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A Case of Identity - Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · Adventure Books Library

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A case of identity, my dear fellow, said Sherlock Holmes, as we
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sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street. Life
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is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would
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not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If
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we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great
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city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which
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are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross purposes,
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the wonderful chains of events working through generations and leading to the most utra results.
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It would make all fiction, with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions, most
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stale and unprofitable. And yet I am not convinced of it, I answered.
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The cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule
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bald enough and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to
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its extreme limits, and yet the result is it must be confessed neither fascinating
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nor artistic. A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic
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effect. Remarked Holmes. This is wanting in the police report, where more
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stress is laid perhaps upon the platitudes of the magistrate, than upon the details,
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which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter depend upon
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it. There is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace. I smiled and shook
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my head. I can quite understand your thinking, so I said. Of
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course, in your position of unofficial adviser and helper to everybody who is absolutely
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puzzled throughout the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is
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strange and bizarre. But here I picked up the morning paper from the ground.
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Let us put it to a practical test. Here is the first heading
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upon which I come, A husband's cruelty to his wife. There is half
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a column of print, but I know without reading it that it is all
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perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course the other woman, the
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drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or
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landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more crude. Indeed, your
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example is an unfortunate one for your argument, said Holmes, taking the paper
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and glancing his eye down it. This is the dundass separation case. And
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as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection
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with it. The husband was a teetotaler, and there was no other woman,
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And the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of
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winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his
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wife, which you will allow is not an action likely to occur to the
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imagination of the average story teller. Take a pinch of snuff, doctor,
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and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example. He held out
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his snuff box of old gold with a great amethyst in the center of the
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lid. Its splendor was in such contrast to his homely ways and simple life
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that I could not help commenting upon it, Ah said he. I forgot
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that I had not seen you for some weeks. It is a little souvenir
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from the King of Bohemia, in return for my assistance in the case of
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the irene Adler papers and the ring. I asked, glancing at a remarkable
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brilliant which sparkled upon his finger. It was from the reigning family of Holland.
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Though the matter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I
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cannot confide it even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one
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or two of my little problems. And have you any on hand just now?
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I asked, with interest, some ten or twelve, but none which
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present any feature of interest. They are important, you understand, without being
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interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that
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there is a field for the observation and for the quick analysis of cause and
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effect, which gives the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt
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to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious.
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As a rule is the motive. In these cases. Save for one rather
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intricate matter, which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing
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which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, that I
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may have something better before or very many minutes are over, for this is
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one of my clients, or I am much mistaken. He had risen from
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his chair and was standing between the parted blinds, gazing down into the dull,
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neutral tinted London street. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on
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the pavement opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her
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neck and a large curling red feather in a broad brimmed hat, which was
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tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this
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great panoply, she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows,
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while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her
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glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves
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the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang
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of the bell. I have seen those symptoms before, said Holmes, throwing
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his cigarette into the fire. Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affere de
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cours. She would like advice, but she is not sure that the matter
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is not too delicate for communication. And yet even here we may discriminate.
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When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man, she no longer oscillates,
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and the usual symptom is a broken bell wire. Here we may take
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it that there is a love matter, but that the maiden is not so
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much angry as perplexed or grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve
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our doubts. As he spoke, there was a tap at the door,
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and the boy in buttons entered to announce miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady
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herself loomed behind his small black figure, like a full sailed merchantman behind a
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tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he
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was remarkable, and having closed the door and bowed her into an arm chair,
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he looked her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar
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to him. Do you not find? He said, that with your short
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sight, it is a little trying to do so much typewriting. I did
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it first, she answered, but now I know where the letters are without
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looking. Then, suddenly realizing the full purport of his words, she gave
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a violent start and looked up with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good
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humored face. You've heard about me, mister Holmes, she cried. Else,
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how could you know all that? Never mind, said Holmes, laughing,
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it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to
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see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me.
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I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from missus
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Ethridge, whose husband you found so easy when the police and ever one had
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given him up for dead. Oh, mister Holmes, I wish you would
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do as much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a
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hundred a year in my own right, besides the little that I make by
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the machine, and I would give it all to know what has become of
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mister Hosmer Angel. Why did you come away to consult me in such a
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hurry, asked Sherlock Holmes, with his finger tips together and his eyes to
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the ceiling. Again, A startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of
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Miss Mary Sutherland. Yes, I did bang out of the house, she
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said, for it made me angry to see the easy way in which mister
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Windebank, that is my father, took it all. He would not go
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to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at
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last, as he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no
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harm done. It made me mad, and I just on with my things
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and came right away to you. Your father, said Holmes, your stepfather,
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surely, since the name is different, Yes, my stepfather, I
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call him father, though it sounds funny too, for he is only five
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years and two months older than myself. And your mother is alive. Oh,
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yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased mister Holmes
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when she married again so soon after father's death, and a man who was
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nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was a plumber in the Tottenham Court
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Road, and he left a tidy business behind him, which mother carried on
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with mister Hardy, the foreman. But when mister Windebank came he made her
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sell the business, for he was very superior, being a traveler in wines.
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They got forty seven hundred pounds for the good will and interest, which
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wasn't near as much as father could have got if he had been alive.
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I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling and inconsequential narrative,
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but on the contrary, he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.
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Your own little income, he asked, does it come out of the business.
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Oh no, sir, it is quite separate and was left me by
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my uncle ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand, stock paying four
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and a half percent. Two thousand, five hundred pounds was the amount.
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But I can only touch the interest. You interest me extremely, said Holmes.
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And since you draw so large a sum as a hundred a year,
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with what you earn into the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and
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indulge yourself in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on
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very nicely upon an income of about sixty pounds. I could do with much
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less than that, mister Holmes. But you understand that as long as I
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live at home, I don't wish to be a burden to them, and
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so they have the use of the money just while I am staying with them.
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Of course, that is only just for the time. Mister Windebank draws
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my interest every quarter and pays it over to mother. And I find that
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I can do pretty well with what I earn at typewriting. It brings me
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twopence a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in
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a day. You have made your position very clear to me, said Holmes.
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This is my friend, doctor Watson, before whom you can speak as
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freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with mister
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Hosmer. Angel a flush stole over, Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked
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nervously at the fringe of her jacket. I met him first at the gas
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Footer's ball. She said. They used to send Father tickets when he was
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alive, and then afterwards they remembered us and sent them to mother. Mister
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Windebank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go
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anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join
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a Sunday school treat. But this time I was set on going, and
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I would go. For what right had he to prevent? He said the
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folk were not fit for us to know when all father's friends were to be
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there. And he said that I had nothing fit to wear when I had
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my purple plush, that I had never so much as taken out of the
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drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to
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France upon the business of the firm. But we went, Mother and I
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with mister Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was there
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I met mister Hosmer angel. I suppose, said Holmes, that when mister
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Windebank came back from France, he was very annoyed at your having gone to
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the oh well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I
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remembered, and shrugged his shoulders and said, there was no use denying anything
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to a woman, for she would have her way. I see. Then,
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at the Gasford's ball, you met, as I understand, a gentleman
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called mister Hosmer Angel. Yes, sir, I met him that night,
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and he called next day to ask if we had got home all safe.
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And after that we had met him, that is to say, mister Holmes,
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I met him twice for walks. But after that Father came back again,
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and mister Hosmer Angel could not come to the house any more. No,
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Well, you know, Father didn't like anything of the sort. He
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wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it. And he used to say
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that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then,
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as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to
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begin with, and I had not got mine yet. But how about mister
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Hosmer Angel. Did he make no attempt to see you? Well? Father
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was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer wrote and said
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that it would be safer and better not to see each other until he had
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gone. We could write in the meantime, and he used to write every
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day. I took the letters in in the morning, so there was no
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need for father to know. Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?
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Oh, yes, mister Holmes, we were engaged after the first walk
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that we took, Holsmer. Mister Angel was a cashier in an office in
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Leadenhall Street. And what office. That's the worst of it, mister Holmes.
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I don't know where did he live? Then he slept on the premises,
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and you don't know his address, no, except that it was Leadenhall
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Street. Where did you address your letters? Then to the Luddenhall Street post
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Office to be left till called for. He said that if they were sent
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to the office, he would be chafed by all the other clerks about having
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letters from a lady. So I offered to typewrite them like he did his,
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but he wouldn't have that, for he said that when I wrote them
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they seemed to come from me, but when they were typewritten, he always
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felt that the machine had come between us. That will just show you how
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fond he was of me, mister Holmes, and the little things that he
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would think of it was most suggestive, said Holmes. It has long been
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an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Can
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you remember any other little things about mister Hosmer Angel. He was a very
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shy man, mister Holmes. He would rather walk with me in the evening
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than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be conspicuous,
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very retiring, and gentlemanly. He won even his voice was gentle. He'd
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had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he told me,
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and it had left him with a weak throat and a hesitating, whispering fashion
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of speech. He was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but
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his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses
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against the glare. Well, and what happened when mister Windebank, your stepfather
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returned to France. Mister Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that
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we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and made
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me swear with my hands on the testament that whatever happened, I would always
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be true to him. Mother said he was quite right to make me swear,
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and that it was a sign of his passion. Mother was all in
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his favor from the first and was even fonder of him than I was.
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Then, when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask
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about Father, but they both said never to mind about Father, but just
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to tell him afterwards, and Mother said she would make it all right with
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him. I didn't quite like that, mister Holmes. It seemed funny that
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I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than
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me. But I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I
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wrote to Father at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices. But
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the letter came back to me on the very morning of the wedding. It
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missed him, then, yes, sir, for he had started to England
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just before it arrived. Huh, that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged
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then for the Friday. Was it to be in church, Yes, sir,
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but very quietly. It was to be at Saint Savior's near King's Cross,
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and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the Saint Pancras hotel. Hosmer
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came for us in a hansom, but as there were two of us.
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He put us both into it and stepped himself into a four wheeler, which
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happened to be the only other cab in the street. We got to the
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church first, and when the four wheeler drove up, we waited for him
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to step out, but he never did, and when the cabman got down
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from the box and looked, there was no one there. The cabman said
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that he could not imagine what had become of him, for he had seen
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him get in with his own eyes. That was last Friday, mister Holmes,
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and I have never seen or heard anything since then to throw any light
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upon what became of him. It seems to me that you have been very
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shamefully treated, said Holmes. Oh no, sir, he was too good
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and kind to leave me. So why all the morning he was saying to
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me that whatever happened I was to be true, and that even if something
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quite unforeseen occurred to separate us, I was always to remember that I was
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pledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later.
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It seemed strange talk for a wedding morning, But what has happened since gives
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a meaning to it. Most certainly it does your own opinion is then that
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some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him? Yes, sir, I believe that
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he foresaw some danger, or else he would not have talked so. And
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then I think that what he foresaw happened, But you have no notion as
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to what it could have been? None. One more question? How did
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your mother take the matter? She was angry and said that I was never
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to speak of the matter again. And your father did you tell him?
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Yes? And he seemed to think with me that something had happened, and
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that I should hear of Hosmer again, as he said, what interest could
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anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the church and then leaving?
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Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had married me
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and got my money settled on him, there might be some reason. But
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Hosemer was very independent about money, and never would look at a shilling of
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mine. And yet what could have happened? And why could he not write?
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Oh? It drives me half mad to think of it, and I
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can't sleep a wink at night. She pulled a little handkerchief out of her
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muff and began to sob heavily into it. I shall glance into the case
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for you, said Holmes, rising, and I have no doubt that we
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shall reach some definite result. Let the weight of the matter rest upon me
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now, and do not let your mind dwell upon it. Further, above
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all, try to let mister Hosmer Angel vanish from your memory as he has
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done from your life. Then you don't think I'll see him again? I
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fear not. Then what has happened to him? You will leave that question
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in my hand. I should like an accurate description of him, and any
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letters of his which you can spare. I advertised for him in last Saturday's
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chronicle, said she Here is the slip, and here are four letters from
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him. Thank you, and your address thirty one Lyons Place, Camberwell,
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mister Angel's address you never had. I understand. Where is your father's place
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of business? He travels for Westhouse and Marbank, the Great Claret importers of
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Fenchurch Street. Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You
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will leave the papers here and remember the advice which I have given you.
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Let the whole incident be a sealed book and do not allow it to affect
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your life. You are very kind mister Holmes. But I cannot do that.
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I shall be true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he
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comes back. For all the preposterous and the vacuous face, there was something
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noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled our respect. She laid
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her little bundle of papers upon the table and went her way, with a
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promise to come again whenever she might be summoned. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for
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a few minutes, with his finger tips still pressed together, his legs stretched
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out in front of him, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling.
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Then he took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which
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was to him as a counselor, and having lit it, he leaned back
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in his chair, with the thick blue cloud wreathed spinning up from him,
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and a look of infinite languor upon his face. Quite an interesting study that
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maiden, he observed. I found her more interesting than her little problem,
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which by the way, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel
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cases if you consult my index in andover in seventy seven, and there was
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something of the sort at the Hague last year, old as is the idea.
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However, there were one or two details which were new to me.
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But the maiden herself was most instructive. You appeared to read a good deal
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upon her, which was quite invisible to me, I remarked, not invisible
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but unnoticed. Watson, you did not know where to look, and so
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you missed all that was important. I can never bring you to realize the
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importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumbnails, or the great issues that may
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hang from a bootlace. Now what did you gather from that woman's appearance?
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Describe it well? She had a slate colored, broad brimmed straw hat with
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a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads
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sewn upon it and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dress was
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brown, rather darker than coffee color, with a little purple plush at the
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neck and sleeves. Her gloves were grayish and were worn through at the right
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forefinger. Her boots I didn't observe. She had small, round hanging gold
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earrings, and her general air of being fairly well to do in a vulgar,
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comfortable, easy going way. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and
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chuckled upon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
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really done very well. Indeed, it is true that you have missed everything
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of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you have a
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quick eye for color. Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but
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concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve.
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In a man, it is perhaps better first to take the knee of the
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trouser. As you observe, this woman had plushed upon her sleeves, which
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is a most useful material for showing traces. The double line a little above
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the wrist where the typewritist presses against the table was beautifully defined. The sewing
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machine of the hand type leaves a similar mark, put only on the left
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arm and on the right of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being
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right across the broadest part. As this was, I then glanced at her
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face, and, observing the dint of a pince nez at either side of
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her nose, I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed
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to surprise her. It surprised me, but surely it was obvious. I
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was then much surprised and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the
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boots which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really odd
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ones, the one having a slightly decorated toe cap and the other a plain
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one. One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out of five,
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and the other at the first, third and fifth. Now, when you
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see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away from home
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with odd boots half buttoned, it is no great deduction to say that she
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came away in a hurry. And what else? I asked, keenly interested
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as I always was, by my friend's incisive reasoning. I noted in passing
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that she had written a note before leaving home. But after being fully dressed,
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you observed that her right glove was torn at the forefinger. But you
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did not apparently see that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink.
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She had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must
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have been this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger.
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All this is amusing, though rather alimentary, But I must go back
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to business. Watson, would you mind reading me the advertised description of mister
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Hosmer Angel. I held the little printed slip to the light, missing it
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said, on the morning of the fourteenth a gentleman named Hosmer Angel, about
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five feet seven inches in height, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair,
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a little bald in the center, bushy black side, whiskers and mustache,
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tinted glasses, slight infirmity of speech was dressed when last scene in black
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frock coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain and gray Harris
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tweed trousers with brown gaiters over a last excited boots known to have been employed
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in an office in Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing that will do, said Holmes.
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As to the letters, he canntinued glancing over them. They are a
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very commonplace. Absolutely no clue in them to mister Angel, say that he
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quotes Balzac once. There is a remarkable point, however, which will no
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doubt strike you. They are typewritten, I remarked. Not only that,
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but the signature is typewritten. Look at the neat little Hosmer Angel. At
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the bottom there is a date you see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street
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which is rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive. In
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fact, we may call it conclusive. Of what, my dear fellow,
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is it possible you do not see how strongly it bears upon the case.
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I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able
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to deny signature if an action for breach of promise were instituted. No,
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that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters which should
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settle the matter. One is to affirm in the city, the others to
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the young lady's stepfather, mister Windebank, asking him whether he can meet us
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here at six o'clock to morrow evening. It is just as well that we
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should do business with the male relatives, and now, doctor, we can
29:15
do nothing until the answers to those letters come, so we may put our
29:18
little problem upon the shelf for the interim. I had had so many reasons
29:25
to believe in my friends subtle powers of reasoning and extraordinary energy and action,
29:30
that I felt that he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy
29:34
demeanor with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon to
29:40
fathom once. Only had I known him to fail in the case of the
29:45
King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler photograph. But when I looked back
29:51
to the weird business of the Sign of four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected
29:56
with the study in Scarlet, I felt the it would be a strange tangle,
30:00
indeed, which he could not unravel. I left him then, still
30:06
puffing at his black clay pipe, with the conviction that when I came again
30:11
on the next evening, I would find that he held in his hands all
30:15
the clues which would lead up to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss
30:21
Mary Sutherland. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own attention at
30:27
the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the bedside
30:32
of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six o'clock that I found
30:37
myself free and was able to spring into a hansom and drive to Baker Street,
30:42
half afraid that I might be too late to assist at the denoument of
30:47
the little mystery, I found Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep,
30:52
with his long, thin form curled up in the recesses of his arm chair.
30:59
A formidable ray of bottles and test tubes with the pungent, cleanly smell
31:03
of hydrochloric acid. Told me that he had spent his day in the chemical
31:08
work which was so dear to him. Well have you solved it, I
31:14
asked as I entered. Yes, it was the bisulfate of Burta. No.
31:19
No, the mystery, I cried, Oh that I thought of the
31:25
salt that I have been working upon. There was never any mystery in the
31:29
matter, though, as I said yesterday, some of the details are of
31:33
interest. The only drawback is that there is no law I fear that can
31:37
touch the scoundrel. Who was he then? And what was his object in
31:42
deserting miss Sutherland? The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes
31:48
had not yet opened his lips to reply when we heard a heavy footfall in
31:52
the passage and a tap at the door. This is the girl's stepfather,
31:57
mister James Windeby, said Holmes. He has written to me to say that
32:02
he would be here at six. Come in. The man who entered was
32:07
a sturdy, middle sized fellow, some thirty years of age, clean shaven
32:13
and sallow skin, with a bland insinuating manner and a pair of wonderfully sharp
32:19
and penetrating gray eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of us,
32:23
placed his shiny top hat upon the sideboard, and with a slight bow,
32:28
sidled down into the nearest chair. Good evening, mister James Windebank, said
32:34
Holmes. I think that this typewritten letter is from you, in which you
32:37
made an appointment with me for six o'clock. Yes, sir, I am
32:43
afraid that I am a little late, but I am not quite my own
32:45
master, you know. I am sorry that miss Sutherland has troubled you about
32:50
this little matter, for I think it is far better not to wash Linden
32:53
of the sort in public. It was quite against my wishes that she came,
33:00
but she is a very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may have
33:04
noticed, and she is not easily controlled when she has made up her mind.
33:08
On a point of course, I did not mind you so much as
33:13
you are not connected with the official police. But it is not pleasant to
33:16
have a family misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless
33:22
expense, for how could you possibly find this hosemer Angel. On the contrary,
33:29
said Holmes quietly, I have every reason to believe that I will succeed
33:34
in discovering mister Hosemer Angel. Mister Windebank gave a violent start and dropped his
33:40
gloves. I am delighted to hear it, he said. It is a
33:45
curious thing, remarked Holmes, that a typewriter has really quite as much individuality
33:52
as a man's handwriting. Unless they are quite new. No two of them
33:57
write exactly alike. Some letters get more worn than others, and somewhere only
34:02
on one side. Now you remark in this note of yours, mister Windebank,
34:07
that in every case there is some little slurring over of the e and
34:13
a slight defect in the tale of the R. There are fourteen other characteristics,
34:17
but those are the most obvious. We do all our correspondence with this
34:22
machine at the office, and no doubt it is a little worn, our
34:27
visitor answered, glancing keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. And now
34:32
I will show you what is really a very interesting study, mister Windebank.
34:37
Holmes continued, I think of writing another little monograph some of these days,
34:44
and the typewriter and its relation to crime. It is a subject to which
34:49
I have devoted some little attention. I have here four letters which purpet to
34:53
come from the missing man. They are all type written in each case not
34:59
allly are the ease slurred and the r's tail less. But you will observe,
35:05
if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the other fourteen characteristics
35:09
to which I have alluded are there as well. Mister Windebank sprang out of
35:15
his chair and picked up his hat. I cannot waste time over this sort
35:19
of fantastic talk, mister Holmes, he said. If you can catch the
35:22
man, catch him, then let me know when you have done it.
35:27
Certainly, said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the door.
35:31
I let you know then that I have caught him. What where, shouted
35:37
mister Windebank, turning white to his lips and glancing about him like a rat
35:42
in a trap. Oh it won't do, really, it won't, said
35:46
Holmes suavely. There is no possible getting out of it, mister Windebank.
35:52
It is quite too transparent. And it was a very bad compliment when you
35:55
said that it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's
36:00
right, Sit down and let us talk it over. Our visitor collapsed into
36:06
a chair with a ghastly face and a glitter of moisture on his brow.
36:10
It's it's not actionable, he stammered. I am very much afraid that it
36:15
is not. But between ourselves, Windebank, it was as cruel and selfish
36:21
and heartless a trick in a petty way as ever came before me. Now
36:25
let me just run over the course of events, and you will contradict me
36:30
if I go wrong. The man sat huddled up in his chair with his
36:35
head sunk upon his breast, like one who was utterly crushed. Holmes stuck
36:40
his feet up on the corner of the mantelpiece, and, leaning back,
36:45
with his hands in his pockets, began talking rather to himself, as it
36:50
seemed, than to us. The man married a woman very much older than
36:54
himself for her money, said he, and he enjoyed the use of the
36:59
money of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a
37:02
considerable sum for people in their position, and the loss of it would have
37:07
made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. The
37:13
daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and warm hearted in
37:17
her ways, so that it was evident that, with her fair personal advantages
37:22
and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain single long.
37:29
Now her marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a
37:31
year. So what does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the
37:37
obvious course of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of
37:40
people her own age. But soon he found that that would not answer forever.
37:46
She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her positive
37:52
intention of going to a certain ball. What does her clever stepfather do?
37:57
Then, he conceives an idea more creditable to his head than to his heart.
38:02
With the connivance and assistance of his wife, he disguised himself, covered
38:07
those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a mustache, and
38:13
a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper,
38:19
and doubly secure on account of the girl's short sight, he appears as mister
38:23
Hosmer Angel and keeps off other lovers by making love himself. It was only
38:30
a joke at first, groaned our visitor. We never thought that she would
38:35
have been so carried away. Very likely not, However, that may be
38:39
the young lady was very decidedly carried away, and having quite made up her
38:45
mind that her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an
38:50
instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman's attentions, and the
38:55
effect was increased by the loudly expressed admir of her mother. Then mister Angel
39:02
began to call for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as far
39:07
as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There were
39:13
meetings and an engagement which would finally secure the girl's affections from turning towards any
39:19
one else. But the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended
39:24
journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to bring
39:29
the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it would leave a
39:34
permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and prevent her from looking upon any other
39:38
suitor for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a
39:45
testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening. On
39:52
the very morning of the wedding. James Windebank wished miss Sutherland to be so
39:58
bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his fate, that for
40:02
ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen to another
40:07
man. As far as the church door he brought her, and then as
40:12
he could go no farther he conveniently vanished away by the old trick of stepping
40:17
in at one door of a four wheeler and out at the other. I
40:22
think that was the chain of events. Mister Windebank, our visitor had recovered
40:27
something of his assurance while Holmes had been talking, and he rose from his
40:31
chair now with a cold sneer upon his pale face. It may be so,
40:37
or it may not, mister Holmes, said he. But if you
40:40
are so very sharp, you ought to be sharp enough to know that it
40:45
is you who are breaking the law now and not me. I have done
40:50
nothing actionable from the first. But as long as you keep that door locked,
40:53
you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint. The
41:00
law cannot, as you say, touch you, said Holmes, unlocking and
41:05
throwing open the door. Yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more.
41:10
If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to
41:14
lay a whip across your shoulders. By jove, he continued, flushing up
41:19
at the sight the bitter sneer upon the man's face. It is not part
41:23
of my duties to my client. But here's a hunting crop handy, and
41:28
I think I shall just treat myself to He took two swift steps to the
41:32
whip, but before he could grasp it, there was a wild clatter of
41:37
steps upon the stairs. The heavy hall door banged, and from the window
41:42
we could see mister James Windebank running at the top of his speed down the
41:46
road. There's a cold blooded scoundrel, said Holmes, laughing as he threw
41:52
himself down into his chair once more. That fellow will rise from crime to
41:58
crime until he does something very, very bad and ends on a gallows.
42:02
The case has, in some respects been not entirely devoid of interest. I
42:07
cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning, I remarked, Well,
42:14
of course, it was obvious from the first that this mister Hosmer Angel
42:19
must have some strong object for his curious conduct, and it was equally clear
42:23
that the only man who really profited by the incident, as far as we
42:28
could see, was the stepfather. Then, the fact that the two men
42:32
were never together, but that the one always appeared when the other was away,
42:37
was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which
42:43
both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My suspicions were
42:47
all confirmed by his peculiar action in typewriting his signature, which of course inferred
42:54
that his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognize even the smallest
43:00
sample of it. You see, all these isolated facts, together with many
43:05
minor ones, all pointed in the same direction, And how did you verify
43:09
them? Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration.
43:15
I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed description,
43:21
I eliminated everything from it which could be the result of disguise, the
43:24
whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I sent it to the firm
43:29
with a request that they would inform me whether it answered to the description of
43:34
any of their travelers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter,
43:39
and I wrote to the man himself at his business address, asking him if
43:44
he would come here as I expected. His reply was typewritten and revealed the
43:50
same trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from west
43:55
House and Marbank of Fenchurch Street, to say that the description tallied in every
44:00
respect with that of their employee, James Windebank. Voila tout and Miss Sutherland,
44:08
if I tell her, she will not believe me. You may remember
44:13
the old Persian saying there is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub,
44:19
and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman. There is as
44:24
much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world.