a/n: The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor retold in Blues Stanzas

Many thanks to Ennui Enigma and Zaydee for encouragement and suggestions.

'Frisco Gold

I have a tale to tell to you now, a tale which should be told,

As other tales, I've written down, were destined to be told;

The tale of Lord St Simon and his claim on 'Frisco gold.

~0~

You'd think he'd be a wealthy man, this noble English lord;

With no financial worries as a noble English lord;

But the title and the attitude were all he could afford.

~0~

Until he met his wife-to-be; a California maid,

Until he met a rich and comely California maid.

He reckoned up her assets and soon wedding plans were laid.

~0~

They married, on the quiet; on the day that they were wed,

His blushing and attractive bride seemed glad that they were wed;

But before they'd finished breakfast it was clear the girl had fled.

~0~

Abduction? Exile? Homicide? St Simon couldn't tell;

The wedding plans seemed perfect; what went wrong? He couldn't tell.

He seemed perplexed at what had started out, that day, so well.

~0~

He told the Great Detective of her less than top notch past;

A childhood spent in mining camps; a wild tomboyish past.

He nobly overlooked it ( well, her fortune was quite vast.)

~0~

He also spoke of Flora, whom he'd nobly cast aside;

She had no gold-strike fortune, so, of course, was cast aside;

A girl just right for foolin' with; but no potential bride.

~0~

He also mentioned something which had happened in the church;

A man approached his dear betrothed, while walking through the church;

And now this girl had been and gone and left him in the lurch.

~0~

Did wasteland need examining, should London ponds be drained?

Had someone drowned his darling? Should the fountain pools be drained?

Remove the quite impossible; check out what else remained.

~0~

His bride's swift disappearance was, in fact, quite simply solved;

With Holmes upon the bridal path, the case was swiftly solved;

St Simon hadn't figured out the elements involved.

~0~

St Simon hadn't wed before; his bride, it turned out, had;

On a gold field in the Rockies, it turned out his sweetheart had;

She'd thought her groom deceased; found out he wasn't, and was glad.

~0~

So Hatty's with the husband she had wed those years before;

St Simon's now a bachelor, again, just like before.

And he has no 'Frisco fortune, and his noble pride is sore.

~0~

So if you have a hankering to own some 'Frisco gold

Make sure there are no other claims upon that pile of gold

And there are nobler reasons to be wed; if truth be told.

~0~