Class :7

Subject : English

Prose: The Blue Carbuncle

Textbook Questions
2a) How did the commissionaire come into the possession of a hat and a goose?

On Christmas morning, while Peterson the commissionaire was walking home, he came across
a tall man who was walking with a slight stagger, carrying a white goose on his shoulder.
He suddenly witnessed an argument that broke out between this stranger and a group of roughs.
Peterson rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants; but the man on seeing an
official in uniform, dropped his goose and ran away, vanishing amidst the network of small
streets. The roughs also fled, leaving Peterson behind in possession of a battered hat and a
goose.

b) How did Holmes find out that Henry Baker was innocent?
Henry Baker saw the advertisement and readily came to see Holmes. He was only interested in
the replacement of the goose, thus proving that he was innocent.

c) What chance meeting gives Holmes a leading clue to solving the case?
When Holmes went to meet Breckinridge at Covent garden, he overheard a loud uproar.
Turning around, he saw Breckinridge shaking his fists at a cringing figure. Breckinridge told
him that he had had enough of him and his geese. Then Holmes realized that the clue to solving
the case lay with Breckinridge.

d) What facts do we know about the goose?

The goose was one of the two geese with the barred tail. It had the blue carbuncle in its throat,
hidden by James Ryder. Henry Baker had bought the goose from the Alpha Inn near the
museum. The landlord of Alpha Inn had bought it from the ruddy faced Breckinridge, a
salesman in Covent Garden. Breckinridge had purchased it from Mrs Oakshott of Brixton Road
who raised geese in her backyard. These are the facts that we know about the goose.

e) Why does Holmes let Ryder go?

Holmes felt that James Ryder would not go wrong because he was too terribly frightened to
commit the same crime again. Sending him to jail would make him a jail bird for life. Besides,
it was the season of forgiveness and Holmes was just trying to save a soul.

f) Why did Ryder choose to lay the blame of stealing the jewel on the plumber?
The plumber Horner, had been concerned in a matter of theft before. Ryder realized that the
suspicion would rest readily upon him. Thus, Ryder and Cusack made some small job in the
lady’s room and managed that Horner should be the man sent for. They stole the blue carbuncle,
raised the alarm and had Horner arrested.
 Class :7
Subject : English

Workbook Questions

Which characters in the story do the following sentences refer to? What do they tell us about
them?

1. “That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that he
was fairly well to do within the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days.”

The following lines refer to Henry Baker. He was the man who was carrying a white goose on his
shoulder on Christmas morning. These lines tell us that he was highly intellectual for Holmes
deduced from the cubic capacity of the hat that a man with so large a brain would have something
in it. The hat was of the very best quality and thus suggested that he was a well to do man.
However, the flat brims curled at the edges proved that it was being used for the last three years and
that his financial conditions were such that he could not afford another one.

2. “He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue
stone.”
The following lines refer to Peterson the commissionaire who was in possession of the goose and the
hat. These lines suggest that he was an honest man for when his wife cut open the goose, she found a
blue stone in it. He immediately rushed to Holmes and reported the matter than keeping it to himself.

3. “In order to escape suspicion I thrust the stone down the throat of one white goose with a barred
tail. Later when I cut open the identified goose, the stone was not there.”
The following lines refer to James Ryder who stole the the blue carbuncle from Countess Morcar’s
room. He had thrust the stone down a goose with a barred tail. However, he failed to realize that there
were two geese with barred tails and he had picked up the wrong one. This suggests that he fell into
his own trap for he was unable to identify the goose with the blue carbuncle in its throat.