| "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" | |
|---|---|
| by Arthur Conan Doyle | |
| Released | 1927 |
| Series | The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes |
| Client(s) | John Mason |
| Set in | 1902, according to William S. Baring-Gould |
"The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place", is the last of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes first published Strand Magazine October 1921 - April 1927.[1] The original title "The Adventure of the Black Spaniel" was changed before publication.[2]
Contents |
Shoscombe Old Place will fall to creditors, unless Sir Robert Norberton wins the Derby in three weeks. But his sister, the owner of the racing Park, Lady Beatrice Falder, has taken to drink. He gave away her beloved pet, from their special spaniel breed, to Josiah Barnes, local innkeeper, maybe because the dog now attacks her. Head trainer John Mason suspects the Norlett servant couple, meetings at the crypt, and burnt bones, so calls in Holmes and Watson.
In the 1991 Granada Television The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes series adaptation, Jude Law is Josiah (Joe) Barnes, on TV a male servant who cross-dresses, in Doyle, the innkeeper and new dog-owner.
Head trainer John Mason from Shoscombe Old Place, a racing stable in Berkshire, comes to Holmes about his master, Sir Robert Norberton. Mason thinks he has gone mad. Sir Robert’s sister, Lady Beatrice Falder owns Shoscombe, but it will revert to her late husband’s brother when she dies. The stable has a horse, Shoscombe Prince, who Sir Robert hopes will win the Derby. He would be out of debt if that actually happened.
Mason is not quite sure what he wants Holmes to investigate, but a number of odd changes have happened at the stable:
Holmes decides to investigate on the spot. He and Dr. Watson go to Berkshire posing as anglers and learn some interesting things. The innkeeper where they are staying is the one who now has Lady Beatrice’s dog, and it is quite an expensive breed, one that an innkeeper ordinarily could never afford.
With the innkeeper’s permission, Holmes takes the dog for a walk, and goes to Shoscombe, where he releases it as Lady Beatrice’s carriage comes out of the gate. The dog dashes forward enthusiastically at first, but then flees in terror. Then, even though a maid and Lady Beatrice are supposedly the only two people in the carriage, it is a male voice that yells “Drive on!”
Then there is the crypt. John Mason observes that a heap of bones there earlier is now gone. Holmes finds a coffin with a fresh, swathed body in it. Just then, Sir Robert arrives, catching Holmes and Watson in the act. After Holmes makes it plain that he has deduced most of the odd goings-on, Sir Robert invites him and Watson back to the house and explains everything.
About a week earlier, Lady Beatrice died of dropsy, and Sir Robert felt compelled to keep the fact secret so that the creditors would not swoop down on Shoscombe before he had a chance to win the Derby and pay off all his debts. He and the maid’s husband hid the body in the crypt, but also found that they had to dispose of an older body — in the furnace. This same man also dressed up in Lady Beatrice’s clothes and took her place in the carriage each day. The dog knew what had happened and might have given the game away if its noise had aroused suspicion.
Holmes refers the matter to the police, but the story ends happily. Shoscombe Prince wins the Derby, Sir Robert escapes any major judicial penalty for what he did to his sister’s body, and he pays off all his debts with a great deal left over.