t it would paralyze the
resistance which might be offered."

"No doubt. There only remains one difficulty. If Stapleton came
into the succession, how could he explain the fact that he, the
heir, had been living unannounced under another name so close to
the property? How could he claim it without causing suspicion and
inquiry?"

"It is a formidable difficulty, and I fear that you ask too much
when you expect me to solve it. The past and the present are
within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the
future is a hard question to answer. Mrs. Stapleton has heard her
husband discuss the problem on several occasions. There were
three possible courses. He might claim the property from South
America, establish his identity before the British authorities
there and so obtain the fortune without ever coming to England at
all; or he might adopt an elaborate disguise during the short
time that he need be in London; or, again, he might furnish an
accomplice with the proofs and papers, putting him in as heir,
and retaining a claim upon some proportion of his income. We
cannot doubt from what we know of him that he would have found
some way out of the difficulty. And now, my dear Watson, we have
had some weeks of severe work, and for one evening, I think, we
may turn our thoughts into more pleasant channels. I have a box
for 'Les Huguenots.' Have you heard the De Reszkes? Might I
trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at
Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?"

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Arthur Conan Doyle

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