#and the reveal seemed so weirdly understated and quickly glossed over to the point it felt like half the conversation was missing?

[iridescentoracle]

i totally get why LfW isn’t covering the novels (aside from that early bit of Study in Scarlet) but it does kill me a little that we didn’t do Hound at some point because like. man.

'Well, I am glad from my heart that you are here, for indeed the responsibility and the mystery were both becoming too much for my nerves. But how in the name of wonder did you come here, and what have you been doing? I thought that you were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing.'

'That was what I wished you to think.'

'Then you use me, and yet do not trust me!' I cried, with some bitterness. 'I think that I have deserved better at your hands, Holmes.'

'My dear fellow, you have been invaluable to me in this as in many other cases, and I beg that you will forgive me if I have seemed to play a trick upon you. In truth, it was partly for your own sake that I did it, and it was my appreciation of the danger which you ran which led me to come down and examine the matter for myself. […] As it is, I have been able to get about as I could not possibly have done had I been living at the Hall, and I remain an unknown factor in the business, ready to throw in all my weight at a critical moment.'

'But why keep me in the dark?'

'For you to know could not have helped us, and might possibly have led to my discovery. You would have wished to tell me something, or in your kindness you would have brought me out some comfort or other, and so an unnecessary risk would be run. […]

I was still rather raw over the deception which had been practised upon me, but the warmth of Holmes's praise drove my anger from my mind. I felt also in my heart that he was right in what he said, and that it was really best for our purpose that I should not have known that he was upon the moor.

'That's better,' said he, seeing the shadow rise from my face.

like. man. passages to have been published within a year or two of “Empty House,” huh

#sherlock holmes #HOUN #EMPT #it didn't really strike me the first god-knows-how-many times i read EMPT (or HOUN for that matter) #but at some point i was rereading the whole canon but misplaced Hound and so skipped right to the Return #and the reveal seemed so weirdly understated and quickly glossed over to the point it felt like half the conversation was missing? #and then my copy of Hound turned up again and i got to the reveal *there* and just had a moment of oh. #oh‚ *there* it is #that's why we don't get more about the deception or anything about watson feeling hurt or angry let alone holmes' explanation #or the two of them talking things out and all of it being okay again #because we don't need it in the Empty House because we already got that conversation #more or less #in Hound #also [slams fist on table] HOLMES SPENDS THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION PRAISING AND THANKING WATSON #AND CALLING HIM INVALUABLE AND SAYING HE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT WATSON'S HELP DAMMIT #he refuses to stop emphasizing how important watson has been to the case until watson smiles!!! #and even then he brings it up again later in the conversation more than once!!! #YES i am still holding a grudge against The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) dir. Sidney Lanfield NO i will not let this go