The Adventure of the Red Circle
The highlight of this story is, perhaps, Holmes making his way through the "agony columns" of the Daily Gazette. He mutters that a lady who fainted on a Brixton bus "does not interest me," responds to someone who writes "Every day my heart longs" with "Bleat, Watson -- unmitigated bleat!" and decries "a chorus of groans."
There is real mystery and a bit of menace involving an enigmatic lodger. We also discover that Holmes "had an almost hypnotic power of soothing when he wished." This is particularly intriguing. Was it simply the detective's confidence that achieved this? Did he become some incarnation of Victorian rationality, blurring doubt and dulling despair? Or is this hypnotic power a hint of the supernatural inhabiting the otherwise so frequently mechanical spirit of Holmes -- something not meant to be explained. That's certainly one of my favorite things about the Sherlock stories -- the mystery of the man.
No comments:
Post a Comment