The Adventure of the Paralytic Mendicant
Date - July, 1932
The Case
Flora Jones comes to Praed Street. Her employer, Jabez Horton, has been deathly frightened. Pons quickly determines that an event from Horton’s past can explain the diamond shaped as a miniature dagger that the man received in the post. Pons and Parker set out to Horton’s house in Bury St. Edmunds.
Quotes
Ø Pons: I concede it is highly improbable. One ought not to confuse the improbable with the impossible.
Ø Pons: You are a stubborn man, Parker. I fear I cannot cope with such stubbornness.
Comments
Ø Guymon Diamonds, Ltd, have operations in Capetown, South Africa.
Ø Unlock Sherlock Holmes, Solar Pons has some sense of modesty. The local Police-Inspector, Reginald Martin, mentions that Pons might see something that he himself has missed. Pons replies, “I fear you, like my good friend, Dr. Parker, put too much confidence in my poor powers.”
Even if it was merely said for the sake of courtesy, it still indicates a degree of self-modestly. Holmes once famously quoted that he could not rank self-modesty among the virtues..
Ø The macaw in this case has amazing powers of speech, not just mimicking, but actually varying sentences.
Ø It seems a bit unusual to have five conspirators, all with last names beginning with the letter ‘H.’
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