A Most Formidable Mrs. Hudson

The writers of the BBC Radio series of Holmes dramatizations had, among other virtues, a splendid sense of humor. One example: In Doyle's published version of “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone,” we find that “Billy,” a “young but very wise and tactful page,” had become part of Holmes’ daily routine after Dr. Watson married and moved away. Billy clearly was a young man of substantial physique. When Holmes in this story instructs Billy to bring in a loiterer off the street—the boxer Sam Merton, an accomplice of Count Sylvius in stealing the valuable gem—Billy asks, “If he won’t come, sir?”

Holmes responds, “No violence, Billy. Don’t be rough with him. . . .”

In the BBC version, Billy is altogether absent from the tale. It is Mrs. Watson, the landlady, who handles such housekeeping tasks. It is she—a woman somewhat advanced in years, we’ve always assumed—who is asked to summon the ruffian boxer up to Holmes’ rooms. With no slight display of wryness, the writers let Doyle’s original dialogue stand.

“Ask him to come up, please,” Holmes instructs.

“And if he won’t, sir?”

“No violence, Mrs. Hudson. Don’t be rough with him.”

Those unfamiliar with the story may be doing a double take at this point. “He’s telling Mrs. Hudson not to do what?”

Those who understand the original role which was played by Billy, the strapping page, undoubtedly are—in the vernacular of the Web generation—ROTFL.

Daniel Elton Harmon
d@danieleltonharmon.com
www.danieleltonharmon.com