Seventeen Steps to "The Solitary Cyclist"

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of "The Solitary Cyclist" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

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PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS -- OR NOT
“For this reason I will now lay before the reader the facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which culminated in unexpected tragedy.”
Once again, Watson gives us an exciting teaser that doesn’t exactly line up with the tale that follows ... or is “the curious sequel” something that happened after the tale was over? Or is the wounding of a criminal a tragic thing to Watson’s mind? Was there a part of this tale he’s not telling?
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THE WATSONIAN CASE RECORD SYSTEM
The good author writes: “there were some points about the case which made it stand out in those long records of crime from which I gather the material for these little narratives.”
Watson is referring to his notes as something a little more substantial in this case. In fact, this time around Watson almost makes it seem like the published stories are a subset of some more substantial chronicles. All this occurs at a time when Holmes had prohibited from Watson from further publishing, too. Were the “long records” Watson’s contribution to the criminological partnership that began after Holmes’s return? How much of the records were Holmes’s work, and how much Watson’s?
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ANOTHER BRILLIANT DEDUCTION, BUT ...
Holmes gives Violet Smith a once over and announces that she’s a bicyclist. We then find that Violet “glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the slight roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of the edge of the pedal.”
Was Holmes becoming less discreet in his old age? Did Violet seeing him staring at her shoes, and then followed his gaze? Or was it the shoes he was staring at -- could even an eagle-eyed fellow like Holmes make out the differences a toned lower body would make beneath all that Victorian cloth?
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WAS THAT FROM SEARS OR MONTGOMERY WARDS?
“He had ordered a horse and trap .... The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason they were not delivered.”
Mr. Carruthers has supposedly ordered some decent transport for Violet Smith, and whether or not her really did, Violet seems to think it’s a reasonable order. Where would one order a trap complete with horse, that took over a week to deliver? A mail order catalog? The local livery stable?
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SOME ACCOMPANIMENTS WITH DINNER?
“I play his accompaniments in the evening,” Miss Smith says of Mr. Carruthers. Accepting that a nice young woman like Miss Smith was NOT making the sort of suggestive remark some members of our list are reading that as, what would Carruthers most likely be accompanied in doing? Would he have been singing? Playing an instrument? Or just enjoying a pleasant dinner?
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THE TRANSPORTATION SITUATION AT CHILTERN GRANGE
Six miles from the station, no horse, but apparently a piano and some other accoutrements of a well-kept house. Did Mrs. Dixon and her employer walk to town for all their needs? Could they get deliveries of their heavier supplies? They couldn’t have been using a bicycle, or else Carruthers would have been quickly suspected by his employee. And while Miss Smith refers to “my bicycle,” is there any indication that she had a bicycle before her new job? Did she take it on the train with her, or leave it at the station?
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THE JUNIOR PARTNER IS ON THE CASE
“No, my dear fellow, you will go down,” Holmes tells Watson. “This may be some trifling intrigue, and I cannot break my other important research for the sake of it.”
As Holmes’s business increased in the 1890’s, having Watson pre-screen the less dangerous cases seems a smart move. Was this an exceptional case, or did Watson do this on a regular basis? Or a better question: Could Watson do such a thing on a regular basis under Holmes’s critical eye without ruining the friendship?
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WATSON MAY HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF WRONG
"What should I have done?" Watson cries after Holmes criticizes his work.
"Gone to the nearest public-house,” Holmes replies.
Well, Sherlock Holmes followed his own advice, and we saw what happened. What would have been the result had Dr. Watson done the same and wound up going up against Roaring Jack Woodley? Would Watson have fared any better than Carruthers or come to “very ignominious grief”?
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PARTNERSHIP OR BOSS-EMPLOYEE?
Holmes gives Watson a thorough dressing-down in this case, stating Watson’s results and asking: “Who's the better for that? Well, well, my dear sir, don't look so depressed. We can do little more until next Saturday, and in the meantime I may make one or two inquiries myself.”
Does that sound like a friend or a boss? Was Holmes actually Watson’s employer, rather than partner, at this point in their relationship?
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DID CARRUTHERS HAVE A CHANCE?
Violet Smith writes, regarding her employer: “I am convinced that his feelings are most deep and most honourable. At the same time, my promise is of course given.”
Does that mean that if she didn’t already have Cyril, she might have married Carruthers? How much of that decision might have been romantic and how much economic?
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THE MAKE-UP OF THE COUNTRY PUB
While Holmes is in the bar of the local pub, Woodley comes in from the tap-room. Was the bar for distilled beverages, while the tap-room was for beer or ale? Was this a pub of fairly decent size to have separate rooms for separate beverages, or was this the common state of pubs?
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THE HANDIWORK OF HOLMES
Violet Smith describes the beaten Jack Woodley: “He was always hideous, but he looks more awful than ever now, for he appears to have had an accident, and he is much disfigured.”
Is Miss Smith reacting to minor abrasions due to her delicate nature, or did Holmes do serious damage to Woodley’s face? What sort of disfigurements would we expect from Holmes’s straight left?
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LIVING THE LIFE OF WATSON
Watson tells us, “we hastened onward at such a pace that my sedentary life began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to fall behind.”
What *is* Watson doing with himself these days? Writing? Studying criminology? Lounging around until Thurston is ready to play pool? Is he really sitting all the time, or does he just mean that he’s not involved in active physical exercise? What about “the whirl of our incessant activity” he writes of later?
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THAT DOESN’T SOUND HEALTHY
“As he spoke, a woman's shrill scream--a scream which vibrated with a frenzy of horror--burst from the thick, green clump of bushes in front of us. It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.”
Miss Smith is soon found with a handkerchief in her mouth. But what did they do to her to end her scream with a choke and a “gurgle”? Wouldn’t that latter imply something awful like blood in the lungs or something equally deadly? Might Woodley have poured whiskey down her throat, or some other liquor in an attempt to calm her?
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HOLMES’S FAME PRECEDES HIM
"Who are you, then?" asks Bob Carruthers.
"My name is Sherlock Holmes."
"Good Lord!"
While Carruthers may have heard of Sherlock Holmes, the consulting detective, why does Holmes rate a “Good Lord!” Do criminals fear him that much? Did Carruthers think he was dead? Or what Carruthers’s reaction just a general “Good Lord!” in the sense of “What else could go wrong?”
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THE VIRGIN EARS OF WATSON
When Carruthers shoots Woodley, Williamson erupts in “such a string of foul oaths” as Watson never heard before. Considering Watson had been in the Afghan War, among cursing military men, might Williamson have been swearing oaths he picked up in South Africa that were new to Watson? Might they have involved jungle creatures or African tribal deities?
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HOW WIDE WAS WOODLEY’S SWATH?
Roaring Jack Woodley was “the greatest brute and bully in South Africa--a man whose name is a holy terror from Kimberley to Johannesburg.” Quite a reputation for a man so young ... given the cities mentioned, how big an area was Woodley the greatest brute in? Was it all of South Africa? 
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The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.

Seventeen Steps to "The Six Napoleons"

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of "The Six Napoleons" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

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A FRIEND ENJOYING THE COMFORTS OF 221B
There’s something special about the beginning of this tale, a feeling that the friendly association of Holmes and Watson was not something they restricted to their own circle of two. We begin this visit to 221B with the words:
“It was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sherlock Holmes . . . On this particular evening, Lestrade had spoken of the weather and the newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his cigar.”
The fact that Lestrade was welcome enough at 221B to sit around and chit-chat says a lot for his relationship with Holmes. But when we first met Lestrade back in “A Study in Scarlet,” he and Inspector Gregson were rivals and seeming equals in the investigation. What was it about Gregson that he never became as friendly with Holmes as Lestrade did? Why does Holmes get along with Lestrade so well?
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SHERLOCK HOLMES -- HIS LIMITS: EVER CHANGING
"That's no business of mine," Holmes says when Lestrade first speaks of anti-Napoleon madness.
"Exactly. That's what I said. But then, when the man commits burglary in order to break images which are not his own, that brings it away from the doctor and on to the policeman."
"Burglary! This is more interesting.”
What happened to the Holmes of the 1880s who remarked upon how many of his cases were without any crime whatsoever? Wouldn’t finding the cause of a man breaking Napoleon busts intrigue Holmes as much as a man breaking into a house? Or was this just a pose he put on for Lestrade, who had perhaps spoken a bit *too* much of the weather and the newspapers?
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THE SUCCESSFUL DOCTOR BRANCHES OUT
Dr. Barnicot, we are told, “has one of the largest practices upon the south side of the Thames. His residence and principal consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but he has a branch surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away.”
Apparently, Dr. Barnicot’s branch surgery was for the convenience of patients nearer Lower Brixton Road than his Kennington Road consulting room. But was this just another office for his use only, or would he have had some staff working there full time? Would a doctor’s large practice be of a size that he would use other, junior doctors to help him maintain it, even though it would still be considered “his” practice? 
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THE CANONICAL PROTOTYPE FOR A SHERLOCKIAN
“This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French Emperor.” 
Barnicot’s house sounds like many a Sherlockian’s house, with Napoleon filling in for Holmes. (Ironically, both men are now known to the general public as much for their hats as anything else.) But wasn’t it odd for an Englishman to have such high esteem for the French emperor? Wouldn’t this be a bit like having a Hitler collection?
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THE HOUNDS FINALLY GET DIAGNOSED
Watson remarks, “There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania. There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the 'idee fixe,' which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way.” 
Complete sanity in every other way? Couldn’t Dr. Barnicot be considered a monomaniac by such a definition? And what of people with a fixation on Sherlock Holmes who are completely sane in every other way?
Was “idee fixe” a legitimate mental disorder of the time, and what were the symptoms of a typical case? Were its sufferers truly sane in every other way, leading otherwise normal lives?
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TIME TO HAUL OUT THE BUTTER AGAIN
“The affair seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.”
The parsley/butter problem has been long discussed and researched by Sherlockians, and done to death on this list a few times as well. But aside from the dinner table clue, why would Watson have never written up a case that Holmes considered one of his “most classic”? How dreadful was the business of the Abernetty family if it only got noticed because the parsley was sinking into the butter? (Just play along for the moment, and pretend that parsley sinks into butter.)
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THE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
Watson apparently dresses before breakfast, as Holmes tells him, “There's coffee on the table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door.” But coffee seems to be the only breakfast Watson will be getting. In an arrangement like the one Holmes and Watson had with Mrs. Hudson, was she expected prepare (or have the cook prepare) breakfast for them every day, or just as requested? At what point might Mrs. Hudson’s preparations have been at as Holmes and Watson go racing out the door in this case?
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THE CORPSE AT HARKER’S HOUSE
There are a few odd points about the man found murdered at Horace Harker’s Pitt Street home. First, Harker heard a horrible scream, apparently the dying cry, of a man whose throat was cut. Wouldn’t the “great gash” in his neck limit his vocalizing abilities? Might it have been his attacker screaming? And we are told that he lay on his back with his knees drawn up ...isn’t that a little bit odd position for a man who apparently died of blood loss? Wouldn’t his legs relax and extend a bit as he died?
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THE MANY THEORIES OF MORSE HUDSON
No doubt the picture and statuary business was quite dull, since Morse Hudson turns to Nihilists, anarchists, and “red republicans” just to explain the destruction of one fifteen-shilling bust. (After he was probably the original person to report capital “H” Hooliganism, as well.) Is there any logical basis for Morse Hudson’s ravings? Would any of these groups have a reason for busting Napoleon’s head in, while leaving the rest of the shop untouched?
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PASSING THROUGH LONDON’S MANY FACES
“In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe.”
Did each of these districts (described by Watson as one would describe a Barbie doll) have a name? Were Holmes and Watson travelling a straight path from Kensnington Road to Stepney?
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PRIVACY ISSUES OF THE VICTORIAN ERA
The manager at Harding Brothers is a very helpful fellow: “Yes, we have the entries here. One to Mr. Harker you see, and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of Laburnum Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of Lower Grove Road, Reading.”
Was it necessary to give your name and address to a shopkeeper when you just want to buy a plaster bust for a few shillings? Why did the shopkeeper need it? A wholesaler keeping records of his regular customers makes some sense, but a shopkeeper dealing in fairly inexpensive knick-knacks? At what price level did one not worry about such details?
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IT’S ALWAYS POLITICS, ISN’T IT?
“His name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples, and he is one of the greatest cut-throats in London. He is connected with the Mafia, which, as you know, is a secret political society, enforcing its decrees by murder.”
Was the Mafia ever anything but a criminal society? Even when associated with the government, it’s goals were never political, were they? Lestrade showing his ignorance of foreign crime with the above statement, or a deeper understanding than most?
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THE LUMBER-ROOM OF HIS LUMBER-ROOM
“Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old daily papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed.”
First, the simple question: where in 221 Baker Street were the lumber-rooms? Second, how could Holmes possible endeavor to keep files of all London’s daily papers? Wasn’t he cutting out bits for his scrapbook in any case, leaving most of them in not-exactly-archival shape?
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JOSIAH BROWN, THE POLICEMAN’S FRIEND
Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade catch a murderer on the grounds of Josiah Brown’s house. They’ve barely got him in cuffs when Brown comes outside and jovially says, “Well, I'm very glad to see that you have got the rascal. I hope, gentlemen, that you will come in and have some refreshment.”
Seems a bit odd behaviour as the three men are still holding the murderer. Wouldn’t Brown want him out of there as quickly as possible? Would Brown have been so friendly to the neighborhood beat cop? Or is Josiah Brown a fan of The Strand Magazine who’s seizing the opportunity to get the celebrated Sherlock Holmes in his house for drinks?
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COULD BEPPO BE THE MOST UNLUCKY MAN ALIVE?
First, he’s born with a monkey face. Second, he manages to kill a man with a photograph of him in his pocket. And third, and worst of all, with five out of six chances at finding the Borgia pearl in the busts he smashed, he still comes up empty! Was there anything he could have done to improve his odds, or was God just against this guy from square one?
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SHERLOCK HOLMES DAY AT SCOTLAND YARD
“We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow, there's not a man, from the oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn't be glad to shake you by the hand."
Did Lestrade mean that as a sincere invitation? Was it Holmes’s fame in The Strand that had the Yard proud of him, or the Borgia pearl case, which most of them hadn’t heard of yet? Did Lestrade expect Holmes to bring the pearl with him? (And a postscript: this one puzzled me enough that I couldn’t stop thinking about it until I found my own answer, which is coming in Monday’s Chronology Corner.)
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AND WAITING ON THE BACK-BURNER ...
“"Put the pearl in the safe, Watson," Holmes instructs, when it’s all done, "and get out the papers of the Conk-Singleton forgery case.”
Was the Conk-Singleton case still going on, but so uninteresting that Holmes left it alone to pursue the pearl? Or was Holmes just going to clean up the documentation on the case, with Watson’s help? What papers was Watson responsible for regarding the cases?
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The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.

Seventeen Steps to "Silver Blaze"

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of "Silver Blaze" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

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HIS OWN PERSONAL CNN
“Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent,” Watson writes.
We all know London had a lot of papers in those days, but did everyone have a newsagent to deal with their newsprint needs? Or did most folks get by with a paperboy or two?
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VERY EXCELLENT FOR WHAT?
Holmes asks Watson to bring his “very excellent field glass” to King’s Pyland with him, but never makes use of it. What would Holmes have expected to do with it? Scan the moors for the missing horse? While Holmes does use the glass four days later at the big race, it never seems to come into play during that first trip. Was Holmes just planning ahead, or was there an earlier purpose for taking it?
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FLYING ALONG TO EXETER FIRST CLASS
As the classic Paget illustration for this tale so beautifully shows, Holmes and Watson had window seats in a first class carriage on the train to Dartmoor. What exactly were the amenities to be expected in first class rail transport of that era? Was anything but privacy included for the price?
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HOLMES’S BLUNDER
If ever we wondered whether Holmes was more devoted to the “art” of detection or the actual cause of justice, this tale has some pretty heavy evidence for the former. Both Silver Blaze’s owner and Inspector Gregory ask Holmes on Tuesday to investigate the trainer’s murder and the horse’s theft. Holmes, however, expects the matter to take care of himself, and waits until Thursday to head to the scene of the crime. When Scotland Yard asks for help with a murder, isn’t it the perogative of every red-blooded, patriotic, justice-loving son of England to answer the call? What’s with Holmes’s prima donna act?
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NOTHING SINISTER ABOUT SHERLOCK
“Holmes, leaning forward, with his long, thin forefinger checking off the points upon the palm of his left hand.”
Can we therefore assume Holmes is right-handed?
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HADN’T STRAKER HEARD OF WEIGHT WATCHERS?
After only five years of being a jockey, John Straker is forced to retire because he’s become too heavy. Couldn’t this guy say “no” to second helpings, even if his career depended on it? Did anyone go on diets back then? How much did Straker’s age have to do with his weight?
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THE INVALID SUBDIVISION NEXT DOOR
“About half a mile to the north there is a small cluster of villas which have been built by a Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others who may wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air.”
The term “villa” has implications of elegance and upscale living. Were there enough wealthy invalids who wanted to live in Dartmoor to make such a business venture viable? Was the pure Dartmoor air noted for healthful benefits, or was the London reek so bad that any countryside would have been equally healthful to city folk?
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THE OTHER MISSING HORSE
“You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup--Silver Blaze and Bayard,” the tout tells the stable-boy. Yet when we look down the card on the day of the race, Bayard is nowhere to be found. What happened? With Silver Blaze’s whereabouts unknown, wouldn’t Colonel Ross have left Bayard in for the Wessex Cup?
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KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE TOUT’S HAND
The visiting tout takes a piece of white paper folded up” out of his pocket. Later, Edith Baxter notices “the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his closed hand.” So what was it? Folded paper, as a note would be, or a packet, as would contain opium or money? Or was the owrd “packet” just a terminology red herring dropped in by Watson or his literary agent?”
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VICTORIAN FORENSIC CHEMISTRY
“Finally, an analysis has shown that the remains of his supper left by the stable-lad contained an appreciable quantity of powdered opium ...”
How would the stableboy’s dinner have been tested for opium in that period? An actual chemical test or something as simple as feeding it to a dog?
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THE LION OF SCOTLAND YARD
While poor Lestrade is always compared to smaller creatures like rats and bulldogs, Inspector Gregory is said to have “lion-like” hair and beard. What exactly does that mean? Lion-like in color, style, or what?
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IT DOESN’T GET ANY MORE CIRCUMSTANTIAL THAN THIS
We are told of Silas Brown and his stable: “As Desborough, their horse, was second in the betting, they had an interest in the disappearance of the favourite. Silas Brown, the trainer, is known to have had large bets upon the event, and he was no friend to poor Straker.”
Add the posession of the stolen horse to those facts, and you come up with quite a case against Silas Brown. Had Scotland Yard been the ones who discovered Silver Blaze at Mapleton, there is little doubt the trainer would have been behind bars and found guilty of murder and horse theft. Wouldn’t Brown have taken this into consideration upon finding Silver Blaze on the moor?
Holmes’s manipulation of the events surrounding the Straker murder are so heavy-handed that one might even wonder if he was helping the true murderer escape by pointing the finger at Silver Blaze, who can’t defend himself or tell where he’s been held. Was Brown another Leon Sterndale, whom Holmes let escape the consequences of his crime? What motive might Holmes have had for helping Brown get away with murder? 
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EXIT, STAGE LEFT!
When the carriage leaves King’s Pyland, who is in it? If only Holmes and Watson, we are treated to a failed dramatic moment as Holmes says:
"Gregory, let me recommend to your attention this singular epidemic among the sheep. Drive on, coachman!"
The coachman then ignores Holmes, and the carriage stays put. Instead of dropping his vague exit-line and being whisked away, Holmes is left sitting in front of an audience that wants more. Colonel Ross just looks disgusted at this ploy, and Inspector Gregory gets a chance to ask more questions.
Holmes recovers quickly in one of the most memorable exchanges in the Canon, but was it his original attempt to leave matters with the line above? If Colonel Ross and Inpspector Gregory are also in the carriage, and the coachman did obey Holmes and was driving the lot of them away as Gregory asks his questions, why was Holmes commanding Ross’s driver?
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SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GARDEN PARTY
"Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time ago, Mrs. Straker?" Holmes asks the victim’s widow. We know he’s lying of course, especially as a garden-party was most certainly one of those “unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man to either be bored or to lie.”
Time for the more socially enlightened Hounds to fill us in on this thing called the garden-party. What makes a garden party? Is it merely a cocktail party with flowers and sunlight? Would Sherlock Holmes have ever attended one for real? Of what social standing would we expect the attendees of a garden party to be? Would a horse trainer’s wife be included, or was Holmes flattering Mrs. Straker?
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THE TOUT WHO CARRIED A PURSE
“He says that it was a ten-pound note. One was found in his purse.”
Purses appear in male possession several times in the Canon, and I’ve always assumed that these were something like a large clasp coin purse. Where did men carry their purses back then? Trouser pockets? Coat pockets? Did the purse contain anything besides money?
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THE MILLINER’S BILL AND THAT FANCY DRESS
William Derbyshire’s bill from Madame Lesurier of Bond Street is made out for thirty-seven pounds fifteen. We’re told of a twenty-two guinea dress, which accounts for about twenty-three pounds of that bill, but that leaves fourteen pounds of unknown merchandise. Was it another dress? Or accessories for that dove-colored, ostrich-feathered monstrosity? What sort of added items of clothing might Straker’s mistress have made him buy her at Madame Lesurier’s to go with the dress? Would said dress have been bought for attending a special occasion, or just as an impressive gift?
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THE LATEST THING IN DRIVEWAY PAVING
Watson writes of “the paving of asphalt which led up to the gates of the Mapleton stables.” We don’t usually think of asphalt driveways in association with Holmes’s era, but there you have it. How common was asphalt paving in those days, and was it an indication of wealth or progressive thinking?
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The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.

Seventeen Steps to The Sign of the Four

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

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WATSON'S FLAW
The Sign of the Four begins by showing us a major flaw in our hero's character, his cocaine usage. Watson, it would seem, does not make it through the tale without showing a flaw of his own: "I could have struck the man across the face, so hot was I at this callous and offhand reference to so delicate a matter."
Why is violence Watson's immediate reaction? True, he does not act upon the impulse this time, but were there other times he was not so restrained? Had he previously struck anyone across the face for a remark that offended him? This could give credence for the "bad temper" school of though on his "bull pup."
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THE DOC FROM DOWN UNDER
If Watson did have bad habits like smacking mouthy fellows across the face, it might indicate a childhood in some less civilized land, and SIGN gives us some handy evidence of that in his words: "I have seen something of the sort on the side of a hill near Ballarat, where the prospectors had been at work."
Watson's Australian past is often overlooked by Sherlockians, and it is especially fascinating that he encounters some fellow citizens of good old Ballarat in "Reigate Squires." Did Watson's family wind up coming to England in much the same way that Turner and McCarthy did? Might there even be a connection?
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GOSSIP TIME:
Mrs. Bernstone, the housekeeper at Pondicherry Lodge, says: I have seen Mr. Bartholomew Sholto in joy and in sorrow for ten long years, but I never saw him with such a face on him as that."
Was the housekeeper having a romantic relationship with Bartholomew Sholto? Somehow it seems like she's seen a lot of emotion out of her employer.
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ONE MORE PAYING CUSTOMER
"Don't trouble yourself about it, Mr. Sholto," said Holmes; "I think that
I can engage to clear you of the charge."
Was Holmes going to charge Sholto? Was his full meaning "I can be engaged for a reasonable fee"? Long before the ambulance-chasing lawyer, was Sherlock the Scotland Yard-chasing detective? It would seem that Athelney Jones alone could have made him quite a bit of money.
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JUST WONDERING . . .
"I shall bring him then," said I. "It is one now. I ought to be back
before three if I can get a fresh horse."
Fresh horse? From where?
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TONGA'S DEATH WARRANT
"I have my stick."
"It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get to
their lair. Jonathan I shall leave to you, but if the other turns nasty I
shall shoot him dead."
Holmes is very definite about his plans for Tonga. Would he have felt the same about a normal Briton criminal, or was the fact that he was dealing with a "wild" pygmy frightening him into thinking of Tonga as a mad dog, less than human? Is Holmes intending self-defense or an excuse for premeditated capital punishment?
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UP, UP, AND AWAY!
"What the deuce is the matter with the dog?" growled Holmes. "They
surely would not take a cab or go off in a balloon."
Balloon travel at time of SIGN . . . just how common was it? Holmes almost makes it sound as common as cabbing in that line . . . or is he just "eliminating the impossible."
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BRIBE THE RASCALS
"I'd like two shillin' better," the prodigy answered after some thought.
"Here you are, then! Catch!--A fine child, Mrs. Smith!"
"Lor' bless you, sir, he is that, and forward.
At this point in his life, we've only seen Sherlock Holmes deal with children one way: throw money at them. Were shillings hard to come by around the Holmes household when he was a child? Or was money just the best calling card for anyone in the lower classes at the time?
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ROWBOAT FOR HIRE
"There is a boatman here with a wherry, Watson. We shall take it and
cross the river." 
While we all remember the steamboat chase in SIGN, this little rowboat trip across the Thames often gets missed. Were small boat ferrymen as common as cabs on the river? Would you yourself cross the Thames in a rowboat?
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SLEEP, GIVE ME SLEEP!
At "between eight and nine o'clock" in the morning after running around all night, Watson describes himself as "limp and weary, befogged in mind and fatigued in body." He has already protested earlier in the story that he still hasn't recovered from Afghanistan.But he takes a bath, changes clothes, comes down for breakfast and seems ready to go some more.
Now, be honest. At this point wouldn't you be going, "You're the detective, I'm going to bed!"? What did Watson hope to contribute/accomplish? And when Holmes does lull him into napping, Watson doesn't even go to his nearby bed . . . just sacking out on the couch. Oh, my aching back/war wound!
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RUN FOR IT, WATSON!
"I think that we have had a close shave ourselves of being arrested for the crime."
"So do I. I wouldn't answer for our safety now if he should happen to have another of his attacks of energy."
At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.
"By heavens, Holmes," I said, half rising, "I believe that they are really after us."
What was Watson about to do? Make a break for it?
***********************
WITHOUT A MICROWAVE!
"Only that I insist upon your dining with us. It will be ready in half
an hour. I have oysters and a brace of grouse, with something a little choice
in white wines.--Watson, you have never yet recognized my merits as a
housekeeper." 
Perhaps one of our more grouse and oyster savvy Hounds can help me on this one: I have problems whipping hot dogs and steamed veggies together in a half an hour, how can Holmes can cook oysters and grouse in that time?
***********************
IT'S IN THE OTHER SOUTH AMERICA
"We told him nothing; but we paid him well, and he was to get something handsome if we reached our vessel, the Esmeralda, at Gravesend, outward bound for the Brazils."
Someone aid my confusion on this one: was there more than one Brazil in the 1880s??
***********************
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
"Pray sit down and tell me all about it, Dr. Watson," said she. 
Um, excuse me, Mary, but the man just brought a treasure chest in for you. Polite, I can understand, but I have to ask my fellow Hounds: Isn't she taking polite a bit far here? Wouldn't you want to see what's in the box and THEN hear the story? Ah, but they were better folk then, weren't they?
************************
AND I HAVEN'T EVEN TOUCHED MINE
"I must borrow Mrs. Forrester's poker." 
Fireplace pokers get a lot of use in the Canon. Watson opens a strongbox with one here, and later prepares to bash Steve Dixie with one. As a murder weapon or a contest of strength, the simple poker gets a lot of mileage in the Canon. Any thoughts on why?
************************
YOU CAN'T BRIBE THESE GUYS
"There goes the reward!" the nameless inspector says. "Where there is no money there is no pay. This night's work would have been worth a tenner each to Sam Brown and me if the treasure had been there."
Scotland Yard working on commission? Along with Lestrade being "retained" in "Boscombe Valley Mystery," this is one of the more puzzling aspects of the London police force. How easily hired were they?
************************
UNBELIEVABLE SMALL
Jonathan Small scatters the Agra treasure over "five miles or so" of Thames riverbed. He says he was "half mad" when he did it, but five miles is a long time for temporary insanity. Can you picture any criminal giving up that kind of money, when there was the slightest chance he might have been able to get it back somehow? 
An added note: with Holmes's eye for detail and memory for location, might he not have been out the next day with a boatload of Irregulars for a little urban pearl-diving?
*******************
The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.

Seventeen Steps to "Shoscombe Old Place"

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of "Shoscombe Old Place" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

*******************
THE SCOTLAND YARD FORENSICS DEPARTMENT
"Is it one of your cases?" Watson asks Holmes of his microscope study.
"No; my friend, Merivale, of the Yard, asked me to look into the case."
If the matter of the dead policeman wasn't Holmes's case, it would seem Merivale only brought the cap to Holmes for forensic work. Was he the only outlet Scotland Yard had for the scientific study of evidence at the time? Or was this a sign of his friendship for Merivale?
*******************
A MAN AND HIS CUFFS WITH A PARTING OF THE WAYS
"Since I ran down that coiner by the zinc and copper filings in the seam of his cuff they have begun to realize the importance of the microscope."
Wouldn't Holmes have had the culprit if he had his cuff? Could Scotland Yard search a suspect's home and take his shirt? 
*******************
WATSON WON'T BE THE JURY ON THIS ONE
Did Holmes purposely stay "forensics only" with the picture-frame maker case because it involved a cop-killing and he wanted to allow the police to deal with the murder of one of their own? Would the men of the Yard have worried too much about corroborating evidence once they had someone they thought had killed a fellow cop? Or was Merivale trying to make sure his fellow officers didn't come down with a vengeance on an innocent man?
*******************
GOVERNMENT RACETRACK BETTING RELIEF
"By the way, Watson, you know something of racing?"
"I ought to. I pay for it with about half my wound pension."
Obviously, Watson's not hurting for cash if he fritters his pension money away at the track. So what were his sources of income at the time of this case? Did he have any responsibilities to worry about saving money for? What age would he have had to have been to be collecting a wound pension?
*******************
WATSON'S SUMMER HOME
"He lives at Shoscombe Old Place, and I know it well, for my summer quarters were down there once."
Is Watson referring to a place he stayed for a single vacation, or a place he owned and returned to for several seasons? If the latter, when in his life could this have occurred?
*******************
THE SPANIEL HERDS OF SHOSCOMBE
"There are the Shoscombe spaniels. You hear of them at every dog show. The most exclusive breed in England. They are the special pride of the lady of Shoscombe Old Place."
Were the Shoscombe spaniels a breed unto themselves? What qualities would make one set of spaniels more desirable than another, and how exclusive would they have been? How long could a particular breed be expected to breed true?
*******************
FORTY LASHES AND THEN SOME
"It was when he horsewhipped Sam Brewer, the well-known Curzon Street
money-lender, on Newmarket Heath. He nearly killed the man."
Would the horsewhip referred to be a stiff buggy-whip type or more of the bullwhip variety? What manner of abuse would it take to nearly kill a man with a such a whip? Wouldn't it have taken a lot of time? Why wouldn't someone intervene in that time?
*******************
THOSE HORSES ARE QUITE A HANDFUL, AREN'T THEY?
Watson writes, "The door had opened and the page had shown in a tall, clean-shaven man with the firm, austere expression which is only seen upon those who have to control horses or boys."
Riding herd on a family of wound-up boys can take the humor out of a person surely enough, but horses? Are they that hard to get along with, that one would expect a horse trainer to be so austere?
*******************
THE ADVENTURE OF THE FLAMING SKELETON
"It was burned to a black cinder, but there could be no question as to its
anatomical significance."
"'It's the upper condyle of a human femur,' said I."
Can one burn an entire skeleton in the standard heating furnace? Would we have expect more than a femur to be left?
*******************
DEFINITION QUIZ FOR THE WEEK
"A highly coloured young woman with flaxen hair and impudent eyes sat on the left."
Okay, we know by the "flaxen" hair that Carrie Evans is a blonde. But what does Watson mean by "highly coloured"? Lots of make-up or lots of freckles? Rosy red cheeks or flashy outfits?
*******************
THE FISHING DETECTIVE
"My companion seemed to have no further plans for the day, and we did actually use our fishing tackle in the mill-stream, with the result that we had a dish of trout for our supper."
When Holmes shows a skill not related to the field of detection, one can't help but wonder if it relates to his childhood. Does trout-fishing give us a clue as to where Sherlock Holmes grew up? When might he have learned to fish, if not as a child, and why would he have taken it up during his crime-obsessed years?
*******************
THE FISHING DETECTIVE, PART TWO
"The rack above us was covered with a formidable litter of rods, reels, and baskets. On reaching our destination a short drive took us to an old-fashioned tavern, where a sporting host, Josiah Barnes, entered eagerly into our plans for the extirpation of the fish of the neighbourhood."
While Holmes and Watson wind up going after trout, there is much talk of pike, jack, eels, and dace. How much different equipment would they need for all these different types of fish?
*******************
THE LANTERN THAT SHINED YELLOW
"Holmes had lit his lantern, which shot a tiny tunnel of vivid yellow light upon the mournful scene."
From the fact it has a directed beam, one would guess Holmes is using a dark lantern. But would such a lamp put out a yellow-colored beam? Isn't firelight basically white?
*******************
WAS THIS A CRYPT OR THE CATACOMBS OF ROME?
"Holmes set to work making a very careful examination of the graves, ranging from a very ancient one, which appeared to be Saxon, in the centre, through a long line of Norman Hugos and Odos, until we reached the Sir William and Sir Denis Falder of the eighteenth century."
Considering the hundreds and hundreds of years represented in this crypt, wouldn't it have had to be pretty large? Whose remains would have been allowed in it, and whose wouldn't?
*******************
AND HE DID IT WITHOUT AN ACTOR AS MYCROFT
Sir Robert explains, "I am running a dark horse for the Derby and that everything depends upon my success. If I win, all is easy. If I lose--well, I dare not think of that!"
"I understand the position," Holmes replies.
What does this statement say, if anything, about Holmes's actions in "Silver Blaze"? Had Holmes invested a large share of his wordly possesions at that time on his inside knowledge about Silver Blaze, just as Sir Robert was doing this time?
*******************
PAYOFFS FOR EVERYONE!
"Shoscombe Prince did win the Derby, the sporting owner did net eighty thousand pounds in bets, and the creditors did hold their hand until the race was over, when they were paid in full, and enough was left to reestablish Sir Robert in a fair position in life."
Earlier, we were told the odds were "forties now, but it was nearer
the hundred when he began to back him." So how much did Sir Robert have to bet to get his net profits, allowing for the fact he probably borrowed most, if not all of it? How much of the profits would have to be left for him to be in "a fair position for life"?
*******************
SO MAYBE IT WASN"T A BRIBE, BUT ...
"Both police and coroner took a lenient view of the transaction, and beyond a mild censure for the delay in registering the lady's decease, the lucky owner got away scatheless from this strange incident in a career which has now outlived its shadows and promises to end in an honoured old age."
Did the leniency of all involved have anything to do with inside info on Sir Robert's "dark horse"? Would he have to have told them the full situation, or could he have kept the money-making part of his scheme quiet? 
*******************
The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.

Seventeen Steps to "The Second Stain"

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of "The Second Stain" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

*******************
KNOWLEDGE OF TIMELY ADVERTISING -- NIL
Watson begins this tale with the words, “I had intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the last of those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever communicate to the public. . . . The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr. Holmes has shown to the continued publication of his experiences. So long as he was in actual professional practice the records of his successes were of some practical value to him, but since he has definitely retired from London and betaken himself to study and bee-farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him, and he has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this matter should be strictly observed.”
But a simple comparison of publication dates to the dates give within the stories makes these words somewhat nonsensical. Just as all of the “Adventures” and “Memoirs” were published while Holmes was thought dead, the stories of the “Return” set weren’t published until late 1903 -- a time when Holmes would have seemed to be retiring in Sussex. And looking within the stories of “Return,” one finds Holmes criticizing the stories and forbiding Watson to publish all through the detective’s post-hiatus career. Why would Holmes find value in Watson publishing his cases if he were about to retire? Or was the value he found simply in Watson’s writing, and not the actual publishing?
*******************
THIS MAY HAVE SOME BEARING ON JAMES PHILLIMORE
“The Premier's thin, blue-veined hands were clasped tightly over the ivory head of his umbrella.”
Would ivory-handled umbrellas have been a common luxury item in Victorian England? Or is the Premier’s umbrella something special?
*******************
TIME FOR DINNER AND THE THEATER
“I actually opened the box while I was dressing for dinner ...”
"What time did you dine?"
"Half-past seven."
"How long was it before you went to bed?"
"My wife had gone to the theatre. I waited up for her. It was half-past eleven before we went to our room."
What was the curtain time of the standard London theatrical production, and did Lady Hilda have time to dine with her husband and still get to the play? (Or pretend she was going to a play.) Would Trelawney Hope have dressed for dinner if he was dining alone?
*******************
NO LISTENING DEVICES AT THAT TIME, WERE THERE?
“You may safely trust us," Holmes asserts, but the trust he gets is not complete, as the tale is still vaguely told: "The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate ...”
Holmes then writes a name upon a slip of paper and hands it to the Premier.
“Exactly,” replies the Premier. “It was he.”
Was Holmes afraid Mrs. Hudson was listening at the keyhole? Or is he actually keeping the potentate’s identity a secret from Watson? Would Holmes have continued with the case, had the Premier refused to tell him the identity of the letter writer?
*******************
THEY MUST BELONG TO THE JAMES BOND SCHOOL OF WELL-KNOWN SPIES
“To whom would the thief take it? To one of several international spies and secret agents, whose names are tolerably familiar to me. There are three who may be said to be the heads of their profession. I will begin my research by going round and finding if each of them is at his post.”
Okay, Holmes is a criminal specialist. He knows things. But how effective can spies be if a man to whom espionage was simply a side issue knows who they are and where they can be found? Given Holmes’s knowledge, how many other people in London knew as well? Were spies often as popular and charming in social circles as Eduardo Lucas of this tale and Von Bork from “His Last Bow”?
*******************
AND THE RESERVE PRICE ON EBAY WOULD BE . . . ?
“After all, it is a question of money with these fellows, and I have the British treasury behind me. If it's on the market I'll buy it--if it means another penny on the income-tax.”
The recovery of the letter never does become a question of money, but just how much might it have gone for if money was what it took to retrieve it? What was the upper limit the government might have been able to afford to pay? How much cash would another penny on the income-tax have brought in? (And what was the going income tax rate in those days anyway?)
*******************
WHOA! DUDE, IT’S THE MOST LOVELY WOMAN IN LONDON!
“A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished that morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most lovely woman in London. I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster, but no description of it, and no contemplation of colourless photographs, had prepared me for the subtle, delicate charm and the beautiful colouring of that exquisite head.”
Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. If Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope was, according to Watson, the most lovely woman in London, and perhaps the whole Canon, does the use of “lovely” over “beautiful” imply that her visage inspired thoughts of love in Watson’s bachelor breast? Had circumstances of social rank and marital status been different, does Watson’s reaction tell us he’d have pursued her for a role as the next Mrs. Watson? How enamored was Watson to be listening intently to the very last “frou-frou” of her skirts as she departed?
*******************
THE FIRST AND FOREMOST CONSULTING WOMANOLOGIST OF HIS DAY
In this tale we get that classic line from Holmes, “Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department.”
How much experience with women must Watson have had for Holmes to casually make such a pronouncement? One late wife? Dalliances in Australia, Asia, or America? Is it the quality or quantity of Watson’s experience with the fair sex that makes them his department?
*******************
BEATEN BY A WOMAN AGAIN!
“And you must have observed, Watson, how she manoeuvred to have the light at her back. She did not wish us to read her expression. . . . You remember the woman at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason. No powder on her nose--that proved to be the correct solution. How can you build on such a quicksand? Their most trivial action may mean volumes, or their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a curling tongs.”
How many times must Holmes have been frustrated by female motives in order to utter such a statement? Or was he fresh from some defeat at feminine hands when this case occured?
*******************
THE RECEPTIONIST AT 221B BAKER STREET
“Do you stay on guard, my good Watson, and receive any fresh visitors.”
Is this another hint as to Watson’s role in the partnership when he began working with Holmes post-hiatus? With a busy Holmes out gathering clues, were a part of Watson’s duties to be present for potential walk-in clients, possibly screening them for Holmes?
*******************
THE PROMISCUITY OF EDUARDO LUCAS
Looking over Lucas’s things, Holmes pronounces, “As to his relations with women, they appeared to have been promiscuous but superficial. He had many acquaintances among them, but few friends, and no one whom he loved. His habits were regular, his conduct inoffensive.”
How would Holmes deduce such data? From letters alone? Is he saying that Lucas was celibate, or just a one-night-stand guy?
*******************
THE TELEGRAMS OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
“Upon the fourth day there appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to solve the whole question.”
“A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police [said the Daily Telegraph] ...”
Was the Daily Telegraph a newspaper composed entirely of telegrams from afar with no editing? How did one tell a newspaper article from a telegram? Timeliness and distance alone, or was there a special column for telegrams from foreign correspondents?
*******************
HOLMES AND WATSON AGAINST THE LAW
Sherlock Holmes complains, “It is a case, my dear Watson, where the law is as dangerous to us as the criminals are. Every man's hand is against us, and yet the interests at stake are colossal.”
Why were the forces of the law against them? Wouldn’t the powers that put Holmes on the case to begin with have some influence with Scotland Yard, even if they weren’t telling the Yardmen exactly what was going on? Unlike Holmes, couldn’t Scotland Yard be ordered to take action even when ignorant of the true circumstances?
*******************
THE MANY SIDES OF LADY HILDA
While Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope presents a noble, caring front to Holmes and Watson, the side we see of her in Constable MacPherson’s report is something else entirely: “Was answering an advertisement about typewriting and came to the wrong number--very pleasant, genteel young woman . . . some would say she was very handsome. 'Oh, officer, do let me have a peep!' says she. She had pretty, coaxing ways, as you might say, and I thought there was no harm in letting her just put her head through the door."
Lady Hilda demonstrates considerable skill at acting and duplicity in her mission to regain the letter. Might there have been more to this woman than just the blackmailed wife? Might she have been a spy in her own right? Was the blackmail story a cover for her true role?
*******************
THE ADVENTURE OF THE SECOND FAINT
When confronted by Holmes, we read of Lady Hilda: “Her eyes glazed--she tottered--I thought that she would faint.”
After her performance at Godolphin Street, can we believe there is any reality to Lady Hilda’s near-faint? Had she sensed it would have worked on Holmes, would she have gone through with it?
*******************
THE MANLINESS OF BROWBEATING LADY HILDA
“It is not a very manly thing, Mr. Holmes, to come here and browbeat a woman.”
Maybe it’s not chivalrous, but not manly? Is this a woman plainly used to using her feminine charms and attacking the manhood of all who don’t fall under her sway? The commanding, assertive Holmes who confronts her with the truth seems quite manly enough to this reader. How do the rest of the Hounds call it?
*******************
THE COOLEST ENDING IN THE CANON
“The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
"’Come, sir,’ said he. ‘There is more in this than meets the eye. How
came the letter back in the box?’
“Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those wonderful
eyes.
“’We also have our diplomatic secrets,’ said he and, picking up his hat,
he turned to the door.”
Is there any post-climax scene in the Canon that has more cinematic potential than this one? Holmes’s cool reply to the Prime Minister himself, his little smile as he walks away ... it’s the sort of thing a James Bond movie might end with, if one added a half-naked woman on Holmes’s arm. Are there any others that compete? 
*******************
The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.

Seventeen Steps to "A Scandal in Bohemia"

Seventeen thoughts for further ponderance of "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

*******************
THE RETURN OF DOCTOR WATSON
After two novels worth of nursing his wounds, John H. Watson suddenly has a home, a wife, AND a job, all his own. But the doctor’s exact words are “I had now returned to civil practive.” In the opening of “A Study in Scarlet,” he seems to have gone straight from medical school into the military. He doesn’t seem to have a civil practive in either of the first two books . . . so when was he working as a civilian doctor before this? Some time between the shoulder wound and the leg wound, perhaps? Back when he had to support his *first* wife?
*******************
THE WOO DOOR
The front door at 221 Baker Street is one that Dr. Watson says he will always associate with his “wooing.” Now, the Smash did a little wooing once upon a time himself, and he will always associate a certain front door on Polk Street with that period of time. It’s the place one awaits the divine presence one is utterly smitten with. So why is Watson associating the front door to 221 with his dating? One almost imagines Mary Morstan dropping him off, and the two spending a parting moment there, but that would never have been done in Victorian England, would it? Or was did the door just happen to be the same style that Mrs. Cecil Forrester had on the front of her house?
*******************
THE SHOULDER WOUND? HEALED!
Holmes casually tosses a case of cigars at Watson when he comes in the door, perhaps a gesture of celebration at Watson’s return. Would Holmes be tossing it at the doctor if Watson was still holding that left arm in an unnatural manner? And this cigar case . . . am I right in assuming this would be a small, pocket sized case? Or was Holmes tossing a wooden box at his friend, which would definitely require a two-handed catch?
*******************
WHERE THE HECK?
Holmes’s Continental Gazetteer has convenient listings for Eglow and Eglonitz. In Jack Tracy’s “Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana,” the late Mr. Tracy has put an asterisk next to each of these references, denoting them as “fictitious.” In die-hard Sherlockian terms, this means Mr. Tracy couldn’t find them in his researches and simply gave up looking. But the key to all research is knowing where to look. As we know they’re on “the Continent” (Europe), we at least have a starting place, but past that where would the Hounds look for these places based on the makeup of their names? My first thought is Eglow, Scotland and Eglonitz, Transylvania, but I’m sure there are better ideas out there.
*******************
A PAIR OF BEAUTIES
While Watson goes on about how loveless Holmes is, and how immune Holmes is to the charms of women, we do find Sherlock talking about a pair of beauties in this tale. Later, we even find that Holmes was out rubbing down some other specimens of that charming type. Now that I have the Lascar’s attention, I would ask the Hounds if they find that Holmes has a special fondness for horses, or that he was just another citizen of a horse-powered world?
*******************
THE RICHNESS OF THIS WRITING!
In one fabulous sentence, Watson tells us:
“My own complete happiness, and the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature.”
The mind whirls! “Home-centred interests” -- Was Watson buying or renting? If he bought, was he doing home improvements? Or were these interests simply the setting up of a household, complete with boot-slitting servants? Was he helping Mary decorate? Or is “home-centred interests” just Watson’s way of saying he was spending every night romancing his new wife? (And we won’t even get into the Seinfeld-reminiscent “master of his own establishment.”)
And Holmes! “Buried in old books.” Buried! While we’re treated to a lot of books by name in the Canon, what we wouldn’t give to know what those burial piles consisted of. Criminal histories? Old law books? Music? He “loathed every form of society” -- does this mean he hated gatherings of every sort, or is Watson saying he actually hated people? “The drowsiness of the drug” -- don’t know much about cocaine, but my impression was that it was a stimulant. Was Watson mixing up the drowsiness of Hollmes’s ambition (“I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather ....”) with the fierce energy of the drug?
*******************
KING OF HIS BOHEMIAN SOUL
In the that quote from the last section, we saw how Holmes had a “Bohemian soul.” And here’s the King of Bohemia appearing and offering Holmes unlimited funds to do his bidding, producing a king’s ransom in gold and currency as temptation. The Hounds have discussed the foulness of this tale’s doings before, but taking from a step back, this tale begins to look like “The Devil of All Bachelors and Sherlock Holmes.” Symbolism a-plenty in this tale.
Watson, the tale’s patron saint of marital bliss, begins by telling us how Holmes had no special fondness for women. Mr. Bachelor and Mr. Married seem to have fallen out of touch, leaving Holmes easy prey for the Bachelor King’s offer to pay Holmes to betray an Angel of a Woman. (Irene the adventuress, an angel? Well, she leads Holmes to a church, and later, will only let him in her house if he comes as a holy man.) In the end, Holmes must decide between taking the snake (ring) or the angel(‘s photograph). Holmes chooses the angel, no doubt thanks to the recent return of the saintly Watson.
(It must be noted that Holmes later took the King’s “reward,” as we find in “A Case of Identity,” and offered its contents to Watson, symbolically tempting him back into the he-man woman-hater’s club.)
My question for the Hounds: Am I imagining all this in a fit of late-night desperation? Or is there an allegorical aspect to this tale?
*******************
THE SERPENTINE AVENUE IRREGULARS
We’ve seen Holmes using his gang of street urchins in the previous two tales, but now Holmes has gone a step further and come up with a gang of full grown adults. Shabbily dressed loafers, a scissors-grinder, two guardsmen, a nurse-girl, well-dressed young cigar-smokers, stablehands, serving maids, and . . . oh, yes . . . a certain doctor. Where did Holmes find this bunch, and how much was he paying per person? Did the stablehands come from the ranks he’d been socializing with earlier in the tale?
Apparently they were men and women Holmes trusted, as all it would have taken was one traitor to go up to Briony Lodge and say “I’ll tell you who was behind that mess for a sovereign” to spoil his whole plan. Yet Holmes is confident enough in this bunch that he doesn’t come back until morning. Or was he betrayed?
*******************
THE LIMITS OF AN INDEX
“For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish information.”
One would suspect these paragraphs came out of the London papers. But the sheer scope of performing one’s own extract service from every daily paper in London seems immense. While his system must have had certain built-in efficiencies, Holmes had to set some criteria for his data gathering. What sort of criteria might that have been? Were the people limited to citizens of London? Were the subjects limited to those he percieved had some point of contact with crime?
*******************
STOP THAT BROUGHAM!
Time moves strangely in the Canon. In “Copper Beeches,” Violet Hunter arrives at 10:15 in the morning and bids Holmes “goodnight” as she leaves, when nothing seems to have occurred that took all day to take place. And in SCAN, we find this odd passage:
“’Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have some
good news for you. And good-night, Watson,’ he added, as the wheels of the
royal brougham rolled down the street.”
The coachman obviously has as little respect for the King as we do, and decided to take off when his shift was over, king or no king. Of course, we see no indication that the king used the door and the seventeen steps on his way out, perhaps he lept from the window in that pause between sentences. (What a sight that would have made with his mask and that deep blue cloak flying behind him!)
Do these strange time tricks of the Canon hide moments and conversations that Watson would rather not tell us about? In this tale, might it not be the place where Holmes and Watson reconciled after some disagreement that had kept them apart since Watson’s wedding?
*******************
IT’S HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE
Speaking of Holmes’s goodnights, has anybody noticed that when Holmes says “good-bye” or “goodnight” in the Canon, it’s never the end of the sentence? It’s always “Good-night, and I trust that we shall have good news for you,” or “Good-night, and I’ll call upon you tomorrow.” It’s a great little technique, but the Smash has to wonder: Does he do it on purpose? Or were there hard goodbyes in his past, and he can’t let that be the last thing out of his mouth? The added line always makes it seem like he and the listener will have some future contact, and this could be a sign of Holmes’s softer side.
*******************
THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. TURNER
One of the most popular bits of Sherlockian trivia originates in SCAN. In the tale previous to this one, and in every tale mentioning Holmes’s landlady after this one, her name is “Mrs. Hudson.” In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” however, it would seem her name is “Mrs. Turner.” But is it really? What the story truly contains are two separate statements taken in close succession:
“When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you.”
“He turned hungrily on the simple fare that our landlady had provided.”
Mrs. Turner brought in the tray. The landlady provided the food. Need they be one in the same? And if they’re not one in the same, who’s the lady bringing in the food? The cook at 221? Another servant? Or the “Wiggins” of Holmes’s Serpentine Avenue Irregulars, hanging around Baker Street to await last minute instructions?
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CIGARS, CIGARETTES, PECCADILLO?
Upon looking again at the cigar case incident, the Smash notices that Holmes then lights a cigarette. Does this indicate that Watson was a regular cigar smoker, as opposed to Holmes being the cigarette man? These fellows never seem to be too picky in their self-poisonings where tobacco are concerned ... pipes, cigars, cigarettes, snuff (at least they seem to avoid the chaw and spit routine), but do more tobacco-conscious Hounds perceive patterns in their tobacco consumption? 
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GROSSIN’ HANKIES?
Godfrey Norton’s call to the cabbie, “Drive like the devil, first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road,” perplexes a bit, as we don’t really know what Gross & Hankey’s is at all. It’s presumed by some to be a jeweller, where Godfrey quickly bought a ring for the wedding that was his next stop. If Godfrey and Irene had gone to the trouble of getting a license, wouldn’t they have picked up the ring already as well? Do you see any other possibilites for what Godfrey was doing at the mysterious Gross & Hankey’s?
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THAT “GOOD FOR NORTON” IRENE
Sherlock Holmes holds Irene Adler in high regard. Irene Adler holds Godfrey Norton in high regard. Sherlock must watch Irene marry Godfrey, and even aid in creating that union, because his client’s welfare is best served by the marriage. It’s his job to make sure his ideal woman marries another man -- is this a great plot for a romance, or what? (And not the kind with knights and dragons, either!)
For a man who stole Holmes’s perfect woman, Godfrey Norton is still someone we know darn little about. Was he Irene’s true love or just a convenient hireling willing to take on the role of husband for a time? Why does he pace and wave his arms in that half hour before they head for the church? Is the marriage up for debate, or is he just impatiently waiting for Irene to get dressed?
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BOMBS AWAY!
Holmes has a very simple little task for Watson in this story: “When I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what I give you to throw.” And what does Holmes give Watson to throw?
“It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting.” Caps are something that seem to be moving further and further away from common usage. Toy cap-guns aren’t in the hands of boys everywhere anymore and blasting caps are for professionals. What kind of caps was Holmes using on his smoke-rocket, and what would use would these have normally been put to? Were such caps sensitive enough to trigger upon hitting a couch or some other object they might encounter, flying through a window?
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STUBBORN ABOUT SINGLE WOMEN
“Irene Adler, as I will still call her . . .” Watson writes after the part of the narrative where he learns of Irene’s marriage. An interesting choice, as I would think a writer’s natural inclination would be to refer to her by her married name from that point onward. Why would Watson make such a choice? Did he think his readers couldn’t keep up? Or is this his way of passing judgement on the validity of the Norton nuptials.
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The Seventeen Steps originally appeared on the Hounds of the Internet e-list from September 2000 to October 2001.