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.

Timeline

According to the William S. Baring-Gould timeline of Sherlock Holmes canon, CHAS was published in 1904, covering events of 1899.^[1] This was nine years after the strange death of the original Charles Augustus Milverton (see below).

Plot summary

Holmes, Watson and Charles Augustus Milverton.

Holmes is hired by the débutante Lady Eva Blackwell, to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmail artist named Charles Augustus Milverton, a man who causes Holmes more revulsion than any of the 50-odd murderers in his career. Milverton visits at Holmes's behest, and proceeds to demand £7000 (an outrageous fortune) for the return of letters, which if revealed would cause a scandal likely to put an end to Lady Eva's wedding. Holmes counters with £2000, explaining she does not have £7000. Milverton agrees but refuses to budge. Holmes resolves to recover the letters by whatever means necessary, as Milverton has placed himself outside the bounds of morality.

Holmes disguises himself as a plumber and goes to Milverton's Hampstead house, where he engages himself to the housemaid. 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 where Milverton keeps his compromising papers. With this knowledge, Holmes and Watson set off for Hampstead to burgle Milverton's house.

Holmes' simple plans are nearly foiled when they realize Milverton is outside his schedule and up and about the house. He comes into the study, preoccupied with a late appointment. Doyle's implication in this treatment is the meeting is of an incriminating nature, as no one would visit in such late hours under decent motives.

Milverton killed.

The pair behind the curtain are then astonished to witness a former victim of Milverton's sordid business shoot him point-blank and then grind his face with her heel on her way out. Holmes does not let Watson instinctively jump to interfere; he feels this is a higher justice at work and Watson acquiesces. Holmes risks discovery by using the chance to pour all of Milverton's incriminating papers out of the safe and into the flames, where no one will ever make use of them again. They barely escape in time. Watson is forced to kick a pursuer who has grabbed his leg.

The next morning, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street to ask for his help in a murder investigation in Hampstead. On hearing the details, Holmes gently refuses the case because his sympathies lie with the criminals who have rid London of its most dangerous man. Later, Holmes recognizes the face of the woman who avenged herself upon Milverton, and shows Watson her photograph on a street-window. True to his discretionary nature, he does not let Watson even speak the name of the noblewoman out loud, but presses his fingers to his lips, an ancient gesture for both silence...and peace.

Dramatization

This short story was much extrapolated when adapted 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; also Holmes and Watson do not at the end gaze upon Milverton's killer's portrait. In either case, the writers were aware of Milverton's actual inspiration.

The Real Master Blackmailer

Charles Augustus Milverton was actually based on a real blackmailer, Charles Augustus Howell, an art dealer who preyed upon an unknown number of people, including the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.^[2]

Doyle's literary inspiration often came from his natural interest in crime, and he had no tolerance for predators. Howell died in 1890 under circumstances as strange as any of Doyle's novels: His body was found close to a Chelsea public house with his throat posthumously slit, with a ten-shilling coin in his mouth. The presence of the coin was known to be a criticism of those guilty of slander.^[3]

Doyle's Sense of Humor

CHAS is a good example of Doyle's sense of humor transferred to his creations. When Lestrade asks for aid, he gives the following description of one of the criminals (Watson), with Watson in the very room:

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!"

Before the burglary, Holmes asks for Watson's assistance and Watson gives it with no hesitation and not a little humor of his own: He has rubber-soled tennis shoes for soundless walking, and can make masks out of black silk. Sherlock Holmes observes, "I can see you have a strong, natural turn for this sort of thing."

Wikisource links

• Works related to The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton at Wikisource

References

1. ^ http://www.sherlockian.net/societies/baringgould.html
2. ^ p. Basbenes, Nicholas A. "A Gentle Madness,p. 15-16."
3. ^ ibid

Recommended Reading: "A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books", Basbanes, Nicholas A., Holt Paperbacks, March 15, 1999 "Angeli, Helen. "Pre-Raphaelite twilight: The story of Charles Augustus Howell"