Hilton Cubitt,
but I should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it
all again for the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson."
"I'm not much of a story-teller," said our visitor, nervously
clasping and unclasping his great, strong hands. "You'll just
ask me anything that I don't make clear. I'll begin at the time
of my marriage last year; but I want to say first of all that,
though I'm not a rich man, my people have been at Ridling Thorpe
for a matter of five centuries, and there is no better known
family in the County of Norfolk. Last year I came up to London
for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in Russell
Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in
it. There was an American young lady there -- Patrick was the
name -- Elsie Patrick. In some way we became friends, until
before my month was up I was as much in love as a man could be.
We were quietly married at a registry office, and we returned to
Norfolk a wedded couple. You'll think it very mad, Mr. Holmes,
that a man of a good old family should marry a wife in this
fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her people; but if
you saw her and knew her it would help you to understand.
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