Этюд в багровых тонах
Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
“Whatdoyouthinkofthat?”
“Itseemstobeaverydelicatetest,”Iremarked.
“Beautiful!beautiful!TheoldGuiacumtestwasveryclumsyanduncertain.Soisthemicroscopicexaminationforbloodcorpuscles.Thelatterisvaluelessifthestainsareafewhoursold. Now,thisappearstoactaswellwhetherthebloodisoldornew. Hadthistestbeeninvented,therearehundredsofmennowwalkingtheearthwhowouldlongagohavepaidthepenaltyoftheircrimes.”
“Indeed!”Imurmured.
“Criminalcasesarecontinuallyhinginguponthatonepoint. Amanissuspectedofacrimemonthsperhapsafterithasbeencommitted. Hislinenorclothesareexamined,andbrownishstainsdiscovereduponthem. Aretheybloodstains,ormudstains,orruststains,orfruitstains,orwhatarethey?Thatisaquestionwhichhaspuzzledmanyanexpert,andwhy? Becausetherewasnoreliabletest. NowwehavetheSherlockHolmes’test,andtherewillnolongerbeanydifficulty.”
Hiseyesfairlyglitteredashespoke,andheputhishandoverhisheartandbowedasiftosomeapplaudingcrowdconjuredupbyhisimagination.
“Youaretobecongratulated,”Iremarked,considerablysurprisedathisenthusiasm.
“TherewasthecaseofVonBischoffatFrankfortlastyear. Hewouldcertainlyhavebeenhunghadthistestbeeninexistence. ThentherewasMasonofBradford,andthenotoriousMuller,andLefevreofMontpellier,andSamsonofNewOrleans. Icouldnameascoreofcasesinwhichitwouldhavebeendecisive.”
