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mafiefThe Adventure of the Three Gables
3GAB
Case Book of Sherlock Holmes
Words: 6081
Where was Watson living? Unclear. Hasn’t seen Holmes in a few days. “When I met my friend in his room early next morning.” Possibly not at Baker Street???
Pre/Post Reichenbach? Unclear. No date mentioned.
Brief summary:
Mary Maberley employs Holmes to look into the matter of someone wanting to purchase her house and everything in it. Holmes uncovers an affair and the aftermath between Douglas Maberley and Isadora Klein.
Characters:
Sherlock Holmes
John Watson
Steve Dixie – Large, black man. Threatens Holmes and Watson in the beginning. Employed by Barney
Stockdale. Prize-fighter
Barney Stockdale - part of Spencer John gang, specialize in assaults, intimidation. Employs Dixie. Wife = Susan
Spencer John - gang
Mary Maberley – Widow. Mother of Douglas. Holmes’ client for the case.
Mortimer Maberley – Late husband and former client of Holmes. Case was over a trifling matter.
Douglas Maberley – Son of Mortimer and Mary Maberley. Attache at Rome. Died of pneumonia. Was involved with Isadora Klein. Wrote other novels.
Haines-Johnson – Auctioneer and Valuer, ‘house agent’, interacts with Mary Maberley to purchase
house and everything in it
Mr. Sutro – lawyer to Mary Maberley. Older gentlemen. Described as gray.
Susan (Stockdale)– help in Mary Maberley’s house until she left after being discovered spying on
Maberley/Watson/Holmes conversation. Wife of Barney.
Ferguson - retired sea captain former owner of Three Gables.
Mary the maid – young girl that is the maid in The Three Gables.
Langdale Pike – Lives at St. James’s Street. Knowledgeable about social scandals. Contributes to garbage papers (tabloids).
Unnamed inspector at Harrow -
Isadora Klein – Spanish decent. Married Klein, a sugar king. Unmatched beauty.
Duke of Lomond – Isadora Klein is set to marry him
Location:
Baker Street
The Three Gables, Harrow Weald
Grosvenor Square
West End (is this a place?)
Other crimes/criminals mentioned:
“the killing of young Perkins outside the Holborn Bar”
Spencer John gang
Phrases and other thing I would like more clarification:
“he was dressed in a very loud gray check suit with a flowing salmon-coloured tie.”
- What does loud mean in this context?
“if I have to trim you up a bit.”
- Slang for what?
What is…
Bruiser
Bull Ring in Birmingham
woolly head
Paregoric
Crown Derby tea-set
attache = a person on the staff of an ambassador, typically with a specialized area of responsibility.
Did Holmes ever meet Barney Stockdale face to face in the story? Don’t think so…
“Mary the maid heard the noise and began screaming out of the window. That brought the police…”
- How densely populated is this area that there were policemen in yelling distance?
Finger-marks
- When was fingerprint analysis commonly used by the police?
belle dame sans merci – French "The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy"[
Poem found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci
What was the feelings of different races towards each other during that time?
From my modern perspective, Holmes seems rather racists towards Dixie. I don’t like Holmes’ personality in this tale.
- I don’t like the smell of you
- Black Steve
- for my scent-bottle
- Why is he calling Dixie by his first name?
Thoughts about the story
The dialogue between Dixie and Holmes feels like two separate conversations.
“My client is a very liberal man, but he has his fads and his own way of doing things. It is everything or nothing with him”. Conversation between house agent and Mary Maberley. No indication from Doyle that the person behind it is a female and we won’t get that reveal until part with Susan. So, did she hire another person to talk to the house agent or did the house agent purposefully switch the gender? Was the house agent a hired by Barney Stockdale?
Watson showing himself in a rather intelligent light in this one and is answering Holmes’ questions. This helps the client (and us) know what is going on and his thought process. I liked “Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it.” from Holmes.
Left Mary Maberley to contact Sutron and convince him to help guard her house. Why did Holmes not come back later or even leave/send Watson?
How long was Susan working for Mary Maberley?
“Holmes discreetly helped Langdale to knowledge, and on occasion was helped in turn.” This is begging for more background.
Douglas wrote 245 pgs about a month affair with Isadora? Or was the affair longer?
Other things:
“Surely no man would take up my profession if it were not that danger attracts him.” – Holmes
Does Holmes often under describe his talent to others?
- “as my feeble powers go”
3GAB
Case Book of Sherlock Holmes
Words: 6081
Where was Watson living? Unclear. Hasn’t seen Holmes in a few days. “When I met my friend in his room early next morning.” Possibly not at Baker Street???
Pre/Post Reichenbach? Unclear. No date mentioned.
Brief summary:
Mary Maberley employs Holmes to look into the matter of someone wanting to purchase her house and everything in it. Holmes uncovers an affair and the aftermath between Douglas Maberley and Isadora Klein.
Characters:
Sherlock Holmes
John Watson
Steve Dixie – Large, black man. Threatens Holmes and Watson in the beginning. Employed by Barney
Stockdale. Prize-fighter
Barney Stockdale - part of Spencer John gang, specialize in assaults, intimidation. Employs Dixie. Wife = Susan
Spencer John - gang
Mary Maberley – Widow. Mother of Douglas. Holmes’ client for the case.
Mortimer Maberley – Late husband and former client of Holmes. Case was over a trifling matter.
Douglas Maberley – Son of Mortimer and Mary Maberley. Attache at Rome. Died of pneumonia. Was involved with Isadora Klein. Wrote other novels.
Haines-Johnson – Auctioneer and Valuer, ‘house agent’, interacts with Mary Maberley to purchase
house and everything in it
Mr. Sutro – lawyer to Mary Maberley. Older gentlemen. Described as gray.
Susan (Stockdale)– help in Mary Maberley’s house until she left after being discovered spying on
Maberley/Watson/Holmes conversation. Wife of Barney.
Ferguson - retired sea captain former owner of Three Gables.
Mary the maid – young girl that is the maid in The Three Gables.
Langdale Pike – Lives at St. James’s Street. Knowledgeable about social scandals. Contributes to garbage papers (tabloids).
Unnamed inspector at Harrow -
Isadora Klein – Spanish decent. Married Klein, a sugar king. Unmatched beauty.
Duke of Lomond – Isadora Klein is set to marry him
Location:
Baker Street
The Three Gables, Harrow Weald
Grosvenor Square
West End (is this a place?)
Other crimes/criminals mentioned:
“the killing of young Perkins outside the Holborn Bar”
Spencer John gang
Phrases and other thing I would like more clarification:
“he was dressed in a very loud gray check suit with a flowing salmon-coloured tie.”
- What does loud mean in this context?
“if I have to trim you up a bit.”
- Slang for what?
What is…
Bruiser
Bull Ring in Birmingham
woolly head
Paregoric
Crown Derby tea-set
attache = a person on the staff of an ambassador, typically with a specialized area of responsibility.
Did Holmes ever meet Barney Stockdale face to face in the story? Don’t think so…
“Mary the maid heard the noise and began screaming out of the window. That brought the police…”
- How densely populated is this area that there were policemen in yelling distance?
Finger-marks
- When was fingerprint analysis commonly used by the police?
belle dame sans merci – French "The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy"[
Poem found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci
What was the feelings of different races towards each other during that time?
From my modern perspective, Holmes seems rather racists towards Dixie. I don’t like Holmes’ personality in this tale.
- I don’t like the smell of you
- Black Steve
- for my scent-bottle
- Why is he calling Dixie by his first name?
Thoughts about the story
The dialogue between Dixie and Holmes feels like two separate conversations.
“My client is a very liberal man, but he has his fads and his own way of doing things. It is everything or nothing with him”. Conversation between house agent and Mary Maberley. No indication from Doyle that the person behind it is a female and we won’t get that reveal until part with Susan. So, did she hire another person to talk to the house agent or did the house agent purposefully switch the gender? Was the house agent a hired by Barney Stockdale?
Watson showing himself in a rather intelligent light in this one and is answering Holmes’ questions. This helps the client (and us) know what is going on and his thought process. I liked “Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it.” from Holmes.
Left Mary Maberley to contact Sutron and convince him to help guard her house. Why did Holmes not come back later or even leave/send Watson?
How long was Susan working for Mary Maberley?
“Holmes discreetly helped Langdale to knowledge, and on occasion was helped in turn.” This is begging for more background.
Douglas wrote 245 pgs about a month affair with Isadora? Or was the affair longer?
Other things:
“Surely no man would take up my profession if it were not that danger attracts him.” – Holmes
Does Holmes often under describe his talent to others?
- “as my feeble powers go”
no subject
Date: 2017-08-24 08:59 pm (UTC)This is definitely post-Reichenbach. At this point Watson is no longer living with Holmes. There is some suggestion he had married again; my own theory is he's living with Lestrade (I'm probably alone with this, but it fits the facts as well as any other.)
The West End is an area in central London full of expensive shops, theatres, smart restaurants.
A loud grey check suit means one in which the colours are bright, so instead of a muted sobre suit, the contrast between the grey and the white would be very clear.
Trim you up a bit implies physical harm.
A bruiser is someone who is well-built and capable of causing bruises in others, although doesn't necessarily do so.
The Bull Ring in Birmingham was an area with a big market, it's now a big shopping centre. Steve Dixie would have been boxing in the area.
Holmes is very racist in this story, far more so than earlier stories. ACD seems to have settled into accepted attitudes by this time. Hence the reference to woolly head, being Dixie thick black hair.
Crown Derby tea set would have been an expensive bone china tea set, beautifully decorated. For use for afternoon tea.
Fingerprints were first used by the police very early in the 1900s.
I hope this helps a bit :)
no subject
Date: 2017-08-26 03:06 am (UTC)I’m trying to have some method of keeping track of details since there are a lot of them. These are my notes of whatever sticks out to me as cool or confusing. I didn’t want to post them in Sherlock60 since they are a little disjoined for the really nice discussion going on there.
This is definitely post-Reichenbach. At this point Watson is no longer living with Holmes. There is some suggestion he had married again; my own theory is he's living with Lestrade (I'm probably alone with this, but it fits the facts as well as any other.)
This still confuses me. From I understand, anything written after post-Reichenbach could either be pre or post. So, like, DYIN is pre (at least in one timeline I remember) but written post. What indicates that it is post-Reichenbach and that he is living elsewhere with whoever (wife or Lestrade)?
no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 07:50 pm (UTC)Yes, the timeline is quite confused between pre- and post- Reichenbach, but I think it's safe to assume all the 'Casebook' stories are post-. We know Watson isn't living at Baker Street because he says he hasn't seen Holmes for some days and Holmes was settling him (Watson) into a chair - if Watson was at 221B he might not have seen Holmes, but he would have automatically have sat in his chair.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-28 08:09 pm (UTC)Please, please don’t feel bashful about commenting. I am very far from an expert in Holmes/Victorian/culture/literature and I welcome comments from resident experts who have spent way more time thinking about this than me. I don’t mind posting things I’m confused about and posting them here. Just be warned I ask questions (the bane of being overly curious). :)