Plot summary: The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
“The Adventure of the Retired Colourman” is a short Sherlock Holmes story in the collection “the Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote fifty-six short Sherlock Holmes stories in total and four full length novels featuring the popular detective. Like the majority of the canon “the Adventure of the Retired Colourman” is narrated by Dr. John Watson.
At the outset of the story Scotland Yard send Josiah Amberley to Sherlock Holmes. Amberley is a retired colourman who claims that his wife has run off with a doctor called Ray Ernest and taken his deed box with her. Within the box was a good part of Amberley’s savings.
After talking to Amberley Holmes sends …ver más…

Upon arrival in Little Purlington Watson and Amberley find that the telegram was either a hoax or a mistake and since it is too late to catch a train back they are forced to spend the night in the village. Mr. Amberley has a reputation as a miser and Watson wryly comments that this characteristic is evident by the amount of complaining Amberley does about the hotel bill.
The next day Amberley and Watson return to The Haven where Holmes is waiting for them. Holmes immediately asks Mr. Amberley what he did with the bodies. This prompts the old man to give out a scream and attempt to commit suicide by swallowing a pill.
Holmes had arranged the telegram calling Amberley away and sent Watson along to make sure the old man really went to Little Purlington. He made sure he sent them so late that it would be impossible to get back that day. Holmes then broke into The Haven and examined the strong room.
A gas pipe in the house runs into the hermetically sealed strong room while the tap remains outside it. Amberley had locked his wife and Dr. Ernest into the room and then turned on the gas. Afterwards he had painted the room in order to mask the smell of gas.
Whether Mrs. Amberley was really having an affair or Mr. Amberley was just jealous and paranoid is not clear. The securities that Amberley claimed were stolen have really just been hidden. Holmes believes that Amberley would have pretended to discover them after a suitable amount of time had