The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Synopsis
Holmes is hired by Lady Eva Blackwell, a young débutante, to retrieve some compromising letters from a blackmail artist named Charles Augustus Milverton, a man who causes Holmes more revulsion than any of the 50-odd murderers that he has dealt with in his career. Milverton comes to 221B Baker Street at Holmes's behest, and proceeds to demand £7000 for the return of the aforesaid letters, which if revealed would cause a scandal likely to put an end to Lady Eva's wedding plans. Holmes makes a counteroffer of £2000, explaining that Lady Eva cannot come up with £7000. Milverton knows this is true, but adamantly refuses to budge, and after nearly coming to blows with Holmes and Dr. Watson, he leaves.
Holmes disguises himself and goes out to Hampstead, where he becomes a plumber and endears himself to Milverton's housemaid, even managing to become her fiancé. Watson is most taken aback by Holmes's latest investigative method, but Holmes assures him that in the matter of the housemaid he has a hated rival who will step in once he disappears. Holmes has learnt from his fiancée all there is to know about Milverton's household, even where he keeps his compromising papers. With this knowledge, Holmes and Watson, who insists on coming along despite his friend's objections, set off for Hampstead to burgle Milverton's house, donning masks for the purpose.
Once inside the house, and believing Milverton to be fast asleep in his bedroom, the two men make their way to Milverton's study, which is also the anteroom to Milverton's bedroom. They can hear nothing from the bedroom, but to their astonishment, they discover that the door leading out onto the veranda is unlocked. What could it mean?
Holmes sets about cracking Milverton's safe, taking half an hour to do so, but finally opening it. He and Watson are astonished once again when they hear movement in the house. Someone is afoot. It is Milverton himself, and he comes into the study, though he fails to notice Holmes and Watson, who have hastily hidden themselves behind a curtain. Milverton is preoccupied with something. He paces, he peruses some legal papers, and, fortunately, he also fails to notice that his safe is not quite shut.
A veiled woman arrives at the veranda door and makes her way in; she is evidently the visitor for whom Milverton had been waiting. She proceeds to blame Milverton for her ruin, finally showing her face. No name is uttered, but Milverton clearly recognises her and knows that what she is saying is true. She then pulls a revolver out and shoots him six times, killing him, before departing without ever knowing that she had witnesses.
Holmes quickly seizes this opportunity to indemnify all of Milverton's other victims by throwing the safe's remaining contents on the fire, having bolted the inner door to prevent the entry of the staff, who have been roused by the shots. Holmes and Watson make their way out into the back garden and escape by vaulting over a six-foot (~1.83 m) wall. Watson is forced to kick a pursuer who has grabbed his leg.
The next morning, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Holmes's Baker Street rooms to ask for his help in a murder investigation in Hampstead. On hearing the details from Lestrade, Holmes says that he will not take the case because his sympathies lie with the two criminals who have rid London of its most dangerous man. Holmes knows that the vague descriptions of the two fleeing men will lead the police nowhere, knowing that as long as the police think that the two men are the killers, they will never suspect anyone else. This had led to the amusing conversation:
- Lestrade: "... the second was caught by the under-gardener and only got away after a struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly-built man -- square jaw, thick neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes."
- Holmes: "That's rather vague. Why, it might be a description of Watson!"
Watson notices that Holmes has been preoccupied by some thought all morning. Finally, he leaps up triumphantly, as though remembering something, and leads Watson to a shop full of celebrity photographs. Among the pictures of the kingdom's great ladies is the face that they saw last night in Milverton's study, but her name is not shared with the reader.
Trivia
- Charles Augustus Milverton may have been named after Arthur Conan Doyle's real-life neighbour, Charles Augustus Gifford.
- This is one of the few Sherlock Holmes stories with no real mystery to solve.
- There is a short Poirot story with a very similar plot, although a somewhat different ending.
Dramatisation
This short story was much extrapolated when adaped by screenwriter Jeremy Paul for the long-running Granada television series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes. It became the 1992 feature-length episode The Master Blackmailer and featured Robert Hardy as the reptilian, eponymous Milverton. Milverton's murderer is identified, and Holmes's relationship with the maid is expanded upon, implying a genuine emotional involvement on Holmes's part.
Wikisource links
Works related to The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton at Wikisource