"
Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a
spontaneous impulse, we both broke out clapping, as at the
well-wrought crisis of a play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes's
pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master dramatist who
receives the homage of his audience. It was at such moments that
for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed
his human love for admiration and applause. The same singularly
proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain from
popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by
spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend.
"Yes, gentlemen," said he, "it is the most famous pearl now
existing in the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a
connected chain of inductive reasoning, to trace it from the
Prince of Colonna's bedroom at the Dacre Hotel, where it was
lost, to the interior of this, the last of the six busts of Napoleon
which were manufactured by Gelder & Co., of Stepney. You
will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the disappear-
ance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the London
police to recover it.
Pages:
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350