Speaker 1: A case of identity, my dear fellow, said Sherlock Holmes,
Speaker 1: as we sat on either side of the fire in
Speaker 1: his lodgings at Baker Street. Life is infinitely stranger than
Speaker 1: anything which the mind of man could invent. We would
Speaker 1: not dare to conceive the things which are really mere
Speaker 1: commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that
Speaker 1: window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently
Speaker 1: remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things
Speaker 1: which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the
Speaker 1: cross purposes, the wonderful chains of events working through generations
Speaker 1: and leading to the most utray results. It would make
Speaker 1: all fiction, with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions, most stale
Speaker 1: and unprofitable. And yet I am not convinced of it,
Speaker 1: I answered. The cases which come to light in the
Speaker 1: papers are, as a rule bald enough and vulgar enough.
Speaker 1: We have in our police reports realism pushed to its
Speaker 1: extreme limits. And yet the result is it must be
Speaker 1: confessed neither fascinating nor artistic. A certain selection and discretion
Speaker 1: must be used in producing a realistic effect. Remarked Holmes,
Speaker 1: This is wanting in the police report, where more stress
Speaker 1: is laid perhaps upon the platitudes of the magistrate, than
Speaker 1: upon the details, which, to an observer contained the vital
Speaker 1: essence of the whole matter depend upon it. There is
Speaker 1: nothing so unnatural as the commonplace. I smiled and shook
Speaker 1: my head. I can quite understand you thinking, so I said.
Speaker 1: Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and helper
Speaker 1: to everybody who is absolutely puzzled throughout three continents, you
Speaker 1: are brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre.
Speaker 1: But here I picked up the morning paper from the ground.
Speaker 1: Let us put it to a practical test. Here is
Speaker 1: the first heading upon which I come, A husband's cruelty
Speaker 1: to his wife. There is half a column of print,
Speaker 1: but I know without reading it that it is all
Speaker 1: perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course the other woman,
Speaker 1: the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic
Speaker 1: sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing
Speaker 1: more crude. Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for
Speaker 1: your argument, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his
Speaker 1: eye down it. This is the Dundas separation case. And
Speaker 1: as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some
Speaker 1: small points in connection with it. The husband was a teetotaler.
Speaker 1: There was no other woman, and the conduct complained of
Speaker 1: was that he had drifted into the habit of winding
Speaker 1: up every meal by taking out his false teeth and
Speaker 1: hurling them at his wife, which you will allow is
Speaker 1: not an action likely to occur to the imagination of
Speaker 1: the average story teller. Take a pinch of snuff, doctor,
Speaker 1: and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.
Speaker 1: He held out his snuff box of old gold with
Speaker 1: a great amethyst in the center of the lid. Its
Speaker 1: splendor was in such contrast to his homely ways and
Speaker 1: simple life that I could not help commenting upon it,
Speaker 1: Ah said he. I forgot that I had not seen
Speaker 1: you for some weeks. It is a little souvenir from
Speaker 1: the King of Bohemia, in return for my assistance in
Speaker 1: the case of the irene Adler papers and the ring,
Speaker 1: I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon
Speaker 1: his finger. It was from the reigning family of Holland.
Speaker 1: Though the matter in which I served them was of
Speaker 1: such delicacy that I cannot confide it even to you
Speaker 1: who have been good enough to chronicle one or two
Speaker 1: of my little problems. And have you any on hand
Speaker 1: just now? I asked, with interest, some ten or twelve,
Speaker 1: but none which presents any feature of interest. They are
Speaker 1: important to understand without being interesting. Indeed, I have found
Speaker 1: that it is usually in important matters that there is
Speaker 1: a field for observation and for the quick analysis of course,
Speaker 1: saws and effect, which gives the charm to an investigation.
Speaker 1: The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for
Speaker 1: the bigger the crime, the more obvious. As a rule
Speaker 1: is the motive. In these cases. Save for one rather
Speaker 1: intricate matter, which has been referred to me from Marseilles,
Speaker 1: there is nothing which presents any features of interest. It
Speaker 1: is possible, however, that I may have something better before
Speaker 1: very many minutes are over, for this is one of
Speaker 1: my clients, or I am much mistaken. He had risen
Speaker 1: from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds,
Speaker 1: gazing down into the dull, neutral tinted London street. Looking
Speaker 1: over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite
Speaker 1: there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa
Speaker 1: round her neck and a large curling red feather in
Speaker 1: a broad brimmed hat, which was tilted in a coquettish
Speaker 1: Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this
Speaker 1: great panoply, she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion
Speaker 1: at our windows, while her body oscillated backwards and forwards,
Speaker 1: and her fingers fidgeted with with her glove buttons. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank,
Speaker 1: she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp
Speaker 1: clang of the bell. I have seen those symptoms before,
Speaker 1: said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. Oscillation upon
Speaker 1: the pavement always means an affair duqueur. She would like advice,
Speaker 1: but is not sure that the matter is not too
Speaker 1: delicate for communication. And yet even here we may discriminate.
Speaker 1: When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man,
Speaker 1: she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a
Speaker 1: broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there
Speaker 1: is a love matter, but that the maiden is not
Speaker 1: so much angry as perplexed or grieved. But here she
Speaker 1: comes in person to resolve our doubts. As he spoke,
Speaker 1: there was a tap at the door, and the boy
Speaker 1: in buttons entered to announce miss Mary Sutherland, while the
Speaker 1: lady herself loomed behind his small black figure, like a
Speaker 1: full sailed merchantman behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes
Speaker 1: welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable,
Speaker 1: and having closed the door and bowed her into an
Speaker 1: arm chair, he looked over her in the minute and
Speaker 1: yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him. Do you
Speaker 1: not find? He said, that, with your short sight it
Speaker 1: is a little trying to do so much type writing.
Speaker 1: I did at first, she answered, but now I know
Speaker 1: where the letters are without looking. Then, suddenly realizing the
Speaker 1: full purport of his words, she gave a violent start
Speaker 1: and looked up with fear and astonishment upon her broad,
Speaker 1: good humored face. You've heard about me, mister Olmes, she cried. Else,
Speaker 1: how could you know all that? Never mind, said Holmes, laughing,
Speaker 1: it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have
Speaker 1: trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why
Speaker 1: should you come to consult me. I came to see you, sir,
Speaker 1: because I heard of you from missus Etheridge, whose husband
Speaker 1: you found so easy. When the police, and every one
Speaker 1: had given him up for dead. Oh, mister us, I
Speaker 1: wish you would do as much for me. I'm not rich,
Speaker 1: but still I have a hundred a year in my
Speaker 1: own right beside the little that I make by the machine,
Speaker 1: and I would give it all to know what has
Speaker 1: become of mister Hosma Angel. Why did you come away
Speaker 1: to consult me in such a hurry, asked Sherlock Holmes,
Speaker 1: with his finger tips together and his eyes to the ceiling. Again,
Speaker 1: A startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of
Speaker 1: Miss Mary Sutherland. Yes, I did bang out of the house,
Speaker 1: she said, for it made me angry to see the
Speaker 1: easy way in which mister Windybank, that is my father,
Speaker 1: took it all. He would not go to the police,
Speaker 1: and he would not go to you, and so at last,
Speaker 1: as he would do nothing and kept on saying that
Speaker 1: there was no arm done. It made me mad, and
Speaker 1: I just on with me things and came right away
Speaker 1: to you. Your father, said Holmes, your step father, surely,
Speaker 1: since the name is different, Yes, my stepfather I call
Speaker 1: him father, though it sounds funny too, for he is
Speaker 1: only five years and two months older than myself, and
Speaker 1: your mother is alive. Oh, yes, mother is alive and well.
Speaker 1: I wasn't best pleased mister Romes when she married again
Speaker 1: so soon after father's death, and a man who was
Speaker 1: nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was a plumber
Speaker 1: in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy
Speaker 1: business behind em, which mother carried on with mister Hardy
Speaker 1: the foreman. But when mister Windybank came he made us
Speaker 1: sell the business, for he was very superior, being a
Speaker 1: traveler in wines. They got four thousand, seven hundred for
Speaker 1: the good will and interest, which wasn't near as much
Speaker 1: as father could have got if he had been alive.
Speaker 1: I had expected to see Sherlock Holmb's impatient under this
Speaker 1: rambling and inconsequential narrative, but on the contrary, he had
Speaker 1: listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Your own little income,
Speaker 1: he asked, does it come out of the business. Oh no, sir,
Speaker 1: it is quite separate and was left me by my
Speaker 1: uncle ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand. Stock
Speaker 1: paying four and a half two thousand, five hundred pounds
Speaker 1: was the amount. But I can only touch the interest.
Speaker 1: You interest me extremely, said Holmes. And since you draw
Speaker 1: so large a summers a hundred a year with what
Speaker 1: you earn into the bargain, you no doubt travel a
Speaker 1: little and indulge yourself in every way. I believe that
Speaker 1: a single lady can get on very nicely upon an
Speaker 1: income of about sixty pounds. I could do with much
Speaker 1: less than that, mister Holmes. But you understand that as
Speaker 1: long as I live at home, I don't wish to
Speaker 1: be a burden to them, and so they have the
Speaker 1: use of the money just while I'm staying with them.
Speaker 1: Of course, that is only just for the time. Mister
Speaker 1: Windybank draws my interest every quarter and pays it over
Speaker 1: to mother. And I find that I can do pretty
Speaker 1: well with what I earn at type writing. It brings
Speaker 1: me towppence a sheet, and I can often do from
Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty sheets a day. You have made your
Speaker 1: position very clear to me, said Holmes. This is my friend,
Speaker 1: doctor Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as
Speaker 1: before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection
Speaker 1: with mister Hosma. Angel A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face,
Speaker 1: and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket.
Speaker 1: I met him first at the gas fitter's ball. She
Speaker 1: said they used to send Father tickets when he was alive,
Speaker 1: and then afterwards they remembered us and sent them to mother.
Speaker 1: Mister Windybank did not wish us to go. He never
Speaker 1: did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite
Speaker 1: mad if I wanted so much as to join a
Speaker 1: Sunday school treat. But this time I was set on going,
Speaker 1: and I would go. For what right had he to prevent?
Speaker 1: He said the folk were not fit for us to
Speaker 1: know when all father's friends were to be there. And
Speaker 1: he said that I had nothing fit to wear when
Speaker 1: I had my purple plush, that I had never so
Speaker 1: much as taken out of the drawer. At last, when
Speaker 1: nothing else would do, he went off to France upon
Speaker 1: the business of the firm. But we went, Mother and
Speaker 1: I with mister Hardy, who used to be foreman, And
Speaker 1: it was there I met mister Hosma. Angel I suppose,
Speaker 1: said Holmes, that when mister Windybank came back from France,
Speaker 1: he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball.
Speaker 1: Oh well, he was very good about it. He laughed,
Speaker 1: I remembered and shrugged his shoulders and said, there was
Speaker 1: no use denying anything to a woman, for she would
Speaker 1: have her way. I see, then, at the gas fitter's ball,
Speaker 1: you met, as I understand, a gentleman called mister Hosmer Angel. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: I met him that night, and he called next day
Speaker 1: to ask if we had got home all safe. And
Speaker 1: after that we met him, that is to say, mister Holmes.
Speaker 1: I met him twice for walks. But after that Father
Speaker 1: came back again, and mister Hosma Angel could not come
Speaker 1: to the house any more. No, Well, you know, Father
Speaker 1: didn't like anything of the sort. He wouldn't have any
Speaker 1: visitors if he could help it. And he used to
Speaker 1: say that a woman should be happy in her own
Speaker 1: family circle. But then, as I used to say to mother,
Speaker 1: or woman wants her own circle to begin with, and
Speaker 1: I had not got mine yet. But how about mister
Speaker 1: Hosmer Angel. Did he make no attempt to see you? Well?
Speaker 1: Father was going off to France again in a week,
Speaker 1: and Hosma wrote and said it would be safer and
Speaker 1: better not to see each other until he had gone.
Speaker 1: We could write in the meantime and he used to
Speaker 1: write every day. I took the letters in in the morning,
Speaker 1: so there was no need for father to know. Were
Speaker 1: you engaged to the gentleman at this time? Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, we were engaged after the first walk that
Speaker 1: we took. Mister Angel was a cashier in an office
Speaker 1: in Leadenhall Street. And what office. That's the worst of it,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes. I don't know where did he live? Then
Speaker 1: he slept on the premises, and you don't know his address, no,
Speaker 1: except that it was leaden All Street. Where did you
Speaker 1: address your letters? Then to the leaden All Street post
Speaker 1: Office to be left till called for. He said that
Speaker 1: if they were sent to the office, he would be
Speaker 1: chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from
Speaker 1: a lady. So I offered to typewrite them like he
Speaker 1: did his, but he wouldn't have that, for he said
Speaker 1: that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me,
Speaker 1: but when they were typewritten, he always felt that the
Speaker 1: machine had come between us. That will just show you
Speaker 1: how fond he was of me, mister Holmes, and the
Speaker 1: little things that he would think of. It is most suggestive,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. It has long been an axiom of mine
Speaker 1: that the little things are infinitely the most important. Can
Speaker 1: you remember any other little things about mister Hosmer Angel.
Speaker 1: He was a very shy man, mister Holmes, He would
Speaker 1: rather walk with me in the evening than in the daylight,
Speaker 1: for he said that he hated to be conspicuous, very
Speaker 1: retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his voice was gentle.
Speaker 1: It had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young,
Speaker 1: he told me, and it had left him with a
Speaker 1: weak throat and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He
Speaker 1: was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but his
Speaker 1: eyes eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he
Speaker 1: wore tinted glasses against the glare. Well, and what happened
Speaker 1: when mister Windibank, your stepfather returned to France. Mister Hosmer
Speaker 1: Angel came to the house again and proposed that we
Speaker 1: should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful
Speaker 1: earnest and made me swear with my hands on the
Speaker 1: testament that whatever happened, I would always be true to him.
Speaker 1: Mother said he was quite right to make me swear,
Speaker 1: and that it was a sign of his passion Mother
Speaker 1: was all in his favor from the first and was
Speaker 1: even fonder of him than I was. Then, when they
Speaker 1: talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask
Speaker 1: about Father, but they both said never to mind about Father,
Speaker 1: but just to tell him afterwards, and Mother said she
Speaker 1: would make it all right with him. I didn't quite
Speaker 1: like that, mister Holmes. It seemed funny that I should
Speaker 1: ask his leave, as he was only a few years
Speaker 1: older than me. But I didn't want to do anything
Speaker 1: on the sly, so I wrote to Father at Bordeaux,
Speaker 1: where the company has its French offices. But the letter
Speaker 1: came back to me on the very morning of the wedding.
Speaker 1: It missed him, then, yes, sir, for he had started
Speaker 1: to England just before it arrived. Huh, that was unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Your wedding was arranged then for the Friday. Was it
Speaker 1: to be in church, Yes, sir, but very quietly. It
Speaker 1: was to be at Saint Saviours, near King's Cross, and
Speaker 1: we were to have breakfast afterwards at the Saint Pancras hotel.
Speaker 1: Ozma came for us in a hansom, but as there
Speaker 1: were two of us, he put us both into it
Speaker 1: and stepped himself into a four wheeler, which happened to
Speaker 1: be the only other cab in the street. We got
Speaker 1: to the church first, and when the four wheeler drove up,
Speaker 1: we waited for him to step out, but he never did,
Speaker 1: And when the cabman got down from the box and looked,
Speaker 1: there was no one there. The cabman said he could
Speaker 1: not imagine what had become of him, for he had
Speaker 1: seen him get in with his own eyes. That was
Speaker 1: last Friday, mister olmeson I have never seen nor heard
Speaker 1: anything since to throw any light upon what became of him.
Speaker 1: It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. Oh no, sir, he was too good and
Speaker 1: kind to leave me. So why all the morning he
Speaker 1: was saying to me that whatever happened I was to
Speaker 1: be true, and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred
Speaker 1: to separate us, I was always to remember that I
Speaker 1: was pledged to him, and that he would claim his
Speaker 1: pledge sooner or later. It seemed strange talk for a
Speaker 1: wedding morning, But what has happened since gives a meaning
Speaker 1: to it. Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is then,
Speaker 1: that some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he
Speaker 1: would not have talked so. And then I think that
Speaker 1: what he foresaw happened, But you have no notion as
Speaker 1: to what it could have been. None. One more question?
Speaker 1: How did your mother take the matter? She was angry
Speaker 1: and said that I was never to speak of the
Speaker 1: matter again. And your father did you tell him? Yes?
Speaker 1: And he seemed to think with me that something had happened,
Speaker 1: and that I should hear of Hosma again, as he said,
Speaker 1: what interest could any one have in bringing me to
Speaker 1: the doors of the church and then leave in me? Now,
Speaker 1: if he had borrowed my money, or if he had
Speaker 1: married me and got my money settled on him, there
Speaker 1: might have been some reason. But Ozma was very independent
Speaker 1: about money and would never look at a shilling of mine.
Speaker 1: And yet what could have happened? And why could he
Speaker 1: not write? Oh? It drives me quite mad to think
Speaker 1: of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night.
Speaker 1: She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and
Speaker 1: began to sob heavily into it. I shall glance into
Speaker 1: the case for you, said Holmes, rising and I have
Speaker 1: no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let
Speaker 1: the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and
Speaker 1: do not let your mind dwell upon it. Further, above all,
Speaker 1: try to let mister Hosma Angel vanish from your memory
Speaker 1: as he has done from your life. Then you don't
Speaker 1: think I'll see him again? I fear not. Then what
Speaker 1: has happened to him? You will leave that question in
Speaker 1: my hands. I should like an accurate description of him,
Speaker 1: and any letters of his which you can spare. I
Speaker 1: advertised for him in last Saturday's chronicle. She said, here
Speaker 1: is the slip, and here are four letters from him.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and your address thirty one line Place, Camberwell,
Speaker 1: mister Angel's address you never had. I understand. Where is
Speaker 1: your father's place of business? He travels for Westhouse and Marbank,
Speaker 1: the Great Claret importers of Fenchurch Street. Thank you. You
Speaker 1: have made your statement very clearly. You will leave the
Speaker 1: papers here and remember the advice which I have given you.
Speaker 1: Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do
Speaker 1: not allow it to affect your life. You are very kind,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be
Speaker 1: true to Hosma he shall find ready when he comes back.
Speaker 1: For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there
Speaker 1: was something noble in the simple faith of our visitor
Speaker 1: which compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of
Speaker 1: papers upon the table and went her way, with a
Speaker 1: promise to come again whenever she might be summoned. Sherlock
Speaker 1: Holmes sat silent for a few minutes, with his fingertips
Speaker 1: still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him,
Speaker 1: and his gaze directed upwards to the ceiling. Then he
Speaker 1: took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe,
Speaker 1: which was to him as a counselor, and having lit it,
Speaker 1: he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue
Speaker 1: cloud wreath spinning up from him, and a look of
Speaker 1: infinite languor in his face. Quite an interesting study that maiden,
Speaker 1: he observed. I found her more interesting than her little problem,
Speaker 1: which by the way, is rather a trite one. You
Speaker 1: will find parallel cases if you consult my index in
Speaker 1: andover in seventy seven, and there was something of the
Speaker 1: sort at the Hague last year old, as is the idea. However,
Speaker 1: there were one or two details which were new to me,
Speaker 1: But the maiden herself was most instructive. You appeared to
Speaker 1: read a good deal upon her, which was quite invisible
Speaker 1: to me, I remarked, not invisible but unnoticed. Watson, you
Speaker 1: did not know where to look, and so you missed
Speaker 1: all that was important. I can never bring you to
Speaker 1: realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb nails,
Speaker 1: or the great issues that may hang from a bootlace.
Speaker 1: Now what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe
Speaker 1: it well. She had a slate colored, broad brimmed straw
Speaker 1: hat with a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket
Speaker 1: was black, with black beads sewn upon it and a
Speaker 1: fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dress was brown,
Speaker 1: rather darker than coffee color, with a little purple plush
Speaker 1: at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were grayish and
Speaker 1: were worn through at the right forefinger. Her bootside didn't observe.
Speaker 1: She had small, round hanging gold ear rings, and a
Speaker 1: general air of being fairly well to do in a vulgar, comfortable,
Speaker 1: easy going way. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hand softly together
Speaker 1: and chuckled upon my word Watson, you are coming along wonderfully.
Speaker 1: You have really done very well. Indeed, it is true
Speaker 1: that you have missed everything of importance, but you have
Speaker 1: hit upon the method, and you have a quick eye
Speaker 1: for color. Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but
Speaker 1: concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance is always at
Speaker 1: a woman's sleeve. In a man, it is perhaps better
Speaker 1: first to take the knee of the trouser. As you observe,
Speaker 1: this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a
Speaker 1: most useful material for showing traces. The double line a
Speaker 1: little above the wrist, where the typewrightest presses against the
Speaker 1: table was beautifully defined. The sewing machine of the hand
Speaker 1: type leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm,
Speaker 1: and on the side of it farthest from the thumb,
Speaker 1: instead of being right across the broadest part. As this was,
Speaker 1: I then glanced at her face, and, observing the dint
Speaker 1: of a pal's nez at either side of her nose,
Speaker 1: I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which
Speaker 1: seemed to surprise her. It surprised me, but surely it
Speaker 1: was very obvious. I was then much surprised and interested
Speaker 1: on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which
Speaker 1: she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were
Speaker 1: really odd ones, the one having a slightly decorated toe
Speaker 1: cap and the other a plain one. One was buttoned
Speaker 1: only in the two lower buttons out of five, and
Speaker 1: the other at the first, third and fifth. Now, when
Speaker 1: you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has
Speaker 1: come away from home with odd boots half buttoned, it
Speaker 1: is no great deduction to say that she came away
Speaker 1: in a huh? And what else? I asked, keenly interested
Speaker 1: as I always was, by my friend's incisive reasoning, I
Speaker 1: noted in passing that she had written a note before
Speaker 1: leaving home, But after being fully dressed. You observed that
Speaker 1: her right glove was torn at the forefinger, But you
Speaker 1: did not apparently see that both glove and finger were
Speaker 1: stained with violet ink. She had written in a hurry
Speaker 1: and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been
Speaker 1: this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon
Speaker 1: the finger. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, But
Speaker 1: I must go back to business. Watson, would you mind
Speaker 1: reading me the advertised description of mister Hosma Angel. I
Speaker 1: held the little printed slip to the light, missing it said,
Speaker 1: on the morning of the fourteenth the gentleman named Hosma Angel,
Speaker 1: about five feet seven inches in height, strongly built, sallow complexion,
Speaker 1: black hair, a little bald in the center, bushy black side,
Speaker 1: whiskers and mustaf tinted glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was
Speaker 1: dressed when last seen in black frock coat, faced with silk,
Speaker 1: black waistcoat, gold Albert chain and gray Harris tweed trousers
Speaker 1: with black gaiter over elastic sided boots. Known to have
Speaker 1: been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera, that will do, said Holmes. As
Speaker 1: to the letters, he continued, glancing over them, they are
Speaker 1: very commonplace. Absolutely no clue in them to mister Angel,
Speaker 1: save that he quotes Balzac once. There is one remarkable point, however,
Speaker 1: which will no doubt strike you. They are type written,
Speaker 1: I remarked. Not only that, but the signature is type written.
Speaker 1: Look at the neat little Hosmer Angel. At the bottom.
Speaker 1: There is a date you see, but no superscription except
Speaker 1: Leadenhall Street, which is rather vague. The point about the
Speaker 1: signature is very suggestive. In fact, we may call it conclusive.
Speaker 1: Of what, my dear fellow, is it possible you do
Speaker 1: not see how strongly it bears upon the case. I
Speaker 1: cannot say that I do unless it were that he
Speaker 1: wished to be able to deny his signature if an
Speaker 1: action for breach of promise were instituted. No, that was
Speaker 1: not the point. However, I shall write two letters which
Speaker 1: should settle the matter. One is to affirm in the city.
Speaker 1: The other is to the young lady's stepfather, mister Windibeck,
Speaker 1: asking him whether he could meet us here at six
Speaker 1: o'clock to morrow evening. It is just as well that
Speaker 1: we should do business with the male relatives, and now, doctor,
Speaker 1: we can do nothing until the answers to those letters come,
Speaker 1: so we may put our little problem upon the shelf
Speaker 1: for the interim. I had had so many reasons to
Speaker 1: believe in my friend's subtle powers of reasoning and extraordinary
Speaker 1: energy in action, that I felt that he must have
Speaker 1: some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanor with
Speaker 1: which he treated the singular mystery which he had been
Speaker 1: called upon to fathom. Only once had I known him
Speaker 1: to fail in the case of the King of Bohemia
Speaker 1: and of the Irene Adler photograph. But when I looked
Speaker 1: back to the weird business of the sign of four,
Speaker 1: and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the study in scarlet,
Speaker 1: I felt that it would be a strange tangle, indeed,
Speaker 1: which he could not unravel. I left him then, still
Speaker 1: puffing at his black clay pipe with the conviction. But
Speaker 1: when I came again on the next evening, I would
Speaker 1: find that he held in his hands all the clues
Speaker 1: which would lead up to the identity of the disappearing
Speaker 1: bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland. A professional case of great
Speaker 1: gravity was engaging my own attention at the time, and
Speaker 1: the whole of next day I was busy at the
Speaker 1: bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon
Speaker 1: six o'clock that I found myself free and was able
Speaker 1: to spring into a hansom and drive to Baker Street,
Speaker 1: Half afraid that I might be too late to assist
Speaker 1: at the denouement of the little mystery, I found Sherlock
Speaker 1: Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin form
Speaker 1: curled up in the recesses of his arm chair. A
Speaker 1: formidable array of bottles and test tubes with the pungent,
Speaker 1: cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid. Told me that he had
Speaker 1: spent his day in the chemical work which was so
Speaker 1: dear to him. Well have you solved it, I asked
Speaker 1: as I entered. Yes, it was the bisulfate of barrita. No, no,
Speaker 1: the mystery, I said, Oh, that I thought of the
Speaker 1: salt that I've been working upon. There was never any
Speaker 1: mystery in the matter, though, as I said yesterday, some
Speaker 1: of the details are of interest. The only drawback is
Speaker 1: that there is no law I fear that can touch
Speaker 1: the scoundrel. Who was he then? And what was his
Speaker 1: object in deserting miss Sutherland? The question was hardly out
Speaker 1: of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet opened his
Speaker 1: lips to reply when we heard a heavy footfall in
Speaker 1: the passage and a tap at the door. This is
Speaker 1: the girl's stepfather, mister James Windibank, said Holmes. He has
Speaker 1: written to me to say that he would be here
Speaker 1: at six. Come in. The man who entered was a sturdy,
Speaker 1: middle sized fellow, some thirty years of age, clean shaven
Speaker 1: and sallow skinned, with a bland insinuating manner, and a
Speaker 1: pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating gray eyes. He shot
Speaker 1: a questioning glance at each of us, placed his shiny
Speaker 1: top hat upon the sideboard, and with a slight bow,
Speaker 1: sidled down into the nearest chair. Good evening, mister James Windybank,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. I think that this type written letter is
Speaker 1: from you, in which you made an appointment with me
Speaker 1: for six o'clock. Yes, sir, I am afraid that I
Speaker 1: am a little late, but I am not quite my
Speaker 1: own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland
Speaker 1: has troubled you about this little matter, for I think
Speaker 1: it is far better not to osh linen of this
Speaker 1: sort in public. It was quite against my wishes that
Speaker 1: she came. But she is a very excitable, impulsive girl,
Speaker 1: as you may have noticed, and she is not easily
Speaker 1: controlled when she has made up her mind. On a
Speaker 1: point of course, I do not mind you so much
Speaker 1: as you are not connected with the official police. But
Speaker 1: it is not pleasant to have a family misfortune like
Speaker 1: this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless expense, for
Speaker 1: how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel. On the contrary,
Speaker 1: said Holmes quietly, I have every reason to believe that
Speaker 1: I will succeed in discovering mister Hosmer Angel, mister Windibank
Speaker 1: gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. I am
Speaker 1: delighted to hear it, he said. It is a curious thing,
Speaker 1: remarked Holmes, that a typewriter has really quite as much
Speaker 1: individuality as a man's handwriting, unless they are quite new.
Speaker 1: No two of them write exactly alike. Some letters get
Speaker 1: more worn than others, and some wear only on one side.
Speaker 1: Now you remark in this note of yours, mister Windybank,
Speaker 1: that in every case there is some little slurring over
Speaker 1: of the e and a slight defect in the tale
Speaker 1: of the R. There are fourteen other characteristics, but those
Speaker 1: are the more obvious. We do all our correspondence with
Speaker 1: this machine at the office, and no doubt it is
Speaker 1: a little worn, our visitor answered, glancing keenly at Holmes
Speaker 1: with his bright little eyes. And now I will show
Speaker 1: you what is really a very interesting study, mister Windybank.
Speaker 1: Holmes continued, I think of writing another little monograph some
Speaker 1: of these days on the typewriter and its relation to crime.
Speaker 1: It is a subject which I have devoted some little attention.
Speaker 1: I have herefore letters which purport to come from the
Speaker 1: missing man. They are all type written. In each case.
Speaker 1: Not only are the e's slurred and the r's tail is.
Speaker 1: But you will observe, if you care to use my
Speaker 1: magnifying lens, that the four other characteristics to which I
Speaker 1: have alluded are there as well. Mister Windybank sprang out
Speaker 1: of his chair and picked up his hat. I cannot
Speaker 1: waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: he said, if you can catch the man, catch him
Speaker 1: and let me know when you have done it. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the door.
Speaker 1: I let you know then that I have caught him.
Speaker 1: What where, shouted mister Windybank, turning white to his lips
Speaker 1: and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.
Speaker 1: Oh it won't do, really, it won't, said Holmes suavely.
Speaker 1: There is no possible getting out of it, mister Windybang.
Speaker 1: It is quite too transparent. And it was a very
Speaker 1: bad compliment when you said it was impossible for me
Speaker 1: to solve so simple a question. That's right. Sit down
Speaker 1: and let us talk it over. Our visitor collapsed into
Speaker 1: a chair with a ghastly face and a glitter of
Speaker 1: moisture on his brow. It it's not actionable, he stammered.
Speaker 1: I am very much afraid that it is not. But
Speaker 1: between ourselves, Windybank, it was as cruel and selfish and
Speaker 1: heartless a trick in a petty way as ever came
Speaker 1: before me. Now let me just run over the course
Speaker 1: of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong.
Speaker 1: The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his
Speaker 1: head sunk upon his breast, like one who is utterly
Speaker 1: crushed home, stuck his feet up on the corner of
Speaker 1: the mantelpiece, and leaning back, with his hands in his pocket,
Speaker 1: began talking rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.
Speaker 1: The man married a woman very much older than himself
Speaker 1: for her money, said he, and he enjoyed the use
Speaker 1: of the money of the daughter as long as she
Speaker 1: lived with them. It was a considerable sum for people
Speaker 1: in their position, and the loss of it would have
Speaker 1: made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to
Speaker 1: preserve it. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition,
Speaker 1: but affectionate and warm hearted in her ways, so that
Speaker 1: it was evident that with her fair personal advantages and
Speaker 1: her little income, she would not be allowed to remain
Speaker 1: single long. Now. Her marriage would mean, of course, the
Speaker 1: loss of one hundred a year. So what does her
Speaker 1: stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course
Speaker 1: of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek
Speaker 1: the company of people of her own age. But soon
Speaker 1: he found that that would not answer. For ever, she
Speaker 1: became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her
Speaker 1: positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does
Speaker 1: her clever stepfather do? Then? He conceives an idea more
Speaker 1: creditable to his head than to his heart. With the
Speaker 1: connivance and assistance of his wife, guised himself, covered those
Speaker 1: keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a mustache,
Speaker 1: and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice
Speaker 1: into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of
Speaker 1: the girl's short sight, he appears as mister Hosmer Angel
Speaker 1: and keeps off other lovers by making love himself. It
Speaker 1: was only a joke at first, groaned our visitor. We
Speaker 1: never thought that she would have been so carried away.
Speaker 1: Very likely not, however, that may be the young lady
Speaker 1: was very decidedly carried away, and having quite made up
Speaker 1: her mind that her stepfather was in France, the suspicion
Speaker 1: of treachery never for an instant entered her mind. She
Speaker 1: was flattered by the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was
Speaker 1: increased by the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then
Speaker 1: mister Angel began to call for it was obvious that
Speaker 1: the matter should be pushed as far as it would
Speaker 1: go if a real effect were to be produced. There
Speaker 1: were meetings and an engagement which would finally secure the
Speaker 1: girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the deception
Speaker 1: could not be kept up for ever. These pretended journeys
Speaker 1: to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was
Speaker 1: clearly to bring the business to an end in such
Speaker 1: a dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression
Speaker 1: upon the young lady's mind and prevent her from looking
Speaker 1: upon any other suitor for some time to come. Hence
Speaker 1: those vows of fidelity exacted upon a testament, and hence
Speaker 1: also the allusions to a possibility of something happening on
Speaker 1: the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished miss
Speaker 1: Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so
Speaker 1: uncertain as to his fate, that for ten years to come,
Speaker 1: at any rate, she would not listen to another man.
Speaker 1: As far as the church door he brought her, and
Speaker 1: then as he could go no further, conveniently vanished away
Speaker 1: by the old trick of stepping in at one door
Speaker 1: of a four wheeler and out at the other. I
Speaker 1: think that that was the chain of events, mister Windibag.
Speaker 1: Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes
Speaker 1: had been talking, and he rose from his chair now
Speaker 1: with a cold sneer upon his pale face. It may
Speaker 1: be so, or it may not, mister Holmes, said he.
Speaker 1: But if you are so very sharp, you ought to
Speaker 1: be sharp enough to know that it is you who
Speaker 1: are breaking the law now and not me. I have
Speaker 1: done nothing actionable from the first. But as long as
Speaker 1: you keep that door locked, you lay yourself open to
Speaker 1: an action for assault and illegal constraint. The law cannot,
Speaker 1: as you say, touch you, said Holmes, unlocking and throwing
Speaker 1: open the door. Yet there never was a man who
Speaker 1: deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother
Speaker 1: or a friend. He ought to lay a whip across
Speaker 1: your shoulders. By jove, he continued, flushing up at the
Speaker 1: sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's face. It
Speaker 1: is not part of my duties to my client, but
Speaker 1: here's a hunting crup handy, and I think I shall
Speaker 1: just treat myself to He took two swift steps to
Speaker 1: the whip, but before he could grasp it, there was
Speaker 1: a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs. The heavy
Speaker 1: hall door banged, and from the window we could see
Speaker 1: mister James Windybank running at the top of his speed
Speaker 1: down the road. There's a cold blooded scoundrel, said Holmes,
Speaker 1: laughing as he threw himself down into his chair once more.
Speaker 1: That fellow will rise from crime to crime until he
Speaker 1: does something very bad and ends on a gallows. The
Speaker 1: case has, in some respects, but not entirely devoid of interest.
Speaker 1: I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning,
Speaker 1: I remarked, well, of course, it was obvious from the
Speaker 1: first that this mister Hosma Angel must have some strong
Speaker 1: object for his curious conduct, and it was equally clear
Speaker 1: that the only man who really profited by the incident,
Speaker 1: as far as we could see, was the stepfather. Then,
Speaker 1: the fact that the two men were never together, but
Speaker 1: that the one always appeared when the other was away,
Speaker 1: was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice,
Speaker 1: which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers.
Speaker 1: My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in
Speaker 1: typewriting his signature, which of course inferred that his handwriting
Speaker 1: was so familiar to her that she would recognize even
Speaker 1: the smallest sample of it. You see, all these isolated facts,
Speaker 1: together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same direction,
Speaker 1: And how did you verify them? Having once spotted my man,
Speaker 1: it was easy to get corroboration. I knew the firm
Speaker 1: for which this man worked. Having taken the printed description,
Speaker 1: I eliminated everything from it which could be the result
Speaker 1: of a disguise, the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and
Speaker 1: I sent it to the firm with a request that
Speaker 1: they would inform me whether it answered the description of
Speaker 1: any of their travelers. I had already noticed the peculiarities
Speaker 1: of the typewriter, and wrote to the man himself at
Speaker 1: his business address, asking him if he would come here
Speaker 1: as I expected. His reply was typewritten and revealed the
Speaker 1: same trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me
Speaker 1: a letter from Westhouse and Marbank of Fenchurch Street, to
Speaker 1: say that the description tallied in every respect with that
Speaker 1: of their employer, James Windibank. Voila too, and Miss Sutherland,
Speaker 1: if I tell her she will not believe me. You
Speaker 1: may remember the old Persian saying there is danger for
Speaker 1: him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for
Speaker 1: whoso snatches a delusion from a woman. There is as
Speaker 1: much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much
Speaker 1: knowledge of the world.