Baker Street Charterers

It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon when Nora returned to Baker Street.

There was no light in the room, and the curtains were drawn firmly. The light was very dim. Mrs. Hudson was sitting alone in the living room, knitting a sweater alone.Seeing that Nora came back in a hurry, she immediately straightened her body and asked with concern, "Oh little Nora, did you bring us good news?"

"Yes." Nora replied with a smile, spreading her hands to reveal the clenched and crumpled two pounds. "The employer paid in advance."

"Oh God!" Mrs. Hudson was very surprised. "Two pounds!"

"I was lucky enough to meet a rich and generous boss who was willing to pay my rent in advance on the premise that I might have to go to work often on my off day in the future." Nora explained, and then handed her a note, "These Is it enough for one month's rent?"

"It's enough, of course it's enough." Hudson stroked her hair affectionately, "I guess you may not have eaten, do you want to try the muffins and black tea I made?"

"I can't wait." Nora rubbed her stomach.

While eating the crispy afternoon tea snacks, Nora glanced around, very curious, "Have Mr. Holmes and Watson gone out?"

"A sheriff came to consult Sherlock, and Sherlock found that Watson was a military doctor, so he took him there." Mrs. Hudson continued knitting, chatting with her warmly, "Sherlock has a weird temper-oh you Don't say I told you, he's either in the lab all day or moldy in the house, but he's still the smartest guy I've ever met."

Although there are some complaints, but the tone is clearly close and loving.

Nora wiped the crumbs from her mouth and nodded while drinking black tea, but Mrs. Hudson suddenly paused, remembering something, "I've already tidied up your room, the one at the bottom on the third floor." She was kind He smiled gently, "You are such a beautiful child, you should buy more things from the girl's house, and find a young and rich gentleman..."

Nora smiled. At the age of 19, she was still an immature child in modern times, but she was already a married girl in London 200 years ago. She couldn't refute Mrs. Hudson's kindness, so she could only vaguely say, "I I understand...but there is no rush, I don't want to marry an impetuous young man."

The slightly coquettish words won the landlady a tolerant smile, and the two were chatting between Wangnian when the door was suddenly opened, and air-conditioning came in with a high and clear voice, "—in your opinion, it may be Ridiculous, but actually they are so useful that I earn my cheese and bread from them."

"Then how do you live on it?" Watson said slightly teasingly.

"I have my own profession," said the voice of Dongdong going up the stairs, "I think I am the only one in the whole world who does my profession—"

The next words stopped when he saw two ladies looking towards him in the living room. Holmes paused at the door, then nodded politely to Mrs. Hudson and Nora, and hung the coat in his hand on the door On the hanger next to him, ignoring the messy hair blown by the wind, he sat down on his exclusive sofa and said slowly, "Mrs. Hudson, I think I need a delicious afternoon tea."

"You're late, Sherlock," Hodson replied in a less obvious, gloating tone. "Little Nora took care of them."

Holmes looked at the girl with displeasure, and she smiled innocently.

"Good afternoon, Nora." Watson sat down on the chair next to him, took a gulp of his remaining tea, and asked with concern, "How is your job search going?"

"It went very well." Nora was beyond everyone's expectations. "I'm now a regular employee at a private clinic in Cleveland." After a pause, she cast a glance at Holmes, who was lowered in thought, and her tone became more brisk, "By the way , I have paid the rent in full.”

Watson was taken aback, but he was very happy for her, "Sure enough, I never doubted your ability. I felt this way from the first time I saw you..."

Nora smiled slightly and changed the subject, "What you were talking about just now seems very interesting."

Sure enough, Watson was immediately distracted. In his heart, Nora was never defined by mediocre women, so he spoke less restrainedly. "I just read an article in a magazine," he said. Glancing at Holmes, the other party snorted softly, and there was a little smile in his eyes, "A very interesting article, it said: If a person who is good at observation can make precise and systematic observations of the things he comes into contact with, he will There will be a very big harvest. The author even said that a person’s expression skipped in an instant, every twitch of a muscle or even every blink of an eye, can infer the thoughts deep in his heart—”

At the end of this long passage, he made his own remark, "Striking indeed, with its shrewdness in its own right, but also its shallowness in some places. What do you think, Nora?"

To be honest, he didn't really expect the other party to give such a brilliant answer. His real intention was to ridicule Holmes's remarks just now, but he didn't expect that the young woman who was only 20 years old just paused slightly. , raised his eyebrows, and hit the point, "The name of that article is "Life Treasure Book"?"

Now even Holmes raised his head to look at her. Watson was taken aback for a moment, and immediately asked, "Are you..."

Nora pointed to a magazine spread out on the coffee table. That page happened to describe the long passage Watson just said, "During the meal, I accidentally saw it. It is indeed a very interesting article. .”

"Oh?" Holmes started, and he seemed to be a little interested. He sat up slightly and stared at her with sharp gray eyes, as if curious about how she would answer his question. "Then what does Miss Nora think of the author?" thoughts?"

Nora didn't flinch under such gazes at all. She pulled her drooping hair behind her ears and said calmly, "I think this author's argument is indeed unique and insightful, and it's [-]% reasonable, but in I think it also has the meaning of high-sounding arguments." Holmes twitched slightly, and Nora noticed his emotional changes, and curled her lips into a smile. I don't think everyone is capable of 'precise and systematic observation'—"

Seeing that both Holmes and Watson were unconsciously concentrating on listening to her narration, Nora slowed down her voice, "Just like you can hardly expect a fisherman to agree that a musician's piano music can bring him pleasure and wealth, Whether a person can infer what the other person is thinking through facial expressions, in addition to keen observation skills, birth, occupation and position are also things that cannot be ignored."

Nora has committed an occupational disease. To ensure the authenticity and feasibility of what she said, she gave an example, "For example, the famous painting of the Mona Lisa's smile. In the eyes of the painter, the Mona Lisa's smile is rich. The splendor of art and religion, the doctor would speculate that maybe she was pregnant just because of her satisfied expression, fresh skin and hands on her belly; a professor of philosophy watched the painting carefully for several years, and finally concluded that her smile contained several A variety of emotions, including joy, disgust, fear and even anger... The conclusions they observe are completely different because of their respective professional ideas and uses, but few people will speculate on Mona Lisa's inner thoughts."

After she finished speaking, she paused, tilted her head to observe the other person's expression, "Did I make it clear?"

Watson came back to his senses suddenly, his eyes sparkled, and he sighed, "If I hadn't met you in rags on the street, maybe I would have thought you graduated from Oxford University—" He seemed to realize that he had just poked the other person With a slight embarrassment on his face, "I mean, it's rare to see a lady as talented as Nora..."

"Have you ever seen the 'Mona Lisa smile'?" Holmes asked suddenly.

The smile on Nora's face froze slightly, and then she replied calmly, "One of my relatives is an antique dealer, and he liked to tell me about art since he was a child."

There was no omission in this answer for the time being. Holmes blinked, but the meaning of scrutiny in the gray eyes became stronger.

"A very novel insight." Holmes commented. "In the eyes of critics, the top talent in the world is the command of language, and Miss Nora is undoubtedly the best among them."

It was impossible to tell whether it was a compliment or a mockery in this sentence. Watson carefully observed the expressions of the two. Holmes and Nora were looking at each other, and there was a sense of tit-for-tat.

He was a little confused. Although he had not been in contact with Sherlock Holmes and Nora for a long time, there is no doubt that both of them are extremely talented and special. Shouldn't such people be sympathetic to each other? The current situation made him inexplicably confused up.

"Ahem." Mrs. Hudson's peacemaker broke the silence and reminded, "There is a knock at the door, dear."

Watson immediately stood up impatiently, trying to ease the atmosphere, "I'll go and open the door."

The person who knocked on the door was a man with a strong physique and plain clothes. He held a large blue envelope in his hand, and his voice was deep and deep upstairs, "A letter to Mr. Sherlock Holmes."

Watson thanked him, took the letter, and handed it to Holmes.Only then did Mr. Detective look away, lazily opened the envelope, glanced back and forth very quickly, and then passed it to Watson, "Look at this, the letter from Grayson."

After a day of contact, the relationship between him and Watson became much closer.

Watson looked at it carefully, and couldn't help but whisper, "This is terrible!"

"Another case, Sherlock?" asked Mrs. Hudson.

"There was a murder on Lauriston Garden Street last night," Watson murmured, rubbing his cheek. "The clothes are neat, there are bloodstains in the room, but there are no wounds on the body... It's really strange."

Holmes read the letter but lighted a pipe calmly. Ignoring Mrs. Hudson's low-pitched complaints, he took a puff of the cigarette, and then said in a clear voice, "Gleason is also a leading figure in the Metropolitan Police Department. , and Lestrade are the best of the group of fools, quick-witted, quick-witted, and capable, but too conservative. Everyone knows that they have intrigues with each other, and they are as jealous as a ridiculous woman—” , he saw the vague smile on Nora's face, and paused, "Well—if the two of them investigate this case together, I'm sure we'll have a lot of ridiculous conversations every day."

"If it weren't for the fact that we couldn't find any clues, Gleason would never be willing to consult the 'consulting detective'." Holmes stood up, put on the coat he had just taken off, and was about to go out when he suddenly thought of something. After standing for a few seconds, he seemed to be thinking, and finally made a decision, "Would you like to take a look at this case together?"

"Me?" Watson pointed to himself.

"Yes, professional medical knowledge may be helpful to the case." Holmes said, his eyes shifted to Nora who was lowering her presence. "And you, Miss Nora?"

She was taken aback for a moment, completely unaware that Holmes would call out to her, and opened her eyes slightly, "Me?" The answer was exactly the same as Watson's.

"Even though you are a woman, it is clear that you have a valuable knowledge that those sachets who can only paint and powder don't have, and I heard that you work as an assistant in a private practice in Cleveland." Holmes raised his voice solemnly. "I can't wait. Need to know how 'accurately and systematically' a homicide would look in the eyes of a knowledgeable woman, if you will."

Although Holmes doesn't like women, to be precise, he doesn't like the indecisive, ignorant, stupid and showy side of women, but it is clear that Miss Nora, who has a suspicious background, does not belong to any of the above.Although he is arrogant and eccentric, he respects people who are studious and original, and most importantly, she seems to have dabbled in fields that he does not understand.

All people and things that are helpful to solve the case will be consulted humbly by him.

Nora looked directly into his eyes, and there was no sense of ridicule in those gray-blue eyes. She was sure that the other party was not joking or joking. After thinking for a while, she finally accepted his proposal and said with a smile, "If the police are willing to let a If the lady goes in - of course she will, Mr Holmes."