The Return of Sherlock Holmes

The narrator

Also known as Dr. Watson · Watson

Sherlock Holmes’s close friend and colleague, who narrates the cases and helps him investigate.

Ronald Adair

Also known as The Honourable Ronald Adair · young Adair

The second son of the Earl of Maynooth, murdered in his Park Lane home. He played cards with Colonel Moran, whom Holmes identifies as his killer.

The Earl of Maynooth

Ronald and Hilda Adair’s father and governor of an Australian colony; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Hilda Adair

Ronald Adair’s sister, who lives with him and their mother; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Lady Maynooth

Also known as Adair’s mother

Ronald and Hilda Adair’s mother, who returned from Australia for cataract surgery and lives with her children.

Edith Woodley

Also known as Miss Edith Woodley

Ronald Adair’s former fiancée; their engagement ended by mutual consent.

Mr. Murray

A card player who gave evidence about a whist game with Ronald Adair.

Sir John Hardy

A card player who gave evidence about a whist game with Ronald Adair.

Colonel Sebastian Moran

Also known as Colonel Moran · Moran

A former Indian Army officer, skilled big-game hunter, and dangerous Holmes adversary. Holmes identifies him as Ronald Adair’s murderer; Moran tried to kill Holmes with an air-gun.

Godfrey Milner

A card player who, with Lord Balmoral, lost money to Ronald Adair and Colonel Moran.

Lord Balmoral

A card player who, with Godfrey Milner, lost money to Ronald Adair and Colonel Moran.

The house servant

Also known as the servant

A servant in the Adair household who heard Ronald return home and helped establish the circumstances surrounding his death.

Plain-clothes detective

An unidentified detective seen at the Park Lane house after Ronald Adair’s murder; Watson suspects he is a plain-clothes officer.

The elderly book collector

Also known as the old book merchant

A disguise adopted by Sherlock Holmes when he visits Watson: an elderly, deformed bookseller with white side-whiskers who carries books.

Sherlock Holmes

Also known as Holmes

A celebrated detective and Watson’s close friend, presumed dead after his encounter with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Fall. He survived and returned to London, solving the cases recounted here, including the murders of Ronald Adair and Peter Carey and the Milverton affair; he later retires to study and bee-farming on the Sussex Downs.

Professor James Moriarty

Also known as Professor Moriarty · Moriarty

A powerful criminal mastermind and Holmes’s enemy, who fell to his death at the Reichenbach Fall after attacking Holmes. He employed Moran and commissioned the air-gun used against Holmes.

The confederate at Reichenbach

Also known as Moriarty’s confederate

An unnamed accomplice of Moriarty who tried to kill Holmes by dropping rocks onto him at the Reichenbach Fall; Holmes later identifies him as Colonel Moran.

Mycroft Holmes

Also known as Mycroft

Sherlock Holmes’s brother and the only person who knew Holmes had survived; he supplied him with money and preserved his Baker Street rooms and papers.

The head lama

A religious leader in Lhassa whom Holmes says he visited during his travels; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Sigerson

The name Holmes used while traveling in disguise; newspapers reported the Norwegian explorer’s travels without recognizing him.

The Khalifa at Khartoum

Also known as the Khalifa

A ruler Holmes says he visited in Khartoum; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Mrs. Hudson

Holmes and Watson’s landlady, who preserved their Baker Street rooms and helped Holmes maintain the wax likeness used as bait.

Monsieur Oscar Meunier

Also known as Oscar Meunier

A sculptor from Grenoble who made the wax likeness of Sherlock Holmes.

Parker

A criminal and Moriarty associate who served as a sentinel watching Holmes’s Baker Street rooms; he is a garroter and skilled jew’s-harp player. A different Parker is mentioned as the Cubitts’ parish vicar.

Lestrade

Also known as Inspector Lestrade

A Scotland Yard detective who helps arrest Colonel Moran, investigates the Norwood case, and works with Holmes on several investigations, including the Milverton murder and the Napoleon busts.

The two uniformed policemen

Also known as the constables

Two unnamed officers who help arrest Colonel Moran and escort John Hector McFarlane.

The plain-clothes detective at the arrest

An unnamed Scotland Yard detective who joins Lestrade and the uniformed officers in arresting Colonel Moran.

The man who saw the Adair murder attempt

An unnamed person who allegedly saw Colonel Moran’s attempt against Sherlock Holmes, as Holmes explains to Lestrade.

Von Herder

Also known as the blind German mechanic

A blind German mechanic who constructed the powerful air-gun to Professor Moriarty’s order.

Dr. John Hector McFarlane

Also known as John Hector McFarlane · Mr. McFarlane

A young London solicitor accused of murdering Jonas Oldacre after Oldacre unexpectedly made him heir to his property. Holmes investigates the case and clears him.

Verner

Also known as Dr. Verner

A young doctor who bought Watson’s Kensington medical practice; he is a distant relation of Holmes, who secretly supplied the money for the purchase.

Ex-President Murillo

A former president involved in a case from Holmes and Watson’s partnership; mentioned but does not appear directly in these events.

Mrs. Stewart

A woman from Lauder whose death in 1887 Holmes suspects Colonel Moran caused; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Mathews

A criminal in Holmes’s collection of biographies who once knocked out one of Holmes’s teeth.

The belligerent visitor at Charing Cross

An unnamed man who fought Holmes in the Charing Cross waiting-room and knocked out his left canine; Holmes identifies him as Mathews.

The late Professor Moriarty

A reference to Professor Moriarty, who is dead by the time of the Norwood case.

Jonas Oldacre

Also known as Mr. Oldacre

A secretive, wealthy builder of Lower Norwood who stages his disappearance and frames McFarlane for his supposed murder. Once engaged to McFarlane’s mother, he later leaves his property to McFarlane as part of a revenge plot against her.

The newspaper reporter

An unnamed reporter who wrote the account of Oldacre’s disappearance and the suspicions against McFarlane.

The middle-aged housekeeper

Also known as Oldacre’s housekeeper · Mrs. Lexington

Oldacre’s housekeeper, who let McFarlane into the house and helped create false evidence against him. Holmes suspects she knew about Oldacre’s hiding place and recommends her arrest.

McFarlane’s clerk

Also known as the clerk

An unnamed clerk in McFarlane’s law office who witnessed Jonas Oldacre’s will.

McFarlane’s mother

Also known as the little, fluffy, blue-eyed person

John Hector McFarlane’s mother, once engaged to Jonas Oldacre; she strongly believes her son is innocent.

McFarlane’s father

John Hector McFarlane’s father, who is away searching for his son when Holmes visits the family home.

The head constable

An unnamed senior local police officer who shows Holmes around the Oldacre property.

Hyams

Oldacre’s tailor, whose name appears on a trouser button found in the burned timber-yard.

The passing tramp

A hypothetical intruder proposed by Holmes as a possible alternative suspect in Oldacre’s disappearance; not established as a real participant.

Bert Stevens

Also known as the terrible murderer

A murderer who once asked Holmes to help get him acquitted; Holmes recalls his mild-mannered appearance as a warning against judging by appearances.

Mr. Cornelius

The name under which large checks from Oldacre were paid and banked. Holmes suspects it was an alias Oldacre used while arranging to disappear and evade creditors.

The three policemen

Also known as the constables

Three unnamed, able-bodied officers Lestrade summons to help Holmes reveal Oldacre’s hiding place.

Jonas Oldacre’s night constable

Also known as the night constable

An unnamed officer assigned to guard the bedroom where Oldacre was supposedly murdered; he does not notice the planted thumb-mark in the hall.

The two uniformed policemen in Inspector Martin’s cab

Two unnamed officers who accompany Inspector Martin to take Abe Slaney into custody.

The stable-boy messenger

Also known as the lad · the boy

An unnamed stable-boy at Riding Thorpe Manor who remembers the nearby farmer Elrige and carries Holmes’s note to Abe Slaney.

Holmes’s chemical-analysis correspondent

Also known as the friend who answers Holmes’s cablegram

An unnamed person who replies to Holmes’s cablegram about the dancing-men case; the reply confirms Holmes’s suspicions.

The local farmer Elrige

Also known as Elrige

A farmer near East Ruston whose farm provides lodging to Abe Slaney; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Mr. Hilton Cubitt

Also known as Hilton Cubitt

A Norfolk squire from the old Cubitt family who asks Holmes to decipher threatening dancing-men messages sent to his wife. Slaney shoots him during a confrontation at the manor.

Elsie Patrick

Also known as Elsie · Mrs. Hilton Cubitt · Miss Patrick

An American woman who married Hilton Cubitt and tried to escape her criminal past and former fiancé, Abe Slaney. Wounded in the shooting at the manor, she recovers and devotes herself to charity and managing her husband’s estate.

Parker the vicar

Also known as the vicar

The vicar of the Cubitts’ parish, who was staying at the London boarding-house where Hilton met Elsie Patrick.

Thurston

A friend of Watson who plays billiards with him and had an option on South African property that he hoped Watson would share.

John Vincent Harden

A tobacco millionaire whose persecution case occupies Holmes when Violet Smith first comes to Baker Street; he does not appear directly.

Miss Violet Smith

Also known as Violet Smith

A young music teacher and cyclist from near Farnham who seeks Holmes’s help. Ralph Smith’s niece, she inherits his fortune and marries Cyril Morton.

James Smith

Also known as Violet Smith’s father

Violet Smith’s late father, who conducted the orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Violet Smith’s mother

Violet’s mother, left poor with her after James Smith’s death; she meets the men who bring news of her brother-in-law Ralph.

Ralph Smith

Also known as Uncle Ralph

Violet Smith’s uncle, who went to Africa and was reported to have died in poverty in Johannesburg. He is said to have asked friends to find his relations and provide for them; his death triggers the plot to force Violet into marriage.

Mr. Carruthers

Also known as Bob Carruthers

A South African associate of Ralph Smith who brings Violet news of her uncle’s death and employs her as a music teacher. He loves Violet and secretly follows her to protect her, but had originally joined a scheme to marry her to Woodley for her inheritance.

Mr. Woodley

Also known as Roaring Jack Woodley · Jack Woodley

A violent South African criminal who tries to force Violet Smith into marriage to obtain her inheritance. Carruthers shoots him during the forced wedding; Woodley is sentenced to ten years for abduction and assault.

Wilson Hargreave

A contact of Holmes at the New York Police Bureau who tells him that Abe Slaney is known as a dangerous Chicago criminal.

Abe Slaney

Also known as Mr. Abe Slaney

A dangerous American criminal from Chicago and Elsie Patrick’s former fiancé. He follows and threatens her in England, then shoots Hilton Cubitt; his death sentence is commuted to penal servitude.

Inspector Martin

Also known as the inspector · the Norfolk inspector

An inspector of the Norfolk Constabulary who investigates the shooting at Riding Thorpe Manor and works with Holmes to arrest Abe Slaney.

The local surgeon

Also known as the country doctor · the old, white-haired doctor

An unnamed elderly surgeon who examines Elsie and reports the nature of her injuries after the shooting at Riding Thorpe Manor.

Saunders

Also known as the housemaid

The housemaid at Riding Thorpe Manor who helps raise the alarm after the shooting and gives evidence about what she and the other servants found.

Mrs. King

Also known as the cook

The cook at Riding Thorpe Manor who helps raise the alarm and gives evidence about the explosions and the scene.

The groom

An unnamed Riding Thorpe Manor servant who helps carry the wounded Elsie to her room.

The village policeman

Also known as the constable

An unnamed local officer who is present at the initial investigation of the shooting at Riding Thorpe Manor.

The station-master

An unnamed North Walsham station-master who tells Holmes and Watson that Hilton Cubitt and his wife have been shot.

The farmer’s householders at Elrige’s Farm

Unnamed people at Elrige’s Farm; the text does not identify any individual among them.

Cyril Morton

Also known as Cyril

Violet Smith’s fiancé, an electrical engineer with the Midland Electrical Company in Coventry. He later becomes senior partner of Morton & Kennedy and marries Violet.

Mrs. Dixon

An elderly, respectable housekeeper employed by Mr. Carruthers to manage his household and care for his young daughter.

Mr. Carruthers’s daughter

Also known as his only daughter

The ten-year-old daughter of Mr. Carruthers; Violet Smith is hired to teach her music.

The man on the bicycle near Charlington

Also known as the cyclist · Bob Carruthers

Mr. Carruthers in disguise, following Violet Smith from a distance to protect her from Woodley and his accomplices. He later reveals himself and shoots Woodley during the forced wedding.

Peter

Also known as the groom

A young groom at Charlington Hall who drives Violet Smith’s dog-cart and is knocked unconscious while trying to protect her.

The ex-clergyman Williamson

Also known as Mr. Williamson · Williamson

A former clergyman who helps Woodley abduct Violet and perform a forced wedding; he is exposed as unfrocked and sentenced to seven years for abduction and assault.

The country publican

Also known as the landlord

An unnamed landlord at the country pub near Charlington Hall who tells Holmes about Williamson and Woodley; Holmes fights Woodley there.

The frightened groom’s messenger

Also known as the frightened groom

An unnamed groom at Charlington Hall who carries Holmes’s note to the Farnham police station.

Thorneycroft Huxtable

Also known as Dr. Huxtable

Founder and principal of the Priory School near Mackleton. He asks Holmes to investigate the disappearance of Lord Saltire and German master Heidegger.

The Duke of Holdernesse

Also known as His Grace · the 6th Duke

A wealthy former Cabinet minister and father of Lord Saltire, his legitimate younger son and heir. He also fathered James Wilder by a woman he loved before his marriage, concealed Wilder’s parentage, and helped conceal Wilder’s role in Saltire’s kidnapping.

Lord Saltire

Also known as young Saltire · Arthur

The ten-year-old legitimate son and heir of the Duke of Holdernesse. James Wilder lured him from the Priory School and Reuben Hayes held him at the Fighting Cock; Holmes secures his return home.

The Duchess of Holdernesse

Also known as the Duchess

The estranged wife of the Duke of Holdernesse and mother of Lord Saltire; she lives in the south of France and is briefly suspected in her son’s disappearance. The Duke writes to her to try to restore their relationship.

James Wilder

Also known as Mr. Wilder · the private secretary · the secretary

The Duke of Holdernesse’s private secretary and illegitimate elder son, whose mother was the Duke’s former love. Jealous of Lord Saltire’s inheritance, he arranged his half-brother’s kidnapping with Reuben Hayes; after confessing, he is sent to seek his fortune in Australia.

Heidegger

Also known as the German master

A German master at the Priory School who disappears the same night as Lord Saltire and is later found dead on the moor with a fatal head wound. Reuben Hayes strikes him during the pursuit after the kidnapping.

The two boys in Lord Saltire’s inner room

Also known as the boys

Two unnamed pupils sleeping in the room through which one would pass to reach Lord Saltire’s bedroom; they report hearing and seeing nothing.

Caunter

Also known as the elder boy

An older Priory School pupil who sleeps in the room adjoining Lord Saltire’s and is known to be a light sleeper.

Lord Leverstoke

A nobleman whose son attends Huxtable’s preparatory school; mentioned but does not appear directly.

The Earl of Blackwater

A nobleman whose son attends Huxtable’s preparatory school; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Sir Cathcart Soames

A knight whose son attends Huxtable’s preparatory school; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Sir Charles Appledore

The father of the Duchess of Holdernesse, mentioned as her father; he does not appear directly.

The county constable on the east cross-road

Also known as the county constable · the policeman

An unnamed officer who says he remained at his post all night and saw no one pass along the east road from the Priory School.

The Red Bull landlady

Also known as the landlady

An unnamed innkeeper whose illness prompts the people at the Red Bull to summon a doctor on the night Lord Saltire disappears.

The doctor summoned to the Red Bull

An unnamed doctor who is away attending another case and does not reach the Red Bull until morning.

The gipsies

Also known as the gypsies

A group of travelers whose van is searched by police; Lord Saltire’s cap is found there, but no individual member is identified.

Aveling

Also known as the mathematical master

The Priory School’s mathematical master, who confirms that Heidegger’s bicycle tires were Palmer tires.

The peat-cutting peasant

Also known as the peasant

An unnamed worker cutting peat on the moor, whom Watson sends to alert Dr. Huxtable after Heidegger’s body is found.

Reuben Hayes

Also known as Mr. Reuben Hayes · the landlord

A hostile former head coachman to the Duke of Holdernesse who runs the Fighting Cock Inn. He helps James Wilder kidnap Lord Saltire, kills Heidegger while escaping pursuit, and is arrested at Chesterfield.

The smithy lad

Also known as the grimy lad

An unnamed young worker in Reuben Hayes’s smithy, seen working in the inn yard.

The horses at the Fighting Cock

The inn’s horses are housed at its smithy; no individual animal is identified.

The man in the dog-cart

An unidentified man who leaves the Fighting Cock at speed in a trap; the text does not establish who he is.

The private guest at the Fighting Cock

An unidentified visitor who arrives at the inn after James Wilder waits at its door; the text does not reveal the visitor’s identity.

The Duke of Holdernesse’s footman

Also known as the servant · the lackey

An unnamed servant at Holdernesse Hall who answers the Duke’s bell and is ordered to send a carriage to bring Lord Saltire home.

Mrs. Hayes

Also known as the kindly woman

Reuben Hayes’s wife, who cares for Lord Saltire while he is confined at the Fighting Cock. The Duke describes her as kindly but under her husband’s control.

Peter Carey

Also known as Captain Peter Carey · Black Peter

A brutal former master of the Sea Unicorn and retired sealer, known as Black Peter. Patrick Cairns kills him with a harpoon after Carey threatens him; Carey had thrown John Hopley Neligan’s father overboard and taken his securities.

The butcher

Also known as Allardyce

A butcher in whose back shop Holmes practices harpooning a suspended pig to test the strength required to kill Peter Carey.

Stanley Hopkins

Also known as Inspector Stanley Hopkins · Hopkins

A young police inspector who admires Holmes and investigates Peter Carey’s murder. He arrests John Hopley Neligan on misleading evidence before Holmes identifies Patrick Cairns as the killer.

The stonemason Slater

Also known as Slater

A stonemason who saw the shadow of a short-bearded man in Carey’s cabin two nights before the murder; his account is uncertain because he had been drinking and was far from the window.

Peter Carey’s widow

Also known as Mrs. Carey

The haggard widow of Peter Carey, who endured his abuse and identifies his sheath-knife as his property.

Peter Carey’s daughter

Carey’s twenty-year-old daughter, who says she is glad her father is dead and blesses the hand that killed him. She heard a yell from the cabin on the night he died.

The old vicar

An unnamed vicar whom Peter Carey once savagely assaulted after the vicar remonstrated with him.

The two female servants at Woodman’s Lee

Also known as the maids

Unnamed servants in the Carey household; one notices that the cabin door is open the morning after the murder.

John Hopley Neligan

Also known as J.H.N. · young Neligan

The son of a West Country banker who disappeared with securities in 1883. He visits Peter Carey’s cabin to seek evidence about his father’s fate and the securities, and is wrongly suspected of Carey’s murder.

Neligan’s father

Also known as Neligan

John Hopley Neligan’s father, a banker in the failed firm Dawson and Neligan. He sailed for Norway with securities, was thrown overboard by Peter Carey, and was believed by his family to have drowned.

Dawson

A partner in the failed West Country banking firm Dawson and Neligan; he had retired before the firm’s collapse and is not accused by Neligan’s son of taking the securities.

Neligan’s mother

John Hopley Neligan’s mother, who remembers her husband’s farewell and shared her son’s belief that he and his yacht had sunk.

The faithful business friend

An unnamed business associate of the Neligan family who discovered that securities carried away by Neligan had reappeared on the London market.

The Sea Unicorn crewman

Also known as the spare harpooner

Patrick Cairns’s role aboard the Sea Unicorn in 1883; he witnessed Peter Carey throw John Hopley Neligan’s father overboard.

Patrick Cairns

Also known as the harpooner

A former Sea Unicorn harpooner who kills Peter Carey with a harpoon after Carey threatens him. He had witnessed Carey throw John Hopley Neligan’s father overboard, later came to demand hush money, and took Carey’s tin box.

The three applicants for the seaman’s berth

Three men who answer Holmes’s advertisement for an Arctic expedition; Holmes dismisses James Lancaster and Hugh Pattins before using the berth as a ruse to capture Patrick Cairns.

James Lancaster

A man who applies for the advertised seaman’s berth under Holmes’s alias Captain Basil; Holmes dismisses him and pays him for his trouble.

Hugh Pattins

A man who applies for the advertised seaman’s berth under Holmes’s alias Captain Basil; Holmes dismisses him and pays him for his trouble.

Captain Basil

Also known as Basil

The name Holmes uses while posing as a shipping captain to lure Patrick Cairns into an interview.

Sumner

Also known as the shipping agent

A shipping agent on Ratcliff Highway whom Holmes asks to send three men to help with his plan.

The three men from Sumner

Unnamed men sent by shipping agent Sumner to assist Holmes in capturing Patrick Cairns.

The maid at Milverton’s house

Also known as Milverton’s housemaid

An unnamed housemaid whom Holmes courts under the assumed identity of Escott to learn the layout of Milverton’s house. Holmes calls her Agatha and describes her as his fiancée.

Escott

The identity Holmes adopts while disguised as a plumber with a rising business to court Milverton’s housemaid and gather information.

Charles Augustus Milverton

Also known as Milverton · C.A.M.

A wealthy, calculating blackmailer who collects compromising letters and threatens to expose Lady Eva Blackwell before her marriage. Holmes calls him the worst man in London; a woman he ruined later shoots him dead.

Lady Eva Blackwell

Also known as Lady Eva

A débutante engaged to the Earl of Dovercourt. Milverton threatens to expose her imprudent letters, and Holmes acts for her.

The Earl of Dovercourt

Lady Eva Blackwell’s fiancé, whom Milverton plans to show her compromising letters; Holmes believes he knows the Earl’s likely reaction.

The impecunious young squire

An unnamed country squire who received imprudent letters from Lady Eva Blackwell; he does not appear directly.

The footman who sold Milverton a note

An unnamed servant who sold Milverton a two-line note for seven hundred pounds, helping him ruin a noble family.

The Honourable Miss Miles

Also known as Miss Miles

A woman whose engagement to Colonel Dorking ended shortly before their wedding after Milverton used compromising material against her.

Colonel Dorking

The Honourable Miss Miles’s former fiancé; their engagement was broken off after Milverton’s blackmail.

The noblewoman threatened by Milverton

An unnamed woman whose note Milverton threatens to send to her husband, as an example of his blackmail.

The noblewoman’s husband

An unnamed man to whom Milverton threatens to send his wife’s compromising note.

Holmes’s hated rival

An unnamed rival for the affections of Milverton’s housemaid, whom Holmes expects will win her once his disguise as Escott is gone.

Agatha

The housemaid at Milverton’s house whom Holmes courted as Escott; he calls her his fiancée and says she arranged for Milverton’s dog to be locked away.

Milverton’s dog

Also known as the dog

A guard dog that roams the grounds of Milverton’s house; Agatha locks it away so Holmes can enter.

The cat at Milverton’s house

Also known as the cat

A cat that rushes out at Holmes and Watson while they enter Milverton’s study.

The avenging woman

An unnamed woman whose husband died after Milverton sent him her compromising letters. She shoots Milverton in his study; Holmes later recognizes her portrait as that of a great noblewoman.

The Countess d’Albert

Also known as the Countess

A countess whose compromising letters Milverton discusses buying from a veiled woman; the passage does not establish whether she is the woman who later shoots him.

The avenging woman’s husband

An unnamed man who died after Milverton sent him his wife’s letters; she describes him as a noble gentleman.

Milverton’s secretary

Also known as the secretary

An unnamed secretary devoted to Milverton’s interests who stays in the study during the day; no further details are given.

Milverton’s household servants

Also known as the servants

Unnamed members of the household who hurry to the study after the shots and pursue Holmes and Watson through the grounds.

The under-gardener

An unnamed gardener at Milverton’s house who catches one of the intruders after the murder; the man escapes after a struggle.

Horace Harker

Also known as Mr. Horace Harker

A journalist for the Central Press Syndicate whose home is burgled and whose Napoleon bust is stolen. He finds the murdered Pietro Venucci outside his house and reports the incident.

Morse Hudson

Also known as Mr. Morse Hudson

A Kennington Road picture dealer who sold plaster Napoleon busts to Dr. Barnicot and employed Beppo.

Dr. Barnicot

Also known as Dr. Barnicot

A medical practitioner and admirer of Napoleon who owns two plaster busts that are smashed.

Devine

Also known as the French sculptor

The French sculptor whose famous head of Napoleon was copied to make the plaster busts.

The assistant at Morse Hudson’s shop

Also known as the assistant

An unnamed employee who hears a bust break in Hudson’s shop and sees a man run out.

The manager of Gelder & Co.

Also known as the big blond German · the manager

An unnamed German manager at the Stepney sculpture works that made the Napoleon busts. He recognizes Beppo as a former employee and reports Beppo’s arrest for stabbing another Italian.

Beppo

An Italian sculptor and former employee of Gelder & Co. He breaks Napoleon busts while searching for the black pearl of the Borgias, which he hid inside one of six casts; Holmes and Lestrade arrest him.

Beppo’s cousin at Gelder & Co.

Also known as the cousin

An unnamed worker at Gelder & Co. and Beppo’s cousin, who may know where Beppo is.

The Italian stabbed by Beppo

Also known as the other Italian

An unnamed Italian whom Beppo stabbed in the street; he survived, and Beppo was imprisoned for the attack.

Mr. Harding

Also known as the founder of Harding Brothers

The proprietor of Harding Brothers, a Kensington retailer that sold three of the Napoleon busts, including one to Horace Harker, one to Josiah Brown, and one to Mr. Sandeford.

Josiah Brown

Also known as Mr. Josiah Brown

The owner of Laburnum Villa in Chiswick, who follows Holmes’s instructions and helps prevent a second tragedy while Beppo searches his Napoleon bust.

Mr. Sandeford

A Reading resident who owns the last unbroken Napoleon bust. Holmes buys it from him and finds the black pearl hidden inside.

Pietro Venucci

Also known as the dead man · the man in the photograph

A Neapolitan cut-throat and Lucretia Venucci’s brother, found murdered outside Horace Harker’s house. He had been tracking Beppo over the missing Borgia pearl.

Lucretia Venucci

Also known as the maid of the Princess

An Italian maid to the Princess of Colonna and sister of Pietro Venucci. She was suspected in the theft of the Borgia pearl, though Holmes says the connection between her and Pietro was never proved.

The Prince of Colonna

The owner of the Borgia pearl, which disappeared from his bedroom at the Dacre Hotel; mentioned but does not appear directly.

The Princess of Colonna

Also known as the Princess

The mistress of Lucretia Venucci, whose maid was suspected in the disappearance of the Borgia pearl; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Inspector Hill

Also known as Hill

A police inspector familiar with Saffron Hill and London’s Italian Quarter who identifies Pietro Venucci and assists Lestrade.

The young assistant at Harding Brothers

Also known as the newcomer

An unnamed new employee at Harding Brothers who cannot answer Holmes’s questions about the shop’s busts.

The Italian employee at Harding Brothers

An unnamed worker at Harding Brothers who may have been able to access the sales book listing the Napoleon busts.

The assistant at Gelder & Co.

Also known as the workers

An unnamed Italian worker at the sculpture works; Beppo’s cousin works there, and an employee may have helped Beppo trace the busts.

Hilton Soames

Also known as Mr. Soames

A tutor and lecturer at St. Luke’s College and an examiner for the Fortescue Scholarship. He asks Holmes to investigate someone’s attempt to copy a confidential Greek examination paper.

Bannister

Also known as the servant

Hilton Soames’s longtime college servant, who accidentally leaves his key in Soames’s door. Soames trusts his honesty, and he is found distressed after the examination proofs are disturbed.

Daulat Ras

Also known as young Daulat Ras · the Indian student

An Indian student entered for the Fortescue Scholarship examination who visits Soames to ask about the exam. Soames identifies him as the only known visitor to the room while the proofs were there.

The student on the second floor

An unnamed student living on one of the floors above Soames’s room at St. Luke’s College; no further identity or role is established in this passage.

The student on the third floor

An unnamed student living on one of the floors above Soames’s room at St. Luke’s College; no further identity or role is established in this passage.

Gilchrist

Also known as young Gilchrist · Mr. Gilchrist

A tall, gifted scholar and athlete at St. Luke’s College, son of Sir Jabez Gilchrist. He copied the confidential examination proofs after spotting them through Soames’s window, then decided to withdraw from the examination and take a commission in the Rhodesian Police.

Sir Jabez Gilchrist

Also known as old Sir Jabez Gilchrist

Gilchrist’s father, described as notorious for ruining himself on horse racing. Bannister had been his butler and remained devoted to his son after Sir Jabez’s ruin.

Miles McLaren

A brilliant but idle, dissipated, and unprincipled student at St. Luke’s College, suspected by Soames as a possible culprit in the examination-paper affair.

The printer

An unnamed printer who produced the confidential examination proofs; Holmes dismisses him as a suspect because he could inspect them at his office.

The second secretary at Yoxley Old Place

Also known as the private detective agent

An unnamed agent from a private detective firm who entered Professor Coram’s household as a secretary at Anna’s request. He discovered that important papers were kept in the bureau and supplied her with a plan of the house.

Professor Coram

Also known as Sergius

An elderly Russian exile living under the name Professor Coram at Yoxley Old Place, where he employs Willoughby Smith as his secretary. He betrayed his revolutionary wife Anna and her comrades to the authorities, and concealed her in his room after she accidentally killed Smith.

Mrs. Marker

Also known as the housekeeper

Professor Coram’s elderly housekeeper, who has served him since his arrival at Yoxley Old Place. She tidies his study and gives Holmes information about Coram’s smoking and appetite.

Susan Tarlton

Also known as the maid

A maid at Yoxley Old Place who discovers Willoughby Smith dying in Professor Coram’s study and hears his last words. She later recalls that Smith had been out walking shortly before the murder.

Willoughby Smith

Also known as young Mr. Smith · Mr. Smith

Professor Coram’s young secretary, killed in the study at Yoxley Old Place. He was stabbed by Anna as she struggled to escape after he seized her.

Mortimer

Also known as the gardener

An army pensioner and former Crimean soldier who works as gardener at Yoxley Old Place and pushes Professor Coram’s Bath chair. Coram depends on his help to dress.

Anna

Professor Coram’s Russian wife, formerly a revolutionary who was arrested and sent to Siberia after he betrayed her and their comrades. She came to England to recover letters and a diary that could secure Alexis’s release; she accidentally killed Willoughby Smith during a struggle and took poison after entrusting the papers to Holmes.

Alexis

A former revolutionary and Anna’s beloved comrade, wrongly sent to a Siberian salt mine after Professor Coram concealed letters that could have cleared him. Anna gives Holmes documents intended to secure his release.

The woman seen by the children

An unnamed woman seen on the Chatham Road shortly before Willoughby Smith’s death; her appearance and spectacles correspond to Holmes’s description of Anna.

The constable at Yoxley Old Place

Also known as Wilson

A local officer stationed at the garden gate who assists Stanley Hopkins during the investigation of Willoughby Smith’s murder.

Cyril Overton

Also known as Mr. Overton

Captain of the Cambridge University rugby team and Godfrey Staunton’s friend. He asks Holmes to investigate Staunton’s disappearance before the Oxford match.

Godfrey Staunton

A celebrated Cambridge and Blackheath rugby player and indispensable three-quarter, whose disappearance prompts Cyril Overton to seek Holmes’s help. He is married in secret to his London landlady’s daughter, who dies of consumption.

Moorhouse

The first reserve for Overton’s rugby team, trained as a half rather than a three-quarter; Overton considers him an inadequate replacement for Godfrey Staunton.

Morton

An Oxford rugby player whom Overton describes as a fast runner capable of outpacing Moorhouse.

Johnson

An Oxford rugby player whom Overton describes as a fast runner capable of outpacing Moorhouse.

Stevenson

A fast rugby player considered as a replacement for Godfrey Staunton, but Overton says he lacks the kicking skill expected of a three-quarter.

Arthur H. Staunton

A rising young forger listed in Holmes’s commonplace book; the passage does not establish a relationship to Godfrey Staunton.

Henry Staunton

A man whom Holmes says he helped hang; the passage does not establish a relationship to Godfrey Staunton.

Lord Mount-James

Also known as Godfrey Staunton’s uncle

Godfrey Staunton’s wealthy, miserly uncle and nearest living relative; Godfrey is his heir. He initially refuses to pay for the search, then urges Holmes to find his nephew after fearing a ransom plot.

The rough-looking messenger

Also known as the bearded man · the visitor

An unnamed, middle-aged, grizzled-bearded man who brings Godfrey Staunton a note and leaves with him. He is later understood to be Dr. Leslie Armstrong, who was trying to help Staunton reach his dying wife.

The day porter at Bentley’s hotel

Also known as the porter

An unnamed hotel porter who recounts Godfrey Staunton’s late-night departure and provides Holmes with evidence from Staunton’s telegram.

The night porter at Bentley’s hotel

An unnamed porter who was on duty after the day porter left; he saw no late visitors apart from a theatre party.

The young telegraph clerk

Also known as the young woman behind the grating

An unnamed telegraph-office employee who lets Holmes inspect the counterfoil of Godfrey Staunton’s telegram.

Dr. Leslie Armstrong

Also known as Leslie Armstrong · the doctor

A Cambridge medical lecturer, consultant, and close friend of Godfrey Staunton. He helps conceal Staunton’s secret marriage and sends him word that his wife is dying.

John

Dr. Leslie Armstrong’s butler, summoned to show Holmes and Watson out.

The Cambridge inn-yard informant

Also known as the friendly native

An unnamed local who tells Holmes about Dr. Armstrong’s regular carriage journeys.

Pompey

A local draghound with a keen nose for aniseed, whom Holmes uses to follow Dr. Armstrong’s carriage to the cottage.

Godfrey Staunton’s wife

Also known as the landlady’s daughter · the young woman

The young woman Godfrey Staunton secretly married, daughter of his former London landlady. She dies of consumption in the lonely cottage while he grieves at her bedside.

The London landlady

Also known as Staunton’s landlady

The landlady with whom Godfrey Staunton lodged in London; her daughter became his secret wife.

The servant at the cottage

Also known as the excellent servant

An unnamed servant who knows about Godfrey Staunton’s secret marriage and has gone to Trumpington to seek assistance when Holmes and Watson arrive.

The old lodge-keeper

Also known as the lodge-keeper

An unnamed keeper at the Abbey Grange park gate who opens it for Holmes and Watson and later receives Holmes’s note for Stanley Hopkins.

Sir Eustace Brackenstall

Also known as Sir Eustace

Lady Brackenstall’s wealthy, abusive, alcoholic husband, found murdered at Abbey Grange. The account identifies him as a victim of what appears to be a burglary, but Holmes discovers that the story is fabricated.

Lady Brackenstall

Also known as Mary Fraser of Adelaide · Miss Mary Fraser

An Australian-born woman who married Sir Eustace Brackenstall and endured his abuse. She and her maid conceal the truth about his death to protect the actual killer.

The tall maid at Abbey Grange

Also known as Theresa · Theresa Wright · the nurse

Lady Brackenstall’s lifelong Australian nurse and devoted maid, who came with her to England. She helps conceal the circumstances of Sir Eustace’s death.

The three Randalls

Also known as the Randall gang

A father and his two sons, members of a burglary gang whom Stanley Hopkins wrongly suspects of killing Sir Eustace Brackenstall. They are arrested in New York.

The Randall father

Also known as the elder Randall

The powerful father in the Randall burglary gang, described as a rough criminal. Hopkins suspects him of the Abbey Grange murder, but the gang is in New York.

The two Randall sons

The two younger, clean-shaven sons in the Randall gang, mistakenly implicated in the Abbey Grange burglary and murder.

The lodge-keeper’s wife

An unnamed woman whose haggard face reflects the disaster at Abbey Grange; the passage does not otherwise identify her.

The butler at Abbey Grange

Also known as the butler

An unnamed member of the Brackenstall household; Lady Brackenstall checks his pantry before going upstairs.

The footman at Abbey Grange

Also known as the footman

An unnamed servant in the household’s distant modern wing who is among those alerted after the killing.

The coachman

Also known as Dr. Armstrong’s coachman

Dr. Armstrong’s unnamed coachman, who reacts rudely when Holmes questions him and sets a dog on Holmes.

The barkeeper at the Cambridge inn

Also known as the friendly native in the yard

An unnamed local person at Holmes and Watson’s inn who provides information about Dr. Armstrong’s daily carriage journeys.

Captain Jack Crocker

Also known as Mr. Jack Crocker · Jack Crocker

A newly promoted ship’s captain and former first officer on the Rock of Gibraltar, known as a capable, loyal, kind-hearted but hot-tempered man. He killed Sir Eustace Brackenstall while defending himself and Lady Brackenstall from his attack; Holmes acquits him in a mock trial and gives him time to disappear.

The house servants at Abbey Grange

Also known as the servants

Unnamed members of the household who sleep in the newer wing and are alarmed after Lady Brackenstall’s cries.

The local police at Abbey Grange

Unnamed local officers called after Sir Eustace’s death; they contact London and begin the investigation.

The three burglars in Lady Brackenstall’s account

Also known as the burglars

Three supposed intruders, described by Lady Brackenstall as an older bearded man and two younger clean-shaven men. Holmes concludes their burglary account is invented.

The deceased wife’s father

Also known as the girl’s father

An unnamed man who is told of his daughter’s dangerous illness by Dr. Armstrong and communicates the news to Godfrey Staunton.

The dog set on Holmes

An unnamed dog belonging to Dr. Armstrong’s household, set on Holmes by the coachman when Holmes makes inquiries.

The solitary swan

Also known as the swan

A swan using the only open hole in the frozen pond at Abbey Grange.

The first officer on the Rock of Gibraltar

Also known as the sailor

Captain Jack Crocker’s former position aboard the ship on which Mary Fraser was a passenger. He fell in love with her, and later killed Sir Eustace Brackenstall while defending her.

The maid at Abbey Grange

Also known as Theresa Wright · Theresa

Lady Brackenstall’s devoted maid and former nurse, who helped Crocker conceal Sir Eustace’s killing by staging a burglary.

Lord Bellinger

Also known as the Prime Minister

A British statesman who has twice served as Prime Minister. He asks Holmes to recover a stolen letter that could provoke a European war.

Trelawney Hope

Also known as the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope · the European Secretary · the Secretary

Secretary for European Affairs, whose despatch-box contains a politically sensitive letter that briefly goes missing. He is Lady Hilda’s husband; Holmes restores the letter without revealing her role.

The foreign potentate

Also known as the Sovereign · the sender

An unnamed foreign ruler who wrote a provocative letter to the British government after colonial developments; its publication could lead to war.

The members of the Cabinet

Also known as the Cabinet

Unnamed government ministers who were informed of the letter’s existence under a pledge of secrecy.

The departmental officials

Two or three unnamed officials who know that the foreign ruler’s letter exists.

The house-maid at Whitehall Terrace

Also known as the housemaid

An unnamed servant who is permitted to enter Trelawney Hope’s bedroom in the morning; she is considered a trusted servant.

Trelawney Hope’s valet

Also known as the valet

An unnamed trusted servant allowed into Hope’s bedroom during the day. The story gives no indication that he was involved in the theft.

Trelawney Hope’s wife’s maid

Also known as his wife’s maid

An unnamed trusted servant permitted to enter the Hopes’ bedroom during the day.

Oberstein

One of three prominent international secret agents Holmes considers capable of stealing the letter; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

La Rothiere

One of three prominent international secret agents Holmes considers capable of stealing the letter; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Eduardo Lucas

Also known as M. Henri Fournaye · Henri Fournaye

A society figure and amateur tenor who lives a double life in London and Paris and is one of Holmes’s suspected international agents. Lady Hilda gave him the foreign letter in exchange for a compromising letter of her own; his jealous wife stabbed him to death.

Mrs. Pringle

Also known as the elderly housekeeper

Eduardo Lucas’s elderly housekeeper, who sleeps at the top of his house and reports hearing nothing on the night he was murdered.

John Mitton

Also known as Mitton · the valet

Eduardo Lucas’s valet, who was away visiting a friend in Hammersmith when Lucas was killed. Police arrested and released him after confirming his alibi.

Police-constable Barrett

Also known as Barrett

A named police-constable who finds Eduardo Lucas’s front door ajar and discovers his body.

Mme. Henri Fournaye

Also known as the Creole woman · Lucas’s wife

Eduardo Lucas’s Creole wife, who discovers his double life and stabs him during a jealous confrontation. After returning to Paris, she becomes dangerously insane and cannot give a coherent account of events.

The Prime Minister’s colleague

A reference to Lord Bellinger, who accompanies Trelawney Hope to consult Holmes about the missing letter.

The young woman who visited Godolphin Street

Also known as the woman in the long mantle

An unidentified, handsome young woman who visits the murder scene at dusk and faints on seeing the bloodstain. Holmes recognizes her portrait and uses her visit to establish that she returned to recover the hidden letter; she is Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope.

The constable guarding Godolphin Street

Also known as the constable in the passage

An unnamed officer assigned to guard Eduardo Lucas’s room; he admits a young woman to see the scene and leaves briefly to fetch brandy.

Constable MacPherson

Also known as MacPherson · the big constable

A police-constable assigned to guard Eduardo Lucas’s murder scene. He confesses to letting a young woman inside and briefly leaving her alone in the room.

The attendant at the Ivy Plant

An unnamed person at the Ivy Plant, from whom Constable MacPherson fetches brandy.

The Parisian police

French police who identify Mme. Henri Fournaye as Eduardo Lucas’s wife and investigate his murder.

The servants at the villa in Paris

Unnamed members of Mme. Henri Fournaye’s household who report her apparent insanity to the authorities.

Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope

Also known as Lady Hilda · the youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster

Trelawney Hope’s wife and youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster. She took the foreign letter from her husband’s despatch-box to recover an imprudent love letter Lucas was using to blackmail her; Holmes returns the document and shields her from exposure.

The Duke of Belminster

Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope’s father; mentioned but does not appear directly.

The great noblewoman in the portrait

The woman whose portrait Holmes recognizes as Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope.

Jacobs

Also known as the butler

Trelawney Hope’s butler, who brings down the despatch-box when asked.

Lord Merrow

A correspondent whose letter is among the papers in Trelawney Hope’s despatch-box; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Sir Charles Hardy

A correspondent whose report is among the papers in Trelawney Hope’s despatch-box; mentioned but does not appear directly.

Lord Flowers

A correspondent whose note is among the papers in Trelawney Hope’s despatch-box; mentioned but does not appear directly.