Episode VI - A Case of Identity

Step into the world of Victorian London as we unravel a spellbinding narrative about love, deceit, and the complexities of human relationships. In this gripping episode, we tell the story of Miss Mary Sutherland, a young woman whose idyllic engagement to Mr. Hosmer Angel unfolds into a mystery full of heartache and intrigue.

Miss Sutherland seeks the help of the infamous detective Sherlock Holmes when her fiancé mysteriously vanishes on what should have been their wedding day. A rich tapestry of storytelling unfolds as Holmes delves deep into the circumstances surrounding the engagement, bringing to light the hidden truths about love and family ties that gnaw at Miss Sutherland's happiness. With sharp wit and incisive analysis, Holmes uncovers the layers of deception veiled by hints of romance and familial loyalty.

As the plot thickens, we explore the vital clues surrounding typewritten letters and examine the precise moment when trust begins to waver. It becomes evident that appearances can be deceptive, and the truth often lies hidden beneath the surface. The narrative not only captivates listeners with a thrilling journey of uncovering the truth but also invites us to reflect on the nature of love, loyalty, and the emotional complexities that accompany our relationships.

Join us for a thought-provoking exploration of Miss Sutherland's plight and Holmes's unyielding pursuit of justice. You won't want to miss the unforgettable twists and emotional revelations of this classic mystery. Don't forget to subscribe, share your thoughts, and leave a review to let us know how this tale resonated with you!

Transcript

Introduction to Miss Mary Sutherland’s Story

Speaker 2 0:16

Sherlock Holmes Alone, episode 6, a Case of Identity. Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive of the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence If we could fly out of a window hand in hand, hover over the great city of London, for example, 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 aupurposes, the wonderful chains of events working through generations and leading to the most outré results. It would make all fiction, with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions, most stale and unprofitable. This may not seem to be a convincing argument when one considers the cases which come to light in the papers. They are, as a rule, bold enough and vulgar enough. We also have, in our police reports, realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic. You see, a certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect. This is wanting in the police report, where mere stress is laid, perhaps, upon platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details which, to an observer, contain the vital essence of the whole matter Depend upon it. There is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.

Speaker 2 2:02

Of course, in my position of unofficial advisor and helper to everyone who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three continents, I am brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre. The average reader of the morning paper reads stories like this 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 you. 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. But let us consider this story a little more closely. This is in fact the Dundas separation case. As it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained of was that he 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.

Speaker 2 3:15

Now, back in September of 1891, I had maybe ten or twelve cases on hand, but none which presented any feature of interest. They were important, you understand, without being interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that there is a field for observation and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be more simple, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which had been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presented any features of interest. But something much better and frankly, more interesting was about to come my way.

Speaker 2 4:01

On that September day. I had risen from my chair and was standing between the parted blinds, gazing down into the dull, neutral-tinted London street. I saw that on the pavement opposite there stood a rather large woman with a heavy fur bow around 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 panoply, she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at my 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 I heard the sharp clang of the bell.

The Peculiar Engagement of Miss Sutherland

Speaker 2 4:46

I had seen those symptoms before. Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affair de coeur. She wanted advice but was not sure that the matter was not too delicate for communication. And yet even here I could 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 I took it that there was a love matter, but that the maiden was not so much angry as perplexed or perhaps grieved. But here she was, coming in person to resolve my doubts.

Speaker 2 5:23

There was a tap at the door and I welcomed in Miss Mary Sutherland. She took a seat in the armchair and I observed her with my peculiar and somewhat abstract methods. Do you not find that with your short sight it is rather a little difficult to do so much typewriting? Oh, at first I did, but now I know where the letters are without looking. Then she suddenly realized the full purport of my words. She gave a violent start and looked up with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humored face.

Speaker 2 6:00

You've heard of me, mr Holmes Else, how could you know all that? Oh, never mind. Never mind, 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 easily when the police and everyone had given him up for dead. "'oh, mr Holmes, I wish, I wish you could do so much for me. "'i'm not rich, but I still have a hundred a year in my own right, "'besides the little I make by the machine. "'and I would gladly give it all to know what has become of Mr Hosmer Angel' "'But why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry? Again, the startled and somewhat confused look came over her face. Well, yes, mr Holmes, it is true, I did rather bang out of the house, for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr Windebank 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 threw on my things and came right away to you.

Speaker 2 7:19

Your father, your stepfather, surely, since the name is different? Yes, my stepfather, surely, since the name is different. Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny to, for he is only five years and two months older than myself and your mother is still 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's nearly fifteen years younger than herself.

Speaker 2 7:48

Father was a plumber in Tottenham Court Road and he left a tidy business behind him which mother carried on with Mr Hardy the foreman. But when Mr Windermere came he made her sell the business, for he is very superior, being a traveller in wines. They got £4,700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't near as much as father could have got if he'd been alive. Your own little income Does it come out of the business? Oh no, sir, it's quite separate and was left to me by my 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. Interesting, very interesting.

Speaker 2 8:34

Now, 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 with an income of about, oh, sixty pound per year. Oh well, 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 on them. So they have the use of the money just while I'm staying with them. Of course, that is only just for a time. Mr Winterbank draws my interest every quarter and pays it over to Mother, andi 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 fifteen to twenty sheets a day. You have made your position very clear to me. Twenty sheets a day. You have made your position very clear to me. Kindly tell me now 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.

Speaker 2 9:36

I met him first at the gas-fitter's ball. They used to send father tickets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us and sent them to mother. Mr Windebank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad, and if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday school retreat. Well, 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 father's friends were there. And he said 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, with nothing else to 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.

Speaker 2 10:28

I suppose that when Mr Windermink came back from France he was very annoyed at you having gone to the ball. Oh well, he was very good about it actually, mr Holmes. He laughed, I remember, and shrugged his shoulders and said there was no use denying anything to a woman, for she would have it her way. I see, 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 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 any more. 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.

Speaker 2 11:25

"'but then, as I used to say to Mother, "'a woman wants her own circle to begin with. "'and I hadn't 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 would be no need for Father to know'. "'you were engaged to this gentleman at the time'. "'oh yes, mr Holmes. "'we were engaged.

Deceptive Disguise of Mr Hosmer Angel

Speaker 2 12:03

After the first walk we took, hosmer, mr Angel was a cashier in an office in Leidenhall Street. What office? That's the worst of it, mr Holmes. I don't know when did he live then. He slept on the premises and you don't know his address. No, except that it was Leidenhall Street. He slept on the premises and you don't know his address. No, except that it was Leidenhall Street. Where did you address your letters then? To the Leidenhall Street post office, to be left till called for.

Speaker 2 12:36

He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chafed 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 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. Indeed, it is most suggestive. 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 tiring 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 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.

Speaker 2 13:51

And what happened? When, mr Windebank, your stepfather, returned from 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 a testament that whatever happened, I would always be true to him. Mother was all in his favour from the very first and was even fonder of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within a week, I began to ask about father, but they both said never 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 in 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 back to England just before it arrived. Ha, that was unfortunate.

Speaker 2 14:56

Your wedding was arranged then for Friday. Was it to be in church? Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St Saviour's near King's Cross, "'and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St Pancras Hotel. "'hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were two of us, "'he put us both into it and stepped himself into a four-wheeler, "'which had happened to be the only other cab in the street. "'we got to the church first and when the four-wheeler drove up. 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 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.

Speaker 2 15:45

That was last Friday, mr Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since to throw any light upon what became of him. It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated. 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 must be true, and even if something quite unforeseen occurred to separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him and that he 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 seems strange talk for a wedding morning, but what has happened since gives meaning to it. It most certainly 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 actually happened, but you have no notion as to what it could have been. None One more question how did your mother take the matter?

Speaker 2 16:43

She was angry. She 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 a 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 would never 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. "'i can't sleep a wink at night' mad to think of it, I can't sleep a wink at night.

Speaker 2 17:24

I shall glance into the case for you, 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. Then you don't think I'll see him again. 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.

Speaker 2 17:58

I advertised for him in last Saturday's chronicle. Here is the slip and here are four letters from him. Thank you, and your address, number 31, lyne Place, camberwell. Mr Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your father's place of business? He travels for Westhouse and Marbank, the great claret importers of French Church Street. Thank you, you have made your statement very clearly. You will leave the papers here and remember the advice I had 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.

Speaker 2 18:47

There was something noble in the simple faith of my visitor which compelled my 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. I sat silent for a few minutes with my fingers pressed together, my legs stretched out in front of me and my gaze directed upward at the ceiling. Then I took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe which is to me as a counsellor and lit it. I leaned back in my chair with thick blue clouds spinning up from me.

Speaker 2 19:18

"'she was quite an interesting study, this maiden. "'i found her more interesting than her little problem "'which, by the way, was rather a trite one. "'i had a record of parallel cases in my index "'in Andover in 77, "'and there was something of the sort at the Hague last year. "'old as was the idea. However, "'there were one or two details which were new to me "'but the maiden herself was most instructive.

Holmes Investigates the Typewriter Clue

Speaker 2 19:46

Now I can never stress too much the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumbnails or the great issues that may hang from a bootlace. She had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat with a feather of brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads sewn upon it and a little fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and were worn through. At the right forefinger she had small, round, hanging gold earrings and a general air of being fairly well to do in a sort of vulgar, comfortable, easy-going kind of way. These were the general impressions.

Speaker 2 20:31

But one should never just trust to general impressions but concentrate oneself 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. 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 typewriter presses against the table were beautifully defined. The sewing machine of 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 was this.

Speaker 2 21:12

I then glanced at her face and, observing the dint of the pin's nose at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting which seemed to surprise her. It was obvious. I was then much surprised and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which she were wearing were not unlike each other, they were actually 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 the 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. I noted in passing that she had written a note before leaving home, but after being fully dressed I observed that her right glove was torn at the forefinger, but both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. All this was rather amusing, though rather elementary.

Speaker 2 22:15

I got back to business and read the advertised description of Mr Hosmer Angel Missing 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 centre, bushy, black side whiskers and moustache, tinted glasses, slight infirmity of speech, was dressed when last seen in black frock coat, faced 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 in Leidenhall Street. As to the letters, they were very commonplace. Absolutely no clue in them to Mr Cosmer Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There was one remarkable point, however they were typewritten. And not only that, but the signature was typewritten. There was a neat little Cosmer Angel at the bottom. There was a date, but no superscription except Leidenhall Street, which was rather vague. The point about the signature was suggestive. In fact it was conclusive. I wrote two letters which would settle the matter. One was to a firm in the city, the other was to the young lady's stepfather, mr Windermank, asking him whether he could meet me at Baker Street at six o'clock the following evening. I could do nothing until the answers to those letters came, so I put my little problem upon the shelf for the interim.

Speaker 2 23:47

I spent most of the next day engaged in my chemical work, and as it neared six I heard heavy footfalls in the passage and a tap at the door. It was Miss Sutherland's stepfather, mr James Winterbank. He had written to me to say that he would arrive at six. I opened the door. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thirty years of age, clean-shaven and sallow-skinned, with a bland, insinuating manner and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at me, placed his shiny top hat upon the sideboard and, with a slight bow, sidled down to the nearest chair. Good evening, mr James Winterbank.

Speaker 2 24:32

I think that this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an appointment with me for six o'clock. Yes, sir, I'm 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 far better not to wash linen of this 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, and 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 bandied about. Besides, it is a useless expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel? On the contrary, I have every reason to believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr Hosmer Angel. On the contrary, I have every reason to believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr Hosmer Angel. Well, I am delighted to hear it, mr Holmes.

Speaker 2 25:29

It is a curious thing, mr Winterbank, 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 wear only on one side. Now you will note in this letter of yours, mr Winterbank, that in every case there is some little slurring over the E and a slight defect in the tail of the R. There are fourteen 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, mr Holmes. "'and now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, mr Winterbank. "'i am thinking 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 fourteen other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well.

Speaker 2 26:42

I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk. Mr Holmes, if you can catch the man, catch him and let me know when you have done it. Certainly, I stepped over and turned the key in the door. I let you know, sir, that I have caught him. What, where, what are you talking about, holmes'. At this point, mr Windebank turned white to his lips and glanced about him like a rat in a trap. "'oh, it really won't do. It really won't, mr Windebank? There is no possible getting out of it. It is quite too transparent. And it is 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.

Speaker 2 27:27

My visitor collapsed into his chair with a ghastly face and a glittering of moisture on his brow. Well, holmes, it is not actionable? I am very much afraid that it is not. Yes, you are right, but between ourselves, winterbank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick, in a petty way, as has ever come 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. Sat huddled up in his chair with his head sunk upon his breast, like one who is utterly crushed.

Speaker 2 28:11

The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money, and he enjoyed the use of her money, and he enjoyed the use of the money of her daughter as well, as long as the daughter 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 and admirable 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 for very long Now. Her marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year.

Speaker 2 28:46

So what does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of keeping a home and forbidding her to seek the company of people her own age. But soon he found that 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 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 moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear, clear voice into an insinuating whisper, undoubtedly 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, holmes. We never thought that she would have been so carried away. Very likely not. However that may be.

Confronting Mr Windebank

Speaker 2 29:51

The young lady was very decidedly carried away and, having quite made up her mind that her stepfather was away 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 could go if a real effect were to be produced. There were meetings and an engagement which would finally secure the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretend journeys to France were rather cumbersome. Clearly, the thing to do was 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 the testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening.

Speaker 2 30:52

On the very morning of the wedding, you, windebank, 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 you brought her "'and then, as you could go no further, "'you 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 Winterbank'. "'my visitor suddenly recovered something of his self-assurance and he rose from his chair with a cold sneer upon his pale face. It may be so or it may be not, mr Holmes, 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 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. So look here, I've unlocked the door. It is wide open. But I must tell you there was never a man who deserved punishment more than you. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove, by Jove. It riles me, I must say. I see that snare upon your face, winterbank, it's not part of my duties to my client, but look, here's my hunting crop. As Winterbank made for the door, I took two swift steps toward my whip, but before I could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window I could see Mr James Winterbank running at the top of his speed down the road. James Winterbank was a cold-blooded scoundrel. I have not heard any word of it, but would not be surprised if he rose from crime to crime until he did something very bad and ended on the gallows.

Speaker 2 32:47

The case had in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest. Of course, it was obvious from the first that Mr Hosmer Angel must have had 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 I could see, was the stepfather. Then the fact that these two men were never together, but that one always appeared when the other was away, that was suggestive. So 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 particular and peculiar action in typewriting his signature, which of course inferred that his handwriting was so familiar to Miss Sutherland that she would recognize it even the smallest sample of it. All these isolated facts, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same direction. It was a simple matter to verify these facts.

Speaker 2 33:45

Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get cooperation. 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 a request that they would inform me whether it answered to the result of a disguise the whiskers, the glasses, the voice and 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 so I wrote to the man himself at his business address, asking him if he would come and meet me at Baker Street. As I expected, his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Westhouse and Marbank, a French church street, to say that the description tallied in every respect with that of their employee, james Winterbank. Voila, I never did tell Miss Sutherland I knew she would not believe me did tell.

Speaker 1 34:50

Miss Sutherland. I knew she would not believe me. And besides, who am I to take away her?

Speaker 2 34:56

delusion Sherlock Holmes Alone, adapted and performed by JP Winslow, based on the original writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.