[SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to the Sherlock Holmes Bedtime Stories podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Each episode is a section from a classic Sherlock Holmes story with relaxing music to help you fall asleep.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us this evening.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now it's time to relax.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let your body fall into a comfortable position in your bed and drift gently into a state of total relaxation with tonight's story.

[SPEAKER_00]: the adventure of the solitary cyclist, part 2.

[SPEAKER_00]: I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than dangerous.

[SPEAKER_00]: that a man should lie in wait for and follow a very handsome woman is no unheard of thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if he has so little audacity that he not only dared not address her but even fled from her approach, he was not a very formidable assailant.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Ruffian Woodley was a very different person but except on one occasion, he had not molested our client and now he visited the house of curothers without intruding upon her presence.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man on the bicycle was doubtless a member of those weekend parties at the hall of which the publican had spoken, but who he was or what he wanted was as obscure as ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the severity of Holmes' manner and the fact that he slipped to revolver into his pocket before leaving our rooms, which impressed me with the feeling that tragedy might prove to lurk behind this curious train of events.

[SPEAKER_00]: A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the Heathcovered countryside with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the dunes and drabs and slate-grays of London.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes and I walked along the broad sandy road inhaling the fresh morning air and rejoicing in the music of the birds and the fresh breath of the spring.

[SPEAKER_00]: From a rise of the road on the shoulder of Crocsbury Hill, we could see the grim hall bristling out from amidst the ancient oaks which old as they were, was still younger than the building which they surrounded.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes pointed down the long tract of road which wound a reddish yellow band between the brown of the Heath and the budding green of the woods.

[SPEAKER_00]: Far away, a black dot, we could see a vehicle moving in our direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: homes gave an exclamation of impatience.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have given a margin of half an hour, said he, if that is her trap, she must be making for the earlier train.

[SPEAKER_00]: I fear Watson that she will be passed charlington before we can possibly meet her.

[SPEAKER_00]: from the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see the vehicle, but we hastened on with at such a pace that my sedentary life began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to fall behind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes, however, was always in training for he had inexhaustible stores of nervous energy upon which to draw.

[SPEAKER_00]: His springy step never slowed until suddenly, when he was 100 yards in front of me, [SPEAKER_00]: He halted, and I saw him throw up his hand with a gesture of grief and despair.

[SPEAKER_00]: At the same instant an empty dog cart, the horse cantering, the reins trailing, appeared around the curve of the road and rattled swiftly towards us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two late Watson, two late, cried homes as I ran panting to his side.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train, its abduction, what's an abduction, murder, heaven knows what, block the road, stop the horse, that's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now jump in and let us see if I can repair the consequences of my own blunder.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had sprung into the dog cart and homes after turning the horse gave it a sharp cut with the whip and we flew back along the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we turn the curve, [SPEAKER_00]: The whole stretch of road between the hall and the heath was opened up.

[SPEAKER_00]: A grass tomes his arm.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the man I gasped.

[SPEAKER_00]: A solitary cyclist was coming towards us.

[SPEAKER_00]: His head was down and his shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that he possessed onto the pedals.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, he raised his bearded face, saw us close to him and pulled up, springing from his machine.

[SPEAKER_00]: That cold black beard was in singular contrast to the pallor of his face, and his eyes were as bright as he had a fever.

[SPEAKER_00]: He stared at us and at the dog cart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then a look of amazement came over his face.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, stop there!

[SPEAKER_00]: He shouted, holding his bicycle to block our road.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where did you get that dog cart?

[SPEAKER_00]: Pull up, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: He yelled, drawing a pistol from his side pocket.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pull up, I say, or by George, I'll put a bullet into your horse.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes through the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're the man we want to see.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where is Ms.

Violet Smith?" [SPEAKER_00]: he said, in his quick clear way.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I'm asking you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're in her dog cart, you want to know where she is.

[SPEAKER_00]: We met the dog cart on the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was no one in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We drove back to help the young lady.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good Lord, good Lord, what shall I do, cried the stranger in an ecstasy of despair.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got her that hell-hound woodly in the black-eyed passing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come, man, come if you really are her friend.

[SPEAKER_00]: Stand by me and we'll save her if I have to leave my carcass in Charlington Wood.

[SPEAKER_00]: He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand towards a gap in the hedge.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse grazing beside the road, followed Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is where they came through, said he pointing to the marks of several feet upon the muddy path.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, stop a minute, who's this in the bush?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a young fellow about 17 dressed like an oslo with leather cords and gators.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lay upon his back, his knees drawn up, a terrible cut-up on his head.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was insensible but alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: A glance at his wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's Peter, the groom, cried the stranger.

[SPEAKER_00]: He drove her.

[SPEAKER_00]: The beasts have pulled him off and clubbed him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let him lie.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can't do him any good, but we may save her from the worst fate that can befall a woman.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ran frantically down the path which wound among the trees.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when homes pulled up.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't go to the house.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here are their marks on the left.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here, beside the laurel bushes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, I said so.

[SPEAKER_00]: As he spoke a woman's shrill scream, a scream which vibrated with a frenzy of horror, burst from the thick green clump of bushes in front of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.

[SPEAKER_00]: This way, this way they are in the bowling alley cried the stranger darting through the bushes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, the cowardly dogs follow me gentlemen.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of green swords surrounded by ancient trees.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the farthest side of it under the shadow of a mighty oak, there stood a singular group of three people.

[SPEAKER_00]: One was a woman our client, drooping and faint, a handkerchief round her mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Opposite her stood a brutal, heavy-faced, red, moustacheed young man, his gated legs parted wide, one arm a kimbo, the other waving a riding crop, his whole attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado.

[SPEAKER_00]: Between them an elderly grey bearded man, wearing a short surplus over a light-toed suit, had evidently just completed the wedding service.

[SPEAKER_00]: for he pocketed his prayer book as we appeared and slapped the sinister bride groom upon the back in jovial congratulation.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're married, I gasped.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, cried our guide, come on.

[SPEAKER_00]: He rushed across the glade, homes and eye at his heels.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we approached, the lady staggered against the trunk of the tree for support.

[SPEAKER_00]: Williamson, the ex-clergeum and bowed to us with mock politeness, and the bully wouldly advanced with a shout of brutal and exultant laughter.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can take your beard off Bob, said he, I know you right enough, well, you and your pals have just come in time for me to be able to introduce you to Mrs.

Woodley.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our guide's answer was a singular one.

[SPEAKER_00]: He snatched off the dark beard which had disguised him and threw it on the ground, disclosing a long, salo, clean-shaven face below it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then he raised his revolver and covered the young ruffian who was advancing upon him with his dangerous riding crops swinging in his hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, said our ally, I am Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this woman righted if I have to swing for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I told you what I'd do if you molested her and by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your two late, she's my wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, she's your widow.

[SPEAKER_00]: His revolver cracked and I saw the blood spurt from the front of Woodley's waistcoat.

[SPEAKER_00]: He spun round with a scream and fell up on his back, his hideous red face turning suddenly to a dreadful, mottled pallor.

[SPEAKER_00]: The old man still clad in his surplus burst into such a string of foul oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own.

[SPEAKER_00]: But before he could raise it, he was looking down the barrel of homes his weapon.

[SPEAKER_00]: In enough of this, said my friend, coldly, drop that pistol.

[SPEAKER_00]: Watson pick it up, hold it to his head.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You, Karothers, give me that revolver.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll have no more violence come handed over.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who are you then?

[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Sherlock Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have heard of me, I see.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will represent the official police until they're arrival.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here you, he shouted to a frightened groom who had appeared at the edge of the blade.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come here, take this note as hard as you can ride to Phanam.

[SPEAKER_00]: He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his notebook.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give it to the superintendent at the police station, until he comes I must attain you all under my personal custody.

[SPEAKER_00]: The strong masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic scene, and all were equally puppets in his hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: Williamson and Carothers found themselves carrying the wounded woodley into the house, and I gave my arm to the frightened girl.

[SPEAKER_00]: The injured man was laid on his bed, and at Holmes' request I examined him.

[SPEAKER_00]: I carried my report to where he sat in the old tapestry hung dining room with his two prisoners [SPEAKER_00]: He will live, said I.

[SPEAKER_00]: What?

[SPEAKER_00]: Cried Carothers, springing out of his chair.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll go upstairs and finish him first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you tell me that that angel is to be tied to roaring Jack Woodley for life?

[SPEAKER_00]: You need not concern yourself about that, said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are two very good reasons why she should under no circumstances be his wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the first place, we are very safe in questioning Mr.

Williamson's right to solemnize a marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have been ordained, cried the old rascal.

[SPEAKER_00]: And also unfropped.

[SPEAKER_00]: Once a clergyman always a clergyman.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think not.

[SPEAKER_00]: How about the license?

[SPEAKER_00]: We had a license for the marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have it here in my pocket.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you got it by trick.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in any case, a forced marriage is no marriage, but it is a very serious felony as you will discover before you have finished.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll have time to think the point out during the next 10 years or so unless I'm mistaken.

[SPEAKER_00]: As to you, Carothers, you would have done better to keep your pistol in your pocket.

[SPEAKER_00]: I begin to think so, Mr.

Holmes, but when I thought of all the precaution I had taken to shield this girl.

[SPEAKER_00]: For I loved her, Mr.

Holmes, and it is the only time that ever I knew what love was.

[SPEAKER_00]: It fairly drove me mad to think that she was in the power of the greatest Bruton bully in South Africa.

[SPEAKER_00]: A man whose name is a holy terror from Kimberley to Johannesburg.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why, Mr.

Holmes, you'll hardly believe it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But ever since that girl has been in my employment, I never once let her go past this house where I knew the rascals were lurking, without following her on my bicycle, just to see that she came to know harm.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kept my distance from her, and I wore a beard so that she should not recognize me for she is a good and high-spirited girl, and she wouldn't have stayed in my employment long if she had thought that I was following her about the country roads.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why didn't you tell her of her danger?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because then again she would have left me and I couldn't bear to face that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if she couldn't love me, it was a great deal to me just to see her dainty form about the house and to hear the sound of her voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, said I.

[SPEAKER_00]: You call that love, Mr.

Carruthers, but I should call itselfishness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the two things go together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyhow, I couldn't let her go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, with this crowd about, it was well that she should have someone near to look after her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then, when the cable came, I knew they were bound to make a move.

[SPEAKER_00]: What cable?

[SPEAKER_00]: Carothers took a telegram from his pocket.

[SPEAKER_00]: it was short and concise.

[SPEAKER_00]: The old man is dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, Holmes, I think I see how things worked and I can understand how this message would, as you say, bring them to a head.

[SPEAKER_00]: But while you wait, you might tell me what you can.

[SPEAKER_00]: The old reprobate with the surplus burst into a volley of bad language.

[SPEAKER_00]: But by heaven, said he, if you squeal on as Bob Carruthers, I'll serve you as you serve Jack Woodley.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can bleed about the girl to your heart's content for that's your own affair.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you round on your pals to this plain clothed copper, it will be the worst days work that ever you did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your reverence need not be excited, said Holmes lighting a cigarette.

[SPEAKER_00]: The case is clear enough against you and all I ask is a few details for my private curiosity.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, if there's any difficulty in your telling me I'll do the talking and then you will see how far you have a chance of holding back your secrets.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the first place, three of you came from South Africa on this game.

[SPEAKER_00]: You Williamson, you Carrothers and Woodley.

[SPEAKER_00]: Line number one, said the old man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I never saw either of them until two months ago, and I have never been in Africa in my life, so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr.

Busybody Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: What he says is true, said Carothers.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, well, two of you came over.

[SPEAKER_00]: His reverence is our own homemade article.

[SPEAKER_00]: You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa.

[SPEAKER_00]: You had reason to believe he would not live long.

[SPEAKER_00]: You found out that his niece would inherit his fortune, how's that, eh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Carothers nodded and Williamson swore.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was next of kin no doubt, and you were aware that the old fellow would make no will.

[SPEAKER_00]: so you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl.

[SPEAKER_00]: The idea was that one of you was to marry her, and the other have a share of the plunder.

[SPEAKER_00]: For some reason, Woodley was chosen as the husband.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why was that?

[SPEAKER_00]: We played cards for her on the voyage, he won.

[SPEAKER_00]: I see.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got the young lady into your service and their woodley was to do the courting.

[SPEAKER_00]: She recognized the drunken brute that he was and would have nothing to do with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, your arrangement was rather upset by the fact that you had yourself fallen in love with the lady.

[SPEAKER_00]: You could no longer bear the idea of this ruffian owning her.

[SPEAKER_00]: No by George I couldn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: He left you in a rage and began to make his own plans independently of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can tell this gentleman cried Carothers with a bitter laugh.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we quarreled and he knocked me down.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am level with him on that anyhow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I lost sight of him.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was when he picked up with this outcast par dre here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I found that they had set up housekeeping together at this place on the line that she had to pass for the station.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kept my eye on her after that for I knew there was some devilry in the wind.

[SPEAKER_00]: I saw them from time to time for I was anxious to know what they were after.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two days ago, Woodley came up to my house with this cable, which showed that Ralph Smith was dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: He asked me if I would stand by the bargain I said I would not.

[SPEAKER_00]: He asked me if I would marry the girl myself and give him a share.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said I would willingly do so, but that she would not have me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, let us get her married first and after a week or two she may see things a bit different.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said I would have nothing to do with violence, so he went off cursing, like the foul mouth black guard that he was, and swearing that he would have her yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was leaving me this weekend and I'd got a trap to take her to the station, but I was so uneasy in my mind that I followed her on my bicycle.

[SPEAKER_00]: She had got a start, however, and before I could catch her, the mischief was done.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving back in her dog cart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the greater.

[SPEAKER_00]: said he.

[SPEAKER_00]: When in your report you said that you had seen the cyclist as you thought a range is necktie in the shrubbery that alone should have told me all.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, we may congratulate ourselves upon a curious and in some respects a unique case.

[SPEAKER_00]: I perceive three of the county constabulary in the drive, and I'm glad to see that the little Osler is able to keep pace with them.

[SPEAKER_00]: so it is likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will be permanently damaged by their morning's adventures.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Watson, that in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss Smith and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered, we should be happy to escort her to her mother's home.

[SPEAKER_00]: If she is not quite convalescent, you will find that a hint that we were about to telegraph to a young electrician in the Midlands would probably complete the cure.

[SPEAKER_00]: As to you, Mr.

Carruthers, I think that you have done what you could to make a men's for your share in an evil plot.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is my cards, sir.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if my evidence can be of help in your trial, it shall be at your disposal.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the world of our incessant activity it has often been difficult for me as the reader has probably observed to round off my narratives and to give those final details which the curious might expect.

[SPEAKER_00]: Each case has been the prelude to another and the crisis once over, the actors have passed forever out of our busy lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: I find however a short note at the end of my manuscript, dealing with this case, in which I have put it upon record that Ms.

Violet Smith did indeed inherit a large fortune, and that she is now the wife of Cyril Morton, the senior partner of Morton and Kennedy, the famous Westminster Electritions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Williamson and Woodley were both tried for abduction and assault, the former getting seven years the latter ten.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of the fate of Carothers, I have no record, but I am sure that his assault was not viewed very gravely by the court, since Woodley had the reputation of being a most dangerous ruffian.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that a few months was sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.