The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes Read Online Free PDF Page B

had remarked on how wonderful a daughter-in-law she might make. It did not take any great intelligence to understand what was afoot, she said. Mr. and Mrs. Staunton, with the very best of intentions, had decided that it was high time that she should marry and that they would take an active role in the search for a suitable husband.
    “Naturally, Mr. Holmes, I had never divulged to them my love for James or the difficulties with my father. These were family secrets. For my part, I had decided to wait for James, or, should he never appear, to spend my life in spinsterhood, for I could love no other man.”
    In the spring, she continued, Mr. Reginald Maxwell, son of Humphrey Maxwell, came to St. David’s for a visit. He was a most attractive and intelligent young man, who, when she first saw him, made her heart beat fast, for certain of his features so reminded her of James that she thought surely her mind was playing tricks. Reginald was only a few years older than she, in fact only a year older than James, and a young man of great prospects. He was a graduate of Oxford in law and had decided to pursue a career in government abroad. He was now in training in London and at the end of the year would leave for his first post, which was to be Nairobi. He was obviously looking for a suitable wife to take with him.
    “I turned out to be his choice. For whatever reasons, Mr. Holmes, Reginald soon fell in love with me and so filled that week’s visit with his kind attention that I began to waver in my resolve. We took long walks along the Welsh coast and we found each other easy company. After he left, I began to think that James would never reappear—all I had was the short note that he had sent me, a note so covered with tears and so pressed by my hand that it was nothing more than a bundled wad of paper—that rather than spend a life living off some brief memories, perhaps indeed I should marry this man. Reginald returned for several visits and despite his obvious love and attention, one thing was clear to me: I did not love him. I loved James and I could not change that. Could I lead a life married to a man whom I did not love, being at the same time secretly in love with someone else?”
    By the late summer, it was apparent that Reginald would soon propose marriage. She had decided on a course of action in that eventuality. Should he do so, she would tell him that she had loved a man who left, that she thought that he would never return and was presumed to be dead. She would marry Reginald only if he understood that, and that she hoped some day to love him, but that if they married he would have to be patient and give time for her love to grow and to overcome the past.
    “On one of his summer visits, on a short walk from the house one evening, Reginald did indeed propose to me. I informed him of my conditions. He replied that he accepted them, enthusiastically even, for he loved me more than anything in the world and that only being in my presence was enough to make him happy. I made the fateful decision then to marry Reginald Maxwell. I notified my mother and informed her that Reginald was to pay a visit to ask my father for my hand and that I had accepted his offer. Shortly thereafter, Reginald visited my father and received his immediate consent. My father appeared overjoyed at the prospect of the alliance, for Humphrey Maxwell had a certain position and reputation in London society.”
    They were married in the early fall and took up residence in London. About a month after their wedding, Mr. Humphrey Maxwell fell ill. Reginald spent his last hours with him and the doctors tried everything, but his heart finally gave out and he died within the week. Reginald was filled with sorrow at his father’s passing, but soon thereafter the couple set sail from Southampton for Nairobi.
    The trip was a long and beautiful one. Reginald, she said, seemed to recover from his father’s death, but at times she became tormented, for she