On this particular evening, Lestrade had spoken of the weatherand the newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfullyat his cigar. Holmes looked keenly at him.
“Anything remarkable on hand?” he asked.
“Oh, no, Mr. Holmes—nothing very particular.”
“Then tell me about it.”
Lestrade laughed.
“Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there ISsomething on my mind. And yet it is such an absurd business, thatI hesitated to bother you about it. On the other hand, although itis trivial, it is undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have a tastefor all that is out of the common. But, in my opinion, it comesmore in Dr. Watson’s line than ours.”
“Disease?” said I.
“Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness, too. You wouldn’tthink there was anyone living at this time of day who had such ahatred of Napoleon the First that he would break any image ofhim that he could see.”
Holmes sank back in his chair.
“That’s no business of mine,” said he.
“Exactly. That’s what I said. But then, when the man commitsburglary in order to break images which are not his own, thatbrings it away from the doctor and on to the policeman.”
Holmes sat up again.
“Burglary! This is more interesting. Let me hear the details.”
Lestrade took out his official notebook and refreshed hismemory from its pages.
“The first case reported was four days ago,” said he. “It wasat the shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale ofpictures and statues in the Kennington Road. The assistant hadleft the front shop for an instant, when he heard a crash, andhurrying in he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood withseveral other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered intofragments. He rushed out into the road, but, although severalpassers-by declared that they had noticed a man run out of theshop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any meansof identifying the rascal. It seemed to be one of those senselessacts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it wasreported to the constable on the beat as such. The plaster cast wasnot worth more than a few shillings, and the whole affair appearedto be too childish for any particular investigation.
“The second case, however, was more serious, and also moresingular. It occurred only last night.
982 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
“In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of MorseHudson’s shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner,named Dr. Barnicot, who has one of the largest practices upon thesouth side of the Thames. His residence and principal consultingroomis at Kennington Road, but he has a branch surgery anddispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away. This Dr.
Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his house isfull of books, pictures, and relics of the French Emperor. Somelittle time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicateplaster casts of the famous head of Napoleon by the Frenchsculptor, Devine. One of these he placed in his hall in the houseat Kennington Road, and the other on the mantelpiece of thesurgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr. Barnicot came downthis morning he was astonished to find that his house had beenburgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save theplaster head from the hall. It had been carried out and had beendashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its splinteredfragments were discovered.”
Holmes rubbed his hands.
“This is certainly very novel,” said he.
“I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the endyet. Dr. Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o’clock, and youcan imagine his amazement when, on arriving there, he found thatthe window had been opened in the night and that the brokenpieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room. It hadbeen smashed to atoms where it stood. In neither case were thereany signs which could give us a clue as to the criminal or lunaticwho had done the mischief. Now, Mr. Holmes, you have got thefacts.”
“They are singular, not to say grotesque,” said Holmes. “May Iask whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot’s rooms werethe exact duplicates of the one which was destroyed in MorseHudson’s shop?”
“They were taken from the same mould.”
“Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man whobreaks them is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon.
Considering how many hundreds of statues of the greatEmperor must exist in London, it is too much to suppose such acoincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast should chance tobegin upon three specimens of the same bust.”
“Well, I thought as you do,” said Lestrade. “On the otherhand, this Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part ofLondon, and these three were the only ones which had been in hisshop for years. So, although, as you say, there are many hundredsof statues in London, it is very probable that these three were theThe Return of Sherlock Holmes 983
only ones in that district. Therefore, a local fanatic would beginwith them. What do you think, Dr. Watson?”
“There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,” Ianswered. “There is the condition which the modern Frenchpsychologists have called the ‘IDEE FIXE,’ which may be triflingin character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every otherway. A man who had read deeply about Napoleon, or who hadpossibly received some hereditary family injury through the greatwar, might conceivably form such an IDEE FIXE and under itsinfluence be capable of any fantastic outrage.”
“That won’t do, my dear Watson,” said Holmes, shaking his head,“for no amount of IDEE FIXE would enable your interestingmonomaniac to find out where these busts were situated.”
“Well, how do you explain it?”