20 лучших повестей на английском / 20 Best Short Novels

‘I wonder what that fellow is looking for?’ I asked, pointing to a stalwart, plainly-dressed individual who was walking slowly down the other side of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers. He had a large blue envelope in his hand, and was evidently the bearer of a message.

‘You mean the retired sergeant of Marines,’ said Sherlock Holmes.

‘Brag and bounce!’ thought I to myself. ‘He knows that I cannot verify his guess.’

The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across the roadway. We heard a loud knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps ascending the stairs.

‘For Mr. Sherlock Holmes,’ he said, stepping into the room and handing my friend the letter.

Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit out of him. He little thought of this when he made that random shot. ‘May I ask, my lad,’ I said, in the blandest voice, ‘what your trade may be?’

‘Commissionaire, sir,’ he said, gruffly. ‘Uniform away for repairs.’

‘And you were?’ I asked, with a slightly malicious glance at my companion.

‘A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry, sir. No answer? Right, sir.’

He clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute, and was gone.

Chapter III The Lauriston Gardens mystery

I confess that I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of the practical nature of my companion’s theories. My respect for his power of analysis increased wondrously. There still remained some lurking suspicion in my mind, however, that the whole thing was a prearranged episode, intended to dazzle me, though what earthly object he could have in taking me in was past my comprehension. When I looked at him, he had finished reading the note, and his eyes had assumed the vacant, lack-lustre expression which showed mental abstraction.

‘How in the world did you deduce that?’ I asked.

‘Deduce what?’ said he, petulantly.

‘Why, that he was a retired sergeant of Marines.’

‘I have no time for trifles,’ he answered, brusquely; then with a smile, ‘Excuse my rudeness. You broke the thread of my thoughts; but perhaps it is as well. So you actually were not able to see that that man was a sergeant of Marines?’

‘No, indeed.’

‘It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact. Even across the street I could see a great blue anchor tattooed on the back of the fellow’s hand. That smacked of the sea. He had a military carriage, however, and regulation side whiskers. There we have the marine. He was a man with some amount of self-importance and a certain air of command. You must have observed the way in which he held his head and swung his cane. A steady, respectable, middle-aged man, too, on the face of him – all facts which led me to believe that he had been a sergeant.’

‘Wonderful!’ I ejaculated.

‘Commonplace,’ said Holmes, though I thought from his expression that he was pleased at my evident surprise and admiration. ‘I said just now that there were no criminals. It appears that I am wrong – look at this!’ He threw me over the note which the commissionaire had brought.

‘Why,’ I cried, as I cast my eye over it, ‘this is terrible!’

‘It does seem to be a little out of the common,’ he remarked, calmly. ‘Would you mind reading it to me aloud?’

This is the letter which I read to him, —