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bethanydelleman · 4 months

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New Year's Resolutions for Jane Austen Characters (mid-novel)

Emma Woodhouse: Find a new man for Harriet Smith No more matchmaking! Admit Knightley (and his brother) were right. Meet Frank Churchill, finally.

George Knightley: Just feeling thankful for everything I have. I don't think my life needs to change.

Mr. Woodhouse: Finally convince Isabella to live at Hartfield instead of with her husband. Poor Isabella!

Harriet Smith: Marry Mr. Elton 💗💗💗 *unable to read tear-stained writing*

John Knightley: Spend more time at home with my beloved wife. Why do people invite us places???

Elinor Dashwood: Find a way to get over the most perfect man I've ever met.

Edward Ferrars: Find an honourable way to get out of the engagement with Lucy (same resolution he's had for three years now)

Robert Ferrars: Build a magnificent cottage

Marianne Dashwood: Marry the most perfect man to grace this earth with his beautiful presence, John Willoughby. Also, read more poetry.

Colonel Brandon: *stares at the paper in despair because he cannot bear to give form to his ambitions which seem already impossible*

Elizabeth Bennet: I don't really think there's anything I need to improve about myself. I'm really a great judge of character.

Fitzwilliam Darcy: Remember that duty comes before ephemeral feelings of affection.

Jane Bennet: Find a way to get over the most perfect man I've ever met.

Charles Bingley: Buy an estate (resolution submitted by Caroline & Louisa)

Caroline Bingley: Encourage Charles to finally buy an estate (not in Hertfordshire), get Charles and Georgiana Darcy engaged, get engaged to Mr. Darcy, attend a party with at least three members of the nobility... (too many goals to record here)

Mrs. Bennet: MARRY OFF AT LEAST ONE OF THESE DARN DAUGHTERS

Anne Elliot: find a way to be less awkward around Captain Wentworth... Prepare myself for Captain Wentworth to marry Louisa... Try to endure Bath with a smile

Captain Wentworth: Get out of the obligation to marry Louisa Musgrove by any fair means. PLEASE GOD I AM BEGGING YOU

Captain Benwick: Mourn Fanny for eternity Marry Louisa Musgrove

Catherine Morland: Henry Tilney 💗💗💗💗 Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey 💗💗💗💗 Henry Tilney & Mrs. Catherine Tilney 💗💗💗 *doodles ideas for wedding gowns*

Eleanor Tilney: Marry the love of my life (same goal for the past three years)

Henry Tilney: Keep being awesome

Frederick Tilney: Keep being awesome

General Tilney: Have all my children disposed in marriage to wealthy individuals (goal since Frederick turned 21)

Mrs. Allen: Purchase some very fine lace

Fanny Price: marry edmund Be as unnoticed as possible

Edmund Bertram: Marry Miss Crawford

Mary Crawford: Marry Edmund Bertram

Henry Crawford: Promote William Price, marry Fanny Price. Rub my excellent treatment of Fanny in the Bertram's faces.

Tom Bertram: *never wrote anything down, never does his years are always awesome*

Mr. Yates: Finally put on a production of Lovers' Vows third times the charm!

Mrs. Norris: Save more money than last year by furthering economy. Keep Fanny in her place. Become more necessary to the Bertrams.

Lady Bertram: sew a cute little jacket for Pug

Lady Susan: Keep being the best Gaslight Girlboss *kisses paper*

(if Christmas happened within novel, I tried to place the resolutions around it. If not, I made up a time)

#new year's resolution #happy new year!#jane austen #mansfield park #pride and prejudice #northanger abbey #sense and sensibility #emma #persuasion #lady susan

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blackinperiodfilms · 4 months

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Roger M. Bobb to direct Hallmark Mahogany adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility with an all-black cast.

The period film which takes place in the early 19th century follows the two Dashwood sisters Elinore and Marianne and their widowed mother as they are forced to leave their rich family estate at Norland Park and move to Barton Cottage, a modest home on the property of distant relative. There Elinor and Marianne experience love, romance, and heartbreak while dealing with their new found poverty.

The film stars Deborah Ayorinde (as Elinor Dashwood) Bethany Antonia (as Marianne Dashwood), Akil Largie (as Colonel Brandon), Victor Hugo (as John Willoughby), Martina Laird (as Mrs Jennings) and Victoria Ekanoye (as Lucy Steele).

Executive Producers are Toni Judkins and Tia Smith. Filming locations are Bulgaria, Ireland and London. Sources say that Hallmark is devoting considerable resources on this first of it’s kind production which is slated to be released in February 2024.

(Source)

#Sense and Sensibility #Deborah Ayorinde #Bethany Antonia #Akil Largie #Victor Hugo #Martina Laird #Victoria Ekanoye #Jane Austen

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warrioreowynofrohan · 8 months

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After a reread of Persuasion, I’m thinking about how it relates to Austen’s character types discussed in this post. It stands out from S&S, P&P, and Mansfield Park in not haveing a ‘charming rake’ type as the main male antagonist, but instead a reserved, intelligent, courteous, cold-blooded and selfish man. There is no counterpart to Willoughby, Wickham, or Henry Crawford.

Instead, if Mr. Elliot is a counterpart to any of the characters in Austen’s other novels, he feels like a dark mirror of Darcy. They are both reserved; both (at least at the time of the main plot of the book) place a high value on social status, and look down on commonness and vulgarity. However, while Darcy’s arrogance makes him rude, Mr. Elliot has impeccable manners; and where Darcy in has strong principles and treats the people for whom he is responsible well, Mr. Elliot is a hypocrite and, though voicing good principles, is in fact cruel and uncaring to those who are dependent on him. Mr. Elliot is, really, the type of person that Wickham portrays Darcy as being. The other thing that brought this comparison to my mind is Mrs. Smith’s description of the friendship between her husband and Mr. Elliot, which very much recalls the one between Bingley and Darcy (as an additional note, both Mr. Smith and Bingley are named Charles):

From his wife’s account of him she could discern Mr. Smith to have been a man of warm feelings, easy temper, careless habits, and not strong understanding, much more amiable than his friend and very unlike him - led by him

I think this all goes with one of Austen’s common themes, and one that is especially important to Persuasion - the importance of not marrying in overmuch haste and without good knowledge of and, at a minimum, respect for your partner. Darcy is decidedly not like Mr. Elliot in character - but at the time if his first proposal, for all Elizabeth knew he might have been.

And on the flip side, Frederick Wentworth is not like Willoughby or Wickham - but given the short time Anne had known him when he first proposed, he might have been, and Lady Russell certainly sees that danger. He is, at that time, daring and charismatic, but not prudent, having saved none of the money that he won in his naval career. There’s also another reference to the ‘charming rake’ type in that, like Henry Crawford, he for a while courts two sisters, the elder of whom is attached (though, unlike Maria Bertram, not engaged) to another man. In Wentworth’s defence, he isn’t aware of the latter, and isn’t trying to make them both fall in love with him, just being his (naturally charming) self, and keeping his eyes open for who he might like to marry; and he very nearly gets himself badly entangled and, later, freely acknowledges that as his own fault. Really, Wentworth has elements of all three of Austen’s main male character types, and is the better for it. (Anne herself has, I think, the most in common with Elinor Dashwood in being the only sensible and intelligent person in her family, and in being very perceptive, and with Fanny Price is being rather quiet and imposed upon.)

On the whole, this combination of characters makes the book feel less on the side of intelligence and judgement, and more on the side of a warm and open heart, in making for happiness, whereas S&S and P&P focus more strongly on the need for ‘sense’ and intelligence. Intelligence may well be a necessary quality for a truly good marriage, but it is not a sufficient one, not when it is combined with a cold and selfish heart.

#jane austen #persuasion #pride and predujice #anne elliot #mr elliot #mr darcy #frederick wentworth

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curiousb · 1 year

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The Smith Family Album: Volume IX

(This is a repost, thanks to tumblr shenanigans.)

Things are moving fast for Harriet and Robert.

Very fast! Robert is clearly a man who knows what he wants.

Harriet certainly likes Robert a lot, but whether or not it’s love, she’s not entirely sure yet. But, all she has ever wanted is to get married, and she knows full well that this could be her last chance! So, the answer just has to be yes.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, son Willoughby and his fiancée Margaret have moved in, and are making rather public use of the facilities.

Willoughby’s stats:

~ Aquarius 4 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 5

~ Genius / Dog Person / Family-oriented / Flirty / Schmoozer

~ OTH: Science

~ Favourite Colour(s): Pink / Grey

~ Aspiration: Knowledge / Family

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Alien / +Intellectual / -Rebellious

~ Major: Philosophy (3.2)

~ LTW: Graduate 3 Children

Margaret’s stats:

~ Sagittarius 4 / 5 / 10 / 2 / 4

~ Genius / Dog Person / Computer Whiz / Diva / Can’t Stand Art

~ OTH: Science

~ Favourite Colour(s): Turquoise

~ Aspiration: Knowledge / Family

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Alien / +Intellectual / -Charismatic

~ Major: Mathematics (4.0)

~ LTW: Become Mad Scientist

Harriet returns home in time to sample Margaret’s sushi…

and to say goodbye to an old friend - who gets one final meal at least.

Margaret is so hungry!

What have I told you lot about the hot tub? Sigh - I guess the wedding plans will have to be put on hold.

After an uneventful pregnancy…

Let’s say hello to Merybury’s newest resident, Annemarie Smith!

#sims 2 #gameplay #merybury #harriet smith #robert martin #willoughby smith #margaret brandon #annemarie smith #cat smith #smith family #martin family

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no-side-us · 9 months

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Letters From Watson Liveblog - July 19

The Golden Pince-Nez, Part 2 of 3

A Sign of the Four reference, how interesting! Maybe it's foreshadowing for further in the story, or maybe Doyle/Watson just felt like making a nod to his earlier work. Either way, it's fun to see.

Only Holmes would be able to immediately notice a specific scratch around a keyhole and how it differs from the other, various scratches. I don't blame Hopkins for not seeing the significance.

I don't know anything about coconut matting, but is it made from coconut material? Is that why Watson referenced the "Andaman Islander" earlier, because tropical islands might have coconuts. Or maybe I'm completely wrong, but if Holmes made note of it then I assume it must be important in some way.

Sometimes I assume everything Holmes does is for a case, and that's why I assume he's smoking so many of these cigarettes, cause he has a subtle reason to do so. And I bet that even if he wasn't a smoker at all, Holmes would still smoke them for that reason.

Well, two things to mention here. One, the Professor is a classist and looks down on one of his servants, probably all of them. And two, he's throwing doubt onto young Willoughby Smith's dying words. Now, this could be because of the class thing, or maybe it's because he's involved in some way in the murder.

Wow, the Professor just outright said he doesn't think it was a murder at all. Oddly enough, this makes me think he honestly had nothing do with it. Instead of a guilty party trying to hide evidence of the crime, it feels more to me like a red herring to throw us off. Or not, I don't know.

This is important somehow, but I don't know how. If smoking a lot makes you not eat, and the Professor did eat, then that must mean he didn't smoke a lot. Maybe he is involved. So many uncertainties, that's how you know it's a good mystery.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

#letters from watson #the golden pince-nez #sherlock holmes #john h watson #stanley hopkins #willoughby smith #mrs marker #susan tarlton #professor coram #arthur conan doyle #liveblogging sherlock holmes

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propagatelightmedia · 1 month

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youtube

VHS 3 1) Rocket Man - Captain Kirk 2) Dre's Anatomy 3) Steamed Hams 4) Peter tries rice cakes, but it's set in another dimension 5) Seinfeld - A Stop at Willoughby (Twilight Zone) 6) Smells Like Bean Spirit (partial) 7) Will Smith cooking and eating spaghetti (Dark and Sad Edition) (partial) 8) Seinfeld - A Game of Pool (Twilight Zone) Video Download

#vhs #entertainment #Youtube #will smith #seinfeld #twilight zone #animation #start trek

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janeeyreofmanderley · 8 months

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#Sorry still haven’t read Mansfield park #Jane Austen #pride and prejudice #Northanger Abbey #sense and sensibility #Persuasion #Emma

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thatscarletflycatcher · 1 year

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So, there's this famous quote (and source of many memes) from Northanger Abbey, where Henry Tilney says:

“and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything. Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word.” (chapter 14)

Indeed, Jane doesn't seem to like the word that much, at least in this novel: of the 14 times it is used, 3 happen before this exchange, 10 during it, and then one last time in chapter 29.

It appears

7 times in Pride and Prejudice (used mainly by Lydia, but also by Mrs Bennet, Mrs Gardiner and Lady Catherine);

12 in Sense and Sensibility (by sir John, Marianne, Edward, Mrs Palmer, and Mrs Jennings most of all);

17 in Emma (by Harriet, Mr Woodhouse, Emma, Miss Bates, Mrs Elton, and Mr Weston);

15 in Mansfield Park (by Mrs Grant, Mrs Norris, Mary, Tom, Mr Crawford, Maria, and Edmund);

12 in Persuasion (by Elizabeth, Wentworth, Admiral Croft, Mr Elliot, Mary

But of those, none are used by the narrator in NA; 2 in P&P; 3 in S&S; 5 in Emma; 4 in MP; and 6 in Persuasion (and I'm including all indirect speech). Very nice.

But you know what generic, vague descriptor our beloved Jane loved? fine.

NA: 33 times (18 from dialogue: used my Mrs Thorpe, Mr Allen, Mrs Allen, John Thorpe, Catherine, a miss Thorpe, Isabella, Tilney, and Mrs Morland.)

P&P: 40 times (21 in dialogue: used by Mrs Bennet, Charlotte, Lizzy, Darcy, Caroline, Mrs Gardiner, Mrs Reynolds, and Mr Bennet)

S&S: 29 times (17 in dialogue: used by Willoughby, Marianne, Edward most of all, Mrs Palmer, Anne Steele, and Mrs Jennings)

Emma: 48 times (33 in dialogue: used by Harriet, Mr Woodhouse, Mr Knightley, Emma, Miss Bates, Jane Fairfax, Mr Weston, Frank, Mrs Cole, Mrs Elton)

MP: 67 times (38 in dialogue: used by Mr Rushworth, Lady Bertram, Edmund, Mrs Norris, Fanny, Mrs Grant, Dr Grant, Mr Crawford, William, Mrs Price, Mr Price, and Mary)

Persuasion: 35 times (17 in dialogue: by Mrs Musgrove, Mrs Croft, Charles Musgrove, Sir Walter, Admiral Croft, Captain Wentworth, lady Dalrymple, Harriet Smith).

Not only is fine used much, much more than nice, but nice is most often used by silly or unrefined characters, whereas fine sees more representation of all sorts of characters, and it is used by the narrator specifically, much, much more, not only to describe weather, but to describe people, places, clothes, and so on and so forth.

So, dear Jane, I think we need to talk...

#Jane Austen

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mariana-oconnor · 9 months

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The Golden Pince-Nez pt 3

Last time I came to the decision - entirely logically and data-driven and not at all because he made an incredibly rude comment about one of his servants - that The Professor was a hack, his life's work is founded on a lie and he either commited or is complicit in the murder of Willoughby Smith.

I also came to the conclusion that he smokes too many cigarettes. (1000 a fortnight, you know over a year that's 26,000? And he's getting them imported from Alexandria? Guy has a problem.)

Stanley Hopkins had gone down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who had been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous morning.

Was she stumbling around blindly, because I feel like with the prescription Holmes described, she's going to find it very difficult to get around on her own without her glasses.

I had never known him handle a case in such a half-hearted fashion.

Let's play: Is Sherlock bored, or does he dislike the conclusion to this story?

Even the news brought back by Hopkins that he had found the children and that they had undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's description, and wearing either spectacles or eye-glasses, failed to rouse any sign of keen interest.

So she definitely exists and has been in the area. But Holmes doesn't seem to care about that, possibly because he already knows it must be the case and therefore this is of little concern.

He was more attentive when Susan, who waited upon us at lunch, volunteered the information that she believed Mr. Smith had been out for a walk yesterday morning, and that he had only returned half an hour before the tragedy occurred.

Man goes for walk. Vitally important information. It means that things may have occurred in the house without his knowledge, or that he might have been involved in something on his walk without anyone else's knowledge, such as meeting up with our lady with bad eyesight.

He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane and his glowing eyes towards us.

Why are his eyes glowing? Eyes are not supposed to glow, Watson. Does he have tapetum lucidum? Is he a werewolf? Is he a demon? Has he finally smoked enough cigarettes that he has merged with the cigarette and now he is literally smoking?

Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and between them they tipped the box over the edge.

Second recorded incident of Holmes knocking things off tables like a cat.

I don't know what the cigarettes have to do with all this. I feel like it's going to be obvious. The only idea I can have is that he's part of some sort of artefact smuggling ring and every two weeks he gets a massive batch of 1000 cigarettes but hidden in the package are antiques. But why would that affect his appetite? And clearly he is getting all 1000 cigarettes because he's smoking all day and night. And why would that require Holmes to smoke like fifty in a go before?

So there must be something in the cigarettes? Are the rolling papers money? Are the rolling papers ancient documents? But then he smokes them, so that makes no sense either.

“Yes,” said he, “I have solved it.” Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor. “Indeed! In the garden?” “No, here.” “Here! When?” “This instant.”

You solved it by knocking some cigarettes off the table?

^Holmes and the Professor, probably

I mean, obviously he has connected the dots, he's Sherlock Holmes and he is controlled by the almighty god-writer of his universe who's feeding him all the lines. But still. What can you work out from knocking cigarettes off a table? Did they fall wrong? Or was there something on the bottom of the box?

“A lady yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau. She had a key of her own."

So far, so not what I thought... this is not in keeping with my thoughts that the Professor dunnit.

UNLESS she was looking for evidence that he was a fraud and had previously talked to Willoughby about it, then when he refused to help her - loyal to his employer as he was - she took matters into her own hands.

Her possession of the key intimates that she has at one time had access to this desk. She's one of the previous secretaries that was let go for creative differences. Creative differences that were The Professor being a fraud, obviously (I refuse to believe this man has any academic ethics).

SO using the key that she kept after the termination of her old employment, she snuck in using her knowledge of the household and its schedule. The Professor came upon her and killed her, but knocked her pince-nez off and under the desk as he did so. No clue what he did with the body... put it in a crate of cigarettes?

THEN Willoughby comes back and asks if she came to see the professor, enquires about the allegations she made. The Professor says 'Oh no, dear boy. She hasn't been to see me, and she was a vary fanciful girl. You know what women are like.' Because he's a terrible person.

Then Willoughby finds the pince-nez, recognises them from his previous meeting with the lady and just as he's putting it all together STAB in the neck from the professor, but this time there isn't time to hide the body, the maid, Susan, is already there. the Professor hotfoots it away and leaves Willoughby there, forgetting all about the pince-nez still clutched in his rapidly cooling hand.

There are still some holes, and the cigarettes still make no sense and we have no body, so habeas corpus isn't exactly satisfied. We habeas pince-nez instead.

I could just read the story and find out, I guess.

I really want the professor to be a fraud. I want him to be totally discredited and disgraced. I want it so bad, you guys.

The Professor blew a cloud from his lips. “This is most interesting and instructive,” said he. “Have you no more to add? Surely, having traced this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her.”

This might seem like he genuinely doesn't know what's going on, because he doesn't seem worried. Or, per my hypothesis, he's just an arrogant bastard who's convinced he's smarter than anyone else in the room.

“I will endeavour to do so. In the first place she was seized by your secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape. This catastrophe I am inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury."

Really? Random lady we don't know did it? That would be very unsatisfying. 'Guy dies in room holding glasses belonging to the person who killed him' isn't a very intriguing murder mystery.

"She ran down a corridor, which she imagined to be that by which she had come—both were lined with cocoanut matting—and it was only when it was too late that she understood that she had taken the wrong passage and that her retreat was cut off behind her. What was she to do? She could not go back. She could not remain where she was. She must go on. She went on. She mounted a stair, pushed open a door, and found herself in your room.”

Ah, that's why the shortsightedness is relevant. Should have guessed that was connected.

This is where the Professor kills her and stuffs her under his bed right, then smokes a million cigarettes to cover up the smell of her rotting corpse?

(I'm grasping at straws, let me be)

“And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not be aware that a woman had entered my room?” “I never said so. You were aware of it. You spoke with her. You recognised her. You aided her to escape.”

OK, that was like my... second theory last time? He's complicit in aiding the murderer.

Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter. He had risen to his feet and his eyes glowed like embers.

Demon professor

Y'know, if he went into higher education and got tenure.

God that show freaked me out as a kid. Could not watch it.

“She is there,” said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase in the corner of the room.

OK, I know I suggested he was feeding her and that was why he was eating so much last time, but she's really been hiding in his room this whole time? Behind the bookcase? I guess she can come out when no one else is there, but she's just been living behind the bookcase this entire time?

...at the best she could never have been handsome, for she had the exact physical characteristics which Holmes had divined, with, in addition, a long and obstinate chin. [...] And yet, in spite of all these disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman's bearing, a gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled something of respect and admiration.

Watson: She was ugly, but for some reason I still respected her. It was a very confusing situation for me. This has never happened before.

It's okay, Watson. We all know you're a shallow bitch sometimes and we love you for it.

“Madam,” said Holmes, “I am sure that it is the truth. I fear that you are far from well.”

Yeah, because she's been stuck in this room with the chain-smoker for over twenty four hours and he hasn't cracked a window. Honestly impressed she hasn't suffocated.

“I have only a little time here,” she said, “but I would have you to know the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman. He is a Russian. His name I will not tell.”

Secret Russian! Did not see that coming. I'd ask if that's why the imported cigarettes, but he was getting them from Alexandria, wasn't he? Although there's probably an Alexandria in Russia, there were like fifty gazillion Alexandrias. Every time Alexander the Great stopped somewhere for the night, he called it Alexandria. Now there was a guy who like the sound of his own name too much.

For the first time the old man stirred. “God bless you, Anna!” he cried. “God bless you!” She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction. “Why should you cling so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius?”

You just said you weren't going to tell them his name? I get that's not his full name, but still...

Also, this does not seem like a happy marriage. Not least because no one seemed to know he had a wife and he was hiding her behind the bookcase. Not traditionally a good place to keep one's spouse. Although I suppose it is more original than the attic. Professor Coram/Sergius beats Mr Rochester on that point, I suppose.

“I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and I a foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in a city of Russia, a University—I will not name the place.”

Thirty years is quite a big age gap... I feel like even at the time it would have been larger than average. Also, is she trying to hide things or could ACD just not be bothered to come up with a Russian sounding name?

“We were reformers—revolutionists—Nihilists, you understand. He and I and many more. Then there came a time of trouble, a police officer was killed, many were arrested, evidence was wanted, and in order to save his own life and to earn a great reward my husband betrayed his own wife and his companions."

Firstly, I have now decided that this story is the sequel to Oscar Wilde's play Vera; or The Nihilists. Also, he's a Snitch. I knew I didn't like him. We all know what snitches get...

“Among our comrades of the Order there was one who was the friend of my heart. He was noble, unselfish, loving—all that my husband was not. He hated violence. We were all guilty—if that is guilt—but he was not. He wrote for ever dissuading us from such a course. These letters would have saved him. So would my diary, in which from day to day I had entered both my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken."

So, she was maybe kind of cheating on him? Honestly, they both seem a little terrible. although they might have just been good friends. It's a little ambiguous.

Also, the name of the love interest in Vera; or The Nihilists is Alexis, so... like... Is this deliberate? Admittedly that's not his real name... sort of... but still.

“I must finish,” she said. “When my term was over I set myself to get the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian Government, would procure my friend's release."

But would they though? Would they? Maybe I'm cynical, but are they really going to let one guy go from the gulag just because you sent some letters purporting to be from him saying 'no, we have to be nice little nihilists and not kill people'? You're placing a lot of trust in a government you literally were attempting to undermine and overthrow because you believed it was corrupt.

I'm just saying.

"With this object I engaged an agent from a private detective firm, who entered my husband's house as secretary—it was your second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you so hurriedly. He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got an impression of the key."

So, I was right, one of the secretaries was involved!

Winning!

Also losing, but if you cut up all my theories and put them together you can sort of Frankenstein the right answer.

Still no explanation for the cigarettes, though.

She tore from the bosom of her dress a small packet.

I assume that this did not involve tearing her actual dress and she's not just standing there, tits out, from here onwards. I have to assume that, although the wording is very dramatic, I feel like that would be mentioned.

“Too late!” she said, sinking back on the bed. “Too late! I took the poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims! I am going! I charge you, sir, to remember the packet.”

...

Anna, what have you done?

I have saved Alexis.

(There may possibly be 1 person who understands this... if that's you, hi! Thanks for existing.)

AND THEN, after she dramatically dies right in front of them from self-inflicted poisoning, there's a hardcut to them chatting on the way home.

"When you asked me to believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without once making a false step I remarked, as you may remember, that it was a noteworthy performance."

That does explain the grass, but not the cigarettes. Did you use the smoke to find the hidden room by looking where it blew?

"I therefore smoked a great number of those excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the space in front of the suspected bookcase."

I feel like you didn't need quite that many cigarettes to do this. But also, dropping ash all over someone else's carpet is really rude. I know the Professor's a dick, but it's not like he's the one cleaning up after you. You just gave that poor housekeeper a horrible job and I bet she doesn't have a vacuum cleaner, and even if she does it's a manual one that requires pumping or something like that.

"...by upsetting the cigarette-box, I obtained a very excellent view of the floor..."

You definitely did not need to knock the cigarettes off the table to get a good look at the floor, Holmes. You have on several occasions in the past literally just fallen face first onto the floor to examine it without bothering to say a word. You knocked those cigarettes onto the floor because you wanted to.

"Well, Hopkins, here we are at Charing Cross, and I congratulate you on having brought your case to a successful conclusion."

Not sure how successful it is to turn up with an extra body rather than a prisoner, but I guess the killer found justice??

Not exactly what I'd class as success. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess.

Good for you, Hopkins!

"I think, Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy.”

And Alexis was freed from the gulag, Professor Coram/Sergius died from complications due to smoking and his work was never complete, and everyone else lived happily ever after. Apart from the dead people, who were still dead.

Never would have guessed betrayed Russian nihilist wife trying to free her lover from the salt mines. But really, in hindsight it's so obvious 🤣

And the next one takes place in a famous university town. Is it Oxford or is it Cambridge, that's the question.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Golden Pince-Nez #long post

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