The Adventure of the Dancing Men | Summary, Cipher & Decoder

The Client

For a private detective, like Sherlock Holmes, every case starts with a client. In ''The Adventure of the Dancing Men,'' the client is one Hilton Cubitt, a tall, strong, country squire from an old and well-respected Norfolk family. He recently met and married an American woman named Elsie. However, the new Mrs. Cubitt has a mysterious past that she refuses to discuss.

Taking that for-better-or-for-worse part to heart, Mr. Cubitt has kept his promise not to pry into her past but recently, things have been happening around their home, Riding Thorpe, that has him a little worried about his wife. He has come to Holmes for help deciphering the code of the Dancing Men.

The Dancing Men

On several occasions, drawings of dancing men have shown up around his home. At first, he thought it was all a prank, but his wife seems very upset by them. Sadly, even the best code cracker needs more than a single line of code. Holmes sends the squire home with instructions to contact him when any more drawings turn up. Holmes puzzles over the code for a couple weeks until Cubitt returns with more dancing men and details.

Tired of watching his wife fret, he stayed up one night to catch the stalker. He saw the man, but his wife stopped him from catching the culprit. She seemed genuinely worried that the man would harm Cubitt, who is no weak thing, so now Cubitt is convinced the stalker is a pretty bad man. He brings Holmes several new drawings, enough for the great detective to crack the code, but it will take time. Cubitt returns home to his frightened wife, while Holmes works out the messages.

Two days later, a final coded message arrives from Cubitt. Holmes is in a panic. Something in the last message has him worried they have let things go on too long. He and Watson jump on the first train to Norfolk the next morning.

Cracking the Case

When Holmes and Watson arrive, they find that Cubitt is dead and his wife critically injured in an apparent murder-suicide. Holmes takes the news hard; this is the second time a client has died after hiring him. He is determined to help local police solve the case.

Holmes and the police interview the two housemaids who found the bodies. The women reveal several key facts:

• They were awoken by a loud bang followed by a second explosion a moment later.
• There was a strong smell of gunpowder throughout the house as they rushed downstairs to the study.
• The study door was ajar, and a candle burned inside.
• Cubitt lay dead in the middle of the floor shot in the chest. His wife was slumped against the wall under the window with a serious head wound.
• All the doors and windows were bolted from the inside.

After hearing the witness testimony, the investigation moves to the study where Holmes finds a third bullet hole in the window sash and a woman's purse with a large sum of money. From the testimony and the clues, he deduces that the window was open and someone fired a third shot from outside. An inspection of the flowerbed outside proves this theory correct.