[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

Six pearls.

In the [-]th century, the status of Irish people in Britain was extremely low, not only on the margins of society, but also suffered from discrimination.They received lower wages than normal workers and suffered more ruthless treatment.The most important thing is that Mary Morstan is still a woman, no matter how young and beautiful she is, and she lives by labor, her salary is lower than that of men.

Moreover, she is also an illegitimate child.

When Miss Morstan reveals she's moving, Mary begins to worry about whether she's saving enough.But people have dignity. Although Miss Morstan is strong, she is particularly concerned about the class gap between herself and her friends.Mary didn't want to use money to measure their feelings, so she didn't take the initiative to ask, but waited for her to ask.

Unexpectedly, Miss Morstan did mention the financial problem to her, but it was not because there was too little money.

——If the police saw six round pearls in the hands of an Irish female worker, even Inspector Lestrade, who was acquainted with Miss Morstan, would doubt the origin of these pearls.

But Mary doesn't, because she trusts her friends, and because...

Miss Morstan and Pearl, this is exactly the plot of "The Sign of Four" in the original book.A year ago, I met Miss Morstan for the first time, and found that the future Mrs. Watson had changed from an heir of 50 pounds to a female worker in the slums. Mary thought that this episode would never happen, but now it seems that it is a detour The circle is back again.

Had it not been for this, Mary would not have known Miss Morstan so early.To her, the heir to the huge fortune in the original book is just Dr. Watson's wife, and Miss Morstan standing in front of her is a very, very important friend.

Even in Mary's heart, Miss Morstan is more important than Dr. Watson himself!

If she had the chance to inherit 50 pounds, she would not have to worry about the doctor's class property.

In the original book, this huge sum of money eventually fell into the Thames River-apparently in the eyes of Sir Conan Doyle, the unjust windfall should not belong to anyone.Mary didn't care where the £50 went. What she cared about was that if the reality was the same as in "The Sign of Four", then the six pearls came from Miss Morstan's father's will.

In Miss Morstan's mind, her father was a heartless man and a big scumbag who cheated on his mother and left, never to return.However, the unscrupulous man and the woman he fell in love with are not in his eyes, so how can he remember the daughter he has never met?

Now Miss Morstan received the same expensive pearls as in the original book. The only difference was that these six pearls were supposed to be received once a year, but now the Irish girl got six of them at once.

Mary couldn't help but think of what Miss Morstan mentioned not long ago, that she was not born in London, but came to London in Ireland as long as she could remember.

Does this mean that Miss Morstan's father did not abandon his wife and daughter, but had a last resort to do it.

Realizing this, Mary's eyes lit up.

No matter how much Miss Morstan has, if her father is an officer and still has this daughter in his heart, then Miss Mary Morstan, the red-haired Irish girl, is entitled to inherit!A military officer's daughter and a retired military doctor, isn't that a perfect match, a perfect match!

"Where did you get the pearl?" Mary quickly cleared her mind, looked up at Miss Morstan and asked.

"Someone mailed it to me not long ago," Miss Morstan sighed, and replied in distress. "The people at the post office saw that I went to pick up such a delicate package, so they called the police directly. If it weren't for the police patrolling near the post office Find my acquaintance, you're going to Scotland Yard today to bail me out."

"..."

Can we not look down on people so much.

Mary was a little angry, but luckily nothing happened to Miss Morstan.

She thought for a while, then continued to ask: "Any other clues?"

Miss Morstan: "Yes."

As she spoke, she took out a copy of The Times from her package.

In the nineteenth century, newspapers and magazines not only published news, but also had the function of distributing information.There was no Internet in the Victorian era. Recruitment, asking for rent, and looking for people or marriage proposals would all be published in newspapers.Even the funerals or weddings of citizens are often announced in newspapers.

What Miss Morstan brought was a page from The Times, and she pointed to a missing person message.It was written very clearly that the roll call was to find Miss Mary Morstan's address, saying that it was a great thing to do and that she needed to be contacted.

"My friend saw the message," explained Miss Morstan, "and put my address off the billboard. Blackwood wasn't in jail at the time, so I didn't know about it until they got the package. mention."

Ms. Morstan has many friends on the streets, and there are many street teenagers who know the places where Irish workers gather, so the twists and turns are not surprising.

"In the past few days, instead of looking for a suitable address, I was trying to find out who sent the pearl," Miss Morstan continued, "and then just this morning, I received a letter."

"A letter?"

"Yes, the person who wrote the letter didn't leave an address, but just set a time and place, and asked me to wait there."

After receiving the paper that Miss Morstan handed over again——the elegant and careful letter, Mary confirmed the general idea in her heart.

"Anyone could see that there was something wrong," said Miss Morstan, "so I came to you at once, Mary."

It's "The Sign of Four" that's right!

Thinking that her best friend was about to escape from the current poverty and suffering, Mary was very happy in her heart, but she couldn't express it yet.She had no choice but to look tense and find an excuse: "The letter said that you can ask someone to accompany you to meet, it may be dangerous, I can't do it alone."

"What should I do?"

"Go to Baker Street."

Such bizarre and clueless cases were indeed Sherlock Holmes' hobby.Therefore, Miss Morstan did not refuse Mary's proposal, and the two single girls set off immediately. Before leaving, Mary did not forget to take the "Seaside Magazine" sent by Editor-in-Chief Hall.

There is no other reason. There is no serialization of Mary in this issue of "Seaside Magazine", but Watson's biography of Sherlock Holmes, the famous "A Study in Scarlet" has just begun the story.

Because Mary paused for a month and was working hard on writing, the editor-in-chief of Hall simply gave Watson the page specially vacated for Philip Luther, a new author, in order to finish publishing the [-]-word adventure story as soon as possible. .

—A page set aside for Philip Luther!

It is also the first time to publish a work, although the editor-in-chief Hall also has high hopes for "Serial Killer Chess Game", but the pages of the two authors are used to publish "A Study in Scarlet"!Mary admitted that she was just envious and jealous.

Not only did Dr. Watson not say anything to comfort Mary, on the contrary, he was very proud.

Seeing Mary coming to the door with "Seashore Magazine", Dr. Watson first greeted Miss Morstan warmly, and then said directly to Mary: "It turns out that authors who have no works published that month will also have sample issues."

Mary: "..."

Too much!

Faced with Watson's non-malicious teasing, Mary was terribly angry, but she smiled instead: "General authors don't have it, but editor-in-chief Hall has high hopes for Philip Luther."

Hearing her confident and bold words, Watson laughed out loud.

The likable doctor always knows how to accept it when he sees it. After the joke was over, he put away his smile and asked seriously: "Do the readers have any reaction to the fact that you are Philip Luther?"

Of course there is.

Previously, PT Barnum promoted "The King of Carnival" for free, and later Mary Bennet's name was clearly written in the Illuminati case.Philip Luther turned out to be a twenty-year-old single lady who had already assisted the government in solving the case?This fact has naturally attracted the attention of the public.

Sent along with Seashore Magazine is the final feedback for The King of Carnival.

The Illuminati case has undoubtedly diverted most of the focus of public opinion. Under Blackwood's conspiracy, the disclosure of Philip Luther's identity is only one part of it.Among the many letters, nine out of ten were shocking that Detective Luther herself was a young girl.

Among other things, at least the critic who has shown that he looks down on women and civilians, and Mary has personally met, has not spoken yet.I don't know if he was lucky enough to escape Blackwood's claws, or he was shocked that he had seen "Philip Luther" before, and he even put on a contemptuous gesture in front of the lady who participated in solving the case.

Of course, it doesn't rule out that he is brewing a sharp and unkind serious comment.

In addition, Mary felt that these letters were not of much reference, because the editor-in-chief Hall did not give all the letters to Mary this time.

Shock is shocking, but most of the content of the letter revolves around "The King of Carnival" itself.Some letters criticize that the ending of this story is too novelty-seeking, just to attract attention, but not as realistic as "Serial Killer Chess Game"-apparently, in this era, people are still not aware of the idea of ​​equal rights that Mary wants to express , "Beach Magazine" is a magazine popular among wealthy families of the white bourgeoisie and above.

But Mary wasn't angry, anyway, she didn't express any profound thoughts, and time will tell.

Another part of the praise is that the story is very exciting. The story of "The King of Carnival" is hilarious and humorous. Philip Luther, who seemed extremely heavy in the gray industrial town, was full of vitality in Paris.The story is not too complicated but novel enough in the Victorian period, and the admiration is not beyond Mary's expectations.

More in-depth readers, in addition to praise, will also say that she treats all ethnic groups and marginalized people equally, which is enough to be called "kindness".However, the negative feedback of "kindness" is "a woman's kindness", which is nothing more than a letter, and it is not worthy of Mary's concern at all.

What makes Mary concerned is that when public opinion is more concentrated on Philip Luther, or Mary Bennet, all the letter feedback revolves around the story of "The King of Carnival", which is simply impossible thing!

That's why Mary dared to conclude that the editor-in-chief of Hall must have blocked more excessive remarks and more direct insults.

From this point of view, it would be a good thing to reveal her identity when she was not well-known.There are only two paths for Philip Luther in the future. Either he will never be famous, so it doesn’t matter whether she is a man or a woman; The words will be much less.

Mary would not say these things to anyone, and there was no need to let her friends share these troubles that she didn't care about at all.

"Basically, I didn't expect it," Mary replied. "I think "A Study in Scarlet" is very popular."

Mary is sour!

Watson laughed again: "You are very clear, Miss Mary, the editor-in-chief of Hall did so entirely because the case of the Illuminati was officially published in the newspapers when this issue was released. Even if it is famous, it should be Holmes is famous, you should be happy for him!"

Until then, Holmes calmly glanced at the proud and proud Dr. Watson.

The detective sitting by the fireplace didn't feel like he was about to become a celebrity. He still looked at Miss Morstan as if he had returned to reality from contemplation.

Holmes did not answer Watson's words, his eyes fell on the bag that Miss Morstan was holding: "You have a case."

The author has something to say: Lao Fu told Morstan: You have a case.

Morstan:? ? ?How did you know?

Watson: The little cross of the lady beside you has been revealed! ! !