March 5, 1881: Stangerson found stabbed to death at Halladay’s Private Hotel.
March 5, 1881: an old “crone” retrieved the woman’s wedding ring advertised as ‘found’ in the ad placed by Holmes. By Hope’s own admission, this person was not Jefferson Hope, so who was she or he? Hope took the secret with him to the hereafter. Any idea’s out there?
“Old woman be damned!” said Sherlock Holmes, sharply. “We were the old women to be so taken in. It must have been a young man, and an active one, too, besides being an incomparable actor. The get-up was inimitable.” I’ve come to the conclusion that “Mrs. Sawyer” was Jefferson Hope’s son. It’s not based on any facts, just on the supposition that for Hope to be so protective of his accomplice’s identity, there must be a very close bond, beyond hired actor or even friend. I’ve imagined that after the death of Lucy Ferrier, Hope had a liaison with a dance-hall girl or frontier actress. Unbeknownst to Hope after their brief encounter, she had a son whom she raised on her own within the acting world. At some point, perhaps in Cleveland, Hope and his now adult son crossed paths and Hope managed to enlist the youth in his plan for revenge.
“It is surely rather fanciful.” “Well, I don’t insist upon it.” [EMPT]
Excellent, “Pippin!”
I forgot to mention Hope’s aortic aneurysm. One of the cause of it mentioned in Sherlockian literature is syphilis. If such is the case, that speaks to Hope being sexually active and the result of such activity can be offspring. While Hope is a sympathetic character (especially as depicted in the, as I believe made-up-from-whole-cloth by literary agent Doyle “The Country of the Saints” section, he was not virtuous and while devoted to the memory of Lucy Ferrier, that did not stop him from indulging in more earthy pursuits.