The Engineer’s Thumb
Aug. 11th, 2020 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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victorian221bNot many notes again, but there are some curious details about this story.
Watson mentions that it is one of only two cases which he brought to the attention of Holmes, the other being concerned with the madness of Colonel Warburton. Apparently, Watson forgot about the case of the Naval Treaty which was published a year later (obviously, ACD had no idea what he would write a year later, but anyway, Inconsistency is his middle name).
1. Watson doctoring
Yet another story where we see Watson busy with his practice. It’s frankly surprising that all of these instances were cancelled out by his single statement in NAVA that his practice is never absorbing. He could have said that just to please Holmes, right?
“I was awakened by the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room” - On the one hand it was considered to be normal for Victorian spouses to sleep in different rooms, but on the other, hmmm
2. Holmes’s empathy
This story is another amazing example of Holmes’s kindness to people. He goes out of his way to take care of Mr. Hatherley: provides him with a breakfast, has him lie down on the sofa, pours him some whiskey and water, and asks him to tell his story but not to overexert himself. I need a Holmes adaptation which always demonstrates how kind and empathic he is!
3. Colonel Lysander Stark is very creepy
Okay, I understand that Mr. Hatherley was desperate for a job. Man, I am, too, and I often encounter strange characters during the past two and a half years of job hunting. At one point Mr. Hatherley is so disturbed by Stark’s behaviour that he almost listens to his instincts to run away screaming from that weirdo.
“I was the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern.” - This is straight from a horror movie, seriously
The way Mr. Hatherley was delivered to the Colonel’s house was later rehashed almost verbatim in GREE. ACD wasn’t a particularly scrupulous fellow.
Why did they need such a big press to produce fake coins anyway? Literally big enough to crush a grown person. Wasn’t it inconvenient to construct it and keep it secret? Perhaps they burned the house themselves for the sake their safety rather than the fire was caused by Hatherley’s lamp? For comparison, the forgery machine in 3GAR was portable, and the fake Garrideb came to take it.
Lastly, I’d like to say that this story was very well incorporated into the theme of German spies and WWI in the Soviet series. It could also be Moriarty’s doing. I wish there was a Granada adaptation of it.
Watson mentions that it is one of only two cases which he brought to the attention of Holmes, the other being concerned with the madness of Colonel Warburton. Apparently, Watson forgot about the case of the Naval Treaty which was published a year later (obviously, ACD had no idea what he would write a year later, but anyway, Inconsistency is his middle name).
1. Watson doctoring
Yet another story where we see Watson busy with his practice. It’s frankly surprising that all of these instances were cancelled out by his single statement in NAVA that his practice is never absorbing. He could have said that just to please Holmes, right?
“I was awakened by the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room” - On the one hand it was considered to be normal for Victorian spouses to sleep in different rooms, but on the other, hmmm
2. Holmes’s empathy
This story is another amazing example of Holmes’s kindness to people. He goes out of his way to take care of Mr. Hatherley: provides him with a breakfast, has him lie down on the sofa, pours him some whiskey and water, and asks him to tell his story but not to overexert himself. I need a Holmes adaptation which always demonstrates how kind and empathic he is!
3. Colonel Lysander Stark is very creepy
Okay, I understand that Mr. Hatherley was desperate for a job. Man, I am, too, and I often encounter strange characters during the past two and a half years of job hunting. At one point Mr. Hatherley is so disturbed by Stark’s behaviour that he almost listens to his instincts to run away screaming from that weirdo.
“I was the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern.” - This is straight from a horror movie, seriously
The way Mr. Hatherley was delivered to the Colonel’s house was later rehashed almost verbatim in GREE. ACD wasn’t a particularly scrupulous fellow.
Why did they need such a big press to produce fake coins anyway? Literally big enough to crush a grown person. Wasn’t it inconvenient to construct it and keep it secret? Perhaps they burned the house themselves for the sake their safety rather than the fire was caused by Hatherley’s lamp? For comparison, the forgery machine in 3GAR was portable, and the fake Garrideb came to take it.
Lastly, I’d like to say that this story was very well incorporated into the theme of German spies and WWI in the Soviet series. It could also be Moriarty’s doing. I wish there was a Granada adaptation of it.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 04:34 pm (UTC)And Watson's descriptions of Holmes speak, as usual, of his deep familiarity and fondness:
Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal.
And I love this one, too: Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story which our visitor detailed to us.
Even though there's not much of a mystery, this story actually has one of my favorite individual deductions! I love it when Holmes takes a set of standard expectations and then neatly overturns them by thinking outside the box in a simple but striking way. I love the scene where they are at the train station and trying to guess which direction Hatherley had been driven before:
“Oh, we shall soon clear up all that,” said Bradstreet. “Well, I have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon it the folk that we are in search of are to be found.”
“I think I could lay my finger on it,” said Holmes quietly.
“Really, now!” cried the inspector, “you have formed your opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is south, for the country is more deserted there.”
“And I say east,” said my patient.
“I am for west,” remarked the plain-clothes man. “There are several quiet little villages up there.”
“And I am for north,” said I, “because there are no hills there, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up any.”
“Come,” cried the inspector, laughing; “it’s a very pretty diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you give your casting vote to?”
“You are all wrong.”
“But we can’t all be.”
“Oh, yes, you can. This is my point.” He placed his finger in the centre of the circle. “This is where we shall find them.”
“But the twelve-mile drive?” gasped Hatherley.
“Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?”
“Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough,” observed Bradstreet thoughtfully.
It's such an elegant deduction and a neatly structured little reveal!
I like that bit so much I borrowed it in a Potterlock fic I wrote years ago, in which everyone tries to guess what Hogwarts House Sherlock will be sorted into. They name all four, but the answer turns out to be: none of the above :)
Oh wait, was the counterfeit press in 3 Garridebs portable? I just went to look at the description in that story, and it doesn't sound like it:
Our eyes fell upon a mass of rusted machinery, great rolls of paper, a litter of bottles, and, neatly arranged upon a small table, a number of neat little bundles.
I always thought in that story that Evans was there to print off a load of counterfeit notes and carry them off. I can't imagine how he intended to get the whole printing press out of there by himself and smuggle it somewhere else without being seen.
Looking at pictures of coin and note presses from the Victorian era, they're pretty big, although not necessarily man-crushingly big. (If you scroll down this page you see some drawings and photos of the bank's machines.)
However, hydraulic presses of the type used to print patterns on linen were man-crushing size: Here's a photo) I guess the villains adapted one for printing coins?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 05:56 pm (UTC)Agreed, the sweet domesticity and fondness in this story are amazing. Someone said that people kept coming back for Holmes stories not mainly for a mystery but for the sweet domestic fluffiness. That’s definitely true in my case XD
Thank you for the self-rec! Sounds intriguing, I’ll go read it. And thanks for the links and pointing out that Evans planned to print money instead of whisking away the press. I always thought it was the latter since he mentioned that his former accomplice had hidden it there. But I guess you are right. He would have enough time to print money and dash off while the old Garrideb was away.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-12 04:45 am (UTC)Lenfilm adapted this story pretty accurately and I enjoyed how it was weaved into the spy storyline. I wish Granada adapted it too and made it one of Moriarty’s doings.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-12 06:50 pm (UTC)It is quite fascinating also how comfortable Watson finds it to simply pop over to Holmes first thing in the morning when neither of them are early risers, according to the Speckled Band.
1. Watson is evidently a popular doctor based on word of mouth from patients, which is proof that he is a good doctor, particularly if a railway representative thinks of him when Mr Hatherley requires a Dr.
Methinks that Watson was being a supportive friend in NAVA when saying his practice is not engaging!
Hmmm...yes, married couples did sleep apart but still...a nice little nugget for fiction.
2. Holmes' empathy. Truly, Holmes is not cold hearted. I can highly recommend the Sherlock Holmes TV 1954 series for a friendly humour filled Holmes!
3. I agree with the consensus that Doyle could write great gothic tales and I do wish he had written a proper supernatural Holmes story -if anyone could have pulled it off, it would be Sir Arthur C. Doyle!
This case is creepy and I shudder that Mr Hatherley did not refuse. Or at least, when the lady begged him because even for that money the place reeked of horror. Obviously Mr Hatherley should have read more yellow backed novels.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-13 10:48 am (UTC)I enjoy the idea of Watson being a good doctor. Of course he would be! And he is so low key about it.
Ronald Howard’s Holmes is a precious golden retriever. I love that series.
I wish ACD wrote more in the gothic horror genre in general. Man, why waste your efforts on something that is obviously not your forte while you have a talent for something else, even outside Holmes? Well, I guess he thought that gothic horror wasn’t as respectable as historical fiction... Anyways, we’re lucky to have HOUN. It was supposed to be a gothic horror but lacked a protagonist, so this is almost a supernatural Holmes story. It seems like he had a firm idea that Holmes functions only in a rational world. On the bright side, it saved Holmes from turning into a spiritualist (unlike Challenger).
no subject
Date: 2020-08-13 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-13 03:20 pm (UTC)