Count Negretto Sylvius is a jewel thief and one of the main antagonists of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, the final set of 12 out of a total of 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories. He serves as the main antagonist of the set's third short story, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone.
Biography[]
A Jewel thief, Count Negretto Sylvius is the mastermind of the robbery of the Crown diamond, a 100,000 pound stone. Holmes is hired to investigate the case, and tracks down the Count and his muscle, a thug called Sam Merton. He formulates a plan to catch them, by inviting them to his home to take the Stone from them to save them from going to prison. Arriving Holmes lays down his terms, and pretends to go into his room to play his Violin while they discuss it. The Count pretends to go along with this, but secretly reveals to Sam, he will double cross Holmes and claim the Jewel is hidden somewhere far away, while they have it smuggled to Holland early.
When pressed by Sam, he reveals the Jewel is on his person as he cannot risk leaving it alone, due to the fact that if he could take it out of the vault, then someone else could take it out of where he left it. He shows it to Sam, Holmes then springs his trap, revealing a secret way from his bedroom back behind the curtain, and using a Gramophone to fool the criminals into thinking he was still in there. Having called the police before, they are caught red handed, and arrested.
Trivia[]
- Count Negretto Sylvius was originally Colonel Moran in The Crown Diamond, the play that was adapted into his story.
