According to our notes, on the basic structure of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, a visitor is supposed to arrive. In this story, Sherlock Holmes would be the visitor. Watson not knowing that Holmes is still alive is extremely shocked by his return, "I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in my life" (296).
The story structure continues with the story being told and the problem presented. In The Adventure of the Empty House, the case presented is the murder of Ronald Adair. Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth, the governor at the time of Australian