"Yes, we quarreled, and he knocked me down.I am level with him on that, anyhow.Then I lost sight of him.That was when he picked up with this cast padre here.I found that they had set up house-keeping together at this place on the line that she had to pass for the station.I kept my eye on her after that, for I knew there was some devilry in the wind.I saw them from time to time, for I was anxious to know what they were after.
Two days ago Woodley came up to my house with this cable, which showed that Ralph Smith was dead.He asked me if I would stand by the bargain.I said I would not.He asked me if I would marry the girl myself and give him a share.I said I would willingly do so, but that she would not have me.He said, `Let us get her married first, and after a week or two she may see things a bit different.' I said I would have nothing to do with violence.So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed blackguard that he was, and swearing that he would have her yet.
She was leaving me this week-end, and I had got a trap to take her to the station, but I was so uneasy in my mind that Ifollowed her on my bicycle.She had got a start, however, and before I could catch her the mischief was done.The first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving back in her dog-cart."Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate.
"I have been very obtuse, Watson," said he."When in your report you said that you had seen the cyclist as you thought arrange his necktie in the shrubbery, that alone should have told me all.However, we may congratulate ourselves upon a curious and in some respects a unique case.I perceive three of the county constabulary in the drive, and I am glad to see that the little ostler is able to keep pace with them; so it is likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will be permanently damaged by their morning's adventures.I think, Watson, that in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss Smith and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered we shall be happy to escort her to her mother's home.If she is not quite convalescent you will find that a hint that we were about to telegraph to a young electrician in the Midlands would probably complete the cure.As to you, Mr.Carruthers, I think that you have done what you could to make amends for your share in an evil plot.There is my card, sir, and if my evidence can be of help to you in your trial it shall be at your disposal."In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been difficult for me, as the reader has probably observed, to round off my narratives, and to give those final details which the curious might expect.Each case has been the prelude to another, and the crisis once over the actors have passed for ever out of our busy lives.I find, however, a short note at the end of my manuscripts dealing with this case, in which I have put it upon record that Miss Violet Smith did indeed inherit a large fortune, and that she is now the wife of Cyril Morton, the senior partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous Westminster electricians.Williamson and Woodley were both tried for abduction and assault, the former getting seven years and the latter ten.Of the fate of Carruthers I have no record, but I am sure that his assault was not viewed very gravely by the Court, since Woodley had the reputation of being a most dangerous ruffian, and I think that a few months were sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice.
