The Retired Colourman.
The case begins Saturday, August 20, 1898.
Why?
THE YEARS OF HIS LIFE:
"He made his little pile, retired from business at the age of sixty-one . . ."
"Retired in 1896, Watson. Early in 1897 he married a woman twenty years younger than himself — a good-looking woman, too, if the photograph does not flatter. A competence, a wife, leisure — it seemed a straight road which lay before him. And yet within two years he is, as you have seen, as broken and miserable a creature as crawls beneath the sun."
"The couple went off together last week."
"He made his little pile, retired from business at the age of sixty-one . . ."
"Retired in 1896, Watson. Early in 1897 he married a woman twenty years younger than himself — a good-looking woman, too, if the photograph does not flatter. A competence, a wife, leisure — it seemed a straight road which lay before him. And yet within two years he is, as you have seen, as broken and miserable a creature as crawls beneath the sun."
"The couple went off together last week."
HOLMES’S OTHER CASE:
"You know that I am preoccupied with this case of the two Coptic Patriarchs, which should come to a head to-day."
"You know that I am preoccupied with this case of the two Coptic Patriarchs, which should come to a head to-day."
THE STATEMENT OF THE SEASON:
"And so it was that on a summer afternoon I set forth to Lewisham, little dreaming that within a week the affair in which I was engaging would be the eager debate of all England."
"And so it was that on a summer afternoon I set forth to Lewisham, little dreaming that within a week the affair in which I was engaging would be the eager debate of all England."
THE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR:
"On that particular evening old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat, had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theatre."
"Carina sings to-night at the Albert Hall."
"On that particular evening old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat, had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theatre."
"Carina sings to-night at the Albert Hall."
WATSON’S PLACE OF RESIDENCE:
"In the morning I was up betimes, but some toast crumbs and two empty egg-shells told me that my companion was earlier still."
"In the morning I was up betimes, but some toast crumbs and two empty egg-shells told me that my companion was earlier still."
THE SCHEDULE OF THE PAPER:
"A couple of days later my friend tossed across to me a copy of the bi-weekly North Surrey Observer."
"A couple of days later my friend tossed across to me a copy of the bi-weekly North Surrey Observer."
WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
Thursday, July 28, 1898.
Thursday, July 28, 1898.
WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
July or August 1898.
July or August 1898.
THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY’S TIMETABLE:
The summer of 1898 was not a good time for Sherlock Holmes. In mid-August, his too-late deciphering of the "Dancing Men" code had resulted in a man’s death and the horrible wounding of his wife. Was that event the cause of his melancholy at the beginning of "Retired Colourman" and words like "But is not all life pathetic and futile?" I think so.
The summer of 1898 was not a good time for Sherlock Holmes. In mid-August, his too-late deciphering of the "Dancing Men" code had resulted in a man’s death and the horrible wounding of his wife. Was that event the cause of his melancholy at the beginning of "Retired Colourman" and words like "But is not all life pathetic and futile?" I think so.
Other chronologers have used the closing of Barrie’s "The Little Minister" at the Haymarket theater as their base in dating this case, but as the ticket Amberly shows Watson is for a seat that didn’t exist in the Haymarket as we know it, that seems a bit more unreliable than Holmes’s sincere depression occurring so near to a tragedy which he himself could have stopped.
As bi-weekly newspapers tend to have a mid-week edition in my experience, and five days (one for Carina, one for Little Purlington, one for the arrest, and two for the paper to come out) prior to that gives us Saturday, the perfect evening for Holmes to distract himself with a concert, I’m going to place this case on Saturday, August 20, 1898.
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