Class 9 English Main Course Book Solutions and Answers The class 9 English syllabus is vast and memorizing stories of each and every chapter is difficult. So, note making is necessary. It sounds a little bit weird to create notes for the English subject. For all other subjects such as Maths and Science, students can create notes by noting down the important formulas, theories and definitions. But for the English subject, students need to follow a proper structure to create the notes. They can understand the stories and poems and then can note down their summary in a short and concise format. To help them, we have provided the CBSE Class 9 English Notes And Summary to help them in their studies. Question. The Tragedy of Birlstone 1. THE TRAGEDY OF BIRLSTONE (SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE) TANAY SHUKLA IX B PARTH KSHIRSAGAR IX B 2. SCOPE •About the Book •About the Author •Story background •The incident •Investigation into the incident •Conclusion 3. THE BOOK •The Valley of Fear, is the fourth and the final Sherlock Holmes novel. •It is based on the agent James Mc Parland. •The stories in the book were published between Sep 1914 to May 1915 4. THE AUTHOR •Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. •He created the fictitious character called Sherlock Holmes. •His writing is considered as a milestone in the field of Crime Fiction. 5. THE STORY BACKGROUND •The Tragedy of Brilstone is an adaptation from the book called ‘The Valley of Fear’. •The story is shrouded in mystery over the death of Mr. John Douglas. •Though the chapter of Class IX does not cover the entire story, yet it is a good reading and composition for the students. 6. THE BRILSTONE VILLAGE •The village of Brilstone is an ancient cluster of cottages in the county of Sussex. •It has been unchanged for centuries. •The picturesque appearance has attracted well to do residents who have settled there. •Number of small shops have 7. THE MANOR HOUSE •About half a mile from the town is the Manor house with moat. •It is famous for huge beech trees. •It had many gables and small diamond paned windows. •The house could be 8. THE MANOR HOUSE •The drawbridge had broken chain and windlass. However, it could be used to hoist the drawbridge. •It was drawn up everyday by sunset. •This left the Manor house inaccessible and it was like 9. THE RESIDENTS OF MANOR HOUSE •The family residing in the Manor house consisted of only two individuals •John Douglas •Mrs. Douglas •Mr. Douglas was genial and cheery. •He was popular amongst the villagers. 10. THE RESIDENTS OF MANOR HOUSE •John Douglas had plenty of money and thereby, had quite a reputation in Birlstone. •Mrs. Douglas was beautiful, tall, dark and slender. •She was about 20 years younger than Mr. Douglas. •They were devoted to each other, however, off late there were some strained relations between 11. THE VISITOR OF MANOR HOUSE •Cecil Baker was a frequent and welcome visitor at the Manor House. •He was easy going and free handed gentleman. •He was at ease with both John and Mrs. Douglas. •John Douglas was not 12. THE INCIDENT •On the 6th of Jan at about 11:45 PM alarm reached the small local police station that John Douglas had been murdered. •Dr. Wood the investigating officer came to the Manor house and seemed to be unnerved and troubled. 13. THE INVESTIGATION •Dr. Wood asked Cecil not to touch anything until the superiors arrive. •C Baker confirmed that nothing had been touched. •On enquiry C Baker informed that at half past eleven when he was in his bedroom seated by the fire he heard gunshot. 14. THE INVESTIGATION •On questioning Baker informed that, the door was open and Douglas was lying as he was. •He heard Mrs. Douglas arriving from the rear and prevented her from seeing her husband’s body lying in the room. •When asked about lowering the drawbridge, he said that the drawbridge was up until he had himself lowered it. •When Dr. Wood speculated that Douglas might have short himself, Baker indicated to the open window and 15. THE INVESTIGATION •Dr. Wood suspected that the killer might have waded through the moat and both Dr. Wood and C Baker agreed to the theory. •However, they were unsure of the culprits entry into the Manor house especially when the drawbridge was raised at 6 O’clock PM. •It was concluded that if anyone had come to the house then it could have been before 6 O’clock and must have remained hidden in the house till 16. THE CONCLUSION •It is left to the students to work on three different possibilities:- •John Douglas committing suicide by shooting himself. •Someone who came from outside for robbery, murdered John. •Someone from with the house including Cecil Baker, the Butler and the house helps of having murdered John.