The sun., 1892-01-10
THE ADVENTURE OF
THE Blue CARBUNCLB.
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.

BY A. CONAN DOYLE.

,non,s Of tho soason. He was lounging upon
,ho sofa in a purple dressing gown. pipe rack
,yt,hin his reach upon the left, and pile of
mnrping rapcrs Uttered about. all over ana
around him. Beside tho couch was wooden
ob,ir and on the angle OF the back hung avery
snndv and disreputablo hard felt hat much tho
uorse for wear, ana cracked in several places.
Ions and a forccps lying upon the seat OF the
.hoir suggested that tho hat had been sus.
nendcd in this manner for tho purpose OF ex-
animation.
"Yon ara engaged" said I. Perhaps In
terrupt youE
vhom can discuss my results. Tho matter
is n pcrfoctly trivial onc.' he jerked his thumb
IN rho direction Of tho old hat but there arc
noInts IN connection with 1t which are not en-
t,rolv devoid OF interest. and even Of instruc-
tion"
Isoo.nd myself in his armchair and warmed
my hands hcIoro his cracking fire. for sharp
frost had set In and tho windows were thick
With tho leo crystals. Il suppose" remarked.
"that, homcly as 1t looks. this thing has some
deadly story linked onto it-thnt 1t Is tho clue
vhich will guide you in the solution OF somo
mystery and tho punishment OF some crime"
"No. mol No crimc." said Sherlock Holmes.
,suohinrly. "Only ono OF those whimsical
little incidents which will happon when you
have four million human beings all jostling
each other within the space OF a few square
miles Amid the action and reaction OF so
dense swarm OF humanity. every possible
combination Of events may be- expected TO
take place, and many little problem will be
presented which may be striking and bizarre
vithout being criminal We have already had
experiencc Of such"
80 much so." l remarked. that Of the last
six cases which have added to my notes
three havo been entirely FREQ Of any legal
crime"
Precisely. You alude to my attempt to re-
cover the Irene Adler papers. to the singular
case OF Miss Mary Sutherland. and to the ad-
venture OF the man with tho twisted lip. We'll.
Ihays no doubt that this small matter will fall
into the same innocent category You know
Peterson. the commissionaire
"Yes"
1T to him that this trophy belonga"
1T Is his hat"
mo, no. he found it. It's owner Is unknown.
Ibeg TINT you will look upon 1t not as bat
tered billy cock. but as an intellectual problem.
And first as to how it came here: 1t arrived
upon Christmas morning in company with a
good fat goose. which is. I have no doubt
roasting at this moment in front OF Petersons
fire. The facts arc these: About o'clock on
Christmas morning Peterson. who. as you
know. is very honest fellow. was returning
from some small jollifcation and was making
his way homeward down Tottenham Court
road. In front OF him he saw in the gaslight
tallish man walking with slight stagger and
carrying white goose slung over his shoulder.
As he reached the corner OF Goodge street a
row broke out between this stranger and
little knot OF roughs. One Of tho lat
ter knocked OF tho mans hat. on
which he raised his stick to defend
himself and. swinging it over his bead
smashed the shop window behind him. Peter
son had rushed forward toiprotect the stranger
from his assailants. but the man. shocked at
having broken the window. and seeing an
offcia.looking person In uniform rushing to-
ward him. dropped his goose. took to his heels,
and vanished amid the labyrinth OF small
streets which lie at the back OF Tottenham
Court road. Tho roughs had also fled ut the
appearance Of Peterson. 80 that he was left in
possession Of the field Of battle. and also OF
the spolls Of victory. In the shape OF tho bat
tered hat and most umimpeachable Christ
mas goose"
Which surely he restored to their owner7's
MY dear fellow. there lies the problem. It
Is true that "For Mr.. Henry Baker, was
printed upon small card. which was tied to
the birds left leg, and 1t Is also true that the
initials h B. are legible upon the lining of this
hat, but as there arc some thousand Of Bake
and some hundreds OF Henry Bakers in this
city OF ours. it is not easy to restore lost prop
erty to any one OF them"
What. then. did Peterson do?'
he brought round both hat and goose to
me on Christmas morning. knowing that
even the smallest problems are OF interest to
me- The goose we retained until this morn
mg' when there were signs that. in spite Of tho
slight frost. 1t would be well that 1t should be
eaten without unnecessary delay. It's finder
mas carried 1t of. therefore. to fulfil tho ulti-
mate destiny OF q goose. while l continue to
retain the hat Of the unknown gentleman who
lost his Christmas dinner"
DID he not advertiser"
NO"
Then what clue could you have as to his
Identity"
Only as much as we can deduce."
From his hatp"
Precisely"
But you are Joking. What can you gather
from this old battered felt%
r, mere Is my lens. You know my methods,
Hnat can you gather yourself as to the indi-
cle" ''' "'-
i'ook the httered object In my hands and
.u,ned 1t over rather ruefully. 1t was o very
1lulaary black hat. Of the usual round shape,
Ma Ma,a and much the worse for wear. The
nn'ac mad been OF red silk. but was a good
aeal dscolored. There was no makers name,
w. as Holmes had remarked. the initials H.
were serawled upon one side. It was
pierced In the brlm for hat securer, but the
sAsuc was missing. For tho rest It
va sAs cracked. exceedingly dusty. and spotted |
~ several places. although there seemed to
lave lave peen some attempt to hide the discolored
'erhes by smearing them with ink.
lean see nothing" said /. handing Il back
tony friend
a, on the contrary. Watson. you can SEQ every
sa I,ne' iou fail. however. to reason from what |
in!erences." ''0'
Then pray tell me what 1t is that you can
nIer from this hat"
me- no picked 1t up and gazed at 1t in tho pccu-
stic OF him. '" ""0 Vial "'''''
n,.1. is' perhaps. less suggestive than it
Ma.n .n' nave BEEN" he remarked. "And yet
sDa, NJ arc a few differences which are very dis.
ts ats ana lew others which represent at least
was Vhs balance OF probability. That tho man