"The Six Napoleons" by Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted)

Part One

Mr Lestrade, a detective from Scotland Yard, often visited my friend Sherlock Holmes and me in the evening. Holmes enjoyed talking to Lestrade because he learned useful facts about Scotland Yard – London's most important police station. Lestrade liked these visits too, because Holmes was a good detective. Holmes always listened carefully if Lestrade had a difficult case. He often helped Lestrade.

On one of these evening visits, Lestrade talked about the weather and other uninteresting things for a long time. Then he stopped talking and sat quietly. Holmes was interested in his silence.

'Have you got a good case for me today?' he asked.

'Oh, nothing important, Mr Holmes,' said the detective.

Holmes laughed. 'Please tell me about it,' he said.

'Well, Mr Holmes, there is something, but it doesn't seem very important. I don't want to trouble you with it. I know you like difficult problems. But I think that this will perhaps interest Dr Watson more than you.'

I was surprised when Lestrade said this. I like helping Sherlock Holmes with his detective work, but 1 am really a doctor, not a detective. So I said, 'What's the matter? Is somebody ill?'

'Yes, I think so. I think that somebody is very ill,' was Lestrade's answer. 'I think that he is completely mad! Someone is stealing cheap busts of Napoleon Bonaparte and breaking them. I think he hates Napoleon. Four days ago, he went into a shop in Kennington Road. The owner's name is Morse Hudson and he sells pictures and other works of art. When the shop assistant was busy, the madman ran in. He picked up a bust of Napoleon, broke it into pieces and then ran away. Nobody saw his face.'

'Why are you so interested in this?' said Holmes.

'Because he's done it again,' replied Lestrade. 'Yesterday he got into the house of a doctor – Dr Barnicott. This doctor is very interested in Napoleon. He lives near Morse Hudson's shop, and he bought two busts there. He kept one bust at home and the other in his office, two miles away. The thief took the bust from his home and broke it against the garden wall. Dr Barnicott found it when he got up in the morning. He then went to his office – at about twelve o'clock. To his surprise, the second bust was broken too. The pieces were all over the room.'

'This is more interesting,' said Holmes. 'Now please tell me, were these three busts exactly the same?'

' Yes, they were.'

'Well,' said Holmes, 'why did the man choose these three busts? I'm sure that there are hundreds of other busts in London. I think the thief was only interested in the busts, not in Napoleon.'

'That's possible,' Lestrade replied, 'but can we be sure? There is no other shop that sells busts in that part of London. Perhaps the madman lives in that area and began with the nearest busts. What do you think, Dr Watson? Can someone hate Napoleon so much?'

'Yes, it's possible,' I said, and I told them some interesting examples from the history of medicine. 'But,' I said, 'how did this madman know where these three busts were?'

'It's very interesting,' said Sherlock Holmes. 'Please tell us, Mr Lestrade, if you learn more.'