Артур Дойл - Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)
“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!”
