Sherlock Holmes the Speckled Band
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Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes The Speckled Band A cura di Francesca Veneziano Testi di Ilaria Groppi Correzione bozze: Annalisa Damonte, Manuela Gualandri Supervisione grafica: Alessandro Agostino Voce narrante: Steve Roti Illustrazioni e copertina di: classe II BG dell’Istruzione Superiore “Vittorio Emanuele II – Ruffini”, anno scolastico 2012-2013 Si ringrazia per la collaborazione l’Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “Vittorio Emanuele II – Ruffini” di Genova e in particolare la professoressa Barbara Aloi Accessibilità - L’editore mette a disposizione degli studenti non vedenti, ipovedenti, disabili motori o con disturbi specifici di apprendimento i file pdf relativi a tutti i contenuti del presente volume. - Il formato di file permette l’ingrandimento dei caratteri di testo e la lettura mediante software screen reader. - Si prega inviare richiesta via e-mail a [email protected] Copyright © 2012 GGallery s.r.l. - Milano I diritti di elaborazione in qualsiasi forma, di memorizzazione anche digitale su supporti di qualsiasi tipo, di riproduzione e di adattamento totale o parziale con qualsiasi mezzo, i diritti di noleggio, di prestito e di traduzione sono riservati per tutti i paesi. L’acquisto della presente copia dell’opera non implica il trasferimento dei suddetti diritti né li esaurisce. Le fotocopie per uso personale (cioè privato ed individuale, con esclusione quindi di strumenti di uso collettivo) nei limiti del 15% di ciascun volume, sono consentite dietro pagamento alla S.I.A.E. del compenso previsto dall’art. 68, commi 4 e 5, della legge 22 aprile 1941 n. 633. Suggerimenti e segnalazione di errori: l’editore e gli autori sono grati ai lettori che vorranno segnalare eventuali errori o omissioni, scrivendo a: GGallery Group, Piazza Manin 2B-R 16122 Genova tel. 010 888871 fax 010 8598499 www.ggallery.it - e-mail: [email protected] www.englishlive.tv Prima edizione: giugno 2013 CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE - Miss Stoner p. 5 CHAPTER TWO - A Terrible Night p. 9 CHAPTER THREE - The House at Stoke Moran p. 14 CHAPTER FOUR - Someone is in danger P. 18 Sherlock Holmes – The Speckled Band CHAPTER ONE Miss Stoner I was living with my friend Sherlock Holmes in Baker Street at that time, and we investigated the case of the ‘speckled band.’ It was one of my first investigations, and it was the most uncommon. I made a promise not to tell this story to a lady who is dead now. Now that she’s not here anymore, I can tell the truth, and it is important that people know the facts. It was an early morning of April 1883. When I woke up Sherlock Holmes was standing by my bed. I was surprised to see him there because he usually slept until late. He said that he was sorry to wake me up but we had a visitor. ‘What kind of visitor?’ I asked. ‘A young lady. She’s very nervous and she wants to see me. When young ladies walk around London early in the morning, it is because they want to talk about something important. If you want to help me with this case, come and listen to her story.’ I went there immediately. I was happy to help Holmes with his detective work. Holmes loved his job and he didn’t care about the money he could make. He didn’t want to be rich, he wanted to work on unusual cases. I got dressed and followed him in the living room. A woman was sitting by the window. She was wearing black clothes and she had a long black veil. She stood up when we entered the www.englishlive.tv 5 Sherlock Holmes – The Speckled Band room. ‘Good morning, madam. I am Sherlock Holmes, and this is my friend Dr. Watson. You can tell us everything and we will keep it a secret. I see you are shaking, please sit next to the fire and we’ll bring you a cup of hot coffee.’ ‘I’m not shaking because of the cold, Mr. Holmes. I’m shaking because I’m frightened!’ She raised her veil as she spoke, and we could see that she was very scared. Her face looked tired, her eyes were frightened and she had some white hair. Holmes took her arm in order to calm her down. Then he said ‘I see you came by train this morning, and you came in a cart, too.’ The lady was surprised ‘How do you know?’ She asked. ‘It’s not a mystery madam’ said Holmes, smiling. ‘You are holding your train ticket and your jacket is dirty. This often happens when you travel by cart.’ ‘You are right, sir! I left home early this morning and I caught the first train to London. I need help! You once helped a friend of mine, sir. Now will you help me? I don’t have much money, but in a month or two I’ll be married and I’ll have more.’ Sherlock Holmes was very calm. He said to the lady that there was no problem about the money. But he wanted to know what happened to her. ‘My name is Helen Stoner and I live with my stepfather, Dr. Roylott. He comes from the famous Roylott family from Surrey. His family was very rich, but in the last hundred years they spent all the money and they had to sell the land. Now they only have a small piece of land and an old house. My stepfather is the eldest son. He is a doctor and worked in India. www.englishlive.tv 6 Sherlock Holmes – The Speckled Band www.englishlive.tv 7 Sherlock Holmes – The Speckled Band One day a thief came and stole most of his things: he got very angry and killed the thief. He was sent to prison and stayed there for a long time. When he was released he came back to England. He was an angry, unhappy man. When he was in India he married my mother. My mother was a rich widow and she had two little girls, my twin sister and me. When my mother died eight years ago she left all the money to Dr. Roylott but under one condition: ‘When my girls get married you must give them some money each year.’ She had a lot of money, and it was enough for both of us. We left London and we went to Stoke Moran. There my stepfather bought and old family house with a big garden. But he got worse. He had no friends because he argued with everybody. He also kept some animals from India and they scared everyone. He became the terror of the village. At the moment we have a tiger and a monkey and they are very frightening. It’s easy to understand why my poor sister and I didn’t have much fun during our lives. The servants left us. We didn’t have any friends because we were always doing the housework. Julia was only thirty years old, but she had white hair, just like me.’ ‘Was?’ asked Holmes ‘Is she dead?’ ‘Yes, unfortunately she died two years ago, this is the reason why I am here now. Two years ago my sister and I were spending Christmas in London at our aunt’s house. My sister met a man and decided to marry him. Our stepfather looked happy about the marriage. But after two weeks something very bad happened. That is why I am here today, sir.’ www.englishlive.tv 8 Sherlock Holmes – The Speckled Band CHAPTER TWO A Terrible Night Sherlock Holmes was sitting in his chair. ‘Tell me everything about that day’ he said. ‘I remember that terrible day clearly. I want to explain what the house looks like. On the ground floor there are the bedrooms. My stepfather’s bedroom is the first, Julia’s bedroom is the second and mine is the third. They open onto the same corridor while the windows of all the bedrooms open out on the garden. That terrible night our stepfather went to his room early. Later my sister came into my room and said that she couldn’t sleep because he was smoking an Indian cigar and she could smell it in her room. We talked a bit and then at eleven she was going back to her room but she stopped in front of my room’s door for a moment. She asked me if I could hear someone whistling at night. I answered that I couldn’t hear anyone and she said that every night she could hear a whistle that woke her up. Then she went to bed and I could hear her lock the door.’ At that moment Holmes asked ‘Do you always lock the doors at night?’ ‘Yes we do’ the lady answered. ‘We lock it every night because the tiger and the monkey are going around the house. Anyway, that night I couldn’t sleep, I had a strange feeling and there was a big storm outside. Suddenly I heard my sister screaming, so I jumped www.englishlive.tv 9 Sherlock Holmes – The Speckled Band out of the bed and ran to the corridor. I could hear the sound of a whistle and a metallic sound. Then I saw my sister, her face was white and she was shaking. I ran towards her when she fell to the ground. She said to me in a voice that I will never forget ‘Oh, my God! Helen! It was the speckled band!’ She pointed her finger in the direction of the doctor’s room, then she died. My stepfather came out of his room to help but it was too late.’ Holmes interrupted her.