Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Crooked Man. One summer night, a
Speaker 1: few months after my marriage, I was seated by my
Speaker 1: own hearth, smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel.
Speaker 1: For my day's work had been an exhausting one. My
Speaker 1: wife had already gone upstairs, and the sound of the
Speaker 1: locking of the hall door some time before told me
Speaker 1: that the servants had also retired. I had risen from
Speaker 1: my seat and was knocking out the ashes of my
Speaker 1: pipe when I suddenly heard the clang of the bell.
Speaker 1: I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve.
Speaker 1: This could not be a visitor at so late an hour,
Speaker 1: A patient, evidently, and possibly an all night Sitting with
Speaker 1: a wry face, I went out into the hall and
Speaker 1: opened the door. To my astonishment, it was Sherlock Holmes
Speaker 1: who stood upon my step. Ah Watson said he. I
Speaker 1: hoped that I might not be too late to catch you,
Speaker 1: my dear fellow, pray come in. You look surprised, and
Speaker 1: no wonder relieved too. I fancy, hm, you still smoke
Speaker 1: the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days. Then there's no
Speaker 1: mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat. It's easy to
Speaker 1: tell that you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson,
Speaker 1: you'll never pass as a pure bred civilian as long
Speaker 1: as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in
Speaker 1: your sleeve. Could you put me up to night with pleasure?
Speaker 1: You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one,
Speaker 1: and I see that you have no gentleman visitor at present.
Speaker 1: Your hat stand proclaims as much. I shall be delighted
Speaker 1: if you will stay. Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg. Then.
Speaker 1: Sorry to see that you've had the British workman in
Speaker 1: the house. He's a token of evil. Not the drains,
Speaker 1: I hope, No, the gas ah. He has left two
Speaker 1: nail marks from his boot upon your linoleum, just where
Speaker 1: the light strikes it. No, thank you. I had some
Speaker 1: supper at Waterloo, but i'll smoke a pipe with you
Speaker 1: with pleasure. I handed in my pouch and he seated
Speaker 1: himself opposite me and smoked for some time in silence.
Speaker 1: I was well aware that nothing but business of importance
Speaker 1: would have brought him to me at such an hour,
Speaker 1: so I waited patiently until he should come round to it.
Speaker 1: I see that you are professionally rather busy just now,
Speaker 1: said he, glancing very keenly across at me. Yes, I've
Speaker 1: had a busy day, I answered. It may seem very
Speaker 1: foolish in your eyes. I added, but really I don't
Speaker 1: know how you deduced it. Holmes chuckled to himself. I
Speaker 1: have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson,
Speaker 1: said he. When your round is a short one, you walk,
Speaker 1: and when it is a long one, you use a
Speaker 1: handsome As I perceive that your boots, although used, are
Speaker 1: by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are
Speaker 1: at present busy enough to justify the handsome. Excellent, I
Speaker 1: cried Elementary, said he. It is one of those instances
Speaker 1: where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable
Speaker 1: to his neighbor, because the latter has missed the one
Speaker 1: little point which is the basis of the deduction. The
Speaker 1: same may be set, my dear fellow, for the effect
Speaker 1: of some of these little sketches of yours, which is
Speaker 1: entirely meretricious, depending as it does, upon your retaining in
Speaker 1: your own hands some factors in the problem which are
Speaker 1: never imparted to the reader. Now at present I am
Speaker 1: in the position of these same readers. For I hold
Speaker 1: in this hand several threads of one of the strangest
Speaker 1: cases which ever perplexed a man's brain. And yet I
Speaker 1: lack the one or two which are needful to complete
Speaker 1: my theory. But I'll have them, Watson, I'll have them.
Speaker 1: His eyes kindled and a slight flush into his thin
Speaker 1: cheeks for an instant. Only when I glanced again, his
Speaker 1: face had resumed that red Indian composure which had made
Speaker 1: so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.
Speaker 1: The problem presents features of interest, said he. I may
Speaker 1: even say exceptional features of interest. I have already looked
Speaker 1: into the matter and have comes I think within sight
Speaker 1: of my solution. If you could accompany me in that
Speaker 1: last step, you might be of considerable service to me.
Speaker 1: I should be delighted. Could you go as far as
Speaker 1: older shot to morrow? I have no doubt Jackson would
Speaker 1: take my practice very good. I want to start by
Speaker 1: the eleven ten from Waterloo. That will give me time. Then,
Speaker 1: if you are not too sleepy, I will give you
Speaker 1: a sketch of what has happened and of what remains
Speaker 1: to be done. I was sleepy before you came. I
Speaker 1: am quite wakeful now I will compress the story as
Speaker 1: far as may be done without omitting anything vitled the case.
Speaker 1: It is conceivable that you may even have read some
Speaker 1: account of the matter. It is the supposed murder of
Speaker 1: Colonel Barclay of the Royal Munsters at Aldershot, which I
Speaker 1: am investigating. I have heard nothing of it. It has
Speaker 1: not excited much attention yet except locally. The facts are
Speaker 1: only two days old. Briefly they are these. The Royal
Speaker 1: Monsters is, as you know, one of the most famous
Speaker 1: Irish regiments in the British Army. It did wonders both
Speaker 1: in the Crimea and the mutiny, and since that time
Speaker 1: distinguished itself upon every possible occasion. It was commanded up
Speaker 1: to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran who
Speaker 1: started as a full private, was raised to commissioned rank
Speaker 1: for his bravery at the time of the mutiny, in
Speaker 1: which he at once carried a musket. Colonel Barclay had
Speaker 1: married at the time when he was a sergeant, and
Speaker 1: his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy d Boy,
Speaker 1: was the daughter of a former color sergeant in the
Speaker 1: same corps. There was, therefore, as can be imagined some
Speaker 1: little social friction when the young couple, for they were
Speaker 1: still young, found themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however,
Speaker 1: to have quickly adapted themselves, and missus Barkley has always,
Speaker 1: I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the
Speaker 1: regiment as her husband was with his brother officers. I
Speaker 1: may add that she was a woman of great beauty,
Speaker 1: and that even now, when she has been married for
Speaker 1: upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking
Speaker 1: and queenly appearance. Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have
Speaker 1: been a uniformly happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I
Speaker 1: owe most of my facts, assures me that he has
Speaker 1: never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the whole,
Speaker 1: he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater
Speaker 1: than his wife's to Berkley. He was acutely uneasy if
Speaker 1: he were absent from her for a day. She, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less subtrusively affectionate.
Speaker 1: But they were regarded in the regiment as the very
Speaker 1: model of a middle aged couple. There was absolutely nothing
Speaker 1: in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy
Speaker 1: which was to follow. Colonel Barclay himself seems to have
Speaker 1: had some singular traits in his character. He was a dashing,
Speaker 1: jovial old soldier in his usual mood, but there were
Speaker 1: occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of
Speaker 1: considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of his nature, however,
Speaker 1: appears never to have been turned towards his wife. Another
Speaker 1: fact which had struck Major Murphy and three out of
Speaker 1: five of the other officers with whom I conversed was
Speaker 1: the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times.
Speaker 1: As the Major expressed it, the smile had often been
Speaker 1: struck from his mouth, as if by some invisible hand,
Speaker 1: when he has been joining the gaietis and chaff of
Speaker 1: the mess table for days on end. When the mood
Speaker 1: was on him, he has been sunk in the deepest gloom.
Speaker 1: This and a certain tinge of superstition were the only
Speaker 1: unusual traits in his character which his brother officers had observed.
Speaker 1: The latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to
Speaker 1: being left alone, especially after dark. This puerile feature in
Speaker 1: a nature which was conspicuously manly, had often given rise
Speaker 1: to comment and conjecture. The first Battalion of the Royal Munsters,
Speaker 1: which is the old one hundred and seventeenth, has been
Speaker 1: stationed at Aldershot for some years. The married officers live
Speaker 1: out of barracks, and the Colonel has during all this
Speaker 1: time occupied a villa called Lachen, about half a mile
Speaker 1: from the north camp. The house stands in its own grounds,
Speaker 1: but the west side of it is not more than
Speaker 1: thirty yards from the high road. A coachman and two
Speaker 1: maids formed the staff of servants. These, with their master
Speaker 1: and mistress, were the sole occupants of Lachene, For the
Speaker 1: Barclays had no children, nor was it usual for them
Speaker 1: to have resident visitors. Now for the events at Lachine
Speaker 1: between nine and ten on the evening of last Monday,
Speaker 1: Missus Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman
Speaker 1: Catholic Church, and had interested herself very much in the
Speaker 1: establishment of the Guild of Saint George, which was formed
Speaker 1: in connection with the Watt Street Chapel for the purpose
Speaker 1: of supplying the poor with cast off clothing. A meeting
Speaker 1: of the Guild had been held that evening a date
Speaker 1: and Missus Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order
Speaker 1: to be present at it. When leaving the house, she
Speaker 1: was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace, remarked
Speaker 1: to her husband, and to assure him that she would
Speaker 1: be back before very long. She then called for miss Morrison,
Speaker 1: a young lady who lives in the next villa, and
Speaker 1: the two went off together to their meeting. It lasted
Speaker 1: forty minutes, and at a quarter past nine, Missus Barclay
Speaker 1: returned home, having left Miss Morrison at her door as
Speaker 1: she passed. There is a room which is used as
Speaker 1: a morning room at Lachine, faces the road and opens
Speaker 1: by a large glass folding door onto the lawn. The
Speaker 1: lawn is thirty yards across and is only divided from
Speaker 1: the highway by a low wall with an iron rail
Speaker 1: above it. It was into this room that Missus Berkley
Speaker 1: went upon her return. The blinds were not down, for
Speaker 1: the room was seldom used in the evening, but Missus
Speaker 1: Barkley herself lit the lamb and then rang the bell,
Speaker 1: asking James Stewart, the housemaid, to bring her a cup
Speaker 1: of tea, which was quite contrary to her usual habits.
Speaker 1: The colonel had been sitting in the dining room. At
Speaker 1: hearing that his wife had returned, he joined her in
Speaker 1: the morning room. The coachman saw him cross the hall
Speaker 1: and enter it. He was never seen again alive. The tea,
Speaker 1: which had been ordered, was brought up at the end
Speaker 1: of ten minutes, but the maid, as she approached the door,
Speaker 1: was surprised to hear the voices of her master and
Speaker 1: mistress in furious altercation. She knocked without receiving any answer,
Speaker 1: and he turned the handle, but only to find that
Speaker 1: the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally enough, she
Speaker 1: ran down to tell the cook, and the two women
Speaker 1: with the coachman came up into the hall and listened
Speaker 1: to the dispute, which was still raging. They all agreed
Speaker 1: that only two voices were to be heard, those of
Speaker 1: Berkley and of his wife. Berkeley's remarks were subdued and abrupt,
Speaker 1: so that none of them were audible to the listeners.
Speaker 1: The ladies, on the other hand, were most bitter, and
Speaker 1: when she raised her voice could be plainly heard. You cowered,
Speaker 1: she repeated, over and over again. What can be done? Now,
Speaker 1: what can be done? Now? Give me back my life.
Speaker 1: I will never so much as breathe the same air
Speaker 1: with you again. You cowered, You cowared. Those were scraps
Speaker 1: of her conversation, ending in a sudden, dreadful cry in
Speaker 1: the man's voice, with a crash and a piercing scream
Speaker 1: from the woman. Convinced that some tragedy had occurred, the
Speaker 1: coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it,
Speaker 1: while scream after scream issued from within. He was unable, however,
Speaker 1: to make his way in, and the maids were too
Speaker 1: distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him.
Speaker 1: A sudden thought struck him, however, and he ran through
Speaker 1: the hall door and round the lawn upon which the
Speaker 1: long French windows open. One side of the window was open,
Speaker 1: which I understand was quite usual in the summer time,
Speaker 1: and he passed without difficulty into the room. His mistress
Speaker 1: had ceased to scream, and was stretched insensible upon a couch, while,
Speaker 1: with his feet tilted over the side of an armchair
Speaker 1: and his head upon the ground. Near the corner of
Speaker 1: the fender was lying the unfortunate soldier Stone dead in
Speaker 1: a pool of his own blood. Naturally, the coachman's first thought,
Speaker 1: on finding that he could do nothing, for his master
Speaker 1: was to open the door. But here an unexpected and
Speaker 1: singular difficulty presented itself. The key was not in the
Speaker 1: inner side of the door, nor could he find it
Speaker 1: anywhere in the room. He went out again, therefore through
Speaker 1: the window, and having obtained the help of a policeman
Speaker 1: and of a medical man, he returned. The lady, against
Speaker 1: whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was removed to her room,
Speaker 1: still in a state of insensibility. The colonel's body was
Speaker 1: then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made
Speaker 1: of the scene of the tragedy. The injury from which
Speaker 1: the unfortunate veteran was suffering was found to be a
Speaker 1: jagged cut some two inches long at the back part
Speaker 1: of his head, which had evidently been caused by a
Speaker 1: violent blow from a blunt weapon. Nor was it difficult
Speaker 1: to guess what that weapon may have been. Upon the floor,
Speaker 1: close to the body was lying a singular club of
Speaker 1: hard carved wood with a bone handle. The colonel possessed
Speaker 1: a varied collection of weapons, brought from the different countries
Speaker 1: in which he had fought, and it is conjectured by
Speaker 1: the police that his club was among his trophies. The
Speaker 1: servants deny having seen it before, but among the numerous
Speaker 1: curiosities in the house, it is possible that it may
Speaker 1: have been overlooked. Nothing else of importance was discovered in
Speaker 1: the room by the police, save the inexplicable fact that
Speaker 1: neither upon Missus Barclay's person, nor upon that of her victim,
Speaker 1: nor in any part of the room, was the missing
Speaker 1: key to be found. The door had eventually to be
Speaker 1: opened by a locksmith from Aldershot. That was the state
Speaker 1: of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning, I, at
Speaker 1: the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to
Speaker 1: supplement the efforts of the police. I think that you
Speaker 1: will acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest,
Speaker 1: but my observation soon made me realize that it was,
Speaker 1: in truth much more extraordinary than would at first sight
Speaker 1: pier Before examining the room, I cross questioned the servants,
Speaker 1: but only succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have
Speaker 1: already stated. One other detail of interest was remembered by
Speaker 1: James Stewart, the housemaid. You will remember that, on hearing
Speaker 1: the sound of the quarrel, she descended and returned with
Speaker 1: the other servants. On that first occasion, when she was alone,
Speaker 1: she says that the voices of her master and mistress
Speaker 1: were sunk so low that she could hear hardly anything,
Speaker 1: and judged by their tones rather than their words, that
Speaker 1: they had fallen out on my pressing her. However, she
Speaker 1: remembered that she heard the word David uttered twice by
Speaker 1: the lady. The point is of the utmost importance as
Speaker 1: guiding us towards the reason of the sudden quarrel. The
Speaker 1: colonel's name, you remember, was James. There was one thing
Speaker 1: in the case which had made the deepest impression, both
Speaker 1: upon the servants and the police. This was the contortion
Speaker 1: of the colonel's face. It had set, according to their account,
Speaker 1: into the most dreadful expression of fear and horror which
Speaker 1: a human countenance is capable of assuming. More than one
Speaker 1: person fainted at the mere sight of him. So terrible
Speaker 1: was the effect. It was quite certain that he had
Speaker 1: foreseen his fate, and that it had caused him the
Speaker 1: utmost horror. This, of course, fitted in well enough with
Speaker 1: the police theory if the colonel could have seen his
Speaker 1: wife making a murderous attack upon him. Nor was the
Speaker 1: fact of the wound being on the back of his
Speaker 1: head a fatal objection to this, as he might have
Speaker 1: turned to avoid the blow. No information could be got
Speaker 1: from the lady herself, who was temporarily insane from an
Speaker 1: acute attack of brain fever. From the police, I learned
Speaker 1: that Miss Morrison, who you remember, went out that evening
Speaker 1: with missus Barclay, denied having any knowledge of what it
Speaker 1: was which had caused the ill humor in which her
Speaker 1: companion had returned. Having gathered these facts, Watson I smoked
Speaker 1: several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were
Speaker 1: crucial from others which were merely incidental. There could be
Speaker 1: no question that the most distinctive and suggestive point in
Speaker 1: the case was the singular disappearance of the door key.
Speaker 1: A most careful search had failed to discover it in
Speaker 1: the room. Therefore it must have been taken from it,
Speaker 1: But neither the colonel nor the colonel's wife could have
Speaker 1: taken it. That was perfectly clear. Therefore a third person
Speaker 1: must have entered the room, and that third person could
Speaker 1: only have come in through the window. It seemed to
Speaker 1: me that a careful examination of the room and the
Speaker 1: lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual.
Speaker 1: You know my methods, Watson, There was not one of
Speaker 1: them which I did not apply to the inquiry, and
Speaker 1: it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones
Speaker 1: from those which I had expected. There had been a
Speaker 1: man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn
Speaker 1: coming from the road. I was able to obtain five
Speaker 1: very clear impressions of his footmarks, one in the roadway
Speaker 1: itself at the point where he had climbed the low wall,
Speaker 1: two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon
Speaker 1: the stained boards near the window where he had entered.
Speaker 1: It apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe marks
Speaker 1: were much deeper than his heels. But it was not
Speaker 1: the man who surprised me. It was his companion. His
Speaker 1: companion Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue paper out
Speaker 1: of his pocket and carefully unfolded it upon his knee.
Speaker 1: What do you make of that? He asked? The paper
Speaker 1: was covered with the tracings of the footmarks of some
Speaker 1: small animal. It had five well marked footpads, an indication
Speaker 1: of long nails, and the whole print might be nearly
Speaker 1: as large as a dessert spoon. It's a dog, said I.
Speaker 1: Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain?
Speaker 1: I found distinct traces that this creature had done so
Speaker 1: a monkey, then, But it is not the print of
Speaker 1: a monkey. What can it be, then, neither dog, nor cat,
Speaker 1: nor monkey, nor any creature that we are familiar with.
Speaker 1: I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements. Here
Speaker 1: are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless.
Speaker 1: You see that it has no less than fifteen inches
Speaker 1: from four foot to hind. Add to that the length
Speaker 1: of neck and head, and you get a creature not
Speaker 1: much less than two feet long, probably more if there
Speaker 1: is any tail. But now observe this other measurement. The
Speaker 1: animal has been moving, and we have the length of
Speaker 1: its stride. In each case it is only about three inches.
Speaker 1: You have an indication, you see of a long body
Speaker 1: with very short legs attached to it. It has not
Speaker 1: been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind.
Speaker 1: But its general shape must be what I have indicated.
Speaker 1: And it can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous.
Speaker 1: How do you deduce that? Because it ran up the
Speaker 1: curtain a canary's cage was hanging in the window, and
Speaker 1: its aim seems to have been to get at the bird.
Speaker 1: Then what was the beast? Ah? If I could give
Speaker 1: it a name, it might go a long way towards
Speaker 1: solving the case. On the whole, it was probably some
Speaker 1: creature of the weasel and stoat tribe. And yet it
Speaker 1: is larger than any of these that I have seen.
Speaker 1: But what had it to do with the crime, That
Speaker 1: also is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal,
Speaker 1: you perceive. We know that a man stood in the
Speaker 1: road looking at the quarrel between the barclays, the blinds
Speaker 1: were up and the room lighted. We know also that
Speaker 1: he ran across the lawn, entered the room accompanied by
Speaker 1: a strange animal, and that he either struck the colonel, or,
Speaker 1: as is equally possible, that the colonel fell down from
Speaker 1: sheer fright at the sight of him and cut his
Speaker 1: head on the corner of the fender. Finally, we have
Speaker 1: the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key
Speaker 1: with him when he left. Your discoveries seemed to have
Speaker 1: left the business more obscure than it was before, said I.
Speaker 1: Quite so, they undoubtedly showed that the affair was much
Speaker 1: deeper than was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over,
Speaker 1: and I came to the conclusion that I must approach
Speaker 1: the case from another aspect. But really, Watson, I am
Speaker 1: keeping you up, and I might just as well tell
Speaker 1: you all this on our way to Aldershot to morrow.
Speaker 1: Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop.
Speaker 1: It is quite certain that when missus Barkley left the
Speaker 1: house at half past seven, she was on good terms
Speaker 1: with her husband. She was never, as I think I
Speaker 1: have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the
Speaker 1: coachman chatting with the colonel in a friendly fashion. Now
Speaker 1: it was equally certain that immediately on her return she
Speaker 1: had gone to the room in which she was least
Speaker 1: likely to see her husband, had flown to tea as
Speaker 1: an agitated woman will, and finally, on his coming in
Speaker 1: to her, had broken into violent recriminations. Therefore, something had
Speaker 1: occurred between seven thirty and nine o'clock which had completely
Speaker 1: altered her feelings towards him. But Miss Morrison had been
Speaker 1: with her during the whole of that hour and a half.
Speaker 1: It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial,
Speaker 1: that she must know something of the matter. My first
Speaker 1: conjecture was that possibly there had been some passages between
Speaker 1: this young lady and the old soldier, which the former
Speaker 1: had now confessed to the wife. That would account for
Speaker 1: the angry return, and also for the girl's denial that
Speaker 1: anything had occurred. Nor would it be entirely incompatible with
Speaker 1: most of the words overheard. But there was the reference
Speaker 1: to David, and there was the known affection of the
Speaker 1: colonel for his wife to weigh against it, to say
Speaker 1: nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other man, which
Speaker 1: might of course be entirely disconnected with what had gone before.
Speaker 1: It was not easy to pick one's steps, but on
Speaker 1: the whole I was inclined to dismiss the idea that
Speaker 1: there had been anything between the colonel and miss Morrison,
Speaker 1: but more than ever, convinced that the young lady held
Speaker 1: the clue as to what it was which had turned
Speaker 1: Missus Barclay to hatred of her husband, I took the
Speaker 1: obvious course therefore, of calling upon Miss m of explaining
Speaker 1: to her that I was perfectly certain that she held
Speaker 1: the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that
Speaker 1: her friend, Missus Barclay might find herself in the dock
Speaker 1: upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up.
Speaker 1: Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl
Speaker 1: with timid eyes and blonde hair. But I found her
Speaker 1: by no means wanting in shrewdness and common sense. She
Speaker 1: sat thinking for some time after I had spoken, and
Speaker 1: then turning to me with a brisk air of resolution,
Speaker 1: she broke into a remarkable statement, which I will condense
Speaker 1: for your benefit. I promised my friend that I would
Speaker 1: say nothing of the matter. And a promise is a promise,
Speaker 1: said she. But if I can really help her when
Speaker 1: so serious a charge is laid against her, and when
Speaker 1: her own mouth, poor darling, is closed by illness, then
Speaker 1: I think I am absolved from my promise. I will
Speaker 1: tell you exactly what happened. Upon Monday evening, we were
Speaker 1: returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter to
Speaker 1: nine o'clock. On our way, we had to pass through
Speaker 1: Hudson Street, which is a very quiet thoroughfare. There is
Speaker 1: only one lamp in it upon the left hand side,
Speaker 1: and as we approached this lamp, I saw a man
Speaker 1: coming towards us with his back very bent and something
Speaker 1: like a box slung over one of his shoulders. He
Speaker 1: appeared to be deformed. He carried his head low and
Speaker 1: walked with his knees bent. We were passing him when
Speaker 1: he raised his face to look at us in circle
Speaker 1: of light thrown by the lamp, and as he did so,
Speaker 1: he stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice, My god,
Speaker 1: it's Nancy. Missus Barkley turned as white as death and
Speaker 1: would have fallen down had the dreadful looking creature not
Speaker 1: caught hold of her. I was going to call for
Speaker 1: the police, but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly
Speaker 1: to the fellow. I thought you had been dead this
Speaker 1: thirty years, henry, said she in a shaking voice. So
Speaker 1: I have said he and it was awful to hear
Speaker 1: the tones that he said it in. He had a
Speaker 1: very dark, fearsome face and a gleam in his eyes
Speaker 1: that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair
Speaker 1: and whiskers were shot with gray, and his face was
Speaker 1: all crinkled and puckered, like a withered apple. Just walk
Speaker 1: on a little way, dear, said missus Barkley. I want
Speaker 1: to have a word with this man. There is nothing
Speaker 1: to be afraid of. She tried to speak boldly, but
Speaker 1: she was still deadly pale, and could hardly get her
Speaker 1: words out for the trembling of her lips. I did,
Speaker 1: she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes.
Speaker 1: Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing,
Speaker 1: and I saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp
Speaker 1: post and shaking his clenched fists in the air, as
Speaker 1: if he were mad with rage. She never said a
Speaker 1: word until we were at the door here, when she
Speaker 1: took me by the hand and begged me to tell
Speaker 1: no one what had happened. It's an old acquaintance of mine,
Speaker 1: who has come down in the world, said she. When
Speaker 1: I promised her I would say nothing, she kissed me,
Speaker 1: and I have never seen her since. I have told
Speaker 1: you now the whole truth. And if I withheld it
Speaker 1: from the police, it is because I did not realize
Speaker 1: then the danger in which my friend stood. I know
Speaker 1: that it can only be to her advantage that everything
Speaker 1: should be known. There was her statement, and to me,
Speaker 1: as you can imagine, it was like a light on
Speaker 1: a dark night, everything which had been disconnected before began
Speaker 1: at once to assume its true place, and I had
Speaker 1: a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My
Speaker 1: next step, obviously, was to find the man who had
Speaker 1: produced such a remarkable impression upon missus Barclay. If he
Speaker 1: were still in Aldershot, it should not be a very
Speaker 1: difficult matter. There are not such a very great number
Speaker 1: of civilians, and a deformed man was short to have
Speaker 1: attracted attention. I spent a day in the search, and
Speaker 1: by evening, this very evening Watson I had run him down.
Speaker 1: The man's name is Henry Wood, and he lives in
Speaker 1: lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him.
Speaker 1: He has only been five days in the place. In
Speaker 1: the character of a registration agent, I had a most
Speaker 1: interesting gossip with his landlady. The man is by trade
Speaker 1: a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens after nightfall
Speaker 1: and giving a little entertainment at each He carries some
Speaker 1: creature about with him in that box, about which the
Speaker 1: landlady seemed to be in considerable trepidation, for she had
Speaker 1: never seen an animal like it. He uses it in
Speaker 1: some of his tricks, according to her account, so much
Speaker 1: the woman was able to tell me, and also that
Speaker 1: it was a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted
Speaker 1: he was, and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes,
Speaker 1: and that for the last two nights she had heard
Speaker 1: him groaning and weeping in his bedroom. He was all
Speaker 1: right as far as money went, but in his deposit
Speaker 1: he had given her what looked like a bad florin.
Speaker 1: She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an
Speaker 1: Indian rupee. So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly
Speaker 1: how we stand, and why it is I want you.
Speaker 1: It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from
Speaker 1: this man, he followed them at a distance, that he
Speaker 1: saw the quarrel between husband and wife through the window,
Speaker 1: that he rushed in, and that the creature which he
Speaker 1: carried in his box got loose. That is all very certain.
Speaker 1: But he is the only person in this world who
Speaker 1: can tell us exactly what happened in that room. And
Speaker 1: you intend to ask him, most certainly, but in the
Speaker 1: presence of a witness, and I am the witness. If
Speaker 1: you will be so good, if he can clear the
Speaker 1: matter up well and good. If he refuses, we have
Speaker 1: no alternative but to apply for a warrant. But how
Speaker 1: do you know he'll be there when we return? You
Speaker 1: may be sure that I took some precautions. I have
Speaker 1: one of my Baker Street boys mounting guard over him,
Speaker 1: who would stick to him like a burg go where
Speaker 1: he might. We shall find him in Hudson Street tomorrow, Watson.
Speaker 1: And meanwhile, I should be the criminal myself if I
Speaker 1: kept you out of bed any longer. It was midday
Speaker 1: when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy,
Speaker 1: and under my companion's guidance, we made our way at
Speaker 1: once to Hudson Street. In spite of his capacity for
Speaker 1: concealing his emotions, I could easily see that Holmes was
Speaker 1: in a state of suppressed excitement, while I was myself
Speaker 1: tingling with that half sporting, half intellectual pleasure which I
Speaker 1: invariably experienced when I associated myself with him in his investigations.
Speaker 1: This is the street, said he, as we turned into
Speaker 1: a short thoroughfare lined with plain two storied brick houses. Ah,
Speaker 1: here is Simpson to report. He's in all right, mister Ohms,
Speaker 1: cried a small street arab running up to us. Good Simpson,
Speaker 1: said Holmes, patting him on the head. Come along, Watson.
Speaker 1: This is the house. He sent in his card with
Speaker 1: a message that he had come on important business. And
Speaker 1: a moment later we were face to face with the
Speaker 1: man whom we had come to see in spite of
Speaker 1: the warm weather. He was crouching over a fire, and
Speaker 1: the little room was like an oven. The man sat
Speaker 1: all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way
Speaker 1: which gave an indescribable impression of deformity. But the face
Speaker 1: which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must
Speaker 1: at some time have been remarkable for its beauty. He
Speaker 1: looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow shot, bilious eyes,
Speaker 1: and without speaking or rising, he waved towards two chairs.
Speaker 1: Mister Henry Wood, late of India, I believe, said Holmes affably.
Speaker 1: I've come over this little matter of Colonel Buckley's death.
Speaker 1: What should I know about that? That's what I want
Speaker 1: to ascertain. You know. I suppose that unless the matter
Speaker 1: is cleared up, missus Buckley, who is an old friend
Speaker 1: of yours, will in all probability be tried for murder.
Speaker 1: The man gave a violent start. I don't know who
Speaker 1: you are, he cried, nor how you come to know
Speaker 1: what you do know. But will you swear that the
Speaker 1: this is true, that you tell me why they are
Speaker 1: only waiting for her to come to her senses to
Speaker 1: arrest her. My god, are you in the police yourself? No,
Speaker 1: what business is it of yours? Then it's every man's
Speaker 1: business to see justice done. You can take my word
Speaker 1: that she is innocent, then you are guilty. No, I
Speaker 1: am not who killed Colonel James Buckley. Then it was
Speaker 1: a just providence that killed him. But mind you this
Speaker 1: that if I had knocked his brains out, as it
Speaker 1: was in my art to do, he would have had
Speaker 1: no more than his due from my hands. If his
Speaker 1: own guilty conscience had not struck him down, it is
Speaker 1: likely enough that I might have had his blood upon
Speaker 1: my soul. You want me to tell the story, Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know why I shouldn't, but there's no cause
Speaker 1: for me to be ashamed of it. It was in
Speaker 1: this way, sir. You see me now, with my back
Speaker 1: like a camel and my all awry. But there was
Speaker 1: a time when Corporal Henry Wood was the smartest man
Speaker 1: in the one hundred and seventeenth foot. We were in India,
Speaker 1: then in cantonments at a place where we'll call Bertie. Barkley,
Speaker 1: who died the other day, was sergeant in the same
Speaker 1: company as myself, and the bell of the regiment. I
Speaker 1: And the finest girl that ever had the breath of
Speaker 1: life between her lips was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of
Speaker 1: the color sergeant. There were two men that loved her,
Speaker 1: and the one that she loved. And you'll smile when
Speaker 1: you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire,
Speaker 1: and hear me say that it was for my good
Speaker 1: looks that she loved me. Well. Though I had her heart,
Speaker 1: her father was set upon her marrying Barkley. I was
Speaker 1: a hareham, scare and reckless lad, and he had had
Speaker 1: an education and was already marked for the sword belt.
Speaker 1: But the girl held true to me, and it seemed
Speaker 1: that I would have had her. When the mutiny broke
Speaker 1: out and all hell was loose in the country, we
Speaker 1: were shut up in Bertie, the regiment of us with
Speaker 1: half a battery of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and
Speaker 1: a lot of civilians and women folk. There were ten
Speaker 1: thousand rebels around us, and they were as keen as
Speaker 1: a set of terriers round a rat cage. About the
Speaker 1: second week of it, our water gave out, and it
Speaker 1: was a question whether we could communicate with General Neil's column,
Speaker 1: which was moving up country. It was our only chance,
Speaker 1: but we could not hope to fight our way out
Speaker 1: with all the women and children. So I volunteered to
Speaker 1: go out and to warn General Neil of our danger.
Speaker 1: My offer was accepted, and I talked it over with
Speaker 1: Sergeant Barkley, who was supposed to know the ground better
Speaker 1: than any other man, and who drew up a route
Speaker 1: by which I might get through the rebel lines. At
Speaker 1: ten o'clock the same night I started off upon my journey.
Speaker 1: There were a thousand lives to save, but it was
Speaker 1: of only one that I was thinking when I dropped
Speaker 1: over the wall that night. My way ran down a
Speaker 1: dried up water course, which we hoped would screen me
Speaker 1: from the enemy's sentries. But as I crept around the
Speaker 1: corner of it, I walked right into six of them,
Speaker 1: who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me.
Speaker 1: In an instant, I was stunned with a blow and
Speaker 1: bound hand and foot. But the real blow was to
Speaker 1: my heart and not to my head, For as I
Speaker 1: came to and listened to as much as I could
Speaker 1: understand of their talk, I had enough to tell me
Speaker 1: that my comrade, the very man who had arranged the
Speaker 1: way that I was to take, had betrayed me by
Speaker 1: means of a native servant, into the hands of the enemy. Well,
Speaker 1: there's no need for me to dwell on that part
Speaker 1: of it, you know now what James Bartley was capable of.
Speaker 1: Bertie was relieved by Neil next day, but the rebels
Speaker 1: took me away with them in their retreat, and it
Speaker 1: was many a long year before ever I saw a
Speaker 1: white face again. I was tortured and tried to get away,
Speaker 1: and was captured and tortured again. You can see for
Speaker 1: yourselves the state in which I was left. Some of
Speaker 1: them that fled into Nepal took me with them, and
Speaker 1: then afterwards I was up past Darjeeling the hill foke
Speaker 1: up there, murdered the rebels who had me, and I
Speaker 1: became their slave for a time until I escaped. Instead
Speaker 1: of going south, I had to go north until I
Speaker 1: found myself among the Afghans. There. I wandered about for
Speaker 1: many a year, and at last came back to the Punjab,
Speaker 1: where I lived mostly among the natives, and picked up
Speaker 1: a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned.
Speaker 1: What use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to
Speaker 1: go back to England, or to make myself known to
Speaker 1: my old comrades. Even my wish for avenge would not
Speaker 1: make me do that. I'd rather that Nancy and my
Speaker 1: old pals should think of Airrywood as having died with
Speaker 1: a straight back, than seeing him living and crawling with
Speaker 1: a stick like a chimpanzee. They never doubted that I
Speaker 1: was dead, and I meant they never should. I heard
Speaker 1: that Berkeley had married Nancy, and that he was rising
Speaker 1: rapidly in the regiment, but even that did not make
Speaker 1: me speak. But when one gets old, one has a
Speaker 1: longing for home. For years, I've been dreaming of the
Speaker 1: bright green fields and the hedges of England. The last
Speaker 1: I determined to see them before I died. I saved
Speaker 1: enough to bring me across, and then I came here
Speaker 1: where the soldiers are, for I know their ways and
Speaker 1: how to amuse them, and so earn enough to keep me.
Speaker 1: Your narrative is most interesting, said Sherlock Holmes. Now I
Speaker 1: have already heard of your meeting with missus Barkley and
Speaker 1: your mutual recognition. You then, as I understand, followed her
Speaker 1: home and saw through the window and altercation between her
Speaker 1: husband and her, in which she doubtless cast his conduct
Speaker 1: to you in his teeth, your own feelings overcame you,
Speaker 1: and you ran across the lawn and broke in upon them.
Speaker 1: I did, sir, And at the side of me, he
Speaker 1: looked as I have never seen a man look before.
Speaker 1: And over he went, with his head on the fender.
Speaker 1: But he was dead before he fell. I read death
Speaker 1: on his face as plain as I can read that
Speaker 1: text over the fire. The bare sight of me was
Speaker 1: like a bullet through his guilty heart. And then then
Speaker 1: Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the
Speaker 1: door from her hand, intending to unlock it and get help.
Speaker 1: But as I was doing it, it seemed to me
Speaker 1: better to leave it alone and get away. But the
Speaker 1: thing might look black against me, and anyway my secret
Speaker 1: would be out if I were taken in my aist.
Speaker 1: I thrust the key into my pocket and dropped my
Speaker 1: stick while I was chasing Teddy, who'd run up the curtain.
Speaker 1: When I got him into his box from which he
Speaker 1: had slipped, I was off as fast as I could run.
Speaker 1: Who's Teddy, asked Holmes. The man leaned over and pulled
Speaker 1: up the front of a kind of hutch in the corner.
Speaker 1: In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish brown creature,
Speaker 1: thin and lithe with the legs of a stoat, a long,
Speaker 1: thin nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes
Speaker 1: that ever I saw in an animal's head. It's a mongoose,
Speaker 1: I cried. Well, some call them that, and some call
Speaker 1: them ig newman said the man snake catcher is what
Speaker 1: I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick on Cobra's
Speaker 1: I have one ear without the fangs, and Teddy catches
Speaker 1: it every night to please the folk in the canteen.
Speaker 1: Any other point, sir, well, we may have to apply
Speaker 1: to you again if missus Barclay should prove to be
Speaker 1: in serious trouble. In that case, of course I'd come forward.
Speaker 1: But if not, there is no object in raking up
Speaker 1: this scandal against a dead man, fouly as he has acted.
Speaker 1: You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for
Speaker 1: thirty years of his life, his conscience bitterly reproached him
Speaker 1: for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on
Speaker 1: the other side of the street. Goodbye. Would I want
Speaker 1: to learn if anything has happened since yesterday We were
Speaker 1: in time to overtake the Major before he reached the corner. Ah, Holmes,
Speaker 1: he said, I suppose you have heard that all this
Speaker 1: fuss has come to nothing. What then the inquest is
Speaker 1: just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively that death was
Speaker 1: due to apoplexy. You see, it was quite a simple
Speaker 1: case after all. Oh, remarkably superficial, said Holmes, smiling. Come, Watson,
Speaker 1: I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot anymore.
Speaker 1: There's one thing, said I, as we walked down to
Speaker 1: the station. If the husband's name was James and the
Speaker 1: other was Henry, what was this talk about, David? That
Speaker 1: one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the
Speaker 1: whole story. Had I been the ideal reasoner which you
Speaker 1: are so fond of depicting, it was evidently a term
Speaker 1: of reproach, of reproach. Yes, David strayed a little occasionally,
Speaker 1: you know, and on one occasion in the same direction
Speaker 1: as Sergeant James Barclay. You remember the small affair of
Speaker 1: Uriah and Bathsheber. My biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty,
Speaker 1: I fear, but you will find the story in the
Speaker 1: first or second of Samuel. That is the end of
Speaker 1: the Adventure of the Crooked Man. From the Memoirs of
Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for
Speaker 1: Magpie Audio twenty sixteen.