The Sign of the Four

The house is cold and shabby, except for a single room filled with Indian treasures where their mysterious host awaits them. Their host is a “small man with a very high head, a bristle of red hair all around the fringe of it, and a bald, shining scalp” (25). He is nervous and fidgety and introduces himself as Thaddeus Sholto, one of Major Sholto’s two sons.

He explains that when his father retired from the British Army in India, he returned to England with an enormous fortune. Thaddeus did not at first realize that his father knew what had happened to Morstan, though he knew they were friends. However, he suspected his father had some secret because he was paranoid and afraid to go out in public without guards. At one point, Sholto was so afraid that he shot his pistol at a man with a wooden leg who turned out to be a harmless tradesman.

Six years ago, Sholto received a letter that terrified him, though he would not explain why. His health was already poor, and the letter triggered his rapid decline. On his deathbed, Sholto told Thaddeus and his twin brother, Bartholomew, that he had a box of Indian treasures hidden in the house he called the “Agra treasure.