CONTENTS
Preface
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
The Adventure of the Three Gables
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
The Problem of Thor Bridge
The Adventure of the Creeping Man
The Adventure of the Lions Mane
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
Preface
I fear that Mr. Sherlock Holmes may become
like one of those popular tenors who, having outlived their time, are still
tempted to make repeated farewell bows to their indulgent audiences. This must
cease and he must go the way of all flesh, material or imaginary. One likes to
think that there is some fantastic limbo for the children of imagination, some
strange, impossible place where the beaux of Fielding may still make love to
the belles of Richardson, where Scotts heroes still may strut, Dickenss
delightful Cockneys still raise a laugh, and Thackerays worldlings continue to
carry on their reprehensible careers. Perhaps in some humble corner of such a
Valhalla, Sherlock and his Watson may for a time find a place, while some more
astute sleuth with some even less astute comrade may fill the stage which they
have vacated.
His career has been a long onethough it is
possible to exaggerate it; decrepit gentlemen who approach me and declare that
his adventures formed the reading of their boyhood do not meet the response
from me which they seem to expect. One is not anxious to have ones personal
dates handled so unkindly. As a matter of cold fact, Holmes made his dbut in A
Study in Scarlet and in The Sign of Four, two small booklets which appeared
between 1887 and 1889. It was in 1891 that A Scandal in Bohemia, the first of
the long series of short stories, appeared in The Strand Magazine. The public
seemed appreciative and desirous of more, so that from that date, thirty-nine
years ago, they have been produced in a broken series which now contains no
fewer than fifty-six stories, republished in The Adventures, The Memoirs, The
Return, and His Last Bow. and there remain these twelve published during the
last few years which are here produced under the title of The Case-Book of
Sherlock Holmes. He began his adventures in the very heart of the later
Victorian era, carried it through the all-too-short reign of Edward, and has
managed to hold his own little niche even in these feverish days. Thus it would
be true to say that those who first read of him, as young men, have lived to
see their own grown-up children following the same adventures in the same
magazine. It is a striking example of the patience and loyalty of the British
public.
I had fully determined at the conclusion of
The Memoirs to bring Holmes to an end, as I felt that my literary energies
should not be directed too much into one channel. That pale, clear-cut face and
loose-limbed figure were taking up an undue share of my imagination. I did the
deed, but fortunately no coroner had pronounced upon the remains, and so, after
a long interval, it was not difficult for me to respond to the flattering
demand and to explain my rash act away. I have never regretted it, for I have
not in actual practice found that these lighter sketches have prevented me from
exploring and finding my limitations in such varied branches of literature as
history, poetry, historical novels, psychic research, and the drama. Had Holmes
never existed I could not have done more, though he may perhaps have stood a
little in the way of the recognition of my more serious literary work.
And so, reader, farewell to Sherlock Holmes!
I thank you for your past constancy, and can but hope that some return has been
made in the shape of that distraction from the worries of life and stimulating
change of thought which can only be found in the fairy kingdom of romance.
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
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