Silent Nights Read Online Free PDF Page A

He sprang round, and I could see in the gaslight that every vestige of colour had been driven from his face.
    â€œWho are you, then? What do you want?” he asked in a quavering voice.
    â€œYou will excuse me,” said Holmes blandly, “but I could not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I think that I could be of assistance to you.”
    â€œYou? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?”
    â€œMy name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.”
    â€œBut you can know nothing of this?”
    â€œExcuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs Oakshott, of Brixton Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr Windigate, of the ‘Alpha’, and by him to his club, of which Mr Henry Baker is a member.”
    â€œOh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet,” cried the little fellow, with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. “I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter.”
    Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. “In that case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this wind-swept market-place,” said he. “But pray tell me, before we go further, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting.”
    The man hesitated for an instant. “My name is John Robinson,” he answered, with a sidelong glance.
    â€œNo, no; the real name,” said Holmes sweetly. “It is always awkward doing business with an alias .”
    A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. “Well, then,” said he, “my real name is James Ryder.”
    â€œPrecisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you everything which you would wish to know.”
    The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during our drive, but the high, thin breathings of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous tension within him.
    â€œHere we are!” said Holmes cheerily, as we filed into the room. “The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Mr Ryder. Pray take the basket chair. I will just put on my slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! You want to know what became of those geese?”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œOr rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine, in which you were interested—white, with a black bar across the tail.”
    Ryder quivered with emotion. “Oh, sir,” he cried, “can you tell me where it went to?”
    â€œIt came here.”
    â€œHere?”
    â€œYes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don’t wonder that you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was dead—the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I have it here in my museum.”
    Our visitor staggered to his feet, and clutched the mantelpiece with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box, and held up the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.
    â€œThe game’s up, Ryder,” said Holmes quietly. “Hold up, man, or you’ll be into the fire. Give him an arm back into his chair, Watson. He’s not got blood enough to go in for felony with impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!”
    For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy brought a