Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Sleepy Sherlock Holmes Story - A Case of Identity

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Starting point is 00:00:46 please go to sleepcove.com slash support. That's sleepcove.com slash support. If you can't support the show right now, please subscribe with a bell to get alerts on all new free content Thank you Have you ever gazed in wonder at the Great Pyramid Have you marvelled at the golden face of Tudankhamun

Starting point is 00:01:16 Or admired the delicate features of Queen Nefertiti If you have, you'll probably like the History of Egypt podcast Every week we explore tales of this ancient culture The history of Egypt is available wherever you get your podcasting fix. Come, let me introduce you to the world of ancient Egypt. Hello and welcome to Sleep Cove, the place to come for a good night's sleep. This week's episode is a classic Sherlock Holmes short story called A Case of Identity. This story is a gentle mystery.

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Starting point is 00:03:22 So there's a special offer for all Sleepcove listeners to get 10% off your first month when you visit betterhelp.com slash sleepcove. and use the code Sleep Cove to redeem your offer. Please listen to this recording in a place where you can safely go to sleep. And let's begin. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes A Case of Identity My dear fellow, said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Life is infinitely stranger than any other. which the mind of a 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 chain of events, working through generations and leading to the most utre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and unforeseen conclusions,

Starting point is 00:04:44 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 contain the vital essence

Starting point is 00:05:31 of the whole matter. Depend on 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 was absolutely puzzled throughout these three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre. But here, I picked up the morning paper,

Starting point is 00:06:01 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 it 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 as I down on it. This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it.

Starting point is 00:06:54 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 pinch 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 centre of the lid. its splendour 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 have not seen you for some weeks.

Starting point is 00:07:42 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, even though you have chronicled already one or two of my little problems. And have you any on hand just now?

Starting point is 00:08:16 I asked with interest. Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest. They are important, you understand, without being. being interesting. Indeed, I found that it is usually in unimportant matters, but 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 the simpler, for the bigger the crimes, the more obvious, as a rule is the motive. In these cases, say for one rather intricate matter, which has been referred to me from Marseilles,

Starting point is 00:08:56 there is nothing which presents any feature of interest. It is possible, however, that I may have something better before many, many minutes are over, but this is one of my clients, or am I 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,

Starting point is 00:09:23 I saw that on the pavement, opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur bower round her neck and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear from under this great panopie she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows while her body oscillated backward and forward and her fingers fidgeted with her fingers. her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as if the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road and we heard the sharp clang of the bell. I've seen these symptoms before,

Starting point is 00:10:10 said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. Oscillation upon the pavement is always an affair to occur. She would like advice, but 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 this is a love matter, that this maiden is not so much angry as perplexed or grieved, but here she comes in person to resolve our doubts.

Starting point is 00:10:50 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 an easy courtesy For which he was remarkable

Starting point is 00:11:15 And having closed the door And bowed her into an armchair he looked her over in the minute, and yet abstracted fashion, which was peculiar to him. Do not find, he said, that with your short sight, it is a little trying to do so much typewriting. I did at first, she answered, but now I know where the letters are without looking up. Then, suddenly realising the full purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and a state. astonishment upon a broad, good-humoured face. You've heard about me, Mr. Holmes, she cried.

Starting point is 00:11:56 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 come to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etheridge, whose husband you found so easy when the person, police and everyone had given him up for dead. Oh Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as much for me.

Starting point is 00:12:26 I am not rich, but I still 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 do you come 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. Windybank, that is my father, took it all.

Starting point is 00:13:05 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 there was no hum 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, my mother is alive and well.

Starting point is 00:13:42 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. Farmer 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. Windybank came, he made herself the business, for he was very much superior, being a traveller in wines. They got £4,700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't near as much as my father could have got, if he had been still alive.

Starting point is 00:14:19 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 my uncle Ned in Auckland.

Starting point is 00:14:43 It is a New Zealand stock, paying four and a half percent. 2,500 was the amount, but I can only touch the interest. You interest me extremely, said Holmes, and since you draw so large a sum 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

Starting point is 00:15:11 upon an income of about £60. I could do 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. Windybank 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 two pence a sheet, and I can often do from 15 to 20 sheets a day. You have made your position very clear to me, said Holmes. This is my dear friend Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself.

Starting point is 00:16:02 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 the fringe of her jacket. I met him first at the gas fitters ball, she said. They used to send father tickets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother. Mr. Windybank would not wish us to go. He never did wishes to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much to us join a Sunday school treat, but this time I was set on going, and I would go, for what right has he to prevent it? He said the folk were not fit for us to know,

Starting point is 00:16:50 when all father's 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 draw. 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,

Starting point is 00:17:12 And if it was there, I met Mr. Hosmer, Angel. I suppose, said Holmes, that when Mr. Windybank 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, but she would have her way. I see.

Starting point is 00:17:38 Then at the gas-fitter's ball you met, as I understand, A gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel. Yes, sir, I met him that night, and he called me 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, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house anymore. No. Well, you know, father didn't like anything of the sort.

Starting point is 00:18:09 you wouldn't have any visitors if you 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 yet got mine but how about Mr Hosmer Angel did he make no attempt to see you

Starting point is 00:18:31 well father was going off to France again in a week and Hosma wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each other until he had gone. We would write in the meantime, and he used to write every day. I took the letters in 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.

Starting point is 00:19:01 Hosmer, Mr. Angel, was a cashier in an office at Leavenhall 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 Leavenhall Street.'

Starting point is 00:19:22 "'Where did you address your letters, then?' "'To the Leavenhall Street post office. "'Did be left till 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 do. typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for he said that when I wrote them

Starting point is 00:19:44 they seemed to come from me, but when they were typewritten, he would always feel that the machine had come between us. That would 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 been long an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. can you remember any other little things about mr hosber 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 so conspicuous very retiring and gentlemanly he was even his voice was gentle he had the quincy and swollen glands when he was young he told me and it had left him with a weak throat and a hessels hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always well-dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as minor, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare.

Starting point is 00:20:52 Well, and what happened when Mr. Windybank, your stepfather, returned to France? Mr. Husper 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 in all favour 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 Father, but they both said never to mind about Father, but just to tell him afterwards, and Mother said she would make it

Starting point is 00:21:38 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 the very morning of the wedding. It missed him then. Yes, sir, but he had started to England just before it arrived. Ah, that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged then for the Friday. Was it to be in church?

Starting point is 00:22:14 Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Savius near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. 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 full wheeler, which happened to be the only other character, in the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up, we waited for him to step out,

Starting point is 00:22:44 but he never did. And when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one there, the cabman 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 never seen or heard of anything since then to throw any light upon what became 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 separators,

Starting point is 00:23:27 I was always to remember what I was pledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later, it seems 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,

Starting point is 00:23:53 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 I was never to speak of the matter again. And your father?

Starting point is 00:24:15 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 Hosmo 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 about it. I can't sleep a wink at night.

Starting point is 00:24:55 She pulled her little handkerchief out of her muff, 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 weight of 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.

Starting point is 00:25:23 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 which you can spare. I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle, she said. Here is the slip and here are four letters from him. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:25:46 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 importers of Fenturch Street. Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will leave the papers here and remember the advice which I gave to 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.

Starting point is 00:26:27 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 away 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 to. out in front of him, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down from the rack

Starting point is 00:27:04 the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor, and having lit it, he leaned back in his chair with a thick blue cloud wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite longer in his face. Quite an interesting study that maiden, he observed. I found her more interesting, 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, there was something of the sort at the Hague last year. Old is the idea, however, that 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.

Starting point is 00:28:01 Not invisible, but unnoticed Watson. You did not look where to look, and so you missed all that what was important. It can never bring you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumbnails, or the great issues that may hang from a bootlace. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? describe it. Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with little black beads sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments.

Starting point is 00:28:43 Her dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little purple plush and the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish, and were worn through at the right forefinger, Her boots I did not observe. She had a 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. Pond, 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 colour. Never trust to general impressions, my boy,

Starting point is 00:29:31 but concentrate yourself upon detail. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perhaps better first to take the knee of a 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,

Starting point is 00:30:03 but upon the left arm and on the side of its 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 pince-nez at the side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed to surprise her. It surprised me, but surely it was obvious. I was then much surprise and interested on glancing down to observe that though the boots she was wearing were not unlike each other and there were really odd ones, the one having a slightly decorated toe cap and the other a plain one.

Starting point is 00:30:45 One was buttoned only to the two lower buttons out of five and the other at the first, third and fifth. Now when you see that a young lady, 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 noticed in passing that she had written a note before leaving home, but after being fully dressed, you observed that her right glove was torn at the full finger, but you did not

Starting point is 00:31:27 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. Hossey? I held up the little printed slip to the light. Missing, it said. On the 14th, a gentleman named Hosmer Angel, about five foot seven inches in height, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bold in the centre, bushy black side whiskers, and moustache, tinted glasses, slightly infirmative of speech, was dressed when last seen in black frock-coat, face,

Starting point is 00:32:21 with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, and grey Harris-tweed trousers with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots, known to have been employed in an office and leadenhall street. Anybody bringing, etc., etc. That will do, said Holmes. As to the letters, he continued glancing over them, they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clue to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There is one remarkable point, however, that will no doubt strike you. They are typewritten, I remarked. Not only that, but the signature is typewritten.

Starting point is 00:33:05 Look at the neat little Hosmer Angel at the bottom. There is a date, you see. There is no superscription except Ledenhall Street, which is rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive. In fact, you may call it conclusive. Of what? My dear fellow, it is 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

Starting point is 00:33:37 if an action for breach of promise was 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 ladies' stepfather, Mr Windy Bank, asking him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow evening.

Starting point is 00:33:59 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 our little problem upon the shelf for the interim. I had so many reasons to believe 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 demeanour

Starting point is 00:34:25 with which he treated the singular mystery from 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 that of Irene Adler's photograph. But when I looked back to the weird business of the sign of four and the extraordinary circumstances

Starting point is 00:34:43 connected with a 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 a conviction that when I came again on the next evening, I would find that he held in his hands all the clues which would leap up to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland.

Starting point is 00:35:09 A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own attention, attention at the time, and the whole of the 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 Duneumont of their 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 arrangement. of bottles and test tubes, with the pungent, clean smell of hydrochloric acid, told me that he'd spent his day in the chemical work, which was so dear to him. Well, have you solved it? I asked as I entered.

Starting point is 00:35:57 Yes, it was the bisulfate of barit. 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 there is no law I fear that can touch the scoundrel. Who was he? 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

Starting point is 00:36:32 when we heard a heavy footfall in the passage and a tap and the door. This is the girl's step for. father, Mr. James Windybank, said Holmes. He is written to me to say that he would be 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 wonderful sharp and penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of us, placed his shiny top hut upon the sideboard, and with a slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. Good evening, Mr. James Windybank, said Holmes. I think that this typewritten letter is for you,

Starting point is 00:37:25 in which you made an appointment for me for six o'clock. Yes, sir, I'm afraid that I'm a little late, that I am not quite my own master, you know. I am very 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. She is a very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily controlled, and she has made up a mind on a point. Of course, I do 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,

Starting point is 00:38:08 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. Windybank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. I'm delighted to hear it, he said. It's 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 some were only on

Starting point is 00:38:51 one side. Now you remark in this note of yours, Mr Windybank, that in every case there is some little slurring over the ease and a slight defect in the tail of the R. There are fourteen other characteristics, but those are the more of the ease. We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and no doubt it's a little worn. Our visitor answered, glancing keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Mr Windybank. Holmes continued. I think of writing another little monograph some of these days on the typewriter, and its relation to crime.

Starting point is 00:39:36 It is a subject to which I have devoted some little. little attention. I have four letters which purport to come from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not only are the E's slurred and the Ars tailless, but you will observe if you care to use my magnifying lens that the 14 other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well. Mr. Windybank sprang out of the 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'll let you know then, that I have caught him. What? Where?

Starting point is 00:40:24 shouted Mr. Windybank, turning white to his lips and glancing about like a rat in a trap. Oh, it won't do, really it won't, said Mr. Holmes suavely. There is no possible getting out of it, Mr Windybank. It is quite too transparent, and it was a very bad compliment. We 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.

Starting point is 00:40:58 It's not actionable, he stammered. I am very much afraid that it is not. not, but between ourselves Windybank, it was as cruel and selfish as a heartless as a trick in a petty way as ever came before me. Now let me run over the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong. The man sat huddled in his chair, with his head sunk upon his breast, like one who was utterly crushed. Home struck his feet upon 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,

Starting point is 00:41:43 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. Their daughter was of good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that her fair personal advantages and her little income she should 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

Starting point is 00:42:30 But soon he found that would not 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 credible to his head than to his heart

Starting point is 00:42:50 With the connivance and assistant of his wife, he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secured an account of the girl's short sight. He appeared 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.

Starting point is 00:43:26 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 grow. call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it would if a real effect

Starting point is 00:43:59 were to be produced. There were meetings and an engagement, which would finally secure the guild's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it would leave a 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 Windybank wished Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to

Starting point is 00:44:49 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 of the other. I think that was the chain of events, Mr. Windybank. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance. while Mr Holmes had been talking and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his pale face

Starting point is 00:45:25 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 was 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

Starting point is 00:45:45 you lay open to an action for assault and a legal 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,

Starting point is 00:46:17 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, and the heavy door banged, and from the window we could see Mr James Windybank running at the top of his speed, down the road. There's a cold-blooded scoundrel,

Starting point is 00:46:40 said Holmes, laughing, as he threw himself into his chair once more, That fellow will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad and ends up 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 was Mr Hosmer Angel. It must have been some strong object for his curious conduct and it was equally clear that the man who really profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather.

Starting point is 00:47:20 Then the fact that the two men were never together, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was suggestive. So there were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted 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 recognise even the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts together with many minor ones all pointed to the same direction. And how did you verify them?

Starting point is 00:48:04 Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get co-referred. operation. I knew the firm for which the 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, I sent it to the firm with a request that they would inform me whether it answered to the description of any of their travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business address, asking him if you would come here. As I expected, his reply was typewritten

Starting point is 00:48:42 and revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from West House and Marbank of Fenchurch Street to say that the description tallied in every respect with their employee, James Windybank. Vala too. And Miss Sunderland? If I tell her,

Starting point is 00:49:07 you will not believe me, you may remember the old Persian saying, there is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and also danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman. There is much sense as in half is, as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world.

Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Sleepy Sherlock Holmes Story - A Case of Identity

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