Explore "The Ayrsham Mystery" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"That was the past history of Old Newton," continued the man in the corner, after a brief pause, "that is to say, of the man who on a dark night last October was found murdered in a lonely lane, not far from Ayrsham. The public, as you may well imagine, took a very keen interest in the case from the outset: the story of Mary Newton, of the threatened breach of promise, of the £5,000 damages, roused masses of conjecture to which no one has yet dared to give definite shape.
"One name, however, had already been whispered significantly, that of Mr. Mervin Ledbury, the young Hussar, one of Mary Newton's admirers at the very time she left home in order, as she said, to be married to some one above her in station.