the valley of fear summary of act 1 scene 3
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Summary
Chapter 1
Watson narrates the tale. He begins with Sherlock Holmes lost in thought, looking at a letter from 'Porlock'. Watson asks who Porlock is, and Holmes explains it is a nom-de-plume; Porlock is important in that he is connected to an influential man: Professor Moriarty. Moriarty is unknown as a criminal to the public, but Holmes knows better; however, anyone who tries to cast aspersions at the great man would be laughed at.
Watson nods in agreement and Holmes continues, saying Porlock has been a secret help to him once or twice. He has now sent a series of numbers and letters with two words: 'Douglas' and 'Birlstone', the latter repeated twice. It is a cipher with no code.
Watson asks why there would be no code; Holmes believes it will arrive soon. Indeed, the page soon arrives, but when Holmes opens the letter they see that the frightened Porlock has written that he will not provide the code because he is under suspicion.
Watson rues that there is a secret in the cipher that they will never know. Holmes is quiet, and then says that it relates to a book; he infers that Porlock assumed he’d have it. They deduce it must be the most commonly possessed book—an almanac (there are too many editions of the Bible, Watson’s first guess).
They locate the right almanac and the correct pages and words in order to discern that someone named Douglas is in danger, and a house of Birlstone is somehow involved. Before they can parse these words much further than acknowledging the danger for this gentleman named Douglas, Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard enters; he is a friend of Holmes’s whom the detective had helped a few times in the past, thereby earning the young, intelligent Scotsman’s respect.
MacDonald greets Holmes and Watson and says there is new mischief afoot, but before he can get further he sees the cipher on the table. His entire countenance fills with amazement and he sputters out his question of how Holmes got the cipher. After Holmes asks what is amiss; MacDonald says, dazed, Mr. Douglas of Birlstone was murdered last night.
Chapter 2
This is the sort of moment Holmes lives for. He looks composed and interested, more intellectually excited than shocked or horrified. He explains the background of the cipher to MacDonald, and when MacDonald says they must find Porlock Holmes states that this is impossible. Porlock is connected to Moriarty, he explains.
MacDonald smiles a bit and says the Yard thinks Holmes has a bee in his bonnet over the Professor. MacDonald had gone to see the Professor himself and was struck by his solemn mien and erudition. Holmes laughs and asks if MacDonald happened to notice the painting by Jean Baptiste Greuze behind Moriarty’s desk. The inspector is confused and says no. Holmes explains who Greuze is and how valuable his paintings are; MacDonald wonders aloud how the Professor could afford it. That is the point, Holmes tells him, and they speculate about the man’s illegal activities that procured his great wealth. Holmes knows a lot about Moriarty: he has many bank accounts, and must have extravagant wealth to be able to pay, for example, his chief of staff six thousand a year.
The talk turns back to the murdered man, and the men speculate that Douglas came afoul of Moriarty, who ruled over his people with an iron fist. They all agree to go to Birlstone. MacDonald reads a note from Birlstone’s local officer, White Mason, who had first taken up the case. Mason asked MacDonald to bring Holmes.
Holmes muses aloud that there is a great brain in London and a dead man in Birlstone, and it is their job to trace the connection between them.
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