outside, keeping the house under surveillance. Dixie is now inclined to help Holmes if he can, to avoid any indiscreet talk about the Perkins lad who met his end so tragically. He swears, however, that he does not know who has hired Barney Stockdale. Holmes and Watson go back to Three Gables to investigate a burglary that has happened there. The burglars chloroformed Mrs. Maberley and stole a manuscript from her son's belongings. She retained part of one sheet of paper from it when, coming round, she lunged after one of the thieves. The police inspector at the scene treats the matter as an ordinary burglary, but Holmes knows better. He examines the bit of manuscript retained by Mrs. Maberley, and it appears to be the end of a lurid novel. Holmes is struck by the peculiar wording; the story abruptly changes from third-person narration to first-person narration. It is in Douglas's handwriting; so it would seem that he was putting himself in a story that he was writing. Holmes and Watson go to see Isadora Klein, a wealthy woman who is used to getting what she wants. The happenings at Three Gables, and the information Holmes obtained from Langdale Pike, "his human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal", have all added up to something. It turns out that Douglas Maberley was involved with Isadora Klein at one time. She broke the relationship off, and he almost wrought his revenge by writing a thinly veiled account of their affair, to be published as a novel. Everyone in London would know who the characters truly were, were the novel ever published. Isadora established that no copy had ever been sent to Douglas's publisher but realized that he must have a copy. She hired Barney Stockdale and his confederates to secure the manuscript. She tried legal means at first, and when that did not work, she resorted to crime. She has burnt the manuscript. Holmes forces Isadora Klein to write a cheque for £5000 to furnish Mrs. Maberley with a first-class trip round the world in return for his silence about Isadora's nefarious dealings. Commentaries "The Adventure of the Three Gables" has been criticized for its reliance on racist stereotypes in the portrayal of the black boxer, Steve Dixie. This contrasts strikingly with Doyle's earlier sympathetic portrayal of an interracial marriage, in "The Adventure of the Yellow Face" (1893).