the dangers since i talked with you we have had large offered to us and have taken up many of them the amount we have handy is smaller naturally and we must have a larger rate a larger rate than one hundred and twenty per cent a year what rate do you ask said gray it was as well to come to the point at once double the one i gave you before now mind i am not asking you to deal with us no firm calling itself would lend you a dollar as things are at any price we are not love gone and so far we have got along very well with our mode of doing business he paused and stood like a man who had no time to waste it is for you to say i will take it replied gray promptly he had heard nothing from london and did not dare invite delay mr glanced at some that lay on his desk and then excused himself for a moment while he went into the next office to consult with his partner fifty thousand you think will be enough he asked returning i understood it was all you would loan yes i did say so was the thoughtful reply but mr says we can make it fifty five if you wish by all means when the papers were drawn and signed and the money delivered gray went upon the street to find that he was none too soon another hour s delay would have lowered his below the necessary point he put up twenty five thousand dollars and before the day closed had to deposit another sum of the same amount still not a word came to him from london the next morning dawned and the sun before it reached the saw a thousand ruined pale with their losses before the triumph of the great pool that had ruined them the last penny of the money gray had borrowed went like the first so much in the flame the name of colonel was called upon the floor of the building in which it had been for so long a tower of just my luck strength and the last of the fortune he had made there vanished from sight felt that he had made all the fight possible but it was with a very sad heart that he beheld the end of his efforts he knew that nearly everything the colonel possessed had perished in that affair there was still the house he had lived in and which he had given to his wife in happier days this would have to be sold to provide even the ordinary necessaries of life to the invalid as for the son and the daughter what could be done with them one about as useful to society as the other it wa a dreary prospect that presented itself truly it is often said that there is no depth which has not a greater one beneath a came that evening that sounded the deeper mrs died yesterday colonel had shock doubtful if he mrs gray i await directions chapter xxi just my luck it was no new thing in gray s experience to be short of money but to find his pockets empty with a helpless family on his hands was much worse than the same circumstance when he had only himself to think of after the first crushing moments love gone had spent themselves he began to calculate what it was best to do in his purse he found a very small sum indeed the very hotel in which he was staying had a bill against him or rather against the colonel for it was upon his order that the entertainment had been furnished not only were there no funds to draw on but the paper he had given stood as an against the and this condition of affairs confronted the young man when the informed him that a wife a stricken father in law and arrangements for a funeral awaited his directions on the other side of the atlantic ocean with little sleep he passed the long night a prey to the most dismal in the morning he himself of the two hundred dollars that mr owed him and went to that gentleman s office to get it as something worth recovering out of the general wreck he found walking up and down with his hands in his pockets whistling a merry tune well upon my word he exclaimed when he heard gray s errand are you not a little in the time you select as near as i can understand we are out forty thousand dollars

0Arthur Conan Doyle

by you already by colonel corrected i acted as his agent the other matter was mine alone i wish you had taken it when it was offered said the fact is we are about as short now as we like to be that devilish market broke us up just my luck with the rest we had a fine calculation but it went if it had succeeded we should have been among the best of them when the accounts were now we are practically on our as the saying is cleaned out of enough good cash to disgust a he smiled as he said this and began again to whistle the tune he had left off you do not act like a very man said gray oh what s the use it s not the first time i ve been through trouble and i ve got used to taking whatever comes my way milk isn t worth crying for gray turned toward the door then you can t let me have it he said yes i can i m not quite so badly fixed as that only it would have been easier when you came before for then i was riding on the top of the wave while now i m nearer the bottom he sat down at a desk and wrote out a check here i ve added ten dollars for interest i don t want to owe you anything his last words were spoken with a tinge of the of old times which could not help noting but before he could remark upon it had into another subject what s the latest news from colonel he s had a shock said gray of course i knew that i wouldn t have lent money on his life if i hadn t but i mean love gone astray what s the prospect how long should yo say he ought to live gray shrank from the cold of the question so this man had been informed of that shock to the colonel hours and hours before knew it and had the lost money on that account and at this moment he was on the death that must with no other thought than to recover as soon as possible the amount he had at stake there was something in the fellow as gray had long ago had occasion to feel the less he had to do with him the better he took up the check that had been made out in his name with an idea that it might to pieces in his fingers i hope colonel will live many many years yet he answered with a firm voice are not always fatal and i await news of his condition with great hope mr laughed it would be just my devilish luck if he did live said he and by george i need that fifteen thousand dollars this minute but i m in good company you must be as near as any one going back to england i suppose as soon as you can get started perhaps we shall be passengers on the same boat for that s exactly what i m going to do myself gray got out of the office with what grace he could and went back to his hotel where he found a line from his wife to this effect have arranged for temporary papa no worse see to everything necessary before you come i am much stronger just my it was something he pictured to himself the scene the young mother bending over the body of her loved one broken hearted with her loss taking upon herself for the first time she knew so little how to sustain had risen unexpectedly to the emergency and would hold the fort till he could decide what to do wandering about his hotel puzzled with his ran across and was delighted to see that homely face belonging to one to whom he could at least his troubles listened without a word till gray had told the outlines of his story and then began to take up the various threads it to just this doesn t it said he the millions have shrunk to the and furniture in this city and what is left of the gray admitted that this was about the situation and what is the property worth gray was obliged to say he did not know i ll find out said rising and crossing the room to hold a whispered conversation with a man whom he saw there buried in the columns of the morning paper it s worth something like forty thousand dollars if forced upon the market fifty if time is allowed was the verdict which he brought back then you say there is thousand dollars margin on the over and above what is pledged to the why my boy you are not by any means love gone the young man tried to see it in that light but could not entirely agree with the lawyer i don t like to count the on a live man as part of his he said and the house where my wife has lived and to which she has always expected to return is an unpleasant thing to part with i am sure she will think so if the subject has to be to her said you don t talk like a business man at all you never did for that matter i offered you enough to live on long ago but interrupted and said he did not want to discuss that very well let it go now what should i do if i were in your case raise another ten thousand on that life as quick as i could do it go to england settle up things there bring mrs s body and what is left of her husband home go and live in the house here and watch a good chance to sell it for all it s

0Arthur Conan Doyle

worth in case the colonel continues to live if he dies take the balance of his money and live on it for three years more until you come into the estate and then you won t need to think of the future for there will be enough for all of you the programme was too complicated to be accepted as a whole without much consideration but it was evident that ready money must be had and the scheme looked the best of any if it could be carried out do you think i could raise any more on the asked doubtfully returning to london how old is colonel was the question of the lawyer sixty seven and he has had a shock can you borrow any more why i ll lend you ten myself and if you wish i ll pay these off and take the whole they re charging you too much twenty per cent a month i ll take the whole thing for five with this mr opened the palms of his hands and spread them out in an unconsciously way that brought a smile to s face even in the midst of his distress he knew no reason however why he should not accept this offer and after a little further talk he closed with it chapter xxii returning to london when the cash was in s hands he felt for the moment like a new man and replied to his wife s asking her to remain where she was till he could come and adding a word or two of love even at the price the cable companies charge for such communications during the next week he settled all the affairs connected with the visited the residence they had occupied which he found delightfully situated and furnished and love gone made his way to new york where he waited a couple of days for the steamer on which he was to sail here he was destined once more to come in contact with joseph a name by which that disagreeable individual had now become accustomed to be known in his mind while taking a lunch in a and occupied also in reading an english newspaper him and crossed the room my word a pleasant surprise was his first exclamation and he had need to say no more before gray discovered that liquor had somewhat his tongue nothing so delightful s meeting a friend when one s in a strange country there were only two things to do either to have a row with him and tell him his society was not wanted or to bear the of his presence a little while gray did not want the former and as he had not finished his lunch the latter seemed the most advisable course i m going to england saturday pursued seeming to take his welcome as a matter of course on the nice boat same i came over on funny things have happened since then eh my word when i landed in this blessed town i hadn t a dollar to my name only for that fifteen thousand dollars on the old gentleman that your friend or or whatever his name is paid in i d have had to stay in or walked here i was just shutting up the shop when you re broke you re no ha ha i took that fifteen thousand and in two days ten of it was gone when the sails it s two to one i go on to london board with nothing but my ticket and three sovereigns for the what a i am to this remarkable statement gray contented himself with occasional bows though the recital which he had no reason to doubt was a correct one astonished him immensely it was the thing the way that market went pursued with only a pause for breath the first week after i took hold of it i made money like smoke i sold everything short and my profits were enormous then says i to myself you d better haul in your lines old boy and as a money i had what i thought a solid tip from the inside that wheat was going to sixty and stop there and i was in i thought for all the chances when it got ready to turn in the meantime i was to get big interest on my money but confound the thing i was as well as the rest by the big ring my profits went out of the window faster than they came in that loan was positively the only thing i saved say what will you have to drink a to drink anything beyond the bottle of beer he was already had no effect on the englishman who loudly ordered a waiter to bring two glasses of scotch very hot one for himself and one for the other not waiting till the arrived he then launched out in a long against the institutions of america where nothing it appeared was to his liking and the business men of which he considered the biggest and cut throats on the face of the earth i ain t including you gray in what i m saying love gone a he added when his listener showed signs of uneasiness that even his brain could not help seeing you are on the whole the man met too much so in fact for your own interests understand he continued dropping his voice i know a good deal about you that isn t common property and i think you ve acted on the square where some wouldn t in all that business you ve been what i call white you ve stuck to your like a like a man and if others ain t done as they should or if they don t in the future that ain t your fault i ve said it afore and i ll say it anywhere to anybody gray

0Arthur Conan Doyle

s knife and fork dropped to his plate and his very heart stood still as he heard these ominous words in the liquor in this fellow s head had set him to talking in a way he would probably have never done had he been sober but what did he mean what did he know and how had he learned a secret that had been thought so well kept there was a moment of hesitation what course to pursue whether to listen longer to this wretch perhaps even to him with questions or to get away from him as soon as possible and breathe an air by his presence the latter course was the one adopted gray had never from his early determination to stand through everything by the he had assumed to discuss any other was to admit everything he could only profess by his manner not to understand the of this half man and to trust that whatever he knew or suspected would be to no one else returning to london but what did he know and what did he suspect how should he know anything of that secret hidden so closely i shall have to leave you said gray making a of consulting his watch i have an engagement very well said grasping his hand in spite of him s the word you know ta ta see you in london then he added in a strangely different manner from the one he had before assumed no fence i hope no harm done and you won t say i for it s all on honor don t mention that i talked about anything not to or anybody eh gray shook his head rapidly and got out of the as quickly as he could he did not like the looks of what he had heard the use of mr name at the end struck him as particularly disagreeable he could not believe the had allowed a professional matter to slip from him a piece of business in which he himself had played an part and which would naturally be kept as secret as the inner workings of a the unpleasant feelings made him resolve to exchange if possible the ticket he had already purchased on the for one on another boat he could not bear to think of making a week s voyage in the company of the man he had just left to his joy the transfer was easily made and though the boat he took was one day later in reaching the english coast he was highly satisfied with the arrangement love gone astray he to the name of his new steamer but when it came to adding the usual expressions of affection he found himself unequal to the task his mind was too much upset to form the right sentences of all the troubles he had had those referring to his peculiar marriage were the hardest to bear so much time had passed without hearing the faintest breath of suspicion directed against him that he had come to regard this at least as one of the things he need not dread if the facts or any part of them were in the possession of so a fellow as or or whatever else he might choose to be called there would always be cause for anxiety and at present he had enough else to bear he thought it all over on the steamer as he traversed the ocean the arrangement he had made with the had not been all sunshine but he had no right to complain he had embraced its conditions at a time when he seemed drifting steadily to either starvation or suicide he had taken for better for worse to protect her name and that of her little one it was silly to be frightened by the bark of a dog that probably had too much cowardice to bite still look at it as he might it was not agreeable to feel that had it in his power to say things that would excite doubt the only consolation was that the strange englishman was on his way to his own country whence if he was to be believed he would never go to the united states again once settled in felt that he would be in little danger from that source when he reached the hotel at which the family to london were staying rushed weeping into his arms she wore a haggard look which her trials accounted for and clung to her husband s breast for a uttering any articulate word other than terms of soothed her as best he could though he did not respond very fully to her caresses he was too anxious to learn the exact condition of affairs it appeared that there had been no great change colonel was able to move about slowly but his mental powers had received a severe he persisted in staying most of the time in the room where his wife had died and appeared lost to all other subjects since his shock he had not once spoken of business matters he was in short quite broken in mind and the doctors said he would never be any better the baby spoke of only when asked about her and then with a shy hesitation was the only in the family who seemed entirely well for she did not fail to remark himself looked one who had just risen from a sick bed he told her the voyage had been rather rough and went with her to her father it was a severe trial to meet the old gentleman in his present state worse he thought than to have found him in his coffin the tall bent form the iron gray hair the dignified bearing were left but the light in the dark eyes was not the familiar one when asked if he knew the colonel answered why certainly it s and the name had

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to be furnished him before he could pronounce it i can t talk long to you he added i have to love gone stay with her she needs me and he pointed to the empty bed as he spoke that was the true marriage love the love that follows its object beyond the bounds of earth that does not separate the grave mrs did perhaps need him indeed it may be from the other side of the veil that hid her she still called him to her side there were immense bills to pay bills that quite astounded gray when they were presented for three months the hotel where they all lived had received nothing the doctors were beyond belief the was a man without conscience the money had brought home rapidly as he settled these accounts he said nothing to about the condition of the estate preferring to wait to the very last moment before going into that painful subject it was decided that colonel could travel and arrangements were made for going to america at the earliest practicable date one evening joseph mr gray and asked in the most tones for the loan of forty pounds just the same two hundred dollars he had repaid he said not mentioning the eight thousand pounds he had lost if he could have it he promised to repay it on the following day it was only a temporary expedient and of the utmost importance to him prudence asserted itself and the money was and what was strange it was repaid where does his money come from and where does it go asked gray vainly as he put the forty pounds back in his pocket tou got thb wife chapter you ve got the prettiest wife among the bills which came in at the last moment was one of six hundred pounds from mr for legal services and expenses no were given but mr said in a note which he enclosed that the matter extended over a period of several years and that he had been considerate in the amount owing to the troubles that had befallen the family this account worried immensely and he felt obliged to go to to ask if she knew anything about it did did mr send you this she asked opening her eyes in wonder yes just as you see it if this sort of thing keeps on we shall all land in the before we can get out of england i guess it s not so bad as that replied smiling faintly but i am surprised at this bill i always understood she explained that it was a a matter of friendship his dealings with father i i can t understand it in the least still she paused to consider i would pay it without making any talk that is the easiest way out of it breathed a sigh of distress my dear girl he said you will have to know some time and i may as well tell you now that money to meet bills of this size is not as plenty with your father as it once was this means three thou love sand dollars and to the truth it will me very much he saw that she did not comprehend the full meaning of what he said and he had no heart to tell her the entire truth she only repeated that it would be better to settle all bills and feel that there was nothing to bother him but what could have done to come to such a sum he demanded he was not used to dealing with men of the law who rendered bills of that size you know some of the things stammered his wife we certainly don t want any dispute with him you can see it would not be wise yes he could see it but he did not like the appearance of the bill any better for that he thought it a distinctly excessive charge and one that would not have been rendered if colonel had not been past giving evidence in the matter little as he liked to meet mr he felt it his duty to discuss the bill with him before he paid it in full and he went to the s office for that purpose mr was in and rose with a subdued sort of cordiality to welcome his visitor first closing the door that stood open in the rear of his desk i got this bill from you to day was the short way in which gray opened the conversation ah said mr and i was somewhat surprised at its amount ah said the again we have suffered losses as you know went on gray and are doing the best we pull ourselves out of the mire and things like this of you ve got the prettiest wife which i had no previous warning are not particularly agreeable ah repeated mr then when the other waited for him to add something to this expression he said i am not in the least haste for this money i only sent the bill because my was about to leave england gray was somewhat but still i am surprised that colonel should owe you so much he said mrs gray my wife says she thought what you did for the colonel was in the way of friendship that it was not a legal matter at all the opened his eyes wider did mrs gray say that he asked very well then do you want me to call it a matter of friendship it is not a question of friendship for me or for mrs gray was the annoyed reply but for colonel of course you know what your relations with him were if the bill is due if there is nothing justly from it i shall see it paid only to speak the exact truth it looks to me rather large there was a moment

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of waiting the seeming to prefer that gray should finish all he had to say before he made any suggestion then when it was apparent that the latter had come to the only point he meant to advance for the present the lawyer spoke i did a great deal for colonel said he perhaps the fact that i liked him influenced me to go farther than i might have done love gone a for an ordinary but that is no reason i should not be paid for my work and expenses you know one of the things i did you know it was not without some cost why the very cash i paid to you and for you is included in that bill i couldn t things like those but i see no reason why i should stand them out of my own pocket the recollections thus brought up staggered gray but he felt that his duty compelled him to say that those expenses whatever they were could have made but a small part of six hundred pounds oh they were not all by any means was the ready answer i had to do other things that colonel could not do for himself and which if you insist i will give you in greater detail there was an air of mystery about this statement that contributed to gray s and made him wish he were well out of the affair imagination took wild flights as to what these other things might have been perhaps dealing with the father of child was one of them certainly they included the at the more he thought the less he was willing to have that chapter of his wife s life and you have had nothing on account he asked desperately not a ha penny i knew the colonel was rich and honorable i was in no haste for the money any more than i am now don t worry yourself about it mr gray and as i said before if you want me to pay those things myself out of friendship for you and for mrs gray you have only to say the word tou ve got the wife there was the of an insult in this proposition thus repeated that stung the younger man to the quick he replied with heat that he wished nothing of the sort and that if it should not be convenient for this bill to be settled before colonel left england he hoped interest would be added to it that is the right spirit to show said the with a poor of him you realize as well as i that most of these are not in a court of justice they hang on th e honor of one man in dealing with another it would not do to bring to the gaze of a cold world certain matters that are so far the property of no one but you your wife her father and myself gray shivered are you sure he replied thinking of s that the secret is still within the narrow limit of which you speak the sat more upright in his chair as he asked the object of the question because explained gray there is another person who has thrown out hints to me several times hints that showed too plainly he knew something irregular had occurred met the anxious look with a blank one as if he could not for the life of him make out what his companion meant some one has thrown out hints he repeated are you certain you have not been by your fears quite certain he made allusions the last time love gone astray that could not be mistaken he was somewhat in drink and forgot his usual prudence at the mention of drink a look of intelligence came into the other s face you don t mean that fellow what did he call himself and if i do asked gray sharply why if you do said he doesn t amount to that r he snapped his fingers to show the exact estimate at which he held the person alluded to and i ll tell you another thing if he says a word i ll put him where he won t enjoy going too i ve not said it was he replied gray to have the matter go too far indeed the person who spoke to me bore quite a different name mr shook his head he bears names enough he answered as many as he likes but it was the same man there couldn t be any other drunk or sober he must hold his tongue or it will be worse for him the had lashed himself into quite a fury and gray was glad to put an end to the conversation well about this bill then said he rising i will pay it as soon as convenient and you may i would rather you did add the interest the indicated that this was a matter of small moment you had a deuce of a time over there at i understand he said i saw the colonel every day and knew what was going on pity to see a nice fortune like his go up in smoke it didn t you entirely i r of est mr gray replied as briefly as he could that there was still left enough to get along on he also mentioned with a little pride that he would soon be in possession of an estate of his own and independent of everybody yes remember said so the other heir never turned up if he doesn t come to light before the end of five years from the death of mr mr mr you get half the old gentleman left eh how much do you think that will be over two hundred thousand dollars replied gray glad to be able to name such a comfortable figure well well that s not so

0Arthur Conan Doyle

bad a very decent it all comes back to me now what you told me when we first met about your refusing to take a cent of it till the full limit expired very honorable of you certainly and in the meantime you ve had your and downs your fortune from the has fled but all is not lost you ve got a treasure in your wife that no man can take away at this unexpected reference to colored deeply he resented the allusion but it was made in polite terms and he could not show his sentiments without appearing silly the most that he wanted now was to get away from this man whose presence he had never learned to like and who was liable to him to the fullest degree without the least apparent intention of so doing gray put his hand on the but was arrested by one other expression of the kind he detested love gone you ve got the prettiest wife in the world and in spite of what is past the best the child too no one could help loving her and i assure you once more your secret is safe you have nothing to do but to enjoy life to the full as a man of your parts and circumstances ought to do i don t think you ve ever been really sorry for the bargain i led you into gray could bear no more he opened the office door and descended the stairs at a good pace preferring to seem rather than endure another word on that subject chapter xxiv plunged into poverty relieved for the time of the large bill gray the departure of his family it was a solemn party that took the steamer at ith in deep black colonel under hie guidance of an attendant and the body of mrs in a leaden on board the only o e that showed the least enjoyment of the trip was whose laugh broke the stillness of mother s many times during the voyage gray devoted much of his leisure to his law who proved very though he inquired every few minutes for his dead companion plunged where is mrs he would say over and over we are going to her was the invariable reply once he said staring at the sea this does not look like london and answered no we are on our way to to your old home which seemed to satisfy the for the time he did not ask about seeming to have forgotten her entirely it was a pitiable sight he ate the food that was brought him and slept well it was plain that he might live a long while yet at the colonel seemed actually to improve he recognized his old surroundings and went from room to room with an air of satisfaction he could walk very well with a cane and soon ceased to require any special attention but when he had gone over the house for half an hour or so he always came back with the old inquiry where was his wife and the servants were told to make the same reply on all occasions she has gone out for a little while one day he noticed the baby who was playing on the floor and asked whose it was being told he nodded slowly as if he recollected and then immediately forgot again he continued to recognize and to like to have him near but even his name had to be repeated before he could pronounce it gray now took the first occasion that he thought wise to tell his wife the full condition of her affairs there was the house they were living in now hers by love gone astray inheritance with a right of on the part of her father there was the nothing more taxes had been paid and the amount of available cash was running very low the young woman was shocked at the statement she had known that her father had lost money but she supposed him still a wealthy man she shrank from selling the residence saying that he needed it while he lived that it would be a cruelty when all else was gone to deprive the poor old man of his home agreed with her but asked what could be done it was an expensive house to live in he had been unable to obtain such a situation as she would be willing to have him accept things were coming to a crisis if your own money were only available she said with a sigh but it is not he answered there will be more than two years yet before i shall get it if ever it was staying in a house like that keeping three servants living at the rate of five thousand dollars a year when the purse was empty then when things seemed at their worst several were put upon the colonel and among other unpleasant things his interest in the residence they occupied was attached they could not sell it anyway while thus and they might as well live in it as to pay rent elsewhere they reduced the number of servants by one and tried to at the table but neither of them knew how to accomplish much in that direction and the ship continued to drift toward the rocks mr gray without avail in his effort to plunged into poverty get something to do and several journeys were made to other cities to talk with people who advertised what seemed available chances on his return from one of these he found at his house no less a person than mr and what was worse he found him talking with his wife whose eyes were red with weeping and who showed much agitation when her husband entered it turned out that being in the country on other business had come to say that his money would now be

0Arthur Conan Doyle

welcome as he had been making which called for all the cash he could raise it was this announcement made in a moment of to mrs gray that had caused her outburst of grief you ve come at a poor time said gray thinking he might as well go on before his wife now that she had heard the worst we re all tied up things have gone from bad to worse wait till i get possession of my estate and i ll pay you with twenty per cent added if you want it but now there s to be had for you or any one mr did not appear satisfied i want the money he said considering what it is for i ve waited long enough pale with rage at the allusion gray threw open the door that led to the front hall get out of here he said the manner of the man in the presence of his wife was more than he could bear you are making a mistake replied see that you don t regret it love gone astray with this sinister he departed leaving the husband and wife alone was sobbing again sobbing in that low key that d n him said i ought to have kicked him down the steps oh no he only wanted his money what do you suppose he will do i don t care what he does he won t get three thousand dollars out of me till i have it the wife looked up all of a shiver you must find it for him she said de find it where rolling up hill you must get it he is capable of anything we can t have our our secret get out now when we have lost all else the world thinks me an hon est woman if i am to die let them think so when i am lowered into my grave he wanted the bill settled as much as she but he asked again how was it to be done there is my last jewel she said taking a diamond from her finger yes i did not tell you i sold all the rest to pay the butcher and it is worth five hundred dollars sell it sell the pictures the furniture my dresses everything but pay him he made a mental of the effects she together and decided that the total would fall far short of the sum required things did not sell for what they cost he told her the sacrifices she was willing to make would be of no avail plunged into poverty but he must be paid she kept repeating he must be paid that night gray wrote to mr to see if he would lend anything more on the the reply stated that he could not with justice to himself as the invalid having lived so long since his attack might develop into one of those everlasting old men who pass into the there was a vein of in the letter that could not be suppressed at the same time the lawyer reminded mr gray that there was a source from which he could draw at any time not that he wished to excite his anger again by mentioning it if he would sign a note whenever he came into the estate he could have three thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars as soon as the mail could take it to him all the in the young man s nature came to the surface as he read this so often renewed proposition he would let expose him to the whole world he would see his wife starve to death before he would touch that money till he knew it was his this he swore to himself in round terms probably he would have rather than have had either of these dire come to pass had not another opportunity presented itself in one of his walks about town he came face to face with joseph again in half a minute said the man as gray tried to pass him don t cut me dead like that i m in a position to be of use to you stunned by the statement gray stood still in the street love astray you re short of money i m flush with it said shortly i d as lend to you as any one can t we do a little business there was no time to wonder how this personage had become again a of money there was no use in remembering that unpleasant things had happened between them he a straw and gray grasped at him i want five thousand dollars lie said thinking it best to get enough to tide him over a few weeks in advance if possible on what security on my note there s nothing else to give just now but it ll be paid i want it for a year mr reflected pretty he said but i ll go you when do you want it when echoed gray i want it now now it is then said the newly and as the only office i have is the we ll step into a hotel and fix it there in twenty minutes the money was in gray s hands and a note witnessed by the hotel clerk was in s without making further talk the latter excused himself and disappeared as quietly as he had come upon the scene it was more like a dream than a real transaction but the money was certainly there as evidence that the transaction had occurred gray did not even go home until he had sought and exchanged the sum due him for a bill into all demands in full to date said standing over him now let this be the last time i ever hear from you on any subject whatever he added putting the receipt in his pocket the rose and put his hands coolly

0Arthur Conan Doyle

behind him he answered you play a very silly considering the hand you hold it is as good as yours was the hot if you have it in your power to annoy me i have it in mine to put you in jail that is a very foolish statement said mr and borne out by the least of fact don t do ny business in such a way now i m not going to anything my rash young man but watch and see how this comes out you have insulted me twice i shall hardly allow you to do it again there was so little to be gained by a discussion in this strain that gray said the could go to the devil so long as he kept out of his way and with this remark left the hotel and went home to show the bill to he did not tell her of whom he had borrowed the money or she might not have smiled quite so brightly when she heard the news love gone astray chapter xxv mr it is an old proverb that when a ball is going down hill every one is willing to give it a kick what was left of the estate was now so tied up that nothing could be got out of it the small sum that mr gray had of s loan after paying bill with interest went rapidly it was impossible to keep up a decent standard of the servants were dismissed all but one who refused to go whether her wages was paid or not so attached was she to the family of her mistress the fires were reduced to that in the kitchen stove and an open grate in one of the sitting rooms the husband obtained work in a bank at a salary and suffered the pangs of death as he saw the state to which and her old father were reduced there was but one hope if they could live till the end of mr s five years and if the lost heir did not turn up plenty would again shine upon them for mrs gray these days were not wholly without happiness whatever else had been lost to her she had still the presence of her husband she made not the least complaint but met him with a bright face and put the best side of affairs before his weary eyes it would all end before long she was sure of it in the meantime they had enough to eat and the appointed by the court assured them they would not be ordered out of the house it was a me dismal kind of comfort but if this girl brought up in could bear it thought he ought to try colonel still survived with little apparent change in his condition he asked the old round of questions and seemed contented with the same answers baby was growing to be a big child and her health was perfect she never knew that there had been any trouble from the loss of money she played with her and ate her bread and milk singing till her voice echoed through the lonely halls of the old house at the end of the year for which joseph had his five thousand dollars a year in which that strange individual had neither been seen nor head from he appeared at mr gray s door and inquired if it would be convenient to let him have the amount with all the reasons that had for the man he could not deny that he was this time an honest and after hesitating a moment he asked him into the parlor and told him frankly how things had gone well that s not encouraging was the response though s manner was the reverse of the fact is that cash would come in mighty handy with me just now i m in one of my occasional states of dead broke he laughed as he the word pretty good house you re living in he added looking around him at this gray felt constrained to explain the state of affairs at some length he told how the estate was how even the furniture belonged to the of colonel and had love gone astray on it than it would bring he was barely existing on the small salary he had been permitted to earn i say cried interrupting him that sounds pretty tough but look at me with a note for five thousand dollars and a year s interest in my pocket i actually haven t enough ready cash to buy a place to sleep in to night you think me a hard customer don t you well in some ways perhaps i am i know what you ve seen of me hasn t been in my favor i acted queer about that money you let me have in i m not going to deny it but i had a lot of things on my mind and when you came up to me that first time in park i was in a deuce of a state between the horns of a as they say and i couldn t have treated the prince of wales decent then there was the matter of the horses but i swear to you that was accidental i thought you would get out of the wa before i reached you and at i suppose you got the idea i meant to annoy you but i didn t i only wanted that money and i had to have it from somewhere i paid it to you again didn t i with a handsome pile to boot that went up in the and the last time i got a few i brought it back the next day strictly according to promise now comes this loan when i let you have it i was lined with the stuff and to day it s either to my

0Arthur Conan Doyle

or sleep on the pavement and the nights are rather too chilly for that mr laughed again as if his situation was the most amusing one of which he could co mr i can let you have a little replied gray with a blush as he drew out his slender purse and you will get the whole of it if you wait a year or so longer will will five dollars be of any use he asked fiery red as he thought of the difference between that sum and the one he had borrowed five dollars exclaimed why it s a fortune could you make it ten thank you i must be going he added as if haste was now the most important thing i ve just remembered a pressing engagement that i came near missing hardly stopping long enough to say good evening the man was gone and mr gray saw him spring upon a rapidly moving car going toward the centre of the city in the morning before left the house was back again he looked sleepless and haggard and was prepared with a rambling story to the effect that he had been met by and relieved of the sum mr gray was so kind as to lend him he was very tired and wanted above all things a chance to rest in that big house was there not some room no matter how high up or how poorly furnished that he could occupy till noon shrinking at first from the suggestion gray came at last to agree to it one reason was that he had no time for a refusal the bank being most particular as to the moment its s arrived he called the servant and bade her show the gentleman to a chamber on the second floor at the same time whispering that she must on no account let mrs gray know what she had done then he hastened away love gone to the scene of his labors not at all pleased with the situation but it came to pass that joseph secured a regular of that chamber like the of fable he put first his ears then his head and finally his whole body into the tent it remained to be seen whether in imitation of the ship of the desert he would kick the master out on the night of his arrival mr gray found that the englishman had not yet taken his departure he had been out part of the afternoon the servant said but had returned while the family were at dinner he went out again and did not come back until gray had gone to the bank the next morning the servant did not feel to refuse him entrance in the absence of instructions and he slept away the second day on the bed he had previously occupied the third day was sunday and when he came in after spending the entire night out of the house gray asked for an explanation this was made with tact business of great importance had detained him and he would be very glad if gray did not object to use the room for the few days he intended to remain in the city every moment he expected a him away and providing him with the necessary funds to g at the end of a week he was still there and having now obtained a key from the servant was quite at home as he used a side entrance which had been closed for some time he disturbed no one the spring days were rather chilly and he sent in wood and coal and built himself a fire it would certainly mb hare been to disturb a who conducted himself with such propriety especially when he was a of the other of the mansion to such a large extent but the week passed and a month and three months and still did not go his stories varied from time to time and yet hung together with remarkable he had now money in his pocket for he insisted upon the ten dollars he had borrowed and even offered to loan his benefactor a few hundred if he wanted it he almost insisted upon a price being put upon the rent of the room which he professed to like immensely and which he said he would not exchange for the best in s hotel when this was refused he said he should make a handsome allowance for it in the interest on his note whenever that was paid he still kept the most hours spending a good part of each day in bed and most of his nights abroad but as everything about him was peculiar this did not particularly astonish his new landlord sometimes he was gone for days without giving the slightest notice of his intentions when he returned it might be that his first act was to request the loan of enough to purchase a breakfast or on the other hand he came more than once with his pockets loaded with wealth certainly enough to flash a great roll of bank bills in the face of the servant who attended to his room and to present that lady with not less than twenty dollars at a time when in this condition ne always managed to meet mr gray and renew his proposals to pay rent or to love gone a y lend him a thousand or so whichever he preferred declined all of these offers however and said as little to his strange acquaintance as possible naturally learned that was in the house after awhile and asked anxiously for an explanation she remembered his face she said and did not like the memories it recalled told her as much as he chose of what had passed referring to the money by during the great wheat and not in any way to the more recent transaction while her father had had forty thousand dollars

0Arthur Conan Doyle

out of this man and his partner it would not do to turn him out of doors he said and she agreed to this doubtfully but in silence as she agreed to everything her husband thought wisest another year passed in much the same way gray s nose was at the his house was supplied with nothing but the merest necessities and then two events happened that certainly should not have come in the bank decided to by with his services that was one thing the other was that mrs gray became a mother for the second time there seems to be a in nature that sends children into this world in an exactly to the preparations for receiving them let a laboring man fall and break a limb let his three oldest children be taken down with scarlet fever and his mother in law her right arm by slipping on the ice and you may set it down without the least danger of error that his wife will be confined within ten days a prophet could have foretold that mrs gray would add one or more to the number of her family he as soon as he knew that the bank had discharged her husband but in his deep trouble welcomed the little stranger with all his heart at last he had a child that was really his own and he said it without any to little who still had from him all a true father s care and love there was a difference though between the other child and this tiny boy that he could not deny nature cried out to him that the bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh must hold a nearer place in his affections than one who could not claim though she might never know it that tender relation it costs money to be born in in the nineteenth century as gray soon found there were fifty things needed things that must be had if the mother and infant were to live in comfort a list of them was made out and put into the hands of the young father he stared it and turned white his purse could stand no such drain after a brief interview with he came out of her room with his soul on fire money he must have whatever way it was got he took a pen and wrote a to send me at least a thousand dollars immediately and charge it to my interest in the estate according to your former proposals i cannot do without it he had given his conscience the it had ever received but the occasion called too loudly to be refused he sent for this money exactly as he love gone would have broken the window of a baker if his dear ones had actually been starving he did not for a moment try to persuade himself that it was right in two days a check arrived with a letter from the lawyer him on his accession of common sense there were now but six months remaining of the five years he said and the appearance of was practically he hoped gray would send for all he needed and take what comfort he could during the the letter was read with a set face and thrown into the grate the check was the main thing could have kissed it as he realized what it meant to and the boy met him about that time and said a few hundred was at his service whenever he liked he referred to the advent of the new baby and said he had heard such things were very expensive the offer was refused now that another source had been found though it would otherwise have been accepted without doubt and it did not surprise the husband to have this man send him a note a week later saying that fifty dollars would be of the utmost value to him a sum let it be recorded that was sent to his room without an instant s delay having broken the ice did not care how deeply he in the stream as recovered he spent his money with a lavish hand sending to again and again for which were forwarded as fast as called for he re engaged the old number of servants spread the table as of opened the whole house with the exception of the part that to gray s re mr continued to occupy every a pair of horses and a coachman from a stable came to take the mother and child to drive the neighbors saw with wonder that a new mine had been tapped and that the family was coming out in remarkable form after its years of retirement a feeling of exultation filled the breast of the young man as these changes took place he forgot the fault of which he had been guilty and saw only the bright countenance of his happy wife as she resumed the life to which she had been accustomed he thought what a fool he had been to wait so long for a phantom that had no existence his fortune was coming to him so soon now and he might have enjoyed its benefits just as well as to take that awful dip into a sight of mr in the streets of was the first thing that disturbed his new serenity he wondered what the could be doing again in that part of the world mr did not see gray or if he did gave no sign of the fact it was quite as well they could not meet with mutual and it was best they escaped a collision had been nasty in relation to that bill cf his gray wanted to forget that such an individual existed but a few evenings later there came a greater shock as gray was sitting in his library the butler announced himself with an envelope in his

0Arthur Conan Doyle

hand a messenger is at the door sir he said who that this gentleman lives here i ve told him repeatedly that he is mistaken but he says he has seen him come in of ten and that lie knows him well love gone a gray took the envelope in his hand and he thought the very blood had frozen in his veins when he read the name mr chapter xxvi is this the letter i told him repeated the butler as remained silent that there was no such person here but he that he has seen him enter the house many times he says he knows him perfectly the man who lies down to pleasant dreams in a and to see the gleaming eyes of a tiger feels as gray felt at that moment the beast he had thought dead was upon him one spring and all would be over tell the messenger i wish to see him he said in a hard voice show him into this room and when you have done so leave us the butler who had been but a short time in mr gray s employ strode on his errand with no good grace he thought it an upon himself to receive a man after he the butler had practically dismissed him the person who brought the letter for mr seemed a very ordinary sort he was evidently unused to th interior of houses of this i this the letter description for he stared at the furniture and ceiling with interest and astonishment he had to be asked the first question twice before he recovered enough to answer who gave you this letter said gray a friend of mr s sir nobody you d know he s sent me to him before sir but i ve always met him in the street when he was coming out sir hesitated describe mr to me he said presently at this the man hemmed a good deal and after declaring over and over that he couldn t give no description proceeded to draw a word picture that was easily as that of mr joseph not expecting anything else gray showed no surprise who told you who first told you his name he asked next be careful now and mind what you re about why said the man shifting his weight from one foot to the other i don t know who told me he s been around here for a year or more i should think and i never heard him called anything but i don t know nothing about him the fellow broke forth desperately i ain t no private to get people s business i waited in the street for more n an hour and then i thought there wouldn t be no harm in ringing for him if you are the man what keeps this house you know him sir as well as me and if you ll kindly call him you ll oblige me very much gray under the that the new love residence was a lodging house but he believed the man honest in what he said there is no such person here he answered i shall therefore keep this letter till mr calls for it if you meet him say that mr gray will give it to him on application oh it will be quite safe he added as the man started to open his mouth you needn t worry about it at all he rose to indicate that the interview was ended but the messenger lingered i don t see why you say he don t live here he protested it is not necessary that you should see anything said gray he rang a bell show this gentleman out he said to the butler who brightened at the order and if any one else calls to see me let me know at once left alone he sank into his chair and had he been entertaining under his roof all this time the heir of whose existence he dreaded to hear if it was that they were the same person there was but one thing to to done the honest thing nothing else cost what it might whatever sacrifices it would the to mr s estate should have it gray had done things that lowered him in his own sight but he had never any one out of a penny he would not begin now starvation might come to him and his he could not tell there was nothing else in prospect but in this plain matter of duty he would not shrink mr to see you sir is this thb it was the butler returning ask him to come in here said gray in distinct tones the emergency found him ready whatever his name was paused at the library door in evident his eyes wandered anxiously over the and tables in search of something i heard there was a letter sent here for for a friend of mine he stammered acting as if he wanted to get away come in said mr gray and sit down i want to talk to you the other stood doubtfully for a moment at the threshold and started to say that he had no time to spare but finally entered and took a seat on the edge of the nearest sofa not at all at his ease apparently is this the letter asked gray holding it up so that the could be read it struck him strangely that he was calmer than his companion yes that s it said the other man reaching out his hand a minute this letter was left here for a mr to be delivered to him and to no one else the other man laughed oddly it s the same thing giving it to me he said we re friends partners in fact the letter is for either one of us you see he explained brightening as he went

0Arthur Conan Doyle

along i take s letters and he takes mine love gone a tbat again the hand was held out but the letter remained in mr gray s possession the man this letter is intended for rooms in this house he said the messenger informed me he had seen him enter and leave here often do you know any mr who lives here that fellow is a was the quick reply he s got us mixed up with each other he probably thinks i m and he paused to make the story complete that is me i do not wonder for according to his description you might be twin brothers said gray with a touch of sarcasm but a letter is an important matter and i do not feel justified in giving this to any person but the one whose name is on the envelope i might get myself into trouble if you will see mr and ask him to call he can have it at once i shall deliver it to no other person began to grow angry as this course was persisted in he declared again that the letter was intended for himself that he knew what it was and wanted it immediately and he looked as if he intended to have it too before he left the house i want to see mr for another and very pressing reason said gray in reply perhaps you can tell me some things in relation to him as you know him so well was his father s name also was his mother s name before she was married was but had risen to his feet and stood staring at the speaker how did know all that he exclaimed is this the letter how did you know it rather was the reply why not tell me the truth you were first known to me as william which you admitted to be a de next you called yourself joseph another i have no doubt why not admit without further that you are the other man sat down again and studied the face before him intently well i am he said at last there are no witnesses to the admission and if it pleases me i shall deny that i made it the next time i am asked i am my father bore the same name and my mother was an american lady what then gray grew paler when his fears were thus he took a case from his pocket and drew forth one of the that had been inserted in the newspapers for nearly five years regularly every quarter only this he said handing it to his companion who read it slowly out loud information wanted of son of and ns born at new york in the year but afterwards to foreign parts address esq no new york what does that mean he asked looking up suspiciously it means said gray his lips that you are the heir of two hundred thousand dollars left to you by your mother s brother love gone a the devil was the quick reply and at this minute i haven t the price of a ticket to new york in my clothes my uncle eh well this is a i never heard anything so strange in my life then told him the terms of the will exactly as they are known to the reader being interrupted frequently by exclamations and if i hadn t been heard of for three months more you d have had everything cried when the story was finished by jove you are a white one well don t fret i ll make it right that note i ve got of yours for five thousand dollars shall be handed back the minute i get possession two hundred thousand that s forty thousand pounds isn t it well i should think that would last me for a month or two with due economy the laugh that had heard in former days issued again from s lips as he contemplated the prospect you ve been falling into better luck too said the man when he recovered his i ve noticed that things seemed brighter with you lately yes was the reply with money borrowed from the of mr s will on account of my expectations and he proceeded to tell the story showing that mr had advanced him something like four thousand dollars which he would now never be able to repay thought this was on the whole the thing he had ever heard and laughed over is this the letter it till the tears came into his eyes the joke on tho old lawyer was simply he remarked a he was only sorry that gray had not borrowed twice as much for he might just as well have had it as not when he saw that his was not appreciated he down and took the address of mr with the statement that he would put himself in communication with him that very day i don t suppose you appreciate the spirits story has put me into said when he was about to leave considering it you out of the precise amount it gives me but if you d had my experiences you d have got used to anything you ve seen me flush and you ve seen me broke and you know i never that s the only way to take things there s silver to all the clouds and to morrow s better than to day ever dared be your luck is off at the moment but no one knows what s just around the corner you may light on your feet yet gray replied that it was a very different thing being with a family and without one a strange look came into the face of as this thought was uttered and he answered that this did put a different face on the matter however he added he wasn t quite the rascal

0Arthur Conan Doyle

he might be taken for and he would not forget the man to whose honesty he would owe his fortune i ll give you a lift somehow gray he said with unusual freedom of manner if it s only on account of those helpless ones who ve got to look to you for their support if i don t do the right thing call me a love gone astray he was so anxious to be gone that he almost for got to take the letter which had been the cause of his coming into the house when it was handed to him however he opened it where he stood and uttered an astonished exclamation as he its contents the worst thing now before the young husband was to reveal the extent of his ill fortune to his wife he felt a doubt whether she would approve of the course he had taken when he might have kept back the knowledge and retained the money they so much needed but surprised him by saying that he had done exactly right and that in spite of the disagreeable consequences that must she thoroughly approved of his conduct i could never have respected you had you done otherwise she said kissing his sad face we have been in hard straits but thank god we have not stooped to and we never must whatever happens i can look into my husband s eyes and feel proud of his noble life what would i give if he could look back with equal pride on mine it distressed him terribly to have her speak like this and with his arms clasped about her he the declaration of his entire love and confidence but for the things which she regretted he reminded her they might never have met and certainly were unlikely to have married and she lay against his breast breathing deeply happier in his caresses than any queen what they would do to provide for the helpless father and little ones neither could tell but it was is this the letter something to know that the perfect union of their hearts and lives did not depend on poverty or riches made his appearance within a week he would have come sooner but for a case he was trying which he had to finish he was driven directly to gray s residence the moment he reached and sat down to hear hie detailed story with a very interested face well it looks all right so far was the comment which he made when finished but this man will have to prove his case before he gets anything out of me it s well enough to go around the world bearing all the names one pleases but when it comes to taking possession of two hundred thousand dollars he s got to do something besides talk smiled faintly i feared it would be that way said he i thought if you lent me money you would never believe i had lost the chance to repay it that is why i refused it so long the old gentleman sat upright in his chair that ain t fair he answered sharply if this estate belongs to that fellow he ll get it every penny no matter how i come out if it don t he won t the money i ve lent you don t influence me a but i tell you again he s got to prove his identity this family hasn t been heard of till now for a pretty long time the mother died soon after the boy was born and the father who was of a disposition went off somewhere and stayed out of the country so far as mr ever knew if this is a son of his he s got to bring something to show it i ll give him the property when love gone astray he me he s entitled to it and not one d d minute quicker he seemed like the who was willing to be convinced but would like to find the man who could convince him and mr gray still that he was not in the right mood to do justice to the new there s another matter though of more importance pursued mr while this doubt remains i can t let you have anything either that wouldn t be business like would it what you ve had is gone if this thing turns against you way the old colonel still holds out i see i m going to get stuck on that too if he lives much longer with the i have to pay and the interest that s creeping up it s awful queer he must have a constitution like a like a to this mr gray made answer that colonel had changed little during the past year and yet that he feared he was slowly fading away fear echoed the lawyer i don t see why you should be sorry he s past all enjoyment of life and he might think of others who ve on him he is my wife s father replied yes i suppose he is admitted and she wouldn t want him to die if he hadn t an of brain left nor a leg to stand on if he was my father and and there was forty thousand on him i wouldn t care to see him in that frightful condition any longer than i could help i should a fair proposition ask the the good lord to take him home among among the angels and evidently feeling that there was a piety in the remark that took it out of the commonplace mr returned to the other subject this he said what does he look like as near as you can describe him mr interrupted the butler opening the door tell him to come right in replied gray now you can see for yourself he added rising chapter a

0Arthur Conan Doyle

fair proposition when informed that the gentleman with mr gray was none other than the of mr expressed the greatest pleasure at meeting him a pleasure be it said that the lawyer did not seem to wholly share proceeding to business without the least delay mr put the through a most searching examination he made him all the particulars of his life from his earliest recollections and even using what he had been told from a point to them and mr had to admit that the man stood the ordeal remarkably well and that there was no apparent flaw in his statements the first thing he remembered he said was living love astray in the town of new south wales with his father and a slightly older brother their wants being attended to by a servant who acted as cook and housekeeper combined the brother was a son of his father by a previous marriage and was named the father who was of a disposition came and went as he pleased sometimes being absent from home for months at a time the boys went to the schools of the place and when at the age of seventeen or eighteen they were left entire they took what little money was theirs and went to england here got employment in the office of a and worked at various until a year or two later when he disappeared and had never been seen since at the mention of the word mr began to question as to his knowledge of law but he explained his lack of it by saying that he had been kept at and that sort of thing and when at last he and demanded a better opportunity to learn something of value he was given his discharge and had never set foot afterwards in an establishment of the kind from that time he had travelled from place to place perhaps at times engaging in things not entirely to his credit as he he might as well admit without going into particular it was not necessary to give a detailed account of every act of his more recent life in order to prove that he was the heir to mr s property as the son of that gentleman s sister i will show you as soon as it arrives he added a of my father s death and of my from the schools of for a fair which i have sent to new south wales i have forwarded a photograph of myself and asked a judge of the town who remembers me well to that it represents my features there is also a witness here in whom you may wish to see the for whom i worked in london gray half rose from his chair and his eyes opened wide the he said nervously is named well was the answer i will make it by admitting that at once mr gray is surprised that mr whom he knows and who has spoken to him about me apparently never mentioned that i had been a clerk in his office mr reasons are entirely foreign to this inquiry he will not give them to you if you ask him but such evidence as really affects my case i know he will give with pleasure for i have communicated with him very recently on the subject an hour more of cross questioning produced no new effects but when it was ended mr announced that he should leave the whole matter to the courts i don t express the least opinion he said in a way i have an important trust to if the judge says the money belongs to you sir i will turn it over as ordered to the last cent if the decision is against you it goes to mr gray you must see an attorney put in your claim and have it in the usual manner before whose face had darkened at this proposition could reply spoke love gone as far as i am concerned mr you will understand that i don t ask this if mr mr brings his from new south wales showing him to be the son of mrs s sister i don t care to know any of the secrets he wishes buried indeed you will meet my desires best by putting him to the least trouble possible that is all very well responded mr but it s not the best way for me as a if i give this estate to the wrong man i shall be personally liable i want a judge s decision to back me up no i have decided that it must go to the court and nothing can make me change my mind in the few moments that elapsed had managed to pull himself together and the cloud on his brow gave way to one of the sunny smiles for which he was at times noted to the court let us go then he said brightly as i know nothing of american laws i can only hope it won t take a hundred years to settle as i would like to use a little of the money before i die the meanest thing about it he added indicating gray with a motion of his hand is that in getting what belongs to me i must so good a fellow as this and one besides who stands quite as much in need of it this assertion affected who began to think a very stubborn old to put the heir to so much trouble over a point that seemed absolutely it was very clear that he gray might as well give up all hopes and he saw no benefit to be derived from of the kind contemplated he knew however that the a fair proposition of the and were not more than the mind of and he saw that worthy depart without adding another word in criticism of his course as there seemed

0Arthur Conan Doyle

less reason than ever to ask to his room he continued to live under the roof if such it had now any right to be called in due time he brought to a signed by several prominent citizens of new south wales as well as by the who took it that a picture was t ie portrait of son of and deceased besides this he bore a from that the said had been in his employ for nearly three years and had during that time been known by no other name with more matter to the same effect these documents after being by mr gray were placed in the hands of an attorney and all parties awaited the calling of the case in the court to which it had been assigned mr was informed of the nature of the new proofs and in fact served with copies of them but his intention to fight the case was not in the least affected thereby he wrote to gray that the affair was out of his hands and that he would do nothing more about it but during the summer that followed he did do something at the joint request of and gray over their witnessed he released the residence from the of the colonel taking note and for the amount advanced this he could safely do whoever the love gone a property was going to for the was a per safe and the proceeding enabled the with the poor old man who was slowly descending to the tomb to remain a little longer in their home early in the autumn colonel to a second shock and passed away without his mind in the least he had in effect been dead for three years already but his daughter wept for him as if her heart would break and who liked him immensely contributed his share to the mourning mr came to town as soon as the funeral was over and proceeded to arrange the matter of life paying over the balance that remained to mrs gray who accepted it and handed it to her husband without a word in their present condition it was a for there were the interest and taxes on the house to be met as well as other expenses that had been postponed as long as possible and also ordered a stone for the colonel s grave that was perhaps extravagant considering the of the future the way the case dragged in the court the case of did not surprise any one used to the of the law but the expressed his dissatisfaction in no gentle terms as time went on one day he came to gray with a proposal see here he said this thing is getting my lawyer says can fight me off for three years more if he likes and i m sure he will take every minute allowed him now i have an idea and i want to see what you think of it i d a proposition rather take part of a loaf before i die of starvation than a whole after i m dead and buried what is your suggestion asked curiously it s this in brief supposing i withdraw all claim to the property what wait a second of course that s not the whole of it supposing i withdraw get out quit to be myself and let you take the estate according to my uncle s will wouldn t fight you he d hand you over the whole thing bag and baggage the next morning wouldn t he mr gray stared at the speaker with all his might i think he would said he but don t but anything for another minute responded just fix your mind on my proposition if i should do that and if you would sign an agreement to hand me over three quarters of what you got i d be better off wouldn t i than to hang around here till i m an waiting for the courts to let me in the idea was so strange that it staggered gray at first you d get fifty thousand dollars said trying to make it clearer i d get the rest neither of us could complain and by george i ll do it if you say so fifty thousand dollars it looked like a mountain of gold to the young man he could move to some quiet home in the country and live with his dear ones on the income of that amount but on the love gone astray other hand it looked to take so great an advantage of another s necessities what do you say cried is it a bargain i i would do it at once stammered gray but i don t think it would be fair to you it would be almost a kind of to accept such a sum for merely helping you to your rights that s my smiled the other i m satisfied and you ought to consider that sufficient you ve got a wife and family too you mustn t forget them gray found himself leaning toward an acceptance of the proposal though he still thought the share to be given him was before they separated he had agreed to the plan and within a week documents had been signed by which it could be carried out the relief which felt as he contemplated the near approach of a for and the children carried him almost to the skies of happiness he declared to himself that was more than a gentleman and took back a hundred times a day all the ill natured things he had ever said or thought about him he dared not tell his wife of the comfortable future that was dawning on the horizon lest some slip should dash the cup from their lips he waited with a fever of impatience till he could assure her beyond a doubt that their days of actual

0Arthur Conan Doyle

were over came to and had a talk with gray when he was of the new state of affairs a proposition i thought he d draw out before he let it go to a jury he remarked how much did you have to pay of course you gave him something and i think that was the safest way out of it but i hope it wasn t much still prejudiced by your own interests replied gray with a smile i told you he d never seem an honest man in your eyes while you had a personal claim that got into the balance mr at this declaring it had nothing to do with the case he said the latest action of he refused to call him had proved how little confidence he had in winning a verdict we ll have the whole thing settled now in a month or two he said in conclusion and my word for it you have escaped one of the prettiest attempts at that ever came under my observation but gray only laughed knowing what a set man mr was and congratulated himself anew over the bargain he had made he went home and played with his two children his both of them in love at least he kissed so warmly that she wondered what had happened and looked at his beaming face under a momentary apprehension that he had lost his wits with fifty thousand dollars and these loved ones he would forget he had ever expected to be richer ah who can be richer than the man with a wife who him and enough to keep her from the icy that sweep around this bleak world love gone chapter women are queer things the difficulties out of the way in the of s estate one would have thought that the only thing necessary to pass it over to gray was the arrival of the date mentioned in the will but legal matters are slow in coming to a head and this one was no exception to the rule what made it matter less however was that mr had again opened his private purse and was advancing as liberally as before to the the money thus obtained divided pretty equally with who however fretted over the length of time required to get the balance and declared every day that he was disgusted with the judges and lawyers from one end of the case to the other as the time of settlement grew nearer made various excursions to points out of the city sometimes being gone a fortnight at a stretch he finally gave up his room at the where he went had no knowledge and the matter had little interest for him he meant to keep his word to the letter and though he felt very grateful for what he called s generosity he was quite willing to be deprived of his companionship that had of late grown rather too intimate to be wholly agreeable the only thing that annoyed gray at this period women queer things was the fact that mr still remained in the city and had been seen by him several times in the street he realized that the had no good will toward him and dreaded lest some move might be made on his side of a disagreeable nature but as there was no law against a person s living in any part of the world that pleased him he did not see what he could do about it as long as he could trace no unpleasant consequences to the presence of this man the exact date that the five years elapsed from the death of mr was february i h fully a month beyond that day passed and mr still made excuses who never visited gray now but wrote frequent letters intimated his belief that the old had stolen part of the funds and was liable to to canada with the balance unless somebody had an eye on him of course laughed at this notion for lie thought he knew mr better than that and yet he wondered as much as his new friend why such a long time was necessary one morning the lawyer came to and sought mr gray at his residence he had something of importance to communicate and asked his host to make certain that they were not disturbed i don t want anybody coming in just now he said looking around the library especially that man what cried good after giving the necessary order i haven t set eyes on him for seven or eight weeks haven t you was the reply you don t mean to say he s cleared out i love gone astray no i had a letter from him yesterday cleared out he s in no mood for clearing out from the tenor of his note mr hemmed softly and closed his eyelids slightly have you got that note here he asked certainly will you let me see it could not help laughing again i m afraid it wouldn t please you to read it in full he said but i ll show you the date and the signature if you want you seem to doubt that he s here still there you are march ist and at the bottom believe me as ever your sincere friend what will you have than that the lawyer the letter eagerly nothing he said sharply if you will cut off those lines for me or agree to keep them until they are wanted i shall be satisfied i ll keep them smiled gray i don t like to the letters of my friends i ve had a good many from him during the past few months and i ve got them all at this the lawyer rubbed his hands softly together all right so far he responded now for another matter in looking over the papers of colonel that you gave me with

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the i have made one or two discoveries shall i tell you what they are the lawyer s lips shut tightly together and his eyes dilated strikingly his manner had changed women queer things so suddenly that the younger man did not know what to think has it anything to do with with this affair he asked beginning to tremble possibly mr gray i am an attorney at law and a secret is as safe in my hands as if locked in your own brain a secret there was but one secret that gray cared about was it possible that one could have been found in the bundle of papers he could not endure the suspense and he told mr to proceed i was not looking for this secret mind you explained the but i know the necessity of examining every scrap of writing that a dead man leaves before deciding that it is of no value i was examining those papers of colonel s when i found the one to which i shall first refer you mr gray took the paper that was handed him and before he glanced at the page threw a searching glance into the sharp eyes before him then he read as follows enclosed you will find the complete confession of young whose name your daughter could not be persuaded to give you by this time he is well out of the country and i am sure you will never be troubled by him again i advanced him sufficient for expenses believing that the wisest course but he is thoroughly frightened and only too anxious to get away i am still confident that the best move will be a marriage with mr gray if i can love gone astray bring to agree to it and i think i can will try to see you to morrow yours etc it was a very bitter draught that had to be swallowed and the young man thought it would him in its downward course bitter because it the horrible chapter he had tried so hard to close bitter because his secret was exposed to this man whose contempt he could already feel piercing through his bitter because because he stopped and caught his breath because had been for more than a year under gray s roof and she had assisted him in deceiving her husband by pretending they had never met before and if she was capable of that of how much more might she not be had been in the house from morning till night nearly all the time while the husband had been away at his work all that was needed to make a perfect case was on the part of a servant or the mere shutting of an eye and the domestic that cared for the s room would have cut off her hand for her young mistress gray s face was a combination of yellow and chalk as he faced mr but he was at first incapable of speech and the other resumed then here is the letter to which the first one i don t ask what it means you can judge that for yourself but before you give any large women queer things of my friend s money away you ought t have all the facts in the case at your disposal read the second letter and still he could not utter a word to speak would be to plead guilty to a monstrous i ve got some important business to do and i must be going remarked the lawyer rising if it s convenient i ll meet you again this afternoon i ll have a few other things to say that you ll think strange i guess and now i ve got one bit of advice to give don t get excited there s several turns in the road yet and maybe if you start off too rapid you ll get on the wrong one it was half an hour before felt able to meet his wife for he wanted to put the dreadful question to her and have it over with if she could clear herself no one would be more pleased than he if she could not an immediate separation was the only thing for them and after that he would pay his respects to the cause of his misery where is mrs gray he asked ot the butler when he responded to his ring she has gone out sir out how long has she been out nearly all the morning sir it s the usual time she takes her drive sir when she returns let me know i will sir her usual time yes he remembered it now it was brought to his attention and he was also sure that the mornings out that had become so common dated pretty nearly from the time when ceased to live at their house what a deep love gone astray game they had played on him those two and by what a simple accident it had been discovered when mrs gray returned she came straight to the library where her husband still awaited her do you wish to see me she asked pleasantly yes he said sharply rising to shut the door that they might be alone want you to tell me who was the father of your first child the question was so terrible so unexpected so brutal and the husband s manner so fierce that mrs gray lost her power of speech come no nonsense he persisted roughly answer i must not tell you she stammered oh how can you put this shame on me after all the years i have been your true and faithful wife a of tears followed the outburst but they had no effect on him whatever you must not tell he echoed thank god i do not have to depend on your word true and faithful how do you reconcile that with the fact

0Arthur Conan Doyle

that he has helped you to deceive a husband to whom you were already a sufficient disgrace too much agitated to reply could only continue to weep but when he added that they must part at once and that he would never look her in the face again she uttered a wild cry no no you do not mean that i have done nothing wrong not since that first that awful time so many years ago if i have met this man it was for your sake yes for your sake it was not for myself i would starve by your side if need women are queer things be it was always for you he told me he assured me violent sobs drowned the sentence and when mrs gray looked up again she was alone not daring to trust himself longer in her presence now that she had admitted so much mr gray had hastened from the room his hat from the rack by the door he hurried into the street and started rapidly on foot toward the city he did not know or care where he was going he only wanted to get away from her so s generosity was all on account and she had considered it the duty of a faithful wife to money out of a as long as she put it in a husband s hands god almighty what a beast she must have thought him and still he felt with bitterness that he was to blame for the estimate he had given his name to an abandoned creature in exchange tor pounds and shillings he had known that before she should have been out of boarding school she had surrendered the dearest possession of an honest girl to some man beneath the consideration of her father from a matrimonial point of view she had bought her husband for cash and no doubt felt that he put money above all other rather than be reduced to of which she had seen quite enough during her married life she had with for a quarter part of his and of course had paid the price if she had flown with her he could have borne it better but to share her caresses between love them to pretend such virtue while carrying on her relations this was the farthest depth of how long had her affair been going on had it ever wholly ceased was in london and in when she was there he had been in and under her roof a great deal of the time since she returned to america they were too cunning for him he his teeth as the evidence began to range itself in line walking on and on gray came to washington street in its portion and had nearly run over before that gentleman could stop him what s up cried the lawyer you look like a crazy man and indeed he did he could not answer the question in words and putting an arm through one of his drew him into a building near by and into the private office of a friend where he made him sit down i thought after i left to day said that i had done wrong in not making some things a little clearer it occurred to me that you might on a wrong scent and do something rash notwithstanding the last bit of advice i gave you i had an engagement to keep and as soon as it was over i went out to your house in a carriage arriving too late to find you in what has happened to make you look like an escaped lunatic finding that gray was still unable to speak the lawyer helped him you ve been having words with your wife women are queer things the answer was written on the countenance of the man questioned and you ve been her of something recent said slowly in connection with that man there was no denial of this charge then let me tell you pursued that you are wholly wrong and that the best thing you can do is to banish your suspicions at once from your mind e times did gray open his mouth before he could utter an articulate sound his lips were dry and his tongue thick she has confessed it is all over he muttered at last confessed what everything the devil said mr gray nodded he did not like to talk about it any more than he could help but he saw that this man would have to know and that there never would be a better time than the present to tell him women are queer things was the lawyer s next statement isn t the only one that has been taken with such a desire to confess that she s had to make up lies to do it you ve not forgot the scandal the woman in that case used to make a new confession in writing too as often as any one asked her and she never committed the alleged once if i m any judge of evidence if your wife has admitted recent wrong doing with she s a proper subject for a physician s care for i know all about this business as you love gone astray will in a time if you keep your wits about you and nothing of the sort has occurred it seemed a very straw this mere assertion of the lawyer s against the direct of mrs gray but caught at it with the frantic clutch of the man who is drowning if you can prove that he said in a hoarse whisper you will make me the happiest man on earth then prepare to enter that state smiled for i take my oath that is exactly what i intend to do but you will have to meet and it will be necessary that you conceal in his presence the suspicions you have formed

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in regard to him at the repeated use of that name colored have you gone so far as to acknowledge your mistake he asked thrice in the last three minutes you have called him are you willing to admit that that is his name there was a wise look on the lawyer s wrinkled countenance yes he answered slowly i am obliged to admit it now then you have been mistaken all along mr shook his head his name ts and i have not been mistaken he repeated for that riddle a long explanation is necessary and i think should be given by mr in person perhaps he paused and consulted his watch perhaps it will be best to send for him now as things have taken such a turn and have it over with gray stared at his companion then you know where he is he asked women queer precisely he is in jail on what charge attempting to gray out of more than two hundred thousand dollars felt his brain growing light first had promised to save his wife to him and now he talked of recovering his lost fortune it surely was a dream it could not be reality i am going to send for at once continued and have you listen to his story right where you are it is not safe to let you go out of here with only a partial knowledge of the truth in more than one case a little learning is a dangerous thing will you promise not to allude to anything in connection with your wife while that man is in your presence because without that promise there is no use in bringing him after a moment s reflection agreed to the proposition and the lawyer several notes by various messenger boys who responded to his call the first response was from a who was to take a report of the conversation it was expected would and shortly afterwards two appeared leading a prisoner between them love gone astray chapter a cross examination except on the stage no man whose hands are and who is in the of officers of the law looks comfortable was not an exception to the rule but when he saw mr gray he put on an air of which he doubtless thought would conceal the agitation of his mind he nodded recognition and when his irons were removed at mr request rubbed his wrists with a and remarked that of that kind was not to his liking then when the had withdrawn into the outer office and he was left alone with the lawyer the and mr gray he settled himself easily in a chair and asked whether there was anything he could do to make the occasion more agreeable to all parties i have sent for you replied the quiet voice of mr in order that you may make whatever statement you think best before this gentleman indicating as to your connection with the estate your words will be taken down in and drawn up in the form of an to which should you wish you can make oath i offer you no for this you are to leave the future entirely to me as far as my action is concerned but if you think best to tell the truth in relation to the matter you now have an opportunity of doing so a there is something in the pushing of a s pencil over the pages of a deeply impressive to those who have occasion to know for the first time that their words are being with absolute precision i have already told you all there is to tell was s answer as he eyed the pencil what i ask then is that you repeat the statement for the benefit of mr gray and in the hearing of this secretary if you prefer to decline but to this instantly he was quite ready he said to answer all questions put to him m i thought you would be said with a grim smile now let me say one thing more let your answers refer wholly to the point at issue and not by any stray beyond it if you have anything further to say to mr gray or to any one let it remain until the has gone gray looked up gratefully as this suggestion was made for he had feared that in the course of the examination something might be uttered which he would rather third parties did not hear there was sufficient strain already upon his brain he was trying to rest on the assurance of the lawyer that his wife had not been false to him with this man though he could see no way to establish an innocence which he thought she had herself but whatever the truth of that matter the letter that had found in the papers of colonel as the author of her original fall which was enough to make his presence most hateful love gone astray to her husband buried his face in his hands and listened anxiously for the testimony to proceed what is your true name was the first question mr put to his witness was the ready answer christian name gray looked up astounded have you ever known any one by the name of yes two my father and my brother by a second marriage the lawyer had maintained that this man was named and yet that he was a fraud and a cheat already he had proved the truth of those in answer to then went on to tell how his father had contracted marriage with miss within a year of the death of his first wife and how the lady had died shortly after giving birth to her son the father was a fellow who left the boys in charge of a housekeeper being absent for months at a time the children attended school at their home in new south

0Arthur Conan Doyle

wales where they were taken in infancy until their early manhood when the death of mr sent them adrift with what little funds belonged to them they went to england where their paths i fell in with a party of said coolly and found that my consisted of the cards and the box went into the office of a named a cross examination where he earned a scanty living for several years under the impression that he would ultimately gain admission to the bar he was never in very good health and about five years ago he suddenly in search as i understood of a more congenial climate not long ago i received news of his death at cape town cleared if his story was true of the charge of intimacy with in her youthful days left one of his hearers still puzzled how could his statement be reconciled with that of mrs gray that she had met the father of her child of late and had to exact aid from him for her must the of her fall be taken from both and his brother and placed on still another s shoulders and if so on whose now about the estate said mr well that s rather a long story replied but the essential point is that had heard of the conditions of the will from mr gray in some of their conversations he had reasons for wanting to keep out of england and thought the safest way was to hide the news from my brother who was depending on a small allowance from him for his living and might if he should fall into a fortune of that size but many a time did hint to me that if i minded my business and all went as he expected i would be a rich man yet all i must do was to leave everything to him in the belief that there was something to the story i went on doing his bidding like a negro slave love gone mr who had been growing uneasy for several seconds interposed a remark that these particulars were unnecessary at this time when did you first announce your name to be that of asked the lawyer nearly a year ago to my friends in the profession mr suggested it and said he would give me his reasons in due time we both knew that my brother was in consumption and could not live much longer naturally i thought the money so often referred to must be some thai belonged to but as he was so near the end i considered him quite as well off without it after we heard of death began sending me letters in that name to further establish my identity i suppose and one of them that came by accident into mr gray s hands upset the plot and put me in possession of every card that my smart friend held mr nodded and looked at gray who was sitting with his right elbow resting on the arm of his chair biting his nails nervously that letter addressed to pursued the was left with mr gray the man who brought it described me and said i had a room in the house which was true mr gray promptly told me i was the heir to the fortune left by mr and i saw the whole play of mr as clear as crystal the stopped to a pencil and then the man proceeded of course i went to who was staying here in waiting to see how the cat would jump and told him i thought we had been partners long a cross examination enough i said i was going in for my fortune and he had better not get in my way unless he wanted to be hurt he and threatened but he didn t scare me i didn t believe he would dare raise my so i sent to new south wales for photographs and and all sorts of proof and put them into the case and if it hadn t been for you he snapped his fingers at mr i would have divided the property before now with mr gray and more than likely have lost the e of my share in some big plunge at the table the lawyer bowed as if he had no intention of these in short he said your name is instead of you have no claim whatever to any part of s property and all the proofs you have furnished to the contrary are false and worthless that s about it said and to this you are willing to make oath t at your convenience consulting first with the writer the lawyer said he would call at the jail in two days time with the document ready for the two days can t you call it one was the reply i m not particularly struck with my lodgings and my landlord is such an old that he won t even allow me a i don t intend to stay there much longer than enable me to you with these little matters i shall need two days said mr as for the rest remember have made no promises laughed love gone a of course but the writ will be issued just the same and i shall sleep in a decent bed day after to morrow night i hope mr gray won t forget he added that he owes me five thousand dollars and interest which will come in very handy in the present emergency if owed it to him he d me fast enough as i have occasion to remember this with another laugh don t suppose he continued seeing the black cloud that was gathering on s face that he s any too fond of me seeing the trick i was trying to play but considering that he has all the and i haven t drawn a single pair i

0Arthur Conan Doyle

don t think he ought to take it too much to heart gray rose and stepped forward if mr is through with you he said his voice trembling with excitement i want you to an a few questions to me alone no no interposed the lawyer hastily not to day i have something of more importance to arrange with you mr s address is well known and we can see later yes smiled the prisoner not much disconcerted s outburst you can call at any reasonable hour and be certain to find me in and i assure you mr gray i will answer every question you put to me to the best of my ability i m a and a rogue but as i think i told you once before i consider you a white man and the deal from now on will be square on my side unwillingly saw the enter their man and take him away he must rely on now the lawyer had saved him for a cross examination tune and had asserted his ability to save him his wife also the only way was to be guided by his advice in everything we ll go up to your house now said when the room was cleared i want a little private conversation with mrs gray to this objected until his wife was cleared of the she had made against herself he did not wish to enter her door mr e might go and welcome all the arguments that could be brought to bear failed to shake him in this determination where shall i find you asked when i return i will go to the house and take a room there you can ask the number at the office very well was the unwilling reply but for heaven s sake don t get into any foolishness while you are gone we will have this thing settled to your entire satisfaction in a day or two if you don t make trouble yourself i think continued the lawyer that the best thing is to send along with you he ll keep you out of mischief and entertain you at the same time with some of the things he has gray asked who was for he did not like the idea of being put under as if he were a child why he s the who has worked up this whole affair you ll find him as interesting as a new novel he s been at work for months and he has t nice little against you by love gone y this time too come his office is only a few doors from here let us see if he is in this statement put a very different face on the proposition and mr gray assented eagerly to the proposal mr was found and proved to be an man about forty years of age and with the last face that would be thought by the to belong to a of justice we ll not be at the though said as was about to leave them we ll be at the and when you go to the office you needn t ask for mr gray but for me gray glanced from one to the other of his companions but made no reply he felt that there must be a reason for the change and that it would be made known to him later he was anxious to put nothing in mr way if he should return with the dreadful riddle solved if he should show that was an honest wife if he should prove their household life would be worth living once more without those things the thousands had so longed for would be an empty treasure in his hands mr did not find mrs gray at home she had been gone but a few moments the servant said and had left a letter for her husband asking that it be delivered to him when he came in the lawyer stated that he was going directly to mr gray and would hand him the note he hastened to his cab and directing the driver to go as fast as possible to the house he tore open the envelope it was no time to think of trifles this was the way the letter read cross ex a c my husband notwithstanding the cruel words yoa used to me this morning i shall make one more effort to save the fortune that should by right be yours i have brought you nothing but shame and misery whatever happens you cannot regard me with greater horror than you already do unless i send you before to morrow full proofs that you are entitled to the whole of mr s estate you will know that i have died in the meantime you can draw your own conclusions i cannot exist without your love nor if anything happens to make me less worthy of it than i now am be good to the children they at least are not to blame your the good lawyer cursed to himself in the solitude of his cab and then shouted from the window for the driver to the pace of his horses arriving at the he hurried to well s room and was received at the door by another named with his finger on his lips sh whispered the step lightly and don t dare even to breathe i think we ve flushed the bird love gone chapter xxx in peril in that same hotel on the third floor a pale and much agitated man was pacing up and down his sitting room with nervous steps frequently he stopped at the window that looked upon the street and peered anxiously below as if he hoped to see a familiar face in the mass that was visible amid the lights of the early evening anon he paused at the door that led from his room into the public hall listening

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the watch in his pocket was taken out and every few moments impatiently good god why doesn t she come he ejaculated under his breath again and again there were dark rings about his eyes his sleep had evidently been irregular of late there was something careless and in his attire his hair through which his thin fingers were passed over and over was not in order his temples were hot and his pulse feverish a low knock at the door roused him to sudden action he sprang to admit the a veiled lady in black who stepped across the threshold as if she had a fear of being pursued the was closed rapidly behind her and locked with a motion then the man turned with a countenance beaming with joy and addressed his companion in peril s my darling he cried you have come at last i knew you would not refuse when you had thought of everything mrs gray for it was she drew back from the arms that threatened to her and put up both hands to avoid the embrace her veil when thrown back from her face showed that she was even paler than he had been and that she also labored under an excitement which she was vainly trying to conceal i have come she answered wearily but only to talk with you to persuade you to do what is right i have come because i believe there is virtue left in you still the man showed disappointment in every then you have made a great mistake he said i have no virtue no conscience that can the mad love i feel for you the love that has consumed me every hour for the past seven years i beg you not to enter on that strain for it can have no effect sit down compose yourself and let us discuss the matter sensibly the lady breathing heavily complied with the suggestion to be seated and the man took a chair near her if you could realize the depth of the sentiment that me he continued you would know better how to forgive the means i take to bring it to the first minute i saw you that flame was aroused in my heart i was nearly fifteen years your elder i had a wife of my own all this it is useless to deny but when i gazed into your girlish love gone eyes every fibre of my being was stirred into irresistible passion the face opposite to his averted itself and there was no reply from the white lips you know what happened he went on the third time we met you made a promise to come to my rooms alone a promise that you broke but at our next meeting you promised again and that time you kept your word i meant nothing wrong by you i swear it i wanted you where i could my soul in your loveliness but i did not dream of bearing away the flower which had me with its perfume and that anything did occur that day beyond an exchange of perhaps an innocent kiss was it altogether my fault a groan escaped from the woman s lips at the question ah she cried you were older you were a man you should have been too generous to accept such an advantage you should have me no you cannot escape your guilt by reminding me that my brain was the first to take fire unused to such a situation as that of an infant in its cradle he bade her lower her voice which had been raised to a key that might have been heard outside the apartment you never give me the least credit he complained for the part i acted when the harm was done for the shrewd manner in which i saved your reputation to the world by arranging your marriage who else think you would have secured that letter from young and kept him out of the country until his death he never even knew to whom in it was sent and in his condition the only thing that mattered to him was the monthly i provided it took no small amount of labor either to bring gray to the point and all that time consider the agony i suffered in you to the arms of another man even though i believed in my inmost soul you would still have the gratitude to continue mine i had to wear a smile when the was eating my heart i was obliged to that when i would have preferred to cut his throat you never remember these things you never think of what i endured because i was tied to another woman and could not wed you myself i gave you up i made you a wife i took your i saw you fading out of my reach i learned you had borne a second child and that it belonged to him can there be a greater hell in the next world than has been mine during these years many times in the course of this outburst did mrs gray try to interrupt the speaker and at its close she addressed him but why she asked when all this was past when the good you tried to do me was accomplished when i was living with this man must you seek to tear me from him why when the clouds that you brought on my head had so nearly disappeared must you come to plunge me again into darkness he leaned toward her and spoke in a very low voice because the time has at last arrived when i can take you to my home when i can give you my name love gone astray for the past year i have been a i want you more than ever now that no other marriage stands in my way never for a second have i ceased

0Arthur Conan Doyle

to love you and your repeated your will be forgiven only when the law has separated you from him and made you mine forever the hands of mrs gray were clasped over her face and her form rocked to and fro in pain whatever you may have had of love for me she answered i never felt the least affection in return in spite of my conduct in those days when you threw your evil personality around me i never cared for you no never i used to leave your side in the bitterest for my sins i returned to you as the bird goes to the of the snake it knows not how to resist even when giving all that is supposed to go with the deepest love i hated you with my whole mind more than once with lips pressed to yours i have wished that a knife lay near that i might plunge it into your breast and when i remember the suffering you made me endure the misery i brought to the best of fathers the lies i told to the kindest of mothers the shame i became to the most honorable of husbands i wonder i do not find some weapon to kill you now instead of for the mercy it is not in your iron heart to grant the man under the lash but he had no idea of giving up he renewed liis arguments confident that in the end she would have to to his wishes you know what i can do if you drive me to it he said slowly i can send your husband proofs in peril that you have met me here repeatedly and been with me for hours together i but he knows it already she interrupted a shiver what do you mean he asked glancing toward the door in alarm i mean that he accused me of it to day and that i had not the courage to deny the charge yes she added as she saw the effect her words produced he knows it now all about and everything he knows we have had secret meetings and he told me she uttered a gasp that because of this he would never see or speak to me again he left the house hours ago and he has not returned this was indeed unexpected news quick thoughts passed through the brain of the listener what was mr gray doing at the present moment more than likely searching the city to find him and if so with no intentions however inquiry at the hotel office would not reveal the correct name of the of his rooms for a had always been used there all the stronger reasons now prevailed for securing and making the possible flight to europe if your husband has said this he told her you can never hope to regain his affection a gulf is now established between you well in exchange for his coldness i offer the warmest love his home will be closed to you mine will be open you shall bring both your children he went on eagerly i will give them the care of a father without distinction my dearest i do not wish to threaten you i have only tried to use the means to love gone bring you to my way of thinking if there is any other that you wish me to make you have but to ask and you will see how willingly i will grant it only i must have you i cannot live without you she thought of the home that was ruined and her heart sank had cast her off the fortune he had thought to gain by his marriage had vanished if she could bring it back to him perhaps perhaps he would forgive her it would be so easy for you to help me out of my troubles she stammered you say you possess proofs that mr has no right to the property that mr willed you admit that you have nothing personally to gain or lose in the transaction why oh why will you not give those proofs to me and let me take them to my husband with that simple act you would make me the happiest woman on earth and do much to blot from your soul the terrible record of sin that so it you will do it i know you will she cried sinking on the carpet at his feet you have only been trying me he put his hands on her head and the touch seemed to rather than melt him he took you once for money and you think he would do so again he answered bitterly perhaps he would i do not think his estimate of you is much higher than that but i assure you i shall not help him this time no i have the secret that can make him rich and mine it remains unless you give your own sweet self in exchange in this envelope is absolute evidence that the estate is his in swear to go with me to europe and to marry me as soon as a divorce from him can be obtained and i will give you that if you think you owe him anything more than he has already had your debt will be richly paid with these papers all you have to do is to send him this envelope by a messenger with a note saying you will not see him again the children are easily and i will that on saturday we and they will be on the ocean if you decline you have simply lost him and he has lost his property i will make no other terms the woman s eyes began to with strange fires she seemed to realize her helplessness in the presence of this strong force let me see she murmured is to have two hundred thousand dollars in exchange for

0Arthur Conan Doyle

me do you think that will satisfy him he will call it a splendid bargain and i what am i to get oh yes your love and esteem the truest ever given woman only come with me and i will never leave you one hour for repentance as if almost persuaded she hesitated a moment and then burst into sobbing why do you want me she asked wildly look more carefully i am not as young as i was i have borne two children and nursed them since you used to know me my beauty is badly faded these are not the goods that attracted your eye when they were first placed on the counter you say i may bring both my babies his as well as yours l gone are you certain you will never show a difference between them as he has never done with all the passion that filled his veins he met every question he should love her old or young fresh or faded his affection was one of a lifetime her child should be his he saw that she was about to yield and he wanted to make his happiness certain at whatever cost give me the envelope she said at last her seat in the chair show me exactly what it contains one must be very careful when one is asked to pay so dear a price if these documents establish what i claim then have i your promise he demanded she bowed reaching out her hand for them you promise to be mine as long as you live to be yours as long as i live with a glad cry he tried to clasp her in his arms but she held him off wait she said the payment first convinced that she would keep her word he opened the and spread the contents before her you see he explained when she had died at cape town in august last his half brother who has him will get if he has his deserts about ten years in the state prison this leaves mr gray heir to the whole property yes it was very plain would get the money as soon as it was shown that was a confused brain had in peril strength enough left to comprehend that she sat down at a desk and addressed the envelope to her husband then she wrote a short note saying that she had kept her word and that he must not try to find her as all was over between them she moved the pen mechanically across the paper and her companion who leaned over her shoulder expressed his satisfaction with the tenor of the communication now said mrs gray rising i will go and take this to his house giving it to the servant for him it is very important that it gets into his hands safely the was too transparent to succeed excuse me was the answer i can hardly permit that i will ring for a district messenger but she said supposing the boy should tell mr gray where we are and he should come here and find us if i give him five dollars he will agree to know nothing about it no my dear we have been separated for the last time she was at the end of her excuses and she saw the call button pressed without further objection when the messenger came the envelope with the bribe for secrecy was put into his hand you know where this came from understand yes said the boy i understand perfectly and although he was but fourteen years of age he thought as he looked from one of them to the other that he did now said the man when the door was locked again you are mine he moved toward her but she stepped backward love one a minute she cried a minute you need not be in such haste when you are to have me as long as i live there was something in her manner that alarmed him he thought uneasily of what she had said a short time before of her declaration that if she did her duty she would kill him he did not try to follow her closely for he suspected that she meant him harm and before he had the least idea of what she intended she had sprung into his bed room and locked the door in his face chapter stand back in engaging mr to work up the mr had hit upon exactly the right person there is a in some quarters of the art of the private but when he is honest and capable he can be of the greatest service to the community in dealing with it is impossible that one should pursue means that are wholly above board is not ordinarily in the full light of day he who would it out needs to imitate the fox and the serpent but his calling is honorable for all that mr had known for some time that mrs gray was holding private meetings with a gentleman who had a of rooms in the hotel it stand back became a part of his duty to know what at those meetings and he adopted the simple way of the adjoining apartment with sufficiently delicate tools he contrived to penetrate the connecting wall without giving cause for suspicion and not a meeting after that took place which he did not attend he deemed it wisest to keep his counsel for the present he realized the temptations that were thrown around the young woman but he was also a witness to the sturdy manner in which she held to the path of virtue had any real danger presented itself he would have alarmed her by noises on the wall and if necessary have gone even to the door and demanded although possessed of plenty of evidence by this time that was a fraud the was not

0Arthur Conan Doyle

averse to having his proofs strengthened he had heard the man in the adjoining room declare that he possessed an envelope containing proof that gray was the only heir to the estate it was mr s full intention to get that envelope into his hand before he had done with this affair and he missed none of the lest the precious documents should be disposed of at a time when he could not follow them at the last previous meeting had been promised that if she would return again the evidence claimed would be spread before her kept his assistant mr on duty every moment ready to him if the lady made her appearance on the day when he went to the hotel with he was just in time love to anticipate his messenger and to hear the entire conversation related in the preceding chapter when mr came in he found mr gray sit ting with the second in the room farthest from that communicating with the one in which was staying gray had been told that his wife was in the house and that her every action could be watched by from the inner chamber but he had also been assured that her conduct strange as it might seem was fully consistent with and that if he would only summon the patience to remain quiet a short time it would be proved to his satisfaction he nodded to but did not speak the perspiration was standing on his forehead and he was as weak as an infant it must be admitted that his position was not an agreeable one all he cared for in life hung on a thread that seemed of the texture if he had known that had orders to keep him there at any cost even were it necessary to bind and him he would have been more nervous still mr had no intention of having his spoiled at that critical moment even by the man in whose interest he was at work it was a horrible hour that gray waited and he said afterwards that he would not have believed a human being could endure so much pain and live suddenly mr bounded into the room and with a low cry of come all of you burst out of the door that led into the hall the arrangement of the floor was such that several sections had to be traversed before the other apartment was reached which took time that could be spared but in stand back twenty seconds the fist of the was knocking loudly on the door and his voice demanding fiercely for the man inside to open for a small person mr had a good deal of strength he could have broken a of the door had he chosen the wood began to several of the house came running to see what had caused the trouble stand back cried a voice on the inside i will blow a hole through the first man that enters nonsense replied do you want the woman to die i think she is committing suicide it is for her sake not yours that i ask evidently startled by the suggestion that was in danger and having failed to the least reply from her to the calls he had made before the others came the man s attitude changed at once wait then he answered don t break the door i will it but remember i am armed and no one shall touch me at the opening of the half a dozen men tumbled into the the pistol that had been drawn was knocked from the man s hand before he could form a thought and had him a prisoner my god ejaculated mr gray as he looked at the features but the voice of calling to mrs gray to open as her husband and friends were there him to the greater duty of the moment he saw that of iron were on the wrists of his enemy and that he was not likely to get away from love astray his and a second later his shoulder was added to the others that were pressing on the door that led into the bedroom in which had sought refuge the gave way before them and at the farther end of the room in an her head thrown back and her eyes closed he saw the still form of his wife he cried grasping her limp hand speak to me he was kneeling on the floor in an agony of fear of love and of repentance mr more practical pushed up the eyelids with his fingers and placing his nostrils at the mouth drew in a long breath she has taken in some form he said then to one of the hotel boys run for a doctor as quick as you can her life may depend on seconds to another he gave directions to bring with all haste some simple that could be obtained in the kitchen and calling to mr to take charge of he summoned into the room as more experienced in cases of this kind it touched the heart of the husband to see the rough manner in which these men handled his darling for she had never been so dear to him as she was now innocent or guilty she had been his wife she had lain in his arms and he loved her took a pocket knife and cut the strings and collar that the breathing might be then between them the officers shook and tumbled the unfortunate lady about in a way that would on any other occasion have been most and stand back she is living exclaimed she must be roused or the doctor will find himself too late the hope of the which was that had swallowed an of proved correct and the wisdom of the treatment to which they subjected her was soon apparent as this is not a medical it

0Arthur Conan Doyle

may suffice to say that when the physician arrived he pronounced her out of danger and that the stupor of impending dissolution was soon changed to the calm and peaceful sleep of safety she will be all right in a few hours said the doctor to the anxious husband when he was ready to leave it is best for her and for you that you leave the room the nurse that i have placed in charge will see to all her needs when she it will not do for her to get excited relieved more than words can express walked with the two out of the bedroom and into the parlor a new door taken from some other room had been hung already in place of the broken one and through the efforts of the management the neighborhood of the apartment had assumed its quiet one of the hall boys told them that the other gentlemen had gone into mr s chamber and they went in that direction wild thoughts began to come to gray s heated brain and he wanted to be face to face again with the would be of his peace look here said pausing in the you re not going to act nasty with that fellow in this house are you because that won t do at all i can there s been nothing wrong be love gone astray them here they ve not been one second without my eyes on them the woman has acted as true to you as steel he told her he could prove a liar and save you the estate and in exchange for the papers she has offered you her life it was a clear attempt at suicide he was as scared as you please when she jumped into that bedroom and locked herself in we ll decide what to do with him when we get there but don t you try to take the law on yourself for i shall have to stop you if you do gray did not want a debate he did not like to make promises he wanted to see as soon as possible leaving his conduct to be considered later he contented the with a nod and they went on together but on arriving at their destination a surprise awaited them mr was sitting at a window alone looking out upon the street where s asked and in one breath gone said mr gone where i don t know i didn t ask him i understood he had some private affairs to attend to the three men gazed at each other with open mouths do you mean to say you released him asked gray fiercely that s just what i did why asked come there s no use in this mystery i left the man in your hands and if you ve let him go i want the reason u yes echoed and i want it too stand back i the lawyer rose and came easily toward the mr gray wants the reason and he shall have it said he you must be satisfied gentlemen he to the others that i did what i thought on the whole the wisest thing for all concerned you know me well enough not to think he scared or me i am acting for mr gray and i think i shall convince him that i made no mistake will you kindly let us have the room for a short time the manner of the speaker was convincing and after a brief consultation the retired into the inner chamber and closed the door after them let us sit down said when he and were alone you ve had excitement enough for one day now why did i take the responsibility to let that off on leg because i knew that he could not be convicted of any known to the laws of this state and that it would bring nothing but additional distress on you and your family to take him before a jury mr gray clenched his fists i don t want any jury to deal with him he answered i can attend to that matter myself very likely was the cool but it was not a part of my business to hold a man here with on while you came in and him if you want to see him again which on reflection i am sure you won t you must take the chance of finding him i only looked at the question of law he might be for with to you out of two hundred thousand dollars but the evidence would be s word alone and we don t want to rest a case on such a love gone foundation as that he persuaded your wife to meet him here hoping to get her to consent to an and if he had succeeded he would have been open to but as he didn t what shall we charge him with she brought the with her and was as surprised as any one when she locked the door in his face and swallowed it i m not standing up for the man i felt disgraced by having to stay in the same room with him for twenty minutes but as to him and taking him to court it would be the thing imaginable won t fancy my interference but i can t help that he s a good as good as there is but he don t know law quite as well as i do the logic of this reasoning was too strong to be resisted and gray had to admit that had taken the wisest course still he fully intended to get his own hands on the some day and give him his just deserts his sense of justice urged that punishment was due such a gross attempt against the rights of a husband such a plot to bring ruin to a helpless and loving wife

0Arthur Conan Doyle

when and came out he merely remarked that he agreed with mr and he left them to argue it out together while he went on to the chamber where lay and learned from the nurse that she was doing nicely and that he had no cause for fear late that night when half mr was told that a gentleman had come to speak to him and begged a word notwithstanding the hour stand back on being shown in he saw that his visitor was none other than you need not sit down he said sternly as the to take a chair state your business quickly and go had hardly strength enough to stand and he had to hold to a neighboring object for support i want to know the latest news about her he stammered she she is in no danger i presume you mean mrs gray was the cold what is her condition to you you are out of the hands of the law the dark circles around the s eyes grew darker she she will live he persisted she will recover i will ask you nothing more but in the name of mercy tell me that in the name of mercy echoed what do you know of mercy what mercy did you show for all of you she might now be for her grave no she is in no danger the doctor us there are years of happiness for her yet with her children and her husband at the latter words but his relief at the good news was greater than all else thank you he said with a gasp then he paused a moment and repeated thank you with great earnestness let me advise you not to remain another day in said mr as he saw his visitor about to depart the man you have so deeply injured may make it unpleasant if he finds you here turned and eyed the lawyer strangely it is he who has injured me he said in a deep voice i had her before he did her oldest child is mine that tells the story and i love her as he is incapable of loving look in my face death has set his mark there within the past six hours to have her again was to live to lose her is to die let her husband kill me if he wishes my misery cannot too soon find an end he staggered down the and went to his bed knew that too he muttered to himself i must keep gray from this man however richly he deserves shooting they have a way of putting men in jail here for that kind of sport and with his new fortune and his domestic bliss gray won t want to see the inside of a prison just at present chapter the history of a crime a week later when mrs gray had recovered from the effects of her attempt to end her life she insisted that her husband should hear in detail the story she ought to have told him long before he objected to having her excite herself but she said she was able at last to speak calmly now that she was certain of his affection and forgiveness and that she would feel better when the ordeal was over pressing a kiss on her lips and uttering a few words the history of a of caution mr gray seated himself by her side and listened to her sad recital she told of meeting mr when she was but seventeen at the hotel in london where she was living and of the influence which he began at once to exercise upon her it was something clearly of the order for until then she had never felt the slightest attraction toward the opposite sex and knew almost nothing in relation to such matters all the time she was to his for secret meetings she despised and hated him on each occasion she assured him that she never would come again but consented at his next request to come just once more and kept her word when the natural result followed it was reasonable that she should still be guided by his advice he told her if she obeyed him he would save her and that there was no one else who could do so he warned her that if she mentioned his name to her father there would be a collision in which colonel would certainly receive his death wound thus she continued as she had been so long a tool in the hands of the man who had ruined her before many days he had a plan she was to inform her father that the cause of her fall was a young clerk in the employ of mr the brought her a written admission of the crime signed by his clerk and read it to her with glee he had arranged with the young man to fly the country and remain away permanently in consideration of a certain sum of money in her did not even recall the clerk s name when she revealed her condition to her father love gone astray giving the cause as thus arranged the colonel was naturally on the verge of insanity he hastened to the office of the and as men tell things to lawyers and to priests demanded what could be done the produced the letter of his clerk saying he had received it a few days before and had been unable to tell from its wild language upon whom the outrage had been committed no names it seemed were mentioned in this so called confession but its terms were sufficiently clear in connection with colonel s statement to the what can be done asked the father distracted and the lawyer convinced him in the course of the interview that it was one of those crimes which can only be punished by much greater suffering on the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

innocent victim even if could be apprehended in any part of the world to which he had fled and brought to england for trial miss would have to go into court and swear to his conduct this was clearly out of the question also discovered by suggestions that the father would have anything happen rather than give his child in marriage to a wretch of that description then came the idea of finding a husband for her of a suitable position in life and its gradual by the half man who was in his distress so much clay in the hands of the how the husband was found mr gray did not need to be told became mrs gray and what seemed like a new chance for happiness in her wrecked life was given her the history of a crime but she said her lips trembling had not been married to you a week before that man s hateful attentions were renewed he managed to meet me when others were not present and to pour his awful suggestions in my ears we would be quite safe now he told me i had your name think of that to protect me i felt the strong influence of the other days drawing at my brain but the thought of you and the confidence you had placed in me me to resist and besides there was the life for which i must keep myself pure he never ceased to persist he came to he sent me letters which he knew i dared not show he went to hiding from you and tried to make me see him he was in when was born yes one of my nurses accepted his she brought me a bunch of roses from him which i made her throw into the as soon as i saw his card she told me he had walked up and down an adjacent street all night and that she had sent messages to him every half hour telling of my condition no doubt he had paid her handsomely i was helpless to stop his conduct my tongue was tied i had told one story and i dared not begin with a new one we came back to london and you left me for that long stay in america do you remember i think you will never forget the night before you sailed i had seen him that day and he had said with a smile of confidence that after you were gone i could no longer refuse him up to that time you had treated me with only the ordinary kindness of a friend i was love gone astray frightened to have you go for i felt that without your love to guard me his wicked influence would be more than i could resist you came in to say coolly that you were about to get ready for your departure and i fell fainting to the floor that evening i heard you walking about your room making your preparations my blood mounted to my head if you left me like that i knew what the result might be at last i heard your voice and i went into your room you thought me a dreadful creature one who ought to be ashamed of her actions but i was desperate you saved me from a fate that would have been worse than death i parted from you the next morning strong in the belief that no man could shake my and i was right your steamer could hardly have sailed from when my came for the second time he began to try the of threats he said my father s in america were in danger and that he had it in his power to make or him he had a representative in who would obey his slightest suggestion and if i still held out he intended to destroy our fortune i did not believe he had the power to do this but if i had it would have altered nothing in my behavior i was only careful not to offend him for i feared to provoke his anger whether he prayed or cursed it was the same to me now i would sooner have thrown myself into a den of wild beasts than into his arms my husband held my entire love and esteem and my heart went out to him in the first blooming of that passionate flower i had come so late to know r ik of a crime my mother s death and my father s did not move the pity of this madman when i needed the greatest consideration he forgot everything but himself he told me one day that he could save a million to us if i gave the word by a mere signal over the cable i did not even trust myself to answer him when you returned he kept away for a short time but soon after we came to he began to dog my steps here he wrote me that he cared nothing for his reputation his profession his friends or his family he wanted nothing in the world but me unless i submitted to him he would tell you all coupled with that were not even founded on fact then came letters alluding to your interest in the property he could stop your that if he were to tell what he knew for the first time i began to feel alarmed at his power he had proved that his regarding my father s fortune were correct ones were you to lose yours also mr s claim was put in and then mr wrote that if i asked him to do so he would prove that claim false in a mad hope to move by an appeal to his manhood i made the visit he had long prayed for to his hotel i could have committed no greater error instead of changing his attitude

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in the least he seemed rather to grow stronger in his purpose he said he had ruined my father and that he would certainly ruin you unless i became his mistress he did not insist on my leaving you though that was what he most wished for but i must give him stolen meetings whenever he requested them he gave as a new reason why love gone be would not resign me that his wife had died a short time before and that he was now free to give me his entire protection our meeting resulted in nothing of value and i resolved that it should be the last his letters began to talk of a final interview at which he would give me evidence that was a i was weak enough to meet him once more in my anxiety to learn if this might be true i found that he had merely me there to renew his old proposals and i left with the ringing in my ears last week when you accused me of having held meetings with my baby s father i believed natural that you knew all i had no reason to suppose that you had referred to mr or why you associated his name with mine in that connection i had now but one hope to save your property i made a new appointment and before i went to keep it i purchased a bottle of if i could not make my escape with the documents he was to give me i would send them to you by a messenger and rather than be by a touch of his lips i would drain the poison you know the rest mr who watched every one of my actions and heard every word uttered by either of us knows them too this story was not told without a score of on the part of the distressed listener who did not doubt a single word of the narrative he said when it was finished that should have come to him in confidence when the the history of a began and he would have found a way to put a stop to them but my dear husband she replied u when they began immediately after our marriage you were almost a total stranger to me it was nearly a year before i would have dared trust you with such a secret and your love was then so new and so dear that i could not bear to throw anything of an unpleasant nature in its way since then you have had so much trouble that i thought it my duty to bear my cross alone i kept hoping that you would come into your possessions and that we could journey other corner of the earth where our lives would be free from this cloud for that i waited and for that i still hope as long as that man knows where i am he will surely follow me gray bit his lips mr tells me he is dying he said only for that i should have gone to settle my account with him before now she shivered and do you still love me after all she asked tenderly more than ever you were ready to give your life for me love gone astray chapter everything explained when was released from jail on a the announcing that it would not push the case against him he went with great to mr gray to collect the balance due on his loan of five thousand dollars and interest this is part of the agreement i made with old man he explained in response to the peculiar look with which he was greeted it was my own money you know honestly earned at the table and vl m about as near broke as i ever was gray opened a aad filled in the details it was true that he had borrowed this money and that it had been a great help to him at the time but he wondered greatly at the sang of this scoundrel in coming for it with no sign of shame in his face tell me one thing said gray when he had handed over the check how was it you ever acquired such a hatred of me had i ever injured you hatred echoed the other what do you mean i never liked a man better in the whole course of my existence if you treat your friends as you have treated me explained i wonder what you would do to a person you did not fancy remarked protested against this form of tion you don t make any allowance he answered for the difference there is in nor for the fact that my profession makes unusual calls on one s disposition the actions of a and confidence man naturally in some respects from that of a sunday school a fish is a fish if it comes to my net it wouldn t do for me to explain in advance exactly how i deal the cards which are to transfer the cash on the table to my pocket considering everything i feel upon my word that i have used you pretty handsomely the listener with an incredulous look asked if he might be honored with a fuller explanation of this seeming certainly as full as you like said let s the entire business in you lent me forty dollars didn t you i went out that night and met the crowd who had me out of my last sou the day before and i got back all i had lost and more i might have returned you the money of course but i knew it was like a sixpence to you and i thought i had better hold on to it awhile when i ran across you in rome i had had big luck and was living like a prince two hundred seemed too small to think about

0Arthur Conan Doyle

i didn t like to insult a gentleman by mentioning such a sum he paused and mr gray asked with a sharp ao love gone a cent if he would now change the of his story to london with pleasure was the reply when you met me there i had lost all i had and was trying to keep up appearances on wind i had rather have seen the devil that day in park than a man to whom i owed money i was afraid of being watched besides and i got rid of you as soon as i could but i waited an hour in new bridge street that night as i had promised and you did not come go on said gray what about the next time we met well answered slowly you may charge that to mr he knew something about me that would send me to prison if he gave the word and i depended on him just then for the bread i ate he told me to find you and get you in a positive rage toward me in some way the manner didn t matter and i had no explanation of his reasons i didn t dare him and i took the first way that presented itself i rode down toward you with the idea of brushing my horse against yours and of starting an when the collision came it was so much harder than i had intended that i was alarmed but the thing was done and i couldn t without my instructions i saw that you had sustained nothing worse than a and that you were being taken care of and i rode away strange as the story was gray believed it he saw how had used this man as a stool pigeon to induce him to rescue from what looked the danger of marrying him it had been a explained powerful at the critical moment perhaps the final that made the steel touch the beam yes it was very clear do you know why wanted you to insult me he asked with an effort i m hanged if i do was the earnest reply he s given me hints since then that he could raise the old boy with you but i never was able to find out his game he s played a lone hand all the time and put up big and as near as i can understand he s been a but what it was all about i don t know and i don t suppose you are going to tell me there was no reply to this but gray breathed a sigh of relief that this fellow was ignorant of his family secret it was still confined to and and the two latter were safe and the former would hardly make trouble now when on his you were at was the next thing he said to the yes and i wrote you a letter asking for a loan i was hard up again that s the entire story and yet i saw you here in a few months later with thousands of dollars to lend laughed at the perplexity of his that s not hard to explain said he i ran over from london to new york and went as usual straight to a bank by an extraordinary run of luck which the in that city have not yet forgotten i carried off seventy five thousand dollars love gone in three days with the proceeds i came here and found everybody talking wheat i made a deal with a big concern by which i was to put out a s sign and take for money at high all i had to do was to go into my inside office and speak to my over a private wire if they gave word to take the loan i took it paying out my own money and ten minutes later they had it off my hands my compensation was a handsome age i did mighty well but like a fool i had to put my fingers into the fire against their advice the money i you for colonel was my own and you know what became of it it was a risk that my declined but i thought i knew more than they did to tell the truth led me into that for he kept me from london and he said the sum was safe i think now he meant i should lose it so as to get me into his again it was an odd story was it possible for mr at any time to have prevented colonel s failure asked gray anxiously certainly not and could he have done anything to hasten it nothing whatever the had been playing on fears then without any foundation and had claimed to be the cause of events with which he had no connection when i went back to england continued i went to see and found him to learn that colonel had lost about the everything explained whole of his fortune he didn t seem to be very sorry i had lost mine either and he lent me twenty pounds when i applied for more soon after he threatened me with the police and i kept out of his way for a long time america seemed the best field for my efforts and i soon returned to this country one day i ran across here he asked me how i would like to inherit a handsome fortune of course i told him i wouldn t object in the least he said if i followed his directions carefully perhaps that sort of luck would come to me i was to announce myself as and claim to be my when i remarked that who had disappeared some years before might turn up said he had heard from him and that he was in a distant country in the last stages of consumption it

0Arthur Conan Doyle

e been quite as easy for me to call them john and smith for the titles used are wholly but a question of far greater importance is likely to arise it is probable that thousands will think they see in these people the of others and credit me with a wider and more intimate knowledge of domestic affairs than any one man could possess they will say that i must have known mrs brown or mr robinson of their village and have penetrated into the deepest secrets of their existence they will be wrong our and have an of their own there is a opinion which this book will not lessen that something is the matter with the matrimonial institution the divorce courts are choked with cases there are states in which hundreds take lip a temporary residence for the sole purpose of ties something is surely wrong but whether the trouble lies mainly with the husbands or with the wives or the climate or the too free institutions of the land or the growing contempt for old forms or the increasing love of ease and luxury that i will leave to the professional who make a of such matters it is for me merely to relate the history of a special case and allow the public to draw its own conclusions in the days of my childhood i remember writing over and over in my copy book these words m it is human to young fa s it is human to it is human to i have something of the human quality in me this couple of whom i shall write these two who have lived in the most intimate relation that god to his creatures may come to regard each other as deadly enemies they who have hung breathless on each other s smiles may meet with they who have run swiftly toward the sound of beloved steps may fly as swiftly in the opposite direction if they do i cannot help it the more they the more human i find them to begin then at the age of fifteen was left an orphan and a one too he did not mind in the least however the prospect of going out to earn his living he had health and courage some distant relations made vague offers of seeing to his welfare they had plenty of means to continue the education which he much wanted even to send him to college as his father would have done but even at that early age had developed a pride quit out of proportion to his size he felt in every nerve that the offers of assistance were not hearty ones and he would have begged of strangers on the highway rather than accept the of his own flesh and blood under such conditions he told them he had no need of help and almost before they were aware of his intention he had taken what little money belonged to him and put a thousand miles between himself and every one he knew he never liked to talk much of this period of his life i know he worked awhile in a store for four a week sleeping in a back office as a sort of protection against and paying three dollars ft m week for his meals at a boarding i was for a time a on a railroad where be ran a night train and got his sleep after et on a of mail bags when he had harassed the last possible into buying a paper a book or a box of afterwards be lived in a hotel and answered bells and be went op and down one of our great rivers on a steamer waiting on table and otherwise assisting fa the cabin a slender lad he was then bat with more hope than many twice his size he did not complain of the longest hours or of the hardest labor he was able to perform but would never even when his fortunes were the lowest permit anyone to address him in an insolent manner without replying in equally cutting terms some of his situations were lost by this trait of his for the employer of labor often believes that the salary he pays him to say to its whatever ill temper suggests sometimes the very of the contrast between his bulk and that of his elders saved him from punishment or discharge as a laugh from the would greet his indignant words again the bully who had used his superior h to of him never could realize in those days that any man was bigger or stronger than he until it had pot to the test when attacked with the tongue he had no difficulty in the thrust with one full as effective when met with physical force he lost no time in seizing any weapon that lay within reach and returning blow for blow bo matter when or where the incident occurred a rate pale boy at young fa ts i at seventeen he began to grow rapidly in his year at nineteen he was not a bad looking young fellow though he cared little for dress and had not a single air of the about him he had be gun to get on his feet as the saying is though two years short of the legal age for business he was already a merchant in a small way and had a capital while on the railroad he had noticed that the prices of various varied considerably at the ends of the line much more in some cases than the price of carriage seemed to warrant with only twenty five dollars at his command he made his first venture in buying and selling and had the supreme satisfaction of seeing the twenty five turned into with hardly any effort it was clear that he was destined by nature to be a other followed some with equally good

0Arthur Conan Doyle

results some with poorer and some as is a necessity of trade with a loss but even the losses were not of good results they taught him caution what slight events seem to alter got entire lives i the year that was twenty he happened to render a service to a on a train she had forgotten an important errand in the city they had just left important at least to her and had just discovered by asking the conductor that she would be unable to go back and attend to it without staying over night a thing she did not like to do in the midst of her discomfort who sat in the seat in front of her volunteered his services he was going back in the course of two or three and would be pleased to step into the store and order the she had forgotten forwarded to her by the first morning train tht locked at the be handed and s fa tt s these words commission merchant south street then she looked at the young man are you an of mr she asked no he said a little i am mr himself oh said the lady and she was so lost in this discovery considering the youth of the commission merchant that she forgot for the moment the subject which had brought on the conversation i am only going to said again and i shall be back to by five i can step into the store you spoke of and do your errand without the least trouble then the lady thanked him and accepted his offer she handed him one of her own cards with the name of mrs on one side and the necessary words on the other she seemed to be a widow judging from her garments and as he afterwards learned the late mr had been deceased for a number of years there was not time for a very conversation before the young man reached his destination in the little that he said he impressed mrs very strongly in his favor and she invited him to call upon her should he ever visit the village of where she lived he said he sometimes had occasion to go there and would not forget her invitation and then the train stopped and he alighted he is a bright young man mused mrs when he was gone i hope he will come and see us he is very bright indeed when had done the errand for mrs he dismissed her from his mind he had only accept ed her invitation out of politeness and in truth sup young fa s ij posed that the only reason she had given it the he led was a purely business one he had never been into a private residence since he left his father s after the funeral five years previous his acquaintances were mainly business men his time out of business hours was largely spent in reading of which he was passionately fond he found the great poets and a grateful change after a day spent in selling produce or in seeking new customers who would their goods to him had he been possessed of a fortune he might have written things himself that would have been worth reading for he had an imaginative temperament and his were passionate and poetic the necessity of providing for his own needs and more than all the solitary life he led with no one to advise or direct him kept him along the lines of trade he had not been long in discovering that god seems to help only those who help themselves and that poverty was a hateful thing that men should escape as soon as possible still he had a dream that a day would yet come to him when in a library of his own surrounded by the books he loved he might read away the days and evenings with the price of butter and the quality of eggs no longer a prime consideration he had that object in his work that hope and belief that if he toiled faithfully an end would come to it all in time and the reward be his there was not in these vague visions any figure of a woman was not at that period a susceptible man toward the fair sex he seldom paid particular attention to the girls that he met in his travels or in his walks about the streets he went to the theatre occasionally but it was the quality of the act young s ing rather than the physical perfection of the that remained in his memory as for the church that great matrimonial agency he did not go there at all of a sunday he was more likely to be found in his room buried in a volume of or george sand or than anywhere else sometimes indeed frequently he forgot his dinner thus engaged and more than once he found the morning sun peeping in at the window as he closed a book he had only intended to read till eleven o clock of so i will not say i who have promised to tell the whole truth about this man that hen ever turned his steps toward those which are permitted but not approved in our cities i will not that he never rang bells or entered doors at places of which the least said is always considered the better but i will say that there was nothing about his life that could be called whatever be the opinion of its doubtful morality in the respect just alluded to he spent little of his time or substance with women and of other vices he had practically none whatever that is to say he did not know how to play a single game of cards he drank nothing except a glass of beer at rare intervals and he did not use tobacco in any form

0Arthur Conan Doyle

there are men who by too much work he did not even do that the occasional all night at his books was the only thing that approached it his health was good his habits were not bad on the whole and his business friends considered him a model young man he did not go to mrs s because he thought her invitation a one and also because be did not see what particular pleasure he should young fa s from her society she was evidently a lady in the fullest sense of the term and he had a notion that he would rather spend five minutes talking with one of that description than any longer period he imagined that his stock of subjects would run completely dry in that time he did not like to answer personal questions which she would be likely to ask nor had he any wish to inquiries of that nature to her was becoming rather eccentric and himself upon that fact there was nothing about him of the ladies man and he did not mean there ever should be he would not buy a silk hat and very seldom a pair of kid gloves from a notion that such things were beneath the dignity of an energetic fellow they seemed to him an affectation an attempt to imitate the delicate attire of women he would have worn a velvet jacket on the street as soon as a pair of patent leather shoes at that time in his career and it is hardly too strong a way of putting it to say that he would much rather have pushed a hand cart along the principal street at the fashionable hour than to have made the same journey with a lady on his arm it was a source of wonder to him afterward that he ever was into the parlor of mrs the process was so that he could never tell afterwards exactly how it came about several weeks after that day on the railroad he saw her at they met at a corner and there was no escape when she stopped and addressed him pleasantly saying she must thank him once more for the favor he had done her about the parcel he answered that it was not worth speaking of and then x young fa paused hoping this would end the conversation but mrs went on to inquire why he had never called and to say that she had looked for him daily for more than a week after they parted before they separated she had him as he always put it into a definite promise that he would visit her very soon with a promise was a promise there was no way out of it now it was made the next time he came to he went to mrs s it was early in the evening for he had to stay in the town over night he meant to plead another engagement later for this sort of polite lying even he considered nevertheless the lady was so agreeable and soon put him so much at his ease that the clock struck ten before he knew it was half that time without seeming in the least inquisitive mrs learned most of the facts that she cared to know before the door closed after him on that first evening at her house she had found that he was an orphan than he was making a business career entirely that he already had money in the bank and that his habits were good she could see for herself that he was pleasing in his personal appearance and that he was apparently destined for a long life and so you have no intimate friends in she said excuse me for saying that is not good for a young man it is not well to be too much alone during one s early years she was so kind in her manner that he felt as she intended him to feel that she took a real interest in his welfare young s iy don t forget she added when he did not reply that you are always welcome here and that i shall take it to heart if you ever come to without calling thank you he said have you always lived in this village oh dear no replied mrs i came here after my husband died because well to be perfectly honest because it was cheaper than new york where we formerly resided the place is a little too dull i do not think i shall stay here much longer i wonder if is much dearer answered that he could hardly say as to that never having kept house he supposed the rents were higher but other things must be about the same she secured his promise to look about and see what a small house could be hired for something with six to eight rooms and to let her know the next time he came to if i should move to i should be likely to see more of you said mrs brightly as i have no friends there and you so few outside of your business i should hope to have you call often a proper reply was made to this suggestion which did not seem to mean much at the time i am so glad to meet a young man in these days continued the lady who is not complaining of the lack of opportunities or hanging upon relations i sometimes grow when i look at the rising generation i have heard my young friends say that the opportunities to make a living have all disappeared and that no one can get along nowadays unless he has money to make a start your case proves the of that argument it takes nothing but push it young s and pluck to success the same as it always did you will have a comfortable fortune by the time

0Arthur Conan Doyle

you are forty and be able to take your ease for the rest of your life there is only one road to success and that is work had said this to himself so many times that he was pleased to hear the thought expressed so well by another and he liked mrs better from that moment he is certain to succeed said mrs after he had gone he suits me even better than i expected i will move to where i can be near him yes she added i really think he is the very man i want for chapter ii if you could have a room and who was was her mother s only child at the time of which i am writing she was in her year relations better off in the gear of this world had invited her to visit them and she was now in where they resided in her plans for this daughter mrs had no intention to hasten the natural course of events so far as time was concerned she would have been shocked at the idea that would marry before she was at least twenty but she had an eye for the future she was so well pleased with the young commission merchant that she thought it wise to cultivate him and young keep him in tow until the right time came she conceived a plan of getting him and her daughter acquainted that friendship might and gradually into love there was nothing more important in the life of a young girl than that she should marry well and it was not the man who had the most wealth at the age of twenty that would be certain to make the best husband or in the end the most prosperous one habits formed before that time might make or break him had as yet but little wealth but he seemed on the sure road to success the richest men of the country had started from as humble as he some of the poorest had inherited property and had it in foolish speculation or in living mrs had thought a good deal about these things and when she happened to meet this young fellow it came to her as by an inspiration that he was the one she should select for a law i wonder how many married men realize that they were the victims of a carefully prepared scheme on the part of a managing mamma that the lane through which they reached the gate of matrimony was marked out for them in the most ingenious way by that expert engineer and certain it is that as a babe in such things never dreamed that mrs had any designs on him until long after his hung speaking at her belt she proceeded with the utmost discretion she kept at until she had engaged a house in that found for her and had moved her household gods into it and set up her new throne there ay until she even had him a willing slave at to young s her chariot wheels and had made him a member of her family a member of her family yes i am afraid i can hardly afford as expensive a house as this she said when she had the premises with her future son in law i did not realize that rents were so much than in there was a time and here she breathed a sigh when i did not have to think of such matters my husband never stopped to ask how much anything cost that he or i wanted had he stopped oftener i might have been richer now she looked at s sympathetic face and then continued do you suppose it would be possible for me to secure a who would take one of the rooms that would help a great deal he had a thoughtful expression for a moment and ended by saying that perhaps an advertisement in the local paper might have that result i don t ask it for the sake of being inquisitive said the lady after a pause but would you mind telling me what such rooms rent for here in you hire one yourself it would give me an idea told her what he was paying by the week and she figured up the monthly rate after the manner of women by four if i could let a room at that price she said i should feel that i could afford to take the house i have plenty of furniture that is very good indeed this room we are in they stood in the best chamber is it as good as yours do you think it was much better than his and he told her so in the same honest way that he had always spoken his room was up another flight and in the rear at that young s this room ought to let for a dollar a week more at least i suppose continued mrs after showing him the and remarking that the street was extremely quiet that you wouldn t no of course you wouldn t like to make a change if you could have this room at the same price you are paying or at a slight paused to think before he replied he did not care particularly for the house in which he was living but on the other hand he disliked moving that pulling up of that even a bachelor has to do when he changes his then again there was no in this vicinity where he could get meals and he did not think it would be convenient to walk half a dozen blocks but the room was certainly a great improvement over the one he had it was larger and with bright new paper and painted with bright new paint each of the two was bigger than his single one he began in imagination to place some of his

0Arthur Conan Doyle

about this room his would go in that corner very well and his writing desk in this one the bed of course would go there and the there he did not think at all of the gain to this widow from letting her room to him it is one of the pleasures of telling a true story that you do not have to superior virtues to your characters was a selfish young man he did not see why he should make a change in his room merely to oblige another person unless it was in some way to his own advantage he would remain where he was contact with the business world had taught him that all matters it fa dollars and cents must be considered from a sordid the room is all right he said finally just as the widow was about to speak again i have no doubt you can let it at that price to some one if it were nearer the i would say at once that i would take it all that makes me hesitate is the long walk to breakfast mrs was for an instant at this statement she had thought him gifted with a little finer sense of the delicacy of her situation he evidently considered the of this room from the same that he would have bought a cargo of butter or a of hay but her strong head controlled her and the engaging smile never left her countenance more young men there might be but certainly this one would have a shrewd eye to the necessities of life and if secured him for a husband she would not be left in want some day on account of his extravagance the more she thought it over the better pleased she was at his i can arrange that for you i am sure she said sweetly i will have your breakfast at any hour you name served in my own dining room as to the price for she readily guessed that this matter would have its weight with him you shall fix that to suit yourself after so long at it may be a pleasant change to sit at the table of a private house even though the variety is not quite as great the variety it struck him for the first time that there had not been much variety of late at the place where he took his meals he cared little for the luxuries of the table but he recalled with no ray fo fa tt s ma warm sentiments the everlasting that he had only varied by eggs eggs eggs and the not over dignified by some strange with the name of coffee he pictured to himself a dining room with a table cloth that was sure to be clean and an atmosphere that would at least not be smoky or filled with flies i rise very early he answered i am always down by seven o clock the lady smiled your breakfast shall never keep you waiting a minute after that hour said she then we will call it settled i will take the house beginning from the first of the month and in a fortnight from to day we shall find ourselves settled here was too good a man to be caught in this way had he not concluded that it was for his interest to make the change he had no associates in his present lodging house that he cared much about his habits were retiring as has already been stated he was confident that mrs would make a and obliging landlady he replied accordingly that he would accompany her to the agent of the property to close the agreement and in a few minutes they were at the office of that the agent had a momentary look of surprise when volunteered to be for the payment of the rent for the first three months mrs being a stranger in the place he knew the young man very well and had the opinion of him that was current he had never heard him speak of relations and wondered what there might be in this new development of interest in a rather good looking widow even though she was considerably his elder but business young s el was business with him and he said mr s word was fully sufficient and that he should consider the house the parlor of the spider could not have looked more attractive to the little fly than s chamber did to him when he next beheld it mrs was one of the best in the world a perfect of taste and neatness her furniture was much better than that at his old lodging but this was not half the change there was an air of brightness about the room that he had never known in any other since the days of childhood the lace curtains were surmounted by white fringed with gold behind the was a worked in red with a representation of a scene on the were as fresh and clean as could be over the white of the bed was spread a lace covering to match the which though of an kind seemed to the inexperienced eyes of the young man too fine for every day use there were on the floor of cheerful colors and a basket to receive the litter from his desk was tied with cherry ribbon the of the walls was relieved by pictures in every possible place and worked hung over the doors he sat down quite overcome with all these glories and congratulated himself at obtaining them without extra cost except for moving his few personal from mrs s it takes very little to make a room cheerful and yet how few women are real of the art how few understand that there is nothing so cheerful as light how few realize that things the most costly are not always the most attractive there

0Arthur Conan Doyle

were a young s chambers in whose cost more than the one in which was to lodge but not one i am sure which would have suited him better and it was all at the price he had formerly paid the reader will pardon the young merchant i trust for this constantly thought he had been the hardest kind of youth he had spent years cents seemed bigger to him than dollars do to most people when hardly anything stood between him and hunger from month to month in such a school the pupil to count the and to search for mrs wisely left him to himself a great deal she knew by that he liked his room and that it must be an agreeable change from any that could be found in an ordinary lodging house the first morning she did not trust her maid of all work to get him his breakfast but rose at five and put her own hands into the flour that the might be as light and the as good as they could be made she fixed the table herself and put the coffee into the pot and saw that the lamb and done to perfection if this young man was to be won much depended on this first breakfast in his new quarters mrs had done these things even in the years when she had kept three servants instead of one for her husband had a dainty mouth and wanted his meals well served he was in the habit of saying that none of his friends possessed such a s he and that there was no hotel in the land where he enjoyed the cooking as well as at his home it may readily be conceived that young mr used to the ordinary fare of s and second class could not much fault with what had pleased an like the late lamented mr was punctual to the minute when he heard the of the little bell that rang at the foot of his stairs he was surprised to find mrs awaiting him in the dining room for he knew the earlier than most ladies are in the habit of making their appearance she remarked that she was naturally an early and that now she had some one to keep her company at the meal she would generally breakfast with him she did not intimate that she had had any hand in the preparation of the however and it was a long time afterward that he made the discovery knew that the meal was the best he had tasted for a long time but he did not understand why surely he had eaten and times enough and had drunk coffee and tasted he tried to discover what gave the different flavor to this breakfast and decided that most of it must be due to the agreeable surroundings the silver coffee pot milk and sugar bowl relics of former greatness might have something to do with it the in the centre of the table filled with fresh flowers probably did its share he reflected the of the china another and the of the linen helped also he did not believe that there could be so much difference in coffee and as he seemed to find such a room and such a breakfast he had never had during those years of his independence and they cost no more he kept thinking of that and it added greatly to the satisfaction he had he increased young s j his expenses he would have experienced a he wanted to money as fast as he could for a good while yet he meant to have a large sum in hand before he began anything that of luxurious living and this was at the same price he had paid before he decided that he had made a very excellent bargain two weeks after he entered the house as a came home she was a slender girl with hair and eyes that any one would have been justified in calling pretty as she still lacked several months of being eighteen her mother continued to dress her as a young girl and her gown left a good share of her boots exposed her hair was ordinarily in a long that hung down her back she had a yet form and a air such as comes from association with older people to children who have neither brother nor sister she looked fourteen and acted twenty her mother s taste was shown in her apparel as well as in everything else upon the premises in s gowns and hats mrs made a very little money go a great way paused at the threshold on the morning when he first saw this girl in the dining room at the punctual hour of seven which he never failed to keep mr allow me to present my daughter said the widow in the most matter of fact way then when he had made the customary reply she added as they all took seats at the table has been living for some months with relations of ours in the young man s first impression was that he wished had stayed in or somewhere else things were very comfortable a they were and he did not s yo fa tt s think the addition of another person to the circle would improve them any he had been assuming a sort of air over the whole place encouraged by mrs s frequent for him to say what he would prefer in the various of housekeeping this girl was not in his contract as one might say he wondered why the mother in all their conversations had never alluded to her she might at least have asked if a daughter in the house would be objectionable to him these thoughts ran through the head of the unreasonable young man during the progress of the meal but as miss into a state

0Arthur Conan Doyle

of complete silence after her introduction and as the seemed to have suffered no in quality from her presence and as mrs was as bright and charming as ever he dismissed his fears before he rose to go to his office well what do you think of him asked the mother when the had gone he s a little green and was the girl s reply yes but he s a good business man and doing well i have heard in a way that his check is good for a thousand dollars any time and he s only twenty if everything goes right he ll be a rich man shrugged her shoulders as if to say that might be true and then again it might not she leaned back in her chair and yawned a little it s terrible to get up at this time of day she said stretching at uncle s i ve lain till nine always at uncle s you had no business on hand her mother fa s the girl looked bored you say you don t want me to marry till i m twenty she have i got to get up every morning till then at half past six i think that s a long way back the mother who sat next to her leaned over and kissed the mouth i began earlier than that on your father she said i used to go to the gate and watch for him when i was only ten he was about twenty five then and he used to stop and let me hunt in his pockets for that he had bought for me one day when i was seventeen just your age he asked me to marry him i had been expecting it for fully six years but when it came i felt terribly frightened looked up with a puzzled expression frightened mamma what was there to make you frightened ah my child cried the widow the girl shook her head decidedly no man will ever frighten tne she said i would be willing to marry one to day why do i need to wait so long if you could marry at seventeen why can t i a little shiver ran over the frame of the mother you want to get married she exclaimed the girl nodded her head three or four times in a way that indicated there could be no doubt about that what for what did you want it for was the rather mock ing reply because i was a little fool then i must be one too said laughing you certainly must said her mother if you young s want to take on the cares of married life at your age twenty is soon enough for any girl to marry i would go further if i had money enough for you and tell you never to marry at all i have no fault to find with your father though he never would give a thought to the future but marriage is nothing but a necessary evil any woman who can support herself without it is foolish to throw away her liberty laughed outright oh i never shall do that she cried i shall be as free to do what i please when i am married as if i were the biggest old maid in you don t know what you are talking about poor dear said the mother soothingly the first thing however in the preparation of a rabbit pie is catch your rabbit mr is a rather eccentric young man but his habits are perfect and he has no female associates you will need to be very with him as his first impressions are strong for the present you must say nothing except what ordinary civility requires unless he addresses you you will have to come to breakfast as he believes early rising a great virtue and if necessary you can take a nap in the afternoon when he is out i expect him merely to get used to you this year to grow attached to you in a friendly way next year to fall in love with you the third and marry you the year after if you are wise the programme can be carried out as i have planned it and you will thank your mamma for placing you in a position where you will be assured of comfort the rest of your life yawned again it s a long programme ma but i ll try i don t think ever learn to really like him though s chapter iii falls in that was the way and met things as slowly between them at first as the mother of the young lady could have desired all that was doing about was getting used to her she did not enter into his life any more than the that sat on the table or the ornament that hung from the little he was very comfortable at that house his room was cheerful his as good as on the first day and no one interfered with him sometimes he found it agreeable to spend an hour in the parlor of an evening talking quietly with his landlady while sat near by silent and immovable all this went on until s birthday came and went on that day mrs mentioned at breakfast that it was her daughter s and was betrayed into an audible expression of surprise he had had an indistinct idea on the subject but would have guessed her sixteen at the eighteen she was not so much younger than himself after all but then he was older than most men of twenty one morning shortly after this he noticed a change in the girl that he could not at first understand her gowns now reached the floor young fa s from that time began to include in his conversations but under the instructions of her mother she answered him in at

0Arthur Conan Doyle

first she did not mean to appear forward it happened that he was sometimes alone with her now for a few minutes and she let him do most of the talking he began to wonder if she was a she said so very little but on the whole he was pleased much better than if she had turned out a he talked of little beside business and she had the hardest work to seem interested she would listen to his account of the he had made during the day and only respond when there was a pause i should think that was very nice or you are certainly doing well this made him feel that she took an interest in him and he got into the habit of telling her of schemes that he had on foot how he intended to buy up all the butter in a certain section and make at least five cents a pound on it you will be very rich by and by she used to say yes he would reply i am sure of that any man can get rich if he is determined to all he needs is pluck and push and hard work there is the secret in those three words some young men think they have only to open a store and put out a sign to bring all the world to them and there is another mistake that many make they get married too early the quiet little figure lifted its brows as if to ask what that had to do with the subject under discussion it costs a great deal to keep house explained wisely my entire expenses for the past year not counting travel and hotels on the route which is a business charge amounted to just a married man would find that more than doubled i shall get young fa tt s married some day when i am about forty years old perhaps and then i shall have enough money and not mind if it does cost how little he knows what he will do thought the girl as she listened to him mrs noted the increased interest of mr in her daughter and was quite content she left them together oftener as time went on once in awhile the young people walked down town together in the evening when they happened to both be going that way this could but attract attention from the neighbors and one of them who knew well enough to speak to him about it you are getting along very well at the widow s said this man there will be a wedding there the first thing we know frowned with something very like anger in his face you must think me an idiot he answered to couple my name with that of such a child a child she is eighteen many a child of her age has a husband look out for yourself the young man was much disturbed for a week afterwards he carefully avoided when he went out of doors and once when he met her on her way home he made an excuse to remain down town until she had gone on out of sight she was certainly old enough to marry and he did not want people to think such things in connection with him but the girl was discretion itself she did not appear to notice that anything in his behavior toward her had changed he decided finally to walk with her as much as he liked and let those who wanted to talk about it say what they young s in this frame of mind he strolled through the town with her boldly when opportunity offered she came into his office sometimes on errands from her mother and walked back with him if it chanced to be toward night before he was aware of it he had become attached to this quiet girl and looked forward to seeing her face when he reached his lodgings with a suppressed eagerness that he could not understand did you know i was going away for a month f she asked him one evening as they sat alone in the parlor after tea the look which he flashed at her was a sufficient answer he did not want her to go yes my uncle has invited me to come to again and you are going he asked with slight i think so mamma is willing he did not know what to say he hardly knew what he thought about it he was surprised that it made any difference to him i shouldn t think she would like to spare you be said finally the girl laughed oh i am not of so much consequence as that i m she exclaimed nobody cares when i go or when i return what was the matter with him yes there was one person who cared but that person would never tell her so it was too silly i if he had begun to have such feelings as that the sooner they were suppressed the better went to her uncle s and the house was so dull that he could not in it evenings as he had been ia the habit doing he remained at the office until young fa s late at night looking over his books attending to correspondence doing anything to keep his mind from the missing article at his lodgings mrs did not mention for the first week then she only said that she had received a letter from the girl in which she asked to be remembered to him he nodded intending to imply that it was of no consequence but the shrewd match maker was not discouraged he could conceal nothing from her when he left the table she smiled to herself he is unhappy without her she mused all is going very well things get on fast enough nothing can make my plan now if acts

0Arthur Conan Doyle

her part well as the end of the month approached glanced about the parlor and into the dining room when he entered the house he wanted to see the girl and he did not like to inquire for her his appetite was not as good as formerly wild horses could not have dragged a word from his as td what his mind at that period when at last mrs said writes that she is coming home in a few days he bit his lips to still the exclamation that rose to them did not return alone she brought with her a cousin miss daughter of her father s sister whom she had been visiting was a rather handsome girl a year or two older than when found the lost child at her home miss was with her and he was presented his manners were so stiff on that occasion that the cousin had a distinctly unpleasant impression of him he merely bowed to both girls made some commonplace remark and vanished toward his room for once s deserted her young fa s what a bear cried when she heard hi door close behind him and he s your is he he s not always like that replied some thing must have troubled him he is attached to business made a gesture of i should hate to have him attached to she said think of marrying a man like that i you are not likely to have that unpleasant experience was the retort he never pays the least attention to ladies miss from her head i could make him crazy in a week if i liked i ve a great notion to do it too just for fun well you have a good opinion of yourself i n was the sharp reply i think you d find mr rather different from the empty headed young fellows you have been on the best thing you can do is to let him alone we walk on when he is around mamma and i for he is a good and we can t afford to risk losing him did not come down that night he in a great chair with his teeth set firmly together thinking what a fool a slip of a girl could make of a man who ought to have gained sense in his contact with the world he would see to it that the ideas which had up in his head like a crop of were root and branch a good notion would be to devote most of his conversation at the table to the new comer while she remained this notion he put into practice the very next morning it is hard to tell which of the three women was the most surprised at the new turn of affairs not only young s more than they had ever known him but he seemed hardly aware of the fact that any other person than miss was in the room delighted at what she considered her marvellous success as a the young lady from encouraged him to the utmost with the result that he was fully fifteen minutes late at his office that morning though much disturbed mrs did not know how to say anything to her niece without making matters still worse she had a long talk with later in the day at which she learned s threat the situation was very complicated mrs said however that if persisted in her course she would be compelled to speak to her as mr was too peculiar a man to allow any one to go too far with him for several days the household was kept in a state of suppressed excitement miss was too flushed with her victory to allow it to be crushed too soon really became interested in her and never dreaming that he was the victim of a plot gave her the opportunities she wanted he was glad to find anything that relieved his mind of its tremendous strain was a very bright girl of a type whose acquaintance he now made for the first time he perfectly at ease with her he could not tell whose proposition it was that sent them out to walk together on the seventh evening she appeared at the house but that is what they were doing and it was not a walk those he had taken with either there was no pretence of errands to do or calls to make on the part of the lady in the case it was a stroll for the ordinary purpose of a stroll to enjoy the evening to and to talk where there were no listeners young fa s had already discovered that was n fc as uninteresting as she had supposed she found him on the contrary very entertaining and had she searched her brain she would have seen that her original plan of teaching him to care for her merely to laugh at him afterwards had entirely disappeared mrs went to s room that night and found the girl in bed though the had not yet returned surprised at this discovery she came to the bedside and kissed her daughter and was startled at the burning skin with which her lips came in contact you are ill she exclaimed why did you not tell me i will send at once for a doctor clasped her mother s hand with a grip no no i am well enough don t send for any one but you have a fever you need medicine as soon as returns i will leave her with you and go to the s at least for some raised herself on her pillow and her features were distorted i ll never speak to that girl again she said with trembling lips i want you to tell her to night that she cannot stay here i will not have her in my room nor eat at the same table with her

0Arthur Conan Doyle

i a look of comprehension filled the eyes of the mother it was mr who had made all this i understand she replied it is very disagreeable i know but you must not let her see that you mind it and above all keep it from him my poor child i did not imagine you were taking it so to heart y fa s in a few days she will be gone and that will end it there is nothing to be jealous of in his sentiments toward i am certain and i thought she added smiling a little that you could never learn to him the girl shivered crown to toe like him mamma oh i love him i love him as i never thought i could love any man i was perfectly miserable all the five weeks i was away and then to return and find every word every look given to her it is killing me i shall keep my room till she goes tell her i am very sick that i have a disease anything you like she must not come here even to bid me good bye mrs listened with the utmost astonishment how had this girl who always told her everything kept so much back you love him she repeated when did you learn that and why did you not let me know it sooner the girl sank back upon the bed burying her hot head in the comparatively cool pillows i don t know when it began mamma she moaned i didn t realize it at all until i was away from him you don t think she can take him from me do you i could not live if he ever became the husband of another i the widow soothed her daughter as best she could her hair back from her forehead and murmuring soft assurances in her ear have no fear my darling she said he was as unhappy as you after you went away he hardly spoke at all and every evening he came home late could read his mind though he was too proud to say s anything don t worry will go in a few days and we will not invite her again when did not come to table in the morning and the announcement was made that she was not well mr looked troubled but miss engaged him in conversation and succeeded in holding his attention at night he came home early and his first inquiry was for the sick girl when he heard she was no worse he looked relieved and presently as came to the door with her hat on he took another stroll with that fascinating young lady i hope the fact that you have taken one or two walks with me has nothing to do with the illness of my cousin said miss when they had gone half a mile out on the country road what do you mean exclaimed her companion stopping short i didn t know that there was an engagement or understanding or anything of the kind continued with inward spite or i would have told you at once that i could not accompany you was very much troubled at her words there is nothing between miss and me he said and there cannot be what gave you an impression to the contrary she looked on the ground and a little heap ef dust together with the point of her you are asking me questions that i have no right to answer she said excuse me he was very sober now you said apparently in a serious way that miss s illness might have reference to our walks you owe it to me to that or explain it was a smile on her face young fa s then as the easiest thing i will it she replied he searched her countenance narrowly you admit do you he asked that you had no foundation for your oh you want too much now she answered he drew himself up a little and she conceived a new opinion of his firmness then i shall be obliged to ask these questions of miss said he if there is anything in what you have intimated i shall leave the house immediately she smiled still and said he would be a foolish man if he made so much of a light remark but added that of course he was at liberty to do as he liked then as he stood there she inquired if he intended to remain in that position the rest of the night or would prefer to resume his walk her were lost on him now however he answered that he would return to mrs s if she was willing and they bent their steps thither i am going home in a day or two said as thy the door if you still think it advisable to do such a thing as you mentioned a few minutes ago i wish you would kindly it till after my departure said with some hesitation that he would do this he went to his chamber and lay awake far into the night he could not remember when anything had annoyed him so not even on that occasion when hay advanced two dollars unexpectedly and he had three hundred tons to deliver at the old rate young s chapter iv becomes a brother was so reserved at the table the next morning that mrs knew his if such a name could be given to it with miss was at an end miss who had never talked with her aunt in relation to the young man continued to maintain her silence in that respect she was somewhat over the result of her efforts and a little inclined to wish she had let him entirely alone she had no wish to do anything disagreeable to whom she liked very well but the temptation to see what she could make

0Arthur Conan Doyle

out of had proved too strong for her now she decided to make up with her cousin before going away as it was quite ridiculous that they should have a serious falling out over a matter of this consequence she asked kindly about s health not that she had the least idea what caused her illness and offered to do anything in her power to aid her recovery mrs responded that the child was nervous and only wanted quiet for a short time when learned that there had been something very like a between the object of her new affections and her cousin she rallied rapidly she did not want to go too long without her at the table and she resolved to conceal the feeling she had against her cousin and pretend to be the same as usual while she remained under her mother s she realized young fa s the necessity of hiding her jealousy from both the other persons interested and on the second day she came downstairs and answered in the ordinary way the inquiries that made as to the state in which she found herself such attacks are not uncommon with me she said with direct i am liable to have them at any time they soon pass off however and i feel as well as ever when they are gone the breakfast table did not rally from the blow it had received for a long time meant to find out whether there was anything in the hint that miss had let fall before he became very with the family prolonged her stay for another month though it cannot be said that she enjoyed it and the night before she was to leave she mr as he came up the walk i am going back to to morrow she said in a low tone ah it was his only reply and she could not tell what it meant i fear you are not sorry she went on after a momentary pause we were getting to be good friends when an unlucky word set you against me having done penance for my i want to know if i may hope some day to receive your pardon the words sounded mocking but the tone was sincere and felt that she a serious reply perhaps it is i who should ask forgiveness said he i was i confess much annoyed at the remark you made and it takes me a long time to recover from anything like that i do not think now that you meant much by it bat at the moment it struck me very young fa s it must be plain to you miss that i am not in any sense a ladies man i like the society of bright women but i do not think it right to obtain it under false and as a consequence i have had very little of it if it were true that miss cared enough about me to mind my walking or talking with you which i am convinced she does not my duty would be very plain i should get a room elsewhere miss shook her head you are wiser than most of your generation she answered well as i am going away i am glad we are still friends for i like you too well to want to think of you as an enemy should you ever come to i shall be glad to have you call and to introduce you to my father and mother when i tell them of your anti matrimonial intentions they will be all the more willing to welcome you i am sure as for aunt maria and my dear cousin here i hope with all my heart that nothing will cause them to lose a friend that i know they both appreciate at his true worth he ignored the compliment and thanked her for her invitation saying it was not impossible it might some day be in his power to accept it a day or two after her departure he let fall a few words to mrs to strengthen his position thinking it better to talk to her than to her daughter it may seem almost like for me to mention it so often said he but you must have known long ago my intention to remain single until my fortune is fully made i speak of this on account of some silly that have been made because of my passing through the street several times with miss young s the widow looked vaguely at him as if could not understand exactly it was hinted in a joking way he explained that i was paying addresses to her mrs threw up her hands and clasped them together with such a child how ridiculous it is indeed he replied but it shows you what people with nothing else to do may think now it would not be fair either for me or her to have such an idea get abroad i like your house and both of you have been very kind to me but if i imagined the widow laid down the sewing that she had in hand and the moisture came into her eyes i should say so she exclaimed with emphasis i cannot believe any one has said such a thing except to annoy i hope it will be many years before my is taken from me she is all i have mr and i am positive her mind has never yet turned toward such matters i am more than pleased to hear your views so clearly expressed i have the utmost confidence in you and as there is nothing better for a young girl than to have a gentleman acquaintance for whom she can have sentiments of friendship with anything more tender it has been especially gratifying to me that a happy chance threw you in our way he could not help being flattered by her language

0Arthur Conan Doyle

but desiring to settle this matter once and forever he asked her to impress upon miss s mind his purpose of marriage until a very late period in his life this she promised to do and that matter disposed of he was gracious enough to that he liked his home very much and should bo young fa s it to have anything interfere with it and mrs said more kind things expressive of the regard in which she held him and her desire to do all in her power to add to the comfort of his condition after this explanation seemed to regain his old footing with the daughter he de that he would the glances and half words which his appearance on the street with her were likely to call forth trusting that they would soon be exhausted in this latter opinion he proved to be correct people came to the conclusion that there was nothing in the fact that was occasionally seen in company with the young man who was a part of her mother s household had he taken her to church or to places of amusement or to drive the would have been sure to notice it but to walk up or down from the dwelling or store even the best of them could make little of that and soon they gave up mentioning it the sudden blooming of the flower of love in her daughter s heart disconcerted mrs she knew that it would be hard for a girl having such sentiments to keep them wholly concealed from the object of her affection one instance in point had already occurred and had proved how dangerous it might become it would not have taken much to upset the entire kettle of fish on that occasion the widow used to talk to her daughter in her wisest strain upon the necessity of keeping the state of her feelings wholly locked in her own bosom we women never can make the least advance in such a matter as love she said without the greatest danger even when the man is convinced by many signs that he is to be accepted when he makes young fa his proposition he expects a show of a pretence of a hesitation to give him the word he has asked there are foolish girls who confess their sentiments to the adored one before he has actually asked them but such conduct will surely be regretted in the end it is not until the marriage has actually taken place that we are free to give way to our feelings and even then a of to submit to caresses is the way to retain a husband s regard listened with due attention as a student hears a professor who is at the science he desires to acquire but mamma you have no idea how hard it is for me to treat i mean mr as as you advise and when i think of the long years you believe necessary it seems as if it was simply impossible to wait perhaps it will come around all right in less time said her mother i think i am learning to understand him he cares so much for business for the money there is to be made in it that he above all things assuming extra expense he is not to feminine charms as may be seen by the photographs of handsome women of the stage that he frequently brings home to adorn his dressing case now i will get him to discussing the cost of housekeeping and surprise him by some of the figures i can show i will do this in such a way that he will never suspect i a motive and if i once get his alarm over expenses out of his head the rest will come easily enough the girl had been growing very sober during the last minute young rt s i don t like to have him bring those hateful pictures she some of those girls are very likely no better than they should be if i ever do marry him i won t allow such things in his room how can i tell that he hasn t met some of them personally during the he makes to the city mrs bowed profoundly oh i could almost his morals she replied he cares too much for money to associate with women who are fast the pictures simply prove that he has an eye for beauty and that being the case i am glad to see them mr will be all right when the time comes my dear he cares much more for you than he has any intention of admitting leave him to me by and by you must take another week away and i will watch to see how he likes to have you gone the last time he hardly ate his at all rubbed her hands together nervously i will never go to uncle s she said treated me and i don t want to see her again you can go to plenty of other places smiled her mother aunt has written for you often she has a fine house at boston and you ought to have a splendid time there the girl shook her head slowly i can t have a good time anywhere away from him she replied every day will seem like three then there is cousin frank whom i never could bear h was always trying to kiss me the last time i was there though i was only twelve years old and i don t suppose he s improved any mrs had to laugh the girl looked o apprehensive y tf s frank is a man now and has probably got through with his tricks she said he must be twenty three or twenty four the best thing is for you to go there until i can watch the effect on mr i ll

0Arthur Conan Doyle

send for you as soon as it is good policy to do so all we need now is to keep his thoughts in one direction so went away and was plunged into new melancholy as there was no one he could blame for his condition of mind he bore it in silence he even tried to appear as bright as ever when at his lodgings fearing that mrs would notice his despondency and guess its true reason he had no idea that he was in love indeed he would have the notion he began to admit that it was pleasanter at the house when was there and that she was a very nice girl if he had had a sister he might have felt toward her he supposed as he did toward two people did not make a large enough family it required three to do that then the girl played a good deal on the piano and sometimes sang as her mother did not play the piano was closed in her absence it must be the music he missed yes he thought it certainly be the music he was betrayed at the end of a week into asking when was going to return this was progress and mrs s heart gave a quick throb as she heard his question i don t know exactly she said they are no doubt doing all they can to keep her her aunt is quite rich and they think a great deal of if i consulted my own selfishness i should send for her at once the house seems lonely without her during the long days when you are away s o young fa he thought the house seemed very lonely during the long evenings when he was not away but he had no intention of saying so after that mrs got into the habit of telling him when letters came and once when he seemed more interested than usual she read him an extract in which spoke of being anxious for the time when she would see her mother and mr as she used it was very pleasant in boston but she should not stay much longer the smiled unconsciously and when he walked to his office he was humming a tune that he had heard her play at last returned and there being no there to interfere with him he expressed his satisfaction at seeing her and listened intently while she related the manner in which she had occupied her three weeks of absence she showed him photographs of her aunt and of her cousin frank the latter a tall well made young gentleman with an face that most women would call handsome how old is he asked with a darkened countenance twenty four i believe what is his business oh he does nothing but look after his property the are too rich to care for work showed his dislike a young man has no right to be a if he is as rich as he said the girl did not make any reply and still holding the picture in his hand ventured another question you are very fond of him i suppose w she shook her head yo fa tt s no i took a dislike to him when i was a child on account of the things he used to do what kind of things she blushed as she looked up at him oh he was always running after me and trying to make me kiss him and there was a perfect thunder cloud now on the face of the young merchant has he got over that habit he asked she looked as if she had rather not answer but as he waited she replied with uneasiness that she could not say he had entirely and being your cousin i suppose you think it all right bitter as all and was the tone in which he uttered those words she knew he cared for her or the simple statement she had made could not affect him so deeply you are not fair mr she said you asked me if i liked him i not only told you no but i gave my reason i was glad to get away from boston on his account and i do not mean to go there again he choked down the passionate thoughts that filled his brain upon hearing this straightforward reply why did he hate the original of that photograph as men hate one who has done them a vital injury he had never seen frank it was not probable they ever would meet what was or this fair cousin of his to him he was interested in butter and eggs and cheese and hay and potatoes business was he had laid up fifteen hundred dollars that year and new were coming to him daily he looked again at who sat very yo fa tt s still like a child who has been by her elders and to speak until spoken to i don t know why i said what i did he remarked more gently i am sure i have no right to you but your mother will tell you that a young girl cannot be too careful in her conduct toward men nor demand too much respect in their actions toward her if this he spoke the word as if it were pronounced snake has attempted any liberties with you of the kind you mentioned his being your cousin does not excuse him without speaking like one who entirely it is natural went on after a pause that i should take an interest in you living under the same roof and being almost a part of your family there are some things which men know that young girls are slow to perceive i should be sorry to think i had neglected any advice that i ought to give you for it seems to me somehow that i stand toward you

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in a certain respect in the relation of a brother the girl rose and put her hands in his before he was aware what she was about to do i thank you with all my heart she said the tears in her eyes whenever you have anything to say to me do not hesitate i shall always be ready to listen and to profit by your instruction she walked slowly out of the room and seeking her mother related the conversation word for word as well as she could recall it you did exactly right my child said the wide you could not have been more discreet had a wistful look in her gray eye young fa i seems so contemptible she said to act as if i was trying to him when i love him so u you will have all your life to prove that to him was the mother s reply as she drew the shrinking to her side and kissed her chapter v that wouldn t be nice being now by his own motion in the position of brother to miss found his path easier he deceived himself into the belief that this justified him in being in her company a great deal more than ever and in talking with her on terms of intimacy of which he had never before dreamed as no one else appeared to dispute with him the title he had assumed and as both mrs and her daughter treated him kindly he grew quite content with his surroundings a suggestion was finally made that he take his dinner and supper at the house as well as his breakfast and he accepted gladly those meals had never seemed what they should be since his taste of the superior comforts of mrs s table had he actually been her son the widow could not have treated him with more cordiality everything soon came to be looked after in a way that was at novel and delightful to the young bachelor his arrangements were seen to without a word from him buttons that had previously given him no end of trouble were found tightly in their places little rents were mended some of the books that he was most careful of appeared in neat paper young pa wc tt s covers the on his table began to be filled with flowers from the garden it was marvellous how much more attractive his quarters were than those he had exchanged for them when the moved to s temper was usually good but sometimes he came home disturbed by the of business on such occasions nothing was permitted to give an additional jar to his feelings unless he set the pace of conversation only the most necessary things were said at the table and if he chose to retire to his chamber neither of the ladies urged him to remain below it was long afterwards that it came back to him the ingenious to which he was subjected but at the time he thought nothing about it there are more men to death by women who would like to give them comfort when they seem dis than by all the in the world it is well known that one of america s chief actors had to separate from his second wife because she would not let him retire into a half darkened room for a few hours each day where he could regain his nervous force and strengthen himself for the labors of the evening she would come to the door and beg saying that she hated to have him there alone and that she was sure she could do him good if he would let her hold his head and kiss away his depression though loving her as such men love their wives he could not bear this strain and the couple parted with mutual agony all because the woman could not be made to understand mrs committed no such error nor did her daughter under her wise instructions grew more and more attached to his boarding house as he fa if as ml termed it or his home as they wanted him to it as he went to very few and as his office work was usually ended at six o clock he spent most of his evenings in the house and a great deal of that time came to be by mrs would often leave them for hours while she went out calling or on errands to the stores his business took him away from quite frequently but he was seldom gone more than two or three nights at a time on one of these occasions he found on his return that was his only hostess her mother having been summoned to the bedside of her sister mrs by a in speaking of it to me years afterward he alluded to the week that mrs remained away as the turning one in his career day after day he sat at the table with as his companion their being broken only by the entrance of when summoned to clear the plates or to bring something from the kitchen evening after evening they occupied the parlor with no interruption or took short walks toward the wood that bordered the town on their side of it and when the time came for separation and he went to his room he had a new sense of responsibility for this quiet girl a feeling that she was under his sole protection and that if harm happened to her he would be to blame it was a week for them loving him more strongly than ever realized the absolute necessity of hiding her sentiments until he should have fully his own impelled a hundred times to some act that might show the more than affection that was growing up in his breast he resisted as often as he felt the temptation the very presence fa of opportunity caused by

0Arthur Conan Doyle

her mother s absence made him more guarded than ever on this point he had a sense of honor that would not allow him to take advantage of any person in the slightest degree the pressure on his feelings made him glad to see mrs s face again as a on who hears the approaching step of the but the week had done its work there was never afterwards anything distant between the young people they confided a hundred things to each other he had called her miss till then but she suddenly became to him the three people in that house had become into one family as they never had been until that week of absence on the part of the mother i am afraid you have not as well with as when i am at home smiled mrs as she took her seat in her old place and began to pour the coffee a housekeeper is made by experience and a girl of eighteen cannot be expected to take the place of an old woman like me if the meals had been poorer had not noticed it as a matter of fact they had without doubt knew as much about cooking as she did of scientific did what she could but mrs s was lacking we have done very well was the young man s reply i do not think i have lost an in weight the widow smiled gratefully upon him and then transferred her attention to her daughter you will have to begin to learn kitchen work in earnest my girl she said before you are much older piano and singing lessons will not the young fa s nor prepare the of the household you may some day have to i shall always have you to show me mamma said the girl with a blush and there will never be household for me except yours how can we tell that i shall always be with you replied the mother aunt came very near leaving us last week with that sudden turn of illness what would you do should i be taken away unless you could carry on the housekeeping it was touching to see the distress that came into the young girl s face at this suggestion of all her virtues love for her mother was most pre eminent and sincere don t speak in that way she cried if you were taken from me i should not care to live any longer mrs looked as if she would have kissed the girl but for the presence of a third person in the room death does not come at our bidding she said gently sometimes we are obliged to live long after the things we prize most are gone from us you must learn to be a famous housekeeper so that if anything does happen you will be able to keep your home there are so few things that a girl can do to earn a living with the house and the furniture you could take and be in a measure independent s smile returned i am afraid i should not get many of them she said would you still live here if there were only me to see to you she asked with a half joking expression he replied in the affirmative in a way that set j young fa s u but i don t think i should want you to have any more he added i think one like me would keep you busy a day or two later when mrs and were together and had gone out the widow to this conversation my sister s illness has set me to thinking seriously said she in a sober tone has relations who would doubtless consider it their duty to look after her if anything should happen to me but though they are people of property and standing there is not one of them who is exactly what i would choose to have the of the years of my child the ones most natural to select are her uncle father of her cousin and her other cousin frank whose picture i think you have seen both are considered rich men and i am sure would not let her suffer but wealth is not the only consideration in a matter of this kind he felt two distinct blows when she mentioned the names of and frank if these were typical of all the girl s relations heaven pity her he had conceived a positive dislike for on that evening when she took her last walk with him and he felt a bitterness toward for which he could not account frank likes better than i wish he did continued mrs slowly his mother has intimated several times that they would make a good match but i hope nothing will ever come of it his habits i fear are not of the best she is not at all inclined toward him but who can tell what influences might be brought to bear on a young girl should she be without her natural oh mr young fa ma she cried growing more earnest if th tim comes when it is necessary use every force in power to prevent such a marriage as that you have her confidence she thinks a great deal of your opinion don t let her marry a man who is more likely to break her heart than to make her life a happy one the relation in which he stood to this family had so gradually that was not surprised to have it take this turn he promised should the emergency arise to do his very best to prevent s making so great a mistake as the one indicated then his curiosity led him to inquire what mrs knew about mr he is anything but a moral young man was the reply trouble with half a dozen girls of good family have already been

0Arthur Conan Doyle

charged to him his mother that the statements are but where there is so much said there must be some of it true he is very fascinating in his manners and has plenty of money in his pocket and no one to restrain him he is my sister s son and i wish to say nothing against him bat the thought of him in connection with such a pure girl as is simply terrible it was a strange coincidence that frank should come to on the very next day to pay a visit to his aunt and cousin he had never been there before and was the last person for whom his relations were looking when the carriage from the railway station left him at the door mrs was filled with apprehension in which fully joined neither of them knew what would happen when mr came home for he was not skilled in the art concealing his they could not forbid young fa tt s l frank the house being on agreeable terms with his mother and having never had the least open with him it was in the middle of the afternoon and as soon as a council of war could be held it was decided that should go without saying anything to her cousin and inform of the state of affairs put on your hat and leave by the back door said her mother for if frank knows you are going for a walk he may ask to accompany you i will tell him when he that you have gone on a short errand and will keep him in till you return but what shall i tell mr stammered in much i don t know you must do the best you can use your judgment say we did not know frank was coming and we are not over pleased at it but sec no way except to ask him to remain probably he will not stay more than a day or two i will leave it tc you remember much may hang on your success on the way to the office of the commission merchant various plans in her mind but when she walked in upon him and saw the smile with which he greeted her she was as far from a definite decision as when she left the house ah so it s you little girl said there was no other person in his private office at the time and they wore not likely to be disturbed you are not looking quite cheerful nothing gone wrong i hope she resolved to act exactly as she felt the easiest way out of what was at best an unpleasant yes mr something very disagreeable has happened bt tor a fa tt j if well tell us all about it and let us see what can u done there s nothing can be done at least to night she replied to morrow i hope he will go away but to night he must stay i suppose he s the only nephew mamma has and of course he understood and lifted a hand to show that she need not finish the sentence so mr frank is at your house she nodded three or four times he came an hour ago without the slightest warning i m almost sure he ll go to morrow i know you won t like him and i thought you ought to be prepared and not come upon him suddenly in the parlor or dining room he thought a moment with forehead i guess i ll leave town for a day or two he said finally i can make a business errand i don t want to meet him that s certain a little sigh issued from the rounded mouth of his companion that wouldn t be nice of you she i don t like to be left alone with him i was hoping you would stay in the house about all the time he was here this sounded pretty and his vanity was flattered his brows as he contemplated the meaning of her statement where is your mother he asked you will not need to be strictly alone with him a single minute that is if you don t wish to his face had begun to again his moods were instantly reflected on that mirror oil don t intimate such dreadful lu young fa tt s tried i am never easy when he is me i am always afraid he is going to say something please don t go away and please stay in the house as much as ever you can till he is gone he ground his teeth together i don t see what i can do there he answered with another frown he and i will be certain to quarrel oh no you needn t said earnestly he is the most polite man in the world and all you have to do is to say very little to him you can talk to me and i will talk to you and we will act as if he wasn t there a very fine plan ejaculated i don t believe it will work he is your cousin after all and your mother s nephew and i i am nobody nobody she put her small hand on his arm with the action of a person who is i guess you are somebody mamma thinks more of you than she does of a thousand he could not help it there seemed no sense in it whatever but he could not help it and he asked her first putting one of his hands over the one she had touched him with whether she agreed with her mother in that opinion why i don t like him one bit she replied trying to avoid seeming to see anything special in the question and you are just like an own brother there was no sense in the next thing

0Arthur Conan Doyle

he did either he knew it as well as you or i dear reader and he did it just the same he put his arm around her drew to him and kissed her actually kissed her on the cheek i ll not run away he said in a low tone young i ll go up with you at supper dine well be a match for this fine fellow she thanked him warmly and said he was as good us he could be then taking up a newspaper that she found on the table she went over into a corner to let him finish his writing as she had often done before and he noticed with positive exultation that she had not seemed to mind his kiss any more than a child of seven would have done chapter vl not an improper was not only unused to women he was unused to men he knew how to trade with them to be sure to take their orders and sell their goods but he was not on intimate social terms with any person of his own sex his youth had been too fully occupied with other cares to leave him any time for the merely agreeable things of life the prospect of meeting mr frank was a greater lion in his path than an interview with a dozen in his line of goods he despised the type of gentleman he conceived him to be and knew that mr in the of his wealth and conceit very probably would return the dislike in full there was nothing to be done however but to face the music and as he walked toward the house with he summoned all his courage and resolved to the best of it had been talking with mrs about y s the entire hour before his arrival and had made up his mind to treat him with the greatest consideration he felt his own superiority over that grade of person but he meant to leave a favorable impression upon him if he could so did he carry out this plan that the young merchant was soon won by his and began to wonder why he had felt such an against him freely with all three of his companions at the supper table speaking least to and to he laughed a great deal when anything was said that called forth mirth seeming in the best of humor he managed to draw out of some things in reference to his business appearing to be deeply interested in country produce and he remarked with a self critical way that he wished he had something of use to do in the world as he was thoroughly tired of the life he was leading you don t want a partner do you he said in a half serious manner that was not at all if i could get into some business where a little money and less brains would be of account i think it would be the best thing for me replied that his business was as yet but a limited one and that it took the hardest kind of application and the most rigid economy to get much out of such a mine then he went into instances of the close margin of profit showing how the result of a month s work might be swept away by an unexpected depression of prices listened putting in a question now and then as though to everything to the very bottom mrs and her daughter exchanged glances of wonder for this was a surprise to them of the first magnitude they had expected anything young s else when they all withdrew from the dining room nearly an hour later than usual went to his room with to show him a file of the produce weekly in which were certain figures bearing on the points at issue did you ever in your life see anything like that exclaimed mrs when she was left alone with her daughter i thought those young fellows would be glaring at each other like bull dogs and one would imagine instead that they were long separated brothers what did you do to mr to bring him home in such a mood didn t do anything replied with ing cheeks but he did something he drew me t him in his private office and kissed me mrs wore an anxious look on her pleasant face such a look as might be seen on the of a humane general when the first sound of th shell comes to his ears showing that battle has actually begun i hope you were very careful my child not at all not the least mamma i pretended not even notice it it was only on my cheek right here indicated the exact spot which his lips had touched it was all over in a moment the widow a searching inquiry after tht manner of a military commission into the minutes circumstances of the important event did mr seem excited should the girl say it was a passionate kiss did he draw her toward him with a sudden motion or slowly like this she wanted the affair exactly as it occurred was it s one kiss one touching of the lips to the cheek and an release of the form he had clasped very well there was nothing objectionable in that mr deserved no undue criticism indeed i quite agree with you mamma was the quick reply so far from to it i only wish i was sure he would repeat it often it was the hardest thing i ever had to do to act as if i didn t mind it instead of turning my mouth to his and giving him one in return full on the lips the mother gently for the freedom of her expressions and took occasion to impress upon her once more the necessity of a young girl s her emotions to the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

fullest degree men never respect a woman after they had seen an exhibition of her feelings she said you must act on the next occasion even more dignified than you did on this one a little shrinking away must be practised a show of to have his arm embrace you looked quite distressed but mamma there is nothing wrong about a kiss is there when one really loves a man my dear it is not a question of abstract right or wrong but of something hardly less important that of policy a woman s whole career may depend on her of rules that civilization has about her not the of one of which can be stretched to the limits of a real sin before marriage that is the vital time many a bright career has been rained by a failure to study the operations of the masculine mind for instance the very man who will attempt liberties with a girl he to love will her as long as he lives if she them y vn s tf the girl still seemed uncertain what to make of mother s attitude but you don t call a kiss an improper liberty d you i want to understand i say responded the mother wisely that such a kiss as mr gave you was not deserving of censure under the circumstances had you kissed him in return especially upon the lips it would have been a very grave fault i put it down as a rule that a girl should never permit her lips to touch those of any man but her wedded husband perhaps i am too strict in this i do not doubt that the majority of men expect such a kiss to follow the acceptance of their offer of marriage but i am sure that whatever the man s he will have a higher opinion of a woman who gently but firmly the full contact of her mouth with his even at that moment than of one who gives way to the sensations that thrill her heart and without a complete declaration of a desire to marry made in terms and an acceptance on the woman s part i have no hesitation in saying that such a kiss is dangerous and in the highest degree the girl put an arm about the neck of her mother and looked lovingly into her eyes you are not sorry for the little kiss he give me w she said not in the least was the affectionate response and he may kiss me again just the same way if if he ever wants to the mother smiled with a little more on your part but i m not unwilling i m more than willing i m anxious said hiding her face on the maternal young s bosom oh i wish he d talk marriage i can t wait forever the days are dragging too slowly mrs said hush in a low tone for she heard the young men coming down the stairs they were talking in an animated fashion and when they appeared good humor shone on the faces of both i ve learned more about business than i ever knew exclaimed as he caught sight of his aunt i really think i shall open an office and go to doing something mr half thinks he will take me into if i show a disposition to reform neither nor her mother believed this anything more than a temporary mood that would soon pass away if indeed it was not merely a desire to be amusing but repeated a dozen times in the course of the evening that he was in earnest and that if mr would give him a chance he would prove his assertion was almost sorry the next morning when the young announced that he must leave on the next train good bye aunt said frank touching her cheek with his lips good bye little cousin he added taking s hand and letting go of it again in a quarter of a second come and see us when you can i don t know how long it may be before i see again unless i get my he laughed brightly come mr there is time to stop at your store before the train is due there was a full hour to be spent at the store and before he left town made a distinct offer to put some money into the concern should ever want to the business beyond its present capacity went to the with him and they parted more than young fa s he s a good fellow thought as he walked back to his office i ought not to hate him just because he wanted to kiss his pretty cousin goodness i ve often wanted to do the same thing myself and yesterday i actually did it he won t bother her any more as for his offer it s worth thinking of if i had more to work with i could double the business i am doing could not tell what to make of her mother s for the next month he seemed almost of her presence when in the house he was receiving letters from frank relating to the proposition he had made and the merchant s anxiety to increase his business drove everything else from his mind one day he announced that he would be gone for a short time out of the state and taking a grip sack with hardly a formal good bye he went to boston could not keep back the tears though she did not let him see them she loved him deeply and his recent coldness toward her was something for which she could not account she even began to fear that he had seen some other woman whom he liked better with the fullest confidence she herself to her mother who was equally at a loss to explain s conduct the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

elder lady said however that she did not believe there was a woman in the case that it was more likely had renewed his old resolutions not to permit himself to get entangled with anything feminine when he returned she would talk to him after she sounded him a little she could advise better what to do stayed in boston a whole week he had become possessed with the idea that he must hav th t fa tt s money that offered him and secure it without a if possible he wished to continue sole manager of his affairs but was willing to pay a fair sum or share of his profits for the use of the capital he wanted the over these matters took up a good deal of time besides this insisted on showing his guest the sights of the city and refused positively to permit him to pay for anything would much rather have paid his share of the joint expense of the excursions or in thereof have limited them to a much smaller cost but the city young man had a way of buying the tickets and paying the before the could even draw his purse and though uneasy at the constant flow of money for his expenses there did not seem to be any way to avoid it up to this time attendance at theatres had been very limited he had counted every dollar with the greatest care took him almost nightly to one of the saying it was his invariable practice to see everything that came to town being twenty years of age and having no pretensions to did not refuse to accompany his new friend to other places of much more doubtful morality merely as they both said to see what was going on and not with any intention of remaining at all of these places mr was greeted by the name of frank and fair arms were placed about his neck by the frail occupants as soon as he entered the where they were was introduced as my friend mr smith and had to laugh at the fiery glow that came into his face when one of the girls whose name was began to make love to him it is to the credit human nature that there is a un pa s time when even a man is capable of blushing but contact with vice soon this faculty and before left boston he could enter a palace of sin as coolly as his companion those who have read the sermon that the delivered in rev arthur s pulpit in thou shalt not must have been impressed by his of the character of a of the seventh command that week in boston under the of frank did more harm to than he dreamed of it shook the foundations he had been so carefully building he had tasted of pleasure he had seen money not his own to be sure but money still wasted as if it were so much water in a season of he felt as he went back to that his business was a more insignificant thing than he had supposed it and that the road he had marked out to travel was harder and more dusty than he had ever imagined the money is yours whenever you choose were the parting words of the more i think of it the less i want to tie myself up to real work but i have capital to invest and confidence in your ability and you can have any time you like whether you accept it or not come up to the city once in a while and have a little fun i have enjoyed your stay immensely he was certainly a very nice fellow said to himself a hundred times that no one could deny that his morals were a trifle but and he again at the thought he had no right to him on that score had he s money instead of being obliged to give up the next twenty years to acquiring a quarter part of the sum perhaps he would be young fa tt s no better himself such girls as were too attractive to spend much time in their condition thought he would accept frank s invitation to go to boston again if only for the sake of meeting that creature but when he entered mrs s dwelling and looked into the anxious eyes of the contrast between this pure girl and the one from whom he had so recently parted struck him with tremendous force he thought how abruptly he had left and how he had not written a word during his absence to explain the unexpected length of his stay instinct told him that had suffered from this neglect and that his conduct was from whatever point it might be viewed his landlady happened to be out at the moment of his arrival and he stood face to face with her daughter well i m home he put down his bag and drew the girl to a seat on the sofa by his side the recollection of the young woman at boston struck him again as he did so and he released in the very act of embracing her this action distressed the girl greatly what is the matter she asked in a whisper i feel as if i had done something to make you dislike me forgetting everything he caught her full in his arms dislike you i like you better than any other person in the world she put up her lips for him to kiss in the suddenness of her delight but remembering her mother s caution lowered them again and received the salute on her forehead s j then she heard a step on the walk and hastily left his side to take a chair hush she said returning the fond look he her mamma is coming chapter vii wears evening dress

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the of mr frank was soon put into the business which controlled the arrangement by which this was made was highly satisfactory to the commission merchant at the time there was not in the ordinary sense of the term any whatever merely gave his notes for the sum borrowed with a on everything he owned to secure the he was to pay ten per cent for the use of the money and a slight additional on his net profits each year until he had paid it all back again had the instincts of a and had no intention of losing anything through the kindly act he had done he was willing to give a lift but he realized that money was not to be obtained everywhere on such security as he had to offer he satisfied himself that his new friend was thoroughly honest and bound to succeed and discovered away to benefit both parties and cause a loss to neither for a short time was intensely elated at the additional with which he could now do business he sought for more opportunities to buy goods directly instead of mostly on those sent him to be disposed of on commission the first venture that young fa s he made him a comfortable profit the second resulted in a loss the third was again on the right side of the the only trouble was that he could not help a new feeling of anxiety a mental that was not good for one of his temperament he did not sleep as soundly as he had done before bad news from the centre of trade worried him exceedingly good news raised his spirits to an degree he was continually from extreme to extreme and it was nearly as bad for him to hear of a large gain as of a distressing loss he told everything to and to her mother that is after he had secured the additional capital for he kept that secret back as a pleasant surprise for them in his joy he did not notice that mrs hardly seemed to share his brilliant hopes for the future of the transaction she would certainly have advised him against it had she been consulted in time when the thing was and he had the money it was too late to say anything and she was compelled to hold her peace she was shrewd enough to see that her nephew had made a good business bargain provided mr s judgment held out the interest he was to get for his money was about double the usual rate she wished for s sake that had continued in the slower but path he had begun but she did not tell him so nor did she even say it to her daughter she continued to hope for the best it was not to be denied that and were becoming closer friends every day a marriage would result unless all signs failed things had gone too far now to alter her plans even if she had desired was attached to her young friend with what calls first and passionate love young s liked undoubtedly it needed only time and business prosperity to arrange the date being constantly with every evening of his life as well as at nearly all of his meals grew more and more confidential with her the attack of conscience that he had had on his return from boston made her seem more beautiful and lovely in his eyes than ever before had any one entered the parlor where they were together and no one ever did not even the managing mamma without due warning they would have been taken for real lovers generally they were sitting close together on the sofa or her chair was drawn against his his hands holding hers in a close clasp one cannot talk with a pretty girl day after day without saying things that grow to have a meaning and though he tried very hard not to say anything definite felt in a vague way that he was gradually becoming entangled and he was not sorry for it either was still very young there was plenty of time to consider the matter in its serious aspect in the meanwhile it was agreeable to have her near him and to see the sympathy for his shining out of the sweet gray eyes if he could have read what passed through that young brain it is difficult to say what the result would have been day after day the em u li in s mind was why doesn t he speak was he to go on forever with his talk of prices of of good and bad of how much at ten per cent would come to in a year was there never to be a time when he would bend over her and say darling i love you but daily talks with her mother taught her the value young fa tt s of time in matters of war and convinced her that the enemy was surely if slowly his and retreating into his central which he would have to in turn previous to a complete surrender at the end of three months from the time he had borrowed the money went to boston again he had other business there but he thought it a good opportunity to talk with whom he had not seen since the cash was exchanged for his notes to who considered a dollar almost a sacred thing it was that any one should lend so much money and pay so little attention to it for so long a time he thought it his duty to lay before the entire results of his business since the additional capital had been paid in frank laughed when he heard this proposition and responded that if there was one thing he hated more than another it was detail have you been doing better or worse that is the

0Arthur Conan Doyle

whole question he said i wouldn t listen to those columns of figures you have there for a farm down east but i want to show you protested uneasily you see the first thing i did was on the i th when i bought i must interrupt you broke in the other i don t care a rap whether you bought anything on the i the th or whether it was hay beans or butter that you bought if you can tell how much you have made in the last quarter i am willing to listen but not to another solitary thing looked dissatisfied i can t tell exactly what i ve made said he because i have a good deal of stock still on hand waiting for a young s rise when i only did a straight commission business i knew pretty near where i was my only trouble being that some fellow would put me off occasionally or perhaps go into before i could get what he owed me well how does it look asked impatiently you ve got some kind of an idea or haven t you thus compelled to answer in a way he did not like said he had cleared in the quarter before he had dealt with mr and that if he were to sell what he had on hand at present prices reckoning interest etc on his loan he would come out about the same not doing as well as you expected then remarked but i tell you it is not a fair way of reckoning said for i expect to get a substantial profit from the rise that ought to take place before i sell and if instead of a rise there should be a fall in prices grew a shade paler that is very unlikely to occur he said m but it may the thing doesn t look as rosy as it did three months ago does it was compelled to admit to himself that it didn t but he would not say so to this man he wished with all his heart that he had never borrowed a dollar it was too late to talk about that now though and he was glad when of his own accord changed the subject i ve got tickets for the theatre to night will you go with me thank you what is the play y fa s the black i d like to see that i ve heard a good deal about it never seen it exclaimed frank heavens what a you are why i suppose i ve been that play twenty times abashed inquired what there was to make it so attractive legs legs legs nothing but legs i the man who wrote it got a fortune out of it just because it happened to be used for a spectacle and filled with good looking girls as a literary production it hasn t a of merit as a medium for the exhibition of female it is absolutely without a rival the theatre going public of the present age is it passes by the greatest actors and to witness the nearest approach to that the law will permit if you haven t seen the it will be a great treat to you that evening who had never seen a display at all approaching the one before him justified the of his companion he was so absorbed in watching the that he hardly heard whispering excitedly in his ear there she is sixth row to the right she you let her see that you remember her but be careful as others here may know her turned in a dazed way toward the quarter indicated of whom are you speaking he asked your old friend the whispered frank see her there with an fan look out don t attract attention saw the young woman at last and a glow of fa s ft swept over his face as she smiled significantly at him the curtain was rising for the last act and he turned toward the stage with a feeling of relief the gorgeous effects of and painter mingled with the rounded forms of a hundred women lying in attitudes of the most beauty set his brain on fire when the great curtain slowly descended he gazed at the vanishing loveliness with a decided tinge of regret is going directly home said as they started toward the exit she has me that she shall expect us there held back in the crowd his head was in a whirl i i think i won t he stammered i must get up early in the morning and i i will go to the hotel now come around if only for a minute that s common politeness it s only a short walk from here no i insist after that i will walk to the hotel with you was the stronger of the twain when it came to an influence of this kind and found himself yielding he would go he said but strictly for only a word nothing should persuade him to remain if she asked him to he relied on to help him out you will tell her it is impossible won t you he pleaded we will go in just to speak and frank laughed saying he should think was some dangerous wild animal of whose bite was afraid as he spoke they ascended the steps of the house and rang the bell miss had been to the theatre in full evening o yo fa tt s dress and made a pretty picture as she came in to receive her she professed to be very glad to see mr smith again saying she had recognized him in the theatre long before he saw her and had spent most of the evening with her eyes on him instead of the play i hope you are going to stay some time in the city she concluded in

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the most manner n no he stammered i go on the early train to morrow morning she turned to mr with an expression now frank isn t that dreadful you know i have asked you every time you called when he was to be here again and now to have him stay so short a time it is outrageous what excuse have you for such conduct she asked putting her hand affectionately on his shoulder business demands it he told her but already he was oh you men how long will you live if you keep on at this rate she cried business business always business with a show of doing as he had been asked interfered with the statement that mr smith had made him promise to remain but a moment on this occasion as he wished to get to his hotel early so as to have a good night s rest before his call he said this however with a look that showed the girl he had no interest in the matter and when he finished she uttered a little scream of dismay it is not true you would not keep me these long weeks for you and then give me merely a word and a good bye com into the next parlor where i young s gi can talk to you wait for us mr we ll not belong and before could debate the question with her she had dragged him away and closed the door behind her why must you go she demanded of her companion the poet has well said when speaking of the bait that the devil finds most attractive i fish with a woman the whole year round did not get the first train the next morning it was noon when he left boston and nearly night when he reached never had he felt so wretched not even in those days when hardly a penny stood between him and hunger when his only bed was a hard under the garret roof of a farm house how could he ever meet he went to his office and remained there after the front store was closed he had no appetite for supper and he meant to stay until it was so late that he would escape seeing anybody at his lodging until the next morning the next morning could he ever look again into those pure eyes after the second time he had her he tried to justify himself or at least to lessen the of his conduct he was neither married nor engaged he intended to lead a single life for many years yet and the common judgment of men allowed some liberty to a bachelor he was no worse than others why need he be so severe on such an ordinary fault to every question there clearly the one r young fa f he had done wrong to it was not very clear how this might be but that was the accusation against him from his conscience he had against about nine o clock a faint tap on his window pane attracted his attention somebody had seen the light and wanted to leave an order perhaps remained perfectly still hoping the would think the light an accident that had been forgotten and go away but the tapping was begun again and thinking it might be as well to have it over he rose and went through the store to the street door and opened it his consternation was complete when a female figure emerged from the darkness and he saw before him the object of his thoughts for the past ten hours i supposed it must be you said the girl entering the store and closing the door after her nobody else ever lights up the private office at night it is nice i roused you for now we can go home together she was walking along into the inner room and he followed her mechanically as they entered she caught sight of his pale face and turned to him in alarm you are ill she exclaimed you are in trouble oh my darling tell me what it is years of careful instruction by the most careful of mothers had failed at the vital point she had called him by the most affectionate name known to the english tongue in that moment of apprehension born of the expression she had ever seen on his countenance and she did still more she put both hands on his shoulders and held up to him a face it needed no to tell him was wholly his own with his first thought that of his total young fa s he thrust her hastily away had his touch meant death he would not have felt more like avoiding her the tears sprang to her eyes oh what is it have i done anything to you are you angry that i tapped on the window don t you want to walk home with me tell me what you wish and i will do it only don t look at me like that he had held this girl s hand in his he had kissed her on the cheek and on the forehead and he had been with that other woman could the lapse of time ever make him fit to touch this one again no he murmured with a gasp there has nothing happened for which you are to blame you must not ask me questions for i cannot answer them but this i will say you never were so dear to me as you are now a glad smile shone through the tears as she heard him she was wise enough not to press him for a further explanation though she was dying as women say to know what caused his distress she said she would rather have anything else happen to her than to feel that she had injured him each word was like a he thought

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the best way was to go home with her at once as that would the sooner place him out of sound of her voice and he proceeded to put away his things and lock up his desk until now he had not thought to look at the evening paper but seeing it lying on the table the business side of his nature impelled him to open it to glance at the state of the market there had been an advance in the price of the articles he was holding and so great was his satisfaction at this fact that he could not help uttering a cry of joy wait a minute he said young fa s opening his desk he took up a pen and began to figure five minutes later he seemed to have forgotten that he ever had cause to mourn if he sold his stock in the morning at the prices that ruled to night he would be seven hundred dollars better off than he had told he cried looking up with every sign ot trouble from his face if everything continues as it looks now i shall have a good deal of money by and by if i should get enough so that i felt justified in asking you to marry me he could get no further the sudden surprise following her pain at the reception she had met was too much for the girl she gave unmistakable signs of fainting and he sprang up to open the window a few minutes to restore her but when he to finish his proposition she gently begged him to wait till some other time let us go now she said it is late and mamma will wonder has detained me so long as they passed up the street she leaned rather heavily on his arm and they walked very very slowly let me finish what i started to say in the office said seeing that they were quite alone i shall feel better to have it over with i intended to remain a bachelor until late in life because i felt that it would take me a long time to get enough money to support a wife without taking too much from my business i used to say it was probable i would be forty years old before that occurred now since i have had the extra capital from mr i can get on much faster if i prosper it may only be a very few years before i am able to marry i don t want you to feel bound to me for you are still very young and there are young fa go many things that may happen but if everything should go right and i get the money sooner than i expect well the fact is you are the only girl i ever cared for and the only one i should ever think of wanting for a wife it was not romantic this mixing of marriage with potatoes of love with the price of grain the girl felt a sense of at the manner of his statement but she listened with silence clinging possibly a little less closely to his arm we won t call it an engagement exactly continued as if it was a matter for him to settle alone only you see i like you immensely and i want you to understand just how i am situated we ll be real good friends and we ll wait and see how things turn out is that all right the girl nodded without raising her eyes from the ground were they had rested during the entire conversation when they entered the house they found no one in the parlor but after a moment s delay went to his room saying he was tired and wanted to get to sleep i found mr at his office mamma said when she had gone to her mother s chamber and on the way home he said the strangest things to me did he ask you to marry him inquired mrs anxiously i hardly know whether he did or not said with a i ll repeat it to you as well as i can and see what you think about it young s chapter viii his wife of course there were many and downs in the business of during the next six months some of my readers may smile at the of his capital and think the loss or gain of p w thousand dollars not a proper thing on which to found important events in a novel but such a meant as much to this young man as a hundred times that amount means to those in better circumstances the in his little bank account kept him in a continual state of nervous and accounted for the entire chain of circumstances which brought about the results i have to record was no stranger to the least of these figures on evenings when another man would have talked to her of poetry or of music the day s business the commission orders still paid him well and his entire uneasiness came from the direct purchases he made and his inability to the state of the market twenty four hours in advance he was on borrowed money that was the trouble listened with patience to every word he uttered though she grew very tired of it if i could get enough together to pay what i have borrowed without myself i never would go into debt again as long as i live be remarked young fa s frequently and i want to tell you another thing if i had that paid and on hand i would not wait long to get married either she drew a deep breath but without his attention marriage did not seem very near on those terms her mother however still her not to get impatient she seemed to feel that all would come out right

0Arthur Conan Doyle

in the end there were several times when could have paid half his had he been willing to do so but the chance of a little deeper and sweeping it all off at once was too much for his judgment and the opportunity slipped away then there came a sort of miniature black friday to him when he would not have been able to pay dollar for dollar on all he owed had he been called upon for immediate settlement the alarm he felt was so great that it actually landed him in bed sick from fear that the very worst was about to fall on him mrs with the kind interest she always showed attended him doing everything she could for his comfort this was on sunday when nothing new could be learned and he passed the day as he had the night between the sheets tossing about and getting very little sleep is there anything more i can do asked the widow when she had bathed his forehead and taken away the remains of the food he had hardly tasted yes he said you can let come up here mrs started but the young man was certainly quite ill he was like a real member of the family it would do no harm that she could conceive of and she replied with a few guarded expressions young s that she would let the girl come up for a little while but that he ought to try and get a nap before long she went down and had a talk with her daughter and twenty minutes later the young couple were together the door being left a little for the sake of mrs i am worried to death said taking s hand in his and i think all the time about you too if the market sinks again to morrow there will be little chance of my being able to provide a home for you in a long time she patted the hand gently and told him he must hope for better news in the morning and even if your worst fears are realized she added with a blush you will need me all the more it is not when one is successful that he most wants friends i have confidence in your ability and feel that you will come out of this difficulty a better business man than ever a grateful sensation stole through his veins as he felt the gentle pressure of that hand and heard those low words of cheer i wish ever so much he replied that i could afford to get married now as you say one needs true friends in more than when the best luck is with him i wanted you to come up just now more than i wanted anything else and i was half afraid your mother would not think it proper if we were married you would help me over such rough places as this in a way you cannot do now the thought of marriage always had a soothing influence on the girl she leaned over the bed and touched her cheek for one moment to his it cannot cost very much to be married she young fa wc s stammered looking at the pictures on the i know mamma s expenses are light and we have everything we need as for me i never want much i have clothes enough now to last almost a year it took the girl much longer to utter those sentences than it does you to read them every sentence hurt but she was ready for almost anything now except an j indefinite of her hopes was j the only man she had ever cared for and his faults did not seem as glaring to her as if this had not been the case if she could say anything to arouse the thought in his brain that he could marry without his bank balance provided there should be any when the next evening s papers arrived she wanted to do it and in this she was successful all the pleasures of being a husband the delight of calling that pretty girl his wife stole in upon the mind of the sick man w th a dream of future happiness he fell asleep her hand still in his and when he awoke an hour later he was much refreshed i must have slept a long time he exclaimed rousing himself and you did not move for fear of waking me what a good girl you are do you know i thought in my sleep that we were really married and it seemed as natural as could be he put one arm outside the and drew her toward him let me get out of this trouble with the market and i will not wait much longer dearest she let him steal one kiss from her cheek and then gently herself said she must go for awhile if he wanted anything he could ring the little bell that her mother had placed on the stand at the head of the bed young fa s l but i want something be smiled significantly i want you another kiss would have followed had she permitted it but she rose with a laugh telling him he was improving altogether too fast when the market had turned she said they would talk again she left the room a salute to him with her with which he was fain to be content for the present and having nothing to disturb him he went to sleep again in the morning he was down to breakfast at the usual hour the morning paper placed beside his plate told him there had been a reaction to some extent on saturday evening and that the tendency of prices was in his favor his depressed spirits began to rise and he went to his office with a good deal of courage by the use of

0Arthur Conan Doyle

the telegraph he kept informed of the at new york and as soon as he could clear himself of the loss that had stared him in the face he sold all the stock he had accumulated to be delivered immediately i m out of that scrape he said joyfully when he came home to supper next time i ll be more careful i have had a lot of new orders to day besides take it altogether i am feeling pretty well was glad and he felt the effect of her sympathetic smile she was a nice girl could he not manage it so as to marry without that fortune he had always considered a necessary after supper he had her to himself in the parlor and acted the most like a lover since she had known him i guess we d better call it an engagement he said with his arm around her i want to have it under stood with your mother perhaps it won t be for a young s good while but it ll have to come i ve liked you ever since i came to live here and i ve tried to push away the feeling because it seemed as if i must but i can t do it any longer i ll tell her about it to night when she comes in and explain just how i feel an engagement could it be possible that he meant it after all this time his manner of announcing it was not the most polished but he had a business air that convinced her it was genuine yes it was the best thing that could happen to have the engagement understood it gave her something like a substantial basis for her expectations when mrs came back from the stores where she had been to make some purchases called her in and informed her of his latest intentions in the same blunt way he had told you know i ve always said i shouldn t marry till i was better off in life he explained but i ve been thinking it over and i don t want to wait quite so long so i would like to have it understood you know that it s an engagement the widow smiled affectionately upon her daughter and paused before answering is very young she said finally she is nearly nineteen replied and i am twenty one we are not exactly babies and as i said we sha n t get married at once only i want it understood he added repeating the phrase as if he enjoyed the sound mrs took by the hand and drew her toward her do you love mr enough to marry him she asked exactly as if they had discussed anything ke together for the last year young fa s with red and white cheeks answered by a low bow then said mrs i cannot withhold my consent i have only one child and my greatest wish is that she may be happy marriage is the natural lot of woman i hope she will make as good a wife as she has been a daughter then the two women shed some genuine tears for their love for each other was the most real part of their natures uneasily on the sofa if he hated one thing more than another it was weeping i understand then he said that it is understood the formality of the engagement did exactly what might have been expected it hastened the the conversation at table began to drift into the question of household expenses instances were given of men who had married without a penny and risen to by the aid principally as it appeared of their it turned out that it was really much cheaper to feed and clothe two persons than one very much cheaper in this sort of two and two did not make four but the product amounted in some mysterious way to only about one and a half the next morning was thoroughly disgusted to see by the paper that another advance had taken place in market materials generally had he only been courageous enough to wait twenty four hours longer he would have been ahead the lesson he had believed learned the day before turned out to be but a temporary thing he was sorry he had been so and resolved the next time to wait the young s inevitable turn in the tide before selling he took up a price list for the previous year and studied out the trying to find the rule by which they were governed in the midst of his a letter came from frank him not to sell at present if he had any stock on hand as a friend on the inside had told him prices were certain to rise rapidly soon could hardly contain himself for vexation as he read this letter if had only known enough to telegraph it might have done some good it turned out as frank prices rose steadily for the next month and every day his teeth as he figured out the loss he had sustained by of his stock the final figures showed a total of a sum of the utmost importance to him at that time if i hadn t sold till now i would have made enough to feel justified in getting married immediately he told when the time came these things would undoubtedly have discouraged most girls beyond repair but bore them all in silence as was the only lover she had ever had she could not compare him with others to his disadvantage she still liked him very much and waited patiently as advised by her mother till the stream should turn her way the climax in s anger at his bad luck came with a letter from telling him to sell now weeks after he had let everything go without a cent of profit he had

0Arthur Conan Doyle