The Adventure of the Six Napoleons - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

<v Speaker 1>The adventure of the Six Napoleons. It was no very
<v Speaker 1>unusual thing for mister Lestrade of Scotland Yard to look
<v Speaker 1>in upon us of an evening, and his visits were
<v Speaker 1>welcome to Sherlock Holmes, for they enabled him to keep
<v Speaker 1>in touch with all that was going on at the
<v Speaker 1>police headquarters. In return for the news which Lestrade would bring,
<v Speaker 1>Holmes was always ready to listen with attention to the
<v Speaker 1>details of any case upon which the detective was engaged,
<v Speaker 1>and was able, occasionally, without any active interference, to give
<v Speaker 1>some hint or suggestion drawn from his own vast knowledge
<v Speaker 1>and experience. On this particular evening, Lestrade had spoken of
<v Speaker 1>the weather and the newspapers. Then he had fallen silent,
<v Speaker 1>puffing thoughtfully at his cigar. Holmes looked keenly at him.
<v Speaker 1>Anything remarkable on hand, he asked, Oh, no, mister Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>nothing very particular. Then tell me about it. Lestrade laughed, Well,
<v Speaker 1>mister Holmes, there's no use denying that there is something
<v Speaker 1>on my mind. And yet it is such an absurd
<v Speaker 1>business that I hesitated to bother you about it. On
<v Speaker 1>the other hand, although it is trivial, it is undoubtedly
<v Speaker 1>queer and I know that you have a taste for
<v Speaker 1>all that is out of the common, but in my
<v Speaker 1>opinion it comes more in doctor Watson's line than ours. Disease,
<v Speaker 1>said I. Madness anyhow, and a queer madness too. You
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't think there was anyone living at this time of
<v Speaker 1>day who was such a hatred of Napoleon the first
<v Speaker 1>that he would break any image of him that he
<v Speaker 1>could see. Holmes sank back in his chair. That's no
<v Speaker 1>business of mine, said he, exactly, That's what I said.
<v Speaker 1>But then when the man commits burglary in order to
<v Speaker 1>break images which are not his own, that brings it
<v Speaker 1>away from the doctor and on to the policeman. Holmes
<v Speaker 1>sat up again. Burglary, this is more interesting. Let me
<v Speaker 1>hear the details. Lestrade took out his official notebook and
<v Speaker 1>refreshed his memory from its pages. The first case reported
<v Speaker 1>was four days ago, said he. It was at the
<v Speaker 1>shop of Morse Hudson, who was a place for the
<v Speaker 1>sale of pictures and statues in the Kennington Road. The
<v Speaker 1>assistant had left the front shop for an instant when
<v Speaker 1>he heard a crash. An hurrying in, he found a
<v Speaker 1>plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works
<v Speaker 1>of art upon the counter, lying shivered into fragments. He
<v Speaker 1>rushed out into the road, but although several passers by
<v Speaker 1>declared that they had noticed a man run out of
<v Speaker 1>the shop, he could neither see any one, nor could
<v Speaker 1>he find any means of identifying the rascal. It seemed
<v Speaker 1>to be one of those senseless acts of oolganism which
<v Speaker 1>occur from time to time, and it was reported to
<v Speaker 1>the Constable on the beat. As such, the plaster cast
<v Speaker 1>was not worth more than a few shillings, and the
<v Speaker 1>old affair appeared to be too childish for any particular investigation.
<v Speaker 1>The second case, however, was more serious and also more singular.
<v Speaker 1>It occurred only last night in Kennington Road and within
<v Speaker 1>a few hundred yards of Morse Hudson's shop. There lives
<v Speaker 1>a well known medical practitioner named Dr Barnicott, who was
<v Speaker 1>one of the largest practices upon the south side of
<v Speaker 1>the Thames. His residence and principal consulting room is at
<v Speaker 1>Kennington Road, but he has a branch surgery and dispensary
<v Speaker 1>at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away. This doctor Barnicot
<v Speaker 1>is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his house is
<v Speaker 1>full of books, pictures and relics of the French Emperor.
<v Speaker 1>Some little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson to
<v Speaker 1>du splicate plaster custs of the famous head of Napoleon
<v Speaker 1>by the French sculptor Devine. One of these he placed
<v Speaker 1>in his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and
<v Speaker 1>the other on the mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower
<v Speaker 1>Brixton Well. When doctor Barnicot came down this morning, he
<v Speaker 1>was astonished to find that his house had been burgled
<v Speaker 1>during the night, but that nothing had been taken save
<v Speaker 1>the plaster head from the hall. It had been carried
<v Speaker 1>out and had been dashed savagely against the garden wall,
<v Speaker 1>under which its splintered fragments were discovered. Holmes rubbed his hands.
<v Speaker 1>This is certainly very novel, said he. I thought it
<v Speaker 1>would please you, but I have not got to the
<v Speaker 1>end yet. Dr Barnicot was Duety's surgery at twelve o'clock,
<v Speaker 1>and you can imagine his amazement when, on arriving there
<v Speaker 1>he found that the window had been opened in the night,
<v Speaker 1>and that the broken pieces of his second bust were
<v Speaker 1>strewn all over the room. It had been smashed to
<v Speaker 1>atoms where it stood. In neither case were there any
<v Speaker 1>signs which could give us a clue as to the
<v Speaker 1>criminal or lunatic who'd done the mischief. Now, mister Romes,
<v Speaker 1>you've got the facts. They are singular, not to say grotesque,
<v Speaker 1>said Holmes. May I ask whether the two busts smashed
<v Speaker 1>in doctor Barnicot's rooms were the exact duplicates of the
<v Speaker 1>one which was destroyed in morse Hudson's shop. They were
<v Speaker 1>taken from the same mold. Such a fact must tell
<v Speaker 1>against the theory that the man who breaks them is
<v Speaker 1>influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon. Considering how many
<v Speaker 1>hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London,
<v Speaker 1>it is too much to suppose such a coincidence as
<v Speaker 1>that a promiscuous iconoclast should chance to begin upon three
<v Speaker 1>specimens of the same bust. Well, I thought, as you do,
<v Speaker 1>said Lestrade. On the end, this morse Hudson is a
<v Speaker 1>purveyor of busts in that part of London, and these
<v Speaker 1>three were the only ones which have been in his
<v Speaker 1>shop for years. So although as you say there are
<v Speaker 1>many hundreds of statues in London, it is very probable
<v Speaker 1>that these three were the only ones in that district. Therefore,
<v Speaker 1>a local fanatic would begin with them. What do you think,
<v Speaker 1>doctor Watson, there are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,
<v Speaker 1>I answered. There is the condition which the modern French
<v Speaker 1>psychologists have called the ede fiqus, which may be trifling
<v Speaker 1>in character and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way.
<v Speaker 1>A man who'd read deeply about Napoleon, or who had
<v Speaker 1>possibly received some hereditary family injury through the Great War,
<v Speaker 1>might conceive ofly form such an eday fiks, and under
<v Speaker 1>its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage. That won't do,
<v Speaker 1>my dear Watson, said Holmes, shaking his head. For no
<v Speaker 1>amount of e day fiks would enable your interesting monomaniac
<v Speaker 1>to find out where these busts were situated. Well, how
<v Speaker 1>do you explain it? I don't attempt to do so.
<v Speaker 1>I would only observe that there is a certain method
<v Speaker 1>in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings. For example, in doctor Barnicot's hall,
<v Speaker 1>where a sound might arouse the family, the bust was
<v Speaker 1>taken outside before being broken, whereas in the surgery, where
<v Speaker 1>there are less danger of an alarm, it was smashed
<v Speaker 1>where it stood. The affair seems absurdly trifling, And yet
<v Speaker 1>I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some
<v Speaker 1>of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement.
<v Speaker 1>You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the
<v Speaker 1>Abernetti family was first brought to my notice by the
<v Speaker 1>depths which the Parsley had sunk into butter upon a
<v Speaker 1>hot day. I cannot afford therefore to smile at your
<v Speaker 1>three broken busts, Lestrade, and I shall be very much
<v Speaker 1>obliged to you if you will let me hear of
<v Speaker 1>any fresh developments of so singular a chain of events.
<v Speaker 1>The development for which my friend had asked came in
<v Speaker 1>a quicker and an infinitely more tragic form than he
<v Speaker 1>could have imagined. I was still dressing in my bedroom
<v Speaker 1>next morning when there was a tap at the door
<v Speaker 1>and Holmes entered a telegram in his hand. He read
<v Speaker 1>it aloud, Come instantly, one thirty one pitt Street, Kensington, Lestrade,
<v Speaker 1>What is it? Then? I asked, don't know, maybe anything,
<v Speaker 1>but I suspect it is the sequel of the story
<v Speaker 1>of the Statues. In that case, our friend the image
<v Speaker 1>breaker has begun operations in another quarter of London. There's
<v Speaker 1>coffee on the tape, Watson and I have a cab
<v Speaker 1>at the door. In half an hour we had reached
<v Speaker 1>Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater just beside one of
<v Speaker 1>the briskest currents of London life. Number one thirty one
<v Speaker 1>was one of a row, all flat chested, respectable and
<v Speaker 1>most unromantic dwellings. As we drove up we found the
<v Speaker 1>railings in front of the house lined by a curious
<v Speaker 1>crowd homes whistled by George. It's attempted murder at the least.
<v Speaker 1>Nothing less will hold the London message. Boy, there's a
<v Speaker 1>deed of violence indicated in that fellow's round shoulders and
<v Speaker 1>outstretched neck. What's this, Watson? The top steps swilled down
<v Speaker 1>and the other ones dry footsteps enough anyhow, Well, well,
<v Speaker 1>there's lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon
<v Speaker 1>know all about it. The official received us with a
<v Speaker 1>very grave face and showed us into a city room
<v Speaker 1>where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated elderly man clad in
<v Speaker 1>a flannel dressing gown was pacing up and down. He
<v Speaker 1>was introduced to us as the owner of the house,
<v Speaker 1>mister Horace Harker of the Central Press Syndicate. It's a
<v Speaker 1>Napoleon bus business, again, said lestrade. You seemed interested last night,
<v Speaker 1>mister Olmes, so I thought perhaps you would be glad
<v Speaker 1>to be present now that the affair has taken a
<v Speaker 1>very much graver turn. What has it turned to then?
<v Speaker 1>To murder? Mister Arker, Will you tell these gentlemen exactly
<v Speaker 1>what has occurred? The man in the dressing gown turned
<v Speaker 1>upon us with a most melancholy face. It's an extraordinary thing,
<v Speaker 1>said he that all my life I've been collecting other
<v Speaker 1>people's news, and now that a real piece of news
<v Speaker 1>has come my own way, I am so confused and
<v Speaker 1>bold that I can't put two words together. If I'd
<v Speaker 1>come in here as a journalist, I should have interviewed
<v Speaker 1>myself and had two columns in every evening paper. As
<v Speaker 1>it is, I am giving away valuable copy by telling
<v Speaker 1>my story over and over to a string of different people,
<v Speaker 1>and I can make no use of it myself. However,
<v Speaker 1>I've heard your name, mister Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll
<v Speaker 1>only explain this queer business. I shall be paid for
<v Speaker 1>my trouble in telling you the story. Holmes sat down
<v Speaker 1>and listened. It all seems to center around that bust
<v Speaker 1>of Napoleon, which I bought for this very room about
<v Speaker 1>four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding Brothers,
<v Speaker 1>two doors from the High Street station. A great deal
<v Speaker 1>of my journalistic work is done at night, and I
<v Speaker 1>often write until the early morning. So it was to
<v Speaker 1>day I was sitting in my den, which is at
<v Speaker 1>the back of the topper the house, about three o'clock
<v Speaker 1>when I was convinced that I heard some sounds downstairs.
<v Speaker 1>I listened, but they were not repeated, and I concluded
<v Speaker 1>that they came from outside. Then suddenly, about five minutes later,
<v Speaker 1>there came a most horrible yell, the most dreadful sound,
<v Speaker 1>mister Holmes, that ever I heard. It will ring in
<v Speaker 1>my ears as long as I live. I sat frozen
<v Speaker 1>with horror for a minute or two, and then I
<v Speaker 1>seized the poker and went downstairs. When I entered this room,
<v Speaker 1>I found the window wide open, and I at once
<v Speaker 1>observed that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece. Why
<v Speaker 1>any burglar should take. Such a thing passes my understanding,
<v Speaker 1>for it was only a plaster cast and of no
<v Speaker 1>real value. Whatever. You can see for yourself that anyone
<v Speaker 1>going out through that open window could reach the front
<v Speaker 1>doorstep by taking a long stride. This was clearly what
<v Speaker 1>the burglar had done. So I went round and opened
<v Speaker 1>the door. Stepping out into the dark, I nearly fell
<v Speaker 1>over a dead man who was lying there. I ran
<v Speaker 1>back for a light, and there was a poor fellow,
<v Speaker 1>a great gash in his throat, and the whole place
<v Speaker 1>swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his knees
<v Speaker 1>drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see
<v Speaker 1>him in my dreams. I had just time to blow
<v Speaker 1>on my police whistle, and then I must have fainted,
<v Speaker 1>for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman
<v Speaker 1>standing over me in the hall well. Who was the
<v Speaker 1>murdered man? Asked Holmes. There's nothing to show who he was, said, lestrade.
<v Speaker 1>You shall see the body at the mortuary, but we've
<v Speaker 1>made nothing of it up to now. He is a
<v Speaker 1>tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than three. He's
<v Speaker 1>poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a
<v Speaker 1>light borough. A horn handle clasp knife was lying in
<v Speaker 1>a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the
<v Speaker 1>weapon which did the deed, and whether it belonged to
<v Speaker 1>the dead man, I do not know. There was no
<v Speaker 1>name on his clothing, and nothing in his pocket save
<v Speaker 1>an apple, some string, a shilling map of London and
<v Speaker 1>a photograph. Here it is. It was evidently taken by
<v Speaker 1>a snap shot from a small camera. It represented an alert,
<v Speaker 1>sharp featured Simian man with thick eyebrows and a very
<v Speaker 1>peculiar projection of the lower part of the face, like
<v Speaker 1>the muzzle of a baboon. And what became of the bust?
<v Speaker 1>Asked Holmes. After a careful study of this picture, we
<v Speaker 1>add news of it just before you came. It has
<v Speaker 1>been found in the front garden of an empty house
<v Speaker 1>in Camden House Road. It was broken into fragments. I'm
<v Speaker 1>going round now to see it. Will you come? Certainly?
<v Speaker 1>I must just take one look round. He examined the
<v Speaker 1>carpet and the window. The fellow had either very long
<v Speaker 1>legs or was a most active man, said he. With
<v Speaker 1>an area beneath it was no mean feat to reach
<v Speaker 1>that window ledge and open that window. Getting back was
<v Speaker 1>comparatively simple. Are you coming with us to see the
<v Speaker 1>remains of your bust. Mister Harker, the disconsolate journalist, had
<v Speaker 1>seated himself at a writing table. I must try and
<v Speaker 1>make something of it, said he, though I have no
<v Speaker 1>doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are
<v Speaker 1>out already with full details. It's like my luck. You
<v Speaker 1>remember when the stand fell at Doncaster Well. I was
<v Speaker 1>the only journalist in the stand, and my journal the
<v Speaker 1>only one that had no account of it, for I
<v Speaker 1>was too shaken to write it. And now I'll be
<v Speaker 1>too late with a murder done on my own doorstep.
<v Speaker 1>As we left the room, we heard his pen traveling
<v Speaker 1>shrilly over the fool's cap. The spot where the fragments
<v Speaker 1>of the bust had been found was only a few
<v Speaker 1>hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested
<v Speaker 1>upon this presentiment of the great Emperor, which seemed to
<v Speaker 1>raise such frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of
<v Speaker 1>the unknown. It lay scattered in splintered shards upon the grass.
<v Speaker 1>Holmes picked up several of them and examined them carefully.
<v Speaker 1>I was convinced, from his intent face and his purposeful manner,
<v Speaker 1>that at last he was upon a clewe well, asked Lestrade.
<v Speaker 1>Holmes shrugged his shoulders. We have a long way to go, yet,
<v Speaker 1>said he. And yet, and yet, well, we have some
<v Speaker 1>suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this trifling
<v Speaker 1>bust was worth more in the eyes of this strange
<v Speaker 1>criminal than a human life. That is one point. Then
<v Speaker 1>there is a singular fact that he did not break
<v Speaker 1>it in the house or immediately outside the house. If
<v Speaker 1>to break it was his sole object, he was rattled
<v Speaker 1>and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He hardly knew
<v Speaker 1>what he was doing. Well, that's likely enough. But I
<v Speaker 1>wish to call your attention very particularly to the position
<v Speaker 1>of this house in the garden of which the bust
<v Speaker 1>was destroyed. Lestrade looked about him. It was an empty house,
<v Speaker 1>and so he knew that he would not be disturbed
<v Speaker 1>in the garden. Yes, but there is another empty house
<v Speaker 1>farther up the street, which he must have passed before
<v Speaker 1>he came to this one. Why did he not break
<v Speaker 1>it there? Since it is evident that every yard that
<v Speaker 1>he carried it increased the risk of some one meeting him. Ah,
<v Speaker 1>give it up, said Lestrade Holmes pointed to the street
<v Speaker 1>lamp above our heads. He could see what he was
<v Speaker 1>doing here and he could not there. That was his reason.
<v Speaker 1>By Jove, that's true, said the detective. Now that I
<v Speaker 1>come to think of it, Doctor Barnicot's bust was broken
<v Speaker 1>not far from his red lamp. Well, mister Olmes, what
<v Speaker 1>are we to do with that fact? To remember it?
<v Speaker 1>To docket it? We may come up on something later
<v Speaker 1>which will bear upon it. What steps do you propose
<v Speaker 1>to take now, Lestrade? The most practical way of getting
<v Speaker 1>at it, in my opinion, is to identify the dead man.
<v Speaker 1>There should be no difficulty about that. When we found
<v Speaker 1>out who he is and who his associates are, we
<v Speaker 1>should have a good start in learning what he was
<v Speaker 1>doing in Pitt Street last night and who it was
<v Speaker 1>who met him and killed him on the doorstep of
<v Speaker 1>mister Horace Harker. Don't you think so? No doubt? And
<v Speaker 1>yet it is not quite the way which I should
<v Speaker 1>approach the case. What would you do then? Oh? You
<v Speaker 1>must not let me influence you in any way. I
<v Speaker 1>suggest that you go on your line and I on mine.
<v Speaker 1>We can compare notes afterwards, and each will supplement the other.
<v Speaker 1>Very good, said Lestrade. If you are going back to
<v Speaker 1>pitt Street, you might see mister Horace Harker tell them
<v Speaker 1>from me that I have quite made up my mind,
<v Speaker 1>and that it is certain that a dangerous, homicidal lunatic
<v Speaker 1>with Napoleonic delusions was in his house last night. It
<v Speaker 1>will be useful for his article. Lestrade stared, you don't
<v Speaker 1>seriously believe that Holmes smiled, don't I? Well, perhaps I don't,
<v Speaker 1>but I am sure that it will interest mister Horace
<v Speaker 1>Harker and the subscribers of the Central Press Syndicate. Now, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>I think that we shall find that we have a
<v Speaker 1>long and rather complex day's work before for us, I
<v Speaker 1>should be glad, Lestrade, if you could make it convenient
<v Speaker 1>to meet us at Baker Street at six o'clock this evening.
<v Speaker 1>Until then, I should like to keep this photograph found
<v Speaker 1>in the dead man's pocket. It is possible that I
<v Speaker 1>may have to ask your company and assistance upon a
<v Speaker 1>small expedition which will be undertaken to night, if my
<v Speaker 1>chain of reasoning should prove to be correct. Until then,
<v Speaker 1>good bye and good luck. Sherlock Holmes and I walked
<v Speaker 1>together to the High Street, where we stopped at the
<v Speaker 1>shop of Harding brothers, whence the bust had been purchased.
<v Speaker 1>A young assistant informed us that mister Harding would be
<v Speaker 1>absent until afternoon, and that he was himself a newcomer
<v Speaker 1>who could give us no information. Holmes's face showed his
<v Speaker 1>disappointment and annoyance. Well, well, we can't expect to have
<v Speaker 1>it all our own way, Watson, he said, At last,
<v Speaker 1>we must come back in the afternoon. If mister Harding
<v Speaker 1>will not be here until then, I am as you
<v Speaker 1>have no doubt, surmised, endeavoring to trace these busts to
<v Speaker 1>their source in order to find if there is not
<v Speaker 1>something peculiar which may account for their remarkable fate. Let
<v Speaker 1>us make for mister Morse Hudson of the Kennington Road
<v Speaker 1>and see if he can throw any light upon the problem.
<v Speaker 1>A drive of an hour brought us to the picture
<v Speaker 1>dealer's establishment. He was a small stout man with a
<v Speaker 1>red face and a peppery manner. Yes, sir, or my
<v Speaker 1>very counter, sir, said he what we pay rates and
<v Speaker 1>taxes for? Or don't know when any ruffian can come
<v Speaker 1>in and break one's goods? Yes, sir, it was I
<v Speaker 1>who sold Dr Parniicut is two statues disgraceful, sir. A
<v Speaker 1>nihilist plot, that's what I make it. No one but
<v Speaker 1>an anarchist could go about breaking statues red Republicans, That's
<v Speaker 1>what I call em. Who did I get the statues from? Oh?
<v Speaker 1>I don't see what that's got to do with it. Well,
<v Speaker 1>if you really want to know, I got them from
<v Speaker 1>Gilder and Company in Church Street, Stepney. They're a well
<v Speaker 1>known house in the trade and have been this twenty years.
<v Speaker 1>How many had I three two and one or three
<v Speaker 1>two of doctor Barnicot's and one smashed in broad daylight
<v Speaker 1>on my own counter? Do I know that photograph? No?
<v Speaker 1>I don't. Yes, I do, though, why it's Beppo. He
<v Speaker 1>was a kind of Italian piece workman who made himself
<v Speaker 1>useful in the shop. He could carve a bit and
<v Speaker 1>gild and frame and do odd jobs. The fellow left
<v Speaker 1>me last week and I have heard nothing of him since. No.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know where he came from nor where he
<v Speaker 1>went to. I had nothing against him while he was here.
<v Speaker 1>He was gone two days before the bust was smashed. Well,
<v Speaker 1>that's all we could reasonably expect from morse, Hudson said,
<v Speaker 1>Holmes as we emerged from the shop. We have this
<v Speaker 1>Beppo as a common factor both in Kennington and in Kensington,
<v Speaker 1>so that is worth it. Drive now, Watson, let us
<v Speaker 1>make for Gelder and Company of Stepney, the source and
<v Speaker 1>origin of the busts. I shall be surprised if we
<v Speaker 1>don't get some help down there. In rapid succession, we
<v Speaker 1>passed through the fringe of fashionable London, hotel London, theatrical London,
<v Speaker 1>Literary London, commercial London, and finally maritime London, till we
<v Speaker 1>came to a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls,
<v Speaker 1>where the tenement houses swelter and reek with the outcasts
<v Speaker 1>of Europe. Here in a broad thoroughfare, once the abode
<v Speaker 1>of wealthy city merchants, we found the sculpture works for
<v Speaker 1>which we searched. Outside was a considerable yard full of
<v Speaker 1>monumental masonry. Inside was a large room in which fifty
<v Speaker 1>workers were carving or molding. The manager, a big blonde German,
<v Speaker 1>received us civilly and gave a clear answer to all
<v Speaker 1>Holmes's questions. A reference to his books showed that hundreds
<v Speaker 1>of casts had been taken from a marble copy of
<v Speaker 1>Devine's head of Napoleon, but that the three which had
<v Speaker 1>been sent to Morse Hudson a year or so before
<v Speaker 1>had been half of a batch of six, the other
<v Speaker 1>three being sent to Harding Brothers of Kensington. There was
<v Speaker 1>no reason why those six should be different from any
<v Speaker 1>of the other casts. He could suggest, no possible cause
<v Speaker 1>why any one should wish to destroy them. In fact,
<v Speaker 1>he laughed at the idea. Their wholesale price was six shillings,
<v Speaker 1>but the retailer would get twelve or more. The cast
<v Speaker 1>was taken in two molds from each side of the face,
<v Speaker 1>and then these two profiles of plaster of Paris were
<v Speaker 1>joined together to make the complete bust. The work was
<v Speaker 1>usually done by Italians in the room we were in.
<v Speaker 1>When finished, the busts were put on a table in
<v Speaker 1>the passage to dry and afterwards stored. That was all
<v Speaker 1>he could tell us. But the production of the photograph
<v Speaker 1>had a remarkable effect upon the manager. His face flushed
<v Speaker 1>with anger, and his brows knotted over his blue Teutonic eyes.
<v Speaker 1>Ah the rascal, he cried, Yes, indeed I know him
<v Speaker 1>very well. This has been also a respectable establishment, and
<v Speaker 1>the only time that we have ever had the police in.
<v Speaker 1>It was over this very fellow. It was more than
<v Speaker 1>a year ago now. He knifed another Italian in the street.
<v Speaker 1>And then he came to the works with the police
<v Speaker 1>on his heels, and he was taken here. Beppo was
<v Speaker 1>his name, his second name. I never knew. Serve me
<v Speaker 1>right for engaging a man with such a face. But
<v Speaker 1>he was a good workman, one of the best. What
<v Speaker 1>did he get? The man lived and he got off
<v Speaker 1>with a year. I have no doubt he is out now,
<v Speaker 1>but he has not dared to show his nose. Here
<v Speaker 1>we have a cousin, and I dare say he could
<v Speaker 1>tell you where he is. No, no, cried Holmes. Not
<v Speaker 1>a word to the cousin. Not a word I beg
<v Speaker 1>of you. The matter is very important, and the farther
<v Speaker 1>I go with it, the more important it seems to grow.
<v Speaker 1>When you referred in your ledger to the sale of
<v Speaker 1>those castes, I observed that the date was June third
<v Speaker 1>of last year. Could you give me the date when
<v Speaker 1>Beppo was arrested? I could tell you roughly by the paylist.
<v Speaker 1>The manager answered yes. He continued, after some turning over
<v Speaker 1>of the pages. He thus paid last on May twentieth.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, said Holmes, I don't think that I need
<v Speaker 1>intrude upon your time and patience any more. With a
<v Speaker 1>last word of caution that he should say nothing as
<v Speaker 1>to our researches, we turned our faces westward once more.
<v Speaker 1>The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to
<v Speaker 1>snatch a hasty luncheon at a restaurant. A news bill
<v Speaker 1>at the entrance announced Kensington Outrage murder by a madman,
<v Speaker 1>and the contents of the paper showed that mister Horace
<v Speaker 1>Harker had got his accounted of print. After all, two
<v Speaker 1>columns were occupied with a highly sensational and flowery rendering
<v Speaker 1>of the whole incident. Holmes propped it against the cruet
<v Speaker 1>stand and read it while he ate Once or twice
<v Speaker 1>he chuckled. This is all right, Watson said, he listen
<v Speaker 1>to this. It is satisfactory to know that there can
<v Speaker 1>be no difference of opinion upon this case. Since mister Lestrade,
<v Speaker 1>one of the most experienced members of the official force,
<v Speaker 1>and mister Sherlock Holmes, the well known consulting expert, have
<v Speaker 1>each come to the conclusion that the grotesque series of
<v Speaker 1>incidents which have ended in so tragic a fashion arise
<v Speaker 1>from lunacy rather than from deliberate crime. No explanation save
<v Speaker 1>mental aberration, can cover the facts. The press, Watson, is
<v Speaker 1>a most valuable institution if you only know how to
<v Speaker 1>use it. And now, if you have quite finished, we
<v Speaker 1>will hark back to Kensington and see what the manager
<v Speaker 1>of Harding Brothers has to say on the matter. The
<v Speaker 1>founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk,
<v Speaker 1>crisp little person, very dapper and quick, with a clear
<v Speaker 1>head and a ready tongue. Yes, sir, I have already
<v Speaker 1>read the account in the evening papers. Mister Horace Harker
<v Speaker 1>is a customer of ours. We supplied him with the bust.
<v Speaker 1>Some months ago. We ordered three busts of that sort
<v Speaker 1>from Gelder and Company of Stepney. They are all sold
<v Speaker 1>now to whom, oh I dare say, By consulting our
<v Speaker 1>sales book, we could very easily tell you, yes, we
<v Speaker 1>have the entrance here, one to mister Harker, you see,
<v Speaker 1>and one to mister Josiah Brown of Laburnham Lodge, Laburnham Vale, Chiswick,
<v Speaker 1>and mister Sanderford of lower Grove Road. Reading. No, I
<v Speaker 1>have never seen this face which you show me in
<v Speaker 1>the photograph. You would hardly forget it, would you, sir,
<v Speaker 1>For I've seldom seen an uglier? Have we any Italians
<v Speaker 1>on the staff? Yes, sir, we have several among our
<v Speaker 1>workpeople and the cleaners. I dare say they might get
<v Speaker 1>a peep at that sales book if they wanted to.
<v Speaker 1>There is no particular reason for keeping a watch upon
<v Speaker 1>that book. Well, well, it's a very strange business, and
<v Speaker 1>I hope that you will let me know if anything
<v Speaker 1>comes of your inquiries. Holmes had taken several notes during
<v Speaker 1>mister Harding's evidence, and I could see that he was
<v Speaker 1>thoroughly satisfied by the turn which affairs were taking. He
<v Speaker 1>made no remark, however, say that unless we hurried, we
<v Speaker 1>should be late for our appointment with the Strade. Sure enough,
<v Speaker 1>when we reached Baker Street, the detective was already there,
<v Speaker 1>and we found him pacing up and down in a
<v Speaker 1>fever of impatience. This look of importance showed that his
<v Speaker 1>day's work had not been in vain well. He asked,
<v Speaker 1>what luck, mister Elmes. We have had a very busy day,
<v Speaker 1>and not entirely a wasted one, my friend explained, we
<v Speaker 1>have seen both the retailers and also the wholesale manufacturers.
<v Speaker 1>I can trace each of the busts now from the
<v Speaker 1>beginning the busts, cried Lestrade. Well, well, you have your
<v Speaker 1>own methods, mister Sherlock Elmes, and it's not for me
<v Speaker 1>to say a word against them. But I think I
<v Speaker 1>have done a better day's work than you. I have
<v Speaker 1>identified the dead man you don't say so, and found
<v Speaker 1>a cause for the crime splendid. We have an inspector
<v Speaker 1>who makes a specialty of saffron ill and the Italian quarp. Well,
<v Speaker 1>this dead man add some Catholic emblem round his neck,
<v Speaker 1>and that, along with his color, made me think he
<v Speaker 1>was from the South. Inspector Ill knew him the moment
<v Speaker 1>he caught sight of him. His name is Pietro Venucci
<v Speaker 1>from Naples, and he is one of the greatest cutthroats
<v Speaker 1>in London. He is connected with the Mafia, which as
<v Speaker 1>you know, is a secret political society enforcing its decrees
<v Speaker 1>by murder. Now you see how the affair begins to
<v Speaker 1>clear up. The other fellow is probably an Italian also
<v Speaker 1>and a member of the mafia. He's broken the rules
<v Speaker 1>in some fashion, Pietro is set upon his track. Probably
<v Speaker 1>the photograph we found in his pocket is the man himself,
<v Speaker 1>So that he may not knife the wrong person. He
<v Speaker 1>dogs the fellow, he sees him enter our house, he
<v Speaker 1>waits outside for him, and in the scuffle he receives
<v Speaker 1>his own death wound. How's that, mister Sherlock Holmes? Holmes
<v Speaker 1>clapped his hands approvingly. Excellent, Lestrade, excellent, he cried. But
<v Speaker 1>I didn't quite follow your explanation of the destruction of
<v Speaker 1>the busts. The busts. You never can get those busts
<v Speaker 1>out of your head. After all, that's nothing petty larceny
<v Speaker 1>six months at the most. It is the murder that
<v Speaker 1>we really investigating. And I tell you that I am
<v Speaker 1>gathering all the threads into my hands. And the next
<v Speaker 1>stage is a very simple one. I shall go down
<v Speaker 1>with ill to the Italian quips, find the man whose
<v Speaker 1>photograph we've got, and arrest him on the charge of murder.
<v Speaker 1>Will you come with us? I think not. I fancy
<v Speaker 1>we can attain our end in a simpler way. I
<v Speaker 1>can't say for certain, because it all depends well, it
<v Speaker 1>all depends upon a factor which is completely outside our control.
<v Speaker 1>But I have great hopes. In fact, the betting is
<v Speaker 1>exactly two to one that if you will come with
<v Speaker 1>us tonight I shall be able to help you to
<v Speaker 1>lay him by the heels in the Italian quarps. No
<v Speaker 1>I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely
<v Speaker 1>to find him. If you will come with me to
<v Speaker 1>Chiswick to night, Lestrade, I'll promise to go to the
<v Speaker 1>Italian Quarter with you to morrow, and no harm will
<v Speaker 1>be done by the delay. And now I think that
<v Speaker 1>a few hours sleep would do us all good, for
<v Speaker 1>I do not propose to leave before eleven o'clock, and
<v Speaker 1>it is unlikely that we shall be back before morning.
<v Speaker 1>You will dine with us, Lestrade, and then you are
<v Speaker 1>welcome to the sofa until it's time for us to start.
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you
<v Speaker 1>would ring for an express messenger, for I have a
<v Speaker 1>letter to send, and it is important that it should
<v Speaker 1>go at once. Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among
<v Speaker 1>the files of the old daily papers with which one
<v Speaker 1>of our lumber rooms was packed. When at last he descended,
<v Speaker 1>it was with triumph in his eyes, but he said
<v Speaker 1>nothing to either of us as to the result of
<v Speaker 1>his researches. For my own part, I had followed step
<v Speaker 1>by step the methods by which he had traced the
<v Speaker 1>various windings of this complex case. And though I could
<v Speaker 1>not yet perceive the goal which we would reach, I
<v Speaker 1>understood clearly that Holmes expected this grotesque criminal to make
<v Speaker 1>an attempt upon the two remaining busts, one of which
<v Speaker 1>I remembered was at Chiswick. No doubt, the object of
<v Speaker 1>our journey was to catch him in the very act,
<v Speaker 1>and I could not but admire the cunning with which
<v Speaker 1>my friend had inserted a wrong clue in the evening paper,
<v Speaker 1>so as to give the fellow the idea that he
<v Speaker 1>could continue his scheme with impunity. I was not surprised
<v Speaker 1>when Holmes suggested that I should take my revolver with me.
<v Speaker 1>He had himself picked up the loaded hunting crop, which
<v Speaker 1>was his favorite weapon. A four wheeler was at the
<v Speaker 1>door at eleven, and in it we drove to a
<v Speaker 1>spot at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the
<v Speaker 1>cabman was directed to wait. A short walk brought us
<v Speaker 1>to a secluded road fringed with pleasant houses, each standing
<v Speaker 1>in its own grounds. In the light of a street lamp,
<v Speaker 1>we read Laburnum villa upon the gate post of one
<v Speaker 1>of them. The occupants had evidently retired to rest, for
<v Speaker 1>all was dark save for a fan light over the
<v Speaker 1>hall door, which shed a single, blurred circle on to
<v Speaker 1>the garden path. The wooden fence which separated the grounds
<v Speaker 1>from the road, threw a dense black shadow upon that
<v Speaker 1>inner side, And here it was that we crouched. I
<v Speaker 1>fear that you'll have a long wait, Holmes whispered. We
<v Speaker 1>may thank our stars that it is not raining. I
<v Speaker 1>don't think we can even venture to smoke to pass
<v Speaker 1>the time. However, it's a two to one chance that
<v Speaker 1>we get something to pay us for our trouble. It proved, however,
<v Speaker 1>that our vigil was not to be so long as
<v Speaker 1>homes had led us to fear. And it ended in
<v Speaker 1>a very sudden and singular fashion, In an instant, without
<v Speaker 1>the least sound to warn us of his coming. The
<v Speaker 1>garden gate swung open, and a lithe dark figure, as
<v Speaker 1>swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden path.
<v Speaker 1>We saw it whisk past the light thrown from over
<v Speaker 1>the door, and disappear against the black shadow of the house.
<v Speaker 1>There was a long pause, during which we held our breath,
<v Speaker 1>and then a very gentle, creaking sound came to our ears.
<v Speaker 1>The window was being opened. The noise ceased, and again
<v Speaker 1>there was a long silence. The fellow was making his
<v Speaker 1>way into the house. We saw the sudden flash of
<v Speaker 1>a dark lantern inside the room. What he sought was
<v Speaker 1>evidently not there, for again we saw the flash through
<v Speaker 1>another blind and then through another. Let us go to
<v Speaker 1>the open window. We'll nab him as he climbs out.
<v Speaker 1>Lestrade whispered, But before we could move, the man had
<v Speaker 1>emerged again. As he came out into the glimmering patch
<v Speaker 1>of light, we saw that he carried something white under
<v Speaker 1>his arm. He looked stealthily all round him. The silence
<v Speaker 1>of the deserted street reassured him. Turning his back upon us,
<v Speaker 1>he laid down his burden, and the next instant there
<v Speaker 1>was the sound of a sharp tap, followed by a
<v Speaker 1>clatter and rattle. The man was so intent upon what
<v Speaker 1>he was doing that he never heard our steps. As
<v Speaker 1>we stole across the grass plot with the bound of
<v Speaker 1>a tiger, Holmes was on his back, and an instant
<v Speaker 1>later lestrade, and I had him by either wrist, and
<v Speaker 1>the handcuffs had been fastened. As we turned him over,
<v Speaker 1>I saw a hideous, sallow face with writhing, furious features
<v Speaker 1>glaring up at us, and I knew that it was
<v Speaker 1>indeed the man of the photograph whom we had secured,
<v Speaker 1>But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was
<v Speaker 1>giving his attention. Squatted on the door step, he was
<v Speaker 1>engaged in most carefully examining that which the man had
<v Speaker 1>brought from the house. It was a bust of Napoleon,
<v Speaker 1>like the one which we had seen that morning, and
<v Speaker 1>it had been broken to similar fragments. Carefully Holmes held
<v Speaker 1>each separate shard to the light, but in no way
<v Speaker 1>did it differ from any other shattered piece of plaster.
<v Speaker 1>He had just completed his examination when the hall lights
<v Speaker 1>flew up, the door opened, and the owner of the house,
<v Speaker 1>a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and trousers, presented himself.
<v Speaker 1>Mister Josiah Brown, I suppose, said Holmes, Yes, sir, and
<v Speaker 1>you no doubt are mister Sherlock Holmes. I had the
<v Speaker 1>note which you sent by the express messenger, and I
<v Speaker 1>did exactly what you told me. We looked every door
<v Speaker 1>on the inside and awaited developments. Well, I am very
<v Speaker 1>glad to see that you have got the rascal. I hope, gentlemen,
<v Speaker 1>that you will come in and have some freshment. However,
<v Speaker 1>Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters,
<v Speaker 1>so within a few minutes our cab had been summoned,
<v Speaker 1>and we were all four upon our way to London.
<v Speaker 1>Not a word would our captives say. But he glared
<v Speaker 1>at us from the shadow of his matted hair, and once,
<v Speaker 1>when my hand seemed within his reach, he snapped at
<v Speaker 1>it like a hungry wolf. We stayed long enough at
<v Speaker 1>the police station to learn that a search of his
<v Speaker 1>clothing revealed nothing save a few shillings and a long
<v Speaker 1>sheath knife, the handle of which bore copious traces of
<v Speaker 1>recent blood. That's all right, said Lestrade, as we parted.
<v Speaker 1>Ill knows all these gentry, and we'll give a name
<v Speaker 1>to him. You'll find that my theory of the mafia
<v Speaker 1>will work out all right. But I'm sure I'm exceedingly
<v Speaker 1>obliged to you, mister Elms, for the workman like way
<v Speaker 1>in which you've laid hands upon him. I don't quite
<v Speaker 1>understand it all yet I fear it is rather too
<v Speaker 1>late an hour for explanations, said Holmes. Besides, there are
<v Speaker 1>one or two details which are not finished off, and
<v Speaker 1>it is one of those cases which are worth working
<v Speaker 1>out to the very end. If you will come round
<v Speaker 1>once more to my rooms at six o'clock to morrow,
<v Speaker 1>I think I shall be able to show you that
<v Speaker 1>even now you have not grasped the entire meaning of
<v Speaker 1>this business, which presents some features which make it absolutely
<v Speaker 1>original in the history of crime. If ever I permit
<v Speaker 1>you to chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>I foresee that you will enliven your pages by an
<v Speaker 1>account of the singular adventure of the Napoleonic busts. When
<v Speaker 1>we met again next evening, Lestrade was furnished with much
<v Speaker 1>information concerning our prisoner. His name, it appeared, was Beppo,
<v Speaker 1>second name unknown. He was a well known ne'er do
<v Speaker 1>well among the Italian colony. He had once been a
<v Speaker 1>skillful sci and had earned an honest living, But he
<v Speaker 1>had taken to evil courses, and had twice already been
<v Speaker 1>in jail, once for a petty theft, and once, as
<v Speaker 1>we had already heard, for stabbing a fellow countryman. He
<v Speaker 1>could talk English perfectly well. His reasons for destroying the
<v Speaker 1>busts were still unknown, and he refused to answer any
<v Speaker 1>questions upon the subject. But the police had discovered that
<v Speaker 1>these same busts might very well have been made by
<v Speaker 1>his own hands, since he was engaged in this class
<v Speaker 1>of work at the establishment of Gelder and Company. To
<v Speaker 1>all this information, much of which we already knew, Holmes
<v Speaker 1>listened with polite attention. But I, who knew him so well,
<v Speaker 1>could clearly see that his thoughts were elsewhere, and I
<v Speaker 1>detected a mixture of mingled uneasiness and expectation beneath that
<v Speaker 1>mask which he was wont to assume. At last, he
<v Speaker 1>started in his chair and his eyes brightened. There had
<v Speaker 1>been a ring at the bell. A minute later we
<v Speaker 1>heard steps upon the stairs, and an elderly, red faced
<v Speaker 1>man with grizzled side whiskers was ushered in. In his
<v Speaker 1>right hand, he carried an old fashioned carpet bag, which
<v Speaker 1>he placed upon the table. Is mister Sherlock Holmes, here,
<v Speaker 1>my friend bowed and smiled. Mister Sanderford of reading, I suppose,
<v Speaker 1>said he yes, sir, I fear that I am a
<v Speaker 1>little late. But the trains were awkward. You wrote to
<v Speaker 1>me about a bust that is in my possession. Exactly,
<v Speaker 1>I have your letter here. You said, I desire to
<v Speaker 1>possess a copy of Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to
<v Speaker 1>pay you ten pounds for the one which is in
<v Speaker 1>your possession. Is that right? Certainly? I was very much
<v Speaker 1>surprised at your letter, for I could not imagine how
<v Speaker 1>you knew that I owned such a thing. Of course
<v Speaker 1>you must have been surprised, but the explanation is very simple.
<v Speaker 1>Mister Harding of Harding Brothers said that they had sold
<v Speaker 1>you their last copy, and he gave me your address.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that was it? Was it? Did he tell you
<v Speaker 1>what I paid for it? No? He did not. Well,
<v Speaker 1>I am an honest man, though not a very rich one.
<v Speaker 1>I only gave fifteen shillings for the bust, and I
<v Speaker 1>think you ought to know that before I take ten
<v Speaker 1>pounds from you. I am sure the scrupled as you,
<v Speaker 1>honor mister Sanderford, but I have named that price, so
<v Speaker 1>I intend to stick to it. Well, it's very handsome
<v Speaker 1>of you, mister Holmes. I bought the bust up with me,
<v Speaker 1>as you asked me. To do here it is. He
<v Speaker 1>opened his bag, and at last we saw placed upon
<v Speaker 1>our table a complete specimen of that bust which we
<v Speaker 1>had already seen more than once in fragments. Holmes took
<v Speaker 1>a paper from his pocket and laid a ten pound
<v Speaker 1>note upon the table. You will kindly sign that paper,
<v Speaker 1>mister Sandford, in the presence of these witnesses. It is
<v Speaker 1>simply to say that you transfer every possible right that
<v Speaker 1>you ever had in the bust to me. I am
<v Speaker 1>a methodical man, you see, and you never know what
<v Speaker 1>turn events might take afterwards. Thank you, mister Sandford. Here
<v Speaker 1>is your money, and I wish you a very good evening.
<v Speaker 1>When our visitor had disappeared, Sherlock Holmes's movements were such
<v Speaker 1>as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a
<v Speaker 1>clean white cloth from a drawer and laying it over
<v Speaker 1>the table. Then he placed his newly acquired bust in
<v Speaker 1>the center of the cloth. Finally, he picked up his
<v Speaker 1>hunting crop and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the
<v Speaker 1>top of the head. The figure broke into fragments, and
<v Speaker 1>Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains. Next instant with
<v Speaker 1>a loud shout of triumph. He held up one splinter
<v Speaker 1>in which a round, dark object was fixed like a
<v Speaker 1>plum in a pudding. Gentleman, he cried, let me introduce
<v Speaker 1>you to the famous black pearl of the Borges. The
<v Speaker 1>Stradin eye sat silent for a moment, and then with
<v Speaker 1>a spontaneous impulse, we both broke at clapping, as at
<v Speaker 1>the well wrought crisis of a play. A flush of
<v Speaker 1>color sprang to Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to us,
<v Speaker 1>like the master dramatist who received the homage of his audience.
<v Speaker 1>It was at such moments that for an instant he
<v Speaker 1>ceased to be a reasoning machine and betrayed his human
<v Speaker 1>love for admiration and applause. The same singularly proud and
<v Speaker 1>reserved nature which turned away with disdain from popular notoriety,
<v Speaker 1>was capable of being moved to its depths by a
<v Speaker 1>spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend. Yes, gentlemen, said he,
<v Speaker 1>it is the most famous pearl now existing in the world,
<v Speaker 1>and it has been my good fortune, by a connected
<v Speaker 1>chain of inductive reasoning, to trace it from the Prince
<v Speaker 1>of Coloner's bedroom at the Duca hotel, where it was
<v Speaker 1>lost to the interior of this the last of the
<v Speaker 1>six busts of Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder and
<v Speaker 1>Company of Stepney. You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused
<v Speaker 1>by the disappearance of this valuable jewel and the vain
<v Speaker 1>efforts of the London police to recover it. I was
<v Speaker 1>myself consulted upon the case, but I was unable to
<v Speaker 1>throw any light upon it. Suspicion fell upon the maid
<v Speaker 1>of the princess, who was an Italian, and it was
<v Speaker 1>proved that she had a brother in London, but we
<v Speaker 1>failed to trace any connection between them. The maid's name
<v Speaker 1>was Lucretia Venucci, and there is no doubt in my
<v Speaker 1>mind that this Pietro, who was murdered two nights ago,
<v Speaker 1>was the brother. I have been looking up the dates
<v Speaker 1>in the old files of the paper, and I find
<v Speaker 1>that the disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days
<v Speaker 1>before the arrest of Beppo for some crime of violence,
<v Speaker 1>an event which took place in the factory of Gelder
<v Speaker 1>and Company at the very moment when these busts were
<v Speaker 1>being made. Now you clearly see the sequence of events,
<v Speaker 1>though you see them of course, in the inverse order
<v Speaker 1>to the way in which they presented themselves to me.
<v Speaker 1>Beppo had the pearl in his possession. He may have
<v Speaker 1>stolen it from Pietro. He may have been Pietro's confederate.
<v Speaker 1>He may have been the go between of Pietro and
<v Speaker 1>his sister. It is no consequence to us which is
<v Speaker 1>the correct solution. The main fact is that he had
<v Speaker 1>the pearl, and at that moment, when it was on
<v Speaker 1>his person, he was pursued by the police. He made
<v Speaker 1>for the factory in which he worked, and he knew
<v Speaker 1>that he had only a few minutes in which to
<v Speaker 1>conceal this enormously valuable prize, which would otherwise be found
<v Speaker 1>on him. When he was searched, six plaster casts of
<v Speaker 1>Napoleon were drying in the passage. One of them was
<v Speaker 1>still soft. In an instant, Beppo, a skillful workman, made
<v Speaker 1>a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl,
<v Speaker 1>and with a few touches, covered over the aperture. Once more.
<v Speaker 1>It was an admirable hiding place. No one could possibly
<v Speaker 1>find it. But Beppo was condemned to a year's imprisonment,
<v Speaker 1>and in the meanwhile his six busts were scattered over London.
<v Speaker 1>He could not tell which contained his treasure. Only by
<v Speaker 1>breaking them could he see. Even shaking would tell him nothing,
<v Speaker 1>for as the plaster was wet, it was probable that
<v Speaker 1>the pearl would adhere to it, as in fact it
<v Speaker 1>has done. Beppo did not despair, and he conducted his
<v Speaker 1>search with considerable ingenuity and perseverearrans. Through a cousin who
<v Speaker 1>works with Gelder, he found out the retail firms who
<v Speaker 1>had bought the busts. He managed to find employment with
<v Speaker 1>Morse Hudson, and in that way tracked down three of them.
<v Speaker 1>The pearl was not there. Then, with the help of
<v Speaker 1>some Italian employee, he succeeded in finding out where the
<v Speaker 1>other three busts had gone. The first was at Harker's.
<v Speaker 1>There he was dogged by his confederate, who held Beppo
<v Speaker 1>responsible for the loss of the pearl, and he stabbed
<v Speaker 1>him in the scuffle which followed. If he was his confederate,
<v Speaker 1>why should he carry his photograph, I asked, as a
<v Speaker 1>means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about
<v Speaker 1>him from any third person, And that was the obvious reason.
<v Speaker 1>Well after the murder. I calculated that Beppo would probably
<v Speaker 1>hurry rather than delay his movements. He would fear that
<v Speaker 1>the police would read his secret, and so he hastened
<v Speaker 1>on before they could get ahead of him. Of course,
<v Speaker 1>I could not say that he had not found the
<v Speaker 1>pearl in Harker's bust. I had not even concluded for
<v Speaker 1>certain that it was the pearl. But it was evident
<v Speaker 1>to me that he was looking for something, since he
<v Speaker 1>carried the bust past the other houses in order to
<v Speaker 1>break it in the garden, which had a lamp overlooking it.
<v Speaker 1>Since Harker's bust was one in three, the chances were
<v Speaker 1>exactly as I told you, two to one against the
<v Speaker 1>pearl being inside it. There remained two busts, and it
<v Speaker 1>was obvious that he would go for the London one.
<v Speaker 1>First I warned the inmates of the house so as
<v Speaker 1>to avoid a second tragedy, and we went down with
<v Speaker 1>the happiest results. By that time, of course, I knew
<v Speaker 1>for certain that it was the borge of pearl that
<v Speaker 1>we were after, the name of the murdered man linked
<v Speaker 1>to one event with the other. There only remained a
<v Speaker 1>single bust, the reading one, and the pearl must be there.
<v Speaker 1>I bought it in your presence from the owner, and
<v Speaker 1>there it eyes. We sat in silence for a moment. Well,
<v Speaker 1>said Lestrade. I've seen you handler good many cases, mister Olmes,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't know that I have ever no more
<v Speaker 1>workman like one than that. We are not jealous of
<v Speaker 1>you at Scotland Yard, No, sir, we are very proud
<v Speaker 1>of you. And if you come down to morrow, there
<v Speaker 1>is not a man from the oldest inspector to the
<v Speaker 1>youngest constable who wouldn't be glad to shake you by
<v Speaker 1>the hand. Thank you, said Holmes. Thank you, And as
<v Speaker 1>he turned away, it seemed to me that he was
<v Speaker 1>more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I
<v Speaker 1>had ever seen him. A moment later he was the
<v Speaker 1>cold and practical thinker once more. Put the pearl in
<v Speaker 1>the safe, Watson, said he, and get out the papers
<v Speaker 1>of the Conque Singleton forgery case. Good Bye, Lestrade. If
<v Speaker 1>any little problem comes your way, I shall be if
<v Speaker 1>I can to give you a hint or two as
<v Speaker 1>to its solution. End of the Adventure of the Six
<v Speaker 1>Napoleons