The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes audiobook A Case of Identity Learn English Through Story
[Music]
the adventures of sherlock holmes
by sir arthur conan doyle
a case of identity
[Music]
my dear fellow said sherlock holmes as
we sat on either side of the fire and
his lodgings at baker street
life is infinitely stranger than
anything which the mind of man could
invent
we would not dare to conceive the things
which are really mere commonplaces of
existence
if we could fly out of that window hand
in hand
hover over this great city gently remove
the roofs
and peep in at the queer things which
are going on
the strange coincidences the plannings
the cross purposes the wonderful chains
of events
working through generations and leading
to the most
outrage results it would make all
fiction with its conventionalities and
forcing conclusions
most stale and unprofitable
and yet i am not convinced of it i
answered
the cases which come to light in the
papers are
as a rule bald enough and vulgar enough
we have in our police reports realism
pushed to its extreme limits
and yet the result is it must be
confessed
neither fascinating nor artistic
a certain selection and discretion must
be used in producing a realistic effect
remarked holmes this is wanting in the
police report
where more stress is laid perhaps upon
the platitudes of the magistrate
than upon the details which to an
observer contained the vital essence of
the whole matter
depend upon it there is nothing so
unnatural
as the commonplace i smiled and shook my
head
i can quite understand your thinking so
i said of course in your position of
unofficial advisor and helper to
everybody who is
absolutely puzzled throughout three
continents
you are brought in contact with all that
is strange and bizarre
but here i picked up the morning paper
from the ground
let us put it to a practical test
here is the first heading upon which i
come
a husband’s cruelty to his wife
there is half a column of print but i
know without reading it
that is all perfectly familiar to me
there is of course the other woman the
drink
the push the blow the bruise
the sympathetic sister or landlady the
crudest of writers could invent nothing
more crude
indeed your example is an unfortunate
one for your argument
said holmes taking the paper and
glancing his eye down it
this is the dundas separation case
and as it happens i was engaged in
clearing up some small points
in canaan with it the husband was a
teetotaler
there was no other woman and the conduct
complained of was that he had drifted
into the habit
of winding up every meal by taking out
his false teeth
and hurling them at his wife which you
will allow
is not an action likely to occur to the
imagination of the average
storyteller take a pitch of snuff
doctor and acknowledge that i have
scored over you in your example
he held out his snuff box of old gold
with a great amethyst in the center of
the lid
its splendor was in such contrast to his
homely ways and simple life
that i could not help commenting upon it
ah said he i forgot that i had not seen
you for some weeks
it is a little souvenir from the king of
bohemia
in return for my assistance in the case
of the irene adler papers
and the ring i asked glancing at a
remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon
his finger
it was from the reigning family of
holland though the matter in which i
served them was of such delicacy that i
cannot confide it
even to you who have been good enough to
chronicle one or two of my little
problems and have you ready on hand just
now
i asked with interest some 10 or 12
but none which present any feature of
interest
they are important you understand
without being
interesting indeed i have found that it
is usually in unimportant
matters that there is a field for the
observation
and for the quick analysis of cause and
effect which gives the charm
to an investigation the larger crimes
are apt to be the simpler
for the bigger the crime the more
obvious as a rule
is the motive in these cases
save one rather intricate matter which
has been referred to me from marseille
there is nothing which presents any
features of interest
it is possible however that i may have
something better before very many
minutes are over
for this is one of my clients or i am
much mistaken
he had risen from his chair and was
standing between the parted blinds
gazing down into the dull
neutral tinted london street looking
over his shoulder
i saw that on the pavement opposite
there stood a large woman with a heavy
fur
boa around her neck and a large curling
red feather and a broad brimmed hat
which was tilted in a coketish duchess
of devonshire fashion over her
ear from under this great panoply
she peeped up in a nervous hesitating
fashion at our windows
while her body oscillated backward and
forward
and her fingers fidgeted with her glove
buttons
suddenly with a plunge as of the swimmer
who leaves the bank
she hurried across the road and we heard
the sharp clang of the bell
i have seen those symptoms before
said holmes throwing his cigarette into
the fire
oscillation upon the pavement always
means an affair cool
she would like advice but it is not sure
that the matter is not too delicate for
communication and yet even here we may
discriminate
when a woman has been seriously wronged
by a man she no longer oscillates
and the usual symptom is a broken bell
wire
here we may take it that there is a love
matter
but that the maiden is not so much angry
as
perplexed or grieved but here she comes
in person to resolve our doubts
as he spoke there was a tap at the door
and the boy in
buttons entered to announce miss mary
sutherland
while the lady herself loomed behind his
small black
figure like a full sailed merchant man
behind a tiny pilot boat
sherlock holmes welcomed her with the
easy courtesy for which he was
remarkable
and having closed the door and bowed her
into an armchair
he looked her over in the minute yet
abstracted fashion which was peculiar to
him
do you not find he said
that with your short sight it is a
little trying to do so much
typewriting i
did it first she answered but
now i know where the letters are without
looking
then suddenly realizing the full purport
of his words
she gave a violent start and looked up
with fear
and astonishment upon her broad good
humored face
you’ve heard about me mr holmes she
cried
else how could you know all that
never mind said holmes laughing
it is my business to know things perhaps
i have trained myself to see what others
overlook if not why should you come to
consult me
i came to you sir because i heard of you
from mrs
etheridge whose husband you found so
easy when the police and everyone had
given him up for dead
oh mr holmes i wish you would do as much
for me
i’m not rich but still i have a hundred
a year in my own right
besides the little that i make by the
machine
and i would give it all to know what has
become of mr hosmer angel
why did you come away to consult me in
such a hurry
asked sherlock holmes with his
fingertips together
and his eyes to the ceiling
again a startled look came over the
somewhat vacuous face of miss mary
sutherland
yes i did bang out of the house
she said for it made me angry to see the
easy way in which mr windbank
that is my father took it all
he would not go to the police and he
would not go to you
and so at last as he would do nothing
and kept on saying that there was no
harm done
it made me mad and i just on with my
things and came right away to you
your father said holmes your
stepfather surely since the name is
different
yes my stepfather i call him father
though it sounds funny too for he is
only five years and two months older
than myself
and your mother is alive oh yes
mother is alive and well i wasn’t best
pleased mr holmes when she married again
so soon after father’s death
and a man who was nearly 15 years
younger than herself
father was a plumber in the tottenham
court road
and he left a tidy business behind him
which mother carried on with mr hardy
the foreman
but when mr wind bank came he made her
sell the business
for he was very superior being a
traveler in
wines they got forty seven hundred
pounds for the good will and interest
which wasn’t near as much as father
could have got if he had been alive
i had expected to see sherlock holmes
impatient under this
rambling and inconsequential narrative
but on the contrary he had listened with
the greatest
concentration of attention
your own little income he asked
does it come out of the business oh
no sir it is quite separate and was left
me by
uncle ned in auckland it is in new
zealand stock
paying four and a half percent two
thousand five hundred pounds was the
amount
but i can only touch the interest
you interest me extremely said holmes
and since you draw so large as some as a
hundred a year
with what you earn into the bargain you
no doubt travel a little and indulge
yourself in every way
i believe that a single lady can get on
very nicely
upon an income of about 60 pounds
i could deal with much less than that mr
holmes
but you understand that as long as i
live at home
i don’t wish to be a burden to them and
so they have the use of the money just
while i am staying with them
of course that is only just for the time
mr windebag draws my interest every
quarter and pays it over to mother
and i find that i can do pretty well
with what i earn at typewriting
it brings me tuppence a sheet and i can
often do
from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day
you have made your position very clear
to me
said holmes this is my friend
dr watson before whom you can speak as
freely as before myself
kindly tell us now all about your
connection with mr hosmer angel
a flush stole over miss sutherland’s
face
and she picked nervously at the fringe
of her jacket
i met him first at the gas fitters fall
she said they used to send father
tickets
when he was alive and then afterwards
they remembered us
and sent them to mother mr winterbag did
not wish us to go
he never did wish us to go anywhere he
would get quite mad if i wanted so much
as to join
a sunday school treat but this time i
was set on going
and i would go for what right had he to
prevent
he said the folk were not fit for us to
know
when all fathers friends were to be
there
and he said that i had nothing fit to
wear when i had my purple plush that i
had never so much as taken out of the
drawer
at last when nothing else would do he
went off to france upon the business of
the firm
but we went mother and i with mr hardy
who used to be our foreman and it was
there i met
mr hosmer angel i suppose
said holmes that when mr windebank came
back from france
he was very annoyed at your having gone
to the ball
oh well he was very good about it he
laughed
i remember and shrugged his shoulders
and said there was no use denying
anything to a woman
for she would have her way i see
then at the gas fitters ball you met as
i understand
a gentleman called mr hosmer angel
yes sir i met him that night and he
called next day to ask if we had got
home all safe
and after that we met him that is to say
mr holmes
i met him twice for walks but after that
father came back again
a mr hosmer angel could not come to the
house anymore
no well you know father didn’t like
anything of the sort he wouldn’t have
any visitors if he could help it
and he used to say that a woman should
be happy in her own family circle
but then as i used to say to mother
a woman wants her own circle to begin
with and i had not got
mine yet but how about mr hosmer angel
did he make no attempt to see you
well father was going off to france
again in a week
and hosmer wrote and said that it would
be safer and better not to see each
other
until he had gone we could write in the
meantime
and he used to write every day i took
the letters in the morning
so there was no need for father to know
were you engaged to the gentleman at
this time
oh yes mr holmes we were engaged after
the first walk that we took
hosmer mr angel was a cashier
in an office in ledin hall street and
what office that’s the worst of it mr
holmes
i don’t know where did he live then
he slept on the premises and you don’t
know his address
no except that it was leadenhall street
where did you address your letters then
to the ledend hall street post office to
be left to called for
he said that if they were sent to the
office he would be chaffed by all the
other clerks about
having letters from a lady so i offered
to typewrite them
like he did his but he wouldn’t have
that
for he said that when i wrote them they
seemed to come from me
but when they were typewritten he always
felt that the machine had come between
us
that will just show you how fond he was
of me mr holmes
and the little things that he would
think of
it was most suggestive said holmes
it has long been an axiom of mine that
the little things are
infinitely the most important can you
remember any other little things about
mr hosmer
angel he was a very
shy man mr holmes he would rather walk
with me in the evening than in the
daylight
for he said that he hated to be
conspicuous
very retiring and gentlemanly he was
even his voice was gentle he’d had
the quincy and swollen glands when he
was young
he told me and it had left him with a
weak throat
and a hesitating whispering fashion of
speech
he was always well dressed very neat and
plain
but his eyes were weak just as mine are
and he wore
tinted glasses against the glare
well and what happened when mr
winderbeck your stepfather returned to
france
mr hosmer angel came to the house again
and proposed that we should marry before
father came back
he was in dreadful earnest and made me
swear
with my hands on the testament that
whatever happened i would always be true
to him
mother said he was quite right to make
me swear and that it was a sign of his
passion
mother was all in his favor from the
first
and was even fonder of him than i was
then when they talked of marrying within
the week
i began to ask about father but they
both said never to mind about father
but just to tell him afterwards and
mother said
she would make it all right with him i
didn’t quite like that mr holmes
it seemed funny that i should ask his
leave as he was only a few years
older than me but i didn’t want to do
anything
on the sly so i wrote to father at
bordeaux
where the company has its french offices
but the letter came back to me on the
very morning of the wedding
it missed him then yes sir
for he had started to england just
before it arrived
ha that was unfortunate your wedding was
arranged then for the friday
was it to be in church yes sir but very
quietly
it was to be at sun saviors near king’s
cross
and we were to have breakfast afterwards
at the saint pancras hotel
hosmer came for us in a handsome but as
there were two of us
he put us both into it and stepped
himself into a four-wheeler
which happened to be the only other cab
in the street
we got to the church first and when the
four-wheeler drove up we waited for him
to step
out but he never did and when the cabin
got down from the box and looked
there was no one there the cabin said
that he could not imagine what had
become of him
for he had seen him get in with his own
eyes
that was last friday mr holmes and i
have neither seen nor heard
anything since then to throw any light
upon what has become of him
it seems to me that you have been very
shamefully treated
said holmes oh no sir
he was too good and kind to leave me so
why all the morning he was saying to me
that
whatever happened i was to be true
and that even if something quite
unforeseen occurred to separate us
i was always to remember that i was
pledged to him
and that he would claim his pledge
sooner or later
it seemed strange talk for a wedding
morning
but what has happened since gives a
meaning to it
most certainly it does your own opinion
is then that some unforeseen catastrophe
has occurred to him
yes sir i believe that he foresaw some
danger
or else he would not have talked so and
then i think that what he foresaw
happened but you have no notion
as to what it could have been none
one more question how did your mother
take the matter
she was angry and said that i was never
to speak of the matter
again and your father
did you tell him yes
and he seemed to think with me that
something had happened
and that i should hear of hosmer again
as he said what interest could anyone
have
in bringing me to the doors of the
church and then leaving me
now if he had borrowed my money or if he
had married me and got my money
settled on him there might be some
reason
but hosmer was very independent about
money
and never would look at a shilling of
mine
and yet what could have happened and why
could he not write
oh it drives me half mad to think of it
and i can’t sleep a wink at night
she pulled a little handkerchief out of
her mouth and began to sob
heavily into it i shall glance into the
case for you
said holmes rising and i have no doubt
that we shall reach some
definite result let the matter rest upon
me now
and do not let your mind dwell upon it
further
above all try to let mr hosmer angel
vanish from your memory as he has done
from your life
then you don’t think i’ll see him again
i fear not then what has happened to him
you will leave that question in my hands
i should like an
accurate description of him and any
letters of his which you can spare
i advertise for him in last saturday’s
chronicle
said she here is the slip and here are
four letters from him
thank you and your address
number 31 lion place camberwell
mr angel’s address you never had i
understand
where is your father’s place of business
he travels for west house and marbank
the great claret empress of fenn church
street thank you you have made your
statement very clearly
you will leave the papers here and
remember the advice which i have given
you
let the whole incident be a sealed book
and do not allow it to affect your life
you are very kind mr holmes but i cannot
do that
i shall be true to hosmer he shall find
me ready
when he comes back for all the
preposterous hat and the vacuous face
there was something noble in the simple
faith of our visitor which compelled our
respect she laid her little bundle of
papers upon the table and went her way
with a promise to come again whenever
she might be summoned
sherlock holmes sat silent for a few
minutes with his fingertips still
pressed together
his legs stretched out in front of him
and his gaze directed upward to the
ceiling
then he took down from the rack the old
and oily clay pipe
which was to him as a counselor and
having lit it he leaned back in his
chair
with the thick blue cloud wreaths
spinning up from him
and a look of infinite langer in his
face
quite an interesting study that maiden
he observed i found her more interesting
than her little problem
which by the way is rather a trite one
you will find parallel cases if you
consult my index
in andover in 77 and there was something
of the sort at the hague last year
old as is the idea however there were
one or two
details which were new to me but the
maiden herself was most instructive
you appeared to read a good deal upon
her which was quite invisible to me
i remarked not invisible but
unnoticed watson you did not know where
to look
and you missed all that was important i
can never bring you to realize the
importance of sleeves
the suggestiveness of thumbnails or the
great
issues that may hang from a boot lace
now
what did you gather from that woman’s
appearance describe it
well she had a slate colored broad brim
straw hat with a feather of a brickish
red
her jacket was black with black beads
sewn upon it
and a fringe of little black jet
ornaments
her dress was brown rather darker than
coffee color
with a little purple plush at the neck
and sleeves
her gloves were grayish and were worn
through at the right forefinger
her boots i didn’t observe she had small
round hanging gold earrings and a
general air of being fairly well to do
in a vulgar comfortable easy going way
sherlock holmes clapped his hands softly
together and
chuckled upon my word watson
you are coming along wonderfully you
have really done
very well indeed it is true that you
have missed
everything of importance but you have
hit upon the method
and you have a quick eye for color never
trust to general impressions my boy but
concentrate yourself
upon details my first glance is always
at a woman’s sleeve
in a man it is perhaps better first to
take the knee of the trouser
as you observe this woman had plush upon
her sleeves
which is a most useful material for
showing traces
the double line a little above the wrist
where the typewriters
presses against the table was
beautifully defined
the sewing machine of the hand type
leaves a similar mark
but only on the left arm and on the side
of it farthest from the thumb
instead of being right across the
broadest part as this was
i then glanced at her face and observing
the dint of a pins
nays at either side of her nose i
ventured to remark upon short sight in
typewriting which seemed to surprise her
it surprised me but surely it was
obvious
i was then much surprised and interested
on glancing down to observe that
though the boots which she was wearing
were not unlike each other
they were really odd ones the one having
a slightly decorated toe cap
and the other a plain one one was
buttoned only in the two lower buttons
out of five and the other at the first
third and fifth now when you see
that a young lady otherwise neatly
dressed
has come away from home with odd boots
half buttoned
it is no great deduction to say that she
came away in a hurry
and what else i asked keenly interested
as i always was by my friend’s incisive
reasoning
i noted in passing that she had written
a note before leaving home
but after being fully dressed you
observe that a right glove was torn at
the forefinger
but you did not apparently see that both
glove and finger were stained with
violet
ink she had written in a hurry and
dipped her pen
too deep it must have been this morning
or the mark would not remain clear upon
the finger
all this is amusing though rather
elementary but i must go
back to business watson would you mind
reading me the
advertised description of mr hosmer
angel
i held the little printed slip to the
light
missing it said on the morning of the
14th
a gentleman named hosmer angel
about five feet seven inches in height
strongly built sallow complexion
black hair a little bald in the center
bushy black side whiskers and mustache
tinted glasses slight infirmity of
speech
was dressed when last seen in black
frock coat
faced with silk black waistcoat gold
albert
chain and gray harris tweed trousers
with brown gators over elastic sided
boots
known to have been employed in an office
in leaden hall street
anybody bringing that will do
said holmes as to the letters he
continued glancing over them
they are very commonplace absolutely no
clue in them to mr angel
say that he quotes balzac once
there is one remarkable point however
which will no doubt strike you
they are typewritten i remarked
not only that but the signature is
typewritten
look at the neat little hosmer angel at
the bottom
there is a date you see but no
superscription except
latin hall street which is rather vague
the point about the signature is very
suggestive
in fact we may call it conclusive
of what my dear fellow is it possible
you do not see how strongly it bears
upon the case
i cannot say that i do unless it were
that he wished to be able to deny his
signature
if an action for breach of promise were
instituted
no that was not the point however i
shall write two
letters which should settle the matter
one is to affirm in the city the other
is to the young lady’s stepfather mr
windebag
asking him whether he could meet us here
at six o’clock tomorrow
evening it is just as well that we
should do business with the male
relatives and now doctor we can do
nothing until the answers to those
letters come
so we may put a little problem upon the
shelf for the
interim i had had so many reasons to
believe in my friend’s
subtle powers of reasoning and
extraordinary energy in action
that i felt that he must have some solid
grounds for the assured and easy
demeanor
with which he treated the singular
mystery which he had been called upon to
fathom
once only had i known him to fail in the
case of the king of bohemia
and the irene adler photograph but when
i looked back to the weird business of
the sign of four
and the extraordinary circumstances
connected with the study in scarlet
i felt that it would be a strange tangle
indeed
which he could not unravel i left him
then
still puffing at his black clay pipe
with the conviction that when i came
again on the next ning
i would find that he held in his hands
all the clues which would lead up to the
identity
of the disappearing bridegroom of miss
mary
sutherland a professional case of great
gravity was engaging my own attention at
the time
and the whole of next day i was busy at
the bedside of the sufferer
it was not until close upon six o’clock
that i found myself free
and was able to spring into a handsome
and drive to baker street
half afraid that i might be too late to
assist at the
day of the little mystery
i found sherlock holmes alone however
half asleep
with his long thin form curled up in the
recesses of his armchair
a formidable array of bottles and test
tubes with the pungent cleanly smell of
hydrochloric acid
told me that he had spent his day in the
chemical work which was so
dear to him well have you solved it
i asked as i entered yes it was the
bisulfate of barita
no no the mystery i cried
oh that i thought of the salt that i had
been working upon
there was never any mystery in the
matter though as i said yesterday
some of the details are of interest
the only drawback is that there is no
law i fear that can touch the scoundrel
who was he then and what was his object
in deserting miss sutherland
the question was hardly out of my mouth
and holmes had not yet
opened his lips to reply when we heard a
heavy footfall in the passage
and a tap at the door this is the girl’s
stepfather mr
james winterback said holmes
he has written to me to say that he
would be here at six
come in the man who entered was a sturdy
middle-sized
fellow some 30 years of age clean-shaven
and sallow-skinned with a bland
insinuating manner
and a pair of wonderfully sharp and
penetrating gray eyes
he shot a questioning glance at each of
us placed his shiny top hat upon the
sideboard
and with a slight bow settled down into
the nearest chair
good evening mr james winderberg said
holmes
i think that this type written letter is
from you
in which you have made an appointment
with me for six o’clock
yes sir i am afraid that i am a little
late
but i am not quite my own master you
know
i am sorry that miss sutherland has
troubled you about this little matter
for i think it is far better not to wash
linen of the sort
in public it was quite against my wishes
that she came
but she is a very excitable impulsive
girl as you may have noticed
she is not easily controlled when she
has made up her mind on a point
of course i did not mind you so much
as you are not connected with the
official police
but it is not pleasant to have a family
misfortune like this
noised abroad besides it is a useless
expense for how could you possibly find
this
hosmer angel on the contrary
said holmes quietly i have every reason
to believe that i will succeed
in discovering mr hosmer angel
mr winderbank gave a violent start and
dropped his gloves
i am delighted to hear it he said
it is a curious thing remarked holmes
that a typewriter has really quite as
much individuality
as a man’s handwriting unless they are
quite new
no two of them write exactly alike
some letters get more worn than others
and somewhere only on one
side now you remark in this note of
yours mr windbank
that in every case there is some little
slurring over of the e
and a slight defect in the tail of the r
there are 14 other characteristics but
those are the more obvious
we do all our correspondence with this
machine at the office and no doubt it is
a little worn our visitor answered
glancing keenly at homes with
his bright little eyes and now i will
show you what is really a very
interesting study mr windy bank holmes
continued
i think of writing another little
monograph some of these days on the
typewriter
and its relation to crime it is a
subject to which i have devoted some
little attention
i have here four letters which report to
come from the missing man
they are all typewritten in each case
not only are the e’s slurred and the r’s
tailless
but you will observe if you care to use
my magnifying lens
that the 14 other characteristics to
which i have eluded
are there as well mr winderbank
sprang out of his chair and picked up
his hat
i cannot waste time over this sort of
fantastic
talk mr holmes he said if you can catch
the man
catch him and let me know when you have
done it
certainly said holmes stepping over and
turning the key in the door
i let you know then that i have caught
him
what where shouted mr winderbach turning
white to his lips and glancing at
him like a rat in a trap oh it won’t do
really it won’t said holmes swavely
there is no possible getting out of it
mr windebag
it is quite too transparent and it was a
very bad compliment when you said that
it was impossible for me to solve
so simple a question that’s right
sit down and let us talk it over
our visitor collapsed into a chair with
a ghastly face and a glitter of moisture
on his brow
it’s it’s not actionable he’s stammered
i am very much afraid that it is not
but between ourselves windy bank it was
as cruel and selfish and heartless a
trick in a
petty way as ever came before me
now let me just run over the course of
events
and you will contradict me if i go wrong
the man sat huddled up in his chair with
his head sunk upon his breast
like one who was utterly crushed holmes
stuck his feet up on the corner of the
mantelpiece
and leaning back with his hands in his
pockets began
talking rather to himself as it seemed
than to us
the man married a woman very much older
than himself for her money
said he and he enjoyed the use of the
money of the daughter as long as she
lived with them
it was a considerable sum for people in
their position
and the loss of it would have made a
serious difference
it was worth an effort to preserve it
the daughter was of a good amiable
disposition
but affectionate and warm-hearted in her
ways
so that it was evident that with her
fair personal
advantages and her little income
she would not be allowed to remain
single long
now her marriage would mean of course
the loss of a hundred a year
so what does her stepfather do to
prevent it
he takes the obvious course of keeping
her at home
and forbidding her to seek the company
of people of her own age
but soon he found that that would answer
forever
she became restive insisted upon her
rights
and finally announced her positive
intention of going to a certain
ball what does her clever stepfather do
then
he conceives an idea more creditable to
his head
than to his heart with the connivance
and assistance of his wife
he disguised himself covered those keen
eyes with tinted
glasses masked the face with a mustache
and a pair of bushy whiskers
sunk that clear voice into an
insinuating whisper
and doubly secure on account of the
girl’s short sight
he appears as mr hosmer angel
and keeps off other lovers by making
love himself
it was only a joke at first
groaned our visitor we never thought
that she would have been so
carried away very likely not
however that may be the young lady was
very decidedly carried away
and having quite made up her mind that
her stepfather was in france
the suspicion of treachery never for an
instant entered her mind
she was flattered by the gentleman’s
attentions and the effect was increased
by the loudly expressed admiration of
her mother
then mr angel began to call for it was
obvious that the matter should be pushed
as far as it would go
if a real effect were to be produced
there were meetings
and an engagement which would finally
secure the girls affections from turning
towards anyone else
but the deception could not be kept up
forever
these pretended journeys to france were
rather cumbres
the thing to do was clearly to bring the
business to an
end in such a dramatic manner that it
would leave a permanent impression upon
the young lady’s mind
and prevent her from looking upon any
other suitor for some time to come
hence those vows of fidelity exacted
upon a testament
and hence also the allusions to a
possibility of
something happening on the very morning
of the wedding
james windy bank wished miss sutherland
to be so
bound to hosmer angel and so uncertain
as to his fate that for ten years to
come at any rate
she would not listen to another man as
far as the church door he brought her
and then as he could go no farther
he conveniently vanished away by the old
trick
of stepping in at one door of a four
wheeler and
out at the other i think that was the
chain of events mr windybank
our visitor had recovered something of
his assurance while holmes had been
talking
and he rose from his chair now with a
cold sneer upon his pale face
it may be so or it may not mr holmes
said he but if you are so very sharp you
ought to be
sharp enough to know that it is you who
are breaking the law now and not
me i have done nothing actionable
from the first but as long as you keep
that door locked
you lay yourself open to an action for
assault and illegal constraint
the law cannot as you say touch you
said holmes unlocking and throwing open
the door
yet there never was a man who deserved
punishment more
if the young lady has a brother or a
friend he ought to lay a whip across
your shoulders
by jove he continued flushing up at the
sight of the bitter sneer upon the man’s
face
it is not part of my duties to my client
but here’s a hunting crop handy and i
think i shall just treat myself to
he took two swift steps to the whip but
before he could grasp it there was a
wild clatter of steps upon the stairs
the heavy hall door banged and from the
window we could see mr james windy bank
running at the top of his speed down the
road
there’s a cold-blooded scoundrel said
holmes
laughing as he threw himself down into
his chair once more
that fellow will rise from crime to
crime until he does something very bad
and ends on a gallows the case has in
some respects
been not entirely devoid of interest
i cannot now entirely see all the steps
of your reasoning
i remarked well
of course it was obvious from the first
that this mr hosmer angel must have some
strong
object for his curious conduct and it
was equally clear that the only man who
really profited by the incident
as far as we could see was the
stepfather
then the fact that the two men were
together but that the one always
appeared when the other was away
was suggestive so were the tinted
spectacles and the curious voice
which both hitted at a disguise as did
the bushy whiskers
my suspicions were all confirmed by his
peculiar action
in typewriting his signature which of
course
inferred that his handwriting was so
familiar to her
that she would recognize even the
smallest sample of it
you see all these isolated facts
together with many minor ones
all pointed in the same direction
and how did you verify them
having once spotted my man it was easy
to get corroboration
i knew the firm for which this man
worked having taken the printed
description
i eliminated everything from it which
could be the result of a disguise
the whiskers the glasses the voice
and i sent it to the firm with the
request that they would inform me
whether it answered to the description
of any of their travelers
i had already noticed the peculiarities
of the typewriter
and i wrote to the man himself at his
business address
asking him if he would come here as i
expected
his reply was type written and revealed
the same
trivial but characteristic defects
the same post brought me a letter from
west house mr bank
of finn church street to say that the
description tallied in every respect
with that of their employee james windy
bank
voila and miss sutherland
if i tell her she will not believe me
you may remember the old persian
saying there is danger for him who
taketh the tiger cub
and danger also for who so snatches a
delusion from a woman
there is as much sense in hafiz as in
horus
and as much knowledge of the world
[Music]
you