A Case of Identity - The complete Sherlock Holmes

1 A case of IdentityArthur Conan DoyleThis text is provided to you as-is without any warranty. No warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, are made to you as to thetext or any medium it may be on, including but not limited to warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a particular text was formatted from various free ASCII and HTML variants. See for an electronic form of this textand additional information about text comes from the collection s dearfellow, said Sherlock Holmes aswe sat on either side of the fire in hislodgings at Baker Street, life is infinitelystranger than anything which the mindof man could invent. We would not dare to conceivethe things which are really mere commonplaces ofexistence.

2 If we could fly out of that window handin hand, hover over this great city, gently removethe roofs, and peep in at the queer things which aregoing on, the strange coincidences, the plannings,the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events,working through generations, and leading to themost outr e results, it would make all fiction withits conventionalities and foreseen conclusions moststale and unprofitable. And yet I am not convinced of it, I answered. The cases which come to light in the papers are, asa rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. We havein our police reports realism pushed to its extremelimits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed,neither fascinating nor artistic.

3 A certain selection and discretion must be usedin producing a realistic effect, remarked Holmes . This is wanting in the police report, where morestress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of themagistrate than upon the details, which to an ob-server contain the vital essence of the whole upon it, there is nothing so unnatural asthe commonplace. I smiled and shook my head. I can quite un-derstand your thinking so. I said. Of course, inyour position of unofficial adviser and helper toeverybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughoutthree continents, you are brought in contact withall that is strange and bizarre. But here I pickedup the morning paper from the ground let usput it to a practical test.

4 Here is the first headingupon which I come. A husband s cruelty to hiswife. There is half a column of print, but I knowwithout reading it that it is all perfectly familiar tome. There is, of course, the other woman, the drink,the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sis-ter or landlady. The crudest of writers could inventnothing more crude. Indeed, your example is an unfortunate onefor your argument, said Holmes , taking the paperand glancing his eye down it. This is the Dundasseparation case , and, as it happens, I was engagedin clearing up some small points in connection withit. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no otherwoman, and the conduct complained of was that hehad drifted into the habit of winding up every mealby taking out his false teeth and hurling them at hiswife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely tooccur to the imagination of the average a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledgethat I have scored over you in your example.

5 He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with agreat amethyst in the centre of the lid. Its splen-dour was in such contrast to his homely ways andsimple life that I could not help commenting uponit. Ah, said he, I forgot that I had not seen youfor some weeks. It is a little souvenir from the Kingof Bohemia in return for my assistance in the caseof the Irene Adler papers. And the ring? I asked, glancing at a remark-able brilliant which sparkled upon his finger. It was from the reigning family of Holland,though the matter in which I served them was ofsuch delicacy that I cannot confide it even to you,who have been good enough to chronicle one ortwo of my little problems.

6 And have you any on hand just now? I askedwith interest. Some ten or twelve, but none which presentany feature of interest. They are important, youunderstand, without being interesting. Indeed, Ihave found that it is usually in unimportant mat-ters that there is a field for the observation, and forthe quick analysis of cause and effect which givesthe charm to an investigation. The larger crimesare apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crimethe more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In thesecases, save for one rather intricate matter whichhas been referred to me from Marseilles, there isnothing which presents any features of interest. Itis possible, however, that I may have somethingbetter before very many minutes are over, for thisis one of my clients, or I am much mistaken.

7 He had risen from his chair and was standingbetween the parted blinds gazing down into thedull neutral-tinted London street. Looking overhis shoulder, I saw that on the pavement oppositethere stood a large woman with a heavy fur boaround her neck, and a large curling red feather ina broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquet-tish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her under this great panoply she peeped up in anervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, whileher body oscillated backward and forward, and herfingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly,with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves thebank, she hurried across the road, and we heardthe sharp clang of the bell.

8 I have seen those symptoms before, saidHolmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. Oscil-lation upon the pavement always means anaffaire1de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure thatthe matter is not too delicate for yet even here we may discriminate. When awoman has been seriously wronged by a man sheno longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is abroken bell wire. Here we may take it that there isa love matter, but that the maiden is not so muchangry as perplexed, or grieved. But here she comesin person to resolve our doubts. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, andthe boy in buttons entered to announce Miss MarySutherland, while the lady herself loomed behindhis small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat.

9 Sherlock Holmeswelcomed her with the easy courtesy for which hewas remarkable, and, having closed the door andbowed her into an armchair, he looked her over inthe minute and yet abstracted fashion which waspeculiar to him. Do you not find, he said, that with your shortsight it is a little trying to do so much typewriting? I did at first, she answered, but now I knowwhere the letters are without looking. Then, sud-denly realising the full purport of his words, shegave a violent start and looked up, with fear and as-tonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. You ve heard about me, Mr. Holmes , she cried, else how could you know all that? Never mind, said Holmes , laughing; it is mybusiness to know things.

10 Perhaps I have trainedmyself to see what others overlook. If not, whyshould you come to consult me? I came to you, sir, because I heard of you fromMrs. Etherege, whose husband you found so easywhen the police and everyone had given him upfor dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes , I wish you would doas much for me. I m not rich, but still I have ahundred a year in my own right, besides the littlethat I make by the machine, and I would give it allto know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel. Why did you come away to consult me in sucha hurry? asked Sherlock Holmes , with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the a startled look came over the somewhatvacuous face of Miss Mary Sutherland.