“making my excuses” [SCAN]
And yet, that is exactly the position Watson placed him in when he tested Holmes's powers in the opening of The Sign of Four.
Handing Holmes a pocket watch, Watson asks him for his “opinion upon the character or habits of the late owner,” who happens to be, unknown to Sherlock Holmes, Watson's own brother.
And in doing so, Watson admits to setting a trap for Holmes:
“I handed him over the watch with some slight feeling of amusement in my heart, for the test was, as I thought, an impossible one, and I intended it as a lesson against the somewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed.”
Holmes quickly surveyed the watch and gave this excuse: “The watch has been recently cleaned, which robs me of my most suggestive facts.”
In his mind, Watson took the victory lap:
“In my heart I accused my companion of putting forward a most lame and impotent excuse to cover his failure. What data could he expect from an uncleaned watch?”
However, the excuse submitted by Holmes was unnecessary, as he was able to discern a good number of facts about the watch's owner, who happened to be Watson's older brother:
“He was a man of untidy habits,—very untidy and careless. He was left with good prospects, but he threw away his chances, lived for some time in poverty with occasional short intervals of prosperity, and finally, taking to drink, he died. That is all I can gather.”
That'll teach anyone to doubt Sherlock Holmes. Meanwhile, it's not clear that the lessons taught at Baker Street Elementary are getting through...
Baker Street Elementary follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at www.bakerstreetelementary.org.
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