I wonder who first picked out a mule as the type of obstinacy?
How little knowledge that man must have had of women! There was no help for it.

I took down my instructions in black and white, as usual.

My first exertions were to be directed to the discovery of Mr.Michael Vanstone's address: I was also expected to find out how long he was likely to live there, and whether he had sold Combe-Raven or not.

My next inquiries were to inform me of his ordinary habits of life; of what he did with his money; of who his intimate friends were; and of the sort of terms on which his son, Mr.Noel Vanstone, was now living with him.

Lastly, the investigations were to end in discovering whether there was any female relative, or any woman exercising domestic authority in the house, who was known to have an influence over either father or son.
If my long practice in cultivating the field of human sympathy had not accustomed me to private investigations into the affairs of other people, I might have found some of these queries rather difficult to deal with in the course of a week.