Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Holmes Laughing

This is an established feature of the character that tends to get dropped from adaptations. Watson claims (twice) that Holmes rarely laughs, but in the adventures we have, he laughs quite a bit.

From Adventures:

He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together. ("A Scandal in Bohemia")
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Holmes laughed. “It is quite a pretty little problem,” said he. ("A Scandal in Bohemia")
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Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.

“Well, really!” he cried, and then he choked and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair. ("A Scandal in Bohemia")
**
“I do not wish to make a mystery,” said he, laughing. ("A Scandal in Bohemia")
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Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar of laughter. ("The Red-Headed League")
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“Never mind,” said Holmes, laughing; “it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?” ("A Case of Identity")
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“Never mind,” said Holmes, laughing; “it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?” ("A Case of Identity")
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“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,” he answered, laughing. ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery")
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Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the cushioned seat. ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
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“Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog,” said Holmes, laughing. ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery")
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Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and burst into a hearty fit of laughter. ("The Man with the Twisted Lip")
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“No, no. No crime,” said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. ("The Blue Carbuncle")
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Sherlock Holmes laughed. ("The Blue Carbuncle")
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A few yards off he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was peculiar to him. ("The Blue Carbuncle")
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“He seems a very amiable person,” said Holmes, laughing. ("The Speckled Band")
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Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh and put his lips to my ear. ("The Speckled Band")
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“Experience,” said Holmes, laughing. “Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.” ("The Engineer's Thumb")
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“It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting it on a level with his own,” said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. ("The Noble Bachelor")
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Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. ("The Noble Bachelor")
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“Very good, Lestrade,” said Holmes, laughing. “You really are very fine indeed. Let me see it.” ("The Noble Bachelor")
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From The Memoirs:

Holmes thought a little and then burst out laughing. “No, don’t,” said he; “I shall write to you about it. No tricks, now, or—” ("Silver Blaze")
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Sherlock Holmes laughed. “I assure you that I have not associated you with the crime, Colonel,” said he. ("Silver Blaze")
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Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand behind the child’s ear, a mask peeled off from her countenance, and there was a little coal black negress, with all her white teeth flashing in amusement at our amazed faces. I burst out laughing, out of sympathy with her merriment; but Grant Munro stood staring, with his hand clutching his throat. ("The Yellow Face")
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“The fates are against you, Watson,” said he, laughing. “We were chatting about the matter when you came in, Inspector. Perhaps you can let us have a few details.” As he leaned back in his chair in the familiar attitude I knew that the case was hopeless. ("The Reigate Squires")
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Sherlock Holmes laughed heartily. “We will come to that in its turn,” said he. ("The Reigate Squires")
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“I could see that you were commiserating me over my weakness,” said Holmes, laughing. ("The Reigate Squires")
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This was news to me indeed. If there were another man with such singular powers in England, how was it that neither police nor public had heard of him? I put the question, with a hint that it was my companion’s modesty which made him acknowledge his brother as his superior. Holmes laughed at my suggestion. ("The Greek Interpreter")
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“With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather fine,” said Holmes, laughing. He rose, and throwing off the black cassock and hat which had formed his disguise, he packed them away in a hand-bag. ("The Final Problem")
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From His Last Bow:

“Come, come, sir,” said Holmes, laughing. “You are like my friend, Dr. Watson, who has a bad habit of telling his stories wrong end foremost. Please arrange your thoughts and let me know, in their due sequence, exactly what those events are which have sent you out unbrushed and unkempt, with dress boots and waistcoat buttoned awry, in search of advice and assistance.” ("Wisteria Lodge")
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An answer had arrived to Holmes’s telegram before our Surrey officer had returned. Holmes read it and was about to place it in his notebook when he caught a glimpse of my expectant face. He tossed it across with a laugh. ("Wisteria Lodge")
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Holmes laughed good-humouredly. ("Wisteria Lodge")
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“It won’t do, Watson!” said he with a laugh. ("The Devil's Foot")
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He laughed heartily at my perplexity. ("The Cardboard Box")
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From The Return:

So amazed was I that I threw out my hand to make sure that the man himself was standing beside me. He was quivering with silent laughter. ("The Empty House")
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“The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his eyes their keenness,” said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the shattered forehead of his bust. ("The Empty House")
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Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at him. An extraordinary change had come over his face. It was writhing with inward merriment. His two eyes were shining like stars. It seemed to me that he was making desperate efforts to restrain a convulsive attack of laughter. ("The Norwood Builder")
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Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination, for he arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut lip and a discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general air of dissipation which would have made his own person the fitting object of a Scotland Yard investigation. He was immensely tickled by his own adventures, and laughed heartily as he recounted them. ("The Solitary Cyclist")
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Holmes laughed good-naturedly. ("The Priory School")
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There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down stable. Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud. ("The Priory School")
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Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street. He snatched one of them up, opened it, and burst out into a triumphant chuckle of laughter. ("Black Peter")
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For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire, but beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead, and that it was not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing. At last, however, on a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind screamed and rattled against the windows, he returned from his last expedition, and having removed his disguise he sat before the fire and laughed heartily in his silent inward fashion. ("Charles Augustus Milverton")
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Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment. ("The Missing Three-Quarter")
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A pompous butler ushered us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the street. Holmes burst out laughing. ("The Missing Three-Quarter")
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I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe. I associated that instrument with the single weakness of his nature, and I feared the worst when I saw it glittering in his hand. He laughed at my expression of dismay, and laid it upon the table. ("The Missing Three-Quarter")
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Holmes put his finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his breast-pocket, and burst out laughing as we turned down the street. ("The Second Stain")
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From The Case-Book:

Holmes seldom laughed, but he got as near it as his old friend Watson could remember. ("The Mazarin Stone")
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Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post had brought him. Then, with the dry chuckle which was his nearest approach to a laugh, he tossed it over to me. ("The Sussex Vampire")
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"I am a bit of an archaeologist myself when it comes to houses," said Holmes, laughing. "I was wondering if this was Queen Anne or Georgian." ("The Three Garridebs")
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Holmes laughed. ("The Three Garridebs")
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From A Study in Scarlet:

“Oh, that’s all right,” he cried, with a merry laugh. “I think we may consider the thing as settled—that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you.”
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“I really beg your pardon!” said my companion, who had ruffled the little man’s temper by bursting into an explosion of laughter.
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Holmes laughed and threw his card across the table to the constable.
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It was close upon nine when he set out. I had no idea how long he might be, but I sat stolidly puffing at my pipe and skipping over the pages of Henri Murger’s “Vie de Bohème.” Ten o’clock passed, and I heard the footsteps of the maid as they pattered off to bed. Eleven, and the more stately tread of the landlady passed my door, bound for the same destination. It was close upon twelve before I heard the sharp sound of his latch-key. The instant he entered I saw by his face that he had not been successful. Amusement and chagrin seemed to be struggling for the mastery, until the former suddenly carried the day, and he burst into a hearty laugh.
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“Didn’t I tell you so when we started?” cried Sherlock Holmes with a laugh. “That’s the result of all our Study in Scarlet: to get them a testimonial!”
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From The Sign of Four:

“Oh, didn’t you know?” he cried, laughing.
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“You see, Watson, if all else fails me I have still one of the scientific professions open to me,” said Holmes, laughing. “Our friend won’t keep us out in the cold now, I am sure.”
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Sherlock Holmes and I looked blankly at each other, and then burst simultaneously into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
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“Here it is,” said he, laughing, and pointing to an open newspaper. “The energetic Jones and the ubiquitous reporter have fixed it up between them. But you have had enough of the case. Better have your ham and eggs first.”
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From The Hound of the Baskervilles:

He laughed at my bewildered expression. “There is a delightful freshness about you, Watson, which makes it a pleasure to exercise any small powers which I possess at your expense. A gentleman goes forth on a showery and miry day. He returns immaculate in the evening with the gloss still on his hat and his boots. He has been a fixture therefore all day. He is not a man with intimate friends. Where, then, could he have been? Is it not obvious?”
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Never have I seen my friend more completely taken aback than by the cabman’s reply. For an instant he sat in silent amazement. Then he burst into a hearty laugh.
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He had uttered a cry and bent over the body. Now he was dancing and laughing and wringing my hand. Could this be my stern, self-contained friend? These were hidden fires, indeed!
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“Exactly. This chance of the picture has supplied us with one of our most obvious missing links. We have him, Watson, we have him, and I dare swear that before tomorrow night he will be fluttering in our net as helpless as one of his own butterflies. A pin, a cork, and a card, and we add him to the Baker Street collection!” He burst into one of his rare fits of laughter as he turned away from the picture. I have not heard him laugh often, and it has always boded ill to somebody.
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From The Valley of Fear:

Holmes laughed. “Watson insists that I am the dramatist in real life,” said he.
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