The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (polar express read aloud .TXT) ๐
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Read book online ยซThe Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (polar express read aloud .TXT) ๐ยป. Author - Arthur Conan Doyle
The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker and an infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined. I was still dressing in my bedroom next morning, when there was a tap at the door and Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand. He read it aloud:
โCome instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington.โLESTRADE.โ
โWhat is it, then?โ I asked.
โDonโt knowโmay be anything. But I suspect it is the sequel of the story of the statues. In that case our friend the image-breaker has begun operations in another quarter of London. Thereโs coffee on the table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door.โ
In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater just beside one of the briskest currents of London life. No. 131 was one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, and most unromantic dwellings. As we drove up, we found the railings in front of the house lined by a curious crowd. Holmes whistled.
โBy George! Itโs attempted murder at the least. Nothing less will hold the London message-boy. Thereโs a deed of violence indicated in that fellowโs round shoulders and outstretched neck. Whatโs this, Watson? The top steps swilled down and the other ones dry. Footsteps enough, anyhow! Well, well, thereโs Lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon know all about it.โ
The official received us with a very grave face and showed us into a sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated elderly man, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and down. He was introduced to us as the owner of the houseโMr. Horace Harker, of the Central Press Syndicate.
โItโs the Napoleon bust business again,โ said Lestrade. โYou seemed interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought perhaps you would be glad to be present now that the affair has taken a very much graver turn.โ
โWhat has it turned to, then?โ
โTo murder. Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly what has occurred?โ
The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most melancholy face.
โItโs an extraordinary thing,โ said he, โthat all my life I have been collecting other peopleโs news, and now that a real piece of news has come my own way I am so confused and bothered that I canโt put two words together. If I had come in here as a journalist, I should have interviewed myself and had two columns in every evening paper. As it is, I am giving away valuable copy by telling my story over and over to a string of different people, and I can make no use of it myself. However, Iโve heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if youโll only explain this queer business, I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the story.โ
Holmes sat down and listened.
โIt all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought for this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station. A great deal of my journalistic work is done at night, and I often write until the early morning. So it was to-day. I was sitting in my den, which is at the back of the top of the house, about three oโclock, when I was convinced that I heard some sounds downstairs. I listened, but they were not repeated, and I concluded that they came from outside. Then suddenly, about five minutes later, there came a most horrible yellโthe most dreadful sound, Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard. It will ring in my ears as long as I live. I sat frozen with horror for a minute or two. Then I seized the poker and went downstairs. When I entered this room I found the window wide open, and I at once observed that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece. Why any burglar should take such a thing passes my understanding, for it was only a plaster cast and of no real value whatever.
โYou can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open window could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. This was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the door. Stepping out into the dark, I nearly fell over a dead man, who was lying there. I ran back for a light and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat and the whole place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my dreams. I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and then I must have fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman standing over me in the hall.โ
โWell, who was the murdered man?โ asked Holmes.
โThereโs nothing to show who he was,โ said Lestrade. โYou shall see the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now. He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the weapon which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know. There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here it is.โ
It was evidently taken by a snapshot from a small camera. It represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man, with thick eyebrows and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the face, like the muzzle of a baboon.
โAnd what became of the bust?โ asked Holmes, after a careful study of this picture.
โWe had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the front garden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was broken into fragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you come?โ
โCertainly. I must just take one look round.โ He examined the carpet and the window. โThe fellow had either very long legs or was a most active man,โ said he. โWith an area beneath, it was no mean feat to reach that window ledge and open that window. Getting back was comparatively simple. Are you coming with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr. Harker?โ
The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
โI must try and make something of it,โ said he, โthough I have no doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out already with full details. Itโs like my luck! You remember when the stand fell at Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journal the only one that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to write it. And now Iโll
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