Summary
Lord Robert Saint-Simon, the son of a duke and therefore a personage of high rank, comes to visit Holmes for aid in a matter that the latter has already read about with Watson. At breakfast the day of Saint-Simon's wedding, his wife-to-be, Hatty Doran, an American, left the table and then disappeared. Holmes learns a few additional details from Saint-Simon, including an incident in which Doran dropped her bouquet and a gentleman in the pews restored it to her. With this and a handwritten note given him by Inspector Lastrade soon after, Holmes deduces the truth of the case.
He organizes a meeting at which Lord Saint-Simon is introduced to Hatty Doran, now revealed as Mrs. Francis Hay Multon, and Francis Hay Multon himself. Hatty explains that years ago she was married in secret to Frank but then came to England and eventually agreed to be married to Lord Saint-Simon after news that Frank had been killed in an Apache raid. However, she saw Frank in the pews and by dropping her bouquet near him managed to inconspicuously pick up a note from him asking her to elope. The two had planned to leave London in secret, but Holmes, having solved the case, tracked them down and convinced them to explain their case in public.
Analysis
Perhaps most explicitly among the different adventures, Holmes' work on the case of Lord Robert Saint-Simon foregrounds the importance of class in England, which should be understood as especially important during the heyday of British imperialism before the First World War. The contemporary issue of wealthy American daughters bringing in large dowries to British aristocrats of declining fortunes, as vividly and humorously illustrated by the gossip paper Holmes reads, points towards the fragility of this social supremacy at the end of the 19th century, which is to say, the end of the Victorian era. As in "The Five Orange Pips," Holmes, more than any other character, is able to act as mediator between characters of both sides of the Atlantic, which indicates in an unobtrusive way his unique position in British society, where he is also able to mix among classes with his sharp wit and love for disguises.
