I was sitting opposite Holmes in front of the fireplace in his apartment in Baker Street, listening to his conversation.

"Dear friends, life is always wonderful, it is far beyond people's imagination. Many ordinary things, we dare not think about. If you and I can fly out of this window hand in hand, be free in the sky above this big city

If you soar, you can just gently lift the roof of that house, and you will spy on the unusual things happening in the house: bizarre encounters, conspiracies in secret rooms, disputes between couples, and other things one after another.

Unexpected events, after so many generations, are still continuing, but the results are all kinds of strange. The result is that novels that make everyone know the ending as soon as they read the beginning suddenly become boring to readers and lose their popularity.

possible."

Regarding his judgment, I replied: "I don't agree with your words. Because I see more monotonous and vulgar cases reported in newspapers. Especially in the police case investigation reports,

It is extremely realistic. It makes you have to admit that such a case does not give people any sense of fun and artistry."

"If you want to ensure actual results, you must first use some choices and judgments, and these things are missing in the investigation reports made by the police. Perhaps it is because they focus on some old-fashioned statements made by local officials.

, and did not focus on some substantive details that outsiders thought were essential to the whole incident. Obviously, in their eyes, what is commonplace is natural," said Holmes.

I shook my head and continued to insist on my opinion with a smile: "I can understand your thoughts. Because I know that because of your special position, everyone in three continents who encounters difficulties will seek your help, so

Under such circumstances, you have the opportunity to come into contact with all the extraordinary people and things. But here..." I casually picked up a morning newspaper from the ground, "Let us verify it. What I see here

The first headline was "Husband Abuses Wife." But from the news article, which took up half a column, I could tell what it said at a glance. It was obvious that it also involved another woman, including drunken orgies, and

Keywords like pulling, punching, kicking, bruises, and sympathetic sisters or landladies, these are crude things that even the worst writers can't come up with."

Holmes took the newspaper, glanced at it briefly, and said: "Actually, your argument is very inconsistent with this example. I understand this case. It is about the separation of the Dundas family. It was

I was responsible for investigating the details. The husband in this case was a teetotaler and had no problems with other women. The reason why he was charged was only because he developed a behavior that made his wife very fond of him.

His intolerable habit is that at the end of every meal, he would take off his dentures and throw them at his wife. According to you, this is something that is difficult for ordinary storytellers to imagine. Doctor, bring it to me

A little snuff here. See? Your example is such that you have to admit, I win."

He took out his old gold snuff bottle from his pocket. There was a purple crystal inlaid in the center of the snuff bottle lid. This gorgeous and dazzling snuff bottle was completely inconsistent with his simple style and simple living habits. So,

I found another topic for comment.

"Oh," he explained in response to my comment: "I almost forgot, we haven't seen each other for a long time. This was given to me by the King of Bohemia because I was in Irene Ade

As a reward for helping him in the Le photo case, he gave me this souvenir."

"So what's going on with this ring?" I asked again when I saw the dazzling diamond ring on his finger.

"This was given to me by the Dutch royal family. However, since this case is very delicate, please forgive me that I cannot even tell you. Although you wrote down my life so faithfully, you did not forget even one or two small things."

"Okay, so do you have any cases on hand now?" I asked him still interested.

"About eleven or two, but none of them are very interesting. You know, although they are important, they are not interesting at all. To be honest, I have to admit that, generally speaking, in some less important cases,

On the contrary, it is possible to observe and analyze the internal causal relationship at any time, and if this is possible, then the investigation work will be more interesting. In many cases, the greater the crime, the simpler the case. Because generally the greater the crime, the simpler the case.

The motive for committing a crime becomes more obvious. Except for the case in Marseille, which I found very complicated during the handling process, almost none of the other cases were very interesting. But I can’t tell when, maybe in the next moment, it will become more interesting.

Cases will come to your door. If my prediction is accurate, a client has come to me now."

He stood up from the chair and walked to the window with the curtains open. He stared at the dark and deserted London street across the street. I also stood up and leaned over to look down. I saw a tall woman looking down.

Standing on the sidewalk. The woman wore a thick fur scarf around her neck and a wide-brimmed hat with a long, curved feather on her head. She looked a bit like a Devon.

The coquettish posture of a duchess. However, even though she was wearing such gorgeous clothes, she looked uneasy and hesitant. At this time, she was looking nervously and hesitantly in our direction while swaying back and forth.

She leaned forward and fidgeted with the buttons on her gloves with her fingers. Suddenly, like a swimmer jumping from the shore into the water, she hurriedly crossed the road. After a while, we heard something from downstairs.

There was a shrill ringing of the doorbell.

Holmes threw the cigarette butt in his hand into the fireplace and said, "I've seen this happen before. Generally speaking, when a person stands on the sidewalk looking nervous and swaying around, it's usually because something happened to her.

Love incident. She wanted to ask someone for advice, but she was not sure whether it was appropriate to tell others about such a thing. If a man did something very sorry to a woman, then the woman would not be so shaken. Generally speaking,

, she would be so anxious that she would disconnect the doorbell cord. We initially judged the situation of this person today to be a love affair. But surprisingly, this woman did not look very angry, but just a little confused or sad. Fortunately, she has now taken the initiative to come to the door.

Come visit us, and our questions will be answered soon."

Before he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door. Then a uniformed valet came in and reported: "Miss Mary Sutherland is here to visit." As soon as he finished speaking, the female guest appeared.

Behind the servant. And she stood behind the short servant like a large merchant ship following the pilot boat. Holmes received her calmly and in a gentlemanly manner. After the woman came in, Holmes closed the door and paused for a moment.

He bowed and asked the guest to sit in front of an armchair. During this moment, Holmes secretly observed her with a professional eye.

He asked: "Don't you find it a bit difficult to type so many words when your eyes are nearsighted?"

She replied: "It was indeed like this at the beginning, but now I can no longer find the position of the letters by looking at them with my eyes." Then she suddenly reacted and was particularly surprised, with a look of fear on her face. She raised her head

He started, looked up at Holmes, and shouted: "Mr. Holmes, have you heard of me before? Otherwise, how would you know this?"

Holmes smiled: "It doesn't matter, this is my profession. Maybe because of my profession, I am used to paying attention to things that others tend to ignore. Otherwise, why would you come to ask me for advice?"

"Sir, I came to you after being introduced by Mrs. Etheridge. At first, everyone, including the police, thought her husband was dead, so they gave up searching, but you easily helped her find her.

Oh, Mr. Holmes, I hope you can give me the same help. Although my income is very meager, in addition to the income from typing, I also have an inherited property, from which I can earn 100 per year.

Pounds. As long as you can help me find out the whereabouts of Mr. Hosmer Angel, there will be no problem in taking out all my income."

Holmes asked: "Why did you leave home in such a hurry to find me?" He put his hands on each other and looked at the ceiling.

Miss Mary Sutherland, who was feeling confused, once again had a look of surprise on her face when she heard this. She said: "It's true, I decided suddenly. Because when I saw my father-Wendy

Mr. Bank - When he didn't care about this matter at all, I was very angry inside. He was neither willing to call the police nor come to you. Until the end, he was unwilling to do anything and always

Said: 'It'll be okay, it'll be okay.' This made me very angry, so I immediately put on my coat and came to see you."

"Since you two have different surnames, your father must be your stepfather!"

"Yes, he is my stepfather. Even though he is only 5 years and two months older than me, I still call him father. This may sound a bit ridiculous."

"Is your mother still alive?"

"Well, my mother is still alive, Mr. Holmes. Not long after my father died, my mother got married again, and she found a man 15 years younger than her. I am not satisfied with this. My biological father is under the care of others.

A pipe trader in Turnham Court Road, he ran a very large business during his lifetime. After his death, the business was continued by his mother and the supervisor, Mr. Hardy. However, as soon as Mr. Windibank arrived, he

They forced my mother to sell the business because he was a hotel salesman and sold wine. He felt good about himself. They sold the business together with the goodwill and interest, and got a total of 4,700 pounds. And if my father still had

If I were alive, I would definitely sell more than this amount."

I thought Holmes would be bored by this woman's introduction and narration, but to my surprise, on the contrary, he listened very carefully.

He asked: "Does your personal income also come from this business?"

"Ah, no, sir. It comes from another source of income, which is New Zealand shares bequeathed to me by Uncle Ned in Auckland. Although the value of the shares is £2,500 and the interest rate is four and a half per cent, I can only

Use the interest.”

Holmes said: "I am very interested in your situation. Since you can withdraw 100 pounds from that huge sum of money every year, plus the income from your work, life should be no problem. You can even often

Traveling and living a very comfortable life. I think that for a single woman, she can live a good life with only an income of 60 pounds."

"Even if it is far below this number, Mr. Holmes, I can live a contented life. However, as you can imagine, I do not want to be a burden to others at any time, so when I live with them, they

I have been spending my money, but fortunately this is not a temporary solution. Every quarter, Mr. Windibank will withdraw the interest from the stocks I inherited and give it to my mother. But I actually only rely on typing.

I can live very well with my income. I charge two pence a piece for typing, so I can usually type 15 to 20 pieces a day."

Holmes said: "Well, I have almost understood your situation from your description. Let me introduce to you, this is my friend-Dr. Watson. You don't need to be restrained when he is here. You have to be in front of me."

Same. Now please give us a detailed introduction to the relationship between you and Mr. Hosmer Angel!"

Miss Sutherland's face immediately turned red, and she unconsciously stroked the hem of her jacket with her hands, looking very reserved. She said: "Speaking of our first acquaintance, it was at a gas fitter's party.

Before my father died, they would give him tickets. After my father passed away, they still managed not to forget us, and then gave the tickets to my mother. Mr. Windibank was always reluctant to let us go to the ball.

No matter where we go, he doesn't approve. Even if I want to go to church, he will be very angry. But that time I made up my mind to go to this dance because I don't think he has the right to stop me.

But he said that all my father's friends would be there and it would not be appropriate for us to get to know them. He also said that I had no suitable clothes to wear. But I had almost never worn the purple plush clothes.

It was kept locked in the cupboard! Finally, he had no choice but to go to France on a business trip for the company, so my mother and I went with Mr. Hardy, the former director of my father's company.

At the ball, Mr. Hosmer Angel and I met."

Holmes said: "If I am not mistaken, Mr. Windibank must have been very angry about you going to the ball after returning from France?"

"Well, yes. But his attitude was okay. I remember he just smiled, shrugged, and said it seemed futile to stop a woman from doing what she wanted to do, she was always so willful.

"

"Oh, I see. In other words, you met Mr. Hosmer Angel at the gas fitters' dance."

"Yes, sir. It was that night that I met him. The next day he came to visit us and was very concerned about whether we got home safely. Since then, we have met several times... Mr. Holmes,

I mean, I went for a couple of walks with him, but soon my stepfather came back, and since then it's been inconvenient for Mr. Hosmer Angel to come to my house again."

"inconvenient?"

"Yeah, you know, my stepfather doesn't like this. As long as he can, he will always try to prevent all guests from visiting. He has always told us that women should feel at home with their families.

Together, but I have always told my mother that as a woman, she must first have her own life circle, but I don't have that."

"So, what happened to Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he find a way to come see you?"

"Oh, no. Because my father will be on a business trip to France again within a week. So, Hosmer wrote to me and said that before my stepfather left, for the sake of safety, it is better not to meet. However, we can

During this period, we continued to correspond, and he insisted on writing to me every day. Every day, I collected the letters early before my father saw them, because I felt there was no need to let my stepfather know."

"Were you engaged to that gentleman at that time?"
To be continued...