that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen to another man.

As far as the church door he brought her, and then, as he could go no farther,

he conveniently vanished away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a

four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of events, Mr.

Windibank!”


Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had been

talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his pale face.


“It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes,” said he, “but if

you are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you who

are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing actionable from the

first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an

action for assault and illegal constraint.”


“The law cannot, as you say, touch you,” said Holmes, unlocking and

throwing open the door, “yet there never was a man who deserved

punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to lay a

whip across your shoulders. By Jove!” he continued, flushing up at the

sight of the bitter sneer upon the man’s face, “it is not part of

my duties to my client, but here’s a hunting crop handy, and I think I

shall just treat myself to—” He took two swift steps to the whip,

but before he could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs,

the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. James

Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.


“There’s a cold-blooded scoundrel!” said Holmes, laughing, as

he threw himself down into his chair once more. “That fellow will rise

from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ends on a gallows.

The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.”


“I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning,” I

remarked.


“Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Hosmer Angel