English essays -- 20th century; Russia; Russia -- Fiction; Russia -- Social life and customs; Short stories, English
Now it appeared that the stationmaster had arranged with one of the
merchants to give him a duplicate receipt for an amount of corn
worth an immense sum. He made out a false duplicate for this immense
sum. It was further arranged that the merchant should deliver an
infinitesimal quantity of corn, worth a few shillings, and that the
corn storing-house should be set on fire and burnt. The stationmaster
was to receive a handsome commission. But, as it was impossible to
tamper with the books, owing to the number of officials employed,
in which the amounts received were entered and kept at the station,
it was likewise settled to burn the station and thus destroy the
compromising documents it contained, and render comparison between
the false duplicate received by the merchant and the original receipt
entered in the station books impossible. It was further settled to do
the burning by means of bombs and to attribute the whole affair to the
revolutionaries. The plot, however, had been discovered by the clerk in
the Prince’s office who was a friend of a new assistant stationmaster,
and he had brought the bombs to the house and had told the whole story
to the young Prince, who had immediately communicated with the Police
Captain of the district in the town of O----. As he finished his story
the young Prince added: “It shows what idiots our local police are,
because they suspected this very clerk of being a revolutionary.”
Holmes’ face remained impassive during the recital of this story, but
I could not help feeling that my friend was somewhat anxious. “It was
quite a problem in your line Mr. Holmes,” said the Princess, “but I
feel you have done enough for us in finding our saucepans, only I do
wish we could find the scoring book.” “I can’t remember,” said the
young Prince, “whether it was yesterday or the day before yesterday
morning that the book was in my room. I remember tearing a leaf out of
it, having no other paper handy, to write a receipt for the clerk who
brought me some money from the Kontora. But there was no money in it,
because I found the money I won last night, and the silver links also,
in a drawer. So the book wasn’t stolen.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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