You will recall that the unfortunate Mr. Harker found himself in a journalistic pickle in "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons." In his own words:
"All my life I have been collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece of news has come my own way, I am so confused and bothered that I can't put two words together."
James Edward Holroyd, a chairman and founding member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, wrote sympathetically about Horace Harker in Baker Street By-Ways. A journalist himself (as I once was), Mr. Holroyd gives H.H. a couple of pages in a chapter called "A Baker Street Portrait Gallery."
He asked some interesting questions, but not the ones I wonder about. For example:
What did Horace Harker write about when he wasn't so confused and bothered?
Did he recover enough to write about the Six Napoleons affair as the case proceeded?
Did his brush with Sherlock Holmes inspire him to follow the consulting detective's subsequent career?
What was the trajectory of his own future career in journalistm? Did he rise to an executive position in the Central News Syndicate?
I think the latter question, in particular, deserves investigation.
Who is your favorite minor character in the Canon?
