1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:06,000 A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:12,359 To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman. I have seldom heard 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:17,160 him mention her under any other name. In his eyes, she eclipses and 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,519 predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:27,359 akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly were 6 00:00:27,399 --> 00:00:32,280 abhorrent to his cold, precise, but admirably balanced mind. He was, 7 00:00:32,399 --> 00:00:36,439 I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has 8 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,479 seen. But as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. 9 00:00:41,039 --> 00:00:44,759 He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a 10 00:00:44,799 --> 00:00:49,880 sneer. They were admirable things for the observer, excellent for drawing the veil 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,439 from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner, to admit such 12 00:00:54,479 --> 00:01:00,479 intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor 13 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:06,000 which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Gret in a sensitive 14 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,359 instrument or a crack in one of his own high power lenses would not be 15 00:01:10,519 --> 00:01:15,159 more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet 16 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,959 there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene 17 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,319 Adler, abdubious and questionable memory. I had seen little of Holmes lately. 18 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:29,359 My marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness and 19 00:01:29,439 --> 00:01:33,840 the home centered interest which rise up round the man who first finds himself master 20 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,359 of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention. While Holmes, 21 00:01:38,359 --> 00:01:44,439 who loathed every form of society with his whole bohemian soul, remained in 22 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:49,000 our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from 23 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,439 week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug and the 24 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:57,319 fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, as ever, 25 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:04,519 deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary 26 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,759 powers of observation in following out those clues and clearing up those mysteries which had 27 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:15,599 been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to time I heard 28 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,919 some vague account of his doings, of his summons to Odessa in the case 29 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,800 of the trepof murder, of his clearing up, of the singular tragedy of 30 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,919 the Atkinson brothers at Trincommie, and finally, of the mission which he had 31 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:35,000 accomplished so delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs 32 00:02:35,039 --> 00:02:38,280 of his activity, however, which I merely share with all the readers of 33 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:43,879 the Daily Press, I knew little of my former friend and companion. One 34 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,039 night, it was on the twentieth of March eighteen eighty eight. I was 35 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:52,240 returning from a journey to a patient, for I had now returned to civil 36 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,759 practice. When my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the 37 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,400 well remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my wooing 38 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:06,039 and with the dark incidents of the Study and Scarlet, I was seized with 39 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,120 a keen desired see Holmes again and to know how he was employing his extraordinary 40 00:03:10,159 --> 00:03:15,280 powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and even as I looked up, 41 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:19,800 I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the 42 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,759 blind. He was facing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk 43 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:29,400 upon his breast and his hands clasped behind him to me, who knew his 44 00:03:29,479 --> 00:03:34,479 every mood and habit, His attitude and manner told their own story. He 45 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,520 was at work again. He had risen out of his drug created dreams and 46 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,560 was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and 47 00:03:42,719 --> 00:03:46,439 was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own. 48 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:51,479 His manner was not effusive, it seldom was, but he was glad I 49 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,520 think to see me, With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly 50 00:03:54,599 --> 00:03:59,560 eye. He waved me to an arm chair, threw across his case of 51 00:03:59,599 --> 00:04:04,319 cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a misogyny in the corner. Then 52 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:09,960 he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion. 53 00:04:10,719 --> 00:04:14,680 Wedlock suit you, He remarked, I think, Watson, that you have 54 00:04:14,719 --> 00:04:18,079 put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you seven. I answered, 55 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:23,680 indeed, I should have thought a little more, just a trifle more. 56 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:28,800 I fancy Watson, And in practice again I observed you did not tell 57 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:33,000 me that you intended to go into harness. Then how do you know I 58 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,439 see it? I deduce it. How do I know that you have been 59 00:04:36,439 --> 00:04:42,040 getting yourself very wet lately? And that you have a most clumsy and careless 60 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,759 servant girl. My dear Holmes, said I, this is too much. 61 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,720 You would certainly have been burned had you lived few centuries ago. It is 62 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:56,199 true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful 63 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,199 mass, But as I have changed my clothes, I can't imagine how you 64 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,519 deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife 65 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:08,480 has given her notice. But there again I failed to see how you work 66 00:05:08,519 --> 00:05:12,680 it out. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together. 67 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,399 It is simplicity itself, said he. My eyes tell me that on 68 00:05:16,759 --> 00:05:20,399 the inside of your left shoe, just where the fire light strikes it, 69 00:05:20,879 --> 00:05:27,839 the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused 70 00:05:27,879 --> 00:05:31,160 by some one who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the soul in 71 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,600 order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see my double deduction 72 00:05:35,759 --> 00:05:40,600 that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly 73 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:46,319 malignant boot slitting specimen of the London slavey As to your practice, if a 74 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,600 gentleman walks into my room smelling of video form, with a black mark of 75 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:55,160 nightrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side 76 00:05:55,199 --> 00:05:59,800 of his top hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope. I must 77 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:02,000 be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active 78 00:06:02,079 --> 00:06:08,000 member of the medical profession. I could not help laughing at the ease with 79 00:06:08,079 --> 00:06:12,879 which he explained his process of deduction. When I hear you give your reasons, 80 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,439 I remarked, the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple 81 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:21,519 that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your 82 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:27,439 reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe 83 00:06:27,519 --> 00:06:31,160 that my eyes are quite as good as yours. Quite so, he answered, 84 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:36,160 lighting a cigarette and throwing himself down into an arm chair. You see, 85 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:41,639 but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, 86 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:45,800 you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room. 87 00:06:46,439 --> 00:06:51,160 Frequently, how often, well, some hundreds of times. Then how 88 00:06:51,199 --> 00:06:57,680 many are there? How many? I don't know. Quite so you have 89 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,600 not observed, and yet you have seen. That is just my point. 90 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:06,279 Now, I know that there are seventeen steps because I have both seen and 91 00:07:06,439 --> 00:07:12,240 observed by the way. Since you are interested in these little problems, and 92 00:07:12,319 --> 00:07:15,120 since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, 93 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,160 you may be interested in this. He threw over a sheet of thick, 94 00:07:19,399 --> 00:07:24,920 pink tinted note paper, which had been lying open upon the table. It 95 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,160 came by the last post, said, He read it aloud. The note 96 00:07:29,199 --> 00:07:33,160 was undated, and without either signature or address. There will call upon you 97 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,639 to night at a quarter to eight o'clock, it said, a gentleman who 98 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:43,439 desired to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent 99 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,079 services to one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one 100 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:53,199 who may safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly 101 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:58,360 be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be 102 00:07:58,519 --> 00:08:01,000 in your chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if 103 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:05,759 your visitor wear a mask. This is indeed a mystery, I remarked, 104 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:11,560 What do you imagine that it means? I have no data? Yet? 105 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:18,240 It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins 106 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:22,360 to twist facts to shoot theories instead of theories, to shoot facts. But 107 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:28,000 the note itself, what do you deduce from it? I carefully examined the 108 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,840 writing and the paper upon which it was written. The man who wrote it 109 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:37,840 was presumably well to do, I remarked, endeavoring to imitate my companion's processes. 110 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,440 Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It 111 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:48,399 is peculiarly strong and stiff. Peculiar, that is the very word, said 112 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:52,720 Holmes. It is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to 113 00:08:52,759 --> 00:08:58,159 the light. I did so, and saw a large E with a small 114 00:08:58,399 --> 00:09:03,799 G, a p E and a large G with a small T woven into 115 00:09:03,799 --> 00:09:07,360 the texture of the paper. What do you make of that? Asked Holmes. 116 00:09:07,879 --> 00:09:11,360 The name of the maker, no doubt, or his monogram, rather 117 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:18,000 not at all. The G with the small T stands for Geselschaft, which 118 00:09:18,039 --> 00:09:22,679 is the German for company. It is a customary contraction like our c. 119 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:28,039 O. P, of course stands for papier. No for the E. 120 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:33,519 G let us glance at our continental gazetteer. He took down a heavy brown 121 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:39,919 volume from his shelves, Iglo Egloniz. Here we are Egria. It is 122 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,679 in a German speaking country in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad, remarkable as 123 00:09:46,799 --> 00:09:52,080 being the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous glass factories 124 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,879 and paper mills. Haha, my boy, what do you make of that? 125 00:09:56,759 --> 00:10:01,879 His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue, triumphant cloud 126 00:10:01,919 --> 00:10:05,720 from his cigarette. The paper was made in Bohemia, I said, precisely. 127 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,639 And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note 128 00:10:09,639 --> 00:10:16,000 the peculiar construction of the sentence. This account of you we have from all 129 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:20,879 quarters received. A Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is 130 00:10:20,919 --> 00:10:26,879 the German who is so uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, 131 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,320 to discover what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and 132 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,399 prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if 133 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:41,080 I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts. As he spoke, 134 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:45,720 there was a sharp sound of horses hoofs and grating wheels against the curb, 135 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:50,159 followed by a sharp pull at the bell. Holmes whistled a pair by the 136 00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:56,720 sound, said he yes. He continued glancing out the window a nice little 137 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:01,639 bruffum and a pair of beauties a hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money 138 00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:05,559 in this case, Watson. If there is nothing else, I think that 139 00:11:05,639 --> 00:11:09,480 I had better go, Holmes, not a bit, doctor, stay where 140 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:15,000 you are. I am lost without my boswell, and this promises to be 141 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:20,360 interesting. It would be a pity to miss it. But your client never 142 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:24,879 mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here 143 00:11:24,919 --> 00:11:28,600 he comes. Sit down in that arm chair, doctor, and give us 144 00:11:28,639 --> 00:11:33,000 your best attention. A slow and heavy step which had been heard upon the 145 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,879 stairs and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was 146 00:11:37,919 --> 00:11:43,120 a loud and authoritative tap. Come in, said Holmes. A man entered, 147 00:11:43,159 --> 00:11:46,679 who could hardly have been less than six feet six inches in height, 148 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,399 with the chest and limbs of a Hercules, his dress, which was rich 149 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:54,759 with a richness which would in England be looked upon as akin to bad taste. 150 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:01,600 Heavy bands of astricum were slashed across the sea leaves and fronts of his 151 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:05,679 devil breasted colt, while the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders 152 00:12:05,799 --> 00:12:11,559 was lined with a flame colored silk and secured at the neck with a brooch 153 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,480 which consisted of a single flaming barrel. Boots which extended half way up his 154 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:20,840 calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich brown fur, completed 155 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:26,399 the impression of barbaric opulence, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He 156 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,679 carried a broad brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper 157 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:35,679 part of his face, extending down past the cheek bones, a black vizard 158 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,720 mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, for his hand was 159 00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:43,480 still raised to it as he entered from the lower part of the face. 160 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:48,279 He appeared to be a man of strong character, with a thick, hanging 161 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,879 lip and a long, straight chin, suggestive of resolution pushed to the length 162 00:12:52,879 --> 00:12:58,120 of obstinacy. You had my note, he asked, with a deep, 163 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:03,039 harsh voice and strongly art German accent. I told you that I would call. 164 00:13:03,639 --> 00:13:09,519 He looked from one to the other office as if uncertain which to address. 165 00:13:09,759 --> 00:13:13,159 Pray, take a seat, said Holmes. This is my friend and 166 00:13:13,279 --> 00:13:16,320 colleague, doctor Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my 167 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,919 cases. Whom have I the honor to address. You may address me is 168 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,960 Count von cram A bohemian nobleman. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, 169 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,639 is a man of honor and discretion, whom I may trust with a 170 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,600 matter of the most extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to 171 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:41,320 communicate with you alone. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by 172 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,360 the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. It is both or none, 173 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:50,279 said he. You may say before this gentleman anything which you may say 174 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,919 to me. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. Then I must begin, 175 00:13:54,120 --> 00:14:00,759 said he, by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years. At 176 00:14:00,799 --> 00:14:05,240 the end of that time, the matter will be of no importance at present. 177 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,279 It is not too much to say that it is of such weight it 178 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:15,240 may have an influence upon European history, I promise, said Holmes. And 179 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,559 I you will excuse this mask, continued our strange visitor. The august person 180 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:26,159 who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you. And I may 181 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:31,000 confess at once that the title by which I have just called myself is not 182 00:14:31,279 --> 00:14:35,240 exactly my own. I was aware of it, said Holmes dryly. The 183 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:41,480 circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution has to be taken. To 184 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:46,080 quench what might grow to be an immense scandal and seriously compromise one of the 185 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:52,799 reigning families of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the Great House 186 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:58,039 of Ormstein, hereditary Kings of Bohemia. I was also aware of that, 187 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,919 murmured Holmes, settling him self down in his arm chair and closing his eyes. 188 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,919 Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, lounging figure of 189 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:13,080 the man who had been, no doubt depicted to him as the most incisive 190 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:18,320 reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked 191 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:24,080 impatiently at his gigantic client. If your Majesty would condescend to state your case, 192 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,519 he remarked, I should be better able to advise you. The man 193 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:33,120 sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. 194 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,559 Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tore the mask from his face 195 00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:41,399 and hurled it upon the ground. You are right, he cried, I 196 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:46,000 am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it? Why? Indeed, 197 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,159 murmured Holmes, your Majesty had not spoken before I was aware that I 198 00:15:50,279 --> 00:15:58,759 was addressing Wilhelm Gotthriich, Sigismund uvon Ormstein, Grand Duke of Castelfelstein, and 199 00:15:58,159 --> 00:16:03,720 Hereditary Caing of Bohemia. But you can understand, said our strange visitor, 200 00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:07,799 sitting down once more, and passing his hand over his high white forehead. 201 00:16:08,639 --> 00:16:14,159 You can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own 202 00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:18,360 person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not confide it to 203 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,759 an agent without putting myself in his power. I have come incognito from Prague 204 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,879 for the purpose of consulting you. Then pray consult, said Holmes, shutting 205 00:16:27,919 --> 00:16:33,159 his eyes once more. The facts are briefly these. Some five years ago, 206 00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:37,679 during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well 207 00:16:37,759 --> 00:16:44,399 known adventurous Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you. Kindly 208 00:16:44,559 --> 00:16:48,919 look her up in my index, doctor murmured Holmes, without opening his eyes. 209 00:16:48,639 --> 00:16:53,399 For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men 210 00:16:53,679 --> 00:16:57,879 and things, so that it was difficult to name a subject or a person 211 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,039 on which he could not at once furnish information. In this case, I 212 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:07,000 found her biography sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a 213 00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:12,359 staff commander who had written a monograph upon the deep sea fishes. Let me 214 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:19,039 see, said Holmes hum born in New Jersey in the year eighteen fifty eight, 215 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:33,000 contralto hum Lescola MM Primadonna Imperial Opera warsaw Yes retired from operatic stage a 216 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:38,119 living in London. Quite so, your Majesty, as I understand, became 217 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:45,759 entangled with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters and is now desirous 218 00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:51,160 of getting those letters back. Precisely so. But how was there a secret 219 00:17:51,279 --> 00:17:57,279 marriage? None? No legal papers or certificates. None. Then I failed 220 00:17:57,319 --> 00:18:03,519 to follow your majesty. If this young person should produce her letters for blackmailing 221 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,160 or other purposes, how is she to prove their authenticity? There is the 222 00:18:07,279 --> 00:18:18,200 writing POOFU forgery, my private notepaper, stolen, my own seal, imitated 223 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:25,920 my photograph bot we were both in the photograph. Oh dear, that is 224 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:32,440 very bad. Your majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion. I was mad, 225 00:18:32,839 --> 00:18:38,759 insane. You have compromised yourself. Seriously, I was only a crown prince 226 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:44,680 then I was young, I am, but thirty. Now it must be 227 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:49,680 recovered. We have tried and failed. Your majesty must pay. It must 228 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:56,000 be bought. She will not sell stolen. Then five attempts have been made. 229 00:18:56,519 --> 00:19:02,519 Twice burglars in my pay, ransacked her house once, we diverted her 230 00:19:02,599 --> 00:19:07,559 luggage when she traveled twice. She has been waylaid. There has been no 231 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:14,119 result, no sign of it, absolutely none, Holmes laughed. It is 232 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:18,559 quite a pretty little problem, said he, But a very serious one to 233 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:23,240 me, returned The king reproachfully, very indeed, And what does she propose 234 00:19:23,319 --> 00:19:30,200 to do with the photograph? To ruin me? But how I am about 235 00:19:30,279 --> 00:19:37,359 to be married? So I have heard to Clotilda Lothmann bon Saxe Meningen, 236 00:19:37,079 --> 00:19:42,440 second daughter of the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of 237 00:19:42,519 --> 00:19:48,680 her family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of 238 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,680 a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end. And 239 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:57,599 ivery Nadler threatens to send them the photograph, and she will do it. 240 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,640 I know that she will do it. You do not know her, but 241 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:07,160 she has a soul of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful 242 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,680 of women and the mind of the most resolute of men, rather than I 243 00:20:11,759 --> 00:20:15,839 should marry another woman. There are no lengths to which she would not go 244 00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:21,319 none. You are sure that she has not sent it yet. I am 245 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:26,240 sure, and why because she has said that she would send it on the 246 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,359 day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday. Oh, 247 00:20:30,839 --> 00:20:34,559 then we have three day shat, said Holmes with a yawn. That 248 00:20:34,759 --> 00:20:40,359 is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to look 249 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,920 into just at present. Your Majesty will of course stay in London for the 250 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,920 present. Certainly you will find me at the Langham under the name of the 251 00:20:49,079 --> 00:20:52,920 Count Boncrombe. Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how 252 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:59,480 we progress. Pray do so I shall be all anxiety. Then, as 253 00:20:59,599 --> 00:21:04,720 to the you have carte blanc, absolutely I tell you that I would give 254 00:21:04,759 --> 00:21:11,880 one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph and for present expenses. 255 00:21:11,599 --> 00:21:15,680 The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and laid 256 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:21,680 it on the table. There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred 257 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,839 in notes, he said. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his 258 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,480 note book and handed it to him and Mademoiselle's adress. He asked, is 259 00:21:30,559 --> 00:21:36,759 Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, Saint John's Wood. Holmes took a note of 260 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,680 it one other questions, said he was the photograph a cabinet. It was 261 00:21:42,519 --> 00:21:47,279 then good night, your majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have 262 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,799 some good news for you. And good night Watson, he added, as 263 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,559 the wheels of the Royal Bruffam rolled down the street. If you will be 264 00:21:55,599 --> 00:22:00,240 good enough to call tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock, I should like to cat 265 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:03,799 this little matter over with you. At three o'clock precisely, I was at 266 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:10,000 Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that 267 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,559 he had left the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat 268 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:17,839 down beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however 269 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,599 long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for 270 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:26,799 though it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were associated 271 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:32,319 with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still the nature of the 272 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:37,039 case and the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. 273 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,839 Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend had on 274 00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:47,000 hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation and his keen, 275 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,240 incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system 276 00:22:51,319 --> 00:22:56,000 of work and to follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the 277 00:22:56,079 --> 00:23:02,359 most inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success, that the 278 00:23:02,519 --> 00:23:06,759 very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head. It was 279 00:23:06,839 --> 00:23:11,079 close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken looking groom, ill 280 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:17,640 camped and side whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into 281 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:22,799 the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use 282 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,160 of disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it 283 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:32,000 was indeed he. With a nod, he vanished into the bedroom. Whence 284 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:37,400 he emerged in five minutes, tweed suited and respectable as of old. Putting 285 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,720 his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the 286 00:23:40,799 --> 00:23:45,680 fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Well really, he cried and then 287 00:23:45,759 --> 00:23:51,039 choked and laughed again until he was obliged to slide back, limp and helpless 288 00:23:51,079 --> 00:23:55,480 in the chair. What is it? It's quite too funny. I am 289 00:23:55,599 --> 00:23:59,720 sure you could never guess how I employed my mourning or what I ended by 290 00:23:59,799 --> 00:24:03,599 doing. I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits, 291 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:08,200 and perhaps the house of Miss Irene Adler quite so, but the sequel 292 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:12,720 was rather unusual. I will tell you, however. I left the house 293 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,799 a little after eight o'clock this morning in the character of a groom out of 294 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:22,359 work. There is a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one 295 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,920 of them and you will know all that there is to know. I soon 296 00:24:26,039 --> 00:24:30,519 found be on a lodge. It is a bije villa with a garden at 297 00:24:30,559 --> 00:24:34,119 the back, but built out in front. Ride up to the road two 298 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,680 stories Chubb blocked to the door, large sitting room on the right side, 299 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:45,319 well furnished with long windows almost to the floor, and those preposterous English window 300 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:49,720 fasteners which a child could open behind. There was nothing remarkable save that the 301 00:24:51,039 --> 00:24:55,000 passage window could be reached from the top of the coach house. I walked 302 00:24:55,079 --> 00:24:59,720 round it, and examined it closely from every point of view, but without 303 00:24:59,759 --> 00:25:03,119 knowing anything else of interest. I then lounged down the street and found, 304 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,240 as I expected, that there was a muse in a lane which runs down 305 00:25:07,319 --> 00:25:11,359 by one wall of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing 306 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,680 down their horses, and received an exchanged twopence, a glass of half and 307 00:25:15,799 --> 00:25:21,200 half, two fills of shagged tobacco, and as much information as I could 308 00:25:21,279 --> 00:25:25,119 desire about miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in 309 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:30,039 the neighborhood, in whom I was not in the least interested, but whose 310 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,680 biographies I was compelled to listen to. And what of Irene Adler, I 311 00:25:33,839 --> 00:25:37,920 asked, Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. 312 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:42,519 She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet, So say 313 00:25:42,599 --> 00:25:48,599 the serpentine muse to a man. She lived quietly, sings at concerts, 314 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,359 drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner. 315 00:25:53,079 --> 00:25:59,119 Seldom goes out at other times except when she sings. Has only one male 316 00:25:59,279 --> 00:26:03,640 visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, handsome and 317 00:26:03,799 --> 00:26:07,359 dashing, never calls less than once a day, and often twice. He 318 00:26:07,519 --> 00:26:12,000 is a mister Godfrey Norton of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a 319 00:26:12,079 --> 00:26:18,119 cabman as a confidant. They had driven him home a dozen times from Serpentine 320 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,799 muse and knew all about him. When I had listened to all they had 321 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,799 to tell, I began to walk up and down near Brionny Lodge once more, 322 00:26:26,319 --> 00:26:30,960 and to think over my plan of campaign. This Godfrey Norton was evidently 323 00:26:30,079 --> 00:26:36,119 an important factor in the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. 324 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,359 What was the relation between them? And what the object of his repeated 325 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:45,240 visits? Was she his client, his friend or his mistress. If the 326 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,599 former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the latter, 327 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:55,519 it was less likely. On the issue of this question depended whether I 328 00:26:55,599 --> 00:27:00,240 should continue my work at Brionny Lodge or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers 329 00:27:00,279 --> 00:27:04,400 in the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field 330 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,519 of my inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but 331 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,480 I have to let you see my little difficulties. If you are to understand 332 00:27:12,559 --> 00:27:18,240 the situation I am following you closely, I answered. I was still balancing 333 00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:22,400 the matter in my mind when a handsome cab drove up to beyond a lodge, 334 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:27,119 and a gentleman sprang out. He was a remarkably handsome man, dark 335 00:27:27,319 --> 00:27:33,160 aquiline and mustache, evidently the man of whom I had heard. He appeared 336 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,960 to be in a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and 337 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,440 brushed past the maid, who opened the door with the air of a man 338 00:27:40,599 --> 00:27:44,039 who was thoroughly at home. He was in the house about half an hour, 339 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,839 and I could catch glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting room, 340 00:27:48,079 --> 00:27:52,359 pacing up and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms of her 341 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:57,799 I could see nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than before, 342 00:27:59,759 --> 00:28:02,640 and as he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch 343 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:07,200 from his pocket and looked at it earnestly. Drive like the devil. He 344 00:28:07,319 --> 00:28:11,680 shouted, first to Gross and Hankes in Regent Street, and then to the 345 00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:15,720 church at Saint Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you do 346 00:28:15,839 --> 00:28:19,240 it in twenty minutes away they went, and I was just wondering whether I 347 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,920 should not do well to follow them. When up the lane came a neat 348 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:29,359 little Landau, the coachman with his coat only half buttoned and his tie under 349 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:33,160 his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the 350 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,400 buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door and 351 00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:41,440 into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but 352 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,480 she was a lovely woman with a face that a man might die for. 353 00:28:45,119 --> 00:28:49,440 The Church at Saint Monica, John, she cried, and half a sovereign 354 00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:53,759 if you reach it in twenty minutes. This was quite too good to lose, 355 00:28:53,839 --> 00:28:59,400 Watson. I was just balancing whether I should run for it or whether 356 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,799 I should behind her Landau. When a cab came through the street. The 357 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,720 driver looked twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he 358 00:29:07,799 --> 00:29:11,640 could object. The Church at Saint Monica, said I, and half a 359 00:29:11,759 --> 00:29:15,960 sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes. It was twenty five minutes to 360 00:29:15,079 --> 00:29:18,640 twelve, and of course it twas clear enough what was in the wind. 361 00:29:19,079 --> 00:29:23,079 My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the 362 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:29,160 others were there before us. The cab and the Landau with their steaming horses, 363 00:29:29,319 --> 00:29:32,160 were in front of the door. When I arrived. I paid the 364 00:29:32,279 --> 00:29:36,119 man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there save the 365 00:29:36,279 --> 00:29:41,400 two whom I had followed, and a surpliced clergyman who seemed to be expostulating 366 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,559 with them. They were all three standing in a knot in front of the 367 00:29:44,599 --> 00:29:48,319 altar. I lounged up the side aisle like any other idler who has dropped 368 00:29:48,359 --> 00:29:52,799 into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar 369 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:56,880 faced round to me, and Godfrey Norton came, running as hard as he 370 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:02,519 could towards me. Thank goodness, he cried, you'll do Come? Come 371 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,839 what? Then? I asked, come, man, come only three minutes 372 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,480 or it won't be legal. I was half dragged up to the altar, 373 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,720 and before I knew where I was, I found myself mumbling responses which were 374 00:30:15,839 --> 00:30:19,400 whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, 375 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:26,000 and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler Spinster to Godfrey Norton 376 00:30:26,279 --> 00:30:30,319 bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman 377 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,880 thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the 378 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:40,359 clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which 379 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,000 I ever found myself in my life, and it was the thought of it 380 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:48,240 that started me laughing. Just now. It seems that there had been some 381 00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:53,640 informality about their license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a 382 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:59,920 witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having 383 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,400 to sally out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride 384 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,000 gave me a sovereign and I mean to wear it on my watch chain in 385 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:12,119 memory of the occasion. This is a very unexpected turn of affairs, said 386 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:18,279 I. And what then, Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. 387 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,480 It looked as if the pair might take an immediate departure, and so 388 00:31:22,799 --> 00:31:27,000 necessitate very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church door, 389 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:32,480 however, they separated, he driving back to the temple and she to her 390 00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:36,720 own house. I shall drive out in the park at five as usual, 391 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,720 she said. As she left him. I heard no more. They drove 392 00:31:40,759 --> 00:31:44,920 away in different directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements, 393 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,519 which are some cold beef and a glass of beer, he answered, ringing 394 00:31:49,599 --> 00:31:53,400 the bell. I have been too busy to think of food, and I 395 00:31:53,519 --> 00:31:57,640 am likely to be busier still this evening. By the way, doctor, 396 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:04,599 I shall want your operation. I shall be delighted. You don't mind breaking 397 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:08,400 the law, not in the least your running a chance of arrest. Not 398 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:14,240 in a good cause. Oh, the cause is excellent that I am your 399 00:32:14,359 --> 00:32:17,640 man. I was sure that I might rely on you. But what is 400 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:22,880 it you wish? When missus Turner has brought in the tray, I will 401 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,960 make it clear to you now, he said, as he turned hungrily on 402 00:32:27,079 --> 00:32:31,200 the simple fare that our landlady had provided. I must discuss it while I 403 00:32:31,319 --> 00:32:36,680 eat, for I have not much time. It is nearly five now. 404 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:42,039 In two hours we must be on the scene of action. Miss Irene or 405 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:47,240 Madame rather returns from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge 406 00:32:47,359 --> 00:32:52,680 to meet her. And what then? You must leave that to me. 407 00:32:52,039 --> 00:32:57,359 I have already arranged what is to occur. There is only one point on 408 00:32:57,519 --> 00:33:01,960 which I must insist. You must not interfere. Come. What may you 409 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,799 understand. I am to be neutral, to do nothing whatever. There will 410 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:14,440 probably be some small and pleasantness. Do not join in. It will end 411 00:33:14,559 --> 00:33:19,240 in my being conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards, the 412 00:33:19,359 --> 00:33:23,279 sitting room window will open. You are to station yourself close to that open 413 00:33:23,359 --> 00:33:28,960 window. Yes, you are to watch me, for I will be visible 414 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:34,599 to you. Yes. And when I raise my hand so you will throw 415 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,640 into the room what I give you to throw, and will at the same 416 00:33:37,759 --> 00:33:44,559 time raise the cry of fire. You quite follow me entirely. It is 417 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:49,799 nothing very formidable, he said, taking a long cigar shaped roll from his 418 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,680 pocket. It is an ordinary plumber's smoke rocket, fitted with a cap at 419 00:33:53,799 --> 00:34:00,279 either end to make itself lighting. Your task is confined to that when you 420 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,400 raise your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number 421 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,119 of people. You may then walk to the end of the street, and 422 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:12,760 I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made myself 423 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,519 clear. I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to 424 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:22,119 watch you, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to 425 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,039 raise the cry of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the 426 00:34:25,079 --> 00:34:30,639 street. Precisely. Then you may entirely rely on me. That is excellent. 427 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:36,679 I think perhaps it is almost time that I prepare for the new role 428 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:42,000 I have to play. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few 429 00:34:42,039 --> 00:34:47,840 minutes in the character of an amiable and simple minded nonconformist clergyman. His broad 430 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:52,679 black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic smile, 431 00:34:53,280 --> 00:35:00,440 and general look of peering and benevolent curiosity were such as mister John Hare alone 432 00:35:00,519 --> 00:35:06,199 could have equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume, his 433 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:12,000 expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part 434 00:35:12,199 --> 00:35:16,119 that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost 435 00:35:16,199 --> 00:35:22,880 an acute reasoner when he became a specialist in crime. It was a quarter 436 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:27,440 past six when we left Baker Street, and it still wanted ten minutes to 437 00:35:27,559 --> 00:35:31,840 the hour when we found ourselves in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, 438 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:37,559 and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front 439 00:35:37,599 --> 00:35:42,679 of Brionny Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was 440 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,480 just such as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes succinct description, but the 441 00:35:46,599 --> 00:35:52,639 locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the contrary, for 442 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:58,159 a small street in a quiet neighborhood, it was remarkably animated. There was 443 00:35:58,199 --> 00:36:01,400 a group of shabbily dressed mens, smoking and laughing in a corner, a 444 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:07,480 scissors grinder with its wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse girl, 445 00:36:07,079 --> 00:36:12,559 and several well dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cigars 446 00:36:12,639 --> 00:36:15,679 in their mouths. You see, remarked Holmes, as we paced to and 447 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:22,199 fro in front of the house. This marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph 448 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,719 becomes a double edged weapon. Now the chances are that she would be as 449 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:30,679 averse to its being seen by mister Godfrey Norton as our client is to its 450 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:36,599 coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is where are we 451 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:43,239 to find the photograph where? Indeed, it is most unlikely that she carries 452 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,960 it about with her. It is cabinet size too large for easy concealment about 453 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:53,239 a woman's dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid 454 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:59,480 and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may 455 00:36:59,599 --> 00:37:05,000 take it that she does not carry it about with her where then her banker 456 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:09,599 or her liar. There is that double possibility. But I am inclined to 457 00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:15,599 think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own 458 00:37:15,679 --> 00:37:20,039 secreting. Why should she hand it over to any one else? She could 459 00:37:20,079 --> 00:37:25,159 trust her own guardianship, but she could not tell what indirect or political influence 460 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:30,400 might be brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she 461 00:37:30,519 --> 00:37:35,920 had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she 462 00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:39,280 can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house. 463 00:37:40,079 --> 00:37:45,320 But it has twice been burgled. Pshah, They did not know how to 464 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:52,719 look. But how will you look? I will not look what then I 465 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:57,920 will get her to show me, but she will refuse. She will not 466 00:37:58,159 --> 00:38:00,599 be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her 467 00:38:00,679 --> 00:38:06,440 carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter. As he spoke, 468 00:38:06,639 --> 00:38:09,480 the gleam of the side lights of a carriage came round the curve of the 469 00:38:09,599 --> 00:38:15,000 avenue. It was a smart little Landau which rattled up to the door of 470 00:38:15,039 --> 00:38:19,320 Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing men at the 471 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:22,480 corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of earning a copper, 472 00:38:23,079 --> 00:38:29,400 but was elbowed away by another loafer who had rushed up with the same intention. 473 00:38:30,079 --> 00:38:34,119 A fierce quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, 474 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,800 who took sides with one of the loungers, and by the sitters grinder, 475 00:38:38,039 --> 00:38:43,400 who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and 476 00:38:43,559 --> 00:38:46,039 in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the 477 00:38:46,199 --> 00:38:52,000 center of a little knot of flushed and struggling men who struck savagely at each 478 00:38:52,039 --> 00:38:55,719 other with their fists and sticks. Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect the 479 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:00,719 lady, but just as he reached her, he gave a cry and dropped 480 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,760 to the ground, with the blood running freely down his face. At his 481 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:08,280 fall, the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers in 482 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:13,400 the other, while a number of better dressed people who had watched the scuffle 483 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,840 without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to attend 484 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:22,480 to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her had 485 00:39:22,599 --> 00:39:25,960 hurried up the steps, but she stood at the top with her superb figure 486 00:39:27,079 --> 00:39:30,639 outlined against the lights of the hall, looking back into the street. Is 487 00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:36,000 the poor gentleman much hurt? She asked? He is dead, cried several 488 00:39:36,079 --> 00:39:38,719 voices. No, no, there's life in him, shouted another. But 489 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:44,079 he'll be gone before we can get him to hospital. He's a brave fellow, 490 00:39:44,199 --> 00:39:46,960 said a woman. They would have had the lady's purse and watch if 491 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:51,360 it hadn't been for him. They were a gang, and a rough one 492 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,599 too. Ah, he's breathing now, he can't lie in the street. 493 00:39:55,079 --> 00:39:59,840 May we bring him in, marm surely bring him into the sitting room. 494 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:05,280 There is a comfortable sofa this way, please, slowly and solemnly. He 495 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:09,599 was born into Brionny Lodge and laid out in the principal room while I still 496 00:40:09,679 --> 00:40:15,039 observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, 497 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,159 but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes 498 00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:22,199 as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized 499 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:27,440 with compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I know 500 00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:31,280 that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I 501 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:37,119 saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness 502 00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:42,280 with which she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the 503 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,639 blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had entrusted 504 00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:51,639 to me. I hardened my heart and took the smoke rocket from under my 505 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,480 ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We 506 00:40:54,639 --> 00:41:00,480 are but preventing her from injuring another. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, 507 00:41:00,599 --> 00:41:02,280 and I saw him motion like a man who was in need of air. 508 00:41:02,679 --> 00:41:07,280 A maid rushed across and threw open the window. At the same instant 509 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:09,719 I saw him raise his hand, and at the signal, I tossed my 510 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:14,559 rocket into the room with a cry of fire. The word was no sooner 511 00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:17,360 out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill, 512 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:22,440 gentlemen, ostlers and servant maids, joined in a general shriek of fire. 513 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:28,199 Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out At the open window, 514 00:41:28,519 --> 00:41:30,880 I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice 515 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:36,360 of Holmes from within, assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping 516 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:38,719 through the shouting crowd, I made my way to the corner of the street, 517 00:41:39,119 --> 00:41:44,360 and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine and 518 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,599 to get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence 519 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:52,480 for some few minutes until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which 520 00:41:52,599 --> 00:41:55,840 led towards the Edgeware Road. You did it very nicely, doctor, he 521 00:41:57,039 --> 00:42:00,880 remarked. Nothing could have been better. It is all all right. You 522 00:42:00,159 --> 00:42:06,119 have the photograph. I know where it is. And how did you find 523 00:42:06,159 --> 00:42:09,400 out? She showed me as I told you she would. I am still 524 00:42:09,519 --> 00:42:13,639 in the dark. I do not wish to make a mystery, said he, 525 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,480 laughing. The matter was perfectly simple. You, of course saw that 526 00:42:16,639 --> 00:42:21,599 every one in the street was in an accomplice. They were all engaged for 527 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,559 the evening. I guessed as much. Then when the row broke out, 528 00:42:24,719 --> 00:42:29,599 I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand. I 529 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:32,800 rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my face, and became 530 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:37,599 a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick that also I could fathom. 531 00:42:38,039 --> 00:42:42,599 Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in what else 532 00:42:42,639 --> 00:42:45,599 could she do? And into her sitting room, which was the very room 533 00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:51,079 which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was 534 00:42:51,199 --> 00:42:54,159 determined to see which. They laid me on a couch. I motioned for 535 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:59,519 air. They were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance. 536 00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,320 How did that help you? It was all important. When a woman 537 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:07,960 thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush 538 00:43:07,079 --> 00:43:12,800 to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, 539 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:15,440 and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of 540 00:43:15,519 --> 00:43:21,639 the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in the 541 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,800 Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby, an unmarried one 542 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:30,920 reaches for her jewel box. Now it was clear to me that our lady 543 00:43:30,119 --> 00:43:35,599 of to day had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we 544 00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:38,639 are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of 545 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:44,719 fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of 546 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:50,480 steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding 547 00:43:50,599 --> 00:43:54,320 panel just above the right bell pull. She was there in an instant, 548 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:59,239 and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out. When 549 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:02,360 I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced 550 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:07,079 at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her 551 00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:13,719 since I rose and making my excuses escape from the house. I hesitated whether 552 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,800 to attempt to secure the photograph at once, but the coachman had come in, 553 00:44:17,119 --> 00:44:22,239 and as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait a 554 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:28,440 little over precipitance may ruin all. And now I asked, our quest is 555 00:44:28,599 --> 00:44:32,480 practically finished. I shall call with the king tomorrow and with you, if 556 00:44:32,519 --> 00:44:37,000 you care to come with us. We will be shown into the sitting room 557 00:44:37,079 --> 00:44:40,119 to wait for the lady. But it is probable that when she comes she 558 00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:45,599 may find neither us nor the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his 559 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:49,760 majesty to regain it with his own hand. And when would you call? 560 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:52,920 At eight in the morning, she will not be up, so that we 561 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:58,039 shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this 562 00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:01,960 marriage may mean a complete change in her life, and habits. I must 563 00:45:02,039 --> 00:45:07,199 wire to the king without delay. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped 564 00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:12,159 at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key when some one 565 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:15,639 passing said good night, mister Sherlock Holmes. There were several people on the 566 00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:20,800 pavement at the time, but the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth 567 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:24,239 in an ulster who had hurried by. I've heard that voice before, said 568 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:29,719 Holmes, staring down the dimly lit street. Now I wonder who the deuce 569 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:34,199 that could have been. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we 570 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,760 were engaged upon our toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia 571 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:42,880 rushed into the room. You have really got it, he cried, grasping 572 00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:46,480 Sherlock Holmes by either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Not yet, 573 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:52,440 but you have hopes. I have hopes. Then come, I am all 574 00:45:52,639 --> 00:45:57,280 impatience to be gone. We must have a cab. No, my Bruffhelm 575 00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:01,920 is waiting. Then that will simplify matters. We descended and started off once 576 00:46:02,039 --> 00:46:07,360 more for Brionny Lodge. I reenn Adler is married, remarked Holmes. Married. 577 00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:14,159 When yesterday but to whom to an English lawyer named Norton, but she 578 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:17,880 could not love him. I am in hopes that she does, and why 579 00:46:19,159 --> 00:46:23,639 in hopes, because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance. 580 00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:29,920 If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your majesty. If 581 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:34,880 she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should interfere 582 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:39,559 with your Majesty's plan. It is true, and yet well I wish she 583 00:46:39,679 --> 00:46:44,920 had been of my own station. What a queen she would have made. 584 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:49,599 He relapsed into moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in 585 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:53,800 Serpentine Avenue. The door of Brionny Lodge was open, and an elderly woman 586 00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:59,480 stood upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped 587 00:46:59,559 --> 00:47:04,159 from them. Mister Chulock Holmes, I believe, said she, I am 588 00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:07,880 Holmes, answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and rather startled 589 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:13,159 gaze. Indeed, my mistress told me that you were likely to call. 590 00:47:13,639 --> 00:47:17,239 She left this morning with her husband by the five fifteen train from sharing Cross 591 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:23,280 for the continent. What Sherlock holmestaggered back white withered Grian in surprise. Do 592 00:47:23,599 --> 00:47:30,119 you mean that she has left England never to return? And the papers asked 593 00:47:30,159 --> 00:47:35,039 the King hoarsely, all is lost, we shall see. He pushed past 594 00:47:35,119 --> 00:47:38,440 the servant and rushed into the drawing room, followed by the King and myself. 595 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:44,400 The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open 596 00:47:44,559 --> 00:47:49,800 drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes 597 00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:53,440 rushed at the bell, pull tore back a small slighting shutter, and plunging 598 00:47:53,519 --> 00:47:58,480 in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph was 599 00:47:58,519 --> 00:48:04,639 of Irene Adler herself an evening dress. The letter was superscribed to Sherlock Holmes 600 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:08,920 esquire to be left till called for. My friend tore it open and we 601 00:48:09,039 --> 00:48:14,719 all three read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night, 602 00:48:15,159 --> 00:48:19,320 and ran in this way. You really did it very well. You 603 00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,960 took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not 604 00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:28,920 a suspicion. But then when I found how I had betrayed myself, I 605 00:48:29,039 --> 00:48:32,920 began to think I had been warned against you months ago. I had been 606 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,920 told that if the King employed an agent. It would certainly be you, 607 00:48:37,559 --> 00:48:42,639 and your address had been given me. Yet with all this you made me 608 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:46,360 reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspicious, I found 609 00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:51,039 it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman. But 610 00:48:51,199 --> 00:48:55,519 you know I have been trained as an actress myself. Mail costume is nothing 611 00:48:55,599 --> 00:49:00,000 new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. 612 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:05,280 I sent John the coachman to watch you, ran upstairs, got into my 613 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,159 walking clothes, as I called them, and came down just as you departed. 614 00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:12,440 Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that 615 00:49:12,559 --> 00:49:16,400 I was really an object of interest to this celebrated mister Sherlock Holmes. Then 616 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:22,320 I rather imprudently wished you good night and started for the temple to see my 617 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:28,079 husband. We both thought the best resource was flight when pursued by so formidable 618 00:49:28,119 --> 00:49:31,239 an antagonist. So you will find the nest empty when you call tomorrow. 619 00:49:31,599 --> 00:49:36,800 As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love, 620 00:49:37,079 --> 00:49:39,760 and I am loved by a better man than he. The King may do 621 00:49:40,039 --> 00:49:45,599 what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep 622 00:49:45,639 --> 00:49:50,599 it only to safeguard myself and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me 623 00:49:50,679 --> 00:49:53,679 from any steps which he might take in the future. I leave a photograph 624 00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:59,320 which he might care to possess, and I remained, dear mister Sherlock Holmes, 625 00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:05,920 truly yours Irene Norton nay Adler. What a woman, Oh, what 626 00:50:06,119 --> 00:50:08,840 a woman, cried the King of Bohemia, when we had all three read 627 00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:13,880 this epistle. Did I not tell you how quick and resolute she was? 628 00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:17,960 Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that 629 00:50:19,159 --> 00:50:22,760 she was not on my level? From what I have seen of the lady, 630 00:50:22,079 --> 00:50:25,599 she seems indeed to be on a very different level to your Majesty, 631 00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:30,639 said Holmes coldly. I am sorry that I have not been able to bring 632 00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:35,719 your Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion. On the contrary, my dear 633 00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:39,480 sir, cried the King, nothing could be more successful. I know that 634 00:50:39,679 --> 00:50:45,480 her word is in violate. The photograph is now as safe as if it 635 00:50:45,559 --> 00:50:49,039 were in the fire. I am glad to hear your Majesty say so. 636 00:50:49,639 --> 00:50:53,000 I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can 637 00:50:53,119 --> 00:50:59,199 reward you this ring. He slipped an emerald snake ring from his finger and 638 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,440 held it out upon the palm of his hand. Your Majesty has something which 639 00:51:02,519 --> 00:51:07,119 I should value even more highly, said Rolmes. You have but to name 640 00:51:07,199 --> 00:51:13,480 it this photograph. The king stared at him in amazement. Irene's photograph. 641 00:51:13,599 --> 00:51:16,280 He cried, certainly, if you wish it, I thank your majesty, 642 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:21,079 then there is no more to be done in the matter. I have the 643 00:51:21,199 --> 00:51:23,880 honor to wish you a very good morning. He bowed, and, turning 644 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:28,519 away, without observing the hand which the King had stretched out to him, 645 00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:32,159 he set off in my company for his chambers. And that was how a 646 00:51:32,239 --> 00:51:37,800 great scandal threatened to affect the Kingdom of Bohemia, and how the best plans 647 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:43,760 of mister Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make 648 00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:46,360 merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it 649 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:52,239 of late, And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he referred 650 00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:55,960 to her photograph, it is always under the honorable title of the woman. 651 00:51:58,199 --> 00:52:00,639 End of a Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle