A Christmas story without slush

From “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which Christopher Morley called “Surely one of the most unusual things in the world: a Christmas Story without slush”:

“After all, Watson,” said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe, “I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies…I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which also a bird will be the chief feature.”

You can find the full text, as originally printed in the Strand Magazine, here.