"We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed an shaken than I ha ever seen him. 'That hurts my pride, Watson,' he said at last. 'It is a petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my hand upon this gang' " (Pg 133.)
The quote above, is what Holmes had ended up saying to Watson after they had discovered that their client who's mystery they were trying to solve, had died. Their client who was name John Openshaw, had come to Sherlock and Watson for their help after receiving an incredibly strange letter in the mail. The plain envelope with no return to address had a large red seal on it's opening, and inside was a sheet of paper with only one thing written on it. "K.K.K." With the letter, was a collection of small orange flower buds which the K.K.K enclosed with all of their letters that they sent to victims, when their death was on the way. The strangest thing about this story however, is the fact that the K.K.K was still alive in 1885 (Which is the time when the majority of Sherlock's tales are set), but the K.K.K was founded by members of the Confederate army. An American organization- And yet they were targeting a man like John Openshaw who lived in London, and were ready to kill him.
Only with further investigation may we finally realize why they had targeted John- His great grandfather was Colonel Openshaw, someone who had served in the Confederate army. The K.K.K was greatly informed of the Colonel's acts in the Civil War, but he had managed to immigrate to London with a set of documents that hold some of the secrets of the K.K.K. Openshaw Sr. had immigrated to London, and died before the K.K.K was even established... So whatever documents he had, they were incredibly important. Those important documents then became the possession of John Openshaw, which is why he was eventually killed by the K.K.K. The most striking fact about John's death however, is that he died by walking off a bridge into unmarked territory in the night, and fell to his death.
How was the K.K.K able to forsee that death?
Back to the main point of the quote itself... It is incredibly easy to see the shame in Mr. Holmes' words. The pure shame and hatred for himself he had felt, occurred because it was one of the few times he had actually failed. The good guys are supposed to always win, but it just doesn't work that way in the real world.
Doyle, Sir Aurthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1996.
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