Sherlock Holmes

Well, it might be so.

Or, well, there is an alternative.

But to continue our review of the situation from the time that the quarrel began, the lady keeps her room, alters her habits, is not seen save when she drives out with her maid,

and refuses to stop at the stables even to greet her favourite horse.

That covers the case, does it not?

Save for the business in the crypt.

Ah, yes, yes, the crypt.

Let us suppose, it's merely a scandalous supposition, a hypothesis put forward for argument's sake, but let us suppose that Sir Robert Norburton has done away with his system.

My dear Holmes, it's out of the question.

Very possibly, Watson, very possibly.

He's a man of honourable stock.

Let us argue upon this supposition for a moment.

We will.

He's utterly in debt and may at any moment be sold up in his racing stable, seized by his creditors.

Now, he's a daring and desperate man.

He derives his income from his sister.

His sister's maid is his willing tool.

So far, we seem to be on fairly safe ground, do we not?

God didn't.

But he could not fly the country until he had realized his fortune.