Артур Дойл - Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)
“Oh, yes, easily. But what will you do?”
“We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the cause of this noise which you heard.”
“I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already come to some conclusion,” said Miss Stoner.
“Perhaps I have.”
“Then, tell me what was the cause of my sister’s death.”
“I should like to have clearer evidence before I speak.”
“But you can tell me whether my own idea is correct, and if she died of fear.”
“No, I do not think so. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you, for Dr. Roylott must not see us here. Good-bye, and if you do what I have told you, nothing will threaten you.”
Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in getting a room at the Crown. It was on the upper floor, and from our window we could see Stoke Moran. In the evening we saw Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, and a few minutes later we saw a light among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
“Do you know, Watson,” said Holmes as we sat together in our hotel room, “I have really some doubts about taking you to-night. It is certainly dangerous.”
“Can I be of help to you?[25]”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then I shall certainly come.”
“It is very kind of you.”
“You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than I have.”
“No. I imagine that you saw all that I did.”
“I saw nothing unusual except the bell-rope, but why it is important I cannot imagine.”
“You saw the ventilator, too?”
“Yes, but I do not think that it is such an unusual thing to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that no one could pass through it.”
“I knew that we should find a ventilator even before we came to Stoke Moran.”
“My dear Holmes!”
“Oh, yes, I did. You remember Miss Stoner said that her sister could smell Dr. Roylott’s cigar. Now, of course that meant that there was an opening between the two rooms.”
“But it is so small!”
“Well, the dates are strange. A ventilator is made, a bell-rope is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does that not strike you?”
“I cannot see any connection.”
“Did you notice anything very unusual about that bed?”
“No.”
“It was fastened to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?”
“Never.”
“The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same position to the ventilator and to the bell-rope – or so we may call it, for it was clearly never meant for a bell.”
“Holmes,” I cried, “I seem to see what you mean[26]. We are in time to prevent some horrible crime.”
“Horrible enough. When a doctor turns to crime[27] he is the first of criminals. But we shall have enough horrors before the night is over; let us rest and think for a few hours about something more pleasant.”
About eleven o’clock a bright light appeared in the window.
“That is our signal,” said Holmes, “it comes from the middle window.”
A moment later we were out on the dark road, one yellow light guiding us to the house.
We had little difficulty in entering the park. Walking among the trees, I saw someone like a child running and jumping on the grass.the grass.
“My God!” I whispered; “did you see it?”
“That is the baboon.”
I had forgotten the strange pets of the doctor. There was a cheetah, too; it could be upon our backs at any moment. I must say I felt less nervous when we got into the bedroom through the window.
Exercises
1. Answer the questions:
1. What plans did Holmes make for the night?
2. How did Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson spend the evening?
3. What facts did Sherlock Holmes think were important in the case?
4. How did Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson get into Stoke Moran that night? Did anything unusual happen to them on the way there?
Think and say
1. Did Sherlock Holmes think that anything threatened Miss Stoner that night?
2. Why did Sherlock Holmes go to a hotel till night rather than hide in Stoke Moran?
2. Find the following words and phrases in the text and reproduce situations from the text with them. Give Russian equivalents.
1. to follow smb’s advice
2. in detail
3. evidence
4. to have (no) difficulty (in) doing smth
5. criminal n
3. Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences so as to use the phrases above.
1. It won’t be difficult for them to get tickets for the concert.
2. Mary told her mother about her exams giving a lot of facts.
3. The police are examining the room where the crime was committed. They are collecting everything that can show who committed it.
4. Michael did what his father told him and took a medical degree.
5. Everybody found it difficult to understand Hans because of his strong foreign accent.
6. Almost all those who break law hope that they will not be caught.
7. The engineer wrote instructions for the workers and explained every operation carefully.
8. Police officers are often called to court to give facts of the crime.
4. Complete the sentences with the words and phrases above in the correct form.
1. John… remembering people’s names.
2. The police are looking for a… who is hiding somewhere in the neighbourhood.
3. After the investigation was over Sherlock Holmes told Dr. Watson about it…
4. Sherlock Holmes thought that first he had to get… and only then could he come to some conclusion.
5. Medical… did not help to find the cause of death.
6. The girl said she had always… her father’s…, but this time she would decide for herself.
7. The teacher often… reading her students’ handwriting, so she asks them to type their works on the computer.
8. Mr. Simmons is tired of his wife telling him what she did during the day…
VII
My companion closed the window, moved the lamp onto the table, and looked round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Holmes whispered into my ear:
“Any sound can be fatal to our plans.”
I nodded to show that I had heard.
“We must sit without light. He will see it through the ventilator.”
I nodded again.
“Do not go asleep; your life may depend upon it. Have your revolver ready. I will sit on the side of the bed, and you in that chair.”
I took out my revolver and put it on the table.
Holmes had brought a long thin cane, which he put upon the bed beside him. He also put there a box of matches and a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left in darkness.
I shall never forget that awful night! I could not hear a sound, but I knew that my companion sat beside me, as nervous as I was myself. We waited in absolute darkness. How long seemed those hours! The clock of the village church struck twelve, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for we did not know what.
Suddenly there was light up in the opening of the ventilator. It was followed by a strong smell of burning oil and metal. Someone in the next room had lit a lamp. I heard somebody move there, and then all was silent again, though the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat listening. Then suddenly I heard another sound – a very low hissing sound. The moment we heard it, Holmes struck a match, and lashed with his cane at the bell-rope.
“You see it, Watson?” he shouted. “You see it?”
But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard a low, clear whistle, but I could not see anything in the sudden light. I could, however, see that Holmes stopped striking and was looking up at the ventilator when suddenly there came the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It grew louder and louder, a horrible cry of pain and fear and anger. They say that that cry could be heard in the village.
“What can it mean?” I whispered.
“It means that it is all over,” Holmes answered. “And perhaps, after all, it is for the best. Take your revolver, and we will enter Dr. Roylott’s room.”
With a serious face he lit the lamp and went down the corridor. Twice he struck at the door of Dr. Roylott’s room without any answer. Then he entered, I followed him, with the revolver in my hand.
On the table stood a lamp, throwing light upon the safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this table, on the chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott. In his hand he had the long lash which we had seen during the day. Round his head he had a yellow speckled band. As we entered he did not move.
“The band! the speckled band!” whispered Holmes.
I took a step forward. In a moment the strange band began to move, among his hair we saw the head of a snake.
“It is the deadliest snake in India!” cried Holmes; “He died ten seconds after he was bitten. The schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another[28]. Let us put it back into the safe, and we can then let the police know what has happened.”
As he spoke he drew lash from the dead man’s hand, and throwing the loop round the reptile’s head he drew it from Dr. Roylott’s head, threw it into the safe, and closed it.
Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran. It is not necessary for me to tell how we accompanied the terrified girl to the morning train which took her to her aunt.
The police came to the conclusion that the doctor met his end while playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I did not know of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back next day.
“I came,” said he, “to an absolutely wrong conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how important it always is to have evidence. The gypsies in Stoke Moran, the word ‘band,’ which was used by the poor girl, put me upon an entirely wrong scent[29]. However, soon it became clear to me that danger could not come either from the window or the door. The ventilator and the bell-rope which hung down to the bed drew my attention. The discovery that the bell did not ring, and that the bed was fastened to the floor, gave me an idea that the rope was there as a bridge for something to pass through the opening and to come to the bed. The idea of a snake occurred to me at once, and when I recalled that the doctor kept animals from India, I felt that I was probably right. The idea of using poison which could not be discovered by any chemical test could occur to a clever man who had lived in India. Not every policeman could see the two little dark spots left by the snake’s teeth. Then I thought of the whistle. He had used it to call the snake back to him, he had, probably, trained the snake to go through the ventilator by the use of the milk which we saw, to go down the rope and onto the bed. It might or might not bite the girl, perhaps he did it every night for a week, but sooner or later the snake must bite the poor girl.
