V

Our client had hurried forward to meet us with joy. “I have been waiting for you,” she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. “Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is not likely that he will be back before evening.”

“We have had the pleasure of making the doctor’s acquaintance,” said Holmes, and in a few words he told her what had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white as she listened.

“Good heavens!” she cried, “he has followed me, then.”

“So it seems.”

“What will he say when he returns?”

“You must lock yourself up from him to-night. If he does anything to you, we shall take you away to your aunt. Now, you must take us at once to the rooms which we have come to examine.”

The building was gray. Most part of it was a ruin. Holmes examined with great attention the outsides of the windows.

“Is this the window of the room in which you used to sleep, the central one of your sister’s, and the next of Dr. Roylott’s room?”

“Yes. But I am now sleeping in the middle room.”

“There are some repairs, as I understand. By the way, I cannot see any very pressing need for repairs in this part of the house.”

“You are right. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my room.”

“Ah! that is interesting. These three rooms open into a corridor. There are windows in it, of course?”

“Yes, but very small ones. Too small for anyone to get in.”

“As you both locked your doors at night, no one could get into your rooms from that side. Now, go into your room and shut your window.”

Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination, attempted in every way to force the window open, but without any result. “Hum!” said he, “No one could get into the room from here. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the matter.”

We went to the corridor from which the three bedrooms opened. We passed at once to the second room, in which Miss Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met her end. It was a little room, with a low ceiling and a big fireplace, like in many old country-houses. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat silent, while his eyes travelled round and round the room.

“Where does that bell go to?” he asked at last, pointing to a bell-rope which hung down beside the bed.

“It goes to the housekeeper’s room.”

“It looks newer than the other things.”

“Yes, it was only put there two years ago.”

“Your sister asked for it?”

“No, she never used it. We always got what we wanted ourselves.”

“It seemed unnecessary to put a bell-rope there. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I examine this floor.” He examined carefully the floor with his lens in his hand, then he did the same with the walls. Finally he walked over to the bed and spent some time looking at it and at the wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and pulled it.

“It won’t ring,” said he. “It is not connected to anything. This is very interesting. You can see now that it is fastened above a little opening for the ventilator.”

“How very strange! I never noticed that before.”

“Very strange!” answered Holmes, pulling at the rope. “There are one or two very unusual things about this room. For example, the ventilator opens into another room, when it might have opened on the outside!”

“That is also quite modern,” said the lady.

“Was it done about the same time as the bell-rope?” asked Holmes.

“Yes, there were several little changes done at that time.”

“They seem to be very interesting – bells that do not ring and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now continue our investigation in the next room.”

Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s room was larger than that of his stepdaughter. A camp-bed, a small shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an armchair beside the bed, a chair against the wall, a round table, and a large safe were the principal things in the room. Holmes walked slowly round and examined all of them with interest.

“What’s in here?” he asked, pointing to the safe.

“My stepfather’s business papers.”

“Oh! you have seen inside, then?”

“Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers.”

“There isn’t a cat in it, for example?”

“No. What a strange idea!”

“Well, look at this!” He took up a small saucer of milk which stood on the top of it.

“No; we don’t keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon.”

“Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is a big cat, and yet a saucer of milk will not satisfy its wants. There is one thing which I should like to see for myself.” He bent over the chair and examined it with the greatest attention.

“Thank you. That is quite clear,” said he, putting his lens in his pocket. “Hello! Here is something interesting!”

He pointed to a small dog lash that hung on one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was tied into a loop.

“What do you think of that, Watson?”

“It’s a common lash. But I don’t know why it is tied.”

“That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, it’s a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your permission we shall go outside.”

I had never seen my friend’s face so gloomy.

Exercises

1. Answer the questions:

1. Who met Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the road leading to Stoke Moran?

2. What did the house look like?

3. What did Sherlock Holmes and Miss Stoner think about the repairs in the house?

4. Why did Sherlock Holmes examine the window of Miss Stoner’s room? What did he find?

5. What did Miss Stoner’s room look like?

6. What did Sherlock Holmes find out about the bell and the ventilator in the room?

7. What was Dr. Roylott’s room like?

8. What seemed unusual to Sherlock Holmes in Dr. Roylott’s room?

9. What did Sherlock Holmes say after he examined Dr. Roylott’s room?

Think and say

1. Why was Miss Stoner frightened when she learned of Dr. Roylott’s visit to Sherlock Holmes?

2. What does the look of the house and the rooms tell you about the people who lived in Stoke Moran?

2. Find the following words and phrases in the text and reproduce situations from the text with them. Give Russian equivalents.

1. an excuse to do smth

2. to throw light on / upon smth

3. crime

to commit a crime

3. Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences so as to use the phrases above and from the previous parts.

1. The French window led to a verandah.

2. Dr. Roylott started repairs to explain why his stepdaughter should move to another room.

3. The death certificate said that it was a heart attack that caused the death but the family didn’t believe it and asked the detective to look into it.

4. His mother’s illness was only something he mentioned to leave the party early. It was clear from the beginning he didn’t like it there.

5. A detective has sometimes to become the friend of people to get information he needs.

6. When Bob was on the way to the birthday party, he had a sudden idea that he didn’t have a birthday present.

7. Many years ago, when he was a young man, Dan’s uncle broke the law, but his family can’t forgive him even now.

4. Complete the sentences with the words and phrases above and from the previous parts in the correct form.

1. A few strange deaths… in the town before the police started investigation.

2. Sherlock Holmes was able… even the darkest and tragic cases.

3. Alice’s mother always used the girl’s poor health as… not to let the girl go out with her friends.

4. Tom didn’t want… his cousin to a discotheque because he didn’t… dancing. He could even say he hated dancing.

5. Has it ever… to you that your mum needs your help in housework?

6. Most people think it is not polite… other people without a telephone call before it.

7. The book… unknown facts of the great scientist’s life.

8. If you are interested in… books, go over to those shelves. We have all kinds of books – classical detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, hard-boiled detective novels by Raymond Chandler and others, modern police novels.

VI

“It is very important, Miss Stoner,” said he, as we have already left the house and were standing in the park, “that you should absolutely follow my advice in every detail.”

“I shall certainly do so. I am in your hands.”

“In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your room.”

Both Miss Stoner and I looked at him in surprise.

“Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that there is a hotel in the village over there?”

“Yes, the Crown.”

“Very good. Your windows can be seen from there?”

“Certainly.”

“You must go to your room, saying you have a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when he goes to his room, you must open your window, and put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then go quietly into the room where you slept before. I have no doubt that you can sleep there for one night.”

“Oh, yes, easily. But what will you do?”

“We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the cause of this noise which you heard.”

“I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already come to some conclusion,” said Miss Stoner.

“Perhaps I have.”

“Then, tell me what was the cause of my sister’s death.”

“I should like to have clearer evidence before I speak.”

“But you can tell me whether my own idea is correct, and if she died of fear.”

“No, I do not think so. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you, for Dr. Roylott must not see us here. Good-bye, and if you do what I have told you, nothing will threaten you.”

Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in getting a room at the Crown. It was on the upper floor, and from our window we could see Stoke Moran. In the evening we saw Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, and a few minutes later we saw a light among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.

“Do you know, Watson,” said Holmes as we sat together in our hotel room, “I have really some doubts about taking you to-night. It is certainly dangerous.”

“Can I be of help to you?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Then I shall certainly come.”

“It is very kind of you.”

“You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than I have.”

“No. I imagine that you saw all that I did.”

“I saw nothing unusual except the bell-rope, but why it is important I cannot imagine.”

“You saw the ventilator, too?”

“Yes, but I do not think that it is such an unusual thing to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that no one could pass through it.”

“I knew that we should find a ventilator even before we came to Stoke Moran.”

“My dear Holmes!”

“Oh, yes, I did. You remember Miss Stoner said that her sister could smell Dr. Roylott’s cigar. Now, of course that meant that there was an opening between the two rooms.”

“But it is so small!”

“Well, the dates are strange. A ventilator is made, a bell-rope is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does that not strike you?”

“I cannot see any connection.”

“Did you notice anything very unusual about that bed?”

“No.”

“It was fastened to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?”

“Never.”

“The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same position to the ventilator and to the bell-rope – or so we may call it, for it was clearly never meant for a bell.”

“Holmes,” I cried, “I seem to see what you mean. We are in time to prevent some horrible crime.”

“Horrible enough. When a doctor turns to crime he is the first of criminals. But we shall have enough horrors before the night is over; let us rest and think for a few hours about something more pleasant.”

About eleven o’clock a bright light appeared in the window.

“That is our signal,” said Holmes, “it comes from the middle window.”

A moment later we were out on the dark road, one yellow light guiding us to the house.

We had little difficulty in entering the park. Walking among the trees, I saw someone like a child running and jumping on the grass.the grass.

“My God!” I whispered; “did you see it?”

“That is the baboon.”

I had forgotten the strange pets of the doctor. There was a cheetah, too; it could be upon our backs at any moment. I must say I felt less nervous when we got into the bedroom through the window.