DarqueDante/test2 · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 74
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?"

"It came here."

"Here?"

"Yes, 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.

"The 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 tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring with
frightened eyes at his accuser.

"I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I
could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.
Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case
complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Countess of
Morcar's?"

"It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a crackling
voice.

"I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sudden
wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been for
better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in the means
you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very
pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the plumber,
had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion
would rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made
some small job in my lady's room--you and your confederate
Cusack--and you managed that he should be the man sent for. Then,
when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and
had this unfortunate man arrested. You then--"

Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Think
of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I never went
wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll swear it on a
Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's sake, don't!"

"Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well to
cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor
Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."

"I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the
charge against him will break down."

"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account of
the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the
goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your
only hope of safety."

Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you it
just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been arrested,
it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away with the
stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the police might not
take it into their heads to search me and my room. There was no place
about the hotel where it would be safe. I went out, as if on some
commission, and I made for my sister's house. She had married a man
named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls
for the market. All the way there every man I met seemed to me to be
a policeman or a detective; and, for all that it was a cold night,
the sweat was pouring down my face before I came to the Brixton Road.
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.
Then I went into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it
would be best to do.

"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and has
just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met me, and
fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could get rid
of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to me, for I knew
one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to go right on to
Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. He would
show me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to him in
safety? I thought of the agonies I had gone through in coming from
the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and searched, and there
would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. I was leaning against the
wall at the time and looking at the geese which were waddling about
round my feet, and suddenly an idea came into my head which showed me
how I could beat the best detective that ever lived.

"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the pick

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?"

"It came here."

"Here?"

"Yes, 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.

"The 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 tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring with

frightened eyes at his accuser.

"I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I

could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.

Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case

complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Countess of

Morcar's?"

"It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a crackling

voice.

"I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sudden

wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been for

better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in the means

you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very

pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the plumber,

had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion

would rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made

some small job in my lady's room--you and your confederate

Cusack--and you managed that he should be the man sent for. Then,

when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and

had this unfortunate man arrested. You then--"

Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my

companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Think

of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I never went

wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll swear it on a

Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's sake, don't!"

"Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well to

cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor

Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."

"I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the

charge against him will break down."

"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account of

the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the

goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your

only hope of safety."

Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you it

just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been arrested,

it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away with the

stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the police might not

take it into their heads to search me and my room. There was no place

about the hotel where it would be safe. I went out, as if on some

commission, and I made for my sister's house. She had married a man

named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls

for the market. All the way there every man I met seemed to me to be

a policeman or a detective; and, for all that it was a cold night,

the sweat was pouring down my face before I came to the Brixton Road.

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.

Then I went into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it

would be best to do.

"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and has

just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met me, and

fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could get rid

of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to me, for I knew

one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to go right on to

Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. He would

show me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to him in

safety? I thought of the agonies I had gone through in coming from

the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and searched, and there

would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. I was leaning against the

wall at the time and looking at the geese which were waddling about

round my feet, and suddenly an idea came into my head which showed me

how I could beat the best detective that ever lived.

"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the pick