Sherlock Holmes - Deductions
31/07/09 14:29 Filed in: Deductions
“It is this Harrow Weald case. It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone’s while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.”
“His heart was broken. In a single month I seemed to see my gallant boy turn into a worn-out cynical man.”
“A love affair — a woman?”
“It’s a lie. I sent no message.”
“Now, Susan, wheezy people may not live long, you know. It’s a wicked thing to tell fibs. Whom did you tell?”
“Suppose I tell you that it was Barney Stockdale to whom you spoke?” said Holmes.
“Well, if you know, what do you want to ask for?”
“I was not sure, but I know now.”
“So, a rich man? No; you smiled — a rich woman.”
“Now,” he continued, turning suddenly from lively to severe when the door had closed behind the flushed and angry woman, “this gang means business. Look how close they play the game. Your letter to me had the 10 P.M. postmark. And yet Susan passes the word to Barney. Barney has time to go to his employer and get instructions; he or she — I incline to the latter from Susan’s grin when she thought I had blundered — forms a plan. Black Steve is called in, and I am warned off by eleven o’clock next morning. That‘s quick work, you know.”
“No, as I read it, there is something which you do not know that you have, and which you would not give up if you did know.”
“That is how I read it,” said I.
“Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it.”
“During this long period no one wants anything from you. Now suddenly within three or four days you have urgent demands. What would you gather from that?”
“It can only mean,” said I, “that the object, whatever it may be, has only just come into the house.”
“Settled once again,” said Holmes.
“A love affair — a woman?”
“It’s a lie. I sent no message.”
“Now, Susan, wheezy people may not live long, you know. It’s a wicked thing to tell fibs. Whom did you tell?”
“Suppose I tell you that it was Barney Stockdale to whom you spoke?” said Holmes.
“Well, if you know, what do you want to ask for?”
“I was not sure, but I know now.”
“So, a rich man? No; you smiled — a rich woman.”
“Now,” he continued, turning suddenly from lively to severe when the door had closed behind the flushed and angry woman, “this gang means business. Look how close they play the game. Your letter to me had the 10 P.M. postmark. And yet Susan passes the word to Barney. Barney has time to go to his employer and get instructions; he or she — I incline to the latter from Susan’s grin when she thought I had blundered — forms a plan. Black Steve is called in, and I am warned off by eleven o’clock next morning. That‘s quick work, you know.”
“No, as I read it, there is something which you do not know that you have, and which you would not give up if you did know.”
“That is how I read it,” said I.
“Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it.”
“During this long period no one wants anything from you. Now suddenly within three or four days you have urgent demands. What would you gather from that?”
“It can only mean,” said I, “that the object, whatever it may be, has only just come into the house.”
“Settled once again,” said Holmes.