say may be used in evidence. But if you think that he has acted
from motives which are not criminal, and which he would wish to
have known, then you cannot serve him better than by telling us
the whole story."

"Now that Gorgiano is dead we fear nothing," said the lady. "He
was a devil and a monster, and there can be no judge in the world
who would punish my husband for having killed him."

"In that case," said Holmes, "my suggestion is that we lock this
door, leave things as we found them, go with this lady to her
room, and form our opinion after we have heard what it is that
she has to say to us."

Half an hour later we were seated, all four, in the small
sitting-room of Signora Lucca, listening to her remarkable
narrative of those sinister events, the ending of which we had
chanced to witness. She spoke in rapid and fluent but very
unconventional English, which, for the sake of clearness, I will
make grammatical.

"I was born in Posilippo, near Naples," said she, "and was the
daughter of Augusto Barelli, who was the chief lawyer and once
the deputy of that part. Gennaro was in my father's employment,
and I came to love him, as any woman must. He had neither money
nor position--nothing but his beauty and strength and energy--so
my father forbade the match. We fled together, were married at
Bari, and sold my jewels to gain the money which would take us to
America. This was four years ago, and we have been in New York
ever since.