ABBE

[mafief]

ABBE
The Adventure of Abbey Grange
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Words: 9170
Where was Watson living? Baker Street
Pre/Post Reichenbach (May 1891)? Post. Winter of ‘97

Brief summary:
Holmes called in by Hopkins and the case appears to be ordinary. Details are called into question by Holmes and he finds that there is more to the case.

Characters:
John Watson
Sherlock Holmes
Stanley Hopkins
Sir Eustace Brackenstall - richest men in Kent, dead, abusive
Lady Brackenstall (aka Mary Fraser)
Theresa Wright – maid
Captain Croker

Location:
221B Baker Street
Charing Cross Station
Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent
Chislehurst Station
shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line, end of Pall Mall
Scotland Yard (did not go in)
Charing Cross telegraph office

Other crimes/criminals mentioned:
Lewisham gang of burglars – three Randalls

Other studies mentioned:
composition of a text-book on the art of detection

Questions about the story
“Wake up your Watson” – When did this start in the fandom?

Cab vs handsom vs carriage vs dogcart

Charing Cross Station – (find on map) How well connected is England?
- Train information in general

“crackling paper, ‘E.B.’ monogram”?

Chislehurst Station – find on map

noble park?

Sydenham?

More medical stuff, bathing swelling with vinegar and water – why is this even a good thing?

“It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is binding”
- I read somewhere that Doyle was of the opinion that women should be able to leave/be divorced from marriages such as this. But, for some reason he was not a proponent of women’s rights.

“drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on fire” What!?

Bees-wings?

multiplex knives – swiss army knife?

“as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him” How does this work? Are there doors to the outside in each compartment?

“We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo, for it begins in defeat and ends in victory” reference lost on me.

“Vox populi, vox Dei”?

Complicated, messy, what would have happened if Hopkins had figured it out?

Other things about Holmes
“Why do you not write them yourself?”
- Oh goodness, Holmes, this is when Watson earns his title of long suffering friend.

Did not turn in Captain Croker. Willing to decide his own justice.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Ooh, some things I can answer.

Roughly, a cab and a hansom cab are the same thing - hailed by someone who wishes to be conveyed by a horse drawn conveyance between two places in London. A carriage would be a covered vehicle, privately owned, with a dog cart (no dogs involved) an open vehicle and smaller, both horse drawn.

England was extremely well connected by railways by Holmes time. Railways were a vital form of transport and promoted both industry, transporting raw materials to factories, and taking finished goods for sale. They also permitted a growth in leisure activities, and would be the main form of transport used by a traveller. You will see Holmes and Watson frequently travel by train, both to different parts of the country and also to the suburbs and villages around London.

The one thing the railways don't do is cross London, and there are a number of major termini circling central London. It is only now - 2017 - that a rail connection between north and south London is being constructed. Travel from one terminus to another would be by underground railway (the tube), omnibus, or cab.
http://www.england-travel-tips.com/images/London%20main%20train%20stations%20map.jpg

Crackling paper means it was thick, therefore expensive, and would crackle when folded, or unfolded (when being taken out of an envelope). A monogram would be the initials of the owner printed in a fancy way, in this case E.B. for Eustance Brackenstall.

A noble park - Watson is describing the grounds of Abbey Grange. Some of the pictures I used to illustrate a recent fic will give you an idea: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11976000

Sydenham is about 8 miles west of Chislehurst, both places are south-east of London.

Using vinegar for swelling is an old remedy - how effective it is I don't know, although cider vinegar is still recommended, so presumably in the absence of ice it was better than nothing.

Bees-wings: a light filmy crust of tartar that forms in port and some other red wines which have been bottled for a long time (expensive wines!)

A multiplex knife would be like a Swiss army knife

Yes, each compartment would have a door to the platform, and depending on whether or not it was a corridor train, have a door to a corridor. You can see an example in my icon.

Marengo was a battle which Napoleon narrowly won, having at first looked as though he would lose it. Waterloo was the final battle which he lost.

Vox populi, vox Dei - the voice of the people is the voice of God - the people have spoken so this is what will happen.

[mafief]

I noticed that they often travel by trains. The concept is a little foreign to me since using a train here isn’t convenient and I drive almost everywhere. Do trains have compartments with individual doors anymore? The Amtrak train by me has cars with open compartments.
Found a neat reference for trains - http://surrey-shore.freeservers.com/VicRail.htm

Oh! I didn’t realize that the railways didn’t cross London. That makes sense why sometimes they need to travel a further distance than others. Neat.

Never heard of using vinegar for swelling. I keep thinking of the smell…

So noble park is green, lush, pastoral? Btw, those pictures are wonderful. :)

The explanation for bees-wings helps and I’ve been trying to figure it out for a little while. I don’t often drink wine and I’ve never had port, so had no idea what they were talking about.

Ok! Question for you: is the line “the kind of maid you don’t pick up nowadays” where you picked up your inspiration for Hopkin’s nurse in some of your fics?

[smallhobbit]

Trains were very popular in Victorian times - which were before the invention of the internal combustion engine and so there were no cars. Train travel is still used here a lot - there is very limited car parking within most of our cities (since they were initially built well before the need for such was envisaged). If I'm going to London I will travel by train as it is easier and as cheap, if not cheaper by the time parking is added (if I go with my husband we will drive for the convenience, and we won't save money). Similarly if I visit my daughter I'll go by train. Locally I'll drive - and really it depends on whether there's suitable trains.

Trains are now open cars, with seats facing either forwards or backwards. And diesel or electric, rather than steam.

I'm delighted you liked my photos, thank you.

You'd be unlikely to find bees-wings now, unless it was a very old bottle of wine.

Hopkins' nanny first turned up in Stanley Goes to the Library. She's based partially on Mary Poppins, with an addition of the traditional 'firm but fair' nanny added in. I believe gardnerhill was in some way responsible, but I can't find the proof. As is the way with these things, she rapidly assumed her own identity. Incidentally, this ficlet belongs to what became known as the 'library book renewal trope' which was the main interpretation of the monthly prompt for April's holmes_minor.