elapt1c/ElapticAI-512 · Datasets at Fast360

text stringlengths 0 149M
“We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and no
doubt it is a little worn, our visitor answered, glancing keenly at
Holmes with his bright little eyes.

“And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Mr.
Windibank, Holmes continued. “I think of writing another little
monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its relation to
crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some little attention. I
have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man. They
are all typewritten. In each case, not only are the ‘e’s’ slurred and
the ‘r’s’ tailless, but you will observe, if you care to use my
magnifying lens, that the fourteen other characteristics to which I
have alluded are there as well.

Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. “I cannot
waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes, he said. “If
you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when you have done
it.

“Certainly, said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the
door. “I let you know, then, that I have caught him!

“What! where? shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips and
glancing about him like a rat in a trap.

“Oh, it won’t do—really it won’t, said Holmes suavely. “There is no
possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too transparent,
and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it was impossible
for me to solve so simple a question. That’s right! Sit down and let us
talk it over.

Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter
of moisture on his brow. “It—it’s not actionable, he stammered.

“I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,
Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a petty
way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the course of
events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong.

The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his
breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up on
the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his
pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.

“The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money,
said he, “and he enjoyed the use of the money of the daughter as long
as she lived with them. It was a considerable sum, for people in their
position, and the loss of it would have made a serious difference. It
was worth an effort to preserve it. The daughter was of a good, amiable
disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it
was evident that with her fair personal advantages, and her little
income, she would not be allowed to remain single long. Now her
marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what
does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of
keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of people of
her own age. But soon he found that that would not answer forever. She
became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her
positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does her clever
stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable to his head
than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance of his wife he
disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked
the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear
voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the
girl’s short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other
lovers by making love himself.

“It was only a joke at first, groaned our visitor. “We never thought
that she would have been so carried away.

“Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very
decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that her
stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an
instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman’s
attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed
admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was
obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it would go if a
real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and an
engagement, which would finally secure the girl’s affections from
turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up
forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The
thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such a
dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression upon the
young lady’s mind and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor
for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a
Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something
happening on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished
Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to
his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen
to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, and then, as
he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished away by the old trick
of stepping in at one door of a four-wheeler and out at the other. I
think that was the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!

Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had
been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his
pale face.

“It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes, said he, “but if you are so
very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you who are
breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing actionable from

“We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and no

doubt it is a little worn, our visitor answered, glancing keenly at

Holmes with his bright little eyes.

“And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Mr.

Windibank, Holmes continued. “I think of writing another little

monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its relation to

crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some little attention. I

have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man. They

are all typewritten. In each case, not only are the ‘e’s’ slurred and

the ‘r’s’ tailless, but you will observe, if you care to use my

magnifying lens, that the fourteen other characteristics to which I

have alluded are there as well.

Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. “I cannot

waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes, he said. “If

you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when you have done

it.

“Certainly, said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the

door. “I let you know, then, that I have caught him!

“What! where? shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips and

glancing about him like a rat in a trap.

“Oh, it won’t do—really it won’t, said Holmes suavely. “There is no

possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too transparent,

and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it was impossible

for me to solve so simple a question. That’s right! Sit down and let us

talk it over.

Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter

of moisture on his brow. “It—it’s not actionable, he stammered.

“I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,

Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a petty

way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the course of

events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong.

The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his

breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up on

the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his

pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.

“The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money,

said he, “and he enjoyed the use of the money of the daughter as long

as she lived with them. It was a considerable sum, for people in their

position, and the loss of it would have made a serious difference. It

was worth an effort to preserve it. The daughter was of a good, amiable

disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it

was evident that with her fair personal advantages, and her little

income, she would not be allowed to remain single long. Now her

marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what

does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of

keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of people of

her own age. But soon he found that that would not answer forever. She

became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her

positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does her clever

stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable to his head

than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance of his wife he

disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked

the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear

voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the

girl’s short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other

lovers by making love himself.

“It was only a joke at first, groaned our visitor. “We never thought

that she would have been so carried away.

“Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very

decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that her

stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an

instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman’s

attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed

admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was

obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it would go if a

real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and an

engagement, which would finally secure the girl’s affections from

turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up

forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The

thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such a

dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression upon the

young lady’s mind and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor

for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a

Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something

happening on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished

Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to

his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen

to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, and then, as

he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished away by the old trick

of stepping in at one door of a four-wheeler and out at the other. I

think that was the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!

Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had

been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his

pale face.

“It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes, said he, “but if you are so

very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you who are

breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing actionable from