[ { "chunk": 189, "story": 6, "summary": "After the holiday the narrator finds the investigator studying a battered old hat, which he says is trivial but instructive.", "predicament": "A person finds a friend absorbed in some trifle and suspects it hides a serious story." }, { "chunk": 190, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator says no crime is involved, only one of the odd incidents a crowded city throws up; the hat belongs to a finder.", "predicament": "An investigator is content to study a puzzle that involves no crime at all, purely for its own interest." }, { "chunk": 191, "story": 6, "summary": "A man carrying a goose was set upon by roughs, broke a window with his stick, and fled when a uniformed passer-by ran up, leaving hat and bird.", "predicament": "A man attacked in the street panics at the sight of someone in uniform and runs, leaving his belongings behind." }, { "chunk": 192, "story": 6, "summary": "The goose's tag and hat bear a common name, so the owner cannot be traced; the investigator challenges the narrator to read the hat.", "predicament": "Someone holding a stranger's lost property has only a common name to go on, and wants to return it." }, { "chunk": 193, "story": 6, "summary": "The narrator sees nothing; the investigator infers the owner is clever, fallen on hard times, perhaps drinking, and no longer loved by his wife.", "predicament": "A person is shown how much a stranger's decline can be read from one shabby thing he left behind." }, { "chunk": 194, "story": 6, "summary": "He adds the owner is sedentary, middle-aged, recently barbered, and explains the hat's size and age.", "predicament": "Someone is told a stranger's whole history from a single object, and doubts it until each step is explained." }, { "chunk": 195, "story": 6, "summary": "He explains the foresight, the neglect and the attempt to hide stains as signs of a weakening but proud man.", "predicament": "An investigator reads a proud man's slide into neglect from the small repairs he has stopped bothering to make." }, { "chunk": 196, "story": 6, "summary": "He explains the wife and candle inferences; the narrator calls it wasted effort, when the finder bursts in about the goose.", "predicament": "A person scoffs that a puzzle without a crime is wasted effort, just as it turns into something serious." }, { "chunk": 197, "story": 6, "summary": "The finder's wife found a famous stolen gem in the goose's crop, worth a huge reward; a workman has been charged with stealing it.", "predicament": "A person of modest means suddenly finds a stolen treasure in his hands, with a large reward on offer." }, { "chunk": 198, "story": 6, "summary": "The report: a hotel attendant testified he left a workman with a previous conviction alone in the room; the workman protested his innocence and fainted.", "predicament": "A workman with a past conviction is accused of a theft on one witness's word, and faints protesting his innocence." }, { "chunk": 199, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator resolves to trace the path from the jewel case to the goose, and advertises for the hat's owner.", "predicament": "An investigator must trace how a stolen treasure travelled from the crime to an innocent stranger's hands." }, { "chunk": 200, "story": 6, "summary": "He keeps the stone, calling it a lure for crime, and doubts both the accused man's guilt and the goose owner's involvement.", "predicament": "An investigator holding a stolen treasure must decide whether the man already accused of taking it is guilty." }, { "chunk": 201, "story": 6, "summary": "He thinks the goose's owner innocent; that evening the man arrives and claims his hat.", "predicament": "An investigator sets a small test to learn whether a stranger knows more than he seems to about a stolen treasure." }, { "chunk": 202, "story": 6, "summary": "The shabby, learned man explains he could not afford to advertise, and happily accepts a substitute goose.", "predicament": "A proud, impoverished man admits he could not afford to seek his loss, and gladly takes a substitute." }, { "chunk": 203, "story": 6, "summary": "He shows no interest in the original bird's remains, proving his innocence, and names the inn where he got it.", "predicament": "A stranger passes an unspoken test of innocence without knowing he was being tested." }, { "chunk": 204, "story": 6, "summary": "They go to the inn; the landlord says he bought the geese from a market dealer.", "predicament": "An investigator follows a trail link by link, each person pointing to the one before." }, { "chunk": 205, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator reminds the narrator an innocent man faces prison; the dealer angrily refuses to say where he bought the geese.", "predicament": "An investigator knows an innocent man will be convicted unless he can trace one small thing, and meets a stubborn refusal." }, { "chunk": 206, "story": 6, "summary": "The dealer is sick of questions about the geese; the investigator draws him with a bet that the birds were country bred.", "predicament": "Someone who refuses to answer questions is drawn into giving everything away by the chance to win a bet." }, { "chunk": 207, "story": 6, "summary": "The dealer's books show the geese came from a woman in town; the investigator pays up and laughs.", "predicament": "An investigator loses a small wager on purpose and gets exactly the information he needed." }, { "chunk": 208, "story": 6, "summary": "He notes others are asking about the geese; a frightened little man is driven off by the dealer, demanding a goose that was his.", "predicament": "An investigator sees someone else anxiously chasing the same trail and guesses who has most to lose." }, { "chunk": 209, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator overtakes the little man, who is terrified, then eager for help; he gives a false name.", "predicament": "A frightened person desperate to recover something is offered help by a stranger, and hides his name." }, { "chunk": 210, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator names the man as the hotel attendant; in his rooms he says the goose laid a blue egg.", "predicament": "A thief hoping to recover his loot is led to believe help is at hand and walks into a trap." }, { "chunk": 211, "story": 6, "summary": "Shown the gem, the attendant nearly collapses; the investigator says the game is up.", "predicament": "A thief is shown the stolen treasure and told his guilt is known, with no way left to deny it." }, { "chunk": 212, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator reveals the attendant framed the workman; the thief begs for mercy for his parents' sake and offers to flee.", "predicament": "A thief who framed an innocent man for his crime begs for mercy and offers to run away." }, { "chunk": 213, "story": 6, "summary": "He confesses he took the stone to his sister's house, terrified of being searched on the way.", "predicament": "A thief who has framed someone else is too frightened to keep the loot on him, and must hide it quickly." }, { "chunk": 214, "story": 6, "summary": "He planned to take it to a criminal friend, and hit on the idea of hiding it in a goose.", "predicament": "A thief with stolen goods and no way to sell them turns to a disreputable old friend for help." }, { "chunk": 215, "story": 6, "summary": "He fed the stone to a goose, which escaped among the flock; he insisted on taking the bird he thought it was.", "predicament": "A thief hides his loot in a clever way, and a small accident means he loses track of it." }, { "chunk": 216, "story": 6, "summary": "The goose held no stone; the flock was sold on and he could not trace it; he sobs that he is a thief with nothing; the investigator tells him to get out.", "predicament": "A thief who sacrificed his honour for loot he never held breaks down, and is let go." }, { "chunk": 217, "story": 6, "summary": "The investigator reasons the case against the workman will collapse, and that jail would make the thief a criminal for life.", "predicament": "An investigator lets a frightened first offender go free, choosing mercy over the law he is not paid to enforce." } ]