Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)

“ ‘Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never tell them apart.’

“Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as fast as my feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they had gone. You heard him yourselves tonight. Well, he has always answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now – and now I am myself a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which I sold my character. God help me! God help me!” He burst into convulsive sobbing, with his face closed with his hands.

There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes’s fingertips upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and opened the door.

“Get out!” said he.

“What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you[78]!”

“No more words. Get out!”

And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls from the street.

“After all, Watson,” said Holmes, taking his pipe, “I am not engaged by the police to supply their inaccuracies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a crime, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the main feature.”

Exercises

Comprehension

1. Answer the questions and prove your opinion with the extracts from the text.

1) When do you think Sherlock Holmes realized that Ryder was the criminal he was searching for?

2) Was the thief a professional? Was it the weakness of nature or the evil intentions that made him commit the crime?

3) Was there anything ingenious about Ryder’s plan with the goose? Was it elaborated or improvised? Why didn’t it work properly?

4) Does Ryder really feel regret about his action or is he just scared?

5) Why did Sherlock Holmes let him go? Was it a wise decision? Is Ryder likely to continue his criminal deeds?

6) Is the end of the story typical of a detective novel? Is justice re-established? Are Holmes’s actions legally right? What kind of justice is important for him?

7) What changes does Arthur Conan Doyle introduce into the genre of detective novel by choosing such a character as Sherlock Holmes?

Vocabulary

2. Note the metaphorical meaning of the word “shrimp”. What other animal definitions of people do you know? Which of them coincide with the Russian language and which are specific for English?

• crab

• lamb

• sheep

• swan

• fox

• guinea pig

3. Continue the list with your own examples.

4. Study the expressions below. Find their meanings in the second column. Do you know the Russian equivalents for them?

Speaking

5. Try to explain why meanings like these exist. What features of different animals do they reflect?

Grammar

6. Study the use of indirect speech in the phrase given. Reconstruct the dialog.

My sister asked me what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel.

7. Do the opposite procedure by rewriting the sentences and changing the direct speech into indirect.

1) “Get back into your chair!” said Holmes strictly. “It is very well to cringe and crawl now, but you haven’t thought of this poor Horner in the court for a crime of which he knew nothing.”

2) “The game’s up, Ryder,” said Holmes quietly. “Hold up, man, or you’ll be into the fire!”

3) ‘Well,” said I, “you said you’d give me one for Christmas, and I was feeling which was the fattest.”