down to the office here and

register a complaint."

dr. leslie armstrong sprang up from behind his desk,

and his dark face was crimson with fury.

"i'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir," said

he. "you can tell your employer, lord mount-james,

that i do not wish to have anything to do either with

him or with his agents. no, sir, not another word!"

he rang the bell furiously. "john, show these

gentlemen out!" a pompous butler ushered us severely

to the door, and we found ourselves in the street.

holmes burst out laughing.

"dr. leslie armstrong is certainly a man of energy and

character," said he. "i have not seen a man who, if

he turned his talents that way, was more calculated to

fill the gap left by the illustrious moriarty. and

now, my poor watson, here we are, stranded and

friendless in this inhospitable town, which we cannot

leave without abandoning our case. this little inn

just opposite armstrong's house is singularly adapted

to our needs. if you would engage a front room and

purchase the necessaries for the night, i may have

time to make a few inquiries."

these few inquiries proved, however, to be a more

lengthy proceeding than holmes had imagined, for he

did not return to the inn until nearly nine o'clock.

he was pale and dejected, stained with dust, and

exhausted with hunger and fatigue. a cold supper was

ready upon the table, and when his needs were

satisfied and his pipe alight he was ready to take

that half comic and wholly philosophic view which was

natural to him when his affairs were going awry. the

sound of carriage wheels caused him to rise and glance

out of the window. a brougham and pair of greys under

the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's

door.

"it's been out three hours," said holmes; "started at

half-past six, and here it is back again. that gives

a radius of ten or twelve miles, and he does it once,

or sometimes twice, a day."

"no unusual thing for a doctor in practice."

"but armstrong is not really a doctor in practice.

he is a lecturer and a consultant, but he does not care

for general practice, which distracts him from his

literary work. why, then, does he make these long

journeys, which must be exceedingly irksome to him,

and who is it that he visits?"

"his coachman ----"

"my dear watson, can you doubt that it was to him that

i first applied? i do not know whether it came from

his own innate depravity or from the promptings of his

master, but he was rude enough to set a dog at me.

neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick,

however, and the matter fell through. relations were

strained after that, and further inquiries out of the

question. all that i have learned i got from a

friendly native in the yard of our own inn. it was he

who told me of the doctor's habits and of his daily

journey. at that instant, to give point to his words,

the carriage came round to the door."

"could you not follow it?"

"excellent, watson! you are scintillating this

evening. the idea did cross my mind. there is, as

you may have observed, a bicycle shop next to our inn.

into this i rushed, engaged a bicycle, and was able to

get started before the carriage was quite out of

sight. i rapidly overtook it, and then, keeping at a

discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, i followed

its lights until we were clear of the town. we had

got well out on the country road when a somewhat

mortifying incident occurred. the carriage stopped,

the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to where i

had also halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic

fashion that he feared the road was narrow, and that

he hoped his carriage did not impede the passage of my

bicycle. nothing could have been more admirable than

his way of putting it. i at once rode past the

carriage, and, keeping to the main road, i went on for

a few miles, and then halted in a convenient place to

see if the carriage passed. there was no sign of it,

however, and so it became evident that it had turned

down one of several side roads which i had observed.

i rode back, but again saw nothing of the carriage,

and now, as you perceive, it has returned after me.

of course, i had at the outset no particular reason to

connect these journeys with the disappearance of

godfrey staunton, and was only inclined to investigate

them on the general grounds that everything which

concerns dr. armstrong is at present of interest to

us; but, now that i find he keeps so keen a look-out

upon anyone who may follow him on these excursions,

the affair appears more important, and i shall not be

satisfied until i have made the matter clear."

"we can follow him to-morrow."

"can we? it is not so easy as you seem to think. you

are not familiar with cambridgeshire scenery, are you?

it does not lend itself to concealment. all this

co