Holmes and Watson (27 page)

The means by which Watson set about the difficult task of informing Holmes of his intention to marry again were much more devious than is at first apparent. Although he had moved out of Baker Street by 3rd September 1902, he evidently did not inform Holmes of his second marriage until several months later, after the Illustrious Client case had taken place, by which time, as we have seen, Watson was already installed in Queen Anne Street and was practising again as a GP. As the relationship between the two men was perfectly amicable during the Illustrious Client case, for they met at the Turkish baths in Northumberland Street at the beginning of the inquiry and dined twice together at Simpson’s in the Strand during its investigation, one can only assume that at that time Holmes knew nothing about Grace Dunbar or Watson’s feelings for her. We can, I believe, extend this theory and further assume that the marriage had not yet taken place.

It was not until five months later, in January 1903, that Holmes made his comment about Watson deserting him for a wife. The bitterness behind the remark suggests that Holmes had only recently discovered the existence of the
second Mrs Watson. Moreover, Watson played no part in the Blanched Soldier inquiry which Holmes investigated on his own in January 1903 and an account of which he wrote and later published himself, an indication of a break in his relationship with Watson. In fact, it was not until June 1903 that Watson was to become involved in an investigation with Holmes, an account of which is told, curiously enough, in the third person under the title of ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’, the first instance within the whole of the published canon of the use of this narrative form. Indeed, its very unusualness has caused D. Martin Dakin among others to doubt if Watson wrote it, and its authorship has been variously ascribed to Watson’s literary agent, to Dr Verner, who bought Watson’s Kensington practice, and even to the second Mrs Watson. However, I believe that Watson was in fact the author and that he deliberately chose this narrative form in order to indicate a distancing in his relationship with Holmes. Although the breach was to some extent healed, a certain coolness remained between the two men, a state of affairs in which the use of the more impersonal third person seemed more appropriate.

Against this theory it could be argued that the nature of the material demanded this less intimate approach, as many of the events in the Mazarin Stone case occurred when Watson was absent from the scene. Watson was himself aware of the potential difficulties of such a situation. As he states in ‘The Problem of Thor Bridge’, some of the unrecorded cases of which he had kept notes
could only be told as if by a third person as he was ‘either not present or played so small a part in them’ to make the use of the first person viable. However, this had not prevented him in the past from invariably writing in the first person, relying on Holmes to narrate in the form of direct speech those events which Watson himself had not witnessed. Good examples of the use of this technique are seen in ‘The Adventure of the
Gloria Scott
’ and ‘The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual’, both accounts of cases which occurred before Watson met Holmes and in both of which almost the entire narratives are given by Holmes through direct speech.

There is evidence within the account of the Mazarin Stone case to support this theory of a cooling off between the two men due to Watson’s second marriage. Watson has quite clearly not been inside the Baker Street rooms for some considerable time. It has, in fact, been so long that he looks about the room, familiarising himself again with such well-known objects as Holmes’ violin case and chemistry bench. He has not seen anything of Holmes either, for he has to ask Billy the page-boy about Holmes’ state of health, evidence that Holmes has not visited Watson in Queen Anne Street. There is an edginess, too, about their conversation, at least at the beginning of their meeting for, although Holmes expresses pleasure at seeing Watson again in his ‘old quarters’, he goes on to add, as he indicates the gasogene, that he hopes alcohol is permitted and that Watson has not learnt to despise his, Holmes’, pipe and ‘lamentable tobacco’, remarks which I take to
be a sardonic comment on the possible influence of the second Mrs Watson on her husband’s tastes and habits in the intervening months since the two men had met.

Nevertheless, after this initial sarcasm, Holmes quickly relents and the conversation between the two men soon assumes its former, easy familiarity with Holmes teasing Watson and referring to him as ‘my old friend’, although there is a valedictory ring to one of his later comments. When Watson declares that he cannot leave Holmes alone with Sam Merton, a dangerous and desperate man, Holmes replies, ‘Yes, you can, Watson. And you will, for you have never failed to play the game. I am sure you will play it to the end.’

At that period, the acknowledgement that someone had ‘played the game’ was one of the highest compliments one Englishman could pay to another. In praising Watson in this manner, Holmes seems to be looking back over his shoulder, as it were, at Watson’s role in their relationship and, while endorsing Watson’s outstanding qualities as a friend, is also signalling that the time for parting has almost come.

And yet, despite this resumption of their relationship, some lingering reserve remains. It is still evident, I believe, as late as September 1903 at the time of the Creeping Man inquiry, in his account of which Watson admits outright that ‘the relations between us in those latter days were peculiar’. Watson goes on to explain that Holmes had come to regard him as a habit or an institution, like his violin and his shag tobacco. Although Watson had his
uses, Holmes was nevertheless exasperated by a ‘certain methodical slowness in my mentality’ which served to ‘make his own flamelike intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and swiftly’. ‘Such’, Watson adds with a touch of sadness, ‘was my humble role in our alliance.’ There is a similar quality of valediction about these remarks, particularly the last one, as if Watson is also standing back from his relationship with Holmes and seeing it clearly for the first time.

But if Holmes was exasperated by Watson’s slowness of mentality, Watson, too, was annoyed at times by Holmes’ behaviour to an extent which he has not expressed in quite so critical a manner since the early days of 1881–9 when they had first shared the Baker Street lodgings. It was caused by the demands Holmes was making on his time.

His new practice in Queen Anne Street was ‘not inconsiderable’, as he himself describes it. It was also in a fashionable part of the West End and in the heart of London’s most exclusive medical district, centred on Harley Street where all the best and most expensive specialists had their consulting rooms. Holmes’ own physician, Dr Moore Agar, had his practice in Harley Street. Situated not far from Portland Place and within walking distance of Regent’s Park and the gardens of Cavendish Square, Queen Anne Street, which crosses Harley Street, remains much as Watson knew it at the turn of the century, apart from some modern redevelopment. Architecturally, it is more interesting than Baker Street.
The tall houses of four or more storeys with their narrow basements are built in a variety of styles, from the classic simplicity of the eighteenth century with its preference for plain brick or half-stuccoed façades and simple sash windows, to a more exuberant taste for decorated bays, mansard roofs and imposing balustrades.

This third practice must have cost Watson more than the rundown one in Paddington or the smaller one in Kensington, and it is a minor mystery, given his mishandling of his personal finances and his weakness for betting on horses, how he managed to afford it. Grace Dunbar, with dependants relying on her for support, cannot have contributed much from just her governess’s salary, unless Gibson presented her with a cheque when she left his employment as compensation for all she had suffered through his conduct. Watson had, of course, the capital from the sale of the Kensington practice as well as his fees as an author, which he may have augmented by a lucky win at the races or shrewd investment in stocks and shares. However he managed it financially, the move to Queen Anne Street was a step up the professional ladder and there is every sign that, as a newly-married man, Watson threw himself as enthusiastically into making this practice a success as he had at Paddington when he and Mary had first set up home together.

He was certainly kept busy. After he has given medical treatment to Baron Gruner in the Illustrious Client case, Watson has to hurry away as he is ‘overdue’, presumably for one of his own patients. These professional commitments
made him less tolerant of the demands Holmes made on his time. Summoned to Baker Street by one of Holmes’ ‘laconic messages’ at the beginning of the Creeping Man inquiry, Watson was disappointed to discover that the apparent purpose behind the request for his presence was to discuss dogs, about which Holmes was thinking of writing a monograph. ‘Was it for so trivial a question as this that I had been summoned from my work?’ Watson asks himself, not without justification. Although amusing, the contents of Holmes’ message, ‘Come at once if convenient – if inconvenient come all the same’, sound peremptory and also show scant regard for Watson’s professional duties.

Watson expresses a similar impatience during the Creeping Man inquiry, in which Holmes expects him to spend several days at one of the university towns, helping him to investigate Professor Presbury’s strange behaviour. It was, Watson points out, ‘an easy task on the part of Holmes, who had no roots to pull up, but one which involved frantic planning and hurrying on my part, as my practice was by this time not inconsiderable.’ Holmes’ thoughtlessness is inexcusable, as he was perfectly well aware of Watson’s professional commitments. In ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’, he remarks that Watson bears ‘every sign of a busy medical man, with calls on him every hour.’

And yet, despite these occasions when Watson’s tolerance was sorely tried, he still remained a loyal and caring friend. When he heard of the murderous attack
on Holmes during the Illustrious Client case, a ‘pang of horror’ passed through his ‘very soul’ and, for the next six days, he visited Holmes regularly. He was also willing to spend a great deal of time learning about Chinese ceramics at Holmes’ request, even though Holmes, with his love of secrecy, failed to tell him to what purpose this acquired knowledge would be put. ‘By long experience I had learnt the wisdom of obedience,’ Watson remarks resignedly as he sets off to borrow a book on the subject from the London Library in St James’s Square where, incidentally, the sub-librarian, Lomax, is a friend of his.

To return to the subject of Watson’s marriage, I believe that, given the evidence set out above, we can, by making reasonable assumptions, chart out the events leading up to this event. Having met Grace Dunbar again after the end of the Thor Bridge inquiry, Watson continued to meet her clandestinely, keeping all knowledge of their developing relationship secret from Holmes. At some time between June and September 1902, they agreed to marry but Watson, knowing what Holmes’ reaction would be, decided to approach this delicate matter circumspectly. His first action, therefore, was to move out of Baker Street into his own apartment in Queen Anne Street and to resume his medical career. It is not known what excuse he gave to Holmes. It may have been financial; he needed the money. Or he may simply have expressed a desire to return to active practice as a GP.

Although Holmes cannot have been pleased with Watson’s decision, he apparently took it philosophically.
As we have seen, there is no indication of any break in their relationship during the Illustrious Client case. The rift came not long before January 1903 when Grace Dunbar and Watson married, probably quietly in a registry office,
*
and Holmes realised the full extent of Watson’s so-called desertion. In fact, they did not see one another again until June 1903, after which, as has already been observed, there still remained a certain reserve between them.

In setting out the suggested chronology of the cases belonging to this period, I have inserted in italics this other information regarding Watson’s second marriage and its effect on his relationship with Holmes in order that this pattern of events is made quite clear. Readers are again referred to Appendix One for an explanation of the dating of some of the cases and an analysis of the crimes involved. Some of these cases have already been set out in the chronology in Chapter Fourteen. Because of their relevance to the events described above, I have repeated them here.