something more solid.”“I have very little difficulty in finding what I want,” said I, “for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as remarkable. Ifeared to refer them to you, however, as I knew that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the intrusion of othermatters.”“Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it wasobvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your newspaper selections.”“Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeksback: ‘A marriage has been arranged,’ it says, ‘and will, if rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert St.Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Francisco,Cal., U.S.A.’ That is all.”“Terse and to the point,” remarked Holmes, stretching his long, thin legs towards the fire.“There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: ‘There will soon be a callfor protection in the marriage market, for the present free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home product. One byone the management of the noble houses of Great Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across the Atlantic.An important addition has been made during the last week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by thesecharming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself for over twenty years proof against the little god’s arrows, has nowdefinitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. MissDoran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, and it iscurrently reported that her dowry will run to considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the future. As it is an opensecret that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has noproperty of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by analliance which will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a British peeress.’”“Anything else?” asked Holmes, yawning.“Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that itwould be at St. George’s, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would returnto the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Wednesdaylast--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord
