Exercises

1. When did Mr. Cubitt visit Sherlock Holmes again?

1) The next day

2) A week later

3) A month later

4) Two weeks later

2. Why did Mr. Cubitt look worried and depressed?

1) His wife was very afraid.

2) This business was getting on his nerves.

3) He didn’t like London.

4) Sherlock Holmes couldn’t help him.

3. Why couldn’t Mr. Cubitt just talk to his wife and find out the truth?

1) He was afraid of his wife.

2) He was scary and he didn’t want to scary her off.

3) He had no time for it.

4) He was a clumsy man in these things.

4. What did he find out?

1) He brought some new drawings of dancing men and saw the man who drew them.

2) He caught the joker – it was his stable-boy.

3) He didn’t find out anything.

4) He found out that there were several men who drew these pictures.

5. What was Mrs. Cubitt’s suggestion?

1) To hide and wait

2) To travel in order to avoid this nuisance

3) To sell the house

4) To call the police

6. Why was Mr. Cubitt angry with his wife?

1) She didn’t want to come to bed.

2) She didn’t want to talk to him.

3) She told him that she knew this man.

4) She held him when he could catch this man.

7. What did Sherlock Holmes do when Mr. Cubitt left?

1) He was tired and went to bed.

2) He decided to have dinner and then started working.

3) He started working, he was very busy copying dancing men and writing letters.

4) He solved the riddle very quickly and wrote a long telegram.

8. Why didn’t Sherlock Holmes share his ideas with Dr. Watson?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9. Choose the right line:

Sherlock Holmes…………… to the table…………… out all the pieces of paper…………… dancing men in front of him and…………… examining them.

1) was rushing, lay, contained, began

2) rushed, lay, containing, began

3) rushed, laid, containing, began

4) was rushing, laid, containing, beginning

10. Complete the sentences with these words and expressions:

as far as, played such stupid tricks, on my nerves, a lesson, progress, had better

1) When this man comes again we can give him such…………… that he will leave us in peace.

2) I told her frankly that I wished to see who it was who…………… on us.

3) “…………… I understood there were some new incidents.”

4) Sometimes he was making…………… and whistled or sang something.

5) “You…………… stay here, Watson.”

6) “It’s getting……………, this business, Mr. Holmes,” he said.

11. Insert the right prepositions:

out, by, from(3), for, about, in, of(2), with

1) So I got…………… my revolver and I sat up in my room…………… where I could see the lawn and garden.

2) Something was moving…………… the shadow…………… the tool-house.

3) He was so completely occupied…………… this task that he had evidently forgotten…………… me.

4) We didn’t have to wait…………… a long time, because our Norfolk squire came straight…………… the station as fast as he could.

5) It means that we will leave our own house because…………… some jokers?

6) I’m surrounded…………… invisible unknown people, who want something…………… me.

12. Complete the table:

III

But the answer came only in two days, during which Holmes was very impatient. At every ring at the bell he jumped to his feet. In the evening we received a letter from Hilton Cubitt. He said that all was quiet there, but that morning a long inscription had appeared on the sun-dial. He sent us a copy of it, here it is:

Holmes stood with this piece of paper for some minutes, examining it, and then suddenly he turned to me. His eyes were full with anxiety.

“We have let this affair go far enough,” he said. “Is there a train to North Walsham tonight?”

I looked it up in the time-table. The last train had just gone.

“Then we shall have breakfast early and take the very first train in the morning,” said Holmes. “We must be there. Ah! And here is also our expected telegram. One moment, Mrs. Hudson. There must be an answer. Yes, it means I was right. This message makes it evident that we should not lose any minute. We must explain what’s the matter to Hilton Cubitt. It is a very dangerous web in which our simple Norfolk squire is caught.”

So, as I come to this part of my story (which before had seemed to me only childish and strange) I feel once again the fear and horror with which I was filled then. I’d like to tell my readers that there will be a happy end, but I can’t. This book should be truthful. I must tell the facts and I must follow them to the strange chain of events which some day will be the talk of the whole England.

We had hardly arrived at North Walsham, and said where we were going to, when the station-master came up to us. “I suppose that you are the detectives from London?” he said.

Holmes was very much worried.

“What makes you think so?”

“Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just arrived. But maybe you are the doctors. She’s not dead… not yet. You may be in time to save her… although it doesn’t matter – she will come to the gallows.”

Holmes’s eyes became very anxious.

“We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor,” he said, “but we haven’t heard anything what had happened there.”

“It’s a terrible business,” said the station-master. “They are shot, both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She shot him and then herself… so the servants say. He’s dead and she is doomed to death. Oh my God, one of the oldest families in the County of Norfolk, and one of the most honoured.”

Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long seven miles’ drive he didn’t open his mouth. Seldom have I seen him so gloomy. He had been uneasy during all our journey from Baker Street, and I had seen that he had turned over the morning papers with anxious attention. But now this sudden realization of his worst fears came. He was sitting in his seat, thinking about everything. But there were a lot of interesting views there. We were passing through a country-side of England, where there were few houses, beautiful churches. Green landscape told of the glory and prosperity of old East Anglia. At last the driver pointed on the two roofs out of trees.

“That’s Ridling Thorpe Manor,” he said.

We came up to the front door. I looked around and saw the black tool-house, the sun-dial, with which we had such strange associations. An active little man with moustache had just come down from the carriage. He introduced himself as Inspector Martin, and he was very much surprised when he heard the name of my friend.

“But Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this morning. How could you hear of it in London and come here as soon as I?”

“I guessed it. I was hoping I could stop it.”

“Then I think you have some important evidence that we haven’t. Because we don’t know what to think – they were a very united couple.”

“I have only the evidence of the dancing men,” said Holmes. “I will explain everything to you later. However, it is very sad that it is too late to stop this tragedy… I hope that I can use the information that I know in order to help justice. Will you allow me to help you in your investigation, or will you prefer me to act independently?”

“I will be proud if we are working together, Mr. Holmes,” said the inspector.

“In that case I’ll be glad to hear the evidence and to examine the place where it had happened.”

Inspector Martin was a clever man. He allowed my friend to do everything in his own way, he just watched and made some notes. The local doctor, an old, white-haired man, had just come down from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt’s room. He said that her injuries were serious, but not fatal. The bullet had hit her brain, and it would take some time before she could speak. But the doctor couldn’t answer the question whether she had been shot or had shot herself. But certainly it happened at a very short distance. They found only one revolver in the room. Mr. Hilton Cubitt was shot in the heart. It was equally possible that he had shot her and then himself, or that she was the criminal, because the revolver lay on the floor right between them.

“Has anyone moved him?” asked Holmes.

“We have moved nothing except the lady. We could not leave her here, she was wounded and lying on the floor.”

“How long have you been here, doctor?”

“Since four o’clock.”

“Anyone else?”

“Yes, the policeman is here.”

“Have you touched nothing?”

“Nothing.”

“Good. Who sent for you?”

“The housemaid, Saunders.”

“Was it she who gave the alarm?”

“She and Mrs. King, the cook.”

“Where are they now?”

“In the kitchen, I think.”

“Then I think we had better hear their story now.”

The old hall with big windows turned into a court of investigation. Holmes sat in a great, old-fashioned chair. I could read in his severe eyes that he was ready to devote his life to this case. He didn’t manage to save his client, it was too late. But at least he could take revenge. Inspector Martin, the old country doctor, myself and a policeman made up the rest of that company.

The two women told their story clearly enough. They woke up because of a loud sound of an explosion, in a minute they heard a second one. They slept in different rooms, and Mrs. King had run to Saunders. Together they came to the room – the door was open and a candle was burning on the table. Their master lay on his face in the centre of the room. He was dead. Near the window his wife was sitting. She was horribly wounded, and her face was red with blood. She breathed heavily, but couldn’t say anything. The corridor and the room were full of smoke and the smell of powder. The window was shut. Both women were sure of it. They had sent for the doctor and for the policeman at once. Then, with the help of the groom and the stable-boy, they carried Mrs Cubitt to her room. She had a dress on, Mr. Cubitt was in his dressing-gown, over his night clothes. Nothing had been moved in the room. As far as Mrs. King and Saunders knew, husband and wife never quarreled. They were a very united couple.

These were the main points of the servants’ evidence. They were sure that every door was locked from the inside, and that no one could have escaped from the house. They both remembered that they noticed the smell of powder when they ran out of their rooms. “It’s important to pay attention to this fact,” said Holmes to us. “And now I think that we can do a careful examination of the room.”

The room was really small. There were a lot of book shelves and a writing-table at the window, which looked out on the garden. The body of the poor squire was lying on the floor. The bullet was fired at him from the front, and remained in his body. His death was certainly painless. There was no powder on his dressing-gown or on his hands. The country doctor said the lady had stains on her face, but none on her hands.

“Well, it means nothing, although the stains on the hands may mean everything,” said Holmes. “I think that Mr. Cubitt’s body may be removed now. So, doctor, you have not taken the bullet out which wounded the lady?”

“A serious operation is necessary. But there are still four patrons in the revolver. Two have been fired and there are two wounds.”

“It only seems so,” Holmes said. “Could you explain me then what’s this on the window-frame? It’s a mark of one more bullet.”

He turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole in the window-frame.

“Oh my!” cried the inspector. “How did you notice that?”

“Because I looked for it.”

“Wonderful!” the country doctor said. “You are certainly right, sir. Then there was a third shot, and a third person must have been there. But who? And how did he manage to run away?”

“That is the problem which we have to solve,” said Sherlock Holmes. “Do you remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that they noticed a smell of powder when they left their rooms? And I said that this is very important?”

“Yes, sir. But I am afraid that I do not understand you.”

“It means that the door and the window were open during the firing. A draught was necessary to spread the smell of powder through the house. Both door and window were only open for a very short time, however.”

“How can you prove that?”

“Because the candle didn’t go out.”

“True!” the inspector cried.

“So if the window had been open at the time of the tragedy, it means that there was a third person, who stood outside and shot through the window. Any shot at this person might hit the window-frame. I looked there and yes, there was the bullet mark!”

“But the window was shut and locked…”

“The woman’s first instinct would be to shut and lock the window. But… what is this?”

It was a lady’s hand-bag which lay on the table, a little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the Bank of England, held together by an india-rubber band.

“It will be necessary in the trial,” said Holmes and gave the bag to the inspector. “Now let us concentrate on this third bullet. It was certainly fired from the inside of the room. I’d like to see Mrs. King, the cook, again… You said, Mrs. King, that you woke up because of a loud explosion. When you said that, did you mean that it was louder than the second one?”

“Well, sir, it is hard to say, because the moment before I was sleeping. But yes, it was very loud.”

“Don’t you think that it was two shots fired almost at the same time?”

“I am not sure, sir.”

“I believe it was. Inspector Martin, I think we’ve learned everything from this room. If you don’t mind, we shall see what fresh evidence are there in the garden.”

There was a flower-bed just under the window and we were very much surprised when we saw that it was in a mess. There were a lot of footmarks on it. Large feet of a man with long, sharp toes. Holmes started looking for something, like a retriever for a wounded bird. Then he cried with satisfaction and picked up a little bullet.

“I thought so,” he said, “I think, Inspector Martin, that our case is almost complete.”