The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle Quiz

Answer: The man's hat

From Henry Baker's hat, Sherlock Holmes was able to tell that Baker was a sedentary man whose fortunes had fallen in the past few years. Holmes also deduced that Baker had gray hair, didn't have gas on in his home and that his wife had ceased to love him (the latter due to the amount of dust that had accumulated on the hat -- a caring wife would have cleaned it).

Answer: He had dropped it after being attacked by a group of hoodlums.

Henry Baker had been carrying his goose home on Christmas morning when he was accosted by a group of "ruffians". They knocked off his hat, and when he swung his stick to defend himself, he accidentally broke a shop window. A commissionaire named Peterson saw the incident and went to help, but Baker was startled and ran off, dropping his goose.

Answer: A gemstone

The blue carbuncle was a rare blue stone that was the property of the Countess of Morcar. It had been stolen five days earlier from her room at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Commissionaire Peterson had found the goose belonging to Henry Baker, but since it was in danger of spoiling, Sherlock Holmes told him to take it home to his family. Peterson's wife found the stone in the goose's crop when she was preparing it for dinner.

Answer: A plumber

The theft of the gemstone had taken place in the hotel room of the Countess of Morcar where a plumber named John Horner had been working. An attendant at the hotel reported that he had escorted Horner to the room but was briefly called away. When he returned, Horner was gone, along with the stone.

Answer: He had made monthly contributions to a Christmas goose club.

Henry Baker told Sherlock Holmes that he frequented a place called the Alpha Inn, the host of which had instituted a goose club. Members of the club contributed a few coins each week, and at Christmas they each received a goose.

Answer: Holmes drew him into a bet.

Breckinridge was not willing to divulge the source of the geese, so Holmes tricked him into it by betting him that the geese had come from the country. Breckinridge won the bet by showing Holmes the purchase log to prove that the geese had come from the city.

Answer: A hotel employee

James Ryder was the head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan where the Countess of Morcar was staying. He had been the one who had reported the theft of the blue carbuncle. Unlike Holmes, who wanted to know from where the geese had come, Ryder wanted to know to where they had gone.

Answer: James Ryder's sister

To win his bet, Mr. Breckinridge had shown Sherlock Holmes his purchase log, allowing Holmes to see that Breckenridge had received the geese from Mrs. Oakshott. James Ryder already knew this; she was his sister. He was trying to find out to whom Breckenridge had sold the geese.

Answer: James Ryder had pushed it down the goose's throat to hide it.

James Ryder went to hide at his sister's home after stealing the stone. His sister was giving him a goose for Christmas, so he decided to hide the stone inside the goose. He forced the stone down the goose's throat, but then the goose escaped into the flock, and he picked the wrong goose to take with him.

Answer: Holmes let him go.

Sherlock Holmes took pity on James Ryder. He said he wasn't "retained by the police to supply their deficiencies". He believed that the case against the plumber wouldn't hold up without James Ryder's testimony so the plumber would be freed when Ryder disappeared. According to Holmes, he let Ryder go because it was "the season of forgiveness".