Canon Discussion: The Beryl Coronet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

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

Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. We’ve discussed Holmes’ soothing way with clients before—especially with Mrs. Warren in REDC: Holmes leaned forward and laid his long, thin fingers upon the woman’s shoulders. He had an almost hypnotic power of soothing when he wished. I think how he behaves with Holder makes clear that Holmes treats male and female clients equally in this way—it isn’t just women that have to be calmed down.

The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting against his emotion. It’s difficult to believe that Holder is a successful business man… He behaves so incredibly unprofessionally, taking a priceless coronet home instead of leaving it in a safe, and then proceeding to discuss it with his family.

"'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have 50,000 pounds at once...’” This is a huge amount of money—the equivalent of a few million today. Any thoughts on what the nobleman wants the money for—at such short notice and for such a short period of time?

"'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' said I.” This is all very dodgy… Even if the nobleman didn’t pay back the loan, Holder couldn’t keep the coronet. And I don’t think we can class what the nobleman is doing as theft—he has no intention to permanently give away the coronet—but he certainly doesn’t have the right to use it as security.

"Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." I do have some sympathy for Miss Holder. Her life is so limited—her choices appear to have been either being her adoptive father’s housekeeper or marrying her cousin. (The line “Besides, she is not so very young. She is four-and-twenty" is rather heartbreaking.) You can see why Burnwell turned her head, and the phrase is “madly in love” with good reason. But attempting to deflect the suspicion towards Lucy Parr is pretty awful. Miss Holder is clearly in great distress about the situation but she could simply confess in order to get her cousin released.

“And there is a little reward, I fancy.” Holmes constantly talks about how an interesting case is more important to him than money but here he is pocketing £1,000… Perhaps he’s just being sensible—that amount of money will support him for a while, so he can then choose whatever cases he likes.

“...there has been an understanding between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fled together." But have they fled together? Miss Holder’s note implies that is what has happened (“Do not worry about my future, for that is provided for…”). However, it doesn’t seem likely that Burnwell is truly interested in her—she was just another conquest. And Holmes has assured him he won’t be prosecuted. (“...a prosecution must be avoided to avert scandal.”) Did Mary hope that Burnwell would come with her but he refused? Or if he did go with her, does this mean he loved her after all?

“Off I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 pounds apiece.” Does Holmes really have access to £3,000 of his own money? Surely a fence wouldn’t be satisfied with merely a promise of the money once Holmes had got it from Holder.

“...whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient punishment." Is Holmes right to stay out of Miss Holder’s decision to run away? (I’m sure he could find her if he wanted to.) And is this necessarily a tragic ending for her? Her cousin loves her dearly—mightn’t he try and search for her? And though Victorian England is a hard place for an unmarried woman, perhaps if she’s run away on her own, this might be the start of a better life for her—one in which she isn’t limited by her uncle’s expectations.

Next Sunday, 26th April, we’ll be having a look at The Copper Beeches. Hope you can join us then.

Comments

[debriswoman]

I was a little concerned about the fate of the niece and hope they would check up on her. Seems almost as casual a dismissal of her future as Mary Sutherland; both leading sheltered confining lives at the service of others, and judgement faltering when a way out seems possible.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Unless the niece is not quite as sheltered as it would appear. She was happy enough to shift the blame onto the maid. Had she been truly remourseful I am sure her uncle (who was besotted with her) would have forgiven her. Maybe Holmes realised she had been entirely calculating and, perhaps, had learnt more from Burnwell than he chose to reveal.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether Holder took the coronet home and told his family about it because he wished to boast about his standing and impress on them how important he was. He seems to be so wrapped up in himself he fails to see what either his niece or his son are truly like.

[tripleransom.livejournal.com]

Sir George must be some gambler if he ran up that kind of debt.

Mary really gets the short end of the stick in this story. Holder implicitly blames her for his son's misdeeds, by telling her that if only she would have married him, he would have been all right instead of falling into low company.

She's clearly had a proper Victorian upbringing. She's been so completely sheltered that she has no understanding of cads like Sir George, and yet, when she falls for him, everyone blames her for doing so and then they simply write her off. "Too bad, she's 'fallen' now. Sucks to be her." is the general attitude. Holmes is particularly cold-blooded in the way he dismisses her.

[debriswoman]

Interesting thought...to have Mary as main villain...George Burnwell already had a reputation...seems more likely to have had the upper hand.

[debriswoman]

She would appear to have had more to lose than George did

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

But it is a slightly different situation - Miss Sutherland was entirely innocent. Miss Holder has committed theft, betrayed her uncle and then tried to direct suspicion towards Lucy Parr. Yes, she was a sheltered woman who was probably corrupted by Sir George. But she is an adult and perhaps Holmes feels she has to take the consequences of her choices. Or perhaps he genuinely does think he won't be able to find her.

I definitely don't think the uncle completely dismisses her. From what he says at the end ("As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now.") I think he still cares about her, and would take her back into his household. Maybe he or his son will try to look for her.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

It has to be said that for a successful banker, Holder is rather unworldly and childlike. (As you say, he's wrapped up in himself.) He is so easily impressed by the mysterious nobleman, and takes possession of the coronet against his better judgment. I would have thought a banker would be a hardhearted businessman, impressed by no-one.

Perhaps he was trying to show off to his family, but I think he was looking for reassurance from them because he was anxious. In either case, odd behaviour from a successful banker.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit strong to say that Holder blames Mary for what his son has apparently done. I think in a sense he means it as a compliment - she would have had the power to keep him from going off the rails.

And as I've commented on your 60, yes, if Mary had been more worldly, she wouldn't have been taken in by Sir George. But she does choose to be a thief and to try and put the blame on the maid.

And I'm not sure everyone does write her off. We don't know how Arthur feels - he may want to go after Mary immediately he is released. The uncle seems to still care about her: "As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." That implies to me, he does want to find her. And maybe Holmes does genuinely believe he won't be able to track her down (though I can't really believe this myself). In any case, I personally think his final sentence suggests a kind of sympathy, rather than cold-bloodedness.

[debriswoman]

Fair comments...not as innocent as Mary Sutherland, certainly...and George, presumably, will carry on as he did before.

I wonder what the coronet lost in value, following essential repairs?

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I suppose for the coronet, you can't really think in terms of a loss in value. Because it can never be sold - it truly is priceless. But you've got to wonder how the nobleman is going to explain away the need for repairs. Is he going to be able to keep that quiet..?

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

I love the thesmallhobbit 's suggestion about Mary Holder being the senior partner, and the speed of the theft makes it very convncing. Of one detail: myself, I got the impression that she didn't deliberately set out to frame Lucy, but just grabbed an excuse for being at the window. Another extenuation, I can see marrying a cousin she'd been raised with might have seemed a bit incestuous to her, and she was very eager for an alternative.

My own askance is looked at Holder. This pawning seems to be rather shady, to put it mildly, and I'm wondering why the Prince or whoever (He does seem meant to be like the Prince of Wales) came so straight and confidently to him? I wonder if Holmes checked his record. Holder might have taken the coronet home to keep it out of the way of his more honest partner.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I would agree that Mary didn't plan to frame Lucy Parr - when she (truthfully) told her uncle that Lucy had been out to see someone at the gate, she was merely trying to divert attention away from what she herself had been doing at the window.

But later when Holmes mentions Lucy to her, she says: "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." That seems to me to be a deliberate attempt to put suspicion on Lucy Parr. Mary had no need to say that - Holmes was just asking about the maid going out to see her sweetheart.

I would agree that Mary might feel uncomfortable marrying a cousin she had been living with as a brother - though she had only been living in her uncle's house since she was 19. It's not as though they'd been brought up as children together. But, yes, I could imagine she was hoping to marry someone else. I just don't think this can be considered extenuating circumstances for committing theft though.

That is a very interesting thought - the mysterious nobleman knew that Holder was a bit shady himself and that's why he went to him. But I'm not sure I buy it. I would consider perhaps that the nobleman thought Holder was someone foolish enough to take the coronet as security.

[metanewsmods.livejournal.com]

May we link this on metanews? We also post on DreamWidth and Tumblr.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! That would be great - thank you very much ^^

15 April 2015-21 April 2015 Part 2

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User metanewsmods referenced to your post from 15 April 2015-21 April 2015 Part 2 (http://metanews.livejournal.com/35138.html) saying: [...] l addition to your accounting practice?" fandom:acdsherlock Canon Discussion: The Beryl Coronet [...]