The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 26 (2/2)
”I reached this one,” saidan ounce of shag I think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast”
VII THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
I had called uponafter Christ hi upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of cru papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several places A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this ed,” said I; ”perhaps I interrupt you”
”Not at all I alad to have a friend hom I can discuss my results The matter is a perfectly trivial one”--he jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat--”but there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction”
I seated myself in his ar fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the ere thick with the ice crystals ”I suppose,” I re has some deadly story linked on to it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of some mystery and the punishment of some cri ”Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have foureach other within the space of a few square miles Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events may be expected to take place, andand bizarre without being criminal We have already had experience of such”
”So much so,” I remarked, ”that of the last six cases which I have added to al crime”
”Precisely You allude to ular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the adventure of the man with the twisted lip Well, I have no doubt that this sory
You know Peterson, the commissionaire?”
”Yes”
”It is to his”
”It is his hat”
”No, no, he found it Its owner is unknown I beg that you will look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual problem And, first, as to how it ca, in cooose, which is, I have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's fire The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christ, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest felloas returning fro his way homeward down Tottenhaht, a tallish oose slung over his shoulder As he reached the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and a little knot of roughs One of the latter knocked off the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend hi it over his head, smashed the shopbehind hier fro broken the , and seeing an official-looking person in uniforoose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenhahs had also fled at the appearance of Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this battered hat and a oose”
”Which surely he restored to their owner?”
”My dear fellow, there lies the problem It is true that 'For Mrs Henry Baker' was printed upon a s, and it is also true that the initials 'H
B' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of theht round both hat and goose tothat even the soose we retained until this ht frost, it would be well that it should be eaten without unnecessary delay Its finder has carried it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultioose, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner”
”Did he not advertise?”
”No”
”Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?”
”Only as much as we can deduce”
”Fro What can you gather from this old battered felt?”
”Here is ather yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this article?”