Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 31 Adventure History (9)
"Well, he seemed to think, as I did, that some accident had happened, but he thought I'd hear from Hosmer sooner or later. Because he thought it would do no good to just lead me to the church door and disappear. It wouldn't do any good, and if I lent him money, or gave him property after marriage, he'd have a reason to run away. But he never spends other people's money, and mine counts for a shilling. It won't work either. If that's the case, what's going to happen? Why doesn't he write me a letter? He's driving me crazy, I can't sleep all night." She took out a handkerchief, covered her face and cried up.

Holmes stood up and said to her: "I will help you with this case. I am sure there will be a result. You need not worry any more. We will help you. Besides, please forget about Mr. Hosmer, as Like never knowing him."

"You mean it's impossible for me to see him?"

"I'm afraid so."

"What happened to him?"

"Leave this to me. I want more of Hosmer, and his letters to you."

She said: "Last Saturday I posted a missing person in the Chronicle, and you see, here are four letters from him to me."

"Thank you very much, where is your contact address?"

"31 Lyon Street, Camberwell."

"I know you don't know Mr. Engel's address, so tell me the address where your stepfather works."

"In Fenchurch, the strange Westhouse Marbank firm, a great importer of French red wine."

"Thank you, I basically understand the situation, you leave all those documents, and remember my words, forget about this matter, don't let it affect your life."

"It's very kind of you, Mr. Holmes, but I can't do it. I have to be loyal to Hosmer, and I'll marry him when he comes back."

Although this lady is wearing a hat that makes people feel funny, she is very simple and infatuated. She still has a kind nature in such a helpless situation, which is really admirable.She put the papers on the table and left, promising to come as soon as she was needed.

Holmes straightened his legs again habitually, put his fingertips together, stared upwards and fell silent.He took down the old pipe from the shelf, which was covered with grease.This pipe is simply his military advisor.He lit the tobacco, leaned on the chair, and thought about the problem while smoking, and the smoke rings that kept blowing out immediately surrounded him.

He said: "This lady is a very interesting subject of study. She is more worthy of study than the case. What she said is actually very common. In my case, the Andover case in 1877 and the Hague case last year, both Similar to this case, of the corny type, perhaps with only one or two fresh episodes. Still, this lady is worth thinking about."

"You seem to see a lot of things you haven't seen, but I always don't see them." I said.

"It's not that you can't see it, Watson, it's that you didn't pay attention. You don't know where to pay attention, so you often overlook a lot of things. I didn't remind you that you should pay attention to this woman's sleeves, because there is plush on them, or pay attention to the big ones. Thumbnails, attention to shoelaces, etc. Now, tell me what you've seen through your observations?"

"Well, she wore a hat with a crimson plume, wide-brimmed, blue-gray. A short gray coat, with black beads and black tassels. The coat was brown, darker than coffee. The collar and buttons are trimmed with purple plush. The gloves are light gray and the right index finger is frayed. I didn't pay much attention to her shoes, but she is a bit fat, has gold earrings, and is generally rich , lived comfortably and at ease.”

At my words, Holmes smiled and clapped his hands.

"Watson, you have made great progress. You have observed very carefully. Although you have overlooked some important things, you have basically mastered the method. You can see the colors very accurately, but you must not only look at the appearance, but you must concentrate on the details. When I look at a woman, I look at her sleeves first, and when I look at a man, I look at his knees first. You see, the girl has plush on her sleeves, which is very telling. Also, there are two stripes on her wrist, indicating that she is typing Yes, it's from typing on the table. The hand-crank sewing machine also has this mark, but it's on the left hand, on the side farthest from the thumb, and the typing mark runs right across the widest part. According to the marks left by wearing glasses on the bridge of her nose, I judged that she was short-sighted and a typist. She seemed very surprised by my deduction."

"I was surprised too."

"It's not unusual, though. I looked further and saw that she was wearing a different pair of shoes. They were identical, but one had a patterned leather toe on the toe, but the other didn't. She only buckled the bottom of one shoe." Two buttons, and the other one has the first three or five buttons. If you see a well-dressed girl without matching shoes, and the shoes are not fully buttoned, it means that she must be in a hurry to go out. This is not true. Is it difficult?"

"Is there anything else?" I asked with great interest, and I was always curious about his reasoning.

"I also deduced that she wrote a note before she left home, and that it was written after she had dressed. You noticed that the index finger of her right glove was frayed, but you didn't notice that both the glove and the index finger were stained. This is because she was writing in a hurry and dipped the pen in too deeply. This should have happened this morning, otherwise the ink would not have stayed on her fingers so clearly. Simple, but very interesting .Come back to business, Watson, and read to me the missing person for Hosmer Angel."

On the morning of NO.14, a man named Hosmer Angel suddenly disappeared.He was six feet five inches tall, a heavyset man with sallow skin, dark hair, a bit bald, with whiskers and a mustache, light-colored sunglasses, and a soft voice.He was wearing a black dress trimmed with silk, a black vest, Harris tweed gray trousers, brown leggings, a pair of leather shoes with elastic bands on the sides, and a gold Albert chain on the vest. A cashier of a company in Hall Street.If someone...

"Well," said Holmes, "the letter," he glanced at, "has nothing special in it, and contains few clues except some quotations from Balzac. I have, however, discovered another surprising fact. The place."

I said, "These letters are typewritten."

"Not only that, but even the name is typewritten. Look, there are a few words at the back of the letter: 'Hosmer Angel', with a date, but the address is only 'Leydenhall Street', nothing else. Nothing else. The name says only one thing, and is decisive."

"What does it mean?"

"Haven't you figured out the significance of the name, my friend?"

"I'm not sure, maybe he's prepared to deny that's his signature in case someone accuses him of breaking the contract."

"No, that's not the point. I've got to write two letters now, one to a big London firm and the other to Mr. Windibank, the client's stepfather, asking them to come to me tomorrow night and settle the matter on the spot." We ought to see her male relatives. Well, Watson, we have nothing else to do till we get a reply, so let's put this aside."

I trust Holmes' reasoning ability and abundant energy very much, so whenever I see him face a case with confidence and calmness, I am sure that he is quite sure.As far as I know, of all the cases he has solved, he has only missed one, and that was the Irene Adler photograph case.However, when I think of the strange cases of "Four Signatures" and "Tracking in Scarlet", I always feel that if even Sherlock Holmes can't solve the case, then no one may be able to solve it.

He was still there smoking his pipe when I left.He must have found clues about the missing groom.

When I got home, I was busy treating a very ill patient and caring for him until almost six o'clock in the morning.I hastened into a hansom and drove to Baker Street, fearing that I might be of little use by being late.After entering the door, I found that he was the only one at home, and he was curled up in an armchair, looking drowsy. The flasks and test tubes in front of him exuded a pungent smell of hydrochloric acid. It seemed that he had done something else. Habitat chemical test.

"Problem solved?" I asked.

"Of course it's solved, it's barium bisulfate."

"I don't mean this, but that case!" I cried to him.

"Ah, that case! I've been thinking about that experiment I did today. As I said yesterday, that case was not at all strange, but interesting in places. It's a pity that I can't find a law to Punish that villain."

"Who is he? Why did he abandon Ms. Sutherland?"

I had just finished asking, and before Holmes could answer, there was a sound of heavy footsteps coming from the corridor, and then someone knocked on the door.

"Mr. Windibank—the client's stepfather is here," said Holmes. "He wrote back to say he will be here before six o'clock, please come in!" Teenage man.He was clean-shaven, with a flattering look, and after taking a look at us, he took off the round hat and put it on the hanger, then bowed again, and then sat sideways on the chair .

"Good evening, Mr. Windibank," said Holmes. "I suppose it was you who typed this letter. It states that we shall meet at six o'clock?"

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry for being late, but I have to. I didn't expect Sutherland to bother you with such a trivial matter. I apologize. After all, it is inconvenient to publicize the family scandal. I didn't approve of her coming to you You may have seen that she is very excited and has a big temper, and she has to do what she decides to do. Of course, I don't mind you, because you have no connection with the official police or the like, but outsiders don't always know Good. Besides, it's pointless, how did you find that Hosmer Angel?"

"I promise he will be found," said Holmes with certainty. Mr. Windibank, trembling at this, dropped his gloves, and said, "I am very glad to hear that."

Holmes said: "What makes me feel strange is that typing is the same as handwriting, which can completely reveal a person's characteristics, unless the typewriter is changed, because it is impossible for two different machines to type the same characters. On a typewriter, some letters will be very worn, while others will only be worn on one side. Mr. Windibank, you see this letter you typed. The letter 'e' is blurred and the tail of the 'r' is always missing. A little. There are fourteen more obvious features."

"My letter was typed with the printer in the office, and of course it is subject to wear and tear," he said, casting a sharp glance at Holmes.

"I shall now tell you, Mr. Windibank, an interesting study," said Holmes. "Recently I have wanted to write an article on the relation between typewriters and crime, a subject which particularly interests me. Here are four letters, all of which are It was typed by the missing man. In the letter, not only every 'e' is blurred, every 'r' is missing a tail, and there are fourteen other features, if you don't believe it, please observe it with a magnifying glass."

Hearing this, Windibank couldn't sit still any longer. He jumped up from his chair, picked up his hat and said, "Mr. Holmes, I don't have time to listen to you. If you can catch that man, catch him!" He's all right, let me know when you catch him."

Holmes stepped forward quickly, locked the door and said, "I will tell you now that I have him."

"What are you talking about? Where is he?" growled Windibank, looking at Holmes with wide eyes like a caught mouse, and turning pale with fright.

Holmes said calmly: "Don't yell. It's no use, Mr. Windibank. The matter is so obvious that you can't blame it. Besides, you don't seem polite enough to say that I can't solve it so simply. It's really just a small problem! Sit down and let's talk!"

The gentleman sat down weakly, with sweat dripping from his forehead, and said intermittently: "This... this is not enough to be sued."

"Yes, not enough. But, Mr. Windibank, I have never seen such a mean, selfish, cruel man. Now I will tell you a story, and please correct me if I am wrong." .”

The man curled up in a chair with his head drooped, looking dejected.Holmes put his feet on the corner of the mantelpiece, leaned back in the chair, put his hands in his pockets, and began to describe.

"A man marries a woman much older than he is for money," he said, "and if that woman's daughter lives with them, she can spend her money all the time. That's not too little money, if you don't Their lives will change a lot if they get it, so they try their best to maintain the status quo and not let their daughter leave. The daughter is very kind and sentimental. With her appearance, character and income, she is obviously not celibate. But if she If they get married, they will lose the considerable income of more than 100 pounds a year. What should her stepfather do to prevent her from marrying? So he tried his best to keep her at home and prevent her from contacting the outside world Later, he found out that this was not a long-term solution. Because she became more and more assertive, began to assert her rights, and also went to the prom. What did her stepfather think of in this situation? He thought A vicious and despicable method. With the help of his wife, he put on a fake beard, put on light-colored sunglasses, and spoke in a soft voice. Since his daughter was short-sighted, he did not see his disguise. He used Huo Small Angel's name came up in front of the daughter, and he proposed marriage to her, so that she would not fall in love with another man."

"I just wanted to play a joke on her at first, but who would have thought that she would be so infatuated." The man whispered.

"It was no joke at all. But the poor girl never knew she had been tricked. She was so carried away by love that she always thought her stepfather was in France. She was charmed by the gentleman's gentleness, and by her mother's compliments." Make her happy. Angel came to visit later, because this is the only way the show can go on. After a few meetings, they got engaged. Engagement can guarantee that the girl will never fall in love with anyone else, but the deception cannot be maintained forever. They always said to go to France. So, they wanted to end this drama as soon as possible, so that the girl would never forget him, and prevented her from falling in love with others. Therefore, there was a hand-pressing "Bible" Sworn to be faithful to him forever, giving her some kind of hint on the morning of the wedding. Mr. Windibank wants Miss Sutherland to be faithful to Hosmer Angel, but it is difficult to predict his life or death. All in all, this will keep her from marrying other men for at least ten years. Hosmer accompanied her to the church, but he couldn't go in at the door, so he played a trick and entered through the door of the carriage , out the door again, and slipped away. Mr. Windibank, that's pretty much what happened."

The gentleman gradually recovered himself during Holmes' speech, and he stood up with a look of disdain on his face.

"Perhaps it is true, and it may be false, Mr. Holmes," said he. "Though you are very clever, you are still a little short, and you cannot fail to know that I have now broken the law, and have never done anything else. Illegal things, if you lock the door now, I can accuse you of engaging in 'personal assault and illegal detention'."

Holmes opened the door and said, "Even if the law can do nothing to you, you deserve more punishment than anyone else. If the girl had any brothers or friends, they would whip you! Beat you to death!" See The man smiled shamelessly, blushed with anger, and said: "Although my client didn't ask me to do this, I happen to have a whip here, and I think I should whip it..." He I hurried to get the hunting whip, but before I could get it, there was the sound of quick footsteps on the stairs, and then the door of the hall was slammed hard, and we looked out. Ran.

"How inhuman!" said Holmes, laughing, as he sank back into his armchair. "That scoundrel will be guillotined one day. This case may seem ordinary, but there are a few interesting points. "

I said, "So far, I still don't know how you reasoned."

"Oh, obviously, the first thing to think is that Mr. Hosmer Angel, he must have had some purpose in doing that. It should also be thought that his stepfather had a chance of benefiting from it. Besides, we noticed that, Mr. Hosmer Angel and her stepfather were never seen at the same time, and Angel always appeared after her stepfather was away on business, which is very important. Wearing dark glasses and strange voice, and full of whiskers, all Explaining that it's a disguise is also key. Even his name is typed with a typewriter, which shows that he is afraid that she will recognize his handwriting, and he is unwilling to reveal even the smallest handwriting. But the fact that he did it makes people more suspicious .You see, these little irrelevant issues all point in the same direction."

"How did you confirm your inference?"

"If you know who the culprit is, it will be easy to confirm. I know the firm where her stepfather works, so I wrote to them, and according to the description in the missing person notice, I included the parts that I thought were camouflage, such as whiskers, Glasses, thin voice, etc., and then ask them to think about whether there is anyone who looks similar to the missing person notice after removing the disguise. And I found the characteristics of the typed letter, so I wrote a letter and sent it to his office to him, and asked if he could come here, and, as expected, his reply was typewritten, and this one had the same character as the previous ones. There was also a letter from the Street Merchant from the same post office. The letter, the letter said that their employee Wendy Bank looked like the person in the notice, and that was the whole process."

"What about Ms. Sutherland?"

"Even if I told her the truth, she wouldn't believe it. You may know that Persian proverb: 'Destroying a woman's delusions is like pulling a tooth out of a tiger's mouth.' What Hafez said was the same as Horace's." Philosophical as much. He knows the world as well as Horace." The real murderer
(End of this chapter)