Sherlock Holmes Investigates

 

While Dr Roylott was in India he married my mother, who was a widow. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of my mother's re-marriage. Shortly after our return to England, my mother died - she was killed eight years ago in a railway accident. She had a considerable sum of money, and this she left to Dr Roylott entirely while we lived with him, with the provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage. On the death of my mother, Dr Roylott abandoned his attempts to work in London as a doctor, and took us to live with him in his old ancestral house at Stoke Moran The money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there seemed no obstacle to our happiness.

But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours, who had at first had been overjoyed to see a Roylott back in the old family seat at Stoke Moran, he shut himself up in his house and seldom came out except to indulge in furious quarrels with whoever he might meet.

Vocabulary:

Widow: A woman whose husband has died.
Sum: An amount, a certain quantity.
Leave: Here it means to give somebody something after you have died.
Provision: A condition, to say that something particular must be done in certain circumstances.
Annual: Every year.
In the event: If something happen.
Abandon: To give up, to stop attempting.
Ancestral: To do with members of your family who were born before you
Wants: Things which you need.
Overjoyed: Extremely happy.
Seat: Here it means the traditional home of your family.
Seldom: Not very often.
Indulge: To do something because you enjoy it.
Whoever: Any person.