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.

Anyway, we finally get a description of Holmes's bedroom, with pictures of criminals on the walls, and a messy mantelpiece, where Watson sees the ivory box. Holmes yells at him to put it down. Then we're supposed to believe that Watson spent 2 hours in silence until Holmes raved about oysters and gave his instructions about Culverton Smith. Mrs. Hudson is still waiting and weeping nearby, however much time has passed, and Watson oddly doesn't explain to her that he's just going to fetch someone to cure Holmes. He runs into Inspector Morton as he gets a cab, then heads to Smith's address. Interestingly, Smith has electric light in his house. Is that an indicator of the date, or is he just wealthy enough to have his own generator? But then why did he want Victor Savage's inheritance so badly? Is he just greedy?

Watson begs Smith to go to Baker Street, but makes a lame excuse for not going with him. "My friend is dying, but I have an appointment to get to." When he returns to Holmes's bedroom, the detective tells him to hide behind the bed; so apparently his bed is significantly far from the wall, with enough room for Watson to hide. Did Holmes already plan for that during his 3-day malingering, or has his bed always been a couple of feet away from the wall? He says, "Quick man, if you love me!" and insists that Watson stay quiet and not move. Surely he should have suspected some ruse at this point, if he didn't already know? Culverton Smith finally arrives, admits to killing his nephew Victor Savage and gloats about Holmes dying from the same tropical disease. He doesn't remember Watson's name, so I guess the doctor is not famous as Holmes's companion, or Smith just didn't care? Holmes tricks Smith into raising the gaslight, a signal to Inspector Morton to come arrest him. In all the excitement, Holmes has somehow forgotten that Watson is still hiding, and he apologizes as Watson finally comes out. Holmes tells Morton to take the ivory box out of Smith's pocket, but he should have warned him more urgently that it was dangerous, like he warned Watson at 4 PM. It's weird that he tells Morton to "put it down here" instead of taking it away as evidence for his arrest. Morton leaves with Smith, and Holmes claims he'll meet them at the police station later.

Finally alone with Watson, Holmes washes off his disguise, gets dressed, and eats/drinks a little. He explains his deception and apologizes again, claiming that he does respect Watson's medical skills after all. "At four yards, I could deceive you." He explains how he received the ivory box in the mail but he was on his guard, so he detected the trap. Knowing it came from Culverton Smith, he came up with his dying plot to get a confession. Putting on his coat, Holmes says they should go to the police station, then dine at Simpson's afterward. I personally think he'd be too faint, especially after drinking some wine, and that Watson would instead order Holmes to stay home and get Mrs. Hudson to bring up some food. She after all needs to be told that Holmes is not dying. The ivory box can be retrieved by Scotland Yard at a later time. Overall, it's a strange story for Watson to recount without pointing out the worse deception of his fake death 17 months later.

In BLUE, Watson tells us that he visited Holmes 2 days after Christmas, but he doesn't say what year. It could have been December 1888 by my chronology. He could have just been busy with Christmas and Boxing Day with his wife and their friends & neighbours; the neighbour doctor, whatever his name, should need soothing. Then he finally came to see Holmes on December 27th. But if BLUE happened after DYIN in 1889, Watson could still be irritated with Holmes about that and want to teach him a lesson about spending holidays alone. Then he relented and wanted to at least express "compliments of the season" to his friend, and show he's glad that Holmes is actually alive and well.

Anyway, at 4 AM on Christmas morning, the commissionaire Peterson returned from some kind of all night "jollification," and he inadvertently stumbled upon Henry Baker losing his goose and hat during a scuffle on the street. Peterson picked up the lost things, then I assume he went home to his wife for a while before deciding what to do about them. Later that morning, he brought the hat and goose to Holmes, hoping that he could find Henry Baker. Holmes could deduce some details from the hat, but not enough to identify Henry Baker's house; still, he was entertained by the hat for a couple of days. Early on December 27th, Holmes sent the goose to Peterson's family to cook and eat it. I guess Watson came after that.

Peterson suddenly returns and shows them the blue gem that his wife found in the bird. Holmes points out that it must be the Countess's blue carbuncle, missing since the hotel theft on December 22nd. The plumber John Horner was arrested for it, but he insists he's innocent. Holmes tells Peterson about the £1000 reward for the gem, then they read a news article about it. Holmes decides to advertise for Henry Baker and sends Peterson to place the ad in all the evening newspapers. He decides to keep the gem for now and tells Peterson to buy a replacement goose on his way back. I guess Holmes is expecting Peterson to pay for all this out of his pocket, since he expects a huge reward from the Countess. But surely it's just Holmes who wants to find out the connection between the goose and the theft. The Countess herself might not care, so long as she gets her carbuncle back. Or maybe Holmes pays Peterson afterward, when he comes back with the goose, and Watson was just not there to see it?

For now, Holmes locks up the gem in his strong-box and says that he's going to send a message (letter or telegram?) to the Countess to let her know he has the gem. I hope he gave credit to Peterson in the message. Watson decides to resume his medical rounds and will return in the evening to see what happens with Henry Baker. Holmes tells him that dinner will be at 7 PM and jokes that maybe Mrs. Hudson ought to examine the woodcock's crop. Watson arrives that evening just in time to see Henry Baker receive his hat and the replacement goose. Holmes questions him to determine that he knows nothing about the blue carbuncle, and then he asks where Baker got the original goose from. Holmes suggests postponing dinner, so they can investigate the goose club at the Alpha Inn. I hope they told Mrs. Hudson before they went out on that bitterly cold night.

At the Alpha Inn, the landlord Windigate tells them that he bought the geese from Mr. Breckinridge in Covent Garden. So Holmes and Watson head there, but Breckinridge is suspicious and peeved because someone else keeps asking him about his geese. Holmes then tricks Breckinridge with a bet, so they find out where the geese came from. Before they can go to the goose farm, they spot Breckinridge arguing with the annoying guy again. They accost him, he gives an alias, but Holmes sees through this. The man is actually James Ryder, head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan, the scene of the jewel robbery. Holmes and Watson take Ryder home to Baker Street where they get him to confess how he stole the blue carbuncle and stuffed it into a goose on his sister's farm. Having found out the full truth, Holmes ends up letting Ryder go free to save his soul. We believe that John Horner will go free, but we don't actually witness it. We don't witness Holmes returning the gem to the Countess either, or Peterson receiving this £1000 reward. This is why some readers have accused Holmes of keeping the gem, and that's how Granada Television depicts the situation. I much prefer the 1968 BBC version starring Peter Cushing, where we actually see Holmes return the gem, and Peterson gets his reward.

I'm moving IDEN here to February 1890, so that Mary Sutherland's Friday wedding was on Valentine's Day. She advertised for the missing Hosmer Angel on Saturday, and after waiting for some days without response, she consulted Holmes while Watson was visiting. Holmes sent letters and requested that her stepfather visit the next day at 6 PM. That's when he exposed the truth to Watson only while claiming that he could not tell his own client that Hosmer was a fictitious person. I previously put this case in June 1889, but it needs to be "some weeks" after Watson's last visit. You can read the reasoning in the previous chronology post. So IDEN is the first of only 3 cases in 1890. Watson says in FINA that they had drifted apart so much that he only had records of 3 cases in that year.

CARD is a puzzling case, in that it seems to take place while Watson is living with Holmes. He says it is a hot August day, at almost 90 degrees (probaby Fahrenheit). Watson longs to leave town, but his depleted bank account means he can't go on holiday. Holmes interrupts Watson's "brown study" to read his mind, even though in Chapter 2 of STUD he said that sort of trick was showy and superficial. Watson should have pointed out his hypocrisy. But Holmes does talk about the pictures of General Gordon and Henry Ward Beecher as if they belong to Watson. As if he lives there and can still change the decor in Baker Street. Finally Holmes reveals that he has a case after all; apparently that was why he was rereading a letter over and over. The letter was from Lestrade, referring to the case that had been in the newspapers about a package of severed ears. They read the article, and Watson is eager to join Holmes on the case in Croydon. So Watson rings for their boots (the servant) to call a cab, while Holmes goes to dress.

After examining the severed ears, Holmes concludes that it's not a prank, but a double murder. He says that today is Friday. "The packet was posted on Thursday morning. The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday or Tuesday, or earlier." That's kind of vague and doesn't help with a date. Holmes questions Susan Cushing about her younger sisters Sarah and Mary; thus he learns about Jim Browner, Mary's husband, and what ship he works on. The couple live in Liverpool, and Sarah used to live with them before a falling out. Susan Cushing has had no news lately from them. Calling a cab, Holmes sends a telegram to the Liverpool police and tries to visit Sarah Cushing, but she's got brain fever and her doctor won't let them see her. Holmes shrugs it off for lunch and then visits Lestrade at the police station that afternoon. The answer to the telegram solves the case, and Holmes writes down something on a card so Lestrade can arrest the murderer on Saturday night.

Holmes is practically scoffing at the easy case, then he and Watson head home to Baker Street. As they chat that night, Holmes mentions STUD and SIGN, but I continue ignoring those references; Watson is just advertising his books for sale. Over cigars, Holmes explains how he solved the case and determined that Jim Browner killed his wife and some man, then tried to send the severed ears to meddling Sarah, not knowing that she had moved out of Susan's house two months ago. Two days later, Lestrade sends a copy of Jim Browner's confession to Holmes and Watson. Browner is an alcoholic murderer who is still full of self-pity and blaming Sarah for instigating everything out of jealousy.

Anyway, the case seems like it should take place during Watson's bachelor days except that Jim Browner's confession mentions details about a train. He overhears his wife Mary and Alec Fairbairn at the Liverpool train station buying tickets to New Brighton; he buys a ticket so he can follow them. Sherlockians investigated the trains and found that there was no direct train line between the Liverpool and New Brighton until May 1890. However, John Hall found out that there was a railway connection in March 1888, per some 1992 article written by another Sherlockian named Tim Owen. I don't know where to find that source so I looked this up on Wikipedia. Apparently Wirral Railway opened a New Brighton Station in March 30, 1888; it went to Birkenhead, where passengers could purchase a ticket on a different railway that would go to Liverpool. The two railways cooperated on this line, but does that mean you can purchase the ticket at one station, or do you need to stop at each station to get tickets? In short, was Jim Browner able to overhear this conversation, or did the train ticket person say, "Oh, you can't buy the New Brighton ticket here. You'll have to buy it once you get to Birkenhead"? Anyway, Browner follows them by train then by boat, until he overtakes them in the fog. He kills them and cuts off their ears, then sinks their boat. He packs the ears that night for Sarah Cushing and then mails the cardboard box the next day from Belfast, confirming that the murder was on Wednesday. If the case is in August 1888, then Watson could be unmarried, if you think SIGN took place in September 1888. I however have set SIGN in 1887, so Watson would be married whether I picked 1888, 1889, or 1890. I have chosen August 1890.

So why was Watson living with Holmes if he was already married? I suggest that he was just visiting Holmes while Mary was away again. Watson can't afford a holiday, but his wife could be visiting her friends like Mrs. Cecil Forrester or Kate Whitney, so Watson wouldn't have to pay for that. But why isn't he at his medical practice? Well, he claims that "everybody" was out of town, so maybe he means a lot of his patients have gone away on holiday. I'm not sure about why Watson's pictures are still up at Baker Street. Did Holmes keep them up to remember Watson by, or has Watson transplanted the mind-reading scene from an earlier year into this story? After all, the mind-reading scene did get transplanted onto RESI, so I wouldn't put it past Watson. CARD was originally published in January 1893, and it should have been in the "Memoirs" collection of short stories, but ACD self-censored, maybe because of the adultery, maybe because of the severed ears. He held it back for years until the "His Last Bow" collection in 1917.

On the other hand, maybe the trains don't actually matter, because Watson fictionalized the tale, changing names and places, so the train was a completely different train that existed in the 1880s. Brad Keefauver also ignores the train in favor of August 30, 1889, claiming that Watson is visiting 221B to "curry Holmes's favor" and to hear news of his literary agent's dinner with Lippincotts. I'll stick with 1890 in the absence of any other information. This is the 2nd of the 3 cases of 1890.