“Who are you, then? What do you want?” he asked in a quavering voice.

“You will excuse me,” said Holmes politely, “but I could not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I think that I could be useful to you.”

“You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?”

“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.”

“But you can know nothing of this?”

“Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are triyng 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.”

“Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have needed 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 called a four-wheeler which was passing. “In that case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this wind-swept marketplace,” said he. “But please tell me, before we go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of helping.”

The man hesitated for a moment. “My name is John Robinson,” he answered with a sidelong glance.

“No, no; the real name,” said Holmes sweetly. “It is always awkward doing business with a fictious name.”

A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. “Well then,” said he, “my real name is James Ryder.”

“Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Please step into the cab, and I will 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 edge 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 breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, revealed the nervous tension within him.

1. Comment on the way Holmes leads the investigation and draws the information he needs from different people. How does his tactics reveal itself in the conversation?

“Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?”

“Sold out of geese, I see.”

“If you won’t tell us the bet is off, that is all. But I’m always ready to back my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the bird I ate is country bred.”

“Excuse me, I know everything of it.”

Here are some expressions that may prove useful:

to justify one’s curiosity

to show one is aware of smth

to gain smb by paying him a compliment

to bring up the topic occasionally

2. Find some more examples of Holmes working with different types of people. How does his approach change?

3. Study the construction in italics. Note the meaning of inability to keep from doing something.

“You will excuse me,” said Holmes politely, “but I could not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I think that I could be useful to you.”

4. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English using the phrase from the exercise 3. NB! Some of them don’t fall into the pattern above. Which sentences are these?

1) На последних страницах книги она не могла удержаться от слез.

2) Это же твой День рождения! Я не мог не прийти.

3) Глядя на Парфенон, невозможно не восхититься его безупречной гармоничностью.

4) Я не мог сдержать смех при виде разъяренного лица директора.

5) Нельзя не отметить логичность доводов автора, однако, читая статью, невозможно отделаться от ощущения узости его подхода к проблеме.

6) Такое давление на искусство со стороны власти не может не вызывать протест.

7) Сегодня первый теплый день весны, и я просто не мог не купить мороженое!

5. There are different descriptions of people’s reactions revealed in behavior, gesture or appearance. Find out what emotions are expressed by a certain reaction. Give as many suggestions as you can.

6. Look at the map of London given below. Using the information from the chapter, describe the route our heroes followed during their adventure.