lady who had passed as his sister. I admit that I was greatly shocked
by the news, and found it hard to believe, but Mr. Holmes proved it to me
with a photograph of the couple taken in York under the name of Vandeleur
and descriptions by people who knew them at the time they kept St. Oliver's
private school. I had no doubt of their identity. 
The man had offered me marriage on condition that I could get a divorce 
from my husband. The villain had lied to me in every conceivable way. Not 
one word of truth has he ever told me. And why - why? I imagined that it was
all for my own sake, but now I see that I was never anything but a tool in 
his hands. Why should I try to shield him from the consequences of his own 
wicked acts? One thing I swear to you, and that is that when I wrote the 
letter I never dreamed of any harm to the old gentleman, who had been my
kindest friend. It was Stapleton who dictated the letter I sent to Sir 
