The Three Students.
The case begins Monday, May 6, 1895.
Why?
THE STATEMENT OF THE YEAR:
"It was in the year ‘95 that a combination of events, into which I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in one of our great university towns, and it was during this time that the small but instructive adventure which I am about to relate befell us. It will be obvious that any details which would help the reader exactly to identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive."
"It was in the year ‘95 that a combination of events, into which I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in one of our great university towns, and it was during this time that the small but instructive adventure which I am about to relate befell us. It will be obvious that any details which would help the reader exactly to identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive."
THE EXAM’S SCHEDULE:
"I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship."
"To-day, about three o’clock, the proofs of this paper arrived from the printers."
"I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship."
"To-day, about three o’clock, the proofs of this paper arrived from the printers."
FOOD OF THE SEASON:
"By Jove! My dear fellow, it is nearly nine, and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty."
"By Jove! My dear fellow, it is nearly nine, and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty."
YOUNG GILCHRIST’S ODD CLAIM:
"I have been offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to South Africa at once."
"I have been offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to South Africa at once."
WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
April 5, 1895.
April 5, 1895.
WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
March 27, 1895.
March 27, 1895.
THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY TIMETABLE:
Watson shows a lot of kindliness towards the athletic young Gilchrist in his write-up this tale, and treats the little cheater far better than he deserves. One almost would think Holmes and Watson believe the young blackguard’s announcement of self-imposed exile to South Africa to escape a charge of cheating. He’s lying, of course, but in his choice of lies we can find one helpful grain of truth: the date that this case began.
Like any energetic young "Animal House" college liar, Gilchrist grabbed for his lies any fact which had recently been added to the upper layer of his brain. And on Friday, May 3, 1895, certain territories belonging to the British South Africa Company were finally proclaimed "Rhodesia" after the company’s general manager, Cecil Rhodes. Give Gilchrist a few days to hear about it in a bar somewhere, as well as allowing for the proofs coming back from the printer on the day the case started, combined with the start of the exam the next day, and one comes to the inevitable result: This case began on Monday, May 6, 1895, well in season for those green peas the landlady babbled of.
Watson shows a lot of kindliness towards the athletic young Gilchrist in his write-up this tale, and treats the little cheater far better than he deserves. One almost would think Holmes and Watson believe the young blackguard’s announcement of self-imposed exile to South Africa to escape a charge of cheating. He’s lying, of course, but in his choice of lies we can find one helpful grain of truth: the date that this case began.
Like any energetic young "Animal House" college liar, Gilchrist grabbed for his lies any fact which had recently been added to the upper layer of his brain. And on Friday, May 3, 1895, certain territories belonging to the British South Africa Company were finally proclaimed "Rhodesia" after the company’s general manager, Cecil Rhodes. Give Gilchrist a few days to hear about it in a bar somewhere, as well as allowing for the proofs coming back from the printer on the day the case started, combined with the start of the exam the next day, and one comes to the inevitable result: This case began on Monday, May 6, 1895, well in season for those green peas the landlady babbled of.
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