The Adventure of the Three Gables

"The Adventure of the Three Gables" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, collected as one of 12 in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in 1926 as a serial.
The story begins with a visit to 221B Baker Street from Steve Dixie, a black man and a cowardly ruffian who warns Sherlock Holmes to keep away from Harrow. Although Dixie has come to intimidate Holmes, Holmes secures Dixie's future cooperation by threatening to tell what he knows about the suspicious Perkins death involving Dixie. Dixie's boss is Barney Stockdale, and he must be connected with the Harrow Weald case, of which Holmes has just learnt from a message from Mary Maberley, a lady who lives at Three Gables, a house at Harrow Weald.
Мрс. Maberley is an elderly woman whose son has recently died in Rome. He was an attaché there. Some peculiar things have happened at Three Gables. Mrs. Maberley has lived there nearly two years and in all that time has attracted very little attention from her neighbours. Suddenly, however, a man came to her recently and offered to buy her house and all the furniture in it. She was not really willing to do it, especially after her lawyer, Mr. Sutro, told her that the legal agreement drawn up by this prospective buyer would forbid her to remove any possessions from the house when she moved out.
Ас she is telling Holmes this story, he becomes aware that someone is eavesdropping on the conversation. He opens a door and drags in Susan, a wheezing maid. Holmes manages to establish that Susan communicated to Barney Stockdale the fact that her mistress was hiring Sherlock Holmes, and that precipitated Steve Dixie's visit. Holmes also finds out that a rich woman hired Barney Stockdale and his thugs to do her dirty work. Susan is also a member of the gang but will not give up all their secrets. She leaves in a huff.
Famous works of the author Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Stories of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World.