The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle — page 1

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle — page 2 — I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing gown a pipe rack within the reach upon the right and a pile of crumpled morning 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 manner for the purpose of examination You are engaged said I perhaps I interrupt you Not at all I am glad to have a friend with whom 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 armchair and warmed my hands before his crackling fire for a sharp frost had set in and the windoy ere thick with the ice crystals I suppose I remarke that homely as it looks this thing 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 crime No no No crime said Sherlock Holmes laughing Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each 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 and many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and 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 my notes three have been entirely free of any legal crime Precisely You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler papers to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland and to the adventures of the man with the twisted lip Well I have no doubt that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category You know Peterson the CommISSIOnaire

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle — page 3 — It is to him that this trophy belongs 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 came here It arrived upon Christmas morning in company with a good fat goose 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 Christmas morning Peterson who as you know is a very honest fellow was returning from some small jollification and was making his way homeward down Tottenham Court Road In front of him he saw in the gaslight a tallish man walking with a slight stagger and carrying a white goose 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 k ked off the man's hat on whic he raised his stick to defend himself and swinging it over his head smashed the shop window behind him Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants but the man shocked at having broken the window and seeing an official looking person in uniform rushing towards him dropped his goose took to his heels and vanished amid the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Court Road The roughs 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 most unimpeachable Christmas goose 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 small card which was tied to the bird's left leg 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 them What then did Peterson do le brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me The goose we retained until this morning when there were signs that in spite of the slight frost it would be well that it should be eaten without unnecessary delay Its finder has carried it off therefore to fulfill the ultimate destiny of a goose while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner He did not advertise

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle — page 4

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