Mr. Lestrade works at Scotland Yard, and he often comes to sit with us in the evenings. Mr. Holmes especially welcomes his arrival, because he can always tell Holmes what is going on at the police headquarters, and Holmes will listen carefully to the officer's handling of the case.

Details, and at the same time, he sometimes provides some opinions of his own to the other party. After all, he has rich experience and profound knowledge.

One evening, after Holmes and Lestrade finished chatting about the weather and newspapers, Lestrade stopped talking and just kept smoking his cigar. Holmes asked eagerly: "Is there something unusual at hand again?"

case?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing special."

"Then talk to me!"

Lestrade smiled helplessly.

"Okay, actually I do have something on my mind, but this thing is really ridiculous. It's not a big deal, but it's very strange. So I don't want to trouble you, Mr. Holmes. I know all the unusual things.

All of them can arouse your interest. But I think this matter has more to do with Dr. Watson, at least compared to us."

"Sickness?" I asked.

"Well, I think it's madness, and it's a very strange kind of madness. People living today hate Napoleon so much that they would break him into pieces when they hear his name. Can you imagine?"

"It has nothing to do with me," said Holmes, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, I said this matter has nothing to do with us. However, he broke into someone else's house and broke the Napoleon statue. In this way, he will be sent to the doctor instead of the police station."

Holmes got up.

"It's quite interesting. It looks a bit like a robbery. Please tell me more about it!"

Lestrade was afraid that he might miss something, so he took out the work diary he carried with him and looked at it carefully.

He said: This happened in Morse Hudson's store. He has a branch on Kennington Street that sells statues and pictures. Four days ago, someone came to report the incident and said that shortly after the clerk left the counter, he heard something hard.

There was a knocking sound, so he immediately ran back to the counter and found that the statue of Napoleon placed together with other works of art had been smashed into pieces. He quickly asked the person who just passed by, but he did not find this person.

It's just that I saw a man running into the shop, and I didn't know who the gangster was. This incident seemed like a meaningless hooliganism, and the plaster statue was worth a few shillings at most. Although the patrol police was reported, the whole thing

These are all trivial matters and not worthy of special investigation.

But the second case that happened last night was more serious and special.

Two to three hundred meters away from the shop where the crime occurred in the morning, there lived a very famous doctor named Barnico. Many people on the south bank of the Thames would go to him when they were sick. His clinic and residence were in Kenning.

Don Street, but he also has a branch clinic located 3.2 kilometers away on Lower Brexton Street. The doctor is also a Napoleon fan, and his home is full of the French emperor's relics, paintings and books. Former

Soon he bought two half-length replicas of Napoleon's statues from the crime shop. It is said that this head is very famous and is a masterpiece of the famous French sculptor Diwan. The doctor couldn't put it down and put one in the hall of his residence and the other in the hall of his residence.

It was placed under the mantelpiece of the branch clinic 3.2 kilometers away, so that he could appreciate Napoleon's heroic figure no matter where he was. As a result, when Dr. Barnico went downstairs this morning, he was shocked. He found that the hall of his house

The statue of Napoleon in the house was missing. Someone must have entered his room at night, but except for the statue, everything else was intact, but the statue had been smashed into pieces in the garden outside the door.

"Very interesting indeed." Holmes rubbed his hands back and forth.

"I thought you would be interested, but before I finished speaking, Dr. Barnico returned to the clinic at noon. When he arrived, he found that the window of the clinic had been opened. He was very surprised. There was another Napoleon in the room.

The statue has been smashed into pieces, even the base has not been spared. We can't find any criminals in either location, or any clues left by the madman. This is what happened, Mr. Holmes."

Holmes said: "It is indeed quite absurd and strange, but there is a question, that is, whether the statue broken in the Hudson's store and the two sculptures in Dr. Barnico's home and clinic were copied from the same model.

?”

"Yes, it's exactly the same model."

"Then we come to the conclusion that this person did not smash the bust simply because he hated Napoleon. There are thousands of statues of this emperor in London. This person who opposes the worship of Napoleon, no matter who he is,

, it is impossible to start with only these three statues. Therefore, your idea that he is a simple opponent of Napoleon is not valid."

Lestrade said: "Actually, I thought so too, but in that area of ​​London, Morse Hudson was the only supplier of statues, and these three statues were placed in his shop for a long time.

Time. So although there are thousands of statues in London, these three statues are the only ones in this area. When perpetrators commit crimes in this area, of course they will first choose these three statues. Dr. Watson, what do you think?

look?"

I said: "The manifestations of paranoia are all kinds of strange and unlimited. What contemporary French psychologists call 'paranoid ideation' is this kind of situation. In fact, it is completely normal in other aspects, but it only manifests itself in one aspect.

Must be stubborn. When a person's family inherits from him or psychological defects caused by the war at that time, or a person reads too much about Napoleon's deeds and is too impressed, it can form a 'paranoid idea', so he will be affected by the idea.

I have fantasies and become angry."

"Dear Watson, it cannot be explained this way." Holmes shook his head and said, "because no matter what influence the 'paranoid idea' has, it will not enable them to find the place where these statues are distributed."

"Then how do you explain it?"

"I don't need to explain, I just noticed that this criminal's weird behavior followed a certain method. For example, in Dr. Barnico's clinic, he didn't have to worry about being discovered, so he smashed the statue in place, and in Dr. Barnico's clinic, he didn't have to worry about being discovered.

In the doctor's house, any noise would wake up the doctor and his family, so he took the statue to the yard and broke it into pieces. In fact, it seemed like an insignificant thing, but experience tells me that I shouldn't give up any small details easily. Watson,

Do you remember how that annoying Abagnale thing got my attention? It was just seeing how deep celery would sink in butter on a hot day. So, Lestrade, I

I will not laugh at this matter of three broken busts, and I will be deeply grateful to you if you can tell me the new development of this continuous surprising incident."

My friend soon learned the follow-up news of this incident, which was worse and more tragic than he imagined. Early the next morning, I was getting dressed in the bedroom, and at the same time I heard a knock on the door, Holmes had already come over.

, read loudly to me the telegram in his hand:

131 Peter Street, Kensington, please come immediately.

Lestrade

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know, anything could happen. I guess it's about the bust. If it's true, then this criminal has already started operating in other parts of London. I've called the carriage and there's coffee on the table, Watson.

Move faster."

Peter Street is a dead lane near the busiest part of London. We arrived here half an hour later. The house at No. 131 was very practical, one of a row of neat and beautiful houses. The carriage had not yet arrived.

, we saw that the fence in front of the house was crowded with curious people, and it took us a long time to squeeze through the crowd. Holmes exclaimed: "Oh my God, it seems to be a murder case. Now London's

The newsboy didn't have to worry about running out of business. Look, the deceased's shoulders were curled up and his neck was stretched out. It was obviously the result of violence. Watson, do you know what happened? The other steps were dry, but the steps above were washed.

?Well, there are quite a few footprints! Come on, Lestrade is at the front window, and we will know everything soon."

The police officer looked very serious when he greeted us, and we followed him to a living room, where an elderly man in a flannel dressing gown and slovenly attire was pacing back and forth in the room. Passing by Les

Ted introduced us that he was Mr. Horace Harker of the Central Newspaper Syndicate and the owner of this house.

Lestrade said: "Mr. Holmes, this time it's about Napoleon's bust. You seemed to be very interested in this matter last night, so I sent you a telegram. Obviously the development of the matter has become much more serious. You

I'm glad to be here."

"To what extent did the incident escalate?"

"It's already murder. Mr. Harker, please tell these two gentlemen what happened in detail."

Mr. Huck said: "This is an unusual thing. In fact, my job is to collect other people's news. I didn't expect that a real news happened to me now. I can't write a word now."

I feel uneasy and a little confused. If I were here as a reporter, then I would first have to interview myself and write a two-column report in the newspaper. In fact, due to work reasons, I have worked for many people.

People have made different reports, but there is really nothing I can do about what happened today. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I have long heard of your name, and I hope you can explain this strange thing to me."

Holmes sat down and listened quietly to the other party's story...

The bust of Napoleon seemed to be the cause of the incident. About 4 months ago, I bought this statue in the second store next to Highland Street Station. It was a store owned by Harding Brothers. The price was very cheap. Since then, I have been buying it.

The statue is placed in this room. Due to work reasons, I usually write at night, often until early in the morning, and it was the same today. But at about 3 o'clock in the night, I was in the study room upstairs.

There was a sound coming from below, but when I listened carefully, the sound stopped. I thought it was coming from outside, so I didn't pay attention. Five minutes later, a very miserable roar suddenly came from Mr. Holmes.

, that sound was really terrifying, it is still lingering in my ears, and I will never forget it as long as I live. I was completely stunned at the time, and it took me about a minute or two to react, and I hurriedly walked downstairs.

Up and down, when I walked into the room, I saw that the window was open, and the bust on the fireplace was gone. It was just a plaster statue, worthless at all. I really couldn't understand why the robber would do this to me.

Interesting in this kind of thing.

No matter who it is, it only takes one big step from this window to reach the front steps. You can definitely see that this robber obviously did the same thing, so he quickly opened the door and walked out in the dark.

I almost tripped over a dead man, whose body was lying on the ground. I quickly came back to get the light, and then I saw the poor dead man lying on the ground, with a big hole in his neck and blood all around. He looked real

It was so scary. His face was in the air, his knees were bent, and his mouth was wide open. God, I thought I would dream about him again, so I quickly blew the whistle, and then I didn’t know anything else. I guess I

I fainted, and when I woke up, the policeman was standing next to me, and I was already in the hall.

Holmes asked: "Do you know any of the victims?"

Lestrade said: "We couldn't find anything to prove his identity. The body has been taken to the funeral parlor. Of course, no useful clues were found from the body. His face was very tanned and he was tall and strong.

, he was about 30 years old, and he was dressed very poorly, but he didn't look like a worker. In a pool of blood beside him, there was an abandoned folding knife with a horn handle. We can't judge this knife now.

Is it a relic of the deceased or a murder weapon? There is nothing on the deceased that can prove his identity. In his pocket there is a rope, an apple, a map of London, and a photo, oh, the photo is here."

The person in the photo has a face that looks very much like a baboon, with thick eyebrows, a protruding muzzle and nose, and is very special. His expression is very witty, and the photo was obviously taken quickly with a small camera.

"What's become of that bust now?" asked Holmes, looking carefully at the photograph.

"The statue was found in the garden of an empty house on Camden Street. It had been beaten to pieces. I just got the news before you came. Now I want to go over and have a look. Do you want to go with me?"

"Of course, I want to take a look." Holmes checked the carpet and window and said, "This man is very flexible, or his legs are very long. It is actually very easy to jump out of the window, but the ground under the window is very low.

It means that you need to be very flexible to jump up and open the window. Mr. Hacker, now do you want to go with us to see the fragments of the bust?"

The newsman sat at his desk in a depressed mood.

He said: "It is estimated that the first batch of evening newspapers has been published now, and I believe it has been written about it. However, I still have to write about it. This is my fate! Do you remember the collapse of the Doncaster Stand?
To be continued...