The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 32 Four Signatures (16)
"We want to go in and have a look," said Holmes, pushing the old woman away and rushing into the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself.The interior furniture was in disarray, with shelves dismantled and drawers open, as if she had rummaged hastily before going out.Holmes rushed to the right-hand side of the bell's cable, opened a small sliding door, reached in, and brought out a photograph and a letter.The photo is of Erin Yadler herself in evening gown.The envelope read: "From Mr. Sherlock Holmes."My friend opened the letter and the three of us sat around to read it.The date on the letter is early this morning.The letter reads:
Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:

You did a very good job indeed.I was completely deceived by you at first, and I didn't suspect it at all until the fire alarm was sounded.But then when I realized that I had given away my secret, I started thinking.I was warned months ago to be wary of you, because if the king had any detectives, it would be you.They have also given me your address.But despite this, you still let me reveal the secret you want to know.Even after I became suspicious, it was hard for me to believe that such an elderly, amiable priest could be malicious.But, you know, I'm an actor myself.I'm no stranger to men's clothing, and I've often dressed as a man myself, taking advantage of the freedom it affords.I sent my coachman, John, to watch you, and ran upstairs, and put on my walking clothes.I was just going downstairs when you left.

Then I followed you to your door before I was sure that you were really the famous Mr. Sherlock Holmes.So I took the liberty of wishing you good night, and set off to Temple to meet my husband.

We both felt it was only safe to fly away from the eyes of such a formidable adversary.So I decided to leave at dawn, so that when you come, you will miss it.As for that photograph, reassure your client.I have fallen in love with someone better than him.A king can do what he wants without fear of being hindered by those he has wronged.I will still keep that photo as a self-defense weapon in case he makes any unexpected moves in the future.I'm leaving him another picture now, and he can take it if he wants.Greetings to you, the dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Eileen Adler Norton

When the three of us had read the letter together, the King of Bohemia exclaimed: "What a woman! Didn't I tell you how quick and decisive she was? If she could be queen, she must She is an admirable queen. It's a pity that she is not in the same position as me!"

Holmes said coldly: "From what I have seen in this lady, her level is indeed very different from that of His Majesty. I am very sorry that I could not bring His Majesty's matter to a good conclusion."

King of Bohemia said: "My dear sir, it is quite the opposite, and there could be no better ending. I know she means what she says, and that picture reassures me now as if it had been burned." .”

"I'm glad His Majesty can say that."

"I really appreciate you. How can I repay you. This ring..." As he said, he took off a snake-shaped emerald ring from his finger, put it on the palm of his hand and handed it to me friend.

"I think Your Majesty has something more valuable than this ring," said Holmes.

"Then please tell me."

"This is the picture."

The King of Bohemia stared at him with wide eyes in amazement, and said, "Irene's photo? If you want it, of course you can."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Then this matter will be over. I would like to wish you a good morning." After speaking, he bowed and turned around, without even looking at the king's hand extended to him.I followed him back to his residence.

This is how the king of Bohemia is threatened by a scandal, and Holmes' plans are thwarted by a woman's ingenuity.Afterwards, he often praised the woman's cleverness, but I rarely heard him say that recently.Whenever he spoke of Erin Yadler or referred to that picture of her, he always referred to her as "that woman."

identity case

I sat opposite Holmes before the fire of his Baker Street flat.He said, "Old friend, life is much more wonderful than people can imagine. There are many ordinary things that we dare not even think about. If we could fly out of the window and fly over the city hand in hand, Gently lift those roofs, and you can see that many extraordinary things are happening inside: strange coincidences, secret plots, differences of opinion, and amazing chains of events, which continue to happen from generation to generation, producing Outlandish results. These things would make the stereotyped novel of the beginning and the end dull and unmarketable."

I replied: "However, I do not agree with you. Most of the cases reported in the newspapers are very monotonous and vulgar. In the police reports, realism is written to the extreme. We must admit that the result is neither Funny, and not artistic."

"There is a certain amount of choice and judgment which must be exercised in order to see the truth of a case," said Holmes. "There is no such thing in the police report, and perhaps the emphasis is placed on the platitudes of the officer, rather than on the essential substantive details of the whole incident."

I smiled and shook my head and said, "I understand what you're thinking. Of course, since you're in an unofficial position, a rescuer for people in need, and your career spans three continents, you have a chance I was exposed to all kinds of people and things out of the ordinary." I picked up a morning newspaper from the floor and said, "Let's do an experiment, here is a report of a husband abusing his wife, it takes up half a column, but I don't read it. Know exactly what it's about. Needless to say, there must be another woman involved in it, drinking, beatings, and the like. Even the worst writer couldn't think of anything more shoddy. "

Holmes took the newspaper, glanced at it briefly, and said: "Actually, the examples you have given are quite inappropriate for defending your point. This is the case of the separation of the Dundas family, and I happened to be involved in the investigation." A few details pertaining to the case. The husband does not drink, and has no other women. It arose from his habit of taking off his dentures at the end of every meal and throwing them at his wife, who could not stand them, So a divorce is proposed. It is probably beyond the imagination of the average storyteller. Take a little snuff, Watson. You must admit that, from the examples you have given, I have won."

He produced his old gold snuff-box, with an amethyst crystal set in the center of the lid, whose splendor was so out of tune with his austerity and simplicity of life that I was compelled to speculate.

He said, "I forgot I hadn't seen you for weeks. Here's a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia for my help in the Irene Adler photograph case."

"Where's the ring?" I asked, looking at the brilliant diamond ring on his finger.

"It was given to me by the royal family of the Netherlands. Although this case is very delicate, I want to keep it a secret from them. So even for an old friend like you, it is inconvenient for me to disclose it."

"So, do you have any case on hand now?" I asked him with interest.

"There are eleven or twelve things, but none of them are particularly interesting. Although they are important, they are not interesting. I find that there are often things worth observing in unimportant events. I analyze them and draw results, so that The more important the case, the simpler it is. Because the bigger the crime, the more obvious the motive is, as a rule. In these cases, except for the case of Marseilles, which is a little researched, there is no other Very interesting. But, perhaps in a little while, interesting cases will come to your door, because now, if I'm not mistaken, another client is here."

My friend got up from his chair, stood before the drawn window, and gazed down at the gray and desolate London streets.I looked over his shoulder and saw a woman standing on the side of the road across the street with a thick fur boa around her neck and a wide-brimmed hat with a large curly feather in it. Wear it on one ear, just like the Duchess of Devonshire.In this attire, she peeped nervously and hesitantly at our window, while shaking back and forth, fingers fidgeting with the buttons of her gloves.Suddenly, she crossed the road quickly like a swimmer entering the water, and then we heard the crisp ringing of the doorbell.

Throwing the butt of his cigarette into the fireplace, said Holmes: "I have often seen this symptom before. But any hesitancy in the road is usually connected with a love affair. She needs help from others, but she is not sure whether to treat this delicate thing with her." Tell others about it. But there is also a distinction here. When a woman feels that a man has done something very sorry to her, she will not hesitate. The usual sign is that he is in a hurry to give the doorbell wire You broke. Now we can see this as a love affair, but this woman is not very angry, just confused or sad. She came just in time to explain our doubts."

As he was speaking, there was a knock at the door, and a liveried footman entered to announce a visit from Miss Mary Sutherland.Before the words were finished, the female guest appeared behind the short body of the manservant, like a merchant ship following the sail of the pilot's boat.Holmes welcomed her in with courtesy, closed the door behind him, and asked her to take a seat in the arm-chair.For a moment he studied her with that absent-minded air which was characteristic of him.

He said to the woman: "You are short-sighted, and you have to type so many words, don't you feel uncomfortable?"

She replied: "It was really difficult at first, but now I am familiar with it, and I know the position of the letters without looking." Suddenly, she seemed to understand the meaning of his question, and she was very shocked. There was a look of horror on her kindly face.She cried: "Mr. Holmes, you have heard of me, otherwise, how would you know that I type?"

Holmes smiled and said, "It's nothing. My job is to know all these things. Maybe I have trained myself to understand what others ignore. Otherwise, why would you come to ask me today?"

"Mrs. Ethridge introduced me to you, sir. Her husband, whom the police and others thought was dead and no longer sought, was found by you without difficulty. Ah, Mr. Holmes, I wish you could help me in the same way. I am not rich, but I have inherited an income of a hundred pounds a year, besides the little money I get from typing. If only I could know where Mr. Hosmer Angel is , I am willing to take them all out.”

Looking up at the ceiling, Holmes asked, fingertip to fingertip, "Why did you leave the house in such haste to seek me?"

Again Miss Mary Sutherland's look of astonishment came over her face, and she said: "Yes, I ran from the house angrily. Because I saw Mr. Windibank - that is my father - —The indifference to the matter really pissed me off. He wouldn't call the police, and he wouldn't come to you. He said nothing dangerous would happen, so he didn't do anything, and that kind of pissed me off. So I put on my coat and come straight here to find you."

Holmes said: "Your father must be your stepfather, because he has a different surname from yours."

"Yes, my stepfather. I call him Father, which sounds ridiculous, since he's only five years and two months older than me."

"So, is your mother still alive?"

"Yes, my mother is still alive. Mr. Holmes, she remarried shortly after my father's death, and to a man fifteen years younger than she, which displeased me. My father was at Tottenham. in the plumbing business in Lemm's Court Road. He bequeathed a rather large business, which was carried on by my mother and Mr. Hardy, the foreman. However, when Mr. Windibank came, he forced my mother to sell the business. The business, as he was a wine merchant, seemed to be a nobler trade than the business. The money they got from selling the property of the business, plus interest, was £15. If my father had lived, he would have gotten more than that. This is much more."

I expected Holmes to be bored by such rambling and thoughtless narration, but on the contrary, he listened intently, and when she had finished, he asked: "From which do you derive your own private income?" Is it?"

"No, sir. It was a separate income bequeathed to me by Uncle Ned at Auckland. It was a New Zealand share at four and a half per cent. The total value of the shares was £[-], but I can only pay that interest."

"I am very interested in what you have to say," said Holmes. "Since you have a fortune of a hundred pounds a year, and the money you earn from your work, I think you can live comfortably, or travel. I think , a single woman can live quite well on an income of about sixty pounds."

"Mr. Holmes, I can live very well without so much money. But you must understand that as long as I live at home, I don't want to be a burden to them, so when I live with them, they use money to pay money." My money, of course, is only temporary. Mr. Windibank will withdraw my interest quarterly to my mother, and I feel that I earn enough from typing. I earn twopence a copy, I can play fifteen to twenty cards a day."

Holmes said: "I am very clear about your situation. This is my friend Dr. Watson. You can talk to him as well as to me. Now please put you and Hosmer Tell us about Mr. Angel's relationship in detail."

Miss Sutherland blushed suddenly, and running her hands nervously at the hem of her jacket, said: "I first met him at the Gas Fitter's Ball. When my father was alive, those The gasman always wanted to give him tickets. Afterwards, they remembered us and gave them to my mother. Mr. Windibank didn't want us to go, he didn't want us to go anywhere, not even when I was going to church. But this time I was determined to go. What right did he have to stop me? My father's friends would be there, he said, and it would be inappropriate for us to meet those people. He also Said that I had no suitable clothes to wear, but my purple plush dress was barely worn. At last, he had no other choice, and went to France on company business. I and my mother, with the former Hardy, our foreman."

"I fancy Mr. Windibank will be very angry when he comes back from France to learn that you have been to the ball," said Holmes.

"Ah, but he wasn't angry. I remember him smiling and shrugging his shoulders and saying that when a woman insists on doing something, no one else can stop her."

"I see. I think you met a Mr. Hosmer Angel at the Gas Fitter's Ball."

"Sir, yes, I met him that night. He came to visit us the next day to see if we were all home safe. I went for two walks with him afterwards, but when my father came back, he You can no longer come to my house."

"Can't you come?"

"Yes, you know my father doesn't like that kind of thing. He always tried to keep out any visitors if he could. He used to say that a woman can only find happiness in her own domestic environment. But I often My mother said, I don't have a family of my own, where can I find happiness?"

"And what of Mr. Angel? Didn't he try to see you?"

"Well, my father is gone to France again a week later. Hosmer wrote that it would be safer not to see my father until he was gone. We corresponded during that time, and he wrote almost every day. .I always get the letters early in the morning, so my father won't know."

"Are you engaged to that gentleman at this time?"

"Yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after our first walk. Mr. Hosmer Angel was a cashier for a firm in Leadenhall Street."

"what company?"

"That's the worst part, Mr. Holmes. I don't know."

"So where does he live?"

"He lives in the company."

"Don't you know his address?"

"No, only Leadenhall Street."

"Then where do you send your letters?"

"My letter went to the post office in Leadenhall Street, and he picked it up himself. He said his colleagues would laugh at him for correspondence with women if he sent it to work. So I offered to type it out. , as he did, but he would not, he said, I wrote a letter as if I were meeting him in person, and typed it as if there was a machine between us. Mr. Holmes, you can see how much he likes me, and how thoughtful he is of even the smallest things."

"That is remarkable," said Holmes. "I have always thought that many little things are the most important. Do you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?"

"He is a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me in the evening than in the day, for he says he does not want attention. He is gentle and kind, and even speaks softly. He said that he suffered from tonsillitis and cervicitis when he was a child, so his voice was always bad, and he could not speak loudly, he could only speak softly. He was very particular about his clothes, always dressed neatly and elegantly, But he has poor eyesight, like mine, so he often wears a pair of light-tinted glasses to block out the harsh light."

"Well, what about your stepfather, Mr. Windibank, when he came back from France?"

(End of this chapter)