Emma Orczy

“ Owen was murdered. Do you know by whom?"
He laughed, and drew forth the piece of string he always fidgeted with when unravelling some mystery.
"You would like to know who murdered that old woman?" he asked at last.
"I would like to hear your views on the subject," Polly replied.
"I have no views," he said dryly. "No one can know who murdered the woman, since no one ever saw the person who did it. No one can give the faintest description of the mysterious man who alone could have committed that clever deed, and the police are playing a game of blind man's buff." ”

“ They are only studios by name, and are merely a set of rooms in a corner house, with the windows slightly enlarged, and the rents charged accordingly in consideration of that additional five inches of smoky daylight, filtering through dusty windows. On the ground floor there is the order office of some stained glass works, with a workshop in the rear, and on the first floor landing a small room allotted to the caretaker, with gas, coal, and fifteen shillings a week, for which princely income she is deputed to keep tidy and clean the general aspect of the house. ”

“ Dick thought, moreover, that Miss Polly spent more of her leisure time now in that A. B. C. shop than she had done in his own company before, and told her so, with that delightful air of sheepish sulkiness which the male creature invariably wears when he feels jealous and won't admit it. ”