Our new story, of course, is The Adventure of the Retired Colourman . She acquiesced to life in the slatternly house. She may have been an adultress.
Barker seems to be a pretty darned good detective.
Josiah Amberley lived at a time when retirement wasn't a universal practice. In those days, before old age pensions and social security, and when lifespans were shorter than we now enjoy, people could, and did, work until the day they died. There are precious few other retired persons in the canon. Irene Adler is said to be one, in the sense that she was retired from the operatic stage. Ferguson, the sea captain, retired to Three Gables before Mrs. Maberley took up residence there.