The Case of the Anonymous Letters

It was the second Tuesday of February 1894 when we travelled down to Bath at the urgent request of Mrs Mortimer, headmistress of the Henrietta Street School for Young Ladies - a respectable institution in a respectable spa-town, lately afflicted by the ugliest sort of anonymous letter.

Three letters had reached parents in the past fortnight, alleging an indecent friendship between Mrs Mortimer and a young master from the local college. The letters were typewritten, anonymous, and detailed enough to make any father remove his daughter by the next train. Two had already done so; a third was hesitating.

We were met at the station by Mrs Mortimer in a closed brougham. Outside the school's gate at the corner of Henrietta Street stood a thin man in a worn grey ulster, the *Pall Mall Gazette* folded in his right pocket; he coughed deeply against his sleeve and watched the parents arrive without speaking. Mrs Mortimer's drawing-room held the three letters and a great unhappiness; her senior pupil, Miss Carew, was already half-suspected by the trustees and was due before them on Friday morning.

The Scene

Hand-drawn case map for The Case of the Anonymous Letters, showing The Henrietta Street School for Young Ladies, Bath. — The ground in question.

Setting: The Henrietta Street School for Young Ladies, Bath
Time: Tuesday, second Tuesday of February 1894
Weather: Crisp; a bright winter sun on the Bath stone
Atmosphere: A respectable girls' school in a Georgian terrace; long sash windows on a quiet street; a French clock on the drawing-room mantel.

The Suspects

Mrs Mortimer

Headmistress, the client

A composed, capable woman of forty-five, twenty years in the school, the eighth headmistress of the establishment. She had introduced certain modern methods which had been disapproved by the chaplain and one or two trustees.
Miss Carew

Senior pupil, due to be expelled for ill conduct

A high-spirited young lady of seventeen, who had quarrelled in the autumn with a junior mistress and faced expulsion at the trustees' meeting on Friday. She had been heard to speak ill of the headmistress in private corners.
Miss Whately

Junior mistress, French and Drawing

A precise, dark-haired woman of thirty-four, who had been passed over for the chief mistress's place at Easter when Mrs Mortimer's modern reforms went forward. She had taken her disappointment quietly and had retained a typewriter of her own, with which she set the school's printed notices.
The Reverend Mr Pyke

School chaplain

A lean, scrupulous clergyman of fifty, who had voiced his disapproval of Mrs Mortimer's methods in three vestry meetings. He had no typewriter and no clerical secretary, his notices being all in his own hand.

The Evidence

The three anonymous letters

The letters were typewritten on small octavo sheets, posted at three different Bath letter-boxes, and signed only "a parent." The typewriter showed a slight fault in the lower-case e, in which a faint break appeared in the loop of every impression.
Miss Carew's autumn quarrel

The senior pupil's quarrel with Miss Whately had been over a dropped sketchbook and a sharp remark; it had ended in Miss Carew's expulsion-notice for the trustees' Friday meeting.
Miss Whately's typewriter

Miss Whately's typewriter sat upon a small mahogany desk in her own classroom. Holmes asked, with a quiet courtesy, to type a sample sentence. Under his lens the lower-case e showed the same faint break in the loop, and the paper bore the same impression-shadow as the anonymous letters.
The Easter passing-over

Mrs Mortimer's modern reforms had carried at the Easter trustees' meeting; Miss Whately had been passed over for the chief mistress's place. Her own application had been seven pages long, in her own typewritten copy, and was upon the trustees' desk still.
Mr Pyke's correspondence

The chaplain's letters to the trustees had been all in his own hand on plain ruled paper. He had written ten in the past year. None had been typewritten; none touched upon any private matter beyond the school's curriculum.

Statements & Testimony

Miss Whately Partial

Junior mistress

“"I am sorry for Mrs Mortimer's troubles, sir. I have heard the rumours from Miss Carew's set; the girls will say anything in a winter term. I have my own typewriter for the school's printed notices, certainly; the trustees know it."”
Mr Pyke Reliable

School chaplain

“"I have not approved of certain of Mrs Mortimer's reforms, Mr Holmes, and have said so in the vestry. But the letters are wicked; I would never have set my hand to such a thing, nor any clerical secretary at my desk. I have never owned a typewriter."”

The Scene

The Suspects

The Evidence

The three anonymous letters

Miss Carew's autumn quarrel

Miss Whately's typewriter

The Easter passing-over

Mr Pyke's correspondence

Statements & Testimony

Your Verdict