One wretched November night, Inspector Stanley Hopkins visits Holmes at 221B Baker Street to discuss the violent death of Willoughby Smith, secretary to aged invalid Professor Coram. Coram had dismissed his previous two secretaries. The murder happened at Yoxley Old Place near Chatham, Kent, the fatal weapon being a sealing-wax knife belonging to the professor. Hopkins can identify no motive for the killing, with Smith having no enemies or trouble in his past. Smith was found by Coram's maid, who recounts his last words as "The professor; it was she."
The maid further told Hopkins that before the murder, she heard Smith leave his room and walk down to the study; she had been hanging curtains and did not see him, only recognising his brisk step. The professor was in bed at the time. A minute later, a hoarse scream issued from the study, and the maid, hesitating briefly, entered and found the murder. She later tells Holmes that Smith went out for a walk not long before the murder.
The murderer's only likely means of entry was through the back door after walking along the path from the road, and Hopkins found some indistinct footmarks running beside the path, the murderer obviously seeking to leave no trail. Hopkins could not tell whether the track was coming or going, nor whether made by big or small feet.
The professor's study contained a bureau; nothing seemed to have been stolen. Its drawers were left open, as was normal, and the cupboard in the middle was locked. The professor kept the key.
Hard bridge pince nez glasses with chain and ear hook.
A lone piece of evidence was found in Willoughby Smith's hand: a pair of golden pince-nez spectacles. Holmes examines these and from them alone deduces the following details of the murderer:
It is a woman;
She is of some good breeding;
She dresses like a lady;
She is a person of refinement and is well dressed;
She has a thick nose;
Her eyes are close together;
She has a puckered forehead, a peering look, and likely rounded shoulders;
She has been to an optician at least twice over the last few months.
Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Hopkins head to Yoxley the next morning, and Holmes carefully examines the site. In the study, he notices a recent scratch on the bureau and reasons the murderer intended to access its contents. Smith was killed as his presence interfered with the burglary. No-one saw the murderer leave, nor did anyone hear a door opening. Holmes notes that both the corridors, the one leading from the back door and the one leading to the professor's bedroom, are about the same length and lined with coconut matting.
Holmes interviews the professor in his bedroom, smoking many Egyptian cigarettes and dropping the ashes all over the floor. The professor claims utter ignorance regarding the murder and ventures that Smith's death may be suicide. Holmes asks about the locked cupboard in the bureau. The professor hands over the key. Holmes inspects the key and returns it immediately, leaving the bureau sealed.
Watson asks Holmes if he has a clue, and Holmes tells him the cigarette ashes might reveal the truth. Holmes meets the housekeeper in the garden and has a seemingly unimportant conversation about the professor's eating habits; apparently, he has eaten heavily today. In the afternoon, the three men return to the professor in his room, and Holmes deliberately knocks the cigarettes over as an excuse to get a closer look at the floor. Holmes' suspicion is confirmed – there are footprints in the ash. At that moment, the murderer, appearing exactly as Holmes deduced, emerges from a hiding place in a bookcase.
The mystery's explanation is revealed as: the woman came in secret to the professor's house to obtain some documents, using a duplicate key she gained from one of the former secretaries. She was surprised by Smith, whom she attacked with the nearest object to hand, the sealing-wax knife; she had not intended to kill him. She lost her pince-nez in the scramble to escape; unable to see clearly, she turned along the wrong corridor and wound up in the professor's room. Although surprised, he hid her. The murderer is, in fact, the professor's estranged wife, Anna, and they are both Russian. Years prior, the pair had been involved with nihilists; she and a non-violent nihilist friend were both betrayed by the professor for gain. Having finished her jail sentence in Siberia, Anna came in search of evidence that would exonerate her friend.
Anna committing suicide, 1904 illustration by Sidney Paget
Anna had met Smith while he was taking his walk, explaining Smith's last words. The professor's increased appetite is, of course, explained by his having to feed a second, hidden person. Shortly after the final revelations, Anna dies from poison she took while in hiding. Her last wish is to ask Holmes to deliver the documents to the Russian Embassy, which he duly fulfills.
Publication history
"The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez" was published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in July 1904, and in the US in Collier's on 29 October 1904.[1] The story was published with eight illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand, and with six illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's.[2] It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes,[2] which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.[3]
The television adaptation with Jeremy Brett, in the Granada TV television series Sherlock Holmes, differs slightly. A heavily bearded member of the Russian Brotherhood lurks in the garden, and administers final justice to the villainous Professor. Anna's key was her own original. Dr. Watson is replaced by Sherlock Holmes's brother, Mycroft Holmes, due to the unavailability of Edward Hardwicke for the episode and, instead of Sherlock Holmes dropping cigarette ash on the floor, Mycroft scatters snuff. During Holmes' brother's investigation at the crime scene with Inspector Hopkins, Sherlock Holmes mumbles about the irony that their father gave his magnifying glass to Mycroft who has always been depicted as lazy and lethargic. Also, Mycroft Holmes remarks that their father always told them, "eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". He then adds, "I forget his exact words, but those are near enough."
John Gielgud played Holmes and Ralph Richardson played Watson in a radio adaptation that aired on NBC radio in April 1955.[9] In the radio adaptation (also known as "The Yoxley [or Yatsley] Case"), Anna kills herself with a pistol rather than by poison.
In 2023, the podcast Sherlock&Co adapted the story in a three-episodes adventure called "The Golden Pince-Nez", starring Paul Waggot as Watson and Harry Attwell as Sherlock.
Related Research Articles
Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character appearing in stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1893 to 1908. The elder brother of detective Sherlock Holmes, he is a government official and a founding member of the Diogenes Club. Mycroft is described as having abilities of deduction and knowledge exceeding even those of his brother, though their practical use is limited by his dislike of fieldwork.
"The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927). It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1921, and was also published in Hearst's International in the United States in November 1921.
"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow (1917), and is the second and final main appearance of Mycroft Holmes. It was originally published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and in Collier's in the United States in 1908.
"The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. The story was originally published in The Strand Magazine (UK) and Harper's Weekly (US) in September 1893. This story introduces Holmes's elder brother Mycroft. Doyle ranked "The Greek Interpreter" seventeenth in a list of his nineteen favourite Sherlock Holmes stories.
"A Case of Identity" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is the third story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It first appeared in The Strand Magazine in September 1891.
"The Adventure of Black Peter" is a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle. This tale is in the collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was originally published in Collier's (US) in February 1904 and in The Strand Magazine (UK) in March 1904.
"The Problem of Thor Bridge" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle collected in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927). It was first published in 1922 in The Strand Magazine (UK) and Hearst's International (US).
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the seventh story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.
"The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the ninth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in The Strand Magazine in March 1892. Within the narrative of the story, Dr. Watson notes that this is one of only two cases which he personally brought to the attention of Sherlock Holmes.
"The Adventure of the Second Stain", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) and the only unrecorded case mentioned passively by Watson to be written. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in December 1904, and was also published in Collier's in the United States on 28 January 1905. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Second Stain" eighth in his list of his twelve favourite Holmes stories.
"The Adventure of the Dying Detective", in some editions simply titled "The Dying Detective", is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories that were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published in Collier's in the United States on 22 November 1913, and The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in December 1913. Together with seven other stories, it was collected in His Last Bow.
"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the second tale from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Collier's (US) on 31 October 1903 and in The Strand Magazine (UK) in November 1903.
"The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published in Collier's in the United States on 26 March 1904, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in April 1904. It is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905).
"The Adventure of the Abbey Grange", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905). It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in September 1904, and was also published in Collier's in the United States on 31 December 1904.
"The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" is one of the fifty-six Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. One of eight stories in the volume His Last Bow, it is a lengthy, two-part story consisting of "The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles" and "The Tiger of San Pedro", which on original publication in The Strand bore the collective title of "A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes".
"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" from 1910 is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow.
"The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One of the 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927), it was first published in Collier's in the United States on 25 October 1924, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in January 1925.
"The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" is the last of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The story is part of the short story collection The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the US in Liberty in March 1927. It was published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in April 1927. The original title "The Adventure of the Black Spaniel" was changed before publication.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a 1905 collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903–1904, by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were published in the Strand Magazine in Britain and Collier's in the United States.
This article describes minor characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and from non-canonical derived works. The list excludes the titular character as well as Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, Irene Adler, Colonel Moran, the Baker Street Irregulars, and characters not significant enough to mention.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
