British literature summaries - 2020

Short summary - The Greek Interpreter
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

VERY BRIEFLY

An interpreter is invited to a house where a person is secretly kept who is starved to extort money. Sherlock Holmes is trying to detain the extortionists, but the victim’s sister manages to take revenge.

Sherlock Holmes is contacted by a Greek translator, Mr. Melas, a well-known specialist in London, who is often invited at the most awkward time to some foreigner in a difficult situation. Therefore, he was not at all surprised when a few days ago, late at night, a young man named Latimer came to him and invited him to his Greek friend, who needed the services of an interpreter. Mr. Melas was put in a strange carriage with the windows closed and warned that he should not know where he was being taken.

After an hour and a half, Mr. Melas was brought to a secluded, richly furnished house, where several men were waiting for him. They brought a deadly, extremely emaciated man into the room with his mouth glued with a band-aid and ordered that their conversation be translated. Mr. Melas was supposed to ask the unfortunate questions, and he wrote the answers on a blackboard. Some stranger was required to sign some papers, to which he replied that he would sign only if the wedding would take place in his presence.

Realizing that the owners of the house did not understand a word in Greek, Mr. Melas began to ask short questions from himself. He found out that his name is Paulos Kratides, he came from Athens, he is starved, and he does not know the place of stay. At this moment, a young beautiful woman burst into the room. He and the captive rushed to each other. They were separated by force and taken out of the room. Melas was well paid and ordered to remain silent about what he saw.

Despite the warning, Mr. Melas contacted the police. An announcement was made in the newspaper about the search for the Greek Kratides, but so far no one responded, they did not know anything at the Greek embassy either. It was decided to request the Athenian police, but for now the great detective offers his version.

Arriving from Greece to England, the girl met with a certain Latimer. Fearing for his sister, the brother comes after him and becomes a victim of the “groom”. Probably, he forces him to sign papers in order to take possession of the property of the girl, which is owned by his brother.

Soon, a person responds to the announcement and reports the whereabouts of the brother and sister. Holmes goes to the specified address, stopping by Mr. Melas on the way, but the interpreter has already been taken away. In this house, in a closed room filled with gas, Mr. Melas and Greek Crotides are connected. The translator groans, and the Greek is dead.

The person who responded to the announcement confirms the version of the great detective. When the attackers realized that their secret was revealed, they fled with the girl.

Much of this is still a mystery. A few months later, an article appeared in the newspaper about two Englishmen traveling in Budapest accompanied by a woman. Men were found stabbed, and the woman disappeared. The Hungarian police came to the conclusion that the men killed each other during a quarrel, but the great detective is inclined to think that the disappeared Greek woman avenged her brother.