Now Dr Roylott has only a large, old house and a small piece of land.
The house is called Stoke Moran. I'm living at Stoke Moran with
Dr Roylott now.
'When my stepfather was young, he studied medicine. After
he became a doctor, he went to India. That's where he met my
mother and later married her.
'My mother was a rich woman,' went on Miss Stoner. 'She
had a private income. Every year, she received a sum of about one
thousand pounds from her bank. When she married Dr Roylott,
an agreement was made about this money.'
'What was this agreement?' asked Holmes.
'If my mother died,' replied Miss Stoner, 'Dr Roylott would
inherit7
her income. After her death, he would receive one
thousand pounds every year.
'But if my sister or I married, some of the one thousand pounds
would go to us instead. We would receive part of the money.'
'I see,' said Holmes.
'After some years, we returned to England from India,' continued
Miss Stoner. 'But soon after we got back, my mother was
killed in an accident. At first, all our neighbours at Stoke Moran
were friendly with my stepfather. They were very happy that
someone from the Roylott family was living at Stoke Moran again.
'But my stepfather didn't want to make friends with anyone.
Whenever he went out, he quarrelled with somebody. He is a
very bad-tempered man and gets angry quickly. Soon, all our
neighbours were afraid of him.'
'Didn't he have any friends at all?' asked Holmes.
'His only friends were gypsies8
,' said Miss Stoner. 'These
gypsies move round the country in bands9
. Dr Roylott allows
these gypsies to camp on his land.
'Dr Roylott is also very fond of Indian animals. Two of these
- a cheetah and a baboon10
- were sent to him from India. They
run around freely over his land. Everyone is terrified of these
dangerous animals.