e."

"excuse me," said holmes; "when was this interview?"

"last december -- four months ago."

"pray proceed."

"mr. woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person.

he was for ever making eyes at me -- a coarse, puffy-faced,

red-moustached young man, with his hair plastered down on

each side of his forehead. i thought that he was perfectly

hateful -- and i was sure that cyril would not wish me to

know such a person."

"oh, cyril is his name!" said holmes, smiling.

the young lady blushed and laughed.

"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, bu