I haven't read it in a while, but I'm really fond of this story. One of my favorite lines in the canon is here, when Mr. Munro says, "I'm not a very good man, but I think I'm a better one than you've given me credit for" and swings that little girl up in his arms. It's one of the happiest conclusions to a case I can remember, and Watson seems to think so to -- "his response was one of which I love to think." So warm.
I also love it when Holmes acknowledges that he's not perfect and gently pokes fun at himself, as in his "whisper Norbury in my ear" final exchange with Watson. This whole story is just full of people showing their good sides :)
Re: the mystery of Grant being called Jack, I think it's possible that Mr. Munro simply didn't like his Christian name (or the kids he went to school with made fun of him for it) and so he decided to go by a nickname instead. This is what happened to C.S. Lewis. He hated both his first and middle names (Clive Staples), and so started going by "Jack" when he was a boy and it stuck throughout his life. All his friends called him Jack, as did his wife, despite it being no part of his legal name.
The thoughts you raise about Lucy and her future made me think of songstersmiscellany's blog -- she's posted some lovely photographs of African Americans in that time period:
Vintage photographs of black Victorians (http://songstersmiscellany.tumblr.com/tagged/black-victorians)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2015-05-18 03:50 am (UTC)I also love it when Holmes acknowledges that he's not perfect and gently pokes fun at himself, as in his "whisper Norbury in my ear" final exchange with Watson. This whole story is just full of people showing their good sides :)
Re: the mystery of Grant being called Jack, I think it's possible that Mr. Munro simply didn't like his Christian name (or the kids he went to school with made fun of him for it) and so he decided to go by a nickname instead. This is what happened to C.S. Lewis. He hated both his first and middle names (Clive Staples), and so started going by "Jack" when he was a boy and it stuck throughout his life. All his friends called him Jack, as did his wife, despite it being no part of his legal name.
The thoughts you raise about Lucy and her future made me think of songstersmiscellany's blog -- she's posted some lovely photographs of African Americans in that time period:
Vintage photographs of black Victorians (http://songstersmiscellany.tumblr.com/tagged/black-victorians)