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| The most important reason however is that Watson did not realize that Holmes was somewhat embarrassed by those "adventures" as told by Watson. What Holmes was really interested in were the larger mysteries of nature. The criminal cases were simply puzzle-solving exercises at a local and recent level. He made this most clear in practically the last statement he made to Watson before his disappearance. Of late I have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by Nature rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of society is responsible [THE FINAL PROBLEM]. I would contend that Holmes had already, unknown to Watson, worked on those larger mysteries, that his disappearance was less due to the avoidance of Professor Moriarty's gang than to the avoidance of Watson and the relatively trivial day-by-day problems into which he was sucked, and that his "retirement" was to enable him to continue to focus on those larger issues. During a sabbatical in the 1990-1991 academic year, I was able to put my theories to empirical test. Following the first clue that the farm to which Holmes retired was five miles from Eastbourne [HIS LAST BOW], I took a train from London to Eastbourne. Using two other clues - that the farm commanded a great view of the Channel and that it was a half-mile from The Gables, a famous coaching establishment [THE LION'S MANE], by triangulation I zeroed in to its approximate location. |
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