The Inquisition – A Case of Identity (Answers)

“Now we have the Sherlock Holmes test …”

–  A Scandal in Bohemia (SCAN)

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to announce the return of The Inquisition to be a feature with each story of the month that we highlight. Please join me in welcoming your new Inquisitor, Karen A. Wilson, ASH, who is also the 100th Garrideb (Woot!).

So how did you do on our first try? Let’s see how well you know your Canon and A Case of Identity. Here now are the answers in BOLD.

1. Where did Holmes get his new golden snuff-box and that sparkling ring?

• snuffbox: “a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia,”
• ring: from “the reigning family of Holland.”

2. What does he imagine doing with Watson, “hand in hand”?

“[F]ly[ing] out of that window hand in hand, hover[ing] over this great city, gently remov[ing] the roofs, and peep[ing] in at the queer things which are going on.

3. Holmes lists 3 odd features of the Dundas separation case. Name two.

• The husband was a teetotaler.
• There was no other woman.
• The conduct complained of was that he would end every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife.

4. If the client oscillates on the pavement, what sort of case does Holmes predict?

“Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affaire de coeur.”

5. With what object does gallant Dr. Watson compare Miss Mary Sutherland as she enters 221B?

“a full-sailed merchant-man

6. What two deductions does Holmes make about Mary in his initial greeting?

• She is short-sighted.
• She does a lot of typewriting

7. What did Holmes find for Mary’s friend Mrs. Etherege?

Her husband.

8. What is the source of Mary’s “own little income”?

New Zealand stock, left by her uncle Ned in Auckland, paying 4 1/2 per cent.

9. What happened to Mary’s father’s business after her mother remarried?

Mr. Windibank made her mother sell the business.

10. What was the name of the chap who took Mary & her mom to the Gasfitters’ Ball?

Mr. Hardy (the foreman)

11. Where, supposedly, was James Windibank whenever Mary met up with Hosmer Angel?

in France (Bordeaux), on business.

12. By what point in the relationship were Mary and Hosmer engaged?

After the first walk that they took.

13. What did Hosmer say had left him with a weak throat?

“He’d had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young.”

14. Name two of the things fashion-arbiter Watson tells us Mary was wearing.

•  heavy fur boa round her neck
• a slate-colored, broad-brimmed straw hat (tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear), with a (large, curling) feather of a brickish red
•  a black jacket with black beads sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments
•  a brown dress, rather darker than coffee color, with a little purple plush at the neck and sleeves
• grayish gloves
• small round, hanging gold earrings

15. At what part of a woman’s clothing does Holmes always glance first? Of a man’s?

For a woman, the sleeve. For a man, the knee of the trouser.

16. What French author did Hosmer quote in his otherwise “commonplace” letters?

Balzac

17. On what topic, pertinent to the identifying of Hosmer Angel, might Holmes write a monograph?

the typewriter (and its relation to crime)

18. Why does Windibank leave 221B in such a hurry?

Holmes makes as if to grab his hunting crap and (presumably) give him a thrashing.

19. Holmes concludes the tale by comparing what two “wise” literary figures?

Hafiz and Horace

20. Complete the Persian saying: “‘There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for _____.”

“whoso snatches a delusion from a woman”

Karen Wilson has the investiture of “A Faithful Scotchwoman” with us and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes. She was the Tantalus (Quizmaster) of Watson’s Tin Box for 5 years and for the last three years she has helped develop the “killer quiz” on all 60 stories for that group’s annual Mycroft. Karen has been the organizer of the annual Scintillation of Scions conference and is looking forward to this year’s virtual version on June 13.