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The Adventure of the Empty House
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The Adventure of the Empty House
"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 26 September 1903, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1903.
Public pressure compelled Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his survival after his deadly struggle with Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem". This is the first Holmes story set after his supposed death at the Reichenbach Falls, as recounted in "The Final Problem".
On the night of 30 March, an apparently unsolvable locked-room murder takes place in London: the killing of the Honourable Ronald Adair.
Dr. Watson visits the murder scene. He runs into an elderly deformed book collector, later revealed as Sherlock Holmes in disguise. Contrary to what Watson believed, Holmes won against Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls, explaining that he spent the next few years travelling to various parts of the world.
That evening, they enter an abandoned building known as Camden House whose front room overlooks Baker Street. Holmes's room can be seen across the street. In the window is a lifelike waxwork bust of Holmes in profile. At approximately midnight, a sniper, who has taken the bait, fires a specialised air gun, scoring a direct hit on Holmes's dummy. Inspector Lestrade arrests the gunman, who is revealed as Colonel Sebastian Moran, Adair's whist partner and murderer. Holmes describes Moran as having been "the second most dangerous man in London" while Moriarty was still alive.
Holmes speculates that Adair had caught Moran cheating at cards, and threatened to expose his dishonourable behaviour. Moran, who earned a living playing cards crookedly, got rid of the one man who could rob him of his livelihood.
"The Adventure of the Empty House" was published in the US in Collier's on 26 September 1903, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in October 1903. The story was published with seven illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand. It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.
Andrew Glazzard has suggested that the author may have been hinting his audience of the royal baccarat scandal in which Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet, an army officer and tiger hunter, had been accused of cheating at baccarat. He sued his accusers - the ensuing trial notably saw Prince Edward (later King Edward VII) take the stand as a witness. Glazzard also suggests that the oblique references that Holmes makes about his "missing years" are hints to the explorations of Sven Hedin in Tibet and Francis Younghusband's expedition to that country, and also to pro-British espionage in Mahdist Sudan.
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The Adventure of the Empty House
"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 26 September 1903, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1903.
Public pressure compelled Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his survival after his deadly struggle with Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem". This is the first Holmes story set after his supposed death at the Reichenbach Falls, as recounted in "The Final Problem".
On the night of 30 March, an apparently unsolvable locked-room murder takes place in London: the killing of the Honourable Ronald Adair.
Dr. Watson visits the murder scene. He runs into an elderly deformed book collector, later revealed as Sherlock Holmes in disguise. Contrary to what Watson believed, Holmes won against Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls, explaining that he spent the next few years travelling to various parts of the world.
That evening, they enter an abandoned building known as Camden House whose front room overlooks Baker Street. Holmes's room can be seen across the street. In the window is a lifelike waxwork bust of Holmes in profile. At approximately midnight, a sniper, who has taken the bait, fires a specialised air gun, scoring a direct hit on Holmes's dummy. Inspector Lestrade arrests the gunman, who is revealed as Colonel Sebastian Moran, Adair's whist partner and murderer. Holmes describes Moran as having been "the second most dangerous man in London" while Moriarty was still alive.
Holmes speculates that Adair had caught Moran cheating at cards, and threatened to expose his dishonourable behaviour. Moran, who earned a living playing cards crookedly, got rid of the one man who could rob him of his livelihood.
"The Adventure of the Empty House" was published in the US in Collier's on 26 September 1903, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in October 1903. The story was published with seven illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand. It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.
Andrew Glazzard has suggested that the author may have been hinting his audience of the royal baccarat scandal in which Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet, an army officer and tiger hunter, had been accused of cheating at baccarat. He sued his accusers - the ensuing trial notably saw Prince Edward (later King Edward VII) take the stand as a witness. Glazzard also suggests that the oblique references that Holmes makes about his "missing years" are hints to the explorations of Sven Hedin in Tibet and Francis Younghusband's expedition to that country, and also to pro-British espionage in Mahdist Sudan.
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