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The Adventure Of Charles Augustus MilvertonThe 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. Synopsis Holmes is hired by Lady Eva Blackwell, a young dbutante, 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 murders 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. Holmes disguises himself and goes out to Hampstead, where he becomes a plumber and endears himself to Milverton’s housemaid, becoming her fianc. Watson is most taken aback by Holmes’s latest investigative method, but Holmes assures him that he has a hated rival who will step in once he disappears. Holmes has learnt from his fiance all that 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. 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? 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, Holmes and Watson having hastily hidden themselves behind a curtain. Milverton is preoccupied with something. He paces, he peruses some legal papers, and, fortunately, he fails to notice that his safe is not quite shut. A veiled woman arrives at the veranda door and makes her way in. She proceeds to blame Milverton for her ruin, finally showing her face. No name is uttered, but Milverton clearly recognizes her and knows that what she is saying is true. She then pulls a revolver out and shoots him six times, killing him. Quickly throwing all the safe’s contents on the fire and bolting the inner door to prevent the staff’s entry, for they are quickly 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. Watson has noticed 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 celebrities’ 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. Trivia Charles Augustus Milverton may have been named after Arthur Conan Doyle's real-life neighbour, Charles Augustus Gifford. External links Charles Augustus Milverton, The Adventure of
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