Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 1

Chapter 61 Adventure History 20
On the morning after Christmas, I went to visit Sherlock Holmes, a good friend of mine, and wish him a happy holiday by the way.He was reclining on the couch, with a pipe rack to his right, and a stack of crumpled morning papers he had just read in front of him.A stiff felt hat hung on the back of a wooden chair beside the sofa. The hat was so torn that it could no longer be worn, and was torn in several places.A pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass were on the mat, which suggested that the hat had been hung in this way to facilitate inspection.

"Are you busy?" I said, "I'm bothering you again."

"No, I'd love to have a friend discuss my research results with me. It would be a worthless thing." He said, pointing to the hat, "but several issues related to it are It's not meaningless, and it may have some inspiration for us."

It was severe winter, and the glass was covered with crystal clear ice flowers.Sitting in an armchair, I warmed my hands over a blazing wood fire. "I think," I said, "that the hat, though unrefined, is connected with some murder. It's a clue that will lead you to solve some mystery, and lead you to punish the crime."

"No, no, not a crime," said Holmes, laughing. "Just a curious trifle. There are simply too many such trifles here. Imagine how small a space a few miles around is crowded with With 400 million people living in such a dense crowd, all sorts of intricate things are possible: things that seem outlandish but not criminal. We're used to these sorts of things."

I said, "Three of the last six cases recorded have indeed nothing to do with legal crimes at all."

"You mean my attempt to retrieve Erina Adler's photograph, the strange case of Miss Mary Sutherland and the man with the crooked lip. I believe this trivial matter also belongs to the category of crimes that are not legally criminal." Sir, do you know Peterson, the janitor?"

"I know."

"This is his trophy."

"Is it his hat?"

"No, he picked it up. The owner of the hat is not clear yet. But don't ignore it because it's broken. Let me tell you about his origin first. It was brought here on Christmas morning with a big fat goose. Yes. Peterson was, I judged, roasting a goose in front of his fire. It happened as follows: Peterson had just come back from a party somewhere at four o'clock on Christmas morning, and was about to walk down Tottenham Court Road. Going home. He saw a man walking ahead under the gas lamp, oh yes, he was walking the Tottenham Court Road, and the man was carrying a goose. When Peterson came to the corner of Goodge Street , a few hooligans rushed over, and they had a dispute with the stranger. A hooligan knocked off the stranger's hat, and the stranger also raised his stick to defend himself. The stranger accidentally smashed the glass window of the shop behind him Peterson was thinking of going over to help him, you know, he is honest and helpful, but the man broke the glass and was panicking, suddenly, he saw Peterson in uniform rushing over like a policeman, Then he left the goose, turned and ran, and the gangsters fled in panic when they saw Peterson approaching. In this way, Peterson was left alone, who not only occupied the scene, but also got these two trophies: an old battered Felt hat and a nice big fat Christmas goose."

"Is he going to restore the property to the owner?"

"That's the difficulty, my friend. Indeed, the goose has a little card tied around his left leg dedicated to Mrs. Henry Baker, and the initials 'H?B' are written on the lining of this hat. ', but in this city, there are many people surnamed Baker, and there are countless people named Henry Baker. Finding the owner in this way and returning it to the original owner is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack."

"And what about Peterson?"

"He knew I was passionate about even the tiniest of problems, so he sent me the hat and the goose on Christmas morning. The goose kept hooting until this morning. It was cold, but most Better to eat it, so Peterson took it and ate it, and I kept the gentleman's hat."

"Didn't he publish a call for revelation in the newspaper?"

"No."

"So, do you have a clue as to the identity of this man?"

"Can only speculate."

"Only this hat?"

"Yes."

"You are very interesting. What can you deduce from this old felt hat?"

"You know my method, this is a magnifying glass, what can you infer about this person's personality?"

I took this hat and turned it over to have a look.Very ordinary, just a round felt hat, stiff and worn out, no longer suitable for wearing.The original red silk lining was faded and had no trademark, but on the side of the hat, as Holmes said, there was the initials "H? B".There is a small hole in the brim, but the elastic on it is gone.As for the rest, it appears to have been ink-painted to cover up a few patches on the cap.Even so, it was cracked everywhere, and it was dusty and grime.

"I don't see anything," I said, handing him the hat.

"No, on the contrary, Watson. You see a great deal, but draw no conclusions, and that is because of your lack of faith."

"Well, what do you say you can infer from the hat?"

He took up his hat, and gazed at it in his customary and peculiar way of thinking which revealed his character: "There is not much in this hat," he said, "but there are several inferences which are obvious, from The owner of the hat is outwardly a man of learning. He is not in a good position at present, and has been well off for the past three years, but not now. His family was in decline, and he became more and more decadent. It seems that he has some harmful influence, and he has learned to drink too much, which may be one of the reasons why his wife does not love him."

"Ah, well, my dear Holmes."

"But no matter what, he still has a certain amount of self-esteem." Regarding my objection, he didn't take it seriously, and he continued.

"He was a man who seldom went out and did not exercise. He must have been a middle-aged man, with gray hair recently cut and lemon balm rubbed on his head. This can be deduced by careful inspection of the lower part of the hat lining. Through the magnifying glass, you can see many neat mats of hair, all glued together, obviously the "handwriting" of the barber. There is also a smell of lemon paste. The dust on the hat is not the dust of the street, Rather, it is the dust in the room, which shows that the hat hangs in the room most of the time. On the other hand, the wet spots on the lining prove that the wearer of the hat sweats a lot, and so cannot be a person in good health."

"But you said his wife doesn't love him anymore."

"It is evident that the hat has not been wiped for some weeks. My dear Watson, imagine if your hat had been collecting dust for weeks, and your wife let you go out to meet people in it like this, and let you I think you have lost the love of your wife."

"But he might be a bachelor."

"Impossible, don't forget that he was taking the goose home to give to his wife as a goodwill Christmas present. And the card tied to the goose's leg, have you forgotten?"

"You have answered these questions, and you have solved some of my mysteries. But how do you know that there is no gas lamp in his house?"

"If there are two drops of candle oil, it may be dropped by accident, but when I see at least five drops of candle oil, I think that each drop of candle oil must have been dripped by constant contact with the burning candle. For example He rubs the candle with the candle in his hand when he goes upstairs at night. But in any case he must not get it from the gas-lamp."

"You are amazing." I said, "Since, as you said, there was no crime during this period, only the loss of a goose, and no other harm, isn't everything you did was a waste of time?" !"

Just as Holmes was about to answer me, the door was flung open, and Peterson, the janitor, ran in with a bewildered and surprised expression on his face.

"Goose! Mr. Holmes! Goose!" he gasped.

"Oh, what's the matter? What's the matter? Could it be that the goose came alive again and flapped its wings and flew out of the kitchen?" Holmes turned his head from the sofa so that he could get a better look at Peterson's excited face.

"Look, sir, what my wife found in the goose's crop!" He held out his hand, and in the palm of his hand lay a shining sapphire.This sapphire is slightly smaller than a soybean, but it is crystal clear and sparkling, as if a flash of lightning flashed in his palm.

Holmes sat up. "My God! Peterson!" said he. "This is indeed a treasure!"

"It's a diamond, sir. A gem can cut glass like mud."

"This is not an ordinary gem, it is precisely that precious gem."

I blurted out "Isn't it the sapphire of the Countess of Moka?".

"Exactly! I've been reading about this gemstone in The Times every day recently. I should know its size and shape. This gemstone is definitely a unique treasure. It is said that there is a reward of a thousand pounds, so it must be Less than one-twentieth of its market value."

"My God, a thousand pounds!" Peterson flopped down on his chair, staring at Holmes and me.

"It's just a tribute. I know that because of some emotional factors secretly, the countess will be willing to give half of her property to others as long as she can get the gem back."

"This gem was lost at the Hotel World, if memory serves me," I said.

"Yes, on the 22nd of December, John Horner, a plumber, was accused of stealing the jewel from the countess's casket. The case has been referred to the courts as evidence of his guilt has been established. This There are still some records." He looked at the date of the newspaper and flipped it with his hands. After a while he flattened a newspaper, folded it, and read:

The "World Hotel" jewel theft.John?Horner, a 26-year-old plumber, was sent to the court for the theft of a precious gem called "sapphire" from the jewelry box of the Countess of Moka on the 22nd of this month.Hotel bellboy, head waiter James?Ryder, testified on the case as follows: On the day of the theft, he took John?Horner went upstairs to the Countess of Moka's dressing room to weld the second loose grate of the fireplace.He stayed with Horner in the dressing room for a while and was immediately called away.When he came back again, he found that Horner had left and the dressing table had been pried open.There was a small jewelry box on the dressing table, which was empty.It was later known that the countess used to store gems in this box.Ryder immediately called the police, and Horner was arrested that night.But no precious stones were found on him or in his house.Lady's maid Catherine?Cusack testified under oath that he heard Ryder's exclamation when he discovered the gem had been stolen, and testified that what she saw when she ran into the room matched the witness's account. Inspector Bradstreet of District B testified that Horner resisted his arrest and vehemently pleaded his innocence.Since it was shown that he had committed similar cases before, the magistrate refused to proceed lightly, and the case was referred to the Assizes.Horner was so abnormal during the interrogation that he even passed out during the sentencing and was carried out of the courtroom. "

"That is all the police and courts can provide!" said Holmes, throwing the newspaper aside. "Now what we have to do is to sort out the series of events from the stolen jewelry box to the goose crop picked up in Court Road. I think the seriousness of the matter has increased greatly, and no The possibility of sin is greatly reduced. That gem came from that goose, and that goose came from Mr. Henry Baker. I have analyzed the basic characteristics of this gentleman, so we must first find this gentleman and find out what he is doing. What role does it play in this incident? The easiest way to do this is to first publish an announcement in the evening papers. If it doesn’t work, you can only think of other ways.”

"What's the content?"

"Write like this:

I picked up a goose and a black felt hat at the corner of Goodge Street.Henry?Mr. Baker, please go to No. 6 Baker Street at 30:221 p.m. to inquire, and you can get back the original. '

That is simple and clear. "

"Yes," I said, "but can he see the notice?"

(End of this chapter)