The Doings of Raffles Haw

In the village of Tamfield, near Birmingham, a mansion has gone up at extraordinary speed. Trains bring armies of workmen, electric lights keep construction going through the night, and nobody knows much about the man paying for it. For Robert and Laura McIntyre, whose father has lost his fortune, the arrival of a neighbour with apparently limitless money is difficult to ignore. Robert hopes to make a living from painting; Laura misses the society and comforts the family once enjoyed.

Raffles Haw turns out to be an awkward host for such grand surroundings. He prefers a bare room and a pipe, yet his house has doors that open at a visitor’s approach and a lift that travels sideways as well as up. Robert can scarcely take it all in. Conan Doyle lets us enjoy this ingenious palace through the eyes of someone particularly susceptible to beautiful things, while its owner worries about finding a friend who has no interest in his money.

This short novel brings the marvels of early science fiction into drawing rooms where people are already calculating what they can afford. Haw wants his wealth to be useful, and there is a disarming earnestness in his attempts to work out how to spend it. The conversations move easily between extravagant inventions and familiar embarrassments about accepting help. Alongside the question of where his fortune comes from runs a more intimate uncertainty: how can he recognise affection when every kindness he offers makes him more valuable to its recipient?