“I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in apetty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over thecourse of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong.”
The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk uponhis breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feetup on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with hishands in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed,than to us.
“The man married a woman very much older than himself forher money,” said he, “and he enjoyed the use of the money of thedaughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerablesum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would havemade a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it.
The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionateand warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with herfair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not beallowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would mean, ofcourse, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her stepfather doto prevent it? He takes the obvious course of keeping her at homeand forbidding her to seek the company of people of her ownage. But soon he found that that would not answer forever. Shebecame restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announcedher positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does herclever stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditableto his head than to his heart. With the connivance and assistanceof his wife he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes withtinted glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair ofbushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper,and doubly secure on account of the girl’s short sight, he appearsas Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making lovehimself.”
“It was only a joke at first,” groaned our visitor. “We never thoughtthat she would have been so carried away.”
“Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was verydecidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind thather stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never foran instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman’sattentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressedadmiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for itwas obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it wouldgo if a real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, andan engagement, which would finally secure the girl’s affectionsfrom turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not bekept up forever. These pretended journeys to France were rathercumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to bring the business to anend in such a dramatic manner that it would leave a permanentimpression upon the young lady’s mind and prevent her fromlooking upon any other suitor for some time to come. Hencethose vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and hence alsothe allusions to a possibility of something happening on thevery morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished MissSutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain asto his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would notlisten to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, andthen, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished away bythe old trick of stepping in at one door of a four-wheeler and out atthe other. I think that was the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!”
Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance whileHolmes had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with acold sneer upon his pale face.
“It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes,” said he, “but if youare so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that itis you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have donenothing actionable from the first, but as long as you keep thatdoor locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault andillegal constraint.”
“The law cannot, as you say, touch you,” said Holmes, unlockingand throwing open the door, “yet there never was a man whodeserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or afriend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!” hecontinued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon theman’s face, “it is not part of my duties to my client, but here’s ahunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to——”
He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he could graspit there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavyhall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. JamesWindibank running at the top of his speed down the road.
“There’s a cold-blooded scoundrel!” said Holmes, laughing, ashe threw himself down into his chair once more. “That fellowwill rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad,and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been notentirely devoid of interest.”
“I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning,” Iremarked.
“Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr.
Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curiousconduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who reallyprofited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather.
Then the fact that the two men were never together, but that theone always appeared when the other was away, was suggestive.
So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which bothhinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My suspicions wereall confirmed by his peculiar action in typewriting his signature,which, of course, inferred that his handwriting was so familiar toher that she would recognise even the smallest sample of it. Yousee all these isolated facts, together with many minor ones, allpointed in the same direction.”
“And how did you verify them?”
“Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration.
