It was a curious , and , as some people thought , an ominous fact , that , very soon after the workmen began their operationsoperation, the spring of water , above mentioned , entirely lostlosethe deliciousness of its pristine quality .
CHAPTER I I TAKE A COUNTRY HOUSE This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lostloseher mind , deserteddeserther domestic gods in the city , tooktakea furnished house for the summer out of town , and foundfindherself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous .
“ They have lostlosethe scent , ” saidsaythe old horse ; “ perhaps the hare will get off . ”
She might have looked her thanks to Gabriel on a minute scale , but she did not speak them ; more probably she felt none , for in gaininggainher a passage he had lostloseher her point , and we know how women take a favour of that kind .
_ Chapter I _ Miss Marjoribanks lostloseher mother when she was only fifteen , and when , to add to the misfortune , she was absentabsentat school , and could not have it in her power to soothe her dear mamma 's last moments , as she herself saidsay.
" I 've lostlosethe best missus as ever was , and I should n't mind going after her .
Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer 's hands ; but Sir Walter had improvedimproveit by addingadd, for the information of himself and his family , these words , after the date of Mary 's birthbirth-- " Marriedmarry, December 16 , 1810 , Charles , son and heir of Charles Musgrove , Esq. of Uppercross , in the county of Somerset , " and by insertinginsertmost accurately the day of the month on which he had lostlosehis wife .