The Sign of the Four

“Miss Morstan entered the room with a firm step and an outward composure of manner. She was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste. […] Her face had neither regularity of feature nor beauty of complexion, but her expression was sweet and amiable, and her large blue eyes were singularly spiritual and sympathetic. In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature.”

Watson’s first encounter with Mary Morstan foreshadows their eventual romance, particularly how quickly Watson falls in love with her. Watson makes clear that while Mary is not conventionally beautiful, he finds her sweetness, calm, and dignity attractive. At the same time, Watson brags about his experience with women in many places over the years.

“‘It is of the first importance,’ he cried, ‘not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning her three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellent man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.’

“‘In this case, however—’

“‘I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule.’”

Holmes explains that he does not notice Mary’s attractiveness because in his mind, she is simply a factor in his case, not an actual person. He adds that one should not make assumptions about people based on their physical appearances. However, he later violates his own stricture in his racist assumptions about the Andamanese native, Tonga.

“He was bright, eager, and in excellent spirits, a mood which in his case alternated with fits of the blackest depression.”

Watson describes the extreme fluctuations in Holmes’s moods. He leaps quickly from depression to excitement with little warning, based entirely on the kind of work he has to occupy his mind. This jump from depression to joy is repeated in reverse at the end of the novel.

“The only person in London who he could have visited is Major Sholto. Major Sholto denies having heard that he was in London. Four years later Sholto dies. Within a week of his death Captain Morstan’s daughter receives a valuable present, which is repeated from year to year and now culminates in a letter which describes her as a wronged woman. What wrong can it refer to except this deprivation of her father? And why should the presents begin immediately after Sholto’s death unless it is that Sholto’s heir knows something of the mystery and desires to make compensation?”

Holmes neatly summarizes the information he has uncovered after a single afternoon of investigation and demonstrates the leaps of logic he makes to come to his current conclusions. When explained this way, his assumptions are clear and reasonable to Watson.

“Miss Morstan’s demeanor was as resolute and collected as ever. I endeavored to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan; but, to tell the truth, I was myself so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly involved. To this day she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked into my tent at the dead of night, and how I fired a double-barreled tiger cub at it.”

Watson focuses on descriptions of Mary and his growing feelings for her. Because Watson is telling this story long after the fact, in the form of a written account, he can provide a reflection of his actions that he could not have had at the moment, such as Mary’s claim that the stories he told to entertain her had become confused because he was so distracted.

“‘We were your trustees,’ he said; ‘that was the view which I took of it, though Brother Bartholomew could not altogether see it in that light. We had plenty of money ourselves. I desired no more. Besides, it would have been such bad taste to have treated a young lady in so scurvy a fashion.’”

Thaddeus demonstrates both his sense of honor and his compassion for Mary’s situation. Additionally, his belief that he has more than enough money directly contradicts his father’s and brother’s attitudes toward wealth and the Agra treasure. In this way, he is a foil to Major Sholto and a counterpoint to the theme of The Consequences of Wealth and Greed.

“At the mention of this gigantic sum we all stared at one another open-eyed. Miss Morstan, could we secure her rights, would change from a needy governess to the richest heiress in England. Surely it was the place of a loyal friends to rejoice at such news, yet I am ashamed to say that selfishness took me by the soul and that my heart turned as heavy as lead within me.”

Upon learning of the wealth that will come to Mary should they recover the treasure, Watson despairs because such wealth will place Mary far outside his class and romantic reach. Then he is ashamed because he feels he should be happy for her rather than concerned with his own feelings.

“Miss Morstan and I stood together, and her hand was in mine. A wondrous subtle thing is love, for here were we two, who had never seen each other before that day, between whom no word or even look of affection had ever passed, and yet now in an hour of trouble our hands instinctively sought for each other.”

Watson and Mary appear to have fallen in love, essentially, at first sight. By this point, they have known each other less than a day, and have had only one or two actual conversations. Yet, as Watson remarks, they already gravitate toward each other. This clearly foreshadows how quickly they will become engaged in the end.

“Looking straight at me and suspended, as it were, in the air, for all beneath was in shadow, there hung a face—the very face of our companion Thaddeus. There was the same high, shining head, the same circular bristle of red hair, the same bloodless countenance. The features were set, however, in a horrible smile, a fixed and unnatural grin, which in that still and moonlit room was more jarring to the nerves than any scowl or contortion. So like was the face to that of our little friend that I looked round at him to make sure that he was indeed with us. Then I recalled to mind that he had mentioned to us that his brother and he were twins.”

In this description, Watson attempts to evoke the same horror and shock that he felt when he first saw Bartholomew’s dead body. He describes both the gruesome state of his body and his likeness to Thaddeus with fine detail to make the moment real and immediate.

“Beside it was a torn sheet of notepaper with some words scrawled upon it. Holmes glanced at it and then handed it to me. ‘You see,’ he said with a significant raising of the eyebrows. In the light of the lantern I read with a thrill of horror, ‘the sign of the four.’”

Holmes finds the note signed with “the sign of the four” on Bartholomew’s body (44). This is important because it ties Bartholomew’s death to Major Sholto’s six years earlier. It also connects to the clue Mary offered of the handwritten diagram labeled with the same phrase and four names. It is from this list of four names that Holmes finds his primary suspect.

“‘You will not apply my precept,’ he said, shaking his head, ‘How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’”

Holmes urges Watson to use the methods he has tried to teach him, particularly his process of deductive reasoning, which he summarizes in this line. This line of dialogue is possibly the most-repeated quote from the entire Holmes canon, appearing not only in every Holmes adaptation, but also in many other pop culture references.

“So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence.”

Watson reflects on Holmes’s impressive skills and realizes that Holmes would have made an impressive and dangerous criminal if his interests had gone that way. Holmes is not only brilliant and knowledgeable but also physically fit, athletic (for instance, being a skilled boxer), and intensely focused. This is not the only time that Watson will make such an observation.

“Not only will I clear him, Mr. Jones, but I will make you a free present of the name and description of one of the two people who were in this room last night. His name, I have every reason to believe, is Jonathan Small.”

Confirming his antagonistic relationship with the police, Holmes announces publicly that Jones is wrong, and Holmes can prove it. To add insult to injury, Holmes provides the name and description of the man he believes to be guilty without any explanation or proof, knowing he will be able to prove it later. This does not endear him to Jones, who ignores him.

“After the angelic fashion of women, she had borne trouble with a calm face as long as there was someone weaker than herself to support, and I had found her bright and placid by the side of the frightened housekeeper. In the cab, however, she first turned faint and then burst into a passion of weeping—so sorely had she been tried by the adventures of the night. She has told me since that she thought me cold and distant upon that journey. She little guessed the struggle within my breast, or the effort of self-restraint which held me back.”

Watson describes Mary’s fortitude in the face of trauma with deep respect, and then offers a sympathetic view when she finally loses her self-control and cries. He admires both her strength and her depth of feeling. As before, his reflections after the fact allow him to comment on their interaction with information he could not have had in the moment.

“Yet there were two thoughts which sealed the words of affection upon my lips. She was weak and helpless, shaken in mind and nerve. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such a time. Worse still, she was rich. If Holmes’s researches were successful, she would be an heiress. Was it fair, was it honourable, that a half-pay surgeon should take advantage of an intimacy which chance had brought about? Might she not look upon me as a mere vulgar fortune seeker? I could not bear to risk that such a thought should cross her mind. This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us.”

Watson summarizes both his feelings for Mary, and his reasons for keeping those feelings to himself. He realizes that Mary is vulnerable as she faces a difficult and potentially traumatizing situation, and he does not want to take advantage of that vulnerability. This reveals him to be honorable in his motives and intentions. Additionally, he fears being accused of fortune-hunting now that Mary is close to becoming wealthy.

“Suddenly, however, Holmes’s voice broke in upon us. ‘I think that you might offer me a cigar too,’ he said.

“We both started in our chairs. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. ‘Holmes!’ I exclaimed. ‘You’re here! But where is the old man?’

“‘Here is the old man,’ he said, holding out a heap of white hair. ‘Here he is—wig, whiskers, eyebrows, and all. I thought my disguise was pretty good, but I hardly expected that it would stand that test.’”

This scene, when Holmes reveals his disguise and gloats over tricking both Watson and Jones, is a moment of humor and levity in an otherwise dark story. It also demonstrates Holmes’s great skill with disguises, including costume, stage makeup, and even changing his voice and speech patterns. This is a skill he uses often throughout the Holmes stories.

“‘Winwood Reade is good upon the subject,’ said Holmes. ‘He remarks that, while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician.’”

Holmes summarizes a view of probability and statistics as it applies to human behavior. His understanding of human behavior, based on the likelihood of any particular action, is one of the main elements of his deductive reasoning process, which he demonstrates several times in the novel.

“Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled around, threw up his arms, and, with a kind of choking cough, fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters.”

Watson, expressing the racist views of the time, describes Tonga as savage and animalistic, with almost monstrous qualities like glowing eyes and chattering teeth. His description allows Tonga no humanity or reason. In this way, Tonga is a symbol of Criminality, Monstrosity, and Fear of the Other.

“It was an evil day for me when first I clapped eyes upon the merchant Achmet and had to do with the Agra treasure, which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. To him it brought murder, to Major Sholto it brought fear and guilt, to me it has meant slavery for life.”

In his confession, Small concludes that the Agra treasure must be cursed because it brings only fear, death, and imprisonment. He says he regrets the day he ever laid eyes on it—and yet, he later continues to insist that he earned the treasure, and that no one should have it if he cannot.

“‘Because you are within my reach again,’ I said, taking her hand. She did not withdraw it. ‘Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, “Thank God.”’

“‘Then I say “Thank God,” too,’ she whispered as I drew her to my side.

“Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.”

Once Watson and Mary realize the treasure is lost, they are relieved rather than upset. For Watson, the treasure has only been a barrier between them. Even Mary, whose life would have been greatly improved by such wealth, seems unconcerned. Once again, she acts as a counterpoint to the greedy, obsessive characters like Major Sholto and Jonathan Small.

“That was how I earned the Agra treasure, and you talk to me of justice because I cannot bear to feel that I have paid this price only that another may enjoy it! I would rather swing a score of times, or have one of Tonga’s darts in my hide, than live in a convict’s cell and feel that another man is at his ease in a palace with the money that should be mind.”

Small is consumed with greed and obsession over the Agra treasure. Even though he admits it has brought nothing but hardship and death, he refuses to relinquish it to anyone else. He feels only he and his accomplices are entitled to it and would rather see it sink to the bottom of the Thames than risk it falling into anyone else’s hands.

“Well, I was never in luck’s way long. Suddenly, without a note of warning, the great mutiny broke upon us. One month India lay as still and peaceful, to all appearances, as Surrey or Kent; the next there were two hundred thousand black devils let loose, and the country was a perfect hell.”

Small reveals his involvement with the British Army in India, thus connecting his backstory to the theme of British Imperialism and Its Impact. As a British soldier, he is part of the strong arm that keeps the native population oppressed. Here, he references the Indian Mutiny of 1857, once again revealing racist attitudes in calling the Indian fighters “black devils” and being shocked that the people would dare to fight to take back their own country.

“I was a little hurt. ‘Have you any reason to be dissatisfied with my choice?’ I asked.

“‘Not at all. I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I ever met and might have been most useful in such work as we have been doing. She had a decided genius that way; witness the way in which she preserved that Agra plan from all the other papers of her father. But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment.’”

In a common disagreement between Holmes and Watson, Holmes declares that emotions, specifically love, are dangerous distractions from logic and reason. Holmes declares he would never marry, a statement that holds true throughout the entire Holmes canon. Watson, however, believes that his feelings will not hinder his observational skills or reasoning.