Sherlock & Irene by Chris Chan

Author:Chris Chan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler, Doctor Watson, Professor Moriarty, Colonel Sebastian Moran, Godfrey Norton, A Scandal in Bohemia, Literary Criticism, The Great Game, Pseudoscholarship, Blackmail, Wedding, Secrets, Photograph, The Great Hiatus, Addiction, Murder, Assassination, International Intrigue, Disguise
ISBN: 9781787056152
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2020-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

The Mysterious Marriage

With thanks[1]

Anybody who has a rudimentary knowledge of English marriage law during the late nineteenth century and the religious rituals of marriage realizes that something is very wrong with Irene Adler’s marriage. Some Sherlockian scholars have suggested that Holmes’ account of the wedding of Adler and Norton is flawed or distorted, but why would Holmes feed such a deeply flawed story to his friend? What could he possibly gain at this time by suggesting that there was something fishy about Adler’s marriage? There is a much darker and probable possibility, and that is that Adler’s wedding was actually a cruel and deliberate sham.

In Holmes’ account of the wedding, he witnesses Norton rushing into Adler’s home around eleven-thirty in the morning, where he speaks to her in a state of severe agitation before rushing out and looking flustered. Adler and Norton take off for the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road in separate carriages, both promising their coachmen extra money if they get there in twenty minutes. The reason for the different conveyances stems from the fact that Norton has to stop at Gross and Hankey’s in Regent Street first – perhaps he needed to pick up the wedding rings. The rush stems from the fact that both parties are trying to get to the church by noon.

Holmes reaches St. Monica’s to find Adler, Norton, and a priest there, and is surprised when Norton drags him to the altar to act as a witness. Norton promises that the wedding will last only three minutes. Holmes explains that:

“I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor.

It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It seems that there had been some informality about their license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion.”

Immediately after the wedding, Adler and Norton go their separate ways, and Adler declares that she will go out for her usual five p.m. carriage ride. Holmes returned to Baker Street and recounted his recent experiences to Watson.

The problem is, there are a lot of eyebrow-raising details that give rise to serious concerns about the validity of the wedding. Norton spoke of an informality about the

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