The Three Locks: Book 4 (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure)

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An object is frequently not seen, from not knowing how to see it, rather than from any defect of the organ of vision.” – Charles Babbage. Small but very picturesque Loch Achray is reached some six miles west of the tourist town of Callander or via the Duke’s Pass north from Aberfoyle.

A fictional college at Cambridge. There is no record of a St. Cedd’s at Cambridge; therefore, Watson must have covered up Leo Vitale's actual college. However… St. Cedd’s was a name used by Douglas Adams in both his Dr. Who episodes and his "Dirk Gently" series, so perhaps there is an older tradition, unknown to us at present, that caused Dr. Watson to hide Leo’s real college by using this name. Adams supposedly based St. Cedd on his own college at Cambridge, St. John’s, pictured here. St. John’s and Trinity are traditionally rivals, since Henry VIII (founder of Trinity) had the St. John founder (Saint John Fisher) executed. It is said that the older courts in Trinity have no “J” staircases for this reason. Throughout the book, starting with the doll with the broken arm (that was never explained fully IIRC), Holmes is convinced that Dillie is in mortal danger. He seems certain that he has missed something with her case. But, here’s the thing: he hasn’t. She was never in danger! Leo & Deacon both loved her and would never have harmed her. The rich kid was marrying her for political reasons, but seemed to generally like her. Her sister spied on her for fun (and because she was nuts). Her dad was an abusive a-hole but this was not a direct threat. Founded by Henry VIII in 1546, and boasting 32 Nobel Prize winners, Trinity is where the aristocratic Freddie Eden-Summers attended and is one of the most picturesque colleges at Cambridge (see photos), as well as one of the most revered. Famous alumni include Francis Bacon, Issac Newton, Charles Babbage, James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Rayleigh, Jawaharlal Nehru, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Lord Byron, A.A.Milne, and Bertrand Russell. Cambridge has always been a leading light in many fields, science in particular. This is the fourth in this really good series which is written so cleverly in the style and spirit of the original Conan Doyle books. The author captures the lead characters perfectly with the long suffering Mrs Hudson putting up with a great deal! There’s a lot going on in this one with parallel investigations which works really well. I really like the magic show element especially as this was a very popular form of entertainment in Victorian times. Of course, Holmes brings his own marvellously individual and observant eye to the proceedings. The storytelling is lively, colourful and atmospheric, it’s amusing in places especially the repartee between Holmes and Watson. The late Victorian era is depicted extremely well and I like how it includes a couple of female characters who, though very unpleasant, show the beginning of the trend of ‘bold women’ who want freedom and independence from the restraints of society’s expectations. There is quite a plethora of unpleasant, rude, imperious and arrogant characters but they do provide for interesting storytelling. Thanks to its sheltered location Loch Achray is popular with swimmers and anglers. The loch is home to brown trout as well as pike, perch and salmon. Look out for woodland and water-based wildlife, too, such as red and roe deer, red squirrels and maybe even a red kite flying above or an osprey fishing on one of the lochs.This beloved composition was originally written in 1680 for three strings and continuo, and while most often played orchestrally, it can be sung. Although it was not well-known in Holmes's time, you've doubtless heard it at weddings, and the joke is that the bass line is hated by cellists everywhere as it simply repeats...and repeats...and repeats. In those more literate times, students learned different forms of poetry and were often required to write examples; it would not be unusual for Holmes and Watson not only to be completely familiar with the form, but to have had to cough up a few themselves in their student days. Arthur Conan Doyle himself dabbled in sonnets. Watson, however, would have made do with something a bit more plain, like one of these, still available today. The men’s tennis shoes sported by Dillie in this chapter would have looked like one of these and would have been noticeably different from typical women’s shoes.

The average depth is about 1.25 metres in the boat channel although some stretches are deeper with the marginal shelves being considerably shallower. https://worldarchery.sport/news/178437/archery-history-sport-pioneered-equality-womens-participation Many Victorian ladies carried a “reticule”, an often beaded, sometimes fringed purse with a drawstring opening or sometimes a metal clasp. Although they were typically smallish, they ranged in size from very tiny, perhaps for a handkerchief, to quite large. Madame Borelli’s had to be large enough to carry her gruesome evidence for Holmes’s inspection. Perhaps it matches one of those in this illustration: The doll in question most likely had a bisque head and arms, real hair, and a soft cloth body. The photo at right shows a doll manufactured by Simon & Halbig, a pre-eminient German doll company, in 1899. She has a distinctive face, and one can well imagine such a doll could be commissioned to look like a specific little girl. Holmes queries Dillie on why she would not consider Newnham or Girton. Both were colleges for women at Cambridge founded at roughly the same time, a bit before this story takes place. At the time, women were not allowed at the Universities, although they were allowed to audit classes, providing the professor permitted. In 1863, some girls sat for exams at Cambridge, but no female matriculated from Cambridge until….wait for it….degrees were finally awarded in 1948!!!!!!It may be that Watson’s Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century readers were not ready to embrace a gallery of strong, assertive women who transcend the roles and constraints assigned them in Victorian England. (Watson, while he lived, allowed his readers a glimpse of only one such creature, THE woman, Irene Adler). Watson, as a doctor, well knew the dangers of opium-laced medicines particularly on such a sensitive nervous system as that possessed by his friend. That Holmes was attempting to calm his hyperactive state with repeated doses of baby soother was highly dangerous. Particularly if he was combining it with cocaine.

Madame Borelli would have been much more likely to have taken aim with a Derringer, of convenient size and perhaps an elegant design, such as the one below from 1866, some years before our story.Here is a recipe for “Pomade Victoria” from The New Cyclopaedia of Domestic Economy, and Practical Housekeeper: One can avoid such scarring, with care. A ridiculously detailed video on arm guards can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=SwYM0A14C_k It was definitely an addicting story and I couldn’t put it down. The interactions between Holmes and Watson were great to read and the development of the story as it unravelled had me intrigued. Link to The Woodmen: https://www.archerylibrary.com/books/badminton/docs/chapter15/chapter15_1.html

Please be aware that bikes and pedestrians have two way access to the drive so please remain wary when driving around corners and hills and allow space for bikes and walkers to pass. While Beretta is one of the oldest gun-making firms in the world, Madame Borelli’s pistol in this scene could not have been one. The company began manufacturing its first semi-automatic pistol thirty years later, in 1915, similar to the one pictured below: Theories that Greek and Roman statues were “classically all white” and that Egyptian statues (like that of Queen Nefertiti, to the right) were painted—supposedly an indicator of cultural differences—are simply wrong. It’s just that the paint survived more easily in the dry climates of desert countries.

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Why have they have only come to light in the Twenty-first Century? Bonnie speculates that it may be because they disclose certain personal details that may have endangered Holmes. I can conjecture two other reasons. During the Enlightenment, the French genius Jean-Antoine Houdon carried this idea farther, indicating even the colour of the eyes by the depth of the carving of the iris (shallower for light eyes). A detailed description of Houdon’s technique can be found in this terrific article in the Washington Post. The same passion for the Middle Ages that fuelled Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary efforts, and indeed the whole Gothic Revival in art, architecture and decor, ignited a passion for archery, one of the few sports in which women were welcomed quite early. Royalty’s passion for archery since the late Medieval era gave the sport even more cachet. Some think Anne Boleyn’s archery skills helped her gain the unfortunate attention of Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I herself was an archer.