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1The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck
2his feet up on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his pockets, began talking, rather to
3himself, as it seemed, than to us. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money," said he, "and
4he enjoyed the use of the money of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable sum, for people in
5their position, and the loss of it would have made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. The
6daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that
7with her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain single long. Now her
8marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the
9obvious course of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of people of her own age. But soon he found
10that that would not answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her positive
11intention of going to a certain ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable to
12his head than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes
13with tinted glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an
14insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps
15off other lovers by making love himself." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never thought that she
16would have been so carried away." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very decidedly carried away,
17and, having quite made up her mind that her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an instant
18entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed
19admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it
20would go if a real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the
21girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended
22journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such a dramatic
23manner that it would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and prevent her from looking upon any other
24suitor for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and hence also the allusions to a
25possibility of something happening on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Sutherland to be so
26bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen to
27another man. As far as the church door he brought her, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished
28away 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
29events, Mr. Windibank!" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had been talking, and he rose
30from 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
31are 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
32done nothing actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an action for
33assault and illegal constraint." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open the
34door, "yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to
35lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's
36face, "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
37to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the
38stairs, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank running at the top of his speed
39down the road. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he threw himself down into his chair once
40more. "That fellow will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ends on a gallows. The case has,
41in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I
42remarked. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his
43curious conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really profited by the incident, as far as we could see,
44was the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, but that the one always appeared when the other
45was away, was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did
46the bushy whiskers. My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in typewriting his signature, which, of
47course, inferred that his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the smallest sample of it.
48You see all these isolated facts, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same direction." "And how did you
49verify them?" "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I knew the firm for which this man worked.
50Having taken the printed description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the result of a disguise--the
51whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me whether it
52answered to the description of any of their travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I
53wrote to the man himself at his business address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his reply was
54typewritten and revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Westhouse &
55Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, James
56Windibank. Voilà tout!" "And Miss Sutherland?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Persian
57saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.'
58There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world."
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