What were they doing, and why did they not instantly give the alarm?
That is the question which faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely have gone some way to solve our problem." "I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding between those two people.

She must be a heartless creature to sit laughing at some jest within a few hours of her husband's murder." "Exactly.

She does not shine as a wife even in her own account of what occurred.

I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind, as you are aware, Watson, but my experience of life has taught me that there are few wives, having any regard for their husbands, who would let any man's spoken word stand between them and that husband's dead body.
Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some feeling which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a few yards of her.

It was badly stage-managed; for even the rawest investigators must be struck by the absence of the usual feminine ululation.