"Yes, Mr.Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer, and we hope to be married at the end of the summer.Dear me, how DID I get talking about him? What I wished to say was that Mr.Woodley was perfectly odious, but that Mr.Carruthers, who was a much older man, was more agreeable.He was a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent person; but he had polite manners and a pleasant smile.He inquired how we were left, and on finding that we were very poor he suggested that I should come and teach music to his only daughter, aged ten.I said that I did not like to leave my mother, on which he suggested that I should go home to her every week-end, and he offered me a hundred a year, which was certainly splendid pay.So it ended by my accepting, and I went down to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from Farnham.Mr.Carruthers was a widower, but he had engaged a lady-housekeeper, a very respectable, elderly person, called Mrs.Dixon, to look after his establishment.The child was a dear, and everything promised well.Mr.Carruthers was very kind and very musical, and we had most pleasant evenings together.Every week-end I went home to my mother in town.
"The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the red-moustached Mr.Woodley.He came for a visit of a week, and oh, it seemed three months to me! He was a dreadful person, a bully to everyone else, but to me something infinitely worse.
He made odious love to me, boasted of his wealth, said that if I married him I would have the finest diamonds in London, and finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized me in his arms one day after dinner -- he was hideously strong --and he swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him.
Mr.Carruthers came in and tore him off from me, on which he turned upon his own host, knocking him down and cutting his face open.That was the end of his visit, as you can imagine.
Mr.Carruthers apologized to me next day, and assured me that I should never be exposed to such an insult again.I have not seen Mr.Woodley since.
"And now, Mr.Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which has caused me to ask your advice to-day.You must know that every Saturday forenoon I ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station in order to get the 12.22 to town.The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one, and at one spot it is particularly so, for it lies for over a mile between Charlington Heath upon one side and the woods which lie round Charlington Hall upon the other.You could not find a more lonely tract of road anywhere, and it is quite rare to meet so much as a cart, or a peasant, until you reach the high road near Crooksbury Hill.Two weeks ago I was passing this place when I chanced to look back over my shoulder, and about two hundred yards behind me I saw a man, also on a bicycle.He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with a short, dark beard.I looked back before I reached Farnham, but the man was gone, so I thought no more about it.But you can imagine how surprised I was, Mr.Holmes, when on my return on the Monday I saw the same man on the same stretch of road.
My astonishment was increased when the incident occurred again, exactly as before, on the following Saturday and Monday.
He always kept his distance and did not molest me in any way, but still it certainly was very odd.I mentioned it to Mr.
Carruthers, who seemed interested in what I said, and told me that he had ordered a horse and trap, so that in future I should not pass over these lonely roads without some companion.
"The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the station.That was this morning.You can think that I looked out when I came to Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as he had been the two weeks before.
He always kept so far from me that I could not clearly see his face, but it was certainly someone whom I did not know.
He was dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap.The only thing about his face that I could clearly see was his dark beard.
To-day I was not alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity, and I determined to find out who he was and what he wanted.
I slowed down my machine, but he slowed down his.Then I stopped altogether, but he stopped also.Then I laid a trap for him.
There is a sharp turning of the road, and I pedalled very quickly round this, and then I stopped and waited.I expected him to shoot round and pass me before he could stop.But he never appeared.Then I went back and looked round the corner.
I could see a mile of road, but he was not on it.To make it the more extraordinary, there was no side road at this point down which he could have gone."Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands."This case certainly presents some features of its own," said he."How much time elapsed between your turning the corner and your discovery that the road was clear?""Two or three minutes."
"Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say that there are no side roads?""None."
"Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other.""It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should have seen him.""So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he made his way towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand, is situated in its own grounds on one side of the road.
Anything else?"
"Nothing, Mr.Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt I should not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice."Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
"Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?" he asked, at last.
"He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry.""He would not pay you a surprise visit?"
"Oh, Mr.Holmes! As if I should not know him!""Have you had any other admirers?"
"Several before I knew Cyril."
"And since?"
"There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him an admirer.""No one else?"
Our fair client seemed a little confused.
"Who was he?" asked Holmes.
