The Adventures of Blue carbuncles is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Word-meanings, summary and question-answers have been given to help the students understand the lesson well.
Word Meanings
knot of rough men – a group of who are rude and violent
smash – to break into pieces
knock – to hit beat something
obviously – clearly
deduce – to infer or conclude
self-esteem – self-respect, have a pride opinion of oneself.
recourse – take aid or assistance
prodding – encouraging and persuading to do something
whingeing – complain in an annoying manner
flit – to move quickly and lightly
hoodlums – criminals, hooligans
convulsive – uncontrolled movement of body movement
naive – very simple and innocent in belief, inexperienced and guileless
Summary
‘The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle’ is set during the Christmas period, and commences with Dr Watson visiting his old friend, Holmes, at 221B Baker Street. Watson finds Holmes still wearing his dressing gown, and engrossed in the examination of a battered hat. The hat, along with a fresh goose, had been brought to Holmes by his security guard named Peterson. Peterson had observed a street scuffle in the early hours of Christmas Day, when four men had set upon another. Peterson had gone to the assistance of the individual, and the attackers had fled. The man who Peterson had sought to help had also left the scene; Peterson in uniform would have looked like a police officer, and with a window broken, the man must have thought he was in trouble. The man though had left behind a hat and goose, and Peterson being an honest man, had come to Holmes in the hope that both could be returned to their rightful owner. Holmes had returned the goose to Peterson, so that his wife could cook, as the goose was starting to spoil, and the detective was now building up a picture of the hat’s owner. A card addressed to Mrs Henry Baker had been attached to the bird, and the fact that the initials HB were imprinted on the brim of the hat, suggested that the hat belonged to Mr Henry Baker. Holmes deduces that Henry Baker is an intelligent man, based on the size of the hat, is less well off than he had once been, based on the outdated style of the hat, and is a man of self-respect, based on the attempts to hide the condition of the hat. Watson scoffs at some of these deductions and is hardly convinced at all. It is at this point that Peterson returns to Baker Street. During the preparation of the bird for cooking, Mrs Peterson had discovered a blue diamond in the throat of the goose. This blue diamond is the Blue Carbuncle, a precious stone that is being reported as being stolen from the hotel room of the Countess of Morcar. The theft had reportedly occurred at the Hotel Cosmopolitan, and whilst the police had a suspect, John Horner, in custody, there had been no sign of the Blue Carbuncle. The problem of a lost goose had now turned into a serious crime for Holmes to solve. Holmes places an advert in the evening papers, asking Henry Baker to come to Baker Street to retrieve his lost belongings.
Later in the evening, Henry Baker does make an appearance. It soon becomes obvious that the deductions made about the hat’s owner were correct, but is also obvious that Henry Baker knows nothing about the Blue Carbuncle. Henry Baker is more upset about the loss of the bird than the contents; although Holmes gives Henry Baker a fresh bird to compensate. If Henry Baker knows nothing about the Blue Carbuncle, how did the stone end up in the goose? Holmes and Watson undertake some leg work to trace back the movements of the goose. The first point of call is a local inn, where Henry Baker had taken part in a Christmas club to buy the goose. The pair then discover that the innkeeper had brought the goose from a wholesaler named Breckinridge in Covent Garden; geese supplied to Breckinridge had been supplied by a Mrs Oakshott of Brixton. Holmes and Watson though, are not the only ones tracing the movements of the mysterious goose, and Breckinridge is irate that Holmes is hassling him for information, after someone else had done likewise. At that moment the man who had previously annoyed Breckinridge returns seeking more information; Holmes convinces the man that he has all the answers. The man turns out to be James Ryder, the man newspapers had named as an employee of the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Holmes, Watson and Ryder, return to Baker Street, and Holmes reveals that the Blue Carbuncle has been recovered. Ryder then throws himself on Holmes’ mercy. Ryder had stolen the stone, and had sought to cover his tracks by framing Horner. Ryder then had sought to hide the gem, and had gone to Mrs Oakshott’s farm; Mrs Oakshott being sister to Ryder. His sister had promised him a goose for Christmas, and so Ryder had got the goose to swallow the blue diamond. When Ryder took his bird home though, he realised that he had picked the wrong bird, and had then desperately tried to find the bird which he had fed the Blue Carbuncle to. Ryder is by that time on his knees in front of Holmes, begging for mercy. Previously he had never been in trouble with the police, and now had committed a crime that he would not benefit from. Holmes allows Ryder to leave and explains to Watson that he is not there to do the police’s work for them, and that he believes that Ryder would never do such a thing in future
Textbook Solutions
A. Mark these sentences as true (T) or false (F).
- A young plumber was accused of stealing a jewel. ……………
- The stranger ran away when Peterson approached him. . …………..
- Dr Watson came to see Sherlock after Christmas. ……………
- Peterson found a brilliant red stone inside the goose. ……………
- James Ryder found the stone at his sister’s house. ……………
- The best geese were sold at Baker Street. ……………
- Henry Baker visited Sherlock Holmes because he wanted to
see the remains of the goose that Sherlock had eaten. …………… - The Countess told Ryder to hide the precious stone. ……………
Answers
1. T, 2. T, 3. T, 4. F, 5. F, 6. F, 7. F, 8. F
B. Answer these questions with reference to the context.
- ‘You’re busy,’ I said; ‘perhaps I’m disturbing you.’
a. Who is the speaker?
b. Who is he speaking to?
c. Why does the speaker say so? - ‘But you’re not thinking about what you see.’
a. Who is the speaker here?
b. Who is ‘you’ here ?
c. What is the listener able to see but unable to think about? - ‘I did not care to spend more money in a hopeless attempt at recovering them.’
a. Who is the speaker here?
b. Who is he talking to?
c. Which ‘hopeless attempt’ is he talking about?
Answers
- a. Dr Watson is the speaker.
b. He is speaking to Sherlock Holmes.
c. He says so because he sees Sherlock examining a hat very carefully. - a. Sherlock Holmes is the speaker here.
b. Dr Watson is ‘you’ here.
c. He is able to see the hat but unable to note the features that can tell him whom the hat
belongs to. - a. Mr Henry Baker is the speaker here.
b. He is talking to Sherlock Holmes.
c. He is talking about the attempt to recover his hat and the goose
C. Answer these questions.
- When did Watson visit Sherlock Holmes?
- What was Mr Holmes doing when Watson went to see him?
- What all did Sherlock discover about the owner of the hat? How did he arrive at his conclusions?
- Why did Sherlock Holmes suspect that the hat was involved in a crime? Explain.
- Describe the incident in which the tall man lost both his hat and his goose.
- Why was Peterson not able to return the hat and the goose to the rightful owner?
- Why did Holmes give Peterson the goose?
- What did Sherlock Holmes deduce about the man’s hair?
- What did Sherlock do to find Henry Baker?
- Analyse the character of Sherlock Holmes. Give details from the story to support your answer.
- Do you think Peterson was too naïve? Comment.
Answers
- Watson visited Sherlock two days after Christmas.
- Holmes was sitting with his pipe on the coffee table and a pile of newspapers next to him. Beside the sofa was a wooden chair with a very dirty old hat hanging on the back. His magnifying glass was lying nearby, and Holmes had been studying the hat.
- According to Sherlock the owner was an intelligent man with a large head. He had been fairly rich within the three years but he had lost a lot of recently. His hat was expensive and three years old. The man could afford to buy an expensive hat three years ago, but he hadn’t bought a new one since then. Therefore, Holmes guessed he had less money now than when he bought the hat. The owner of the hat was careful and liked to plan things, but less now than in the past. The loop on the hat told Holmes so. Now that the loop was missing and he hadn’t replaced showed that he wasn’t careful anymore. He also had some self-esteem since he tried to hide the hats stains with ink. He was middle-aged, had curly hair and used hair cream. And he’d had his hair cut within the last few days. The lining of the hat told Holmes that the hat had small hairs cut by the hairdresser’s scissors. The hairs were grey and there was the smell of hair cream. It had fine dust on it which showed that he stayed at home most of the time. And finally, the marks on the inside showed that the owner sweated a lot, so he couldn’t be very fit. The candle stains on the hat pointed to the fact that he didn’t have gas lighting in his house.
- When Sherlock learnt that the goose had the blue carbuncle in it, he realised the fact the man with the hat also had the goose. That pointed to the fact that the goose and the hat were related and the person with the initials H. B. might be related to the stolen carbuncle in some way.
- Peterson, was walking home when he saw a tallish man carrying a white goose over his shoulder. When they reached the end of the street, an argument started between the tall man and a little knot of rough men. One of them knocked the man’s hat off. He raised his stick to defend himself and accidentally smashed the shop window behind him. Peterson came forward to protect the stranger from his attackers. However, the man was obviously worried about breaking the window. He thought Peterson was a policeman as he was wearing his uniform, so he dropped the goose and ran off down a side street. The roughs also ran away and the tall man lost both his goose and his hat.
- There was a small card tied to the bird’s left leg with, ‘For Mrs Henry Baker,’ written on it. The initials ‘H. B.’ could be seen inside the hat. But as there were thousands of Bakers, and hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city, it was impossible to find the rightful owner of the hat and the goose.
- He gave him the goose because it showed signs that it should be eaten immediately.
- He deduced that the man had curly hair that had been cut recently. Also, the man had used hair cream.
- Sherlock posted an advertisement in the evening newspapers saying – ‘Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black hat. Mr henry baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221B, baker Street’.
- Sherlock Holmes was a very famous detective. He observed and analysed proofs and clues very attentively. He was intelligent clever to find the culprits from the clues left behind them. He started with confidence that he would, surely, find the criminal. In this story, He had the hat the only clue. He deducted so many information from that hat. He posted an advertisement and successfully got the rightful owner of the hat and the goose.
- In my opinion, Peterson was very sincere person and sincerity is part of naivety. The story also mentions that he was a sincere guard. He rushed to save the stranger from the gang of the roughs. He very naively comes and tells about the ‘Blue Carbuncle’ though he could have kept it and no one would know about it. So, he was really a naive.
Vocabulary
A. Now, use the highlighted words given above to complete these sentences.
- When the ducks saw the other birds, they began to loudly.
- The butterfly came and sat on the ………………………… of my hand.
- The entire ………………………… of the play has gone for a picnic.
- Rice and dal is the ………………………… diet of many Indians.
- He visited his father’s ………………………… quite often as he missed him a lot.
- We are all looking forward to our ………………………… to the Andaman’s.
Answers
1. quack 2. palm 3. cast 4. staple 5. grave 6. trip
B. Match the words in Column A with their antonyms in Column B.
Answers
1. h 2. f 3. a 4. g 5. b 6. c 7. e 8. d
Grammar
A. Complete these sentences with appropriate noun clauses.
- I can see …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- She said …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- I understand …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- She told me …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- …………………………………………………………………………………………… makes me happy.
- You can drink …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- Do you know …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- I am sure …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- I know …………………………………………………………………………………………….
- She does not know …………………………………………………………………………………………….
Answers
1. that she is hurt
3. what you want
4. what she writes
7. who wrote this book?
9. what you said
2. that she was ready
4. what her mother said
6. whatever you like
8. that you will come
10. what to do
B. Combine these sentences together to make one sentence each. Put the adjective clause after the noun that it describes. You may use who or that to put the clauses together.
- We sent a gift to my aunt. She lives in Pune.
- The man works as a doctor. He lives in the house next to mine.
- That’s the article. She is writing it.
- We bought some books. Our cousin told us they were on sale.
- The car runs very fast. I got it repaired last week.
- I lived in an apartment. It did not have a lift.
- You should see a vet. He can help your dog better.
- The movie was brilliant. It was directed by Castro.
- We saw the boy. He has long hair.
- My mother bought me a dress. It is beautiful.
Answers
- We sent a gift to my aunt who lives in Pune.
- The man who works as a doctor lives in the house next to mine.
- That’s the article that she is writing.
- We bought some books that our cousin told us were on sale.
- The car that I got repaired last week runs very fast.
- I lived in an apartment that did not have a lift.
- You should see a vet who can help your dog better.
- The movie that was directed by Castro was brilliant.
- We saw the boy who has long hair.
- My mother bought me a dress that is beautiful.
C. Combine these sentences to form one sentence each using an adverb clause.
- I waited for my sister. I waited till she arrived.
- He hid behind the bushes. The police could not find him.
- I saw her. She had walked into the room.
- He was not there. I left a message with his secretary.
- We wish to do well. We work hard.
- She was very tired. She could barely walk.
- Don’t play with that knife. You could hurt yourself.
- He started late. He finished in time.
- You must tell me everything. Otherwise, I will not be able to help you.
- We watched the sparrows. They laid their eggs in this nest.
Answers
- I waited for my sister till she arrived.
- He hid behind the bushes where the police could not find him.
- I saw her when she walked into the room.
- As he was not there, I left a message with his secretary.
- As we wish to do well, we work hard.
- She was so tired that she could barely walk.
- Don’t play with that knife as you could hurt yourself.
- Though he started late, he finished in time.
- You must tell me everything so that I can help you.
- We watched the sparrows who laid their eggs in this nest.