The Resident Patient.
The case begins Saturday, October 2, 1886.
Why?
STATEMENT OF THE MONTH:
"It had been a close, rainy day in October."
"It had been a close, rainy day in October."
CURRENT STATE OF LONDON:
"The paper was uninteresting. Parliament had risen. Everybody was out of town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shingle of Southsea." A depleted bank account had caused me to postpone my holiday."
"The paper was uninteresting. Parliament had risen. Everybody was out of town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shingle of Southsea." A depleted bank account had caused me to postpone my holiday."
CURRENT STATE OF WATSON’S CAREER:
"You are yourself, I presume, a medical man?"
"A retired army surgeon."
"You are yourself, I presume, a medical man?"
"A retired army surgeon."
THE START OF TREVELYAN’S PRACTICE:
"I won’t weary you with the account of how we bargained and negotiated. It ended in my moving into the house next Lady Day, and starting in practice on very much the same conditions as he had suggested."
"A few good cases and the reputation which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly to the front, and during the last few years I have made him a rich man."
"Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down to me in, as it seemed to me, a state of considerable agitation. He spoke of some burglary which, he said, had been committed in the West End . . . For a week he continued to be in a peculiar state of restlessness . . . ."
"Two days ago I received the letter which I now read to you."
"He proposes to call at about a quarter-past six to-morrow evening . . ."
"You can imagine my amazement when, at the very same hour this evening, they both came marching into my consulting-room . . ."
"I won’t weary you with the account of how we bargained and negotiated. It ended in my moving into the house next Lady Day, and starting in practice on very much the same conditions as he had suggested."
"A few good cases and the reputation which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly to the front, and during the last few years I have made him a rich man."
"Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down to me in, as it seemed to me, a state of considerable agitation. He spoke of some burglary which, he said, had been committed in the West End . . . For a week he continued to be in a peculiar state of restlessness . . . ."
"Two days ago I received the letter which I now read to you."
"He proposes to call at about a quarter-past six to-morrow evening . . ."
"You can imagine my amazement when, at the very same hour this evening, they both came marching into my consulting-room . . ."
THE YEAR OF THE ORIGINAL CRIME:
"This was in 1875. They were all five arrested, but the evidence against them was by no means conclusive. This Blessington or Sutton, who was the worst of the gang, turned informer. On his evidence Cartwright was hanged and the other three got fifteen years apiece. When they got out the other day, which was some years before their full term, they set themselves, as you perceive, to hunt down the traitor and to avenge the death of their comrade upon him."
"This was in 1875. They were all five arrested, but the evidence against them was by no means conclusive. This Blessington or Sutton, who was the worst of the gang, turned informer. On his evidence Cartwright was hanged and the other three got fifteen years apiece. When they got out the other day, which was some years before their full term, they set themselves, as you perceive, to hunt down the traitor and to avenge the death of their comrade upon him."
DISTANCE OF WATSON’S WRITING FROM THE CASE:
"From that night nothing has been seen of the three murderers by the police, and it is surmised at Scotland Yard that they were among the passengers of the ill-fated steamer Norah Creina, which was lost some years ago with all hands upon the Portuguese coast, some leagues to the north of Oporto."
"From that night nothing has been seen of the three murderers by the police, and it is surmised at Scotland Yard that they were among the passengers of the ill-fated steamer Norah Creina, which was lost some years ago with all hands upon the Portuguese coast, some leagues to the north of Oporto."
WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
October 6, 1886.
October 6, 1886.
WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
October 29, 1887.
October 29, 1887.
THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY’S TIMETABLE:
It’s October. It’s before 1890. Watson is seriously depressed, in that way that only a man who has been without female companionship for some time can be depressed. The year 1887 seems full of female contact for Watson, if past Chronology Corners are to be believed, and Watson’s feelings of being cooped up in the sitting room sound a lot like the early Watson of Baker Street, still nursing his post-war health. Given the fact that they wouldn’t have let the Worthingdon bank gang out of prison *too* early, I’ll have to place this case in 1886.
It’s October. It’s before 1890. Watson is seriously depressed, in that way that only a man who has been without female companionship for some time can be depressed. The year 1887 seems full of female contact for Watson, if past Chronology Corners are to be believed, and Watson’s feelings of being cooped up in the sitting room sound a lot like the early Watson of Baker Street, still nursing his post-war health. Given the fact that they wouldn’t have let the Worthingdon bank gang out of prison *too* early, I’ll have to place this case in 1886.
As to the day in 1886, the heat seems to indicate earlier in the month, the kaliedoscope of evening activity on the Strand seems to say Saturday night. Based entirely on those thoughts and a touch of male intuition, I’m going to call this one taking place on Saturday, October 2, 1886.
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