own, so

she gave us all the slip and got away to london. she had

been engaged to me, and she would have married me, i

believe, if i had taken over another profession; but she

would have nothing to do with anything on the cross. it

was only after her marriage to this englishman that i was

able to find out where she was. i wrote to her, but got no

answer. after that i came over, and, as letters were no

use, i put my messages where she could read them.

"well, i have been here a month now. i lived in that farm,

where i had a room down below, and could get in and out

every night, and no one the wiser. i tried all i could to

coax elsie away. i knew that she read the messages, for

once she wrote an answer under one of them. then my temper

got the better of me, and i began to threaten her. she

sent me a letter then, imploring me to go away and saying

that it would break her heart if any scandal should come

upon her husband. she said that she would come down when

her husband was asleep at three in the morning, and speak

with me through the end window, if i would go away

afterwards and leave her in peace. she came down and

brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go. this

made me mad, and i caught her arm and tried to pull her

through the window. at that moment in rushed the husband

with his revolver in his hand. elsie had sunk down upon

the floor, and we were face to face. i was heeled also,

and i held up my gun to scare him off and let me get away.

he fired and missed me. i pulled off almost at the same

instant, and down he dropped. i made away across the

garden, and as i went i heard the window shut behind me.

that's god's truth, gentlemen, every word of it, and i

heard no more about it until that lad came riding up with a

note which made me walk in here, like a jay, and give

myself into your hands."

a cab had driven up whilst the american had been talking.

two uniformed policemen sat inside. inspector martin rose

and touched his prisoner on the shoulder.

"it is time for us to go."

"can i see her first?"

"no, she is not conscious. mr. sherlock holmes, i only

hope that if ever again i have an important case i shall

have the good fortune to have you by my side."

we stood at the window and watched the cab drive away. as

i turned back my eye caught the pellet of paper which the

prisoner had tossed upon the table. it was the note with

which holmes had decoyed him.

"see if you can read it, watson," said he, with a smile.

it contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--

{graphic}

"if you use the code which i have explained," said holmes,

"you will find that it simply means 'come here at once.' i

was convinced that it was an invitation which he would not

refuse, since he could never imagine that it could come

from anyone but the lady. and so, my dear watson, we have

ended by turning the dancing men to good when they have so

often been the agents of evil, and i think that i have

fulfilled my promise of giving you something unusual for

your note-book. three-forty is our train, and i fancy we

should be back in baker street for dinner.

only one word of epilogue. the american, abe slaney, was

condemned to death at the winter assizes at norwich; but

his penalty was changed to penal servitude in consideration

of mitigating circumstances, and the certainty that hilton

cubitt had fired the first shot. of mrs. hilton cubitt i

only know that i have heard she recovered entirely, and

that she still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to

the care of the poor and to the administration of her

husband's estate.

{--------------------------------------------------------}

{----------------------- end of text --------------------}

{--------------------------------------------------------}

{------------------ textual notes -----------------------}

{dancing men graphics are indicated by the term {graphic}}

{---------------- end textual notes ---------------------}

{--------------------------------------------------------}

{soli, rev 4, 1/17/96 rms, 4th proofing}

{the adventure of the solitary cyclist, arthur conan doyle}

{source: the strand magazine, 27 (jan. 1904)}

{etext prepared by roger squires rsquires@nmia.com}

{braces({}) in the text indicate textual end-notes}

{underscores (_) in the text indicate italics}

iv. -- the adventure of the solitary cyclist.

from the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive mr. sherlock holmes

was a very busy man. it is safe to say that there was no

public case of any difficulty in which he was not consulted

during those eight years, and there were hundreds of

private cases, some of them of the most intricate and

extraordinary character, in which he played a prominent

part. many startling successes and a few unavoidable

failures were the outcome of this long