The Return of Sherlock Holmes

"Well, I think we got all the information we could expect from Morse Hudson," said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop. "We have this Beppo who has appeared twice now, both in Kennington and in Kensington. That fact alone was worth a ten-mile drive. Now, Watson, let us go to Gelder & Co., of Stepney, where the busts were made. I shall be surprised if we don't get some help there."

On the way to Stepney were went past fashionable London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London, and, finally, maritime London. The part of the city by the river was home to a hundred thousand people, where the cheap rented houses sweat and reek with the outcasts of Europe. Here, in a broad street, we found the sculpture works which we were looking for. It had once been the home of wealthy City merchants, now, outside was a large yard full of monumental stonework.

Inside was a large room in which fifty people were at work. The manager, a big blond German, welcomed us civilly and gave a clear answer to all Holmes' questions. A check in his books showed that they had made hundreds of casts from a marble copy of a head of Napoleon. The three which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year ago had been half of a batch of six. The other half of the batch had been sent to Harding Brothers, of Kensington.

Vocabulary:

Emerge: Come out of
Literary: To do with books
Maritime: About ships and sailing
Reek: Smell very strongly
Outcasts: People who are not wanted anywhere
Civilly: Politely
Cast: Get the shape by putting something over it which dries later
Batch: Group