The Norwood Builder.
The case begins Wednesday, August 1, 1894.
Why?
THE MORIARTY REFERENCE POINT:
"London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty."
"London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty."
TIME SINCE "EMPTY HOUSE":
"At the time of which I speak, Holmes had been back for some months, and I at his request had sold my practice and returned to share the old quarters in Baker Street."
"At the time of which I speak, Holmes had been back for some months, and I at his request had sold my practice and returned to share the old quarters in Baker Street."
THE STATE OF THE PARTNERSHIP:
"Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had stated, for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period includes the case of the papers of ex-President Murillo, and also the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland, which so nearly cost us both our lives. His cold and proud nature was always averse, however, from anything in the shape of public applause, and he bound me in the most stringent terms to say no further word of himself, his methods, or his successes—a prohibition which, as I have explained, has only now been removed."
"Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had stated, for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period includes the case of the papers of ex-President Murillo, and also the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland, which so nearly cost us both our lives. His cold and proud nature was always averse, however, from anything in the shape of public applause, and he bound me in the most stringent terms to say no further word of himself, his methods, or his successes—a prohibition which, as I have explained, has only now been removed."
MCFARLANE AT HIS OFFICE:
"I was very much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about three o’clock in the afternoon, he walked into my office in the city."
"I was very much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about three o’clock in the afternoon, he walked into my office in the city."
HOLMES’S STATEMENT OF THE MONTH:
"I crawled about the lawn with an August sun on my back, but I got up at the end of an hour no wiser than before."
"I crawled about the lawn with an August sun on my back, but I got up at the end of an hour no wiser than before."
THOSE JIBES AT WATSON:
"I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure."
"Perhaps I shall get the credit also at some distant day, when I permit my zealous historian to lay out his foolscap once more — eh, Watson?"
"If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve your turn."
"I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure."
"Perhaps I shall get the credit also at some distant day, when I permit my zealous historian to lay out his foolscap once more — eh, Watson?"
"If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve your turn."
WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
August 20, 1895.
August 20, 1895.
WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
July 2, 1894.
July 2, 1894.
THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY TIMETABLE:
It’s August and it is "some months" after Holmes’s return in April of 1894. Since we’ll later learn that 1894 was a very busy year for the Holmes-Watson partnership, it seems unlikely that Watson would have selected anything but an 1894 case to talk about his return to 221B, so we can surely take his "some months" to mean months, and not a year or more as some chronologists have theorized. But what day in August of 1894?
It’s August and it is "some months" after Holmes’s return in April of 1894. Since we’ll later learn that 1894 was a very busy year for the Holmes-Watson partnership, it seems unlikely that Watson would have selected anything but an 1894 case to talk about his return to 221B, so we can surely take his "some months" to mean months, and not a year or more as some chronologists have theorized. But what day in August of 1894?
Well, there’s an interesting little thing going on behind the scenes in this tale, hinted at by Holmes’s multiple references to Watson’s writings. In the month that would follow, September 1894, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes would have its second edition published in America . . . an edition that suddenly wouldn’t have "The Cardboard Box" in it any more. (Oddly enough, "Cardboard Box" took place in August, too.) Whatever debate it was that caused that story to be pulled from the American edition was undoubtedly what had Holmes thinking of Watson’s writings anew, and with a negative outlook at that. It may have been the remaining Cushing sister who finally showed up at 221B to express her outrage at the tale’s publication, or it might have been some other scandalized reader, but either way Holmes probably didn’t wind up on the good side of the encounter. And he’s still smarting at the time of "Norwood Builder."
Giving Watson as much time as possible to deal with his American publishers after the anti-"Cardboard" event that set Holmes off, I’d have to date this case as early in August as possible: Wednesday, August 1, 1894.
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