It was a most enjoyable time reading about the first meeting of Watson and Holmes in "A Study in Scarlet". The first part was as charming as I had expected—even more so. The second part threw me for a loop. Mormons! Utah!
Once Holmes had revealed the mystery of the crime, Doyle reveals the hidden mysteries and motivations of the criminal—which one can certainly empathize with.
"The Sign of Four" was a grand adventure that concluded with a look at the criminal's experiences in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Doyle begs us to examine what we each would have done should we be faced with Jonathan Small's moral dilemmas. It would seem that fate has as much hand in building or destroying a man's character as man does.
Certainly, once Small banded with the bandits, he continued haphazardly down the treacherous Left Hand Path of the Damned without once looking back. Small was not a moral man at all (from youth even), unlike the murderer Jefferson Hope in "A Study in Scarlet". Small was motivated by greed, Hope by hunger for Justice denied.
What is Just in this world? Holmes is no philosopher. Holmes is a cold hard ratiocinating machine, who pauses to philosophy only in the melodic tones of his violin and in the blue clouds of tobacco smoke from his pipe. That Cocaine is fuel for his mind is made obvious by Doyle.
Being a pipe smoker myself, I was tickled by all the pipe smoking and cigar puffing going on at 221 B Baker Street. I am as worried as Holmes is about Watson's engagement to Miss Mary Morstan! Gads! What's to become of their living situation?
Holmes is a more peculiar a character than I had thought. I love this about him. It is a pleasure to behold his intellectual prowess. I only wish that I could hear some of his violin improvisations.
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