"A Case of Identity" - Sherlock Holmes

"Life is much stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent," said Sherlock one day looking out of the window. "I may have something interesting in a minute, for I have a new client, unless I am very much mistaken." I walked up to him to have a look and saw a large woman wearing a heavy fur around her neck and looking nervously at Sherlock's window. Suddenly she hurried across the road and we heard the bell. "I have seen these symptoms before. She would like some advice, but she is not sure whether the matter isn't too delicate." Just as these words were spoken, Miss Mary Sutherland was brought in. "What was the matter in which you wanted to consult me, Madame?" Holmes asked his client, and Miss Sutherland started her story. She lived with her mother and her stepfather. Her real father was a plumber and had a business on Tottenham Court Road. After his death, her mother carried on the business, but then she married Mr Windibank, a man 15 years younger then herself, and following his advice, she had sold the business. Mr Windibank did business in wine and felt too superior to be the owner of a plumbing company, even though the income he had from wines was no more than what they used to gain from Mr Sutherland's business. Young Miss Sutherland had a small sum of money left by her uncle, from which she could take the monthly interest, and, as well as this, she was bringing in some money by typing. Even though her father was dead, they were occasionally sent invitations to balls or meetings by his old friends. Mr Windibank didn't want to take part in any of these and didn't want his wife or stepdaughter to attend either. However, while he was away in France, Miss Sutherland decided to go to a ball, and there she met Mr Hosmer Angel, a cashier from an office in Leadenhall Street. They fell in love, wrote letters and saw a lot of each other during Mr Windibank's absence. At first they kept 14it a secret, but then they decided to get married, and Mr Angel came to their house for approval. As Mr Windibank was away at the time, Miss Sutherland's mother gave her approval. "What office did he work for?" Sherlock interrupted her. "That's the worst thing. I don't know, Mr Holmes. Neither do I know the address." "What address did you use then to send letters to him?" "To the Leadenhall Post Office. I type-wrote them because he didn't want his colleagues to know he was receiving letters from a lady. He type-wrote his letters too." Miss Sutherland continued her story saying that the wedding had been scheduled for Friday morning. Mr Windibank was in France again, so there was only her mother, the bride and the groom. Mrs Windibank and Miss Sutherland took a carriage to the church and, as there were only two seats, Mr Angel took another. "We reached the church first and were waiting for him. But when the carriage drove up, there was nobody in it but the driver. This was last Friday, Mr Holmes, and I haven't heard a word from him since then," she finished with tears in her eyes. "It seems you have been shamefully treated," Holmes commented. "Oh no! He was too good to leave me like this," she protested. "What did your mother say about this?" he asked. "She was angry and refused to talk about that matter." "And your stepfather?" "He seemed to think that something had happened to Hosmer, but he forbade me to go to the police or talk to you about it." "All right, Miss Sutherland, I'll look closer into your case, but take my advice and let Mr Angel vanish from your memory and heart as he vanished from your life." Miss Sutherland was very sad to hear this, but she left an advertisement she had put in one of the papers and some letters from him. Holmes also asked her to leave him the address of her stepfather's office and repeated his advice. "I shall be true to Hosmer," she answered and left. Holmes then had a closer look at both the advertisement and the letters. The advertisement stated that Mr Angel had a moustache and wore tinted glasses. Looking at the letters he noticed that even the signature of Hosmer was type-written, and so he decided to write two letters that would settle the matter - one to the firm in the city and another one to Mr Windibank, inviting him for a small talk the following evening. The next day I came and asked him: "Have you solved it?" "Oh, yes!" "Who was he then, and what did he want with Miss Sutherland?" But Sherlock didn't manage to answer my question because Mr James Windibank, the girl's stepfather, entered the room. "Good evening Mr Windibank. I have received a type-written letter from you 18confirming today's visit. As you know, your daughter asked me to help in finding her fiancé. And I have every reason to believe that I will succeed in discovering this mystery." "I'm delighted to hear it," he said rather angrily. "There is a very interesting thing I would like to draw your attention to. In the letter you sent me I found that the 'r' is slightly unclear, as well as there being a mark over every 'e'. "That is the type-machine from the office," he said nervously. "But what is really interesting is that there are exactly the same marks on the letters typed by Mr Angel." "I cannot waste my time over such ridiculous talk, Mr Holmes. Catch the man and let me know." Mr Windibank sprang from his chair intending to leave. "But I've already caught him," Sherlock replied with a calm satisfaction easily heard in his voice. Then he explained to us both the whole mystery. Mr Windibank had known that Mary's marriage would cause a loss of money from their monthly income, and he did all he could to keep Mary at home by forbidding her to go to the parties. Once she had finally decided to go to the ball, he disguised himself and, with a help of his wife, became the young Mr Hosmer Angel, whose only job was to make Mary fall in love with him and therefore keep off other lovers. Unfortunately Miss Sutherland turned out to be an affectionate person and wanted the marriage, which would spoil the whole plan. So the mystery was solved, and Mr Windibank left a free, but rather ashamed, man. There was no evidence to punish him, and so he was only left with a terrible feeling of guilt for playing so heartlessly with a young girl's feelings.

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