Arthur Conan Doyle · 1891
Questions on the text, each answered in the book’s own words, with the minute you hear it.
Challenge a friend: 123BookWarThe text
Answer The twentieth of March, 1888
“One night—it was on the twentieth of March, 1888—I was returning from a journey to a patient”
Answer Seven and a half pounds
“I think, Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.”
Answer Seventeen
“Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.”
Answer Pink-tinted
“He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table.”
Answer Half a crown
“Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff.”
Answer Egria
“Eglow, Eglonitz—here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking country—in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad.”
Answer A hundred and fifty guineas
“A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece.”
Answer The Count Von Kramm
“You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman.”
Answer Warsaw
“Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, Irene Adler.”
Answer New Jersey, 1858
“Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto—hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw—yes!”
Answer Five
“Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice she has been waylaid.”
Answer Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen
“To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia.”
Answer The Langham
“You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Count Von Kramm.”
Answer Three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes
“There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes,” he said.”
Answer A drunken-looking groom
“a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room.”
Answer Twopence, a glass of half-and-half and two fills of shag tobacco
“received in exchange twopence, a glass of half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler”
Answer Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple
“He is dark, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple.”
Answer Gross & Hankey’s in Regent Street
“first to Gross & Hankey’s in Regent Street, and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road.”
Answer A sovereign
“The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch chain in memory of the occasion.”
Answer Mrs. Turner
“When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you.”
Answer A plumber’s smoke-rocket
“It is an ordinary plumber’s smoke-rocket, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting.”
Answer Moist red paint
“Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand.”
Answer In a recess behind a sliding panel above the right bell-pull
“The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell-pull.”
Answer The 5:15 from Charing Cross
“She left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Cross for the Continent.”
Answer An emerald snake ring
“He slipped an emerald snake ring from his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.”
“A Scandal in Bohemia,” The Strand Magazine, July 1891; collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892. Public domain.