Holmes.
We were engaged after the first walkthat we took.
Hosmer --Mr.
Angel --was a cashier in an office inLeadenhall Street --and --" "What office?" "That's the worst of it, Mr.
Holmes, I don't know." "Where did he live, then?" "He slept on the premises." "And you don't know his address?'' "No --except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Where did you address your letters, then?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post-Office, to be left till calledfor.
He said that if they were sent to the office he would bechaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady,so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn'thave that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed tocome from me, but when they were typewritten he always feltthat the machine had come between us.
That will just show youhow fond he was of me, Mr.
Holmes, and the little things that hewould think of." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes.
"It has long been anaxiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most impor-tant.
Can you remember any other little things about Mr.
HosmerAngel?" "He was a very shy man, Mr.
Holmes.
He would rather walkwith me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that hehated to be conspicuous.
Very retiring and gentlemanly he was.Even his voice was gentle.
He'd had the quinsy and swollenglands when he was young, he told me, and it had left him witha weak throat, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech.He was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyeswere weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses againstthe glare." "Well, and what happened when Mr.
Windibank, your stepfa-ther, returned to France?" "Mr.
Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposedthat we should marry before father came back.
He was indreadful earnest and made me swear, with my hands on theTestament, that whatever happened I would always be true tohim.
Mother said he was quite right to make me swear, and thatit was a sign of his passion.
Mother was all in his favour fromthe first and was even fonder of him than I was.
Then, whenthey talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask aboutfather; but they both said never to mind about father, but just totell him afterwards, and mother said she would make it all rightwith him.
I didn't quite like that, Mr.
Holmes.
It seemed funnythat I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older thanme; but I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so l wrote tofather at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices,but the letter came back to me on the very morning of thewedding." "It missed him, then?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Ha! that was unfortunate.
Your wedding was arranged, then,for the Friday.
Was it to be in church?" "Yes, sir, but very quietly.
It was to be at St.
Saviour's, nearKing's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at theSt.
Pancras Hotel.
Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as therewere two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into afour-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in thestreet.
We got to the church first, and when the four-wheelerdrove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, andwhen the cabman got down from the box and looked there wasno one there! The cabman said that he couid not imagine whathad become of him, for he had seen him get in with his owneyes.
That was last Friday, Mr.
Holmes, and I have never seenor heard anything since then to throw any light upon whatbecame of him." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated,"said Holmes.
"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, Iwas to be true; and that even if something quite unforeseenoccurred to separate us, I was always to remember that I waspledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner orlater.
It seemed strange talk for a wedding-morning, but whathas happened since gives a meaning to it." "Most certainly it does.
Your own opinion is, then, that someunforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Yes, sir.
I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else hewould not have talked so.
And then I think that what he foresawhappened." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "None." "One more question.
How did your mother take the matter?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of thematter again." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something hadhappened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again.
As he said,what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors ofthe church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed mymoney, or if he had married me and got my money settled onhim, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very indepen-dent about money and never would look at a shilling of mine.And yet, what could have happened? And why could he notwrite? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleepa wink at night." She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muffand began to sob heavily into it.
"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising,"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 letyour mind dwell upon it further.
Above all, try to let Mr.Hosmer Angel vanish from your memory, as he has done fromyour life." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "l fear not." "Then what has happened to him?" "You will leave that question in my hands.
I should like anaccurate description of him and any letters of his which you canspare." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she."Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Thank you.
And your address?" "No.
31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Mr.
Angel's address you never had, I understand.
Where isyour father's place of business?" "He travels for Westhouse Marbank, the great claret im-porters of Fenchurch Street." "Thank you.
You have made your statement very clearly.You will leave the papers here, and remember the advice which Ihave given you.
Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and donot allow it to affect your life." "You are very kind, Mr.
Holmes, but I cannot do that.
I shallbe true to Hosmer.
He shall find me ready when he comesback." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there wassomething noble in the simple faith of our visitor which com-pelled our respect.
She laid her little bundle of papers upon thetable and went her way, with a promise to come again whenevershe might be summoned.
Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his finger-tips still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him,and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling.
Then he took downfrom the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as acounsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, withthe thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look ofinfinite languor in his face.
"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed.
"Ifound her more interesting than her little problem, which, by theway, is rather a trite one.
You will find parallel cases, if youconsult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something ofthe sort at The Hague last year.
Old as is the idea, however,there were one or two details which were new to me.
But themaiden herself was most instructive." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quiteinvisible to me," I remarked.
"Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson.
You did not knowwhere to look, and so you missed all that was important.
I cannever bring you to realize the importance of sleeves, the sugges-tiveness of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from aboot-lace.
Now, what did you gather from that woman's appear-ance? Describe it." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat,with a feather of a brickish red.
Her jacket was black, with blackbeads sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments.Her dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with alittle purple plush at the neck and sleeves.
Her gloves weregrayish and were worn through at the right forefinger.
Her bootsI didn't observe.
She had small round, hanging gold earrings,and a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfort-able, easy-going way." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.
" 'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully.You have really done very well indeed.
It is true that you havemissed everything of importance, but you have hit upon themethod, and you have a quick eye for colour.
Never trust togeneral impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upondetails.
My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve.
In a manit is perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser.
As youobserve, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a mostuseful material for showing traces.
The double line a little abovethe wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, wasbeautifully defined.
The sewing-machine, of the hand type, leavesa similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side of itfarthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the broad-est part, as this was.
I then glanced at her face, and, observingthe dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ventured aremark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed to sur-prise her." "It surprised me." "But, surely, it was obvious.
I was then much surprised andinterested on glancing down to observe that, though the bootswhich she was wearing were not unlike each other, they werereally odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, andthe other a plain one.
One was buttoned only in the two lowerbuttons out of 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 isno great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was,by my friend's incisive reasoning.
"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leavinghome but after being fully dressed.
You observed that her rightglove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently seethat both glove and finger were stained with violet ink.
She hadwritten in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep.
It must havebeen this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon thefinger.
All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I mustgo back to business, Watson.
Would you mind reading me theadvertised description of Mr.
Hosmer Angel?" I held the little printed slip to the light.
"Missing [it said] on the morning of the fourteenth.
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 gray Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots.
Known to have been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street.
Anybody bringing --" "That will do," said Holmes.
"As to the letters," he contin-ued, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace.
Abso-lutely no clue in them to Mr.
Angel, save that he quotes Balzaconce.
There is one remarkable point, however, which will nodoubt strike you." "They are typewritten," I remarked.
"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten.
Look at theneat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom.
There is a date, yousee, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which israther vague.
The point about the signature is very suggestive --infact, we may call it conclusive." "Of what?" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly itbears upon the case?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be ableto deny his signature if an action for breach of promise wereinstituted." "No, that was not the point.
However, I shall write twoletters, which should settle the matter.
One is to a firm in theCity, the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr.
Windibank,asking him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock to-morrow evening.
It is just as well that we should do businesswith the male relatives.
And now, Doctor, we can do nothinguntil the answers to those letters come, so we may put our littleproblem upon the shelf for the interim." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtlepowers of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I feltthat he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easydemeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which hehad been called upon to fathom.
Once only had I known him tofail, in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adlerphotograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of'The Sign of Four', and the extraordinary circumstances con-nected with 'A Study in Scarlet', I felt that it would be a strangetangle indeed which he could not unravel.
I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with theconviction that when I came again on the next evening I wouldfind that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead upto the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss MarySutherland.
