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"It seemed strange to associate a quiet neighborhood like ours with crime and tragedy. We have always pursued such a humdrum existence that the mere suggestion of anything out of the common frightens us. We leave our front doors unfastened at night without the least concern on the score of burglars, and in all the years I have been living here, I don't recollect any of my parishioners getting into trouble, except for an occasional outburst at Fair time.
"And yet we are right in the midst of duplicity and crime of the vilest description. I was intuitively afraid of it before I examined the black pocket-book, but I was not prepared for such extraordinary disclosures.