Speaker 1: The adventure of the Devil's Foot. In recording from time
Speaker 1: to time some of the curious experiences and interesting recollections
Speaker 1: which I associate with my long and intimate friendship with
Speaker 1: mister Sherlock Holmes. I have continually been faced by difficulties
Speaker 1: caused by his own aversion to publicity. To his somber
Speaker 1: and cynical spirit, all popular applause was always a borrnd,
Speaker 1: and nothing amused him more at the end of a
Speaker 1: successful case than to hand over the actual exposure to
Speaker 1: some orthodox official and to listen, with a mocking smile
Speaker 1: to the general chorus of misplaced congratulation. It was indeed
Speaker 1: this attitude upon the part of my friend, and certainly
Speaker 1: not any lack of interesting material, which has caused me
Speaker 1: of late years to lay very few of my records
Speaker 1: before the public. My participation in some of his adventures
Speaker 1: was always a privilege which entailed discretion and reticence upon me.
Speaker 1: It was then with considerable surprise that I received a
Speaker 1: telegram from Holmes last Tuesday. He has never been known
Speaker 1: to write where a telegram would serve in the following terms,
Speaker 1: why not tell them of the cornish horror strangest case
Speaker 1: I have handled. I have no idea what backward sweep
Speaker 1: of memory had brought the matter fresh to his mind,
Speaker 1: for what freak had caused him to desire that I
Speaker 1: should recount it. But I hasten before another canceling telegram
Speaker 1: may arrive to hunt out the notes which give me
Speaker 1: the exact details of the case, and to lay the
Speaker 1: narrative before my readers. It was then, in the spring
Speaker 1: of the year eighteen ninety seven that Holmes's Iron Constitution
Speaker 1: showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of
Speaker 1: constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated perhaps
Speaker 1: by occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year,
Speaker 1: Dr Moore, Agar of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to
Speaker 1: Holmes I may someday recount, gave positive injunctions that the
Speaker 1: famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender
Speaker 1: himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an
Speaker 1: absolute breakdown. The state of his health was not a
Speaker 1: matter in which he himself took the faintest interest, for
Speaker 1: his mental detachment was absolute. But he was induced at last,
Speaker 1: on the threat of being permanently disqualified from work, to
Speaker 1: give himself a complete change of scene and air. Thus
Speaker 1: it was that in the u s the early spring
Speaker 1: of that year, we found ourselves together in a small
Speaker 1: cottage near Poldieue Bay, at the further extremity of the
Speaker 1: Cornish Peninsula. It was a singular spot, and one peculiarly
Speaker 1: well suited to the grim humor of my patient. From
Speaker 1: the windows of our little whitewashed house, which stood high
Speaker 1: upon a grassy headland, we looked down upon the whole
Speaker 1: sinister semicircle of Mount's Bay, that old death trap of
Speaker 1: sailing vessels, with its fringe of black cliffs and surge
Speaker 1: swept reefs on which innumerable seamen have met their end
Speaker 1: with the northerly breeze. It lies placid and sheltered, inviting
Speaker 1: the storm tossed craft to tack into it for rest
Speaker 1: and protection. Then come the sudden swirl round of the wind,
Speaker 1: the blistering gale from the southwest, the dragging anchor the
Speaker 1: lee shore, and the last battle in the creaming breakers.
Speaker 1: The wise Mariner stands far out from that evil place.
Speaker 1: On the land side, our surroundings were a somber as
Speaker 1: on the sea. It was a country of rolling moors,
Speaker 1: lonely and dun colored, with an occasional church tower to
Speaker 1: mark the site of some old world village. In every
Speaker 1: direction upon these moors there were traces of some vanished
Speaker 1: race which had passed utterly away and left as its
Speaker 1: sole record, strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained
Speaker 1: the burned ashes of the dead, and curious earthworks which
Speaker 1: hinted at prehistoric strife. The glamor and mystery of the place,
Speaker 1: with its sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations, appealed to the
Speaker 1: imagination of my friend, and he spent much of his
Speaker 1: time in long walks and solitary meditations upon the moor.
Speaker 1: The ancient Cornish language had also arrested his attention, and
Speaker 1: he had, i remember, conceived the idea that it was
Speaker 1: akin to the Chaldean and had been largely derived from
Speaker 1: the Phoenician traders in Tin. He had received a consignment
Speaker 1: of books upon philology, and was settling down to develop
Speaker 1: this thesis, when suddenly, to my sorrow and to his
Speaker 1: unfeigned delight, we found ourselves, even in that land of dreams,
Speaker 1: plunged into a problem at our very doors, which was
Speaker 1: more intense more engrossing and infinitely more mysterious than any
Speaker 1: of those which had driven us from London. Our simple
Speaker 1: life and peaceful, healthy routine were violently interrupted, and we
Speaker 1: were precipitated into the midst of a series of events
Speaker 1: which caused the utmost excitement, not only in Cornwall, but
Speaker 1: throughout the whole West of England. Many of my readers
Speaker 1: may retain some recollection of what was called at the
Speaker 1: time the Cornish Horror, though a most imperfect account of
Speaker 1: the matter reached the London press. Now, after thirteen years,
Speaker 1: I will give the true details of this inconceivable affair
Speaker 1: to the public. I have said that scattered towers marked
Speaker 1: the villages which dotted this part of Cornwall. The nearest
Speaker 1: of these was the hamlet of Tredanic Wallas, where the
Speaker 1: cottages of a couple of hundred inhabitants clustered round an
Speaker 1: ancient moss grown church. The vicar of the parish, mister Roundhey,
Speaker 1: was something of an archaeologist, and as such Holmes had
Speaker 1: made his acquaintance. He was a middle aged man, portly
Speaker 1: and affable, with a considerable fund of local law. At
Speaker 1: his invitation, we had taken tea at the vicarage, and
Speaker 1: had come to know also mister Mortimer Tregennis, an independent
Speaker 1: gentleman who increased the clergyman's scanty resources by taking rooms
Speaker 1: in his large, straggling house. The vicar, being a bachelor,
Speaker 1: was glad to come to such an arrangement, though he
Speaker 1: had little in common with his lodger, who was a thin,
Speaker 1: dark spectacled man with a stoop which gave the impression
Speaker 1: of actual physical deformity. I remember that during our short
Speaker 1: visit we found the vicar garrulous, but his lodger strangely reticent,
Speaker 1: a sad faced, introspective man sitting with averted eyes, brooding
Speaker 1: apparently upon his own affairs. These were the two men
Speaker 1: who entered abruptly into our little sitting room on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: March the sixteenth, shortly after our breakfast hour, preparatory to
Speaker 1: our daily excursion upon the moors. Mister Holmes said the
Speaker 1: Vicar in an agitated voice, the most extraordinary and tragic
Speaker 1: affair has occurred during the night. It is the most
Speaker 1: unheard of business. We can only regard it as a
Speaker 1: special providence that you should chance to be here at
Speaker 1: the time, For in all England you are the one
Speaker 1: man we need. I glared at the intrusive vicar with
Speaker 1: no very friendly eyes. But Holmes took his pipe from
Speaker 1: his lips and sat up in his chair like an
Speaker 1: old hound who hears the view halloo. He waved his
Speaker 1: hands to the sofa, and our palpitating visitor with his
Speaker 1: agitated companion, sat side by side upon it. Mister Mortimer
Speaker 1: Tregenis was more self contained than the clergyman, but the
Speaker 1: twitching of his thin hand and the brightness of his
Speaker 1: dark eyes showed that they shared a common emotion. Shall
Speaker 1: I speak or you, he asked of the vicar. Well,
Speaker 1: as you seem to have made the discovery, whatever it
Speaker 1: may be, and the Vicar to have had it second hand,
Speaker 1: perhaps you had better do the speaking, said Holmes. I
Speaker 1: glanced at the hastily clad clergyman with the formerly dressed
Speaker 1: lodger seated beside him, and was amused at the surprise
Speaker 1: which Holmes's simple deduction had brought to their faces. Perhaps
Speaker 1: I had best say a few words first, said the vicar,
Speaker 1: and then you can judge if you will listen to
Speaker 1: the details from mister Tregennis, or whether we should not
Speaker 1: hasten at once to the scene of this mysterious affair.
Speaker 1: I may explain then that our friend here spent last
Speaker 1: evening in the company of his two brothers, Owen and George,
Speaker 1: and of his sister Brenda, at their house of tredanic Wartha,
Speaker 1: which is near the Old Stone Cross upon the Moor.
Speaker 1: He left them shortly after ten o'clock playing cards round
Speaker 1: the dining room table, in excellent health and spirits. This morning,
Speaker 1: being an early riser, he walked in that direction before
Speaker 1: breakfast and was overtaken by the carriage of doctor Richards,
Speaker 1: who explained that he had just been sent for on
Speaker 1: a most urgent call to tredanic Wartha. Mister Mortimer Tregenis
Speaker 1: naturally went with him. When he arrived at tredanic Wartha,
Speaker 1: he found an extraordinary state of things. His two brothers
Speaker 1: and his sister were seated round the table exactly as
Speaker 1: he had left them, the cards still spread in front
Speaker 1: of them, and the candles burned down to their sockets.
Speaker 1: The sister lay back stone dead in her chair, while
Speaker 1: the two brothers sat on each side of her, laughing,
Speaker 1: shouting and singing, the senses stricken clean out of them,
Speaker 1: all three of them. The dead woman and the two
Speaker 1: demented men retained upon their faces an expression of the
Speaker 1: utmost horror, a convulsion of terror which was dreadful to
Speaker 1: look upon. There was no sign of the presence of
Speaker 1: anyone in the house except missus Porter, the old cook
Speaker 1: and housekeeper, who declared that she had slept deeply and
Speaker 1: heard no sound during the night. Nothing had been stolen
Speaker 1: or disarranged. And there is absolutely no explanation of what
Speaker 1: the horror can be which has frightened a woman to
Speaker 1: death and two strong men out of their senses. There
Speaker 1: is the situation, mister Holmes, in a nutshell, and if
Speaker 1: you can help us to clear it up, you will
Speaker 1: have done a great work. I had hoped that in
Speaker 1: some way I could coax my companion back into the
Speaker 1: quiet which had been the object of our journey. But
Speaker 1: one glance at his inn tense face and contracted eyebrows
Speaker 1: told me how vain was now the expectation. He sat
Speaker 1: for some little time in silence, absorbed in the strange
Speaker 1: drama which had broken in upon our peace. I will
Speaker 1: look into this matter, he said at last. On the
Speaker 1: face of it, it would appear to be a case
Speaker 1: of a very exceptional nature. Have you been there yourself,
Speaker 1: mister Roundey, No, mister Holmes. Mister Tregenis brought back the
Speaker 1: account to the vicarage, and I at once hurried over
Speaker 1: with him to consult you. How far is it to
Speaker 1: the house where this singular tragedy occurred? About a mile inland?
Speaker 1: Then we shall walk over together, But before we start,
Speaker 1: I must ask you a few questions, Mister Mortimer Tregenis,
Speaker 1: the other had been silent all this time, but I
Speaker 1: had observed that his more controlled excitement was even greater
Speaker 1: than the obtrusive emotion of the clergyman. He sat with
Speaker 1: a pale, drawn face, his anxious gaze fixed upon Holmes,
Speaker 1: and his thin hands clasped convulsively together. His pale lips
Speaker 1: quivered as he listened to the dreadful experience which had
Speaker 1: befallen his family, and his dark eyes seemed to reflect
Speaker 1: something of the horror of the scene. Ask what you like,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, said he eagerly. It is a bad thing
Speaker 1: to speak of, but I will answer you the truth.
Speaker 1: Tell me about last night, well, mister Holmes, I sucked there,
Speaker 1: as the vicar has said, and my elder brother George
Speaker 1: proposed a game of whist. Afterwards we sat down about
Speaker 1: nine o'clock. There was a quarter past ten when I
Speaker 1: moved to go. I left them all round the table
Speaker 1: as merry as could be. Who let you out? Missus
Speaker 1: Porter had gone to bed, so I let my self out.
Speaker 1: I shut the hall door behind me. The window of
Speaker 1: the room in which they sat was closed, but the
Speaker 1: blind was not drawn down. There was no change in
Speaker 1: door or window this morning, or any reason to think
Speaker 1: that any stranger had been to the house. Yeah, there
Speaker 1: they sat, driven clean, mad with terror, and BRender lying
Speaker 1: dead of fright with her head hanging over the arm
Speaker 1: of the chair. I'll never get the sight of that
Speaker 1: room out of my mind so long as I live.
Speaker 1: The facts as you state them are certainly most remarkable,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. I take it that you have no theory
Speaker 1: yourself which can in any way account for them as devilish,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes. Devilish, cried Mortimer Tregennis. It is not of
Speaker 1: this world. Something has come into that room which has
Speaker 1: dashed the light of reason from their minds. What human
Speaker 1: contrivance could do that? I fear, said Holmes, that if
Speaker 1: the matter is beyond humananity, it is certainly beyond me.
Speaker 1: Yet we must exhaust all natural explanations before we fall
Speaker 1: back upon such a theory as this. As to yourself,
Speaker 1: mister treguinnis, I take it you were divided in some
Speaker 1: way from your family, since they lived together and you
Speaker 1: had rooms apart. That is so, mister Holmes, though the
Speaker 1: matter is past and done with. We were a family
Speaker 1: of tin miners at Red Root, but we sold our
Speaker 1: venture to a company and so retired with enough to
Speaker 1: keep us. I won't deny that there was some feeling
Speaker 1: about the division of the money, and it stood between
Speaker 1: us for a time, but it was all forgiven and forgotten,
Speaker 1: and we were the best of friends together. Looking back
Speaker 1: at the evening which you spent together, does anything stand
Speaker 1: out in your memory as throwing any possible light upon
Speaker 1: the tragedy? Think carefully, mister Tregennis, for any clue which
Speaker 1: can help me. There is nothing at all, sir. Your
Speaker 1: people were in their usual spirits, never better were they
Speaker 1: nervous people. Did they ever show any apprehension of coming danger?
Speaker 1: Nothing of the kind. You have nothing to add then,
Speaker 1: which could assist me. Mortimer tregenis considered earnestly for a moment.
Speaker 1: There is one thing that occurs to me, said he
Speaker 1: at last. As we sat at the table, my back
Speaker 1: was to the window, and my brother George, he being
Speaker 1: my partner at cards, was facing it. I saw him
Speaker 1: once look hard over my shoulder, so I turned round
Speaker 1: and looked also. The blind was up and the window shut,
Speaker 1: but I could just make out the bushes on the lawn,
Speaker 1: and it seemed to me for a moment that I
Speaker 1: saw something moving among them. I couldn't even say if
Speaker 1: it was man or animal, but I just thought there
Speaker 1: was something there. When I asked him what he was
Speaker 1: looking at, he told me that he had the same feeling.
Speaker 1: That is all that I can say. Did you not investigate? No,
Speaker 1: the matter passed as unimportant. You left them then without
Speaker 1: any premonition of evil, none at all. I am not
Speaker 1: clear how you came to hear the news so early
Speaker 1: this morning. I am an early riser and generally take
Speaker 1: a walk before breakfast. This morning I had hardly started
Speaker 1: when the doctor in his carriage overtook me. He told
Speaker 1: me that old missus Porter had sent a boy down
Speaker 1: with an urgent message. I sprang in beside him and
Speaker 1: we drove on. When we got there. We looked into
Speaker 1: that dreadful room. The candles and the fire must have
Speaker 1: burnt out hours before, and they had been sitting there
Speaker 1: in the dark until dawn had broken. The doctor said,
Speaker 1: BRender must have been dead at least six hours. There
Speaker 1: were no signs of violence. She just lay across the
Speaker 1: arm of the chair with that look on her face.
Speaker 1: George and Owen were singing snatches of songs and gibberin
Speaker 1: like two great apes. Oh, it was awful to see.
Speaker 1: I couldn't stand it. And the doctor was as white
Speaker 1: as a sheet. Indeed, he fell into a chair in
Speaker 1: a sort of feint, and we nearly had him on
Speaker 1: our hands as well. Remarkable, most remarkable, said Holmes, rising
Speaker 1: and taking his hat. I think perhaps we had better
Speaker 1: go down to tredanic warfare without further delay. I confess
Speaker 1: that I have seldom known a case which, at first
Speaker 1: sight presented the more singular problem. Our proceedings of that
Speaker 1: first morning did little to advance the investigation. It was marked, however,
Speaker 1: at the outset by an incident which left the most
Speaker 1: sinister impression upon my mind. The approach to the spot
Speaker 1: at which the tragedy occurred is down a narrow, winding
Speaker 1: country lane. While we made our way along it, we
Speaker 1: heard the rattle of a carriage coming towards us, and
Speaker 1: stood aside to let it pass. As it drove by us,
Speaker 1: I caught a glimpse through the closed window of a
Speaker 1: horribly contorted, grinning face glaring out at us. Those staring
Speaker 1: eyes and gnashing teeth flashed past us like a dreadful vision.
Speaker 1: My brothers cried Mortimer Trogenis, white to his lips. They
Speaker 1: had taken them to Helstone. We looked with horror after
Speaker 1: the black carriage, lumbering upon its way. Then we turned
Speaker 1: our steps towards this ill omened house in which they
Speaker 1: had met their strange fate. It was a large and
Speaker 1: bright dwelling, rather a villa than a cottage, with a
Speaker 1: considerable garden, which was already in that cornish air well
Speaker 1: filled with spring flowers. Towards this garden the window of
Speaker 1: the sitting room fronted, and from it, according to Mortimer Tregenis,
Speaker 1: must have come that thing of evil, which had, by
Speaker 1: sheer horror, in a single instant, blasted their minds. Holmes
Speaker 1: walked slowly and thoughtfully among the flower pots and along
Speaker 1: the path before we entered the porch. So absorbed was
Speaker 1: he in his thoughts, I remember that he stumbled over
Speaker 1: the watering pot, upset its contents, and deluged both our
Speaker 1: feet and the garden path. Inside the house, we were
Speaker 1: met by the elderly Cornish housekeeper, missus Porter, who, with
Speaker 1: the aid of a young girl, looked after the wants
Speaker 1: of the family. She readily answered all Holmes's questions. She
Speaker 1: had heard nothing in the night. Her employers had all
Speaker 1: been in excellent spirits lately, and she had never known
Speaker 1: them more cheerful and prosperous. She had fainted with horror
Speaker 1: upon entering the room in the morning and seeing that
Speaker 1: dreadful company round the table. She had, when she recovered,
Speaker 1: thrown open the window to let the morning air in,
Speaker 1: and had run down to the lane when she sent
Speaker 1: a farm lad for the doctor. The lady was on
Speaker 1: her bed upstairs if we cared to see her. It
Speaker 1: took four strong men to get the brothers into the
Speaker 1: asylum carriage. She would not herself stay in the house
Speaker 1: another day, and was starting that very afternoon to rejoin
Speaker 1: her family at Saint Ives. We ascended the stairs and
Speaker 1: viewed the body. Miss Brenda Tregenis had been a very
Speaker 1: beautiful girl, though now verging upon middle age. Her dark,
Speaker 1: clear cut face was handsome even in death. But there
Speaker 1: still lingered upon it something of that convulsion of horror
Speaker 1: which had been her life. Lasked human emotion. From her bedroom,
Speaker 1: we descended to the sitting room where this strange tragedy
Speaker 1: had actually occurred. The charred ashes of the overnight fire
Speaker 1: lay in the grate. On the table were the four
Speaker 1: guttered and burned out candles, with the cards scattered over
Speaker 1: its surface. The chairs had been moved back against the walls,
Speaker 1: but all else was as it had been the night before.
Speaker 1: Homes paced with light swift steps about the room. He
Speaker 1: sat in the various chairs, drawing them up and reconstructing
Speaker 1: their positions. He tested how much of the garden was visible.
Speaker 1: He examined the floor, the ceiling, and the fireplace. But
Speaker 1: never once did I see that sudden brightening of his
Speaker 1: eyes and tightening of his lips, which would have told
Speaker 1: me that he saw some gleam of light in this
Speaker 1: utter duck. Why a fire? He asked once? Had they
Speaker 1: always a fire in this small room? On a spring evening?
Speaker 1: Mortimer Tregenis explained that the night was cold and damp
Speaker 1: for that reason. After his arrival, the fire was lit.
Speaker 1: What are you going to do now, mister Holmes, he asked.
Speaker 1: My friend smiled and laid his hand upon my arm.
Speaker 1: I think, Watson, that I shall resume that course of
Speaker 1: tobacco poisoning. Would you have so often and so justly condemned?
Speaker 1: Said he? With your permission, gentlemen, we will now return
Speaker 1: to our cottage, for I am not aware that any
Speaker 1: new factor is likely to come to our notice here.
Speaker 1: I will turn the facts over in my mind, mister Tregenis,
Speaker 1: and should anything occur to me, I will certainly communicate
Speaker 1: with you and the vicar. In the meantime, I wish
Speaker 1: you both good morning. It was not until long after
Speaker 1: we were back in Poldieu Cottage that Holmes broke his
Speaker 1: complete and absorbed silence. He sat coiled in his arm chair,
Speaker 1: his haggard and ascetic face hardly visible amid the blue
Speaker 1: swirl of his tobacco smoke, his black brows drawn down,
Speaker 1: his forehead contracted, his eyes vacant and far away. Finally,
Speaker 1: he laid down his pipe and sprang to his feet.
Speaker 1: It won't do Watson said he with a laugh. Let
Speaker 1: us walk along the cliffs together and search for flint arrows.
Speaker 1: We are more likely to find them than clues to
Speaker 1: this problem. To let the brain work without sufficient material
Speaker 1: is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces.
Speaker 1: The sea, air, sunshine, and patience, Watson. All else will
Speaker 1: come now. Let us calmly def find our position, Watson,
Speaker 1: he continued, as we skirted the cliffs together. Let us
Speaker 1: get a firm grip of the very little which we
Speaker 1: do know, so that when fresh facts arise, we may
Speaker 1: be ready to fit them into their places. I take
Speaker 1: it in the first place that neither of us is
Speaker 1: prepared to admit diabolical intrusions into the affairs of men.
Speaker 1: Let us begin by ruling that entirely out of our minds,
Speaker 1: very good, there remain three persons who have been grievously
Speaker 1: stricken by some conscious or unconscious human agency. That is
Speaker 1: firm ground. Now, when did this occur? Evidently, assuming his
Speaker 1: narrative to be true, it was immediately after mister Mortimer
Speaker 1: Tregenis had left the room. That is a very important point.
Speaker 1: The presumption is that it was within a few minutes afterwards.
Speaker 1: The cards still lay upon the table. It was already
Speaker 1: past their usual hour for bed, yet they had not
Speaker 1: changed their position or pushed back their chairs. I repeat
Speaker 1: then that the occurrence was immediately after his departure, and
Speaker 1: not later than eleven o'clock last night. Our next obvious
Speaker 1: step is to check, so far as we can, the
Speaker 1: movements of Mortimer Tregenis after he left the room. In
Speaker 1: this there is no difficulty, as they seemed to be
Speaker 1: above suspicion. Knowing my methods as you do. You were,
Speaker 1: of course conscious of the somewhat clumsy water pot expedient
Speaker 1: by which I obtained a clearer impress of his foot
Speaker 1: than might otherwise have been possible. The wet sandy path
Speaker 1: took it admirably. Last night was also wet, you will remember,
Speaker 1: and it was not difficult, having obtained a sample print
Speaker 1: to pick out his track among others, and to follow
Speaker 1: his movements. He appears to have walked away swiftly in
Speaker 1: the direction of the vicarage. If then Mortimer Trogenis disappeared
Speaker 1: from the scene and yet some outside person affected the
Speaker 1: card players, how can we reconstruct that person and how
Speaker 1: was such an impression of horror conveyed missus Porter may
Speaker 1: be eliminated. She is evidently harmless. Is there any evidence
Speaker 1: that some one crept up to the garden window and
Speaker 1: in some manner produced so terrific an effect that he
Speaker 1: drove those who saw it out of their senses. The
Speaker 1: only suggestion in this direction comes from Mortimer Trogenis himself,
Speaker 1: who says that his brother spoke about some movement in
Speaker 1: the garden that is certainly remarkable. As the night was rainy, cloudy,
Speaker 1: and dark, any one who had the design to alarm
Speaker 1: these people would be compelled to place his very face
Speaker 1: against the glass before he could be seen. There is
Speaker 1: a three foot flower boarder outside this window, but no
Speaker 1: indication of a footmark. It is difficult to imagine, then,
Speaker 1: how an outsider could have made so terrible an impression
Speaker 1: upon the company. Nor have we found any possible motive
Speaker 1: for so strange and elaborate an attempt. You perceive our difficulties, Watson,
Speaker 1: They are only too clear, I answered with conviction, And
Speaker 1: yet with a little more material we may prove that
Speaker 1: they are not insurmountable, said Holmes. I fancy that among
Speaker 1: your extensive archives, Watson, you may find some which were
Speaker 1: nearly as obscure. Meanwhile, we shall put the case aside
Speaker 1: until more accurate data are available, and devote the rest
Speaker 1: of our mourning to the pursuit of neolithic man. I
Speaker 1: may have commented upon my friend's power of mental detachment,
Speaker 1: but never have I wondered at it more than upon
Speaker 1: that spring morning in Cornwall, when for two hours he
Speaker 1: discoursed upon celts, arrow heads and shards, as lightly as
Speaker 1: if no sinister mystery were waiting for his solution. It
Speaker 1: was not until we had returned in the afternoon to
Speaker 1: our cottage that we found a visitor awaiting us, who
Speaker 1: soon brought our minds back to the matter in hand.
Speaker 1: Neither of us needed to be told who that visitor was.
Speaker 1: The huge body, the craggy and deeply seamed face, with
Speaker 1: the fierce eyes and hawk like nose, the grizzled hair
Speaker 1: which nearly brushed our cottage ceiling, the beard golden at
Speaker 1: the fringes and white near the lips, save for the
Speaker 1: nicotine stain from his perpetual cigar. All these were as
Speaker 1: well known in London as in Africa, and could only
Speaker 1: be associated with the tremendous personality of doctor Leon Sterndale,
Speaker 1: the great lion hunter and explorer. We had heard of
Speaker 1: his presence in the district, and had once or twice
Speaker 1: caught sight of his tall figure upon the moorland paths.
Speaker 1: He made no advances to us, however, nor would we
Speaker 1: have dreamed of doing so to him, as it was
Speaker 1: well known that it was his love of seclusion which
Speaker 1: caused him to spend the greater part of the intervals
Speaker 1: between his journeys in a small bungalow buried in the
Speaker 1: lonely wood of beecham Arians. Here, amid his books and
Speaker 1: his maps, he lived an absolutely lonely life, attending to
Speaker 1: his own simple wants and paying little apparent heed to
Speaker 1: the affairs of his neighbors. It was a surprise to me, therefore,
Speaker 1: to hear him asking Holmes in an eager voice, whether
Speaker 1: he had made any advance in his reconstruction of this
Speaker 1: mysterious episode. The country police are utterly at fault, said he,
Speaker 1: But perhaps your wider experience has suggested some conceivable explanation.
Speaker 1: My only claim to being taken into your confidence is that,
Speaker 1: during my many residences here I have come to know
Speaker 1: this family of tregenis very well. Indeed, upon my Cornish
Speaker 1: mother's side. I could call them cousins, and their strange
Speaker 1: fate has naturally been a great shock to me. I
Speaker 1: may tell you that I had got as far as
Speaker 1: Plymouth upon my way to Africa, but the news reached
Speaker 1: me this morning, and I came straight back again to
Speaker 1: help in the inquiry. Holmes raised his eyebrows. Did you
Speaker 1: lose your boat through it? I will take the next,
Speaker 1: dear me, that is friendship. Indeed, I tell you they
Speaker 1: were relatives, quite so, cousins of your mother. Was your
Speaker 1: baggage aboard the ship? Some of it, but the main
Speaker 1: part of the hotel? I see? But surely this event
Speaker 1: could not have found its way into the Plymouth Morning papers. No, sir,
Speaker 1: I had a telegram. Might I ask from whom a
Speaker 1: shadow passed over the gaunt face of the explorer? You
Speaker 1: are very inquisitive, mister Holmes. It is my business. With
Speaker 1: an effort, doctor Sterndale recovered his ruffled composure. I have
Speaker 1: no objection to telling you, he said. It was mister Roundhey,
Speaker 1: the vicar who sent me the telegram which recalled me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, said Holmes. I may say, in answer to
Speaker 1: your original question that I have not cleared my mind
Speaker 1: entirely on the subject of this case, but that I
Speaker 1: have every hope of reaching some conclusion. It would be
Speaker 1: premature to say more. Perhaps you would not mind telling
Speaker 1: me if your suspicions point in any particular direction. No,
Speaker 1: I can hardly answer that. Then I have wasted my
Speaker 1: time and need not prolong my visit. The famous doctor
Speaker 1: strode out of our cottage in considerable ill humor, and
Speaker 1: within five minutes Holmes had followed him. I saw him
Speaker 1: no more until the evening, when he returned with a
Speaker 1: slow step and haggard face, which assured me that he
Speaker 1: had made no great progress with his investigation. He glanced
Speaker 1: at a telegram which awaited him, and threw it into
Speaker 1: the grate from the Plymouth hotel. Watson, he said, I
Speaker 1: learned the name of it from the vicar, and I
Speaker 1: wired to make certain that doctor Leon Sterndale's account was true.
Speaker 1: It appears that he did indeed spend last night there,
Speaker 1: and that he has actually allowed some of his baggage
Speaker 1: to go on to Africa while he returned to be
Speaker 1: present at this investigation. What do you make of that? Watson?
Speaker 1: He is deeply interested, deeply interested. Yes, there is a
Speaker 1: thread here which he had not yet grasped, and which
Speaker 1: might lead us through the tangle. Cheer up, Watson, for
Speaker 1: I I'm very sure that our material has not yet
Speaker 1: all come to hand. When it does, we may soon
Speaker 1: leave our difficulties behind us. Little did I think how
Speaker 1: soon the words of Holmes would be realized, or how
Speaker 1: strange and sinister would be that new development which opened
Speaker 1: up an entirely fresh line of investigation. I was shaving
Speaker 1: at my window in the morning when I heard the
Speaker 1: rattle of hoofs, and looking up saw a dog cart
Speaker 1: coming at a gallop down the road. It pulled up
Speaker 1: at our door, and our friend, the vicar, sprang from
Speaker 1: it and rushed up our garden path. Holmes was already dressed,
Speaker 1: and we hastened down to meet him. Our visitor was
Speaker 1: so excited that he could hardly articulate, but at last,
Speaker 1: in gasps and bursts, his tragic story came out of him.
Speaker 1: We are devil ridden, mister Holmes, My poor parish is
Speaker 1: devil ridden, he cried. Satan himself is loose in it.
Speaker 1: We are given over into his hand. He danced about
Speaker 1: in his agitation. A ludicrous object if it were not
Speaker 1: for his ashy face and startled eyes. Finally he shot
Speaker 1: out his terrible news. Mister Mortimer trogenis died during the
Speaker 1: night and with exactly the same symptoms as the rest
Speaker 1: of his family homes. Sprang to his feet all energy
Speaker 1: in an instant. Can you fit us both into your
Speaker 1: dog cart? Yes? I can, then, Watson, we will postpone
Speaker 1: our breakfast. Mister Roundhey, we are entirely at your disposal. Hurry, hurry,
Speaker 1: before things get disarranged. The lodger occupied two rooms at
Speaker 1: the vicarage, which were in an angle by themselves, the
Speaker 1: one above, the other below was a large sitting room
Speaker 1: above his bedroom. They looked out upon a croquet lawn
Speaker 1: which came up to the windows. We had arrived before
Speaker 1: the doctor or the police, so that everything was absolute undisturbed.
Speaker 1: Let me describe exactly the scene as we saw it
Speaker 1: upon that misty March morning. It has left an impression
Speaker 1: which can never be effaced from my mind. The atmosphere
Speaker 1: of the room was of a horrible and depressing stuffiness.
Speaker 1: The servant who had first entered had thrown up the window,
Speaker 1: or it would have been even more intolerable. This might
Speaker 1: partly be due to the fact that a lamp stood
Speaker 1: flaring and smoking on the center table. Beside it sat
Speaker 1: the dead man, leaning back in his chair, his thin
Speaker 1: beard projecting, his spectacles pushed up onto his forehead, and
Speaker 1: his lean, dark face turned towards the window and twisted
Speaker 1: into the same distortion of terror which had marked the
Speaker 1: features of his dead sister. His limbs were convulsed and
Speaker 1: his fingers contorted, as though he had died in a
Speaker 1: very paroxysm of fear. He was fully clothed, though there
Speaker 1: were signs that his dressing had been done in a hurry.
Speaker 1: We had already learned that his bed had been slept in,
Speaker 1: and that the tragic end had come to him in
Speaker 1: the early morning. One realized the red hot energy which
Speaker 1: underlay Holmes's phlegmatic exterior when one saw the sudden change
Speaker 1: which came over him from the moment that he entered
Speaker 1: the fatal apartment. In an instant, he was tense and alert,
Speaker 1: his eyes shining, his face set, his limbs quivering with
Speaker 1: eager activity. He was out on the lawn, in through
Speaker 1: the window, round the room, and up into the bedroom
Speaker 1: for all the world like a dashing foxhound, drawing a
Speaker 1: cover in the bedroom. He made a rapid cast around,
Speaker 1: and ended by throwing open the window, which appeared to
Speaker 1: give him some fresh cause for excitement, for he leaned
Speaker 1: out of it with loud ejaculations of interest and delight.
Speaker 1: Then he rushed down the stair out through the open window,
Speaker 1: threw himself upon his face on the lawn, sprang up
Speaker 1: and into the room once more, all with the energy
Speaker 1: of the hunter who is at the very heels of
Speaker 1: his quarry. The lamp, which was an ordinary standard, he
Speaker 1: examined with minute care, making certain measurements upon its bowl.
Speaker 1: He carefully scrutinized with his lens the talk shield which
Speaker 1: covered the top of the chimney, and scraped off some
Speaker 1: ashes which adhered to its upper surface, putting some of
Speaker 1: them into an envelope, which he placed in his pocket book. Finally,
Speaker 1: just as the doctor and the official police put in
Speaker 1: an appearance, he beckoned to the vicar, and we all
Speaker 1: three went out upon the lawn. I am glad to
Speaker 1: say that my investigation has not been entirely barren, he remarked.
Speaker 1: I cannot remain to discuss the matter with the police,
Speaker 1: but I should be exceedingly obliged mister Roundey if he
Speaker 1: would give the inspector my compliments and direct his attention
Speaker 1: to the bedroom window and to the sitting room lamp.
Speaker 1: Each is suggestive, and together they are almost conclusive. If
Speaker 1: the police would desire further information, I shall be happy
Speaker 1: to see any of them at the cottage. And now, Watson,
Speaker 1: I think that perhaps we shall be better employed elsewhere.
Speaker 1: It may be that the police resented the intrusion of
Speaker 1: an amateur, or that they imagined themselves to be upon
Speaker 1: some hopeful line of investigation, but it is certain that
Speaker 1: we heard nothing from them for the next two days.
Speaker 1: During this time, Homes spent some of his time smoking
Speaker 1: and dreaming in the cottage, but a greater portion in
Speaker 1: country walks, which he undertook alone, returning after many hours
Speaker 1: without remark as to where he had been. One experiment
Speaker 1: served to show me the line of his investigation. He
Speaker 1: had bought a lamp which was the duplicate of the
Speaker 1: one which had burned in the room of Mortimer Tregenis
Speaker 1: on the morning of the tragedy. This he filled with
Speaker 1: the same oil as that used at the vicarage, and
Speaker 1: he carefully timed the period which it would take to
Speaker 1: be exhausted. Another experiment which he made was of a
Speaker 1: more unpleasant nature, and one which I am not likely
Speaker 1: ever to forget. You will remember, Watson, he remarked one
Speaker 1: afternoon that there is a single common point of resemblance
Speaker 1: in the varying reports which have reached us. This concerns
Speaker 1: the effect of the atmosphere of the room, in each
Speaker 1: case upon those who had first entered it. You will
Speaker 1: recollect that Mortimer Tregenis, in describing the episode of his
Speaker 1: last visit to his brother's house, remarked that the doctor,
Speaker 1: on entering the room, fell into a chair you had forgotten. Well,
Speaker 1: I can answer for it that it was so. Now.
Speaker 1: You will remember also that missus Porter, the housekeeper, told
Speaker 1: us that she herself fainted upon entering the room, and
Speaker 1: had afterwards opened the window. In the second case, that
Speaker 1: of Mortimer Trogenis himself. You cannot have forgotten the terrible
Speaker 1: stuffiness of the room when we arrived, though the servant
Speaker 1: had thrown open the window. That servant I found, upon inquiry,
Speaker 1: was so ill that she had gone to her bed.
Speaker 1: You will admit, Watson, that these facts are very suggestive.
Speaker 1: In each case, there is evidence of a poisonous atmosphere
Speaker 1: in each case. Also, there is combustion going on in
Speaker 1: the room, in the one case a fire, in the
Speaker 1: other a lamp. The fire was needed, but the lamp
Speaker 1: was lit as a comparison of the oil consumed will
Speaker 1: show long after it was broad daylight. Why surely because
Speaker 1: there is some connection between three things, the burning, the
Speaker 1: stuffy atmosphere, and finally the madness or death of those
Speaker 1: unfortunate people. That is clear, is it not? It would
Speaker 1: appear so at least we may accept it as a
Speaker 1: working hypepothesis. We will suppose then, that something was burned
Speaker 1: in each case which produced an atmosphere causing strange toxic
Speaker 1: effects very good in the first instance that of the
Speaker 1: trigenis family. This substance was placed in the fire. Now
Speaker 1: the window was shut, but the fire would naturally carry
Speaker 1: fumes to some extent up the chimney. Hence one would
Speaker 1: expect the effects of the poison to be less than
Speaker 1: in the second case, where there was less escape for
Speaker 1: the vapor. The result seems to indicate that it was so,
Speaker 1: since in the first case only the woman, who had
Speaker 1: presumably the more sensitive organism, was killed. The others, exhibiting
Speaker 1: that temporary or permanent lunacy, which is evidently the first
Speaker 1: effect of the drug. In the second case, the result
Speaker 1: was complete. The facts therefore seemed to bear out the
Speaker 1: theory of a poison which worked by combustion. With this
Speaker 1: train of reasoning in my head, I naturally looked about
Speaker 1: in Mortimer Trogennis's room to find some remains of this substance.
Speaker 1: The obvious place to look was the talk shelf or
Speaker 1: smoke guard of the lamp. There, sure enough I perceived
Speaker 1: a number of flaky ashes, and round the edges a
Speaker 1: fringe of brownish powder which had not yet been consumed.
Speaker 1: Half of this I took, as you saw, and I
Speaker 1: placed it in an envelope. Why half homes. It is
Speaker 1: not for me, my dear Watson, to stand in the
Speaker 1: way of the official police force. I leave them all
Speaker 1: the evidence which I found. The poison still remained upon
Speaker 1: the talk had they the wit to find it. Now, Watson,
Speaker 1: we will light our lamp. We will, however, take the
Speaker 1: precaution to open our window to avoid the premature decease
Speaker 1: of two deserving members of society. And you will seat
Speaker 1: yourself near that open window in an arm chair, unless,
Speaker 1: like a sensible man, you determined to have nothing to
Speaker 1: do with the affair. Oh, you will see it out,
Speaker 1: will you? I thought, I knew, my Watson, this chair
Speaker 1: I will place opposite yours, so that we may be
Speaker 1: the same distance from the poison, and face to face
Speaker 1: the door we will leave Ajar. Each is now in
Speaker 1: a position to watch the other and to bring the
Speaker 1: experiment to an end. Should the symptoms seem alarming, is
Speaker 1: that all clear? Well, then I take our powder, or
Speaker 1: what remains of it, from the envelope, and I lay
Speaker 1: it above the burning lamp. So, now, Watson, let us
Speaker 1: sit down and await developments. They were not long in coming.
Speaker 1: I had hardly settled in my chair before I was
Speaker 1: conscious of a thick, musky odor, subtle and nauseous. But
Speaker 1: the very first whiff of it, my brain and my
Speaker 1: imagination were beyond all control. A thick black cloud swirled
Speaker 1: before my eyes, and my mind told me that in
Speaker 1: this cloud, unseen as yet but about to spring out
Speaker 1: upon my appalled senses, lurked all that was vaguely horrible,
Speaker 1: all that was monstrous and inconceivably wicked in the universe,
Speaker 1: vague shapes swirled and swam amid the dark cloud bank,
Speaker 1: each a menace and a warning of something coming, the
Speaker 1: advent of some unspeakable dweller upon the threshold, whose very
Speaker 1: shadow would blast my soul. A freezing horror took possession
Speaker 1: of me. I felt that my hair was rising, that
Speaker 1: my eyes were protruding, that my mouth was opened, and
Speaker 1: my tongue like leather. The turmoil within my brain was
Speaker 1: such that something must surely snap. I tried to scream,
Speaker 1: and was vaguely aware of some hoarse croak which was
Speaker 1: my own voice, but distant and detached from myself. At
Speaker 1: the same moment, in some effort of escape, I broke
Speaker 1: through that cloud of despair and had a glimpse of home, face, white,
Speaker 1: rigid and drawn with horror, the very look which I
Speaker 1: had seen upon the features of the dead. It was
Speaker 1: that vision which gave me an instant of sanity and
Speaker 1: of strength. I dashed from my chair, threw my arms
Speaker 1: around homes, and together we lurched through the door, and
Speaker 1: an instant afterwards had thrown ourselves down upon the grass plot,
Speaker 1: and were lying side by side, conscious only of the
Speaker 1: glorious sunshine which was bursting its way through the hellish
Speaker 1: cloud of terror which had girt us in. Slowly it
Speaker 1: rose from our souls like the mists from a landscape,
Speaker 1: until peace and reason had returned, and we were sitting
Speaker 1: upon the grass, wiping our clammy foreheads and looking with
Speaker 1: apprehension at each other to mark the last traces of
Speaker 1: that terrific experience which we had undergone upon my word, Watson,
Speaker 1: said Holmes at last, with an unsteady voice. I owe
Speaker 1: you both my thanks and an apology. It was an
Speaker 1: unjustifiable experiment, even for oneself, and doubly so for a friend.
Speaker 1: I am really very sorry, you know, I answered, with
Speaker 1: some emotion, for I have never seen so much of
Speaker 1: Holmes's heart before that it is my greatest joy and
Speaker 1: privilege to help you. He relapsed at once into the
Speaker 1: half humorous, half cynical vein which was his habitual attitude
Speaker 1: to those about him. It would be superfluous to drive
Speaker 1: us mad, my dear Watson said, He, a candid observer
Speaker 1: would certainly declare that we were so already before we
Speaker 1: embarked upon so wild an experiment. I confess that I
Speaker 1: never imagined that the effect could be so sudden and
Speaker 1: so severe. He dashed in the cottage, and reappearing with
Speaker 1: the burning lamp held at full arm's length, he threw
Speaker 1: it among a bank of brambles. We must give the
Speaker 1: room a little time to clear. I take it, Watson,
Speaker 1: that you have no longer a shadow of doubt as
Speaker 1: to how these tragedies were produced, none whatever. But the
Speaker 1: cause remains as obscure as before. Come into the arbor
Speaker 1: here and let us discuss it together. That villainous stuff
Speaker 1: seems still to linger round my throat. I think we
Speaker 1: must admit that all the evidence points to this man,
Speaker 1: Mortimer Tregenis, having been the criminal in the first tragedy,
Speaker 1: though he was the victim in the second one. We
Speaker 1: must remember, in the first place, that there is some
Speaker 1: story of a family quarrel followed by a reconciliation. How
Speaker 1: bitter that quarrel may have been, or how hollow the reconciliation,
Speaker 1: we cannot tell. When I think of Mortimer Trogenis, with
Speaker 1: the foxy face and the small, shrewd, beady eyes behind
Speaker 1: the spectacles, he is not a man whom I should
Speaker 1: judge to be of a particularly forgiving disposition. Well, in
Speaker 1: the next place, you will remember that this idea of
Speaker 1: some one moving in the garden, which took our attention
Speaker 1: for a moment from the real cause of the tragedy
Speaker 1: emanated from him. He had a motive in misleading us. Finally,
Speaker 1: if he did not throw the substance into the fire
Speaker 1: at the moment of leaving the room, who did do so?
Speaker 1: The affair happened immediately after his departure. Had any one
Speaker 1: else come in the family would certainly have risen from
Speaker 1: the table. Besides, in peaceful Cornwall visitors did not arrive
Speaker 1: after ten o'clock at night. We may take it, then,
Speaker 1: that all the evidence points to Mortimer Trogenis as the culprit.
Speaker 1: Then his own death was suicide. Well, Watson, it is,
Speaker 1: on the face of it a not impossible supposition. The
Speaker 1: man who had the guilt upon his soul of having
Speaker 1: brought such a fate upon his own family might well
Speaker 1: be driven by remorse to inflict it upon himself. There are, however,
Speaker 1: some cogent reasons against it. Fortunately, there is one man
Speaker 1: in England who knows all about it, and I have
Speaker 1: made arrangements by which we shall hear the facts this
Speaker 1: afternoon from his own lips Ah. He is a little
Speaker 1: before his time. Perhaps you would kindly step this way,
Speaker 1: doctor Leon Sterndale. We have been conducting a chemical experiment indoors,
Speaker 1: which has left our little room hardly fit for the
Speaker 1: reception of so distinguished a visitor. I had heard the
Speaker 1: clique of the garden Gate, and now the majestic figure
Speaker 1: of the great African explorer appeared upon the path he turned,
Speaker 1: in some surprise towards the rustic arbor in which we sat.
Speaker 1: You sent for me, mister Holmes. I had your note
Speaker 1: about an hour ago, and I have come, though I
Speaker 1: really do not know why I should obey your summons.
Speaker 1: Perhaps we can clear the point up before we separate,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. Meanwhile, I am much obliged to you for
Speaker 1: your courteous acquiescence. You will excuse this informal reception in
Speaker 1: the open air, But my friend Watson and I have
Speaker 1: nearly furnished an additional chapter to what the papers call
Speaker 1: The Cornish Horror, and we prefer a clear atmosphere for
Speaker 1: the present. Perhaps, since the matters which we have to
Speaker 1: discuss will affect you personally in a very intimate manner,
Speaker 1: it is as well that we should talk where there
Speaker 1: can be no eavesdropping. The explorer took his cigar from
Speaker 1: his lips and gazed sternly at my companion. I am
Speaker 1: at a loss to know, sir, he said, what you
Speaker 1: can have to speak about which affects me personally in
Speaker 1: a very intimate at fashion, the killing of Mortimer tregenis,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. For a moment, I wished that I were armed.
Speaker 1: Sterndale's fierce face turned to a dusky red, his eyes glared,
Speaker 1: and the knotted, passionate veins started out in his forehead
Speaker 1: while he sprang forward with clenched hands towards my companion.
Speaker 1: Then he stopped, and with a violent effort, he resumed
Speaker 1: a cold, rigid calmness, which was perhaps more suggestive of
Speaker 1: danger than his hot headed outburst. I have lived so
Speaker 1: long among savages and beyond the law, said he, that
Speaker 1: I have got into the way of being a law
Speaker 1: to myself. You would do well, mister Holmes, not to
Speaker 1: forget it, for I have no desire to do you
Speaker 1: an injury, nor have I any desire to do you
Speaker 1: an injury, doctor Sterndale. Surely the clearest proof of it
Speaker 1: is that, knowing what I know, I have sent for you,
Speaker 1: and not for the police. Sterndale sat down with a gasp, overawed.
Speaker 1: For perhaps the first time in his adventurous life, there
Speaker 1: was a calm assurance of power in Holmes's manner which
Speaker 1: could not be withstood. Our visitor stammered for a moment,
Speaker 1: his great hands opening and shutting in his agitation. What
Speaker 1: do you mean? He asked at last? If this is
Speaker 1: bluff upon your part, mister Holmes, you have chosen a
Speaker 1: bad man for your experiment. Let us have no more
Speaker 1: beating about the bush. What do you mean? I will
Speaker 1: tell you, said Holmes. And the reason why I tell
Speaker 1: you is that I hope frankness may beget frankness. What
Speaker 1: my next step may be will depend entirely upon the
Speaker 1: nature of your own defense. My defense, yes, sir, my
Speaker 1: defense against what? Against the charge of killing Mortimer Tregenis.
Speaker 1: Sterndale mopped his forehead with his handkerchief. Upon my word,
Speaker 1: you are getting on, said he do all your successes
Speaker 1: depend upon this prodigious power of bluff. The bluff, said Holmes,
Speaker 1: sternly is upon your side, doctor Leon Sterndale, and not
Speaker 1: upon mine. As a proof, I will tell you some
Speaker 1: of the facts upon which my conclusions are based of
Speaker 1: your return from Plymouth, allowing much of your property to
Speaker 1: go on to Africa. I will say nothing save that
Speaker 1: it first informed me that you were one of the
Speaker 1: factors which had to be taken into account in reconstructing
Speaker 1: this drama. I came back. I have heard your reasons
Speaker 1: and regard them as unconvincing and inadequate. We will pass
Speaker 1: that you came down here to ask me whom I suspected.
Speaker 1: I refuse to answer you. You then went to the vicarage,
Speaker 1: waited outside it for some time, and finally returned to
Speaker 1: your cottage. How do you know that I followed you?
Speaker 1: I saw no one. That is what you may expect
Speaker 1: to see when I follow you. You spent a restless
Speaker 1: night to your cottage, and you formed certain plans, which
Speaker 1: in the early morning you proceeded to put into execution.
Speaker 1: Leaving your door just as day was breaking, you filled
Speaker 1: your pocket with some reddish gravel that was lying heaped
Speaker 1: beside your gate. Sterndale, gave a violent start and looked
Speaker 1: at Holmes in amazement. You then walked swiftly for the
Speaker 1: mile which separated you from the vicarage. You were wearing.
Speaker 1: I may remark the same pair of ribbed tennis shoes,
Speaker 1: which are at the present moment upon your feet. At
Speaker 1: the vicarage, you passed through the orchard and the side hedge,
Speaker 1: coming out under the window of the lodger Tregenis. It
Speaker 1: was now daylight, but the household was not yet stirring.
Speaker 1: You drew some of the gravel from your pocket and
Speaker 1: you threw it up at the window above you. Sterndale
Speaker 1: sprang to his feet. I believe that you are the
Speaker 1: devil himself, he cried. Holmes smiled at the compliment. It
Speaker 1: took two or possibly three handfuls before the lodger came
Speaker 1: to the window. You beckoned him to come down. He
Speaker 1: dressed hurriedly and descended to his sitting room. You entered
Speaker 1: by the window. There was an interview, a short one
Speaker 1: during which you walked up and down the room. Then
Speaker 1: you passed out and closed the window, standing on the
Speaker 1: lawn outside, smoking a cigar and watching what occurred. Finally,
Speaker 1: after the death of Tregenis, you withdrew as you had come. Now,
Speaker 1: Doctor Sterndale, how do you justify such conduct? And what
Speaker 1: were the motives of your actions? If you prevaricate or
Speaker 1: trifle with me, I give you my assurance that the
Speaker 1: matter will pass out of my hands forever. Our visitor's
Speaker 1: face had turned ashen gray as he listened to the
Speaker 1: words of his accuser. Now he sat for some time
Speaker 1: in thought, with his face sunk in his hands. Then,
Speaker 1: with a sudden, impulsive gesture, he plucked a photo from
Speaker 1: his breast pocket and threw it on the rustic table
Speaker 1: before us. That is why I have done it, said he.
Speaker 1: It showed the bust and face of a very beautiful woman.
Speaker 1: Holmes stooped over it. Brenda Trigenis, said he, yes, Brenda Tregenis,
Speaker 1: repeated our visitor. For years, I have loved her, for years,
Speaker 1: she has loved me. There is the secret of that
Speaker 1: cornish seclusion which people have marveled at. It has brought
Speaker 1: me close to the one thing on earth that was
Speaker 1: dear to me. I could not marry her, for I
Speaker 1: have a wife who has left me for years, and
Speaker 1: yet whom, by the deplorable laws of England, I could
Speaker 1: not divorce for years. Brenda waited for years. I waited,
Speaker 1: and this is what we have waited for. A terrible
Speaker 1: sob shook his great frame and he clutched his throat
Speaker 1: under his brindled bea. Then with an effort he mastered
Speaker 1: himself and spoke on the vicar. Knew he was in
Speaker 1: our confidence. He would tell you that she was an
Speaker 1: angel upon earth. That was why he telegraphed me. And
Speaker 1: I returned what was my baggage or Africa to me
Speaker 1: when I learned that such a fate had come upon
Speaker 1: my darling. There you have the missing clue to my action.
Speaker 1: Mister Holmes, proceed, said my friend. Doctor Sterndale drew from
Speaker 1: his pocket a paper packet and laid it upon the table.
Speaker 1: On the outside was written Radix pedis diaboli, with a
Speaker 1: red poison label beneath it. He pushed it towards me.
Speaker 1: I understand that you are a doctor, sir. Have you
Speaker 1: ever heard of this preparation Devil's foot root? No, I
Speaker 1: have never heard of it. It is no reflection upon
Speaker 1: your professional knowledge, said he. For I believe that save
Speaker 1: for one sample in a laboratory at Buddha, there is
Speaker 1: no other specimen in Europe. It has not yet found
Speaker 1: its way either into the pharmacopia or into the literature
Speaker 1: of toxicology. The root is shaped like a foot, half human,
Speaker 1: half goat like, hence the fanciful name given by a
Speaker 1: botanical missionary. It is used as an ordeal poison by
Speaker 1: the medicine men in certain districts of West Africa, and
Speaker 1: is kept as a secret among them. This particular specimen
Speaker 1: I obtained under very extraordinary circumstances in the Ubangi country.
Speaker 1: He opened the paper as he spoke, and disclosed a
Speaker 1: heap of reddish brown snuff like powder. Well, Sir, asked Holmes, sternly.
Speaker 1: I am about to tell you, mister Holmes, all that
Speaker 1: actually hered, for you already know so much that it
Speaker 1: is clearly to my interest that you should know all.
Speaker 1: I have already explained the relationship in which I stood
Speaker 1: to the Tregennis family for the sake of the sister.
Speaker 1: I was friendly with the brothers. There was a family
Speaker 1: quarrel about money which estranged this man Mortimer, but it
Speaker 1: was supposed to be made up, and I afterwards met
Speaker 1: him as I did the others. He was a sly
Speaker 1: subtle scheming man, and several things arose which gave me
Speaker 1: a suspicion of him, But I had no cause for
Speaker 1: any positive quarrel. One day, only a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago he came down to my cottage and I showed
Speaker 1: him some of my African curiosities. Among other things, I
Speaker 1: exhibited this powder, and I told him of its strange properties,
Speaker 1: how it stimulates those brain centers which controlled the emotion
Speaker 1: of fear, and how either madness or death is the
Speaker 1: fate of the unhappy native who is subjected to the
Speaker 1: ordeal by the priest of his tribe. I told him
Speaker 1: also how powerless European science would be to detect it.
Speaker 1: How he took it, I cannot say, for I never
Speaker 1: left the room, but there is no doubt that it
Speaker 1: was then, while I was opening cabinets and stooping to boxes,
Speaker 1: that he managed to abstract some of the Devil's foot route.
Speaker 1: I well remember how he plied me with questions as
Speaker 1: to the amount and the time that was needed for
Speaker 1: its effect. But I little dreamed that he could have
Speaker 1: a personal reason for asking. I thought no more of
Speaker 1: the matter until the Vicar's telegram reached me at Plymouth.
Speaker 1: This villain had thought that I would be at sea
Speaker 1: before the news could reach me, and that I should
Speaker 1: be lost for years in Africa. But I returned at once.
Speaker 1: Of course, I could not listen to the details without
Speaker 1: feeling assured that my poison had been used. I came
Speaker 1: round to see you on the chance that some other
Speaker 1: explanation had suggested itself to you, But there could be none.
Speaker 1: I was convinced that Mortimer Tregenis was the murderer, that
Speaker 1: for the sake of money, and with the idea perhaps
Speaker 1: that if the other members of his family were all insane,
Speaker 1: he would be the sole guardian of their joint property.
Speaker 1: He had used the devil's foot powder upon them, driven
Speaker 1: two of them out of their senses, and killed his sister, Brenda,
Speaker 1: the one human being whom I have ever loved, or
Speaker 1: who has ever loved me. There was his crime? What
Speaker 1: was to be his punishment? Should I appeal to the law?
Speaker 1: Where were my proofs? I knew that the facts were true?
Speaker 1: But could I help to make a jury of countrymen
Speaker 1: believe so fantastic a story? I might or I might not,
Speaker 1: But I could not afford to fail. My soul cried
Speaker 1: out for revenge. I have said to you once before,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, that I I've spent much of my life outside
Speaker 1: the law, and that I have come at last to
Speaker 1: be a law to myself. So it was even now
Speaker 1: I determined that the fate which he had given to
Speaker 1: others should be shared by himself. Either that or I
Speaker 1: would do justice upon him with my own hand. In
Speaker 1: all England, there can be no man who sets less
Speaker 1: value upon his own life than I do at the
Speaker 1: present moment. Now I have told you all, you have
Speaker 1: yourself supplied the rest. I did as you say. After
Speaker 1: a restless night, set off early from my cottage. I
Speaker 1: foresaw the difficulty of arousing him, so I gathered some
Speaker 1: gravel from the pile which you have mentioned, and I
Speaker 1: used it to throw up to his window. He came
Speaker 1: down and admitted me through the window of the sitting room.
Speaker 1: I laid his offense before him. I told him that
Speaker 1: I had come both as judge and executioner. The wretch
Speaker 1: sank into a chair, paralyzed at the sight of my revolver.
Speaker 1: I lit the lamp, put the powder above it, and
Speaker 1: stood outside the window, ready to carry out my threat
Speaker 1: to shoot him should he try to leave the room.
Speaker 1: In five minutes he died. My God, how he died.
Speaker 1: But my heart was flint for he endured nothing which
Speaker 1: my innocent darling had not felt before. Him. There is
Speaker 1: my story, mister Holmes. Perhaps if you loved a woman,
Speaker 1: you would have done as much yourself. At any rate,
Speaker 1: I am in your hands. You can take what steps
Speaker 1: you like. As I have already said, there is no
Speaker 1: man living who can fear death less than I do.
Speaker 1: Holmes sat for some little time in silence. What were
Speaker 1: your plans? He asked at last, I had intended to
Speaker 1: bury myself in Central Africa. My work there is but
Speaker 1: half finished. Go and do the other half, said Holmes.
Speaker 1: I at least am not prepared to prevent you. Doctor
Speaker 1: Sterndale raised his giant figure, bowed gravely, and walked from
Speaker 1: the arbor. Holmes lit his pipe and handed me his pouch.
Speaker 1: Some fumes, which are not poisonous would be a welcome change,
Speaker 1: said he. I think you must agree, Watson, that it
Speaker 1: is not a case in which we are called upon
Speaker 1: to interfere. Our investigation has been independent, and our action
Speaker 1: shall be so. Also. You would not denounce the man,
Speaker 1: certainly not, I answered. I have never loved Watson. But
Speaker 1: if I did, and if the woman I loved had
Speaker 1: met such an end, I might act even as our
Speaker 1: lawless lion hunter has done. Who knows well, Watson, I
Speaker 1: will not offend your intelligence by explaining what is obvious.
Speaker 1: The gravel upon the window sill was, of course the
Speaker 1: starting point of my research. It was unlike anything in
Speaker 1: the vicarage garden. Only when my attention had been drawn
Speaker 1: to Doctor Sterndale and his cottage did I find its counterpart.
Speaker 1: The lamp shining in broad daylight, and the remains of
Speaker 1: powder upon the shield were successive links in a fairly
Speaker 1: obvious chain. And now, my dear Watson, I think we
Speaker 1: may dismiss the matter from our mind and go back,
Speaker 1: with a clear conscience to the study of those Chaldean
Speaker 1: roots which are surely to be traced in the Cornish
Speaker 1: branch of the Great Celtic speech. That is the end
Speaker 1: of the Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Sir Arthur
Speaker 1: Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for Magpie Audio twenty nineteen.