“But he might be a bachelor.”
“No, he was bringing home the goose as a gift to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird’s leg.”
“You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce that the gas is not laid on in his house?”
“One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt[56] that the man must often be brought into contact with burning tallow – walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in one hand and a candle in the other. Are you satisfied?”
“Well, it is very ingenious,” said I, laughing; “but since, as you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm done except for the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a waste of energy.”
Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the room with the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment.
Exercises
Comprehension
1. True or false?
1) Mr. Henry Baker was a bachelor.
2) The owner of the lost belongings could be found easily.
3) The hat indicated that he had always belonged to the lower class.
4) There had been no crime connected with the hat so far.
5) Being familiar with the deductive method, Watson, however, could not apply it.
6) Mr. Henry Baker was grateful to the commissionaire who had saved him from the roughs.
7) Sherlock Holmes retained the hat, although he had to eat the goose.
Vocabulary
2. Fill in the gaps with the following words. In some cases you will have to think of other words with identical roots.
disreputable, deduce, retrogression, genius
1) Dr. Watson can’t… as much as Sherlock Holmes from an ordinary old hat.
Sherlock Holmes is believed to have invented the famous… method which proved useful during so many inquiries. Logical… consists in moving from the general to the specific as opposed to induction.
2) The criminals have worked out an… robbery plan.
Is it true that one can never be… and evil at the same time?
3) Take off this… old coat! You remind me of all the Dickens’ characters at once.
Luck is changeable: sometimes even a harmless little mistake can bring you into…
4) Once prosperous, the country has now sunk into the civil war, which caused chaos, devastation and the… of culture.
Whatever we discuss, he always… towards the opposite view.
3. Find a synonym for each word in the second column.
Grammar
4. Translate the following sentences into English using constructions with rather.
1) Меня бы больше устроило работать с вами, чем с кем-либо другим.
2) Эта огромная яхта принадлежит моей подруге, а точнее – ее отцу.
3) Я проделал довольно долгий путь и нуждаюсь в отдыхе.
4) Она лучше сбежит, чем снова вернется жить в тот дом.
5) Пойдемте, я покажу вам дорогу. Я довольно хорошо знаю эти места.
6) С тех пор как его жена умерла, он живет здесь, точнее, просто существует в ожидании конца.
Interesting facts about Great Britain
Goose was an important part of the traditional English Christmas dinner. Even now it is not entirely replaced by turkey. According to the legend, Queen Elizabeth I was eating goose when she received good news about the victory over the Spanish Armada. Inspired, she announced that there should always be a goose on every Christmas table. As Rod Molisse says in his annotation to “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”, “The Christmas goose also carries considerable symbolic meaning”. Eating goose used to be part of the ancient rites of the goose gods in many early European cultures.
7) Я бы, пожалуй, выпил молочный коктейль, а то чай быстро надоедает.
8) Это довольно неглупая собака, хоть и очень навязчивая.
9) Неужели ты не понимаешь, что скрывать от него свое прошлое – это в некоторой степени обман?
10) Заставить его с кем-то пообщаться – это уже в какой-то мере победа.
Writing
5. Find out some information about other Christmas traditions in Britain.
II
“The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!” he gasped.
“Eh? What’s the matter with it? Has it returned to life and flew out of the kitchen window?”
“Look, sir! Look what my wife found in its crop!” He held out his hand and showed a brilliantly shiny blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size. But it was so pure and radiant that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand.
Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. “By Jove[57], Peterson!” said he, “you’ve found a real treasure. I suppose you know what you have got?”
“A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty.”
“It’s more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone.”
“Not the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle!” I realized.
“Precisely so. l should know its size and shape, because I have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day lately. It is absolutely unique, and we can only imagine its value. The reward of 1000 pounds is offered, but it doesn’t make even a twentieth part of the market price.”
* * *“A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy[58]!” The commissionaire sat down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
“That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are sentimental considerations in the background which would make the Countess give half her fortune away if she could but get the gem back.”
“It was lost, if I remember right, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan,” I remarked.
“Precisely so, on December 22d, just five days ago. John Horner, a plumber, was accused of having stolen it from the lady’s jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has been referred to the Assizes[59]. I have something about it here, I believe.” He looked through his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he read the following paragraph:
“Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was accused of having upon the 22d inst., stolen from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might fix the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been called away. When he returned, he found that Horner had disappeared, that the bureau had been open, and that the small jewel-case in which the Countess used to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing-table. Ryder gave the alarm immediately, and Horner was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the Countess, declared that she had heard Ryder’s cry of dismay when the robbery was discovered, and had rushed into the room, where she found out the gem was missing. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest of Horner, who struggled madly, and insisted on his innocence. He had shown signs of intense emotion during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was carried out of court.”
“Hum! So much for[60] the police-court,” said Holmes thoughtfully, putting aside the paper. “The question is what sequence of events is leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly become much more important and less innocent. Here is the stone; the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must find this gentleman and reveal his part in this little mystery. To do this, we must try the simplest means first and advertise in all the evening papers.”
“What will you say?”
“Give me a pencil and that sheet of paper. Now, then:
Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Henry Baker can have these things by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221B, Baker Street.
That is short and clear.”
“Very. But will he see it?”
“Well, I am sure he is keeping an eye on the papers because he has lost too much for a poor man. He was clearly so scared by breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson that all he wanted was to run away, but since then he must have bitterly regretted dropping the bird. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency and have this put in the evening papers.”
“In which, sir?”
“Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James’s, Evening News Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you.”
“Very well, sir. And this stone?”
“Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say[61], Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place of the one which your family is now devouring.”
When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held it against the light. “It’s a bonny[62] thing,” said he. “Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody crime. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and it is remarkable because it has every characteristic of the carbuncle, except that it is blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallized charcoal. Who would think that so pretty a toy would lead to the gallows and the prison? I’ll lock it up in my strongbox now and write to the Countess to say that we have it.”
“Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?”
“I cannot tell.”
“Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had anything to do with the matter?”
“It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made of solid gold. That, however, I shall know by a very simple test if we have an answer to our advertisement.”
“And you can do nothing until then?”
“Nothing.”
“In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, because I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business.”
“Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe. By the way, in view of recent events, perhaps I should ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop.”
I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past six when I returned to Baker Street. As I approached the house I saw a tall man in a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the bright semicircle of the light. Just as l arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Holmes’s room.
“Mr. Henry Baker, I believe,” said he, rising from his armchair and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily take on. “Please take this chair by the fire, Mr. Baker. It is a cold night, and I can see that your clothing is more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?”
“Yes, sir, that is certainly my hat.”
He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, a broad, intelligent face, and a grey beard. A shade of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tremor of his hand, recalled Holmes’s proposition about his habits. His seedy black coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar turned up, and there was no sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a slow manner, choosing his words with care, and gave the impression generally of a learned man who has been unfortunate recently.
“We have retained these things for some days,” said Holmes, “because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your address. I can not understand now why you did not advertise.”
Our visitor laughed shyly. “Shillings have not been so plentiful with me as they once were,” he said. “I was sure that the gang of roughs who attacked me had carried off both my hat and the bird. I did not want to spend more money hopelessly trying to find them.”
“Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we had to eat it.”
“To eat it!” Our visitor has stood up in excitement.
“Yes, if we didn’t do so, it would be of no use to anyone. But I believe that this other goose, which is about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will suit you equally well?”
“Oh, certainly, certainly,” answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of relief.
“Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of your own bird, so if you wish—”
The man burst into a hearty laugh. “They might be useful to me as souvenirs of my adventure,” said he, “but beyond that I can hardly see why I would need the disjecta membra[63] of my late acquaintance. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I will take the excellent bird which I can see upon the sideboard.”
Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply at me with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
“There is your hat, then, and there your bird,” said he. “By the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one from? I am somewhat of a fancier, and I have rarely seen a better grown goose.”
“Certainly, sir,” said Baker, who had stood up and taken his restored property under his arm. “There are a few of us who frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum – we work in the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our good host, Windigate by name, organised a goose club, by which, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the rest is familiar to you. I am so grateful to you, sir.” He bowed to both of us in a comical manner and left.
“So much for Mr. Henry Baker,” said Holmes when he had closed the door behind him. “It is quite certain that he knows nothing about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?”
“Not really.”
“Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.”
“Certainly.”
Exercises
Comprehension
1. Answer the questions. Find the quotations that prove your opinion.
1) How does Henry Baker’s erudition reveal itself in his manner of speaking?
2) Did he give the detective any useful information?
3) Is the way Sherlock Holmes carries out an inquiry scientific or artistic?
4) What part does Watson play in the communication with the people who are connected with the case?
5) How does Holmes see the events related to the crime? Explain his idea of chain.
6) What image of precious gems does Holmes create? Does he himself value them?
Grammar
2. Note the use of the articles in the phrase given below. What meaning does each of them convey? Suggest your translation.
“It’s more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone.”
3. Fill in the gaps with the correct forms of the verbs. Use the Past Simple and Past Perfect tenses to reconstruct the sequence of events.
Dr. Watson… (come) to visit his friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas. They… (discuss) the two objects commissionaire Peterson… (find). Holmes… (already/examine) the old hat and… (suggest) Watson doing the same. He also… (tell) him about the destiny of the other trophy – a white goose. He… (retain) the bird as long as he could, but the owner…. (not/advertise). Suddenly Peterson, whose family… (eat) the goose… (rush) into the room. He… (be) astonished because his wife… (discover) a precious stone inside the bird’s crop. The case therefore… (become) less innocent, and Holmes… (decide) to find the man who… (lose) the mysterious goose.
4. Continue retelling the story using the Past Simple and Past Perfect tenses in sentences of your own.
5. Study the way the advertisement is written.
Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Henry Baker can have these things by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221B, Baker Street.
Writing
6. Imagine Henry Baker had finally spent his money and advertised. How would his advertisement look like?
Vocabulary
7. Complete the carbuncle dossier using the lexis from the chapter.
Speaking
8. Try to sell any precious stone (think of its features). Talk the client into buying it. Use the words given below in your speech.
Facet, to glint, to sparkle, market price, jewel-case, shape, size, pure, radiant, treasure, shiny, brilliantly, to twinkle, unique, grain
Interesting facts about Great Britain
Newspapers played an important social part in the Victorian England. Being the main source of information, they covered historic events, sports, arts etc. Citizens could also communicate through them giving various advertisements, arranging meetings and announcing somebody’s birth, death, marriage and anniversary. Everybody read newspapers, so it was the shortest way to spread the information. Sherlock Holmes uses it very often to find out the news or manipulate criminals.
9. Find out some information about the newspapers where Sherlock Holmes placed his advertisement (Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James’s, Evening News Standard, Echo).
10. Why did he choose them? When did they appear? What other English papers did already exist at that time?
11. Have newspapers lost their importance in the modern world? What changes have they undergone? What could Holmes use instead nowadays?
III
It was a cold night, so we wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we walked through the doctors’ quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes opened the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the red-faced landlord.
“Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,” said he.
“My geese!” The man seemed surprised.
“Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, who was a member of your goose club.”
“Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, they are not our geese.”
“Indeed! Whose, then?”
“Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden.”
“Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?”
“Breckinridge is his name.”
“Ah! I don’t know him. Well, here’s your good health landlord, and prosperity to your house. Good-night.”
“Now for Mr. Breckinridge,” he continued, buttoning up his coat as we came out into the frosty air. “Remember, Watson that though we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years’ penal servitude unless we can prove his innocence. It is possible that our inquiry may confirm his guilt but, in any case, we have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police. A unique chance has placed it in our hands. Let us follow it out to the bitter end[64]. Faces to the south, then, and quick march!”
We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. There was the name of Breckinridge upon one of the largest stalls, and the owner a horsy-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was helping a boy to put up the shutters.
“Good-evening. It’s a cold night,” said Holmes.
The salesman nodded and glanced questioningly at my companion.
“Sold out of geese, I see,” continued Holmes, pointing at the bare slabs of marble.
“Let you have five hundred tomorrow morning.”
“That’s no good.”
“Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare.”
“Ah, but I was recommended to you.”
“Who by?”
“The landlord of the Alpha.”
“Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen.”
“Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?”
To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the salesman.
“Now, then, mister,” said he, with his head tossed and his arms akimbo, “what are you driving at? Let’s have it straight, now.”
“It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese which you supplied to the Alpha.”
“Well then, I won’t tell you. So now!”
“Oh, it is not important; but I don’t know why you should be so angry over such a trifle.”
“Angry! You’d be as angry as me, maybe, if you were as annoyed as I am. When I pay good money for a good thing there should be an end of the business; but it’s ‘Where are the geese?’ and ‘Who did you sell the geese to?’ and ‘What will you take for the geese?’ One would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the fuss that is made over them.”
“Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been making inquiries,” said Holmes carelessly. “If you won’t tell us the bet is off, that is all. But I’m always ready to back my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver[65] on it that the bird I ate is country bred.”
“Well, then, you’ve lost your fiver, for it’s town bred,” snapped the salesman.
“It’s nothing of the kind.[66]”
“I say it is.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“D’you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that went to the Alpha were town bred.”
“You’ll never persuade me to believe that.”
“Will you bet, then?”
“It’s merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But I’ll have a sovereign on with you[67], just to teach you not to be stubborn.”
The salesman chuckled grimly. “Bring me the books, Bill,” said he.
The small boy brought round a small thin book and a great greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lamp.
“Now then, Mr. Cocksure[68],” said the salesman, “I thought that I was out of geese, but before I finish you’ll find that there is still one left in my shop. You see this little book?”
“Well?”
“That’s the list of the people from whom I buy. D’you see? Well, then, here on this page are the country people, and the numbers after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just read it out to me.”
“Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road – 249,” read Holmes.
“Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger.”
Holmes turned to the page indicated. “Here you are, ‘Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.’ ”
“Now, then, what’s the last entry?”
“ ‘December 22d. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.’ ”
“Quite so. There you are. And underneath?”
“ ‘Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.’ ”
“What have you to say now?”
Sherlock Holmes looked deeply disappointed. He took a sovereign from his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off he stopped under a lamppost and laughed in the hearty, noiseless manner which was typical of him.
“When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the ‘Pink ‘un’[69] in his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet,” said he. “I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of him, that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I guess, nearing the end of our quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott tonight, or whether we should reserve it for tomorrow. It is clear from what that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves who are anxious about the matter, and I should—”
His remarks were suddenly interrupted by a loud noise which broke out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Breckinridge, the salesman, standing at the door of his stall, was shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.
“I’ve had enough of you and your geese,” he shouted. “I wish you were all at the devil together. If you come annoying me with your silly talk again I’ll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Oakshott here and I’ll answer her, but what have you to do with it? Did I buy the geese off you?”
“No; but one of them was mine,” whined the little man.
“Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it.”
“She told me to ask you.”
“Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care[70]. I’ve had enough of it. Get out of this!” He rushed fiercely forward, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.
“Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road,” whispered Holmes. “Come with me, and we will see who this fellow is.” Making his way through the scattered knots of people who lounged round the stalls, my companion speedily caught the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He jumped off round, and I could see in the gaslight that every vestige of colour had disappeared from his face.
“Who are you, then? What do you want?” he asked in a quavering voice.
“You will excuse me,” said Holmes politely, “but I could not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I think that I could be useful to you.”
“You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?”
“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.”
“But you can know nothing of this?”
“Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are triyng to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Henry Baker is a member.”
“Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have needed to meet,” cried the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. “I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter.”
Sherlock Holmes called a four-wheeler which was passing. “In that case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this wind-swept marketplace,” said he. “But please tell me, before we go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of helping.”
The man hesitated for a moment. “My name is John Robinson,” he answered with a sidelong glance.
“No, no; the real name,” said Holmes sweetly. “It is always awkward doing business with a fictious name.”
A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. “Well then,” said he, “my real name is James Ryder.”
“Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Please step into the cab, and I will soon be able to tell you everything which you would wish to know.”
The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he is on the edge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, revealed the nervous tension within him.
Exercises
Comprehension
1. Comment on the way Holmes leads the investigation and draws the information he needs from different people. How does his tactics reveal itself in the conversation?
“Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?”
“Sold out of geese, I see.”
“If you won’t tell us the bet is off, that is all. But I’m always ready to back my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the bird I ate is country bred.”
“Excuse me, I know everything of it.”