On the first morning after Christmas, I went to visit my friend Sherlock Holmes to express holiday congratulations to him! I saw him lying lazily on a couch, wearing a purple-red dress.

He was wearing pajamas, a pipe rack on the right side of his body, and a pile of crumpled morning newspapers that he had obviously just read. A wooden chair was placed next to the sofa, and a dirty and worn hard felt hat was placed in front of him.

Hanging on the back of the chair, the hat was in terrible shape and was torn in several places. There was a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers placed on the chair, so it seemed that the hat was placed that way for easy inspection.

"It seems you are very busy!" I said, "Did I disturb you?"

"How could I have a friend come and discuss the results of my research with me? I'm not happy enough! This thing is useless at all." As he spoke, he raised his thumb and pointed at the hat: "

However, several issues related to it are very interesting and can bring us some enlightenment."

So I sat down on the armchair and put my hands close to the blazing fire to warm them. Because it was already winter, ice was all over the window glass. "If you let me guess..." I

Said, "Although this hat is terrible, it is related to a murder case. This clue can help you find the answer, and it can also help you punish the crime that occurred."

"No, it's not like that, it's not a crime." Sherlock Holmes said with a smile, "It's actually just a small thing among thousands of bizarre incidents. In such a small place with a radius of only a few kilometers, but living in such a small place.

With a population of four million, in such a crowded place, it is inevitable for things like this to happen between people. In an area with such a high population density, people are full of intrigues and fights, so there is a lot of risk.

All kinds of complicated events may occur, and although some things may seem bizarre, they are not necessarily crimes, and we are all familiar with this kind of thing."

"That's right, and it's to this extent." I said, "That is to say, among the six newly added cases that I have recorded, three of them are actually crimes that are not considered crimes by the law at all."

"To be more precise, the cases you are talking about are my attempts to recover the photos of Irene Adler, the strange case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and the case of the man with the crooked lip? I think at the moment I

This little thing I encountered should be a non-criminal act that does not involve the law. Do you know about the janitor Peterson?"

"Know."

"This harvest is his."

"Is this hat his?"

"No, it's not. He is not the owner of the hat, he just picked it up. But please don't ignore this broken felt hat. This thing requires a certain amount of intelligence to solve, and it needs our enough attention. Let me start with

Let me introduce to you the origin of this hat. It was delivered together with a big fat goose on Christmas morning. I guess the goose was roasting in front of the Peterson family's fire at this time! That's right

What happened: Early in the morning on Christmas day, around 4 o'clock, as you know, Peterson is an honest man. At that time, he had just attended a small party in a place and was walking home from Tot.

He was walking home near Nam Court Road. As he was walking, he saw a tall man carrying a white goose on his back under the gas lamp in front of him. Peterson had just left.

When he arrived at a corner of Gucci Street, he saw this stranger suddenly getting into a fight with a few scoundrels. His hat was knocked off by one of the scoundrels. So he picked up a stick and beat the other man as well. The result was that he

While swinging the stick in his hand, he accidentally broke the glass display window of the store behind him. Peterson was about to step forward to help the stranger deal with the gang of scoundrels, but the stranger was shattered by himself first.

I was frightened by the behavior of others. At the same time, I saw a man dressed like a policeman running towards me again. I quickly dropped the goose and ran away. After a while, he disappeared behind Tottenham Court Road.

In the winding alley, the gang of scoundrels saw Peterson coming and quickly ran away, leaving Peterson alone there. Not only did he control the situation, but he also got two unexpected gains: a hat.

A rag felt hat and a nice fat Christmas goose.”

"Then he must want to return these things to others, right?"

"My old fellow, that's the difficulty in this matter. Yes, there is a little card on the left leg of this goose that says 'For Mrs. Henry Baker,' and it's clearly written on the lining of this hat.

The initials are written with the word 'H.B.', but in our city, there are many people named Baker, and there are also many people named Henry Baker. Therefore, if you want to find the owner of the property from the vast sea of ​​people, return it to its original place.

Lord, it’s easier said than done.”

"So what did Peterson do next?"

"Because he knew that I paid more attention to some trivial issues, he brought the hat and the big white goose to me on Christmas morning. Until this morning, we still have the goose. But from some

Judging from the situation, although the weather is very cold now, we still can't delay any longer and need to deal with it in time, so in the end we asked Peterson to take the goose away and let the goose complete its final mission! This hat

The hat of a stranger who lost his delicious food at Christmas remains with me."

"Didn't this person place a missing property notice in the newspaper?"

"Didn't see it."

"Have you found any clues about this person's identity?"

"We still need to try our best to speculate."

"Is it from this hat?"

"right."

"Don't be ridiculous, this old and worn-out felt hat, what can you get from it?"

"This is my magnifying glass. You have always been familiar with my research methods. With this, can you deduce the characteristics of the owner of this hat?"

I picked up this old and worn-out hat and looked through it helplessly. The felt hat was black and round. From the outside, it looked shabby and hard. It made people wonder whether it could still be worn. It was okay.

It couldn't be more ordinary. The lining of the hat was originally made of red silk, but now the color has faded a lot, and there is not even the manufacturer's trademark on it. But as Holmes said, on the side of the hat, there is an initials

The letters "H.B." are scrawled on it. In order to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, two small holes are pierced on the brim, but there is no elastic band. It should be used as a tie to prevent it from being blown away by the wind. What about other aspects?

, it seems that there are still traces of ink in some places, maybe it was applied to cover a few faded patches on the hat. Even so, there are still holes everywhere, it is covered with dust, and there are several places where it is covered with ink.

Covered with oil stains.

"I don't see anything wrong with it," I said, handing the hat back to him.

"On the contrary, Watson, you should have seen everything. It's just that you haven't inferred a conclusion based on what you saw. You are not confident enough in inferring a conclusion."

"Then tell me, what inferences can you draw based on this hat?"

He held the hat in his hand and stared at it in his usual way. This is his unique way of thinking that best reflects his character. "Perhaps this hat provides a little less information to people."

"Son." He said, "However, several obvious inferences can still be obtained, and the accuracy of several other inferences may be greater. Judging from the appearance of the hat alone, its owner must undoubtedly be very knowledgeable, although he

He is in embarrassment now, but before that, for at least three years, he used to live a very prosperous life. He was once a very far-sighted person, but times have changed, and because of the decline of his family, his mental state has deteriorated.

He is getting depressed day by day. From this point of view, it seems that he has been affected by bad influences or has contracted the bad habit of drinking. This may be the reason why his wife no longer loves him."

"Oh, come on, my dear Holmes!"

"But even so, he still didn't want to lose his self-respect." Holmes seemed to ignore my objection and continued to talk to himself.

"He is a person who never exercises. He has always lived a life of never leaving the house or taking a step forward. He is nearly middle-aged and has gray hair early. He has just had his hair cut in the past few days and also painted it.

There is a layer of lemon paste on it! The above is some information I have deduced from this hat. Also, by the way, there must be no gas lighting installed in his home."

"You are taking your joke a little too far, Holmes."

"I'm definitely not kidding. I've told you my research results, haven't you seen how I came to these conclusions?"

"My brain reaction is a bit slow. I know this very well, but I have to admit that I still don't understand what you mean. Give me an example. For example, how did you infer that this person is very knowledgeable?

"

With a "pop" sound, Holmes had already put the hat on his head, and he answered me in this way. The hat was put on his head, just covering his entire forehead, and even pressed on his nose. "This

It reflects the capacity of a person's head." He said, "If the head is so big, then this person should be a person with some brains!"

"What about the family's decline? How did you deduce it?"

"This hat has a history of 3 years. At that time, hats with wide brim and rolled-up brim were more fashionable. You see, this ribbed silk band and this luxurious lining,

At that time, the quality and price were definitely top-notch. And if this person could afford such a luxurious hat 3 years ago, but has not bought any other hats since then, it is obvious that his life has changed day by day.

It’s better to live in one day.”

"Well, I understand this, but why do you say this is a very far-sighted person? And how do you explain 'increasingly depressed'?"

Sherlock Holmes laughed, and then said: "That's why he has foresight." As he spoke, he pointed to the small discs and loops used to nail the elastic bands. "Generally, hat sellers don't know how to do this."

It comes with these things. It means that he customized it himself, and this shows that he has great foresight. This was specially added to prevent the hat from being blown away by the wind. However, here he also added

The elastic band was broken but he didn't put another one on, which clearly showed that he was not only getting more and more depressed, but also that he was no longer as far-sighted as he used to be. At the same time, from the way he used ink

Judging from the behavior of smearing the patch on the hat, the reason why he tried hard to hide the wear and tear of the hat shows that his self-esteem has not been completely lost."

"It seems like your reasoning makes sense."

"In addition, there are several places: the man has white hair in his middle age, and has just had a haircut in the past few days, and also applied lemon ointment on his head, etc. This is inferred from the traces left in the hat.

. Through my careful inspection of the inside of the hat with a magnifying glass, I found many neat hair stubbles left by haircuts, and the hair stubbles were all stuck together, and a special smell of lemon paste emanated from there.

Judging from the dust on the hat, if you look carefully, you will notice that it is not the kind of dust mixed with sand on the street, but the kind of brown velvety dust in the room. These conditions indicate that the hat is big

It is left idle in the room for part of the time. Judging from the wet marks on the lining, it is obvious that people who wear hats sweat easily, which is a characteristic of people who do not exercise much. "

"What about his wife? You just said that she has refused to love him anymore."

"This hat hasn't been wiped for a long time. My dear fellow, if that's the case with you, the dust hasn't been wiped off for more than a week, and your wife has turned a blind eye and let you go out like this.

, I guess you must have been abandoned by your wife."

"But he could also be a bachelor!"

"The possibility is very small, because the goose was actually a gift from him as a courtesy to his wife. He was going to take it back that night. Don't forget the card on the goose's leg."

"You have answered all my questions, but there is another one, which is how do you know that there is no gas lighting in his house?"

"If there are only one or two drops of candle wax, it may be just a coincidence. But if there are at least 5 drops of candle wax, I can completely conclude that it was definitely dropped because of frequent contact with lit candles. For example

, maybe when you go upstairs at night, if you hold a hat in one hand and a burning candle in the other, it will be easy to drip it. Anyway, it is impossible for a gas lamp to drip this kind of candle oil. Now you

Is it time to believe it?”

"That's great, I have to admire your brain." I smiled and said, "However, since as you said, there is no crime here, it's just a goose lost, and no harm has happened.
To be continued...