Just Say No -- to Boredom

The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter

The beginning of this story provides an interesting contrast between the melancholy Holmes, on the verge of succumbing to drug use to ease his boredom, and the healthy living of British athletes. Fearing that Holmes is on the point of depression, Watson says, "I was well aware that the fiend was not dead but sleeping... I have seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes."  Yet by the next page, Holmes is telling a visitor "You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton -- a sweeter and healthier one.  My ramifications stretch out to many sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England."

One of the fascinating things about Holmes, though, is that he is mostly bothered by inactivity -- failure in the course of action has less of a sway over him.  Thus, though he later returns "pale and dejected, stained with dust, and exhausted with hunger and fatigue" it isn't long before "he was ready to take that half comic and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him when his affairs were going awry."

Satisfied by a cold supper and a pipe, he contemplates the puzzle.