Shivers for Christmas (24 page)

‘It’s more than a precious stone. It is
the
precious stone.’

‘Not the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle!’ I ejaculated.

‘Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I have read the advertisement about it in
The Times
every day lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured, but the reward offered of £1,000 is certainly not within a twentieth part of the market price.’

‘A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!’ The commissionaire plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.

‘That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but recover the gem.’

‘It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan,’ I remarked.

‘Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady’s jewel case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the matter here, I believe.’ He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph:

‘Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., abstracted from the jewel case of the Countess of Morcar the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder’s cry of dismay on discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, where she found matters as described by the last witness. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was carried out of court.

‘Hum! So much for the police court,’ said Holmes thoughtfully, tossing aside the paper. ‘The question for us now to solve is the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel case at one end to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr Henry Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If this fails, I shall have recourse to other methods.’

‘What will you say?’

‘Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then:

‘Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221
B
Baker Street.

That is clear and concise.’

‘Very. But will he see it?’

‘Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency and have this put in the evening papers.’

‘In which, sir?’

‘Oh, in the
Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St James’s, Evening News Standard, Echo
, and any others that occur to you.’

‘Very well, sir. And this stone?’

‘Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place of the one which your family is now devouring.’

When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held it against the light. ‘It’s a bonny thing,’ said he. ‘Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil’s pet baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallized charcoal. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison? I’ll lock it up in my strong box now and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it.’

‘Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?’

‘I cannot tell.’

‘Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had anything to do with the matter?’

‘It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple test if we have an answer to our advertisement.’

‘And you can do nothing until then?’

‘Nothing.’

‘In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business.’

‘Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I ought to ask Mrs Hudson to examine its crop.’

I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Holmes’s room.

‘Mr Henry Baker, I believe,’ said he, rising from his armchair and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily assume. ‘Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr Baker?’

‘Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat.’

He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes’s surmise as to his habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had ill-usage at the hands of fortune.

‘We have retained these things for some days,’ said Holmes, ‘because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise.’

Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. ‘Shillings have not been so plentiful with me as they once were,’ he remarked. ‘I had no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a hopeless attempt at recovering them.’

‘Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eat it.’

‘To eat it!’ Our visitor half rose from his chair in his excitement.

‘Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your purpose equally well?’

‘Oh, certainly, certainly,’ answered Mr Baker with a sigh of relief.

‘Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of your own bird, so if you wish—’

The man burst into a hearty laugh. ‘They might be useful to me as relics of my adventure,’ said he, ‘but beyond that I can hardly see what use the
disjecta membra
of my late acquaintance are going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive upon the sideboard.’

Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

‘There is your hat, then, and there your bird,’ said he. ‘By the way would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a better grown goose.’

‘Certainly, sir,’ said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly gained property under his arm. ‘There are a few of us who frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum—we are to be found in the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity.’ With a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and strode off upon his way.

‘So much for Mr Henry Baker,’ said Holmes when he had closed the door behind him. ‘It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?’

‘Not particularly.’

‘Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.’

‘By all means.’

It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors’ quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord.

‘Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,’ said he.

‘My geese!’ The man seemed surprised.

‘Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr Henry Baker, who was a member of your goose club.’

‘Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them’s not
our
geese.’

‘Indeed! Whose, then?’

‘Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden.’

‘Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?’

‘Breckinridge is his name.’

‘Ah! I don’t know him. Well, here’s your good health, landlord, and prosperity to your house. Good-night.’

‘Now for Mr Breckinridge,’ he continued, buttoning up his coat as we came out into the frosty air. ‘Remember, Watson, that though we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years’ penal servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quick march!’

We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor, a horsy-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers, was helping a boy to put up the shutters.

‘Good-evening. It’s a cold night,’ said Holmes.

The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my companion.

‘Sold out of geese, I see,’ continued Holmes, pointing at the bare slabs of marble.

‘Let you have five hundred tomorrow morning.’

‘That’s no good.’

‘Well, there are some on the stall with the gas flare.’

‘Ah, but I was recommended to you.’

‘Who by?’

‘The landlord of the Alpha.’

‘Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen.’

‘Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?’

To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the salesman.

‘Now, then, mister,’ said he, with his head cocked and his arms akimbo, ‘what are you driving at? Let’s have it straight, now.’

‘It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese which you supplied to the Alpha.’

‘Well, then, I shan’t tell you. So now!’

‘Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don’t know why you should be so warm over such a trifle.’

‘Warm! You’d be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end of the business; but it’s “Where are the geese?” and “Who did you sell the geese to?” and “What will you take for the geese?” One would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the fuss that is made over them.’