Chronology part 15

Chronology of these short stories.

• VEIL - late in 1896
• THOR - Oct 4-5, 1896
• SUSS - Nov 19-21, 1896

VEIL was first published in January 1927, and, like in SPEC and FIVE, Watson spends the introduction calculating the years of Holmes's career. He says that Holmes was "in active practice for twenty-three years" while Watson was only involved in seventeen of those years. Which years does he mean? Certainly not May 1891 to April 1894, when Holmes faked his death. Holmes's first case was GLOR while he was still in university, but it's not much of a case. I think Watson only counts when Holmes moved to Montague Street and started working as a detective for money. Sherlockians typically work backward since Watson didn't give a definite date for Holmes in Montague Street. We know Holmes returned in 1894, and looking ahead to CREE, we know he retired in 1903. CREE is set in September 1903, "one of the very last cases handled by Holmes before his retirement from practice." 1903 minus 1894 is 9 years, so we just need 14 more years. 1891 minus 14 is 1877, a good date halfway between GLOR and MUSG.

Chronology part 14

Chronology of 1895.

• 3STU - spring, maybe May, 1895
• BLAC - July, 1895
• LADY - summer 1895 or 1896
• BRUC - 3rd week of November 1895

The famous Vincent Starrett 221B poem, full of nostalgia about bygone Victorian days, ends with the wish that "it's always 1895" for Holmes and Watson. I wonder if Starrett picked that year just for the rhyme, or if he really thinks that 1895 is when Holmes and Watson would be happiest at 221B. Why that year and not another? Anyway, it's time to finally tackle the cases occuring in 1895.

Chronology part 13

Chronology of these short stories.

• WIST - mid June 1894 to be near a different quarter-day.
• NORW - August 1894. Watson mentions having sold his Kensington practice to move back to Baker Street.
• GOLD - November 1894

WIST has an impossible date. Watson claims that the case happened at the end of March 1892, but Watson thought Holmes was dead from May 1891 to April 1894. He must have changed the date out of discretion, but not realised his mistake; he didn't proofread, and as always, he never corrects mistakes once they're published. We have to at least find a new year for the case, and there's a hint in NORW that the case takes place in 1894. NORW mentions "the case of the papers of ex-President Murillo," and WIST features Juan Murillo as a villainous dictator from a Central American country. "Don" is his title, not his name. Actually there are no presidential papers mentioned in the case, but the reference is similar to how Holmes sometimes refers to SCAN by talking about papers, instead of the photograph that the King of Bohemia wished to retreive. NORW was actually published in October 1903, and WIST wasn't published until August 1908. So it's a case of Doyle having an idea for a story, but changing the details when he actually writes the story later. In that way, it's similar to the 3 versions of SECO.

Insomnia

Arrgghh! I went to bed after midnight, then woke up at 1:30 AM. What the fuck with my messed up sleep cycles? And more pain even when I take tylenol. Maybe I'll go back to ibuprofen.

At least I managed to see the Ghost Machine play last night. I enjoyed its take on Tesla and Edison's feud. There were hints of Sherlock wanting to retire, and Irene Adler resurrecting her opera career. I'm not sure if the story was set in 1912, because if so, the writer is implying a Titanic tragedy. Marie Chartier had a timely speech about how soldiers die in war while old men in suits make obscene profits. But of course, that is a perennial truth.

Chronology part 12

Chronology of these short stories.

• REDH - Oct 4, 1890. Watson has moved from Paddington to Kensington.
• FINA - April 24, 1891 to May 4, 1891
• EMPT - April 1894, with Watson's bereavement having taken place in the past 3 years

REDH was published in in 1891, and Watson says that he visited Holmes in "autumn of last year." So it is in autumn of 1890, but there is confusion about the month. For example, the newspaper article has a date of April 27, 1890, and everyone says that was two months ago, or eight weeks; if April were correct, then today would be in June, not autumn. Later on, the sign announcing the dissolution of the Red-Headed League is dated October 9, 1890, which is autumn, but NOT two months after April. In addition, the bank robbery plot depends on the date being Saturday. But October 9, 1890 is a Thursday; so the date needs to be on either October 4th or October 11th instead. October 4th seems the obvious choice, as it's easy to mistake the digit 4 as a 9 if the handwriting is unclear.

Chronology part 11

Chronology of these short stories, while Watson still lives in Paddington.

• DYIN - a Saturday in Nov 1889, "in the second year of my married life." Also, this makes it less uncomfortably close to Holmes faking his death in FINA.
• BLUE - Dec 27, 1889
• IDEN - The wedding was on Friday the 14th. Mary Sutherland visited Holmes maybe on Monday February 17, 1890; this would make the Friday wedding on Valentine's day. I originally placed this case in June 1889, but I moved it because Holmes hasn't seen Watson for "some weeks."
• CARD - August 1890 (Mrs. Watson gone visiting again)

DYIN was published very late in 1913, but the case clearly takes place decades ago, "in the second year of [Watson's] married life." Though I theorize that he married in late 1887, it would be very late, then they'd go on honeymoon the rest of the year; so I think Watson would count 1888 and then 1889 as the first and second year of his married life. Also, notice how he doesn't qualify the phrase as "the 2nd year of my 1st marriage" or "2nd year of my 2nd marriage," as if he means there's only one marriage at all. Watson starts out just talking about Mrs. Hudson as a long-suffering landlady and says that Holmes paid her "princely" sums for rent to make up for his terrible habits. (When Watson moved out, Holmes would need to pay for Watson's missing rent, but it sounds like he's paying way more than that, because he's "the very worst tenant in London.") Despite this, Mrs. Hudson is in awe of Holmes and doesn't interfere with him, which explains why she did not call a doctor for three days, even though she was very worried about his health.

There are also some very puzzling things going on about time. When Mrs. Hudson tells Watson that Holmes is deathly ill, she says "this morning" is when she finally insisted on getting a doctor "this very hour." Holmes lets her fetch Watson, and she urges Watson to rush to Baker Street before it's too late. Soon they drive back together and Mrs. Hudson explains that Holmes has not eaten since Wednesday afternoon; so today is Saturday. Watson describes it as a foggy November day, and Holmes's bedroom is dim when he enters; he's told to turn the gaslight on half-way. Holmes goes through the whole deception, even insulting Watson's medical qualifications to keep him from getting too close. Watson is fooled, even when Holmes jumps up from bed to lock Watson in. It seems like they were only arguing for a few minutes, yet Holmes says that it's 4 PM now, and Watson needs to wait until 6 PM to get Culverton Smith. What happened to the whole day? Has Watson omitted something that happened since this morning? Maybe Watson realized that Holmes wasn't dying, if he could spring out of bed like that, so Holmes had to explain the truth and argue with him at length until he agreed to Holmes's plan. And yet Watson writes the story as if he still thinks that Holmes is dying.