Section 3, A Case of Identity Summary

The story begins with Watson and Holmes discussing the strangeness of ordinary life. Holmes claims that any household contains a number of stories that are so strange as to be impossible for a fiction writer to make up. Watson disagrees and argues that the newspapers are filled with vulgar, though commonplace crimes. For instance, he claims, picking up a newspaper and looking at the front page, a story about a man beating his wife. It is all too common to be interesting. On the contrary, Holmes argues, he knows the case and it was anything but ordinary. The conversation continues until, as if to illustrate the point, Holmes looks out his window and sees a woman on the corner hesitating to come in to 221B Baker Street.

Eventually the woman comes into the room and...