Canon Discussion Post: The Dancing Men

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Welcome back, everyone! Let's have some canon Sherlock Holmes discussion, shall we? What did you all think of The Dancing Men? As always, I've written up a few of my own random thoughts and questions, which are behind the jump. Add your own in the comments!

Discussion about the Granada adaptation of The Dancing Men is available in this week's Granada discussion post.


- This story breaks my heart every single time I read it. I am just as distraught as ever about the excruciating and tragic end of the beautiful love affair between Hilton Cubitt and Elsie Patrick. Would that we all find someone as kind and loving as Hilton, who adores his wife more than words can say and is willing to give all that he has, including his life, to secure her safety and happiness. I wish I could wrap my arms around both of them forever. Hilton and Elsie, this one is for you. *sob*

- Hilton is a wonderful man, one of the best and sweetest gentlemen in canon. But it does seem like there were a few things he could have done better in handling this situation, which even he notices. Is it really best not to ask her about her past at all, even when she appears to want to discuss it? Instead, he takes her hidden past to a stranger, a private detective, to hunt for the truth. He acts like this is keeping his promise, but it seems to me to be obviously breaking her wishes. And if he was going to go against what he knew Elsie wanted, he might as well ask her to trust him with the truth. Beyond that, every time I read the section where Elsie asks Hilton to leave Ridling Thorpe with her, it tears me apart. Why not listen to her plea and take her away to safety? This is as close as she could come to telling the truth of the situation - Hilton should have recognized that and acted on it.

- "Then I will help you with all my heart." - Sherlock Holmes seems moved by Hilton's love for Elsie too, not to mention the amusing challenge the dancing men code presents. When long delays (the coded messages are infrequent and must be posted instead of telegraphed since they're non-alphabetic; Holmes' police friend in America works in New York, not Chicago, so he too had to telegraph for information) in solving the case lead to disaster, he takes it hard. "Seldom have I seen him so utterly despondent", Watson says. I wonder what the few other times were. Other lost clients? Something else? In a way, Holmes is lucky - he's able to catch Abe Slaney almost instantly. Watson said Holmes planned to "devote his life to this quest until the client whom he had failed to save should at last be avenged". What would have happened if Abe Slaney had gotten away?

- Was there anything Holmes could have done differently here to better handle this case? I wish he would have acted on his hunch that Elsie was being tracked by a violent criminal as soon as he thought of it, or even just an hour earlier than he did so they could have made the train. This story begs for an AU fix-it. What would have happened if he and Watson had gone earlier? Could they have stopped it? Might they have caught Slaney talking to Elsie instead of Hilton? What then? It's an especially interesting idea, because neither Elsie nor Slaney would know who Holmes and Watson were.

- Okay, have to go to something that doesn't hurt my heart so much. Let's talk about the fact that Holmes has Watson's cheque-book locked up in his drawer, and only Holmes has the key. How and when did this happen? Why, exactly? Was it voluntary? There MUST be a good story to go with this tidbit.

Comment away, and join us next week for The Retired Colourman!

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm always left wondering why Holmes didn't at least try to send a telegram to Cubitt, even if they couldn't catch the train.

The idea of Holmes having Watson's cheque book makes sense to me. With no safe a locked drawer would be the only place to keep valuables, especially given the type of visitor that Holmes had, no doubt some of whom would have walked off with a cheque book that was left lying around. Watson would never go into Holmes' desk so would not be in a position to unlock the drawer so there was no need for a second key. He would probably only settle his bills once so would have little need for regular access.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

The telegram question bugs me too. Any information could have helped prevent the tragedy that doing nothing guaranteed.

And your explanation for Watson's cheque book is just so eminently reasonable that I just can't countenance it. I wanted an elaborate concocted theory, not a plain and simple piece of reasoning! ;)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I am sure Holmes would agree with me that you, like Watson, dwell too much on the romance and not enough on the facts of a case ;)

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course. But the romance is essential. It's what keeps Holmes and Watson talked about for generations. If Holmes had been the one documenting his own cases, I doubt they would still be revered. Watson's penchant for romance made them both immortal, so I'll go ahead and say he and I were right all along. ;)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I concede that you have a point there. But on Holmes' behalf I shall add that without his logical deductive reasoning there would have been no case to write about.

And that therefore what we have is the perfect partnership, without either the whole would fail.

[marysutherland.livejournal.com]

Small Hobbit's right about the telegram (though I don't know whether a rural post office would be manned to receive it and also to deliver it some distance late at night, unlike the post offices in London). But I'm not sure that Holmes did necessarily suspect at first that Abe Slaney was a criminal: his words are ambiguous. In the 60 for 60 I've just posted, he has other hypotheses.