#croo acd

So, uh, "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" and " The Adventure of the Red Circle" are in a lot of ways the same case

but that's neither here nor there. What I REALLY want to talk about is this:

In both of these cases there are messages being passed between two people in code. DANC is an actual cipher being used; in REDC they are communicating in Italian with flashes of light. In both cases Holmes works out what they are doing and uses the method of communication to send a message himself: "Come." In DANC he sends the message "Come here at once" and in REDC it's just the word, "Vieni"

Both times it works because - get this- the person he is messaging is in love with the person they were receiving the coded messages from (in REDC it's a husband and wife), and Holmes understands that a simple message of Come here at once, presumably from the object of one's affections, will be enough to make the person drop everything and rush there.

"I knew that I had only to flash 'Vieni' and you would certainly come." Holmes says in REDC.

(I think you probably know where I'm going with this)

Now let's look at the beginning of The Adventure of the Creeping Man:

" It was one Sunday evening early in September of the year 1903 that I received one of Holmes's laconic messages:

Come at once if convenient- if inconvenient come all the same.

---S.H. "

And of course, Watson does. When Holmes reveals he's thinking about why someone was attacked by their own dog, Watson is initially a little put out - "Was it for so trivial a question as this that I had been summoned from my work?" he thinks. So he was busy, working, he just - dropped everything and rushed to Holmes' side.

Like Holmes knew he would.

For the week of November 27th - December 3rd, we will be tackling

The Adventure of the Crooked Man (#CROO ACD)

Apologies for the late posting, but we’re back again this week with “The Adventure of the Crooked Man,” which was published in The Strand in July 1893. This one is approximately 7,500 words.

“The inquest is just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively that death was due to apoplexy. You see it was quite a simple case after all.”

“Oh, remarkably superficial,” said Holmes, smiling. “Come, Watson, I don’t think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more.” *WINK WINK*

Nancy Barclay nee Devoy is alive at the end of Crooked Man, and so is Henry Wood. And James Barclay Inveterate Cad, is dead. And Nancy is set, presumably, to inherit a nice little bundle from her dead husband or perhaps the house or both. And the coroner ruled that James Barclay died of natural causes, so both Nancy and Henry are free as the wind. And Henry is staying in the neighborhood. With his pet mongoose. Teddy.

That, Mr. Doyle, is a hell of a set-up for some seriously sweet unexpected-reunion smooching. And tender discovery and gentle care and talking late, late into the night- thirty years of life to catch up on!- and crying and laughter and regrets and joy and heck, it’s my fantasy so I’m going with “bathing one another” and “port, champagne, roast chestnuts and a goose” and “falling asleep in the middle of a sentence, curled up softly together in bed” and “Teddy overjoyed at new friends and romping around in the bedcovers” and “no one gets a second chance like this my love and we will not be wasting it.”

For like half of the story I was wondering why Holmes came over at all to tell Watson the story. Like obviously they are glad to see each other. <3 that’s reason enough.

And then officially Holmes is like “I need a witness!” - sure, alright, with the tamest man ever.

Things I have (re)noticed and love:

Politics

ACD is very much in “subvert imperial narratives” mode here. The regiment is identified as distinguishing itself in the Crimea and “the Mutiny,” a.k.a. the Indian Rebellion of 1857... in other words, THE two most iconic episodes of Britain’s imperial self-assertion in the mid-nineteenth century. And Barclay, the man who’s risen to its head? is a terrible human being.

MOREOVER, he has risen to head of the regiment because he is a terrible human being, and was willing to sell out 1) the regiment definitely 2) like, the entire British presence in the Punjab, possibly, because he really, really, really wanted to get rid of his romantic rival. DUDE. So yeah, we aren’t explicitly asked to interrogate the presence of the British in the Punjab in the first place, but still. 

While I’m in “I love finding contemporary politics in Victorian popular fiction” mode: Henry Wood does not refer to his Indian captors or their conduct as “savage” or “barbaric” or even “cruel.” Not once. For good measure, we’re told that there was a regiment of Sikhs among those whom Barclay callously placed in pawn. Wood was a spy; as such he was captured and tortured. That’s the brutal logic of war. He accepts it. The conduct Wood condemns is, of course, that of another white officer in the British Army. Ugh, my heart.

Gender

How close can you get to characterizing a man as an abusive husband without coming right out and saying it? This story is going to find out!! Colonel Barclay (boo, hiss) is “acutely uneasy” when he and his wife are apart for more than a day. We’re told that the angry/impulsive side of his nature was never turned towards his wife... but the denial raises the possibility in the reader’s mind. And we’re also explicitly told that the colonel and his wife almost never had visitors who would stay overnight, a thing remarkable in a couple of their position. HMM. 

Also we’re told that this relationship, where Barclay is almost obsessively attached to his wife, and she is “loyal” but not “demonstrative” in her affections, passes for a model marriage. HA. In other words, fix your system, respectable society, you’re broken. And then we get the conclusive proof that this “ideal” marriage is based on falsity from the start. Have I mentioned that I hate Colonel Barclay?

Nancy Devoy Barclay, on the other hand, I love and wish to protect. We’re not allowed to assume that she just doesn’t have a particularly passionate nature, because we’re shown that she does. She’s active in her RC parish, and emotionally warm with her friend Miss Morrison. So she can be demonstratively affectionate, she’s just... not with her husband. HMM. Also, she founded a local chapter of the Guild of St. George (which, fun fact, was established by John Ruskin.) So while her husband is being a morally bankrupt pillar of Empire, Nancy is quietly patronizing a society founded by a social critic and reformer, and personally working to clothe and educate the poor. That’s just slightly pointed. Oh, and she’s mentoring younger women of her own class, because what’s the betting that Miss Morrison is getting plenty of romantic and life advice? Yeah. 

Characters