Canon Discussion: The Resident Patient
Feb. 16th, 2014 09:19 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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sherlock60This week we’re looking at The Resident Patient. As usual I’ve typed up some thoughts to get the discussion underway.
After all these years The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes has cleared something up for me. When I first read the stories, I noticed RESI and CARD had almost the same beginning (Holmes following Watson’s unspoken train of thought), assumed ACD had so liked the sequence that he’d wanted to use it again later on and then stopped wondering about it entirely. But as the NA explains, the two stories were actually from around the same time and had different beginnings when first published in magazine form. CARD wasn’t included in the collected Memoirs (perhaps because of its subject matter) but its beginning was taken and spliced into RESI. (The above link leads to the original version of RESI, incidentally.) I presume I’m the last person to know about this, as usual. *sighs*
So instead of Holmes and Watson dealing with a thermometer of ninety in London in October and Holmes deducing Watson’s train of thought, we have Holmes accidentally ruining his experiment and suggesting a walk now that the autumn weather has improved a bit and the stars have come out.
…it must have been towards the end of the first year during which Holmes and I shared chambers in Baker Street. For three hours we strolled about together, watching the ever-changing kaleidoscope of life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and the Strand. His characteristic talk, with its keen observance of detail and subtle power of inference, held me amused and enthralled. They apparently haven’t known each other that long at this point but they are obviously firm friends. It’s a rather charming portrait of their friendship, content to simply spend time together.
A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers… He was of a sickly colour, and his thin, sandy hair seemed to bristle up… Curious that Trevelyan and Blessington have the same colour hair. And “sandy” is so specific… Could Trevelyan possibly be a long lost illegitimate son—hence Blessington’s interest and sponsorship? Or, as is more likely, has Watson got confused with his descriptions?
I did wonder at first if Blessington had wanted to invest money in a doctor, so he would have the excuse of living in as a resident patient and wouldn’t be alone. But there was a gap of some years before the other gang members were released and Blessington didn’t seem truly fearful until they were actually free. And Trevelyan is more brain than brawn. (His manner was nervous and shy…) I suppose Blessington really did just want to invest his money, and it killed two birds with one stone that his investment could also look after his weak heart.
‘…I have a few thousands to invest, d'ye see, and I think I'll sink them in you.' Where has Blessington got this money from? A “few thousands” is an awful lot of money. Surely it can’t be the proceeds of the robbery, can it? I’m assuming that Blessington got away with no punishment, or a minor punishment after he turned informer. I realise the police would be mainly concerned about the murder, but would Blessington have escaped being charged if the money was still unaccounted for? And even if he had got away without punishment, if the money hadn’t been recovered, wouldn’t the police have been keeping an eye on him? He wouldn’t have been able to be so open about spending cash on a medical establishment. I suppose though, it has been a very long time since the robbery. Plenty of time for Blessington to have earned something lawfully. (Or unlawfully in a discreet way…)
“…he seemed half out of his mind with fear.” I can understand Blessington being cautious, knowing his former associates are free but this acute fear doesn’t seem to tally up with his younger self. He was the worst of the gang. But then I suppose he did turn informer when the evidence against them was by no means conclusive. That maybe gives an insight into his personality. If he’d held his nerve then, they would probably have all got away with it.
"Found a screw-driver and some screws on the wash-hand stand.” They are an excellent clue for Holmes, but it seems odd that the younger gang member hadn’t noticed the hook in the bedroom ceiling on either of the occasions when he went upstairs to look for Blessington. (And so decided the gang’s own equipment would be unnecessary.) But I suppose he may have only gone into the living room, and he was looking for Blessington – he might have paid no attention to the rooms themselves.
”Their names are Biddle, Hayward and Moffat.” [Insert your own joke here.] (I was thinking something along the lines of: we’ve all been left hanging…)
”Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third time, you see, it came off.” Were the gang really hoping to accost, and presumably murder, Blessington in the early evening – Trevelyan downstairs and the servants about? Perhaps they were aware Blessington would be out walking at that time. Maybe the younger gang member was just trying to find out exactly where Blessington slept—they were always planning to kill him in the middle of the night. On the first occasion he was disturbed by a servant and so they had to come back again.
I wonder what becomes of Trevelyan. I’m sure he’ll be all right but I wonder if he’ll be able to keep on the house in Brook Street. None of the furniture belongs to him and he hasn’t had to pay the rent previously, but his practice is successful and he’ll be able to keep all his earnings now. It would be a shame if this awful business set back his career. I suppose a murder on the premises might attract some patients and frighten off others.
Next Sunday, 23rd Feb, we’ll be looking at The Greek Interpreter. Hope you can join us then.
After all these years The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes has cleared something up for me. When I first read the stories, I noticed RESI and CARD had almost the same beginning (Holmes following Watson’s unspoken train of thought), assumed ACD had so liked the sequence that he’d wanted to use it again later on and then stopped wondering about it entirely. But as the NA explains, the two stories were actually from around the same time and had different beginnings when first published in magazine form. CARD wasn’t included in the collected Memoirs (perhaps because of its subject matter) but its beginning was taken and spliced into RESI. (The above link leads to the original version of RESI, incidentally.) I presume I’m the last person to know about this, as usual. *sighs*
So instead of Holmes and Watson dealing with a thermometer of ninety in London in October and Holmes deducing Watson’s train of thought, we have Holmes accidentally ruining his experiment and suggesting a walk now that the autumn weather has improved a bit and the stars have come out.
…it must have been towards the end of the first year during which Holmes and I shared chambers in Baker Street. For three hours we strolled about together, watching the ever-changing kaleidoscope of life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and the Strand. His characteristic talk, with its keen observance of detail and subtle power of inference, held me amused and enthralled. They apparently haven’t known each other that long at this point but they are obviously firm friends. It’s a rather charming portrait of their friendship, content to simply spend time together.
A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers… He was of a sickly colour, and his thin, sandy hair seemed to bristle up… Curious that Trevelyan and Blessington have the same colour hair. And “sandy” is so specific… Could Trevelyan possibly be a long lost illegitimate son—hence Blessington’s interest and sponsorship? Or, as is more likely, has Watson got confused with his descriptions?
I did wonder at first if Blessington had wanted to invest money in a doctor, so he would have the excuse of living in as a resident patient and wouldn’t be alone. But there was a gap of some years before the other gang members were released and Blessington didn’t seem truly fearful until they were actually free. And Trevelyan is more brain than brawn. (His manner was nervous and shy…) I suppose Blessington really did just want to invest his money, and it killed two birds with one stone that his investment could also look after his weak heart.
‘…I have a few thousands to invest, d'ye see, and I think I'll sink them in you.' Where has Blessington got this money from? A “few thousands” is an awful lot of money. Surely it can’t be the proceeds of the robbery, can it? I’m assuming that Blessington got away with no punishment, or a minor punishment after he turned informer. I realise the police would be mainly concerned about the murder, but would Blessington have escaped being charged if the money was still unaccounted for? And even if he had got away without punishment, if the money hadn’t been recovered, wouldn’t the police have been keeping an eye on him? He wouldn’t have been able to be so open about spending cash on a medical establishment. I suppose though, it has been a very long time since the robbery. Plenty of time for Blessington to have earned something lawfully. (Or unlawfully in a discreet way…)
“…he seemed half out of his mind with fear.” I can understand Blessington being cautious, knowing his former associates are free but this acute fear doesn’t seem to tally up with his younger self. He was the worst of the gang. But then I suppose he did turn informer when the evidence against them was by no means conclusive. That maybe gives an insight into his personality. If he’d held his nerve then, they would probably have all got away with it.
"Found a screw-driver and some screws on the wash-hand stand.” They are an excellent clue for Holmes, but it seems odd that the younger gang member hadn’t noticed the hook in the bedroom ceiling on either of the occasions when he went upstairs to look for Blessington. (And so decided the gang’s own equipment would be unnecessary.) But I suppose he may have only gone into the living room, and he was looking for Blessington – he might have paid no attention to the rooms themselves.
”Their names are Biddle, Hayward and Moffat.” [Insert your own joke here.] (I was thinking something along the lines of: we’ve all been left hanging…)
”Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third time, you see, it came off.” Were the gang really hoping to accost, and presumably murder, Blessington in the early evening – Trevelyan downstairs and the servants about? Perhaps they were aware Blessington would be out walking at that time. Maybe the younger gang member was just trying to find out exactly where Blessington slept—they were always planning to kill him in the middle of the night. On the first occasion he was disturbed by a servant and so they had to come back again.
I wonder what becomes of Trevelyan. I’m sure he’ll be all right but I wonder if he’ll be able to keep on the house in Brook Street. None of the furniture belongs to him and he hasn’t had to pay the rent previously, but his practice is successful and he’ll be able to keep all his earnings now. It would be a shame if this awful business set back his career. I suppose a murder on the premises might attract some patients and frighten off others.
Next Sunday, 23rd Feb, we’ll be looking at The Greek Interpreter. Hope you can join us then.
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no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 05:19 pm (UTC)I wonder if there was an element of the younger Doyle's wishful thinking in that arrangement. If so, and if there was no term to it, it could have been made quite a good crime story, even without Holmes.
Myself, I think quite a few people have hair which could be called sandy.
I admit, I would have liked to have known how Blessington was the worst of the gang. Did he instigate the muder, or the whole crime? If the latter, perhaps he was a more experienced criminal, and his money came from earlier, unproven crimes?
Doyle should certainly have taken out that bit about Holmes' skill being not sufficiently accentuated.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 08:28 pm (UTC)Yes, you've got to wonder how Sutton deserved the title of being the worst. He doesn't give that impression in the story. I do like your idea that his money had been squirreled away from earlier crimes. That makes a lot of sense.
I suppose Doyle was just saying that Holmes didn't play a particularly big part in this case. I think by getting Watson to explicitly state that, ACD was hoping to head off criticism ^_^ Holmes does make quite a few interesting deductions in the story though.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 10:14 pm (UTC)