James
Wilder, and that he is not the murderer."
"No; the murderer has escaped."
Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
"Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which
I possess, or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me.
Mr. Reuben Hayes was arrested at Chesterfield on my information
at eleven o'clock last night. I had a telegram from the head
of the local police before I left the school this morning."
The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement
at my friend.
"You seem to have powers that are hardly human," said he.
"So Reuben Hayes is taken? I am right glad to hear it,
if it will not react upon the fate of James."
"Your secretary?"
"No, sir; my son."
It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
"I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace.
I must beg you to be more explicit."
"I will conceal nothing from you. I agree with you that
complete frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the
best policy in this desperate situation to which James's folly
and jealousy have reduced us. When I was a very young man,
Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love as comes only once in
a lifetime.
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