Sherlock Holmes Investigates

 

And so our visitor began her tale.

"My name is Helen Steiner, and I am living with my stepfather, who is the last of one of the oldest families in England, the Roylotts, of Surrey."

Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," he said.

"The family was once one of the richest in England, and owned property in Berkshire in the north, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four successive heirs were all corrupt and wasteful. The family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler sixty years ago. Nothing was left except a few acres of land and the 200 year-old-house. The last squire stayed there, living the horrible life of a poor aristocrat. But his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must change to the new conditions, borrowed money from a relative, and obtained a medical degree. He went to Calcutta, where by his professional skill and his force of character, he became successful. Then, in a fit of anger, caused by some robberies in the house, he beat his butler to death. He was almost hanged, but instead he spent a long time in prison, and afterwards returned to England a bad-tempered and disappointed man.

Vocabulary:

Tale: Story.
Stepfather: The husband of a woman who has a child that is not his.
Surrey, Berkshire and Hampshire: English counties.
Heirs: People who receive money from someone who has just died.
Corrupt: Bad, acting wrongly.
Gambler: Someone who puts money on horses, or bets in a casino.
Ruin : What is left after everything is destroyed.
Squire: The lowest rank of the English aristocracy.
Acre : A measure of land, about ½ a hectare.
Degree: Here it means a qualification from a university.
Fit: An attack of illness or emotion.
Butler: The chief servant in a house.