Conan Doyle, Arthur - Sherlock Holmes and the red circle

The Beginning of the Story

The story begins with Mrs. Warren coming to Sherlock Holmes at Baker’s street. She was worried about the man who is living in her house. A young man with thick beard who spoke English well. He offers to pay considerably more for the room than the woman asked for but has requirements. He needs a key, and most importantly he needs to be completely isolated in the house. They bring him food everyday but never see him, which has begin to worry her (the landlord of the house) after a few weeks. If he wants anything he writes it in capital lettera on a piece of paper and leaves it on the chair; for example SOAP, MATCH, DAILY GAZETTE etc.

She has also brought some cigarettes and matches to help learn about the man. Holmes determines that there is something ODD (strange) as the cigarettes are short and they would have burnt the man’s beard.

The next morning Holmes & Watson decidec to visit Mrs. Warren but unfortunately they came at the wrong time because she was so angry that she wanted to call the police inorder to make the man pack out of her house not minding the fact that she’s financially brokedown. The worst part of the story was that her husband was lately kidnapped that same morning, though he’s been taken only a few miles away and then dropped at the road side.

The Discovery of Holmes

The proofs Mrs. Warren gave to them convinced Holmes that there must be two people and so searches the papers for messages that could be sent to the man by a second person and discovered some possibilities. This was enough to convince him that he needs to see the person so they hid when they brought the afternoon meal and discoveres that the second person inside the room was a woman (the man’s wife).

The Lantern Signal

In the night of the day in which Mrs. Warren’s husband was kidnapped Holmes & Watson saw a lantern signal through the window. It is a warning but partway it was interrupted. Holme’s able to decipher the message. They then decided to go into the same case, but have come to it through far more conventional means and they are able top ut together the information each gathered and discover that this waf thw wife of the dark beard man who rented the room.

Meanwhile, the three men ran upstairs to know where and what was happening in the room which Holmes saw the lantern signal coming from. When they got there they saw a man lying lifelessly on the floor with a circe of blood round his head. Holmes made some signal too from the window to call the woman (Gennaro’s wife); She came thinking it was her husband who called her.

The Confession of Gennaro's Wife

When She got there she was as wwell terrified seeing the scene. She understood that it was her husband that has killed the man and decided to tell their story to the investigatore.

Both (Gennaro and his wife) were been hunted by a man called “Giuseppe Gorgiano” who had fallen in love with the lady in question and also wanted to kill them, but as they rush up to the roon and discovered the man’s death it was to late (but as it was effectively self defense and so there was unlikely to be actual prosecution).