Arthur Conan Doyle · 1903
Questions on the text, each answered in the book’s own words, with the minute you hear it.
Challenge a friend: 123BookWarThe text
Answer 1894
“It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald Adair”
Answer The Earl of Maynooth
“The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth, at that time governor of one of the Australian colonies.”
Answer 427, Park Lane
“she, her son Ronald, and her daughter Hilda were living together at 427, Park Lane.”
Answer The Baldwin, the Cavendish, and the Bagatelle
“He was a member of the Baldwin, the Cavendish, and the Bagatelle card clubs.”
Answer Four hundred and twenty pounds
“in partnership with Colonel Moran, he had actually won as much as four hundred and twenty pounds in a sitting, some weeks before, from Godfrey Milner and Lord Balmoral.”
Answer Two banknotes for ten pounds each and seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold
“On the table lay two banknotes for ten pounds each and seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold, the money arranged in little piles of varying amount.”
Answer A bed of crocuses in full bloom
“The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom lay beneath.”
Answer The Origin of Tree Worship
“I remember that as I picked them up, I observed the title of one of them, The Origin of Tree Worship”
Answer At the corner of Church Street
“I am a neighbour of yours, for you’ll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street”
Answer He faints, for the first and last time in his life
“then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in my life.”
Answer Baritsu, the Japanese system
“I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me.”
Answer Florence
“I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence”
Answer His brother Mycroft
“I had only one confidant—my brother Mycroft.”
Answer Sigerson, a Norwegian
“You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend.”
Answer Montpellier
“I spent some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at Montpellier, in the south of France.”
Answer At the corner of Cavendish Square
“I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes stopped the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square.”
Answer Camden House
“Exactly. We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our own old quarters.”
Answer Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of Grenoble
“The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding. It is a bust in wax.”
Answer A garroter by trade, and a performer upon the jew’s-harp
“He is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a remarkable performer upon the jew’s-harp.”
Answer Once in every quarter of an hour
“Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that figure eight times, or once in every quarter of an hour.”
Answer An opera hat, pushed to the back of his head
“An opera hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat.”
Answer ‘Journeys end in lovers’ meetings,’ as the old play says
“‘Journeys end in lovers’ meetings,’ as the old play says.”
Answer Von Herder, the blind German mechanic
“I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic, who constructed it to the order of the late Professor Moriarty.”
Answer Morgan the poisoner, Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews
“here is Morgan the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross”
Answer 1840
“Formerly 1st Bangalore Pioneers. Born London, 1840.”
Answer The second most dangerous man in London
“On the margin was written, in Holmes’s precise hand: The second most dangerous man in London.”
Answer The Scotland Yard Museum
“The famous air-gun of Von Herder will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum”
Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Empty House,” first published in Collier’s Weekly, 26 September 1903, and The Strand Magazine, October 1903; collected in The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905). This text follows the Project Gutenberg transcription (#108) of the collected edition. Public domain.