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spent some time looking at it and at the wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and pulled it.

      “It won’t ring[22],” said he. “It is not connected to anything. This is very interesting. You can see now that it is fastened above a little opening for the ventilator.”

      “How very strange! I never noticed that before.”

      “Very strange!” answered Holmes, pulling at the rope. “There are one or two very unusual things about this room. For example, the ventilator opens into another room, when it might have opened on the outside![23]”

      “That is also quite modern,” said the lady.

      “Was it done about the same time as the bell-rope?” asked Holmes.

      “Yes, there were several little changes done at that time.”

      “They seem to be very interesting – bells that do not ring and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now continue our investigation in the next room.”

      Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s room was larger than that of his stepdaughter. A camp-bed, a small shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an armchair beside the bed, a chair against the wall, a round table, and a large safe were the principal things in the room. Holmes walked slowly round and examined all of them with interest.

      “What’s in here?” he asked, pointing to the safe.

      “My stepfather’s business papers.”

      “Oh! you have seen inside, then?”

      “Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers.”

      “There isn’t a cat in it, for example?”

      “No. What a strange idea!”

      “Well, look at this!” He took up a small saucer of milk which stood on the top of it.

      “No; we don’t keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon.”

      “Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is a big cat, and yet a saucer of milk will not satisfy its wants. There is one thing which I should like to see for myself.” He bent over the chair and examined it with the greatest attention.

      “Thank you. That is quite clear,” said he, putting his lens in his pocket. “Hello! Here is something interesting!”

      He pointed to a small dog lash that hung on one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was tied into a loop.

      “What do you think of that, Watson?”

      “It’s a common lash. But I don’t know why it is tied.”

      “That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, it’s a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime[24] it is the worst of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your permission we shall go outside.”

      I had never seen my friend’s face so gloomy.

      Exercises

      1. Answer the questions:

      1. Who met Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the road leading to Stoke Moran?

      2. What did the house look like?

      3. What did Sherlock Holmes and Miss Stoner think about the repairs in the house?

      4. Why did Sherlock Holmes examine the window of Miss Stoner’s room? What did he find?

      5. What did Miss Stoner’s room look like?

      6. What did Sherlock Holmes find out about the bell and the ventilator in the room?

      7. What was Dr. Roylott’s room like?

      8. What seemed unusual to Sherlock Holmes in Dr. Roylott’s room?

      9. What did Sherlock Holmes say after he examined Dr. Roylott’s room?

      Think and say

      1. Why was Miss Stoner frightened when she learned of Dr. Roylott’s visit to Sherlock Holmes?

      2. What does the look of the house and the rooms tell you about the people who lived in Stoke Moran?

      2. Find the following words and phrases in the text and reproduce situations from the text with them. Give Russian equivalents.

      1. an excuse to do smth

      2. to throw light on / upon smth

      3. crime

      to commit a crime

      3. Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences so as to use the phrases above and from the previous parts.

      1. The French window led to a verandah.

      2. Dr. Roylott started repairs to explain why his stepdaughter should move to another room.

      3. The death certificate said that it was a heart attack that caused the death but the family didn’t believe it and asked the detective to look into it.

      4. His mother’s illness was only something he mentioned to leave the party early. It was clear from the beginning he didn’t like it there.

      5. A detective has sometimes to become the friend of people to get information he needs.

      6. When Bob was on the way to the birthday party, he had a sudden idea that he didn’t have a birthday present.

      7. Many years ago, when he was a young man, Dan’s uncle broke the law, but his family can’t forgive him even now.

      4. Complete the sentences with the words and phrases above and from the previous parts in the correct form.

      1. A few strange deaths… in the town before the police started investigation.

      2. Sherlock Holmes was able… even the darkest and tragic cases.

      3. Alice’s mother always used the girl’s poor health as… not to let the girl go out with her friends.

      4. Tom didn’t want… his cousin to a discotheque because he didn’t… dancing. He could even say he hated dancing.

      5. Has it ever… to you that your mum needs your help in housework?

      6. Most people think it is not polite… other people without a telephone call before it.

      7. The book… unknown facts of the great scientist’s life.

      8. If you are interested in… books, go over to those shelves. We have all kinds of books – classical detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, hard-boiled detective novels by Raymond Chandler and others, modern police novels.

      VI

      “It is very important, Miss Stoner,” said he, as we have already left the house and were standing in the park, “that you should absolutely follow my advice in every detail.”

      “I shall certainly do so. I am in your hands.”

      “In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your room.”

      Both Miss Stoner and I looked at him in surprise.

      “Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that there is a hotel in the village over there?”

      “Yes, the Crown.”

      “Very good. Your windows can be seen from there?”

      “Certainly.”

      “You must go to your room, saying you have a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when he goes to his room, you must open your window, and

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