ionary conference at
Pentwllycod in Wales, and was not expected back for a week, all of which
quite suited Sherlock Holmes. Convinced that, after years of waiting, his
affinity had at last crossed his path, he was in no hurry for the return of
that parent, who would put an instant quietus upon this affair of the heart.
Manifestly the thing for him to do was to win the daughter's hand, and then
intercept the father, acquaint him with his aspirations, and compel
acquiescence by the force of his knowledge of Raffles's misdeed. Hence,
instead of taking his departure immediately, he remained at the Goring-
Streatley Inn, taking care each day to encounter Miss Tattersby on one
pretext or another, hoping that their acquaintance would ripen into
friendship, and then into something warmer. Nor was the hope a vain one, for
when the far Marjorie learned that it was the visitor's intention to remain
in the neighborhood until her father's return, she herself bade him to make
use of the old gentleman's library, to regard himself always as a welcome
daytime guest. She even suggested pleasant walks through the neighboring
country, little canoe trips up and down the Thames, which they might take
together, of all of which Holmes promptly availed himself, with the result
that, at the end of six days, both realized that they were designed for each
other, and a passionate declaration followed which opened new vistas of
happiness for both. Hence it was that, when the Reverend James Tattersby
arrived at Goring-Streatley the following Monday night, unexpectedly, he was
astounded to find sitting together in the moonlight, in the charming little
English garden at the rear of his dwelling, two persons, one of whom was his
daughter Marjorie and the other a young American curate to whom he had
already been introduced as A. J. Raffles.

"'We have met before, I think,' said Raffles, coldly, as his eye fell upon
Holmes.

"'I--er--do not recall the fact,' replied Holmes, meeting the steely stare
of the home-comer with one of his own flinty glances.

"'H'm!' ejaculated Raffles, non-plussed at the other's failure to recognize
him. Then he shivered slightly. 'Suppose we go in-doors, it is a trifle
chilly out here in the night air.'

"The whole thing, the greeting, the meeting, Holmes's demeanor and all, was
so admirably handled that Marjorie Tattersby never guessed the truth, never
even suspected the intense dramatic quality of the scene she had just ga