The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
Encyclopedia
"The Adventure of the Abbey Grange", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes
short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes
.
Holmes wakes Doctor Watson up early one morning to rush to a murder scene at the Abbey Grange near Chislehurst
. Sir Eustace Brackenstall has been killed, apparently by burglars. Inspector Stanley Hopkins believes that it was the infamous Randall gang, a father and two sons.
Upon arrival at Abbey Grange, Lady Brackenstall is found resting with a purple swelling over one eye, the result of a blow during the previous night's incident. There are also two red spots on her arm. Her maid
, Theresa Wright, who has been with her mistress since she was a girl, later tells Holmes that Sir Eustace inflicted those with a hatpin.
Lady Brackenstall tells Holmes that her marriage was not happy. Sir Eustace Brackenstall was a violent, abusive alcoholic. Moreover, Lady Brackenstall found it hard to adjust to life in England after the freedom that she enjoyed in her native Australia, which she left 18 months before. She had been married for about a year.
About 11 o'clock, Lady Brackenstall walked around the house to check it was secure before going to a bed. At one window, she says, she found an elderly man who had just climbed in, with two younger ones behind him. He struck her in the face, knocking her out. When she came to herself, she had been tied to an oak
en chair with the bellrope, which they had torn down, and gagged. Then, Sir Eustace came into the room with a cudgel, and rushed the intruders. One of them struck and killed him with a poker. After fainting again, Lady Brackenstall came to and saw the men sharing some wine
. They left with some silver
plate.
Sir Eustace's body is still lying at the murder scene. The poker has been bent into a curve, suggesting a strong attacker. Hopkins tells Holmes some unsavoury things about Sir Eustace: He poured petroleum
over his wife's dog and set it alight, and once threw a decanter at Theresa. Theresa describes Sir Eustace as a vicious abusive husband
who regularly physically and verbally assaulted his wife, especially when he was drunk.
Holmes examines the knots in the bellrope, and the frayed end. Realising that if the bellrope was tugged, the bell would have rung in the kitchen, Holmes asks why nobody heard it. It was late, he is told, and the kitchen is at the back of the house, where none of the servant
s would have heard. Oddly, the thieves did not take much.
The half-empty wine bottle and glasses interest Holmes. The cork had been drawn with the corkscrew of a multiplex knife, not the long corkscrew in the drawer, and one of the glasses has beeswing
dregs in it, but the others have none.
Holmes also draws Watson's attention to the wineglasses. The presence of beeswing in only one surely means that only two people used the glasses, pouring the dregs into the third to make it look as though there were three. Holmes deduces from this that Lady Brackenstall and her maid have been lying.
Upon returning to the Abbey Grange, Holmes climbs on the mantel
, examining the cut end of the bellrope, and a bracket upon which he must kneel to reach it. Holmes has now developed the killer's profile: 6ft 3in (190cm) tall, active, dexterous, and quick-witted. The killer cut the bellrope with a knife, and used the same knife to fray the loose end, but he could not reach the end still hanging from the ceiling. That has clearly been cut clean. Sir Eustace's blood can also be seen on the seat of the oaken chair. How could a splatter have landed there if Lady Brackenstall was bound there before her husband's murder?
After observing a hole in the ice on the pond, Holmes writes a note for Hopkins, and then begins his search for the sailor who fell in love with Lady Brackenstall on her voyage from Australia, for surely that is what the profile and the knots, among other evidence, point to.
Back at 221B Baker Street
, Inspector Hopkins arrives with the news that the stolen silver was found at the bottom of the pond and that the Randall gang has been arrested — in New York
.
Yes, Croker loves Mary (Lady Brackenstall). He came to the house to see her at a window when Sir Eustace burst into the room and insulted Mary before hitting her, and then came at him with the cudgel. There was a fight, and Croker killed Brackenstall with the poker, in self-defence
. Realising what a scandal would ensue, he and Theresa concocted the cover story.
Holmes tests Croker by offering him the chance to escape and telling him that the story would be published after 24 hours. Croker indignantly refuses the offer, seeing that Mary would be sure to be held as an accomplice, and he would never abandon her to such a fate. Rather, he offers to give himself up and face trial as long as Mary's role is kept secret. Thereupon, Holmes decides to let him go free and not to refer the matter to Hopkins — but only after appointing himself "judge" and Watson the "jury". Crocker is found not guilty and Holmes tells him he will keep the secret unless an innocent person is charged with Brackenstall's death and further advises Crocker to wait for a year before seeing Mary again.
As earlier in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
" and later in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
", Holmes lets a proven criminal go free and withholds the information from the police. In the present story as in "The Devil's Foot", it is Holmes's position (which seems to have been the writer's, too) that a man acting to defend his beloved or avenge her deserves sympathy and consideration, even if his acts constituted a serious violation of the law.
One sentence of Holmes's explanation of how he solved the mystery reflect the strict Class system that dominated British society at the time: "No one but a sailor could have made the knots... Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors, and that was on her voyage [from Australia], and it was someone of her own class of life, since she was trying hard to shield him, and so showing that she loved him." Evidently, Holmes categorically rules out the possibility that a lady may have fallen in love with a common sailor — rather than a captain — and be trying to shield him.
Another casual remark exhibiting the difference between mores and conventions at the time of writing and those of the present is given by Croker's explanation of why he decided to trust Holmes: "I'll chance it. I believe you are a man of your word, and a white man". (The last a reference to Holmes's character rather than to the colour of his skin.)
In the present story, the manner in which knots were tied in a rope makes Holmes conclude that they were tied by a sailor, which leads him to Captain Croker. In references to various Sherlock Holmes stories — a sailor is suspected of involvement in the murder investigated, but Lord Peter Wimsey remarks: "One thing I am sure of is that it was not a sailor who put these knots into the rope" (Part 2, Ch. 7).
This story is the one and only place in the Canons where the phrase "The game is afoot" is used.
The Granada TV adaptation with Jeremy Brett
was faithful to the original story, aside from changing the season from late winter to late spring or summer.
The story was adapted for the 1964 BBC series
with Douglas Wilmer. The episode is now lost.
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle.-History:...
.
Synopsis
Chislehurst
Chislehurst is a suburban district in south-east London, England, and an electoral ward of the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
. Sir Eustace Brackenstall has been killed, apparently by burglars. Inspector Stanley Hopkins believes that it was the infamous Randall gang, a father and two sons.
Upon arrival at Abbey Grange, Lady Brackenstall is found resting with a purple swelling over one eye, the result of a blow during the previous night's incident. There are also two red spots on her arm. Her maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
, Theresa Wright, who has been with her mistress since she was a girl, later tells Holmes that Sir Eustace inflicted those with a hatpin.
Lady Brackenstall tells Holmes that her marriage was not happy. Sir Eustace Brackenstall was a violent, abusive alcoholic. Moreover, Lady Brackenstall found it hard to adjust to life in England after the freedom that she enjoyed in her native Australia, which she left 18 months before. She had been married for about a year.
About 11 o'clock, Lady Brackenstall walked around the house to check it was secure before going to a bed. At one window, she says, she found an elderly man who had just climbed in, with two younger ones behind him. He struck her in the face, knocking her out. When she came to herself, she had been tied to an oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
en chair with the bellrope, which they had torn down, and gagged. Then, Sir Eustace came into the room with a cudgel, and rushed the intruders. One of them struck and killed him with a poker. After fainting again, Lady Brackenstall came to and saw the men sharing some wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
. They left with some silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
plate.
Sir Eustace's body is still lying at the murder scene. The poker has been bent into a curve, suggesting a strong attacker. Hopkins tells Holmes some unsavoury things about Sir Eustace: He poured petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
over his wife's dog and set it alight, and once threw a decanter at Theresa. Theresa describes Sir Eustace as a vicious abusive husband
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
who regularly physically and verbally assaulted his wife, especially when he was drunk.
Holmes examines the knots in the bellrope, and the frayed end. Realising that if the bellrope was tugged, the bell would have rung in the kitchen, Holmes asks why nobody heard it. It was late, he is told, and the kitchen is at the back of the house, where none of the servant
Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...
s would have heard. Oddly, the thieves did not take much.
The half-empty wine bottle and glasses interest Holmes. The cork had been drawn with the corkscrew of a multiplex knife, not the long corkscrew in the drawer, and one of the glasses has beeswing
Potassium bitartrate
Potassium hydrogen tartrate, also known as Potassium bitartrate, has formula KC4H5O6, is a byproduct of winemaking. In cooking it is known as cream of tartar. It is the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid, a carboxylic acid.-Occurrence:...
dregs in it, but the others have none.
Observations
Holmes is already annoyed at being called to investigate a case that apparently has a ready-made solution, so he and Watson catch the train back to London. On the way, however, Holmes thinks better of his haste, and pulls Watson off the train at a suburban station, announcing that they are going back to the Abbey Grange. Having had some time on the train to mull things over, Holmes has reached the following conclusions:- The Randall gang was clearly described in the papers, and anyone making up a story about burglars breaking into the house could use the descriptions;
- Burglars who have recently made off with a rich haul don't usually do another job so soon after;
- It was an uncommonly early hour for burglars;
- It is odd that they struck Lady Brackenstall to stop her screaming, as this would most likely start her screaming;
- It is odd that they resorted to murder when the three of them could have overpowered Sir Eustace;
- It is odd that they did not ransack the house;
- It is odd that they didn't drink the entire bottle.
Holmes also draws Watson's attention to the wineglasses. The presence of beeswing in only one surely means that only two people used the glasses, pouring the dregs into the third to make it look as though there were three. Holmes deduces from this that Lady Brackenstall and her maid have been lying.
Upon returning to the Abbey Grange, Holmes climbs on the mantel
Mantel
Mantel is a municipality in the district of Neustadt in Bavaria in Germany....
, examining the cut end of the bellrope, and a bracket upon which he must kneel to reach it. Holmes has now developed the killer's profile: 6ft 3in (190cm) tall, active, dexterous, and quick-witted. The killer cut the bellrope with a knife, and used the same knife to fray the loose end, but he could not reach the end still hanging from the ceiling. That has clearly been cut clean. Sir Eustace's blood can also be seen on the seat of the oaken chair. How could a splatter have landed there if Lady Brackenstall was bound there before her husband's murder?
After observing a hole in the ice on the pond, Holmes writes a note for Hopkins, and then begins his search for the sailor who fell in love with Lady Brackenstall on her voyage from Australia, for surely that is what the profile and the knots, among other evidence, point to.
221B Baker Street
221B Baker Street is the London address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the United Kingdom, postal addresses with a number followed by a letter may indicate a separate address within a larger, often residential building...
, Inspector Hopkins arrives with the news that the stolen silver was found at the bottom of the pond and that the Randall gang has been arrested — in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Conclusion
Holmes, meanwhile, has found the sailor, Captain Croker, who delivers himself to Baker Street, and is surprised not to be arrested. Holmes simply demands a full account of what happened at the Abbey Grange that night, although he has already deduced most of it.Yes, Croker loves Mary (Lady Brackenstall). He came to the house to see her at a window when Sir Eustace burst into the room and insulted Mary before hitting her, and then came at him with the cudgel. There was a fight, and Croker killed Brackenstall with the poker, in self-defence
Self-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
. Realising what a scandal would ensue, he and Theresa concocted the cover story.
Holmes tests Croker by offering him the chance to escape and telling him that the story would be published after 24 hours. Croker indignantly refuses the offer, seeing that Mary would be sure to be held as an accomplice, and he would never abandon her to such a fate. Rather, he offers to give himself up and face trial as long as Mary's role is kept secret. Thereupon, Holmes decides to let him go free and not to refer the matter to Hopkins — but only after appointing himself "judge" and Watson the "jury". Crocker is found not guilty and Holmes tells him he will keep the secret unless an innocent person is charged with Brackenstall's death and further advises Crocker to wait for a year before seeing Mary again.
As earlier in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the seventh story of twelve in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
" and later in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow....
", Holmes lets a proven criminal go free and withholds the information from the police. In the present story as in "The Devil's Foot", it is Holmes's position (which seems to have been the writer's, too) that a man acting to defend his beloved or avenge her deserves sympathy and consideration, even if his acts constituted a serious violation of the law.
One sentence of Holmes's explanation of how he solved the mystery reflect the strict Class system that dominated British society at the time: "No one but a sailor could have made the knots... Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors, and that was on her voyage [from Australia], and it was someone of her own class of life, since she was trying hard to shield him, and so showing that she loved him." Evidently, Holmes categorically rules out the possibility that a lady may have fallen in love with a common sailor — rather than a captain — and be trying to shield him.
Another casual remark exhibiting the difference between mores and conventions at the time of writing and those of the present is given by Croker's explanation of why he decided to trust Holmes: "I'll chance it. I believe you are a man of your word, and a white man". (The last a reference to Holmes's character rather than to the colour of his skin.)
Trivia
Some editions of the canon spell Captain Croker's name as Captain Crocker.In the present story, the manner in which knots were tied in a rope makes Holmes conclude that they were tied by a sailor, which leads him to Captain Croker. In references to various Sherlock Holmes stories — a sailor is suspected of involvement in the murder investigated, but Lord Peter Wimsey remarks: "One thing I am sure of is that it was not a sailor who put these knots into the rope" (Part 2, Ch. 7).
This story is the one and only place in the Canons where the phrase "The game is afoot" is used.
The Granada TV adaptation with Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
was faithful to the original story, aside from changing the season from late winter to late spring or summer.
The story was adapted for the 1964 BBC series
Sherlock Holmes (1965 TV series)
Sherlock Holmes was a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company BBC between 1965 and 1968.-Production:...
with Douglas Wilmer. The episode is now lost.