days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that his
lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he came in,
but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there he was with a
cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the other, as fresh and trim
as possible.
You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson, said he, but you
remember that our client has rather an early appointment this morning.
Why, it is after nine now, I answered. I should not be surprised if
that were he. I thought I heard a ring.
It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the change
which had come over him, for his face which was naturally of a broad
and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, while his hair seemed
to me at least a shade whiter. He entered with a weariness and lethargy
which was even more painful than his violence of the morning before,
and he dropped heavily into the armchair which I pushed forward for
him.
I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried, said he.
Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without a care in
the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured age. One sorrow
comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Mary, has deserted
me.
Deserted you?
Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was empty,
and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to her last
night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had married my boy all
might have been well with him. Perhaps it was thoughtless of me to say
so. It is to that remark that she refers in this note:
MY DEAREST UNCLE, I feel that I have brought trouble upon you,
and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune might
never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my mind, ever
again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must leave you
forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is provided for;
and, above all, do not search for me, for it will be fruitless
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