#mr and mrs cubitt

[amypihcs]

Hello friends in Doyle! Today's story starts with... Holmes being outed for bad posture™

Watson must've been QUITE put out by stinky chemistry moment and DECIDED to share this with him public. See Holmes, the whole of London now knows that you sit bad. Try and sit DECENTLY (won't say straight because we are not straight at all. expecially not you.)

Well, what to do when doing chemistry?

Why not shocking your husband for a chance?

He's SO mischievous. He wants to play! Confess, Watson, confess!

Note this words. Apparently our good Watson forgot who his Holmes is...

NOW to the explanation. Holmes is enjoying this sooo much

Holmes, why did you inspect the groove between his left forefinger and his thumb? Were you perhaps kissing your Watson's hand?

Masterful explanation! Also, i LOVE the point 5. Watson struggled with hazard games and so on and Holmes helps him with that! The sheer trust and love between them, helping each other with their struggles. I love them.

But now, look for it!

TAAAAC not two mins later!

I swear, Granada Holmes did this part PERFECTLY.

But we DO have a real case! And Holmes passes to his Watson a paper to examine.

And apparently Watson can't make much out of it as well. Oh, this Mr Cubitt is very anxious to know the solution of the problem? Well, time to meet him!

Watson?? Is?? Describing someone?? POLITELY?? He should like this Mr Cubitt! And, i mean, HOW CAN YOU NOT? He's a golden retriever!

And Holmes... be careful to the way you address that paper... because you might find yourself in some days reenacting the figures!

Well, let Mr Cubitt explain now! Why would he ever make much of such prank?

Me? nonono, my wife, i'm so worried for her! -the most in love man of England. Maybe only Watson is at that level.

Please, now, tell us the stor- WATSON!

You do have a hand kink, my dear doctor.

Back to the story. What happened?

Are all these victorians marrying after knowing a person for two weeks? Holmes is not that surprised, his husband wrote that he proposed to (lol) his wife (lmao) like 4 days after they met! But Mr Cubitt REALLY trusts his Elsie. He's just such a sweetheart, so in love with her... I love them so much. Well, they have been sincere and had an agreement! And it was working! Well, until -dun dun duuun- a letter came.

And she was SCARED.

And stayed so! poor girl! And then came the dancing men

And it was a SERIOUS, faint-worthy thing for Elsie Cubitt! Wanna hug her!

I'm so glad that Watson approves of Mr Cubitt! He's really a nice man!

Well, the interview comes to an end

And Sherlock 'I care about the CASE not about the PEOPLE' Holmes is thinking to the 'case' very much. He's worried.

Two weeks later Mr Cubitt pays a second visit and Holmes asks his Watson to stay with him for the interview. Because he needs his support doctor.

Mr Cubitt is worried as hell. He discovered something!

SAW THE MAN WHO WAS DRAWING THEM? Oh damn.

Oh and brought many more messages!

Holmes... HOLMES PLEASE. Where have you put your tact? -sigh-

This is how he saw the man. He didn't see any man, he saw 'a figure' and that figure was doing the drawings.

And Elsie koala-held him out of harm's way, apparently. Mr Cubitt now gives Holmes all the drawings. And a new one, one that appeared on the morning after this fact.

And that took the liberty to try and translate! Because yes! It already appears to be a code!

Mr Cubitt WOULD also have a plan to deal with this guy...

And i can't really find fault in it... but i guess Holmes' right.

Gotta be careful with this stuff.

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #john watson #dr watson #mr and mrs cubitt #the most in love couple EVER #I love them #acd johnlock #david burke #bright fluffy doc #asexual falling hard for actors from an 80s show

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Sep. 19

The Dancing Men, Part 2 of 3

Is this case going to turn out to be one of Holmes' failures? There were a few similarities to The Five Orange Pips already, so hopefully it doesn't end with Hilton dying and the murderers getting away only to possibly die in a shipwreck.

Watson was right, this story has taken quite a dark turn. Unless this is all just gossip, then I'm guessing she shot him by accident and that's why she then decided to shoot herself.

I like the contrast of Watson and Holmes here after hearing about what happened. Holmes sits and speculates and thinks about the case and what he could have done differently, while Watson distracts himself with the countryside they're passing through.

So Elsie here lives! That's good! It's not all dark, then. I mean, her husband is dead and it's because of her indirectly, but at least she herself is still alive.

Well, after The Devil's Foot, I assume Holmes has become quite an expert on the ways in which gasses and fumes move through rooms and buildings.

I know that the criminal is likely to be caught soon, but with how solemn Holmes was acting about what happened earlier, him so quickly moving on to do other work is quite a change. I think it's inline with his character though, and the assumption could be made that he is simply distracting himself with other things.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

#letters from watson #the dancing men #sherlock holmes #john h watson #hilton cubitt #elsie patrick #elsie cubitt #inspector martin #mrs king #arthur conan doyle #liveblogging sherlock holmes

[skyriderwednesday]

I will restrain myself for now because spoilers, BUT I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS CASE.

#letters from watson #the dancing men #not necessarily coherent feelings #mostly just wailing #but AAAAAA #mr cubitt is my favourite client out of every story #he's just a sweet man who adores his wife

[holmesillustrations]

Vote for your favourite, the top 9 will proceed in the bracket. Since theyre all different shapes and sizes, make sure to click into the full views!

Paget Eliminations // Other Artist Eliminations

Full captions and details for each illustration below the cut:

All Sidney Paget illustrations are for the Strand Jul 1891 - Dec 1904

"A simple-minded clergyman." Scandal in Bohemia Characters: Holmes

"Farewell then," said the old man." Boscombe Valley Characters: Holmes, Watson, John Turner

"Well, look at this." Speckled Band Characters: Holmes, Helen Stoner, Watson

"Capital!" Copper Beeches Characters: Violet Hunter, Mr Rucastle

"There was a little [Lucy Hebron]" Yellow Face Characters: Lucy Hebron, Holmes, Grant Munro, Watson

"The coachman rushed to the door." Crooked man Characters: Maids and Coachman

"Any news?" he asked." Naval Treaty Characters: Holmes, Watson, Percy Phelps, Annie Harrison

"The driver pointed with his whip—'Baskerville Hall,' said he" Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Coach driver, Watson, Dr Mortimer, Sir Henry

"Who—who's this?" he stammered." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Stapleton, Selden, Watson, Holmes

"My wife threw her arms round me." Dancing Men Characters: Hilton and Elsie Cubitt

"Charles Augustus Milverton." Charles Augustus Milverton Characters: Charles Augustus Milverton

"Lord Mount-James." Missing Three-quarter Characters: Lord Mount-James

#acd holmes #sherlock holmes #tumblr bracket #sherlock holmes illustrations #elim poll #sp elim

[dathen]

“You gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, but I should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it all again for the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson.”

I love this so much. A couple cases ago I mentioned how Holmes referred to “this Agency” as if it’s officially the Holmes & Watson Investigative Group rather than just “Sherlock Holmes, world-famous detective,” and here he’s acting on that. They’ve gone beyond “My friend is going to sit in on our discussion, don’t worry he’s very trustworthy” to “please tell the whole story from the beginning for his benefit because he’s as valuable in this as I am”

#letters from watson #the dancing men

[red-umbrella-811]

Okay I’m genuinely sad about this one they seem like nice people and it seemed so preventable. I keep picturing Mr. Cubitt coming back in the door all concerned and he’s not going to :(

#letters from watson #the dancing men #Sherlock Holmes #Sherlock Holmes spoilers

[mariana-oconnor]

The Dancing Men pt 3

Last time things took a turn for the decidedly worse with our client dead and his wife suffering a bullet to the brain. All because of the idiosyncracies of British public transport and Holmes dislike of giving away any hint of what he is thinking until he has all his ducks in rows.

Also he sent a 'youth' with a message to a murderer.

If any visitor were to call asking for Mrs. Hilton Cubitt no information should be given as to her condition, but he was to be shown at once into the drawing-room. He impressed these points upon them with the utmost earnestness. Finally he led the way into the drawing-room...

“I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting and profitable manner,” said Holmes...

There are so many ways a sentence like that could end...

👀

...spreading out in front of him the various papers upon which were recorded the antics of the dancing men.

Ah, yes... puzzle time again. What else could he have meant?

And now we are having a code-breaking lesson. Love a good code-breaking lesson. Really it's their own fault for not using a more complex cypher; simple substitution cyphers are always going to be easy to break. You need to make it more complicated. Like, every six letters the symbols move one letter earlier in the alphabet or something like that. Or muddle the letters up in a prearranged pattern.

"...it was probable from the way in which the flags were distributed that they were used to break the sentence up into words."

I understand that these encrypted messages led to death and misery, but this is adorable. The letters at the ends of the words carry little stop flags.

"It might be ‘sever,’ or ‘lever,’ or ‘never.’"

Or defer or deter or meter or Peter or Meier or vexed...

“I expect him here every instant.” “But why should he come?” “Because I have written and asked him.”

Bless his heart. Got to wonder what Inspector Martin thought Holmes was doing by drawing out a lot of little dancing men and then sending them to the person he just named in his little explanation.

It's not a massive leap of logic.

"I may have threatened her, God forgive me, but I would not have touched a hair of her pretty head."

My dude, you literally told the woman to prepare to meet her god. I do not know why you are surprised that people would think you wanted to hurt her. That is not the sort of thing you send messages about when you don't want to hurt someone.

"I tell you there was never a man in this world loved a woman more than I loved her. I had a right to her. She was pledged to me years ago. Who was this Englishman that he should come between us? I tell you that I had the first right to her, and that I was only claiming my own."

That is not how love works.

“You wrote it? There was no one on earth outside the Joint who knew the secret of the dancing men. How came you to write it?”

Dude, it's literally just a substitution cypher.

“It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,” cried the inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the British criminal law.

“First of all, I want you gentlemen to understand that I have known this lady since she was a child."

I used the beheading gif too early. I memed too far, too fast.

"I wrote to her, but got no answer."

Some might say that is an answer.

"Of Mrs. Hilton Cubitt I only know that I have heard she recovered entirely, and that she still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the care of the poor and to the administration of her husband's estate."

Glad she recovered, sad for literally everything else.

Yeah, this is a sad one. And so dumb... like... get over yourself. She's married to someone else and she's not replying to your messages. Just move the fuck on. Wow.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Dancing Men #long post

[hauntedbystorytelling]

Sasha :: Mrs Cubitt dressed as 'Three Candles' for the 'Pageant of the Superstitions', a feature of the 'All Halloween Ball', October 11th or November 1st, 1930. | src Getty Images

view more on wordPress

#sasha #alexander stewart #candle #three candles #ball costume #costume design #1930s #pageant of the superstitions #charity ball

[thefisherqueen]

“It's a terrible business,” said the station-master. “They are shot, both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She shot him and then herself—so the servants say. He's dead and her life is despaired of. 

That is a sudden and violent turn in this story, and it's still early, we're not even halfway through. I guess the rest of the story will revolve about finding out the how, and why, and what those who send the dancing men had to do with it? I've got almost no theories of my own yet. There's just nothing to go on. Perhaphs this lady tried to save herself and her husband from a more terrible fate than death - torture? Perhaps she didn't really do it, but the servants were mislead? Hard to say. A shame this gentleman died, though. He guinely seemed nice.

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #the dancing men

[grandmaster-anne]

Court Circular | 29th March 2023

Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin

The King and The Queen Consort left Royal Air Force Brize Norton this morning for the State Visit to Germany. Their Majesties were received at the Airport by the Lord Parker of Minsmere (Lord Chamberlain) and His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (Mrs Marjorie Glasgow). The King and The Queen Consort this afternoon arrived at Berlin-Brandenburg Government Airport and were received by His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany (Her Excellency Mrs Jill Gallard), the Ambassador from the Federal Republic of Germany to the Court of St James’s (Mr Miguel Berger), Mrs Dörte Dinger (State Secretary of the Federal President’s Office) and Mr Till Knorn (Chief of Protocol of the Federal Foreign Office). The King and The Queen Consort drove to the Brandenburg Gate and were received by The President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mrs Büdenbender. His Majesty inspected the Guard of Honour. The King and The Queen Consort, with The President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mrs. Büdenbender, subsequently walked through Pariser Platz before departing by car for Bellevue Palace, Berlin. The King later attended a Sustainability Reception at Bellevue Palace and planted a tree for The Queen’s Green Canopy in the Palace Garden. The King and The Queen Consort were entertained this evening at a State Banquet given by The President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mrs Büdenbender at Bellevue Palace. The following are in attendance: the Rt Hon James Cleverly MP (Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs), the Rt Hon Sir Clive Alderton, Mr Christopher Fitzgerald, Mrs Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, Mr Tobyn Andreae, Professor Charles Deakin, Dr Douglas Glass, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Thompson and Mrs Sophia Densham.

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal this morning visited Adnams Brewery, Sole Bay Brewery, East Green, Southwold, to mark its One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary and was received by Mr Robert Rous (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk). Her Royal Highness later opened the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science’s new Headquarters, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk (Clare, Countess of Euston). The Princess Royal, Patron, Friends of Happisburgh Lighthouse, this afternoon visited Happisburgh Lighthouse, Lighthouse Lane, Happisburgh, and was received by Major General Sir William Cubitt (Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk). Her Royal Highness later visited Elm House Temporary Accommodation, 55 Elm Road, Thetford, and was received by Mrs Melinda Raker (Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk).

Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, Patron, Heritage of London Trust, this afternoon received Mr James Cayzer-Colvin upon relinquishing his appointment as Chairman. The Duke of Gloucester, Patron, Richard III Society, and The Duchess of Gloucester this evening attended a screening of “the Lost King’” at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Gloucester, Honorary President, the Lawn Tennis Association, this morning received Ms Sandra Procter (President) and Mr Scott Lloyd (Chief Executive Officer).

St James’s Palace

The Duke of Kent, Patron, this evening held a Concert and Dinner at St. James’s Palace to commemorate the Ninetieth Anniversary of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

#court circular #princess anne #princess royal #king charles iii #queen camilla #prince richard duke of gloucester #birgitte duchess of gloucester #prince edward duke of kent #british royal family

[amypihcs]

Hello friends! Incredibly late as i am, what our doctor tells us today!

John H Watson is very fond of his detective now

We KNOW that Holmes had been jumping up and down and vibrating as soon as Hilton Cubit passes him the papers. AAAAND IN FACT...

Well, we knew. Just... JUST HOW FOND WATSON IS! Holmes is whistling, Holmes is singing, Watson is looking at him with the fondest eyes ever. And bringing him a cup with cut fruit so he eats something.

Don't you say, Watson. Now let's send a telegram! And let's see if the answer is what Holmes expects!

i said... let's see if the answer is what Holmes expected... AH FUCKIT. Posteitaliane!

Fidgety anxious Holmes! DOES IT TAKE MUCH FOR A TELEGRAM TO ARRIVE??? Ah well, a letter at least... Ah-ha, ah-ha

FUCK. FUCKFUCKFUCK. LOST THE TRAIN. FUCK. Holmes' suspicions were right. (I SAY, YOU COULD SEND CUBITT A TELEGRAM! It would've arrived!)

Something tells me that the answer to the telegram at this point was unnecessary and just gave Holmes more anxiety. Hope Watson manages to calm him down enough to sleep, since his powers of detachment are not working all this much today... poor Holmes.

Swift cut, morning, hop on the train, HOLMES EAT SOMETHING PLEASE, we get to Norfolk and...

Oh fuck. Damn. What shouldn't've happened JUST HAPPENED, APPARENTLY! Let's hurry!

Poor Holmes. He feels depressed and i can't find fault in it... Watson, let him lie on your shoulder, he needs a hug soooo badly.

Ah finally at the manor!

And here's the police. Wanna work together or do i need to deduce the living shit out of you? I will do ALL I NEED to obtain justice. And i INTEND TO. Luckily the inspector is happy to work with Holmes, phew.

Watson... Watson, PLEASE. stop glaring daggers at the man. PLEASE. He's trying to do his job. Now, let's question the servants, we're trying to work PROPERLY.

UH! Noted! And now to the room!

Ouchie! At least he died painlessy. And quickly. Now, hophop, away with the body!

What were you doing, inspector? I am literally showing you how to examine a crime scene. USE YOUR DAMNED EYES! There's a bullet right there! Watson, PLEASE, those heart eyes. Now, remember the powder smell?

THIS is why you should've taken not of it! You hadn't followed? Not much surprised. F, inspector, today Holmes doesn't take prisoners.

Hello, handbag!

Add this to the evidence and now we SHOULD GO OUT IN THE GARDEN, since someone hopped out of the window.

WATSON! Eyes on the footprints, not on your husband's handsome backside, please. And allow me to correct you, YOU are the golden retriever of this man's cheetah. Ah here we are! Cartridge of bullet number 3.

NOW I WANT THAT MAN. Holmes just gives plain instructions and... sends a stable boy?

Write a coded message, mess with your own handwriting, and watch as Mr Slaney falls in the trap with the whole of his shoes. Well, inspector, be useful and call some more cops to help you! Now we wait.

Holmes doesn't like this case at all!

Holmes: Watson... Watson i wanna go home... Do you know when we can take a train? Watson, you'll do better to cuddle this detective better once home. But we'll see how it will go in the next episode!

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #john watson #dr watson #victorian husbands #acd johnlock

[educatedinyellow]

First Lines Game

Thank you very much for thinking of me, @saki101!

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

1. (fake) What it is, right, I got my English sorted. (Spider stories, 221B Baker Towers, Holmes/Watson AU)

2. ∞ first, a few words in prologue ∞ (Time) Despite its popularity, the "Trousers of Time" metaphor is pants at capturing the complexity of the multiverse. (moderate raptures, Discworld AU, Vimes/Vetinari)

3. Having been away nearly a fortnight, I half-expected upon my return to find Baker Street a smoking ruin and my friend draped bare-chested across the rubble, lacking only a metropolitan eagle to feast obligingly on his liver. (best things dwell out of Sight, Ritchie Holmes, Holmes/Watson, magical realism)

4.  Sigmund Freud, February 1892 Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial Building, Manuscript Division; Sigmund Freud Papers: General Correspondence; Freud to Unidentified Recipient; MSS39990, Box 44. Item description: A single page of a longer letter, the beginning and end of which have been lost. (The Talking Cure, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Holmes/Watson)

5. The stifling, anguished atmosphere of the veiled lodger's lonely room followed us back to Baker Street. (To Cast Light on Each, ACD Holmes, Holmes/Watson, Eugenia Ronder/Elsie Cubitt)

6. Friggin' Aphrodite. (Aphrodite’s a Great Conversation Starter, SPN, Dean/Cas)

7. Dr Watson is as much a liar as ever, God be praised. (The Better Part of Valour, ACD Holmes, Mr. Melas, Holmes/Watson)

8. The false teeth flew toward Mrs Dundas with unexpected speed. (In Fire, Ritchie Holmes, Holmes/Watson)

9. D British Infantry Depot; Le Havre, France; January 2, 1919. My dear Holmes, I mentioned in my last that I expected to be reassigned to one of the coastal transit camps. I am at this moment on the train. (Rewriting History, ACD Holmes, Holmes/Watson)

10. The first time I ever set eyes on Mr. Sherlock Holmes he was being shoved head-first out of a fourth-floor window. (Two Shoes for a Hat, Ritchie Holmes, Holmes & Watson).

Hmm, the only firm conclusion I can draw here is that Ritchie!verse stories have the most fun openers. :)

I will tag @viridiandecisions, @sanguinarysanguinity, @sanspatronymic, @plaidadder, @bendingsignpost, @earlgreytea68, @thetimemoves, only if you like, of course, and anyone else who hasn’t been tagged yet and wants to play!

#fic meme #first lines #my fics

[skyriderwednesday]

Incidentally it took historical context to date Dancing Men, but I’m not nearly as mad about that as I am at having to look up publication dates and do maths for Missing Three-Quarter.

#sherlock holmes #acd canon #i reject your chronology and substitute my own #july 1898 in case you were wondering #because the cubitts have been married a year and they met because mr cubitt was in london ‘for the jubilee’ #which has to be queen victoria’s diamond because her golden was in 1887 #and it’s july because cubitt says the messages started with a letter last month in june

[holmesillustrations]

Vote for your favourite, the top 9 will proceed in the bracket. Since theyre all different shapes and sizes, make sure to click into the full views!

Paget Eliminations // Other Artist Eliminations

Full captions and details for each illustration below the cut:

All Sidney Paget illustrations are for the Strand Jul 1891 - Dec 1904

"I found myself mumbling responses." Scandal in Bohemia Characters: Holmes, Irene Adler, Godfrey Norton, Vicar

"Mr John Turner" said the waiter.” Boscombe Valley Characters: Waiter, John Turner

"We got off, paid our fare." Speckled Band Characters: Holmes, Watson

"Taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs." Copper Beeches Characters: Holmes, Watson

"Tell me everything," said I." Yellow Face Characters: Grant and Effie Munro

"I'll fill a vacant peg then." Crooked Man Characters: Holmes, Watson

"A nobleman." Naval Treaty Characters: Holmes, Lord Holdhurst, Watson

"Here are the names of twenty-three hotels." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Holmes, Postmaster, James (Telegram Boy)

"It was the face of Selden, the criminal." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Watson, Selden, Holmes

"Holmes held up the paper." Dancing Men Characters: Watson, Hilton Cubitt, Holmes

"We sat down and we drank and we yarned about old times." Black Peter Characters: Patrick Cairns, Capt Peter Carey

"Did you take any message to Mr. Staunton?" Missing Three-quarter Characters: Holmes, Watson, Cyril Overton, Waiter

#acd holmes #sherlock holmes #tumblr bracket #sherlock holmes illustrations #elim poll #sp elim

[marta-bee]

I’m rereading “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” mostly because it’s the basis for the next Granada episode, and since I’ve just read SCAN, I’m noticing all sorts of fascinating parallels between the King of Bohemia and Hilton Cubitt, the client in DANC. 

By the end of SCAN, it’s pretty obvious the king is more the villain than Irene: not evil, but certainly at least as interested in controlling her than being safe from her supposed threats. Hilton is more unambiguously a good man. Doyle describes him thus: “He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil, simple, straight and gentle, with his great, ernest blue eyes and broad, comely face. His love for his wife and his trust in her shone in his features.” He accepts Elsie’s decision to keep her past secret for him, at at first. By period standards he seems pretty progressive.

But for all his words, he really struggles to let Elsie manage her past on her own terms. Even at his first meeting with Holmes, when Holmes suggests the man just ask his wife why she was so bothered by the titular dancing men, he responds, "A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes. If Elsie wished to tell me she would. If not, it is not for me to force her confidence. But I am justified in taking my own line – and I will." He promised Elsie before her wedding never to ask about her past, and he’s abiding by the letter of that promise. But the spirit, which was surely not to involve himself in that part of her life, he’s much less willing to go along with. He’s hiring a detective to look into why these drawings are so alarming to her, which, if it’s not quite violating his promise (Holmes is investigating the drawings, not Elsie), it’s at least right up against the line.

When I said I was seeing parallels between the King in SCAN and Hilton in DANC, I was really thinking of the final part of SCAN, where the king learns Irene has married someone else. This effectively takes Irene out of his sphere of control --she is now another man’s wife-- and he seems to regret that at some level. It seemed he enjoyed having her as “the other woman,” perhaps not an ongoing sexual partner but certainly as the emotional parallel of a mistress or courtesan. He didn’t want to be free of her so much as in control of her. 

And Cubitt is nowhere near as sexist and controlling, but there’s still a milder version of that dynamic. (Speaking as a 21st-century single woman with all the sensibilities and expectations that carries with him.) He’ll agree not to ask Elsie about her past because that was the only way she’d marry him; but what she clearly meant was not to pry, to leave her past to her to manage; and that’s something Hilton’s manhood won’t let him give her. it’s his duty to protect her, and leaving her to manage her past means ceding some of his... domain, for lack of a better word, to her. Masculinity, especially in the context of husband/wife relationships, just won’t allow it. In much the same way that later, his pride as a respectable quire from a respectable, solid family, won’t let him withdraw and go somewhere else.

At the risk of imposing concepts I’m not sure how to apply to the Victorian period, both because they’re so contemporary and also because I just don’t know enough about Victorian social norms, the problem here is heteronormativity, and to a lesser extent, a commitment to being respectable. Elsie’s past and her keeping it to herself isn’t easily reconciled with what it meant to be a husband and wife in their social setting. Certainly not once the messages start appearing and her past becomes much more relevant to the present. This isn’t the King of Bohemia’s blustering about and trampling over Irene’s autonomy. Hilton is trying, bless him. He’s a “man of the old English soil, simple, straight and gentle.” But everything about that won’t let him give Elsie control over this domain, much as Irene couldn’t have control over her life without being the pinnacle of virtue as a respectable English (unmarried) woman, and even then, she really only got security when she took shelter as a proper wife. The King would have been much more sympathetic as a character (which he wasn’t supposed to be; which was the point) if he’d only been concerned with protecting himself from blackmail, rather than maintaining his control over Irene. And in a much milder but still in many ways similar way, Hilton would have done much better to truly leave Elsie’s past to her to manage, rather than trying to square his promise with his need to protect her, almost to subsume her past into their combined present.

All of which makes the little domestic scene at the beginning so interesting. I’ll quote the whole bit, because it makes me smile but also because it’s actually a really interesting alternative to the whole dynamic between Elsie and Hilton.

"So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest in South African securities?"

I gave a start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes's curious faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate thoughts was utterly inexplicable.

"How on earth do you know that?" I asked.

He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube in his hand and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.

"Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback," said he.

"I am."

"I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect."

"Why?"

"Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly simple."

"I am sure that I will say nothing of the kind."

"You see, my dear Watson" – he propped his test-tube in the rack and began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing his class – "it is not really difficult to construct a series of inferences, each dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in itself. If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents one's audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a startling, though possibly a meretricious, effect. Now, it was not really difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left forefinger and thumb, to feel sure that you did NOT propose to invest your small capital in the goldfields."

"I see no connection."

"Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here are the missing links of the very simple chain: 1. You had chalk between your left finger and thumb when you returned from the club last night. 2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to steady the cue. 3. You never play billiards except with Thurston. 4. You told me four weeks ago that Thurston had an option on some South African property which would expire in a month, and which he desired you to share with him. 5. Your cheque-book is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key. 6. You do not propose to invest your money in this manner."

"How absurdly simple!" I cried.

I’ve joked before how normal roommates don’t store their personal documents in each others’ desks like that; and since Watson was a published writer, it’s not like he surely didn’t have his own desk somewhere in the flat. I suppose it’s possible it didn’t have a locked drawer (maybe Holmes as an investigator has more of a need to keep documents secure?). Perhaps there’s a good explanation that doesn’t just ooze old-married-couple vibes. Perhaps it’s just a device to make Holmes’s reasoning dramatizable. Perhaps there’s also just no point in trying to keep secrets when Holmes’s piercing observations are thrown into the mix. But Watson having to involve Holmes if not outright ask his permission before he can act on a financial decision really does scream married domesticity more than cohabiting bachelors (confirmed or otherwise).

It’s really interesting, though, the way Holmes positions him and Watson here. Yes, Watson would have had to ask for the key, because it’s his desk drawer and the kind of thing Holmes would have possession over. But there’s no sense that Holmes would have imposed himself on Watson’s decision. Watson has the autonomy to spend his money as he likes. 

Holmes will know, because that’s just what Holmes does; but it’s Watson’s choice what to do with his own money. It’s all very shared, but still not comingled in the way Elsie’s and Hilton’s married life is. Watson has parts of his life he has control over. And it doesn’t lessen Holmes not to have control over Watson’s money because they’re not husband and wife with the social expectations that carries with it. We can joke that they’re practically married, and that response isn’t coming out of nowhere, but if it’s anything like a marriage it’s free of what it would mean to be husband and wife. And this is really only possible because they’re queer, even if that’s queerplatonic or something else that doesn’t actually involve the erotic. Holmes can be masculine and still give Watson space to be his own man in a way a man more literally married to a woman never could be precisely because he’s (they’re) queer.

Would that Hilton Cubitt had been so lucky. He and Elsie would have both been so much better off by the story’s end. Which is pretty much the point.

************************

There is so much I could say about BBC!Mary here, the problems of your past being your business, etc., but it’s 2023 and I’m pretty sure everyone’s made up their own minds of how to read HLV by this point and I’m not quite brave enough to tiptoe into that foray on a Saturday night, so.

#marta reads #sherlock holmes #the adventure of the dancing men #holmes/watson #a scandal in bohemia #doyle

[jabbage]

#Letters from Watson #lettersfromwatson