Victorian 221b

Chapter 3

- The case hasn’t started yet but Watson already suspects that Holmes shows off to impress him. Of course, as Watson will find out later, Holmes would never stoop so low as to set up his deductions. Still, Holmes does want to impress Watson and does show off;

- A very important detail: Holmes apologises for his rudeness to Watson. Yes, he has a moment of short temper but he apologises immediately;

- Watson discovers Holmes’s partiality to admiration from him. Holmes asks Watson to read aloud Gregson’s message he had just read himself. What for? To enjoy Watson’s voice, apparently;

- Gregson has a great deal of respect for Holmes, judging by the letter. He values Holmes as a talented detective whereas Lestrade remains skeptical for many years to come, until that heartfelt praise in SIXN. It’s funny that Holmes compares Gregson and Lestrade to a pair of professional beauties when Watson says something very similar about him, that he’s like a girl sensitive to compliments;

- Holmes is reluctant to take the case despite being bored! But he does so at Watson’s request. Note how excited Watson is, even though he stated earlier that he had enough of excitement and noise until the end of his natural existence. Watson is in the habit of contradicting himself from the very start XD;

- Holmes takes Watson along with him to entertain his new friend who is clearly interested in the case. Also, Holmes’s apathy is quickly dispelled whereas Watson feels down. Holmes clearly wants to distract him from brooding which is very kind;

- Holmes's artistic side shows itself: he prattles about violins, music, and uses artistic jargon to name the case. Meanwhile, Watson's grows more convinced that Holmes is a poser seeing Holmes’s theatricality. Jeremy Brett channeled it brilliantly.

- The class difference between Holmes and the police detectives: Holmes, despite being broke, virtually unknown, and younger than Gregson, is a gentleman, middle or upper-middle class whereas Gregson is working class, so Gregson addresses Holmes accordingly;

- The state of Watson’s nerves: he is shaken by the sight of death (“I have seen death in many forms, but never has it appeared to me in a more fearsome aspect”, “room, the atmosphere of which felt clearer since the removal of its ghastly inmate.”)

- Holmes’s description while on the scent: a crackpot, isn't he? With all those mutterings to himself, crawling all over the place, etc. But Watson compares him to a foxhound;

- “With which Parthian shot he walked away, leaving the two rivals open-mouthed behind him.” - This is basically a Victorian equivalent of mic dropping.

The Parthian shot is a light horse military tactic made famous in the West by the Parthians, an ancient Iranian people. While in real or feigned retreat their horse archers would turn their bodies back in full gallop to shoot at the pursuing enemy. (Wikipedia)

Chapter 2

- Watson has a good grasp of the facts: he mentions all main points of the case and difficulties arising from the findings. This proves that Watson is a smart participant, not just tagalong, and Holmes praises him; 

- That epic moment when Holmes is reluctant to reveal much, fearing to lose Watson’s interest, but Watson professes his full devotion, and Holmes is all melted;

- When they visit Constable Rance, we are shown the typical living conditions of working-class people; 

- Despite Holmes’s sternness with Constable Rance, Holmes doesn’t call him “a blundering fool” in his face. Holmes is not that arrogant or bad-mannered!

Boris Klyuev passed away yesterday, on September 1. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018. He kept teaching at the Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in Moscow despite the illness. Rest in peace and god bless you, sir.

Here are some excerpts from the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia:

Major Alfred Herbert Wood aka "Woodie" (23 april 1866 - 19 april 1941) was a school master who became friend, private secretary and business manager to Arthur Conan Doyle from 1897 to 1930.

Between 1882 an 1890, he met Arthur Conan Doyle in Southsea when Conan Doyle was practising medicine and they became close friends.

On 6-7 september 1892, he played cricket with Conan Doyle (as captain) in the cricket team The Idlers versus Norwood. Match Drawn.

In 1897, Alfred Wood became private secretary of Arthur Conan Doyle.

In may 1905, he joined the Hindhead Golf Club, where Conan Doyle was also member.

On 6 july 1906, he was present at Conan Doyle's first wife funerals. According to Georgina Doyle (Out of the Shadow, Calabash Press, 2004), Lena Jean Conan Doyle told that Wood's nephew told her that Alfred Wood felt it was easier to work as secretary under Louisa's regime than under Jean's.

Throughout the Great War he served in France in the 5th Royal Sussex Territorials, where he was Town Major of Beauquesne. He also served in Italy in 1918.

Note that Alfred H. Wood had a nephew named Sholto Wood. Bartholomew and Thaddeus Sholto were the twin sons of Major John Sholto in Arthur Conan Doyle's novel: The Sign of Four (1888).

Wood was a Freemason and a bachelor, and Adrian Doyle believed him to be a prototype for Dr. Watson. While ACD himself didn’t explicitly state that, there are certain parallels. And it’s quite a curious detail that Major Wood never married.

A few notes on this story. For some reason, I don’t have much to submit when it’s my turn to write a post XD Nevertheless, I learned an important detail for writing while reading BERY. Had to go through all of my fics and fix it, d’oh! But let’s start from the beginning.

Holmes & Watson. Their interaction is sweet and lovely in this story too, as it was in the previous ones.

- There’s Watson’s dry humour: “Holmes, here is a madman coming along...”;

- His faith in Holmes which is surely a powerful emotional support for Sherlock: “I had such faith in Holmes’s judgment...” Despite seeing no way out of the situation, he believes in Holmes and relies on him to find a solution without a shade of doubt;

- Watson easily reads every Holmes’s mood. Despite not knowing what exactly is on Holmes’s mind, he can see the gears in his head working and can tell whether Holmes has a progress in his investigation or not;

- This story is also a rare instance when Watson actually tries to prod Holmes with questions about the case but Holmes is evasive. Usually Watson just waits when Holmes is ready to tell all;

- We also get a glimpse of Watson’s circadian rhythm. In the previous stories we observed that he is a late riser, 7.15 in the morning being outrageously early for him. Here he waits for Holmes until midnight and then comes down for breakfast after nine which is quite late. It seems like both Holmes and he are night creatures when given a preference.

Holmes, from his side values Watson’s presence highly. He insists on Watson’s accompanying him to Mr. Holder’s house and expresses his regret when he can’t take Watson along with him on an outing to investigate further. As always, they work smoothly as a team: Watson does a small talk part with Mr. Holder which allows Holmes to think and spares him being distracted by the chatty client.

- This story is another proof that Holmes doesn’t forget entirely about food when he is done with his thinking. He makes himself a sandwich before going out;

- I rather liked Holmes’s playfulness when Holmes is in a good mood: “However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly respectable self.”

- And again Holmes is very compassionate and empathetic in this story. Holmes does everything do soothe the agitated Mr. Holder when he first comes to Baker Street. Holmes makes him comfortable and talks to him gently. He clearly knows how to handle a person in distress. “The cold jerk” stereotype really must go.

- The minor point which I found important: Holmes’s bedroom is also upstairs, most likely next to Watson’s, and not on the same floor as the sitting-room. “He hurried to his chamber and was down again in a few minutes dressed as a common loafer.” It is even more convenient for shippy fics. Their rooms are adjacent which makes a rather short, inconspicuous trip at night.

The case. I would have never entrusted any precious valuables of my own into Mr. Holder’s care. What was the point in carrying the coronet with him? Someone could watch him and attack him on the street. He told about the coronet to his family members, knowing that at least one of them has money issues. He put the coronet into a place which practically begs to be burgled! A soundless lock which can be opened with any key, really?

In this story a man takes the blame to protect the lady he loves, just like in BOSC. Arthur Holder, being ACD’s namesake, seems to have similar ideas about chivalry which overrules common sense. This is also an example of ACD’s misogynistic views: not only women can betray their family for a lover. This time, though, Holmes does express overtly his prejudice against women while in most stories he is nice to them and we are just told by Watson that he doesn’t like them.

And lastly, this Sidney Paget illustration. Mary Holder ignores Watson, and Watson seems so pissed off that he is about to hit her with a chair XD

Not 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.

Edward Cedric Hardwicke

August 7, 1932