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." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen you." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your ears.