"ah, watson," said holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune. i think that we may judge lord st. simon very mercifully and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the same position. draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings."