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. An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930) was a Scottish author most famously known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. ... The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower containing Big Ben Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the capital of the United Kingdom and England. ... A typical cartoon villain. ... Vasily Livanov was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the Russian TV series. ... Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930) was a Scottish author most famously known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. ...

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. A debutante is young lady from a representative family who has reached the age of 18, and as a new adult is introduced to society at a formal presentation known as her debut or coming out. ... Blackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a monetary demand is met. ... (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, 1887) 221B Baker Street is the fictional London residence of the detective Sherlock Holmes, created by author Arthur Conan Doyle. ... A scandal is a widely publicized incident involving allegations of wrong-doing, disgrace, or moral outrage. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ... Dr. John H. Watson is a fictional character, the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional 19th century detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle. ...

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. Hampstead is a place in the London Borough of Camden and near to Hampstead Heath. ... A plumber is a tradesman who specialises in installing and maintaining systems used for plumbing, heating, drainage, potable (drinking) water or industrial process plant piping. ... A maidservant or in current usage maid is a female employed in domestic service. ... An engagement is an agreement by a couple to enter into marriage at some future time, usually accompanied by a formal or informal announcement to friends and family. ... The household is the basic unit of analysis in many microeconomic and government models. ... Burglary – also called breaking and entering or house breaking – is a crime related to theft. ... Masks in a Guatemalan Market A teenager reading a book, while wearing a dinosaur mask A mask is a piece of material or kit worn on the face. ...

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? A verandah is a large balcony on the level of a ground floor. ...

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 safe is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. ...

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, then grinds her heel into his eye before departing without ever knowing that she had witnesses. The Colt Single Action Army, one of the most popular revolvers of all time A revolver is a multishot firearm, usually a handgun, in which the rounds are held in a revolving cylinder that rotates to fire them through a single barrel. ...

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 and even jokes that the description of the one who was almost caught might apply to, for instance, Watson. He also knows that as long as the police think that the two men are the killers, they will never suspect anyone else. Inspector Lestrade arresting a suspect, by Sidney Paget Inspector Lestrade in the Granada television series Inspector Lestrade is a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. ... The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower containing Big Ben Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the capital of the United Kingdom and England. ...

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. A camera. ...

Trivia

Charles Augustus Milverton may have been named after Arthur Conan Doyle's real-life neighbour, Charles Augustus Gifford.

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. Jeremy Brett in the role of Sherlock Holmes. ... Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge in the film Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy (born October 29, 1925) is one of Britains best-known and most popular actors, and also an acknowledged expert on the longbow. ...

See also Asexuality. Asexuality is a designation or self-designation for people who lack feelings of sexual attraction and/or sexual desire. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

• "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" - in easy to read HTML format.
• Full text of "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"
• Free eBook The Return of Sherlock Holmes at Project Gutenberg (including "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton")
• Arthur Conan Doyle's house in Norwood - including a list of his neighbours