by Stefanina Hill

Created on: March 30, 2010

“The Adventure of the Creeping Man” 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 Creeping Man” is narrated by Dr. John Watson.

At the outset of the story Watson receives a terse message from Sherlock Holmes; “come at once if convenient, if inconvenient come all the same.” Watson goes to Baker Street and joins Holmes in a new case. Mr. Trevor Bennett has consulted Holmes out of concern for his employer, Professor Presbury.

Presbury is a well known Physiologist. He is a widower with one daughter named Edith who is Trevor Bennett’s fiancée. Trevor works as secretary and professional assistant to the professor and lives in the house with Presbury and Edith.

Some months ago the professor became engaged to a much younger woman. The girl, Alice Morphy, liked the professor but would have preferred a suitor closer to her own age. However Presbury’s wealth had impressed her family and so the match stood.

Around this time the professor left home and stayed away for some weeks. When he returned he gave no indication as to where he had been although Bennett later discovered that the professor had been in Prague. Upon his return the professor’s usual openness and honesty was replaced by sly and furtive qualities. Bennett had previously opened and sorted all of the professor’s correspondence. After the professor’s return from Prague he gave instructions that any letters from London which were marked with a cross under the stamp were to be set aside for his own eyes only. Bennett saw several letters of this description arrive for the professor.

On the second of July Bennett remembered that the professor had lost his temper with him and later that same day Presbury was attacked by Roy, his loyal wolf hound. Roy was not a vicious dog and did not act aggressively towards anyone else nor indeed was he consistently so with his master. However Roy then attacked Presbury on two further occasions and after the last attack the dog had to be tied up in the stables. Bennett says that late one night he had seen the professor crawling along the passageway in a strange manner before hurrying downstairs.

Miss Edith Presbury then arrives and describes a new instance

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