Canon Discussion: The Noble Bachelor

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week we’re having a look at The Noble Bachelor. I’ve typed up a few thoughts to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!

It was a few weeks before my own marriage… “Born in 1846. He's forty-one years of age…” So, apparently Watson is about to get married in 1887, the year before he met Miss Morstan. Any thoughts..?

...the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs… In STUD, Watson mentions the bullet struck him on the shoulder (and I think the implication is that the bullet is no longer in his body) and in SIGN, he says he’s had a Jezail bullet “through” (which again, suggests to me the bullet left his body) his leg. Here he’s very vague about where he’s been shot and the bullet is definitely still in his body. I await with interest any possible explanations…

"Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van.” Again, in her last acd_holmesfest story, thesmallhobbit came up with a cracking explanation of what this case was about, but has anyone else got any thoughts?

...the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor… Lord St. Simon is patently getting married for the money, but what is the implication here? Is his father putting pressure on him to bring money into the family? Or is the implication that St. Simon can’t look to his family for financial support, and so has decided himself to find a rich bride?

Lord Robert St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral… It’s noticeable that neither his father nor his elder brother attend the wedding. (Unless Lord Backwater is the elder brother...)

"The King of Scandinavia." "What! Had he lost his wife?" Any thoughts on what the King’s case may have been about?

“...Miss Flora Millar… was formerly a danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom for some years.” Lord St. Simon and Miss Millar have had a relationship for a long time—could there possibly be a child or children..? And though St. Simon seems quite cold towards Miss Millar now (“...she heard that I was about to be married…” Did he not even tell her to her face that he was getting married?), might he have loved her at first? Or was the length of the relationship down to convenience? Did he not want to get married for so long because he was in love with Miss Millar (and social rules meant he couldn’t marry her), or was it simply that he didn’t want the responsibility of a marriage?

“I have not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of complaint against me…” But what will be her financial situation now? Will the affair be resumed? Will St. Simon continue to support her? It’s doubtful she could go back to being a “danseuse”. What is her future going to be like? It would be patronising to Miss Millar to see her simply as a victim—she must have had some idea of what she was getting into. But I think she has been treated unfairly—she gave up her old life to follow her heart and be an unofficial wife, and once dropped, was apparently expected to just disappear.

"The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our visitors had left us… I wonder what the future holds for Mr. and Mrs. Moulton… It’s nice to see them getting their happy ending. And I wonder what’s in the cards for St. Simon—another rich heiress perhaps? Or will he stay a bachelor?

Next Sunday, 19th April, we’ll be having a look at The Beryl Coronet. Hope you can join us then.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The real problem with Flora Millar was she wouldn't bring any money in. A woman with a dowry would instantly become a lady and therefore appropriate for marriage.

The bullet went through Watson's leg, ricocheted back through his shoulder and from there into his arm which he had raised to protect his chest, unaware that he would be hit from behind.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the thing - I suppose Miss Millar and Mrs. Moulton come from broadly similar backgrounds. It's having a rich father that makes the difference.

And I do believe you've cracked it! *applauds* Very well worked out - that does make perfect sense ^^ Though poor Watson. Talk about unlucky...

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

With the fuss Flora makes about losing him, I do feel she'd take him back. I'm not even guessing the proportion of affection to economics. After all, he did have a small estate, so he wasn't going to starve. Maybe I'm being sentimental, but I don't think if there was a child he would have dismissed her so finally.

The brother, at least, might have had diplomatic/military duties which took him overseas. The father was probably very old, St Simon sounds not so young himself.

I think Watson's careful to mention how, when St Simon writes to Holmes, he tells him it's up to Holmes to arrange his schedule for St Simon's convenience.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure she would want to take him back. I think she felt angry and humiliated - St. Simon just abandoning her like that - but once she'd calmed down, she might have viewed things differently. Realised how little she meant to him. Of course though, from a financial viewpoint, she might have no choice but to take him back.

And I don't think he'd be so heartless as to stop supporting any children, but I do think he'd be heartless enough to leave their mother and stop seeing them. Though there's always the possibility he expected to have both: Hatty and her money (and possibly legitimate heirs) and the relationship with Flora. Perhaps Flora was angry simply because there was going to be another woman, rather than St. Simon was going to leave her altogether.

You're quite right - St. Simon is 41, so his father must be quite old. Perhaps it was a combination of age and ill health that kept him away from the wedding. And, yes, it does seem possible that the elder brother might have had duties elsewhere.

And Watson is rather subtle, I think, in the way he illustrates what a pompous fool St. Simon is sometimes ^^