The Return of Sherlock Holmes

"Certainly. I must just take one look round." Holmes examined the carpet and the window. "The fellow had either very long legs or was a most active man," said he. "With an area beneath, it was no mean feat to reach that window-ledge and open that window. Getting back was comparatively simple. Are you coming with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr. Harker?"

The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.

"I must try and make something of it," said he, "though I have no doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out already with full details. It's like my luck! You remember when the stand fell at Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journal the only one that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to write it. And now I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep."

As we left the room, we heard his pen travelling shrilly over the foolscap.

The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a few hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon this portrayal of the great emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown killer. It lay scattered, in splintered shards, upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them and examined them carefully. I was convinced, from his intent face and his purposeful manner, that at last he had found a clue.

"Well?" asked Lestrade.

Vocabulary:

Feat: Achievement
Disconsolate: Sad and impossible to cheer up
Stand: Here it means where people stand to watch a sporting event
Shaken: Disturbed and upset
Shrill: With a high squeaking noise
Foolscap: A kind of writing paper
Portrayal: A way of showing an image of someone
Frantic: Doing things with speed and desperation
Shards: Sharp broken pieces
Purposeful: Knowing what you want to do