The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-02-14

of the season. He was lounging upon | fthe sofa in purple dreslng-soWn, a Flight, and a pile of crumpled morning | papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was | wooden chair, and on the angie or &fhe back hung very Seedy and dis | f Reputable hard-felt hat, much the &worse for wear, and cracked in sev- eral places. A lens and forceps lying upon the seat of the chair that the hat had been sus- pended in this manner for the pur- x pose of examination: You are engaged" said l; per &haps I interrupt you." Not at all I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my lresults. The matter is a perfectly fthe direction of the old hatS, ''but Ethere are points in connection with ' it which are not entirely devoid of Interest and even of instruction" f I seated myself in his armchair Y and warmed my hands before his crackling fire, for a sharp frost had \ set in, and the windows were thick Ewith the ice crystals. .I suppose" ! Remarked. "tl1at homely as it looks, t this thing has some deadly story link \ ed on to it-that it is the clue which X will guide you in the solution of some \ mystery and the punishment of N some crime"
 t NO, no. No crime," said Sherlock NJ Holmes, laughing. "Only one of those III happen when you have four million |; human beings all jostling each other W within the space of a few square N miles. Amid the action and reaction |t of so dense a swarm of humanity, VI every possible combination of events may be expected to take place, and Emany little problem will be present. Led which may be striking and bizarre N without being criminal. We have falready had experience of such."
 "So much so," I remarked, that of jF the last six cases which ! have added Z, to my notes, three have been entirely |; free of any legal crime"
 Y "Precisely Well, have no doubt < that this small matter will fall into Df the same innocent category. You " know Peterson, the commissioner" t "Yes."
 N Tt is to him that this trophy be- longs"
 eg NO, no; he found it. Its owner is N t1nknown. I beg that you will look |I upon it., not as a battered billycock, N but as an intellectual problem. And |i first, as to how it came here. It N arrived upon Christmas morning, in |s company with a. good fat goose, which |5 is, have no doubt, roasting at this M moment in front of Peterson'S lire. M The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas morning, Peterson, who F4 as you know, is a very honest fellow, { was retdrning from some small jolli-. fication. and was making his way ~ yhomeward down Tottenham Court ly Road. In front of him he saw, in the E gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and carrying a white E goose slung over his shoulder As i{ he reached the corner of Goodge L Street, 8 row broke out between the ri stranger and a little knot of roughs. lt One of the latter knocked off the mans hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself, and, swinging K it over his head, smashed the shop K window behind him. Peterson had
 
 N ger from his assailants; but the man, | shocked at having broken the win ' dow and seeing an official looking per- N son in uniform rushing towards him, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinth Of small streets which lie at the back or YI Tottenham Court Road. The roughs ihad also fled at the appearance of [k Peterson. so that he was left in pos w session of the field of battle, and also of the spells of victory in the shape of this battered hat and a most un- l llimpeachabe Christmas goose" Y (Which surely he restored to therr | owner?"
 n My dear fellow, there lies the NM problem It is true that For Mrs. 1 Henry Baker was printed upon a K small card which was tied to the birds left leg, and it is also true that tthe initials I'll. B. are legible upon 1.-the lining of this hat; but there are 1 some thousands of Bakers, and some 1 hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city
 of ours it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them.
 "What, then, did Peterson do"
 "He brought round both hat and < Eoose-to me on Christmas morning, iknowing' that even the smallest prob
 lems are of interest to me. The goose
 we retained until this morning, when there were signs that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it
 should be eaten without unnecessary
 delay It's finder has carried it off, stherefore to fulfill the ultimate deS- tfiny of a goose, while I continue to < retain the hat of the unknown gen. Ntdleman who lost his Christmas din- ZNner.'
 "Did he not advertiser"
 St-s s'No''
 linen, what clue could you have tas to his identity?''
 ~oniy as much as we can deduce.' E "F'rom his hat?"
 "Precisely.'
 "But you are joking. What can you E N gather from this old battered felt?'
 "Here is my lens. You know my
 s methods. What can you gather your kMlself as to the individuality of the mar )T{ who has worn this article?"
 took the tattered object in my RNhands and turned it over rather. rue N fully. IL was a very ordinary blacl ENthat of the usual round shape, hard INWtand much the worse for wear. TE, I'M lining had been of red silk, but wa!
 Ia good deal discolored. There wa.
 mo makers name; but, as Holmes hat
  scrawled upon one side. It was pierced Fin the brirn for hat-securer but tn
 elastic was missing. For the rest, i
 was cracked, exceedingly dusty, ant
 spotted in several places, although
 there seemed to have been som dE attempt to hide the disco!ored patcne M s7y srrcaring them with ink. fEZ sI can see nothing, said I, hand Wing it back to my friend. \ "On the contrary, Watson. you ca see everything. You fail, however, t
 reason from what you see. You ar
 too tirnid in drawing your differences.
 ssThen, pray tell me what 1t is tha
 you can infer from this hat"
 He picked it up and gazed at it i
 ;fhe peculiar interpretive fashso
 ;I1Fhich was characteristic Of him. q
 ffs perhaps less suggestive than
 might have becn," he remarked, "an
 *vet there are 9 few others which reI
 vt ot least Q strong balance
 That the man was, high
 &&. isHof course cbv:ou