The Adventure of the Priory School - Page 2

visitor threw up his hands. "Have you heard
nothing of the abduction of the only son of the Duke of
Holdernesse?"

"What! the late Cabinet Minister?"

"Exactly. We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there
was some rumor in the GLOBE last night. I thought it might have
reached your ears."

Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume "H" in
his encyclopaedia of reference.

"'Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.'--half the alphabet! 'Baron
Beverley, Earl of Carston'--dear me, what a list! 'Lord
Lieutenant of Hallamshire since 1900. Married Edith, daughter of
Sir Charles Appledore, 1888. Heir and only child, Lord Saltire.
Owns about two hundred and fifty thousand acres. Minerals in
Lancashire and Wales. Address: Carlton House Terrace;
Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire; Carston Castle, Bangor, Wales.
Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief Secretary of State for----'
Well, well, this man is certainly one of the greatest subjects
of the Crown!"

"The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest. I am aware, Mr.
Holmes, that you take a very high line in professional matters,
and that you are prepared to work for the work's sake. I may
tell you, however, that his Grace has already intimated that a
check for five thousand pounds will be handed over to the person
who can tell him where his son is, and another thousand to him
who can name the man or men who have taken him."

"It is a princely offer," said Holmes. "Watson, I think that we
shall accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the north of England. And
now, Dr. Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk, you will
kindly tell me what has happened, when it happened, how it
happened, and, finally, what Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, of the
Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do with the matter, and
why he comes three days after an event--the state of your chin
gives the date--to ask for my humble services."

Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits. The light had
come back to his eyes and the colour to his cheeks, as he set
himself with great vigour and lucidity to explain the situation.

"I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory
school, of which I am the founder and principal. HUXTABLE'S
SIDELIGHTS ON HORACE may possibly recall my name to your
memories. The Priory is, without exception, the best and most
select preparatory school in England. Lord Leverstoke, the Earl
of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames--they all have intrusted
their sons to me. But I felt that my school had reached its
zenith when, weeks ago, the Duke of Holdernesse sent Mr. James
Wilder, his secretary, with intimation that young Lord Saltire,
ten years old, his only son and heir, was about to be committed
to my