Worse still, she was rich.

If Holmes's researches were successful, she would be an heiress.

Was it fair, was it honorable, that a half-pay surgeon should take such advantage of an intimacy which chance had brought about?
Might she not look upon me as a mere vulgar fortune-seeker?
I could not bear to risk that such a thought should cross her mind.

This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us.
It was nearly two o'clock when we reached Mrs.Cecil Forrester's.

The servants had retired hours ago, but Mrs.Forrester had been so interested by the strange message which Miss Morstan had received that she had sat up in the hope of her return.