François Le Villard
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
Fictional character.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories
- François Le Villard was a member of the French detective service (SIGN 64), who consulted Sherlock Holmes about a case concerning a will, and possessed some features of interest (SIGN 66).
- He had all the Celtic power of quick intuition, but he was deficient in the wide range of exact knowledge which is essential to the higher developments of his art (SIGN 65).
- Sherlock Holmes was able to refer him to two parallel cases, the one at Riga in 1857, and the other at St. Louis in 1871, which have suggested to Le Villard the true solution (SIGN 67).
- In a letter to Sherlock Holmes, Le Villard testified the ardent admiration to him with French words like 'magnifiques,' 'coup-de-maîtres,' and 'tours-de-force,' (SIGN 70).
- However, Sherlock Holmes confessed Le Villard had considerable gifts himself. He possessed two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective : the power of observation and that of deduction. He was only wanting in knowledge(SIGN 73).
- Le Villard was translating Sherlock Holmes' monographs into French (SIGN 77).
