第537页 / 共657页

"You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he.

"You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have

recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into

any little problem which you may submit to me."

The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting

against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his

brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us.

"No doubt you think me mad?" said he.

"I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes.

"God knows I have!-a trouble which is enough to unseat my reason,

so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might have

faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet borne a

stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; but the

two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been enough

to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. The very

noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found out of

this horrible affair."