WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:08.480 The Valley of Fear, Part one, The Tragedy of Burlstone, 2 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:14.560 Chapter one. The warning I am inclined to think, said I, 3 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.440 I should do so, Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently. I believe 4 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:22.280 that I am one of the most long suffering of mortals, 5 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:27.239 but I'll admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic interruption. Really, 6 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:32.159 Holmes said I severely. You are a little trying at times. 7 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.640 He was too much absorbed with his own thoughts to 8 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:39.439 give any immediate answer to my remonstrance. He leaned upon 9 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:43.320 his hand, with his untasted breakfast before him, and he 10 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.679 stared at the slip of paper which he had just 11 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:49.560 drawn from its envelope. Then he took the envelope itself, 12 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.359 held it up to the light, and very carefully studded 13 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:57.000 both the exterior and the flap. It is Porlock's writing, 14 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:01.359 said he thoughtfully. I can hardly doubt that it is 15 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:05.879 Porlock's writing, though I have seen it only twice before. 16 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.000 The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. 17 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.239 But if it is Porlock, then it must be something 18 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.280 of the very first importance. He was speaking to himself 19 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:21.319 rather than to me, But my vexation disappeared in the 20 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:26.359 interest which the words awakened. Who then is Porlock, I asked, Paulock. 21 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:30.760 Watson is a nom de plume, a mere identification mark, 22 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.640 but behind it lies a shifty and evasive personality. In 23 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:37.439 a former letter, he frankly informed me that the name 24 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.159 was not his own, and defied me ever to trace 25 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:43.799 him among the teeming millions of this great city. Porlock 26 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.359 is important not for himself, but for the great man 27 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.439 with whom he is in touch. Picture to yourself, the 28 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:53.680 pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion. 29 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:58.439 Anything that is insignificant in companionship with what is formidable. 30 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:03.599 Not only formidable Watson, but sinister in the highest degree. Sinister. 31 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:07.120 That is where he comes within my purview. You have 32 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:11.800 heard me speak of Professor Moriarty, the famous scientific criminal, 33 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:15.759 as famous among crooks as my blush is Watson, Holmes 34 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:19.120 murmured in a deprecating voice. I was about to say, 35 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.680 as he is unknown to the public. A touch, a 36 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:26.960 distinct touch, cried Holmes. You are developing a certain unexpected 37 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:31.400 vein of poor quy humor, Watson, against which I must 38 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.360 learn to guard myself. But in calling Moriarty a criminal, 39 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:37.879 you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law. 40 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.400 And there lie the glory and the wonder of it. 41 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:46.919 The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every deviltry, 42 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.360 the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might 43 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.560 have made or marred the destiny of nations. That's the man. 44 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.400 But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune 45 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:01.000 from criticism, so admirable in his management and self effacement, 46 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:04.000 that for those very words that you have uttered, he 47 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:07.000 could hail you to a court and emerge with your 48 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:12.000 year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character? Is 49 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:16.080 he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, 50 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.639 a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure 51 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.360 mathematics that it is said that there was no man 52 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.000 in the scientific press capable of criticizing it. Is this 53 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:31.319 a man to traduce foul mouthed doctor and slandered professor, 54 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:36.639 Such would be your respective roles, That's genius Watson. But 55 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:40.000 if I am spared by lesser men, our day will 56 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:45.680 surely come. May I be there to see I exclaimed devoutly. 57 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.680 But you were speaking of this man Porlock. Ah. Yes, 58 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:52.719 the so called Porlock is a link in the chain, 59 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:57.159 some little way from its great attachment. Porlock is not 60 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:01.960 quite a sound link between ours. He is the only 61 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:04.639 flaw in that chain so far as I have been 62 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.680 able to test it. But no chain is stronger than 63 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:11.840 its weakest link. Exactly, my dear Watson. Hence the extreme 64 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:17.480 importance of Porlock. Led on by some rudimentary aspirations towards right, 65 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.639 and encouraged by the judicious stimulation of an occasional ten 66 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.160 pound note sent to him by devious methods, he has 67 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:28.160 once or twice given me advance information which has been 68 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:32.720 of value, that highest value which anticipates and prevents, rather 69 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:37.160 than avenges crime. I cannot doubt that, if we have 70 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.600 the cipher, we should find that this communication is of 71 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.720 the nature that I indicate. Again. Holmes flattered out the 72 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:49.040 paper upon his unused plate. I rose, and, leaning over him, 73 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:53.120 stared down at the curious inscription, which ran as follows 74 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:57.680 five hundred and thirty four c. Two thirteen, one hundred 75 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:01.759 and twenty seven, thirty six, thirty one one four seventeen, 76 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:06.399 twenty one, forty one Douglas one hundred and nine, two 77 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:12.279 hundred ninety three five thirty seven, Burlstone twenty six, Burlstone 78 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:16.399 nine forty seven, one hundred and seventy one. What do 79 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:19.360 you make of at homes? It is obviously an attempt 80 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:22.839 to convey secret information. But what is the use of 81 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:27.360 a cipher message without the cipher in this instance? None 82 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:30.959 at all? Why do you say in this instance? Because 83 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:33.399 there are many ciphers which I would read as easily 84 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:37.399 as I do the apocrypha of the Agony column. Such 85 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:41.720 crude devices amuse the intelligence without fatiguing it. But this 86 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.399 is different. It is clearly a reference to the words 87 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:48.519 in a page of some book. Until I am told 88 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.279 which page and which book, I am powerless. But why 89 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:56.720 Douglas and Burlstone? Clearly because those are words which were 90 00:05:56.759 --> 00:06:00.240 not contained in the page in question. Then why has 91 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:05.199 he not indicated the book your native shrewdness, my dear Watson, 92 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:08.160 that innate cunning, which is the delight of your friends, 93 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:12.240 would surely prevent you from enclosing cipher and message in 94 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:17.279 the same envelope. Should it miscarry, you are undone. As 95 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:20.079 it is, both have to go wrong before any harm 96 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.480 comes from it. Our second post is now overdue, and 97 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.639 I shall be surprised if it does not bring us 98 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:29.600 either a further letter of explanation, or, as is more probable, 99 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:35.120 the very volume to which these figures refer. Holmes's calculation 100 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:38.240 was fulfilled within a very few minutes by the appearance 101 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:41.800 of Billy the page with the very letter which we 102 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.639 were expecting the same writing, remarked Holmes as he opened 103 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:50.920 the envelope and actually signed. He added in an exultant voice. 104 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:54.839 As he unfolded the epistle. Come we are getting on Watson. 105 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.000 His brow clouded, however, as he glanced over the contents. 106 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:02.720 Dear me, this is very disappointing. I fear, Watson, that 107 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:06.120 all our expectations come to nothing. I trust that the 108 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:10.920 man Porlock will come to no harm. Dear mister Holmes, 109 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:14.199 he says, I will go no further in this matter. 110 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:18.279 It is too dangerous. He suspects me. I can see 111 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.439 that he suspects me. He came to me quite unexpectedly, 112 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.959 after I had actually addressed this envelope with the intention 113 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:28.920 of sending you the key to the cipher. I was 114 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:32.000 able to cover it up. If he had seen it, 115 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.600 it would have gone hard with me, but I read 116 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:38.560 suspicion in his eyes. Please burn the cipher message, which 117 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:42.120 can now be of no use to you. Fred Poorlock 118 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:47.160 Holmes sat for some little time, twisting this letter between 119 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:50.680 his fingers and frowning as he stared into the fire. 120 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:54.920 After all, he said at last, there may be nothing 121 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.560 in it. It may be only his guilty conscience, knowing 122 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:01.800 himself to be a traitor. He may have read the 123 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:06.480 accusation in the other's eyes, the other being, I presume 124 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.600 Professor Moriarty no less. When any of that party talk 125 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:14.160 about he, you know whom they mean. There is one 126 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:18.439 predominant he for all of them. But what can he do? 127 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:22.680 Hum That's a large question. When you have one of 128 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:25.079 the first brains of Europe up against you, and all 129 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:30.199 the powers of darkness at his back. There are infinite possibilities. Anyhow, 130 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:34.240 Friend Porlock is evidently scared out of his senses. Kindly 131 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:37.120 compare the writing in the note to that upon its envelope, 132 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:40.759 which was done, he tells us, before this ill omened visit. 133 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:45.559 The one is clear and firm, the other hardly legible. 134 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:49.279 Why did he write at all? Why did he not 135 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:52.320 simply drop it? Because he feared I would make some 136 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:56.200 inquiry after him in that case, and possibly bring trouble 137 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:00.960 on him. No doubt, said I. Of course, I had 138 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.720 picked up the original cipher message and was bending my 139 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.480 brows over it. It's pretty maddening to think that an 140 00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:10.360 important secret may lie here on this slip of paper, 141 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.559 and that it is beyond human power to penetrate it. 142 00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:18.559 Sherlock Holmes had pushed away his untasted breakfast and lit 143 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:22.480 the unsavory pipe, which was the companion of his deepest meditations. 144 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:26.600 I wonder, said he, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. 145 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:31.919 Perhaps there are points which have escaped your machiavellian intellect. 146 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:35.200 Let us consider the problem in the light of pure reason. 147 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:39.279 This man's reference is to a book that is our 148 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:43.200 point of departure, a somewhat vague one. Let us see, then, 149 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:45.759 if we can narrow it down. As I focus my 150 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:49.519 mind upon it, it seems rather less impenetrable. What indications 151 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:53.799 have we as to this book? None? Well, well, it 152 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:56.639 is surely not quite so bad as that the cipher 153 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.120 message begins with a large five three four, does it not. 154 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:03.840 We may take it as a working hypothesis that five 155 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.080 three four is the particular page to which the cipher refers. 156 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:10.960 So our book has already become a large book, which 157 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.759 is surely something gained. What other indications have we as 158 00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:19.120 to the nature of this large book? The next sign 159 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.639 is C two. What do you make of that, Watson? 160 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:27.840 Chapter the second? No doubt hardly that, Watson. You will, 161 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:30.320 I am sure agree with me that if the page 162 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:34.440 be given, the number of the chapter is immaterial. Also 163 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:37.919 that if page five three four finds us only in 164 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.879 the second chapter, the length of the first one must 165 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:46.240 have been really intolerable. Column, I cried, brilliant Watson, you 166 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:49.519 are scintillating this morning. If it is not column, then 167 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.759 I am very much deceived. So now you see we 168 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:54.399 begin to visualize a large book printed in double columns, 169 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:56.799 which are each of a considerable length. Since one of 170 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:58.919 the words is numbered in the document as the two 171 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:02.840 hundred and nine third, have we reached the limits of 172 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:06.559 what reason can supply? I fear that we have. Surely 173 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:10.039 you do yourself an injustice. One more coruscation, my dear Watson, 174 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:14.600 yet another brain wave. Had the volume been an unusual one, 175 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:16.759 he would have sent it to me instead of that 176 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:20.240 he had intended, before his plans were nipped, to send 177 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:22.720 me the clue in this envelope. He says so in 178 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.720 his note, this would seem to indicate that the book 179 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.240 is one which he thought I would have no difficulty 180 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.159 in finding for myself. He had it, and he imagined 181 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.879 that I would have it too. In short, Watson, it 182 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:38.159 is a very common book. What you say certainly sounds plausible. 183 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:40.960 So we have contracted our field of search to a 184 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:44.879 large book printed in double columns and in common use, 185 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:50.600 the Bible. I cried triumphantly, good, Watson, Good, But not, 186 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:53.759 if I may say so, quite good enough. Even if 187 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.679 I accepted the compliment for myself, I could hardly name 188 00:11:56.840 --> 00:11:59.840 any volume which would be less likely to liar the 189 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:04.039 other elbow of one of Moriarty's associates. Besides, the editions 190 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.799 of Holy Writ are so numerous that he could hardly 191 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:10.440 suppose that two copies would have the same pagination. This 192 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:13.759 is clearly a book which is standardized. He knows for 193 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.200 certain that his page five three four will exactly agree 194 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:21.639 with my page five three four, But very few books 195 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:26.840 would correspond with that exactly. Therein lies our salvation. Our 196 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:29.840 search is narrowed down to standardized books which any one 197 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:34.720 may be supposed to possess. Bradshaw, there are difficulties, Watson. 198 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:39.240 The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited. 199 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.240 The selection of words would hardly lend itself to the 200 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:47.480 sending of general messages. We will eliminate Bradshaw. The dictionary 201 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.519 is I fear inadmissible. For the same reason, what then 202 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:55.840 is left an almanac? Excellent, Watson, I am very much 203 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.320 mistaken if you have not touched the spot an almanac. 204 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.480 Let us consider the claims of Whittaker's almanac. It is 205 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:07.360 in common use, It has the requisite number of pages. 206 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:11.960 It is in double column, though reserved in its earlier vocabulary, 207 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.279 it becomes, if I remember right, quite garrulous towards the 208 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:19.399 end he picked the volume from his desk. Here is 209 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:23.200 page five hundred and thirty four, Column two, a substantial 210 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.279 block of print dealing I perceive with the trade and 211 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:30.960 resources of British India. Jot down the words, Watson. Number 212 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:35.240 thirteen is Marata, not I fear a very auspicious beginning. 213 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:39.960 Number one hundred and twenty seven is government, which at 214 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:45.200 least makes sense, though somewhat irrelevant to ourselves and Professor Moriarty. 215 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:48.399 Now let us try again, what does the Marata government do? 216 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:54.440 Alas the next word is pig's bristles. We are undone, 217 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.759 my good Watson, it is finished. He had spoken in 218 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.639 jesting vain, but the twitching of his bushy eyebrows bespoke 219 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:07.799 his disappointment and irritation. I sat helpless and unhappy, staring 220 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:11.480 into the fire. A long silence was broken by a 221 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:15.480 sudden exclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a cupboard, from 222 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.879 which he emerged with a second yellow covered volume in 223 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.440 his hand. We pay the price, Watson, for being two 224 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:26.080 up to date, he cried, We are before our time 225 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:29.320 and suffer the usual penalties. Being the seventh of January 226 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:33.399 we have very properly laid in the new Almanac. It 227 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.120 is more than likely that Porlock took his message from 228 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:39.200 the old one. No doubt he would have told us 229 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:43.399 so had his letter of explanation been written. Now let 230 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:45.879 us see what page five three four has in store 231 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:50.120 for us. Number thirteen is there, which is much more promising. 232 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:54.000 Number one hundred and twenty seven is is there is? 233 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.240 Holmes's eyes were gleaming with excitement, and his thin nervous 234 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:02.120 fingers twitched as he counted the words danger. Ha ha, 235 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:07.519 capital put that down, Watson, there is danger may come 236 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:15.120 very soon one. Then we have the name Douglas, Rich 237 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:26.039 Country now at Burlstone House, Burlstone. Confidence is pressing there, Watson. 238 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:29.200 What do you think of pure reason and its fruit? 239 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:33.120 If the greengrocer had such a thing as a laurel wreath, 240 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.919 I should send Billy round for it. I was staring 241 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.519 at the strange message which I had scrawled as he 242 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:42.759 deciphered it upon a sheet of foolscap on my knee. 243 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:46.240 What a queer scrambling way of expressing his meaning, said I. 244 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:49.879 On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well, said Holmes. 245 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:52.720 When you search a single column for words with which 246 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:55.120 to express your meaning, you can hardly expect to get 247 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.519 everything you want. You are bound to leave something to 248 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:03.440 the intelligence of your correspondent. The purport is perfectly clear. 249 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.720 Some deviltry is intended against one Douglas, whoever he may 250 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:10.840 be residing, As stated a rich Country gentleman. He is 251 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:13.840 sure confidence was as near as he could get. Too 252 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:17.879 confident that it is pressing. There is our result, and 253 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:22.840 a very workmanlike little bit of analysis. It was Holmes 254 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:25.840 had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his 255 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:30.000 better work, even as he mourned darkly when it fell 256 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.519 below the high level to which he aspired. He was 257 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:37.399 still chuckling over his success when Billy swung open the 258 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:41.879 door and Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard was ushered into 259 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:45.799 the room. Those were the early days at the end 260 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:49.440 of the eighties, when Alec MacDonald was far from having 261 00:16:49.480 --> 00:16:52.919 attained the national fame which he has now achieved. He 262 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.039 was a young but trusted member of the detective force, 263 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.559 who had distinguished himself in several cases which had been 264 00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:04.039 in trusted to him. His tall, bony figure gave promise 265 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:09.000 of exceptional physical strength, while his great cranium and deep set, 266 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:13.200 lustrous eyes spoke no less clearly of the keen intelligence 267 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.920 which twinkled out from behind his bushy eyebrows. He was 268 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:21.119 a silent, precise man, with a duer nature and a 269 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:26.640 hard Aberdonian accent. Twice already in his career had Holmes 270 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:30.480 helped him to attain success, his own sole reward being 271 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.519 the intellectual joy of the problem. For this reason, the 272 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.960 affection and respect of the Scotchman for his amateur colleague 273 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.119 were profound, and he showed them by the frankness with 274 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:46.200 which he consulted Holmes in every difficulty. Mediocrity knows nothing 275 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:52.960 higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius, and MacDonald 276 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.960 had talent enough for his profession to enable him to 277 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.559 perceive that there was no humiliation in seeking the assistance 278 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.599 of one who already stood alone in Europe, both in 279 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:06.680 his gifts and in his experience. Holmes was not prone 280 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.079 to friendship, but he was tolerant of the big Scotchman 281 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:13.200 and smiled at the sight of him. You are an 282 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:17.160 early bird, mister mac said he. I wish you luck 283 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:20.519 with your worm. I fear this means that there is 284 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:25.400 some mischief afoot. If you said hope instead of fear, 285 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.880 it would be nearer the truth I'm thinking, mister Holmes, 286 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:33.240 the inspector answered, with a knowing grin, Well, maybe a 287 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:36.200 wee nip would keep out the raw morning chill. No, 288 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.640 I won't smoke. I thank you. I'll have to be 289 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.720 pushing on my way, for the early hours of a 290 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:44.160 case are the precious ones, as no man knows better 291 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:48.480 than your own self. But But the Inspector had stopped 292 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:52.319 suddenly and was staring with a look of absolute amazement, 293 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.359 at a paper upon the table. It was the sheet 294 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:59.960 upon which I had scrawled the enigmatic message Douglas. He said, 295 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:06.279 Damed Barlestone, what's this, mister Holmes Manners Watchcraft, Where in 296 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.799 the name of all that is wonderful did you get 297 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:13.039 those names? It is a cipher that doctor Watson and 298 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:16.839 I have had occasion to solve. But why what's amiss 299 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:20.720 with the names? The inspector looked from one to the 300 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:25.279 other of us in dazed astonishment. Just this said he 301 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:30.480 that mister Douglas of Burlstone Manor House was horribly murdered 302 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:42.640 last night, Chapter two, Sherlock Holmes Discourses. It was one 303 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:47.160 of those dramatic moments for which my friend existed. It 304 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:50.079 would be an overstatement to say that he was shocked 305 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:55.039 or even excited by the amazing announcement without having a 306 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:59.160 tinge of cruelty in his singular composition. He was undoubtedly 307 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:05.079 callous from long overstimulation. Yet if his emotions were dulled, 308 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:10.920 his intellectual perceptions were exceedingly active. There was no trace 309 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.759 then of the horror which I had myself felt at 310 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.480 this curt declaration, but his face showed rather the quiet 311 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:21.440 and interested composure of the chemist who sees the crystals 312 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:29.200 falling into position from his oversaturated solution. Remarkable, said he, remarkable. 313 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:35.079 You don't seem surprised, interested, mister Mack, but hardly surprised. 314 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.920 Why should I be surprised. I receive an anonymous communication 315 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:43.039 from a quarter which I know to be important, warning 316 00:20:43.079 --> 00:20:46.599 me that danger threatens a certain person. Within an hour 317 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.559 I learned that this danger has actually materialized and that 318 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:55.200 the person is dead. I am interested, but as you observe, 319 00:20:55.880 --> 00:21:00.119 I am not surprised. In a few short sentences, he 320 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:02.960 explained to the inspector the facts about the letter and 321 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:06.279 the cipher. Mc donald sat with his chin on his 322 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:10.880 hands and his great sandy eyebrows bunched into a yellow tangle. 323 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:15.759 I was going down to Bullstone this morning, said he. 324 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:19.160 I had come to ask you if you cared to 325 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.759 come with me, you and your friend here. But from 326 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:25.680 what you say, we might perhaps be doing better work 327 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:30.200 in London. I rather think not, said Holmes. Hang it all, 328 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:34.279 mister Holmes, cried the inspector. The pippers will be full 329 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:36.960 of the Bullstone mystery in a day or two. But 330 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.079 where's the mystery? If there is a man in London 331 00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:42.240 who prophesied the crime before ever it occurred, we have 332 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.640 only to lay our hands on that man and the 333 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:48.119 rest will follow, no doubt, mister mack. But how do 334 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:51.279 you propose to lay your hands on the so called poorlock? 335 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:55.359 Mc donald turned over the letter which Holmes had handed 336 00:21:55.400 --> 00:22:00.680 him posted in Camberwell. That doesn't help us much, you say, 337 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:04.519 is assumed not much to go on. Certainly didn't you 338 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.519 say that you have sent him money twice? And how 339 00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:14.200 in notes to Camberwell Post Office did you ever trouble 340 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:18.160 to see who called for them? No? The Inspector looked 341 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.680 surprised and a little shocked. Why not because I always 342 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:25.400 keep faith. I had promised when he first wrote that 343 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.319 I would not try to trace him. You think there 344 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:32.440 is someone behind him? I know there is this professor 345 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:37.680 that I've heard you mention exactly. Inspector MacDonald smiled, and 346 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:41.640 his eyelid quivered as he glanced towards me. I won't 347 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:44.720 conceal from you, mister Holmes, that we think in the 348 00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:47.119 CID that you have a wee bit of a b 349 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:50.640 and your bonnet over this professor. I made some inquiries 350 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.720 myself about the matter. He seems to be a very respectable, 351 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:58.000 learned and talented sort of man. I'm glad you got 352 00:22:58.039 --> 00:23:02.400 so far as to recognize the talent. Come on, you 353 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:06.079 can but recognize it. After I heard your view, I 354 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:08.440 made it my business to see him. I had a 355 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.279 chat with him on eclipses. How the talk got that way, 356 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:14.720 I kinda think, But he had out to reflect a 357 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.119 lantern and a globe and made it all clear in 358 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:20.079 a minute. He lent me a book, but I don't 359 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:22.759 mind saying that it was a bit above my head. 360 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.200 Though I had a good Aberdeen upbringing. He'd have made 361 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:29.279 a grand minister with his thin face and gray hair 362 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:32.440 and solemn white way of talking. When he put his 363 00:23:32.519 --> 00:23:34.839 hand on my shoulder as we were parting, it was 364 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:38.240 like a father's blessing before you go out into the cold, 365 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:44.039 cruel world. Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. Great, he said, great. 366 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.799 Tell me, friend MacDonald, this pleasing and touching interview was 367 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:53.960 I suppose in the professor's study. That's so a fine room? 368 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:57.200 Is it? Not? Very fine? Very handsome? Indeed, mister Holmes, 369 00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:00.440 you sat in front of his writing desk. Just so, oh, 370 00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:03.440 son in your eyes and his face in the shadow. Well, 371 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:06.359 it was evening, but I mind that the lamp was 372 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:10.319 turned on my face. It would be did you happen 373 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:14.079 to observe a picture over the professor's head? I don't 374 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:17.000 miss much, mister Holmes. Maybe I'll learned that from you. Yes, 375 00:24:17.079 --> 00:24:19.400 I saw the picture a young woman with her head 376 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:23.599 on her hands, peeping at you sideways. That painting was 377 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:29.160 by Jean Baptiste Greurs. The inspector endeavored to look interested. 378 00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:35.000 Jean Baptiste Greurs, Holmes continued, joining his fingertips and leaning 379 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:38.400 well back in his chair was a French artist who 380 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.839 flourished between the year seventeen fifty and eighteen hundred. I allude, 381 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:46.400 of course, to his working career. Modern criticism has more 382 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:49.799 than endorsed the high opinion formed of him by his contemporaries. 383 00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:54.680 The Inspector's eyes grew abstracted. Hadn't we better? He said? 384 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:57.960 We are doing so? Holmes interrupted. All that I am 385 00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:02.160 saying has a very direct and vital bearing upon what 386 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.799 you have called the Burlstone mystery. In fact, it may 387 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.480 in a sense be called the very center of it. 388 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:13.839 Mac Donald smiled feebly and looked appealingly to me. Your 389 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:17.519 thoughts move a but too quick for me. Mister Holmes, 390 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.440 you'll leave out a link or two, and I can't 391 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:23.759 get over the gap. What in the whole wide world 392 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:27.240 can't be the connection between this dead painting man and 393 00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:31.920 the affair at Bolstone. All knowledge comes useful to the detective, 394 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:36.319 remarked Holmes, even the trivial fact that in the year 395 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:39.960 eighteen sixty five a picture by Greurs entitled La jeen 396 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:44.480 fill a l'anneaux fetched one million, two hundred thousand francs 397 00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:49.039 more than forty thousand pounds. But the Portalis sale may 398 00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:53.160 start a train of reflection in your mind. It was 399 00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:57.400 clear that it did. The inspector looked honestly interested. I 400 00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:01.720 may remind you, Holmes continued that the professor's salary can 401 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:05.319 be ascertained in several trustworthy books of reference. It is 402 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:09.079 seven hundred a year. Then how could he buy quite so? 403 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:13.960 How could he? Aye? That's remarkable, said the inspector thoughtfully, 404 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:18.000 talk away, mister Holmes. I'm just loving it as fine. 405 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:23.119 Holmes smiled. He was always warmed by genuine admiration. The 406 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:29.039 characteristic of the real artist. What about Burlstone, he asked. 407 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:32.839 We've time yet, said the inspector, glancing at his watch. 408 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:35.240 I've a cab at the door and it won't take 409 00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:38.480 us twenty minutes to Victoria. But about this picture, I 410 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.519 thought you told me once, mister Holmes, that you had 411 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:47.039 never met Professor Moriarty. No, I never have. Then, how 412 00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:50.240 do you know about his rooms? Ah, that's another matter. 413 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:54.079 I have been three times in his rooms, twice waiting 414 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:59.039 for him under different pretexts, and leaving before he came once. Well, 415 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:02.759 I can hardly tell about the once to an official detective. 416 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.960 It was on the last occasion that I took the 417 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:10.119 liberty of running over his papers with the most unexpected results. 418 00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:16.839 You found something compromising, absolutely nothing. That was what amazed me. However, 419 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:19.000 you have now seen the point of the picture. It 420 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:21.799 shows him to be a very wealthy man. How did 421 00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:25.279 he acquire wealth? He is unmarried. His younger brother is 422 00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:28.559 a station master in the west of England. His chair 423 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.839 is worth seven hundred a year, and he owns a grurz. Well, 424 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.279 surely the inference is plain. You mean that he has 425 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.000 a great income and that he must earn it. In 426 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:45.720 an illegal fashion exactly. Of course, I have other reasons 427 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:50.880 for thinking, so dozens of exiguous threads which lead vaguely 428 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.480 up towards the center of the web, where the poisonous, 429 00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:58.279 motionless creature is lurking. I only mention the grours because 430 00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:01.000 it brings the matter within the range of your own observation, 431 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.799 will mister Holmes, I admit that what you say is interesting. 432 00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:10.279 It's more than interesting, it's just wonderful. But let us 433 00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:16.119 have it a little clearer, if you can. Is it forgery, coining, burglary? 434 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.480 Where does the money come from? Have you ever read 435 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:25.039 of Jonathan wild Well? The name has a familiar sound 436 00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:28.480 if someone in a novel, was it not. I don't 437 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:31.960 take much stock of detectives in novels, chaps that do 438 00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:34.960 things and never let you see how they do them. 439 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:40.200 That's just inspiration, not business. Jonathan Wilde wasn't a detective, 440 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:43.799 and he wasn't in a novel. He was a master criminal, 441 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:48.680 and he lived last century seventeen fifty or thereabouts. Then 442 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:52.680 he's no use to me. I'm a practical man, mister 443 00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:55.400 mac The most practical thing that you ever did in 444 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:59.759 your life would be to shut yourself up for three 445 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.000 months and read twelve hours a day at the Annals 446 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:08.400 of Crime. Everything comes in circles. Even Professor Moriarty Jonathan 447 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:11.839 Wilde was the hidden force of the London criminals, to 448 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:15.279 whom he sold his brains and his organization on a 449 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:19.200 fifteen percent commission. The old wheel turns and the same 450 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:22.279 spoke comes up. It's all been done before and will 451 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:24.680 be again. I tell you one or two things about 452 00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:28.640 Moriati which may interest you. You'll interest me right enough. 453 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.480 I happen to know who is the first link in 454 00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:35.680 his chain, a chain with this Napoleon gone wrong at 455 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:39.720 one end, and a hundred broken fighting men, pickpockets, blackmailers 456 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:42.240 and card sharpers at the other, with every sort of 457 00:29:42.279 --> 00:29:47.440 crime in between. His chief of staff is Colonel Sebastian Moran, 458 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:52.640 as aloof and guarded and inaccessible to the law as himself. 459 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:56.440 What do you think he pays him. I'd like to 460 00:29:56.519 --> 00:30:00.359 hear six thousand a year. That's paying for brain. You 461 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:05.119 see the American business principle. I learned that detail quite 462 00:30:05.160 --> 00:30:09.200 by chance. It's more than the Prime Minister gets. That 463 00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:12.519 gives you an idea of Moriarti's gains and of the 464 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:15.279 scale on which he works. Another point, I made it 465 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:18.880 my business to hunt down some of Moriarti's checks lately, 466 00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:22.240 just common innocent checks that he pays his household bills with. 467 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:26.359 They were drawn on six different banks. Does that make 468 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.880 any impression on your mind? Queer? Certainly? But what do 469 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:34.559 you gather from it? That he wanted no gossip about 470 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.519 his wealth? No single man should know what he had. 471 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:43.160 I have no doubt that he has twenty banking accounts, 472 00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:46.079 the bulk of his fortune abroad in the Deutsche Bank 473 00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:49.400 or the credit lyonee as likely as not. Sometime, when 474 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:51.519 you have a year or two to spare, I commend 475 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:56.480 to you the study of Professor Moriarte. Inspector MacDonald had 476 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:00.839 grown steadily more impressed as the conversation proceeded. He had 477 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:05.319 lost himself in his interest. Now his practical Scotch intelligence 478 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:08.119 brought him back with a snap to the matter in 479 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:13.240 hand he can keep anyhow, said he, You've got a 480 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:17.720 side tracked with your interesting anecdotes, mister Holmes, what really 481 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:20.640 counts as your remark that there is some connection between 482 00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:24.440 the professor and the crime that you get from the 483 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.559 warning received through the man Porlock can we, for our 484 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:33.119 present practical needs, get any further than that we may 485 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:35.920 form some conception as to the motives of the crime. 486 00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:39.920 It is, as I gather from your original remarks, an 487 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:45.160 inexplicable or at least an unexplained murder. Now, presuming that 488 00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:47.400 the source of the crime is as we suspect it 489 00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:51.720 to be, there might be two different motives. In the 490 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:54.400 first place, I may tell you that Moriarty rules with 491 00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:58.440 a rod of iron over his people. His discipline is tremendous. 492 00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:02.480 There is only one punishment in his code. It is death. 493 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:06.720 Now we might suppose that this murdered man, this Douglas, 494 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.960 whose approaching fate was known by one of the arch 495 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:13.480 criminal's subordinates, had in some way betrayed the chief. His 496 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:17.759 punishment followed, and would be known to all, if only 497 00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:20.880 to put the fear of death into them. Well, that's 498 00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:24.359 one suggestion, mister Holmes. The other is that it has 499 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:28.039 been engineered by Moriarty. In the ordinary course of business. 500 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:32.119 Was there any robbery I have not heard. If so, 501 00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:35.000 it would of course be against the first hypothesis, and 502 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:38.920 in favor of the second. Moriarty may have been engaged 503 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:42.680 to engineer it. On a promise of part spoils, or 504 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:45.440 he may have been paid so much down to manage it, 505 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:48.920 either as possible, but whichever it may be, or if 506 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:52.359 it is some third combination, it is down at Burlstone 507 00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:55.799 that we must seek the solution. I know our man 508 00:32:55.839 --> 00:32:58.240 too well to suppose that he has left anything up 509 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:01.920 here which may lead us to him. Then to Bulston 510 00:33:02.119 --> 00:33:05.319 we must go, cried mac Donald, jumping from his chair. 511 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:09.200 My word, it's later than a thought. I can give you, gentlemen, 512 00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:12.880 five minutes for preparation, and that is all and ample 513 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:15.440 for us, both, said Holmes, as he sprang up and 514 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:18.240 hastened to change from his dressing gown to his coat. 515 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:21.319 While we are on our way, mister mac I will 516 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.240 ask you to be good enough to tell me all 517 00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:27.680 about it. All about it proved to be disappointingly little, 518 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:30.839 and yet there was enough to assure us that the 519 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:33.720 case before us might well be worthy of the expert's 520 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:38.200 closest attention. He brightened and rubbed his thin hands together 521 00:33:38.519 --> 00:33:42.440 as he listened to the meager but remarkable details. The 522 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:46.039 long series of sterile weeks lay behind us, and here 523 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:50.000 at last there was a fitting object for those remarkable powers, which, 524 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:54.240 like all special gifts, become irksome to their owner when 525 00:33:54.279 --> 00:33:58.480 they are not in use. That razor brain blunted and 526 00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:05.599 rusted with inn action. Sherlock Holmes's eyes glistened, his pale 527 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:09.800 cheeks took a warmer hue, and his whole eager face 528 00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:12.840 shone with an inward light. When the call for work 529 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:17.119 reached him. Leaning forward in the cab, he listened intently 530 00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:20.400 to McDonald's short sketch of the problem which awaited us 531 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:25.440 in Sussex. The inspector was himself dependent, as he explained 532 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:30.000 to us upon a scribbled account forwarded to him by 533 00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:32.360 the milk train in the early hours of the morning. 534 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:37.800 White Mason, the local officer, was a personal friend, and 535 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:41.159 hence MacDonald had been notified much more promptly than is 536 00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:46.239 usual at Scotland Yard when provincials need their assistance. It 537 00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:50.599 is a very cold scent upon which the metropolitan expert 538 00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:55.719 is generally asked to run. Dear Inspector MacDonald said, the 539 00:34:55.800 --> 00:34:59.320 letter which he read to us official requisition for your 540 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:03.800 services is in separate envelope. This is for your private eye. 541 00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:07.079 Wire me what train in the morning you can get 542 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:09.920 for Burlstone, and I will meet it or have it 543 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:13.360 met if I am too occupied, This case is a snorter. 544 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:16.519 Don't waste a moment in getting started. If you can 545 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:20.239 bring mister Holmes, please do so, for he will find 546 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:24.000 something after his own heart. We would think the whole 547 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:27.599 had been fixed up for theatrical effect if there wasn't 548 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:29.719 a dead man in the middle of it. My word, 549 00:35:30.039 --> 00:35:34.159 it is a snorter. Your friend seems to be no fool, 550 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:39.039 remarked Holmes. No, sir, Whitemason is a very live man. 551 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:42.360 If I am any judge, well have you anything more 552 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:46.119 only that he will give us every detail when we meet. 553 00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:49.800 Then how did you get at mister Douglas and the 554 00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:53.519 fact that he had been horribly murdered? That was in 555 00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:58.199 the enclosed official report. I didn't say horrible, that's not 556 00:35:58.280 --> 00:36:01.559 a recognized official term. It gave the name John Douglas. 557 00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:04.880 He mentioned his injuries had been in the head from 558 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:08.199 the discharge of a shotgun. It also mentioned the hour 559 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:11.159 of the alarm, which was close on to midnight last night. 560 00:36:11.800 --> 00:36:14.480 It added that the case was undoubtedly one of murder 561 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:17.000 and that no arrest had been made, and that the 562 00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:21.239 case was one which presented some very perplexing and extraordinary features. 563 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:25.920 That's absolutely all we have at present, mister Holmes. Then 564 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:29.320 with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mister 565 00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:34.800 mac The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data 566 00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:38.719 is the bane of our profession. I can see only 567 00:36:38.800 --> 00:36:41.880 two things for certain at present, a great brain in 568 00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:45.360 London and a dead man in Sussex. It's the chain 569 00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:55.440 between that we are going to trace Chapter three, the 570 00:36:55.559 --> 00:37:01.320 Tragedy of Burlstone. For a moment, I will ask leave 571 00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:06.320 to remove my own insignificant personality, and to describe events 572 00:37:06.360 --> 00:37:09.920 which occurred before we arrived upon the scene by light 573 00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:12.719 of knowledge which came to us afterwards. Only in this 574 00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:15.960 way can I make the reader appreciate the people concerned 575 00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:19.559 and the strange setting in which their fate was cast. 576 00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:24.480 The village of Burlstone is a small and very ancient 577 00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:28.880 cluster of half timbered cottages on the northern border of 578 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:33.760 the County of Sussex. For centuries it had remained unchanged, 579 00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:38.039 but within the last few years its picturesque appearance and 580 00:37:38.119 --> 00:37:41.679 situation have attracted a number of well to do residents 581 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:46.599 whose villas peep out from the woods. Around These woods 582 00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:49.440 are locally supposed to be the extreme fringe of the 583 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:53.400 great wheeled forest, which thins away until it reaches the 584 00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:57.760 northern chalk Downs. A number of small shops have come 585 00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:00.480 into being to meet the wants of the increased part population. 586 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:04.760 So there seemed some prospect that Burlstone may soon grow 587 00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:09.000 from an ancient village into a modern town. It is 588 00:38:09.079 --> 00:38:14.280 the center for a considerable area of country since Tunbridge Wells, 589 00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:17.760 the nearest place of importance is ten or twelve miles 590 00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:22.639 to the eastward over the borders of Kent. About half 591 00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:25.480 a mile from the town, standing in an old park 592 00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:29.559 famous for its huge beech trees, is the ancient manor 593 00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:34.360 House of Burlstone. Part of this venerable building dates back 594 00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:37.800 to the time of the First Crusade, when Hugo de 595 00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:41.599 Capus built a fortelise in the center of the estate, 596 00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:44.880 which had been granted to him by the Red King. 597 00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:50.320 This was destroyed by fire in fifteen forty three, and 598 00:38:50.519 --> 00:38:53.519 some of its smoke blackened corner stones were used when 599 00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:57.719 in Jacobean times a brick country house rose upon the 600 00:38:57.800 --> 00:39:02.039 ruins of the feudal castle. The manor house, with its 601 00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:05.960 many gables and its small diamond paned windows, were still 602 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:08.119 much as the builder had left it in the early 603 00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:12.719 seventeenth century. Of the double moats which had guarded its 604 00:39:12.760 --> 00:39:16.920 more warlike predecessor. The outer had been allowed to dry 605 00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:19.960 up and served the humble function of a kitchen garden. 606 00:39:20.719 --> 00:39:23.559 The inner one was still there and lay forty feet 607 00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:26.760 in breadth, though now only a few feet in depth, 608 00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:30.800 round the whole house. A small stream fed it and 609 00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:35.519 continued beyond it, so that the sheet of water, though turbid, 610 00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:40.800 was never ditch like or unhealthy. The ground floor windows 611 00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:43.400 were within a foot of the surface of the water. 612 00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:47.840 The only approach to the house was over a drawbridge, 613 00:39:48.199 --> 00:39:51.280 the chains and windless of which had long been rusted 614 00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:55.800 and broken. The latest tenants of the manor house had, however, 615 00:39:55.920 --> 00:40:00.159 with characteristic energy, set this right, and the drawbridge was 616 00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.079 not only capable of being raised, but actually was raised 617 00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:08.480 every evening and lowered every morning. By thus renewing the 618 00:40:08.519 --> 00:40:11.079 custom of the old feudal days, the manor house was 619 00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:15.360 converted into an island during the night, a fact which 620 00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:18.400 had a very direct bearing upon the mystery which was 621 00:40:18.440 --> 00:40:23.000 soon to engage the attention of all England. The house 622 00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:26.559 had been untenanted for some years and was threatening to 623 00:40:26.599 --> 00:40:30.880 molder into a picturesque decay when the Douglases took possession 624 00:40:30.920 --> 00:40:34.880 of it. This family consisted of only two individuals, John 625 00:40:34.960 --> 00:40:39.840 Douglas and his wife. Douglas was a remarkable man, both 626 00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:44.199 in character and in person. In age, he may have 627 00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:48.039 been about fifty, with a strong, jawed, rugged face, a 628 00:40:48.119 --> 00:40:53.079 grizzling mustache, peculiarly keen gray eyes, and a wiry, vigorous 629 00:40:53.079 --> 00:40:56.559 figure which had lost nothing of the strength and activity 630 00:40:56.599 --> 00:41:01.199 of youth. He was cheery and genial to all, but 631 00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:04.880 somewhat offhand in his manners, giving the impression that he 632 00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:08.559 had seen life in social strata on some far lower 633 00:41:08.599 --> 00:41:13.840 horizon than the county society of Sussex. Yet though looked 634 00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:17.840 at with some curiosity and reserve by his more cultivated neighbors, 635 00:41:17.960 --> 00:41:21.960 he soon acquired a great popularity among the villagers, subscribing 636 00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:27.000 handsomely to all local objects and attending their smoking concerts 637 00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:31.239 and other functions, where having a remarkably rich tenor voice, 638 00:41:31.519 --> 00:41:34.320 he was always ready to oblige with an excellent song. 639 00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:38.360 He appeared to have plenty of money, which was said 640 00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:41.320 to have been gained in the California gold fields. And 641 00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:43.480 it was clear from his own talk and that of 642 00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:45.760 his wife, that he had spent a part of his 643 00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:50.159 life in America. The good impression which had been produced 644 00:41:50.199 --> 00:41:54.440 by his generosity and by his democratic manners, was increased 645 00:41:54.519 --> 00:41:59.440 by a reputation gained for utter indifference to danger. Though 646 00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:03.440 a wretched rider, he turned out at every meet and 647 00:42:03.480 --> 00:42:06.800 took the most amazing falls in his determination to hold 648 00:42:06.840 --> 00:42:10.440 his own with the best. When the vicarage caught fire, 649 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:13.840 he distinguished himself also by the fearlessness with which he 650 00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:17.639 re entered the building to save property after the local 651 00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:21.960 fire brigade had given it up as impossible. Thus it 652 00:42:22.039 --> 00:42:25.280 came about that John Douglas of the manor House had 653 00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:30.519 within five years won himself quite a reputation in Burlstone. 654 00:42:30.559 --> 00:42:33.239 His wife, too, was popular with those who had made 655 00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:37.599 her acquaintance, though after the English fashion, the callers upon 656 00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:41.199 a stranger who settled in the county without introductions were 657 00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:44.840 few and far between. This mattered the less to her, 658 00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:49.000 as she was retiring by disposition, and very much absorbed 659 00:42:49.079 --> 00:42:52.360 to all appearance in her husband and her domestic duties. 660 00:42:53.599 --> 00:42:56.760 It was known that she was an English lady who 661 00:42:56.840 --> 00:42:59.760 had met mister Douglas in London, he being at that 662 00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:03.840 time I'm a widower. She was a beautiful woman, tall, 663 00:43:04.039 --> 00:43:07.159 dark and slender, some twenty years younger than her husband, 664 00:43:07.800 --> 00:43:10.440 a disparity which seemed in no wise to mar the 665 00:43:10.519 --> 00:43:15.719 contentment of their family life. It was remarked, sometimes, however, 666 00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:19.079 by those who knew them best, that the confidence between 667 00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:22.960 the two did not appear to be complete, since the 668 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:26.480 wife was either very reticent about her husband's past life, 669 00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:32.440 or else has seemed more likely, was imperfectly informed about it. 670 00:43:32.440 --> 00:43:35.079 It had also been noted and commented upon by a 671 00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:38.760 few observant people that there were signs sometimes of some 672 00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:42.559 nerve strain upon the part of missus Douglas, and that 673 00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:47.000 she would display acute uneasiness if her absent husband should 674 00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:51.360 ever be particularly late in his return. On a quiet 675 00:43:51.360 --> 00:43:56.199 countryside where all gossip is welcome, this weakness of the 676 00:43:56.280 --> 00:43:59.000 lady of the manor house did not pass without remark, 677 00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:03.639 and it bulked larger upon people's memory when the events 678 00:44:03.679 --> 00:44:08.760 arose which gave it a very special significance. There was 679 00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:13.119 yet another individual whose residence under that roof was, it 680 00:44:13.239 --> 00:44:17.000 is true, only an intermittent one, but whose presence at 681 00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:19.880 the time of the strange happenings which will now be narrated, 682 00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:24.239 brought his name prominently before the public. This was Cecil 683 00:44:24.440 --> 00:44:30.920 James Barker of hales Lodge, Hampstead. Cecil Barker's tall, loose 684 00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:33.559 jointed figure was a familiar one in the main street 685 00:44:33.599 --> 00:44:36.960 of Burlstone Village, for he was a frequent and welcome 686 00:44:37.079 --> 00:44:40.840 visitor at the manor house. He was the more noticed 687 00:44:40.920 --> 00:44:44.400 as being the only friend of the past unknown life 688 00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:46.920 of mister Douglas who was ever seen in his new 689 00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:53.280 English surroundings. Barker was himself an undoubted Englishman, but by 690 00:44:53.280 --> 00:44:55.719 his remarks it was clear that he had first known 691 00:44:55.800 --> 00:44:59.760 Douglas in America and had there lived on intimate terms 692 00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:04.239 with him. He appeared to be a man of considerable wealth, 693 00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:09.159 and was reputed to be a bachelor in age. He 694 00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:12.280 was rather younger than Douglas, forty five at the most, 695 00:45:12.519 --> 00:45:16.559 a tall, straight, broad chested fellow, with a clean shaved, 696 00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:20.960 prize fighter face, thick, strong black eyebrows, and a pair 697 00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:24.360 of masterful black eyes, which might, even without the aid 698 00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:28.119 of his very capable hands, clear away for him through 699 00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:32.320 a hostile crowd. He neither rode nor shot, but spent 700 00:45:32.400 --> 00:45:34.840 his days in wandering round the old village with his 701 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.280 pipe in his mouth, or in driving with his host 702 00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:43.719 or in his absence with his hostess over the beautiful countryside. 703 00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:48.320 An easy going, free handed gentleman, said Eames the butler. 704 00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:51.320 But my word, I'd rather not be the man that 705 00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:55.639 crossed him. He was cordial and intimate with Douglas, and 706 00:45:55.760 --> 00:45:59.000 he was no less friendly with his wife, a friendship 707 00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:02.239 which more than once seemed to cause some irritation to 708 00:46:02.280 --> 00:46:05.320 the husband, so that even the servants were able to 709 00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:10.480 perceive his annoyance. Such was the third person, who was 710 00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:14.760 one of the family when the catastrophe occurred. As to 711 00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:18.000 the other denizens of the old building, it will suffice 712 00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:21.400 out of a large household to mention the prim respectable 713 00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:26.239 and capable Aims and missus Allen, a buxam and cheerful 714 00:46:26.280 --> 00:46:29.840 person who relieved the lady of some of her household cares. 715 00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:34.639 The other six servants in the house bear no relation 716 00:46:34.840 --> 00:46:39.119 to the events of the night of January sixth. It 717 00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:42.920 was at eleven forty five that the first alarm reached 718 00:46:42.960 --> 00:46:47.320 the small local police station in charge of Sergeant Wilson 719 00:46:47.400 --> 00:46:53.320 of the Sussex Constabulary. Cecil Barker, much excited, had rushed 720 00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:56.519 up to the door and pealed furiously upon the bell. 721 00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:00.199 A terrible tragedy had occurred at the manor house and 722 00:47:00.559 --> 00:47:04.519 John Douglas had been murdered. That was the breathless burden 723 00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:07.039 of his message. He had hurried back to the house, 724 00:47:07.320 --> 00:47:10.440 followed within a few minutes by the police sergeant, who 725 00:47:10.559 --> 00:47:12.760 arrived at the scene of the crime a little after 726 00:47:12.840 --> 00:47:17.280 twelve o'clock after taking prompt steps to warn the county 727 00:47:17.320 --> 00:47:22.239 authorities that something serious was afoot. On reaching the manor house, 728 00:47:22.280 --> 00:47:26.159 the sergeant had found the drawbridge down, the windows lighted up, 729 00:47:26.679 --> 00:47:29.559 and the whole household in a state of wild confusion 730 00:47:29.639 --> 00:47:33.840 and alarm. The white faced servants were huddling together in 731 00:47:33.880 --> 00:47:36.920 the hall, with the frightened butler wringing his hands in 732 00:47:36.960 --> 00:47:41.079 the doorway. Only Cecil Barker seemed to be master of 733 00:47:41.159 --> 00:47:44.360 himself and his emotions. He had opened the door which 734 00:47:44.440 --> 00:47:46.960 was nearest to the entrance, and he had beckoned to 735 00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:50.960 the sergeant to follow him. At that moment there arrived 736 00:47:51.079 --> 00:47:55.880 doctor Wood, a brisk and capable general practitioner from the village. 737 00:47:56.000 --> 00:47:59.199 The three men entered the fatal room together, while the 738 00:47:59.280 --> 00:48:02.559 horror stricken butler followed at their heels, closing the door 739 00:48:02.599 --> 00:48:05.920 behind him to shut out the terrible scene from the 740 00:48:05.960 --> 00:48:11.400 maid servants. The dead man lay on his back, sprawling 741 00:48:11.480 --> 00:48:15.559 with outstretched limbs, in the center of the room. He 742 00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:19.239 was clad only in a pink dressing gown which covered 743 00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:23.800 his nightclothes. There were carpet slippers on his bare feet. 744 00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:27.760 The doctor knelt beside him and held down the hand 745 00:48:27.840 --> 00:48:31.599 lamp which had stood on the table. One glance at 746 00:48:31.599 --> 00:48:34.400 the victim was enough to show the healer that his 747 00:48:34.480 --> 00:48:39.199 presence could be dispensed with. The man had been horribly injured. 748 00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:44.119 Lying across his chest was a curious weapon, a shot 749 00:48:44.199 --> 00:48:47.159 gun with the barrel sawed off a foot in front 750 00:48:47.199 --> 00:48:50.360 of the triggers. It was clear that this had been 751 00:48:50.360 --> 00:48:53.559 fired at close range, and that he had received the 752 00:48:53.599 --> 00:48:58.039 whole charge in the face, blowing his head almost to pieces. 753 00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:01.719 The triggers had been wired together so as to make 754 00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:07.800 the simultaneous discharge more destructive. The country policeman was unnerved 755 00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:11.239 and troubled by the tremendous responsibility which had come so 756 00:49:11.400 --> 00:49:16.639 suddenly upon him. We will touch nothing until my superiors arrive, 757 00:49:17.119 --> 00:49:20.280 he said in a hushed voice, staring in horror at 758 00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:24.519 the dreadful head. Nothing has been touched up to now, 759 00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:28.239 said Cecil Barker. I'll answer for that. You see it 760 00:49:28.280 --> 00:49:31.280 all exactly as I found it. When was that the 761 00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:34.280 sergeant had drawn out his note book. It was just 762 00:49:34.719 --> 00:49:37.960 half past eleven. I had not begun to undress, and 763 00:49:38.039 --> 00:49:40.719 I was sitting by the fire in my bedroom when 764 00:49:40.760 --> 00:49:44.119 I heard the report. It was not very loud, it 765 00:49:44.199 --> 00:49:47.599 seemed to be muffled. I rushed down. I don't suppose 766 00:49:47.639 --> 00:49:50.039 it was thirty seconds before I was in the room. 767 00:49:50.559 --> 00:49:53.920 Was the door open, Yes, it was open. Poor Douglas 768 00:49:53.960 --> 00:49:57.159 was lying as you see him. His bedroom candle was 769 00:49:57.239 --> 00:50:00.800 burning on the table. It was I who lit the lamp. 770 00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:04.880 Some minutes afterward, Did you see no one? No? I 771 00:50:04.960 --> 00:50:07.840 heard Missus Douglas coming down the stair behind me, and 772 00:50:07.920 --> 00:50:10.760 I rushed out to prevent her from seeing this dreadful sight. 773 00:50:11.840 --> 00:50:15.639 Missus Allen, the housekeeper, came and took her away. Eames 774 00:50:15.639 --> 00:50:18.519 had arrived and we ran back into the room once more. 775 00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:21.840 But surely I have heard that the drawbridge is kept 776 00:50:21.920 --> 00:50:25.559 up all night. Yes, it was up until I lowered it. Then, 777 00:50:25.800 --> 00:50:29.480 how could any murderer have got away? It is out 778 00:50:29.480 --> 00:50:33.840 of the question. Mister Douglas must have shot himself. That 779 00:50:34.039 --> 00:50:38.280 was our first idea. But see Barker drew aside the 780 00:50:38.320 --> 00:50:41.719 curtain and showed that the long diamond paned window was 781 00:50:41.760 --> 00:50:45.639 open to its full extent. And look at this. He 782 00:50:45.639 --> 00:50:48.800 held the lamp down and illuminated a smudge of blood, 783 00:50:49.599 --> 00:50:52.159 like the mark of a boot sole upon the window sill. 784 00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:56.400 Some one has stood there in getting out. You mean 785 00:50:56.440 --> 00:51:01.159 that some one waded across the moat exactly. Then, if 786 00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:03.320 you were in the room within half a minute of 787 00:51:03.360 --> 00:51:06.280 the crime, he must have been in the water at 788 00:51:06.280 --> 00:51:09.679 that very moment. I have not a doubt of it. 789 00:51:09.920 --> 00:51:12.039 I wish to Heaven that I had rushed to the window, 790 00:51:12.199 --> 00:51:15.079 but the curtain screened it, as you can see, and 791 00:51:15.159 --> 00:51:17.599 so it never occurred to me. Then I heard the 792 00:51:17.599 --> 00:51:20.440 step of missus Douglas, and I could not let her 793 00:51:20.719 --> 00:51:24.519 enter the room. It would have been too horrible. Horrible enough, 794 00:51:24.760 --> 00:51:27.480 said the doctor, looking at the shattered head and the 795 00:51:27.559 --> 00:51:31.000 terrible marks which surrounded it. I have never seen such 796 00:51:31.039 --> 00:51:36.360 injuries since the Burlstone railway smash. But I say, remarked 797 00:51:36.360 --> 00:51:39.800 the police sergeant, whose slow bucolic common sense was still 798 00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:43.159 pondering the open window. That's all very well, your saying 799 00:51:43.159 --> 00:51:47.039 that a man escaped by wading this moat. But what 800 00:51:47.119 --> 00:51:50.239 I ask you is, how did he ever get into 801 00:51:50.280 --> 00:51:53.679 the house at all if the bridge was up. Ah, 802 00:51:54.280 --> 00:51:58.000 that's the question, said Barker. At what a clock was 803 00:51:58.039 --> 00:52:02.800 it raised? It was nearly six o'clock, said Eames, the butler. 804 00:52:03.519 --> 00:52:07.000 I've heard, said the sergeant, that it was usually raised 805 00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:10.440 at sunset. That would be nearer half past four than 806 00:52:10.519 --> 00:52:14.199 six at this time of year. Missus Douglas had visitors 807 00:52:14.199 --> 00:52:17.800 to tea, said Eames. I couldn't raise it until they went. 808 00:52:18.039 --> 00:52:21.440 Then I wound it up myself. Then it comes to this, 809 00:52:21.800 --> 00:52:26.480 said the sergeant, if anyone came from outside. If they did, 810 00:52:27.559 --> 00:52:30.440 they must have got in across the bridge before six 811 00:52:31.519 --> 00:52:34.360 and been in hiding ever since until mister Douglas came 812 00:52:34.400 --> 00:52:40.039 into the room after eleven. That is so. Mister Douglas 813 00:52:40.039 --> 00:52:42.400 went round the house every night, the last thing before 814 00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:45.239 he turned in to see that the lights were right. 815 00:52:45.760 --> 00:52:48.599 That brought him in here. The man was waiting and 816 00:52:48.639 --> 00:52:51.679 shot him. Then he got away through the window and 817 00:52:51.840 --> 00:52:55.280 left his gun behind him. That's how I read it, 818 00:52:55.440 --> 00:52:59.199 for nothing else will fit the facts. The sergeant picked 819 00:52:59.239 --> 00:53:01.360 up a card with which lay beside the dead man 820 00:53:01.400 --> 00:53:05.480 on the floor. The initials v V and under them 821 00:53:05.559 --> 00:53:09.360 the number three four one were rudely scrawled in ink 822 00:53:09.679 --> 00:53:14.679 upon it. Whilst this, he asked. Holding it up, Barker 823 00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:18.159 looked at it with curiosity. I never noticed it before, 824 00:53:18.280 --> 00:53:22.119 he said. The murderer must have left it behind v 825 00:53:22.320 --> 00:53:26.320 V three four one. I could make no sense of that. 826 00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:30.639 The sergeant kept turning it over in his big fingers. 827 00:53:30.920 --> 00:53:36.480 What's vv somebody's initials? Maybe? What have you got there, 828 00:53:36.559 --> 00:53:40.480 doctor Wood? It was a good sized hammer which had 829 00:53:40.480 --> 00:53:42.960 been lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, 830 00:53:43.800 --> 00:53:48.360 A substantial workman like hammer. Cecil Barker pointed to a 831 00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:52.880 box of brass headed nails upon the mantelpiece. Mister Douglas 832 00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:56.360 was altering the pictures yesterday, he said, I saw him 833 00:53:56.400 --> 00:54:00.360 myself standing upon that chair and fixing the big picture 834 00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:04.519 above it. That accounts for the hammer. We'd best put 835 00:54:04.559 --> 00:54:06.639 it back on the rug where we found it, said 836 00:54:06.639 --> 00:54:10.960 the sergeant, scratching his puzzled head in his perplexity. It 837 00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:13.079 will want the best brains in the force to get 838 00:54:13.079 --> 00:54:15.280 to the bottom of this thing. It will be a 839 00:54:15.320 --> 00:54:19.159 London job before it is finished. He raised the hand 840 00:54:19.239 --> 00:54:23.360 lamp and walked slowly round the room. Hullo, he cried, excitedly, 841 00:54:23.639 --> 00:54:27.239 drawing the window curtain to one side. What o' clark 842 00:54:27.320 --> 00:54:31.320 were those curtains drawn when the lamps were lit, said 843 00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:35.360 the butler. It would be shortly after four some one 844 00:54:35.599 --> 00:54:38.840 had been hiding here. Sure enough, he held down the 845 00:54:38.920 --> 00:54:41.679 light and the marks of muddy boots were very visible 846 00:54:41.719 --> 00:54:44.679 in the corner. I'm bound to say this bears out 847 00:54:44.719 --> 00:54:47.719 your theory, mister Barker. It looks as if the man 848 00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:51.000 got into the house after four when the curtains were drawn, 849 00:54:51.519 --> 00:54:55.000 and before six when the bridge was raised. He slipped 850 00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:57.639 into this room because it was the first that he saw. 851 00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:00.760 There was no other place where he hide, so he 852 00:55:00.840 --> 00:55:03.800 popped in behind the curtain. That all seems clear enough. 853 00:55:04.800 --> 00:55:07.599 It is likely that his main idea was to burgle 854 00:55:07.639 --> 00:55:10.400 the house, but mister Douglas chanced to come upon him, 855 00:55:10.800 --> 00:55:14.000 so he murdered him and escaped. That's how I read it, 856 00:55:14.079 --> 00:55:17.840 said Barker. But I say, aren't we wasting precious time? 857 00:55:18.079 --> 00:55:20.719 Couldn't we start out and scout the country before the 858 00:55:20.760 --> 00:55:25.199 fellow gets away. The sergeant considered for a moment. There 859 00:55:25.199 --> 00:55:27.519 are no trains before six in the morning, so he 860 00:55:27.559 --> 00:55:30.360 can't get away by rail. If he goes by road 861 00:55:30.440 --> 00:55:32.960 with his legs all dripping, it's odds that someone will 862 00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:37.079 notice him anyhow. I can't leave here myself until I'm relieved, 863 00:55:37.760 --> 00:55:40.159 but I think none of you should go until we 864 00:55:40.159 --> 00:55:44.039 see more clearly how we all stand. The doctor had 865 00:55:44.039 --> 00:55:48.239 taken the lamp and was narrowly scrutinizing the body. What's 866 00:55:48.239 --> 00:55:51.360 this mark, he asked? Could this have any connection with 867 00:55:51.440 --> 00:55:55.199 the crime. The dead man's right arm was thrust out 868 00:55:55.239 --> 00:55:58.679 from his dressing gown and exposed as high as the elbow. 869 00:55:59.639 --> 00:56:02.840 About half way up the forearm was a curious brown design, 870 00:56:03.519 --> 00:56:07.719 a triangle inside a circle, standing out in vivid relief 871 00:56:07.880 --> 00:56:12.880 upon the lard colored skin. It's not tattooed, said the doctor, 872 00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.800 peering through his glasses. I never saw anything like it. 873 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:19.840 The man has been branded at some time, as they 874 00:56:19.960 --> 00:56:24.360 brand cattle. What is the meaning of this. I don't 875 00:56:24.480 --> 00:56:27.159 profess to know the meaning of it, said Cecil Barker, 876 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:31.039 but I have seen the mark on Douglas many times. 877 00:56:31.079 --> 00:56:34.679 This last ten years, and so have I, said the butler, 878 00:56:35.239 --> 00:56:37.519 many a time, when the Master has rolled up his sleeves. 879 00:56:37.559 --> 00:56:40.159 I have noticed that very mark. I've often wondered what 880 00:56:40.239 --> 00:56:43.000 it could be. Then it has nothing to do with 881 00:56:43.079 --> 00:56:46.480 the crime anyhow, said the sergeant. But it's a rum 882 00:56:46.559 --> 00:56:51.159 thing all the same. Everything about this case is rum Well, 883 00:56:51.239 --> 00:56:54.960 what is it now? The butler had given an exclamation 884 00:56:55.039 --> 00:56:59.039 of astonishment and was pointing at the dead man's outstretched hand. 885 00:57:00.119 --> 00:57:04.920 They've taken his wedding ring, he gasped. What. Yes, Indeed, 886 00:57:05.159 --> 00:57:07.800 Master always wore his plain gold wedding ring on the 887 00:57:07.840 --> 00:57:11.239 little finger of his left hand. That ring with the 888 00:57:11.320 --> 00:57:14.400 rough nugget on it was above it, and the twisted 889 00:57:14.440 --> 00:57:18.119 snake ring on the third finger. There's the nugget and 890 00:57:18.199 --> 00:57:22.119 there's the snake, but the wedding ring is gone. He's right, 891 00:57:22.280 --> 00:57:26.480 said Barker. Do you tell me, said the sergeant, that 892 00:57:26.639 --> 00:57:30.880 the wedding ring was below the other always. Then the 893 00:57:30.960 --> 00:57:34.760 murderer or whoever it was, first, took off this ring 894 00:57:34.880 --> 00:57:39.159 you call the nugget ring, then the wedding ring, and 895 00:57:39.239 --> 00:57:42.719 afterwards put the nugget ring back again. That is so, 896 00:57:44.119 --> 00:57:48.159 the worthy country policeman shook his head. Seems to me, 897 00:57:48.239 --> 00:57:50.440 the sooner we get London on to this case, the 898 00:57:50.559 --> 00:57:54.960 better said he. White Mason is a smart man. No 899 00:57:55.119 --> 00:57:57.719 local job has ever been too much for white Mason. 900 00:57:58.679 --> 00:58:01.199 It won't belong now before he is here to help us. 901 00:58:01.920 --> 00:58:04.639 But I expect we'll have to look to London before 902 00:58:04.679 --> 00:58:07.920 we are through. Anyhow, I'm not ashamed to say that 903 00:58:08.119 --> 00:58:10.280 it is a deal too thick for the likes of me. 904 00:58:16.199 --> 00:58:23.840 Chapter four Darkness. At three in the morning, the Chief 905 00:58:23.920 --> 00:58:30.880 Sussex Detective, obeying the urgent call from Sergeant Wilson of Burlstone, 906 00:58:31.320 --> 00:58:34.800 arrived from headquarters in a light dog cart behind a 907 00:58:34.800 --> 00:58:39.000 breathless trotter by the five forty train. In the morning, 908 00:58:39.360 --> 00:58:43.079 he had sent his message to Scotland Yard, and he 909 00:58:43.199 --> 00:58:46.960 was at the Burlstone station at twelve o'clock to welcome us. 910 00:58:48.079 --> 00:58:51.480 White Mason was a quiet, comfortable looking person in a 911 00:58:51.519 --> 00:58:55.360 loose tweed suit, with a clean shaved, ruddy face, a 912 00:58:55.440 --> 00:59:00.599 stoutish body, and powerful bandy legs adorned with gaiters, looking 913 00:59:00.760 --> 00:59:05.320 like a small farmer, a retired gamekeeper, or anything upon 914 00:59:05.400 --> 00:59:09.960 earth except a very favorable specimen of the provincial criminal officer. 915 00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:15.599 A real downright snorter, mister mc donald, He kept repeating, 916 00:59:16.320 --> 00:59:19.639 We'll have the pressmen down like flies when they understand it. 917 00:59:20.280 --> 00:59:22.719 I'm hoping we will get our work done before they 918 00:59:22.760 --> 00:59:25.199 get poking their noses into it and messing up all 919 00:59:25.239 --> 00:59:28.920 the trails. There's been nothing like this that I can remember. 920 00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:31.840 There are some bits that will come home to you, 921 00:59:31.920 --> 00:59:35.119 mister Holmes, or I'm mistaken, and you also, doctor Watson 922 00:59:35.440 --> 00:59:38.039 for the medicals, will have a word to say before 923 00:59:38.039 --> 00:59:41.400 we finish. Your room is at the Westville Arms. There's 924 00:59:41.440 --> 00:59:43.960 no other place, but I hear that it is clean 925 00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:47.320 and good. The man will carry your bags this way, gentlemen, 926 00:59:47.320 --> 00:59:51.119 if you please. He was a very bustling and genial person, 927 00:59:51.199 --> 00:59:55.840 this Sussex detective. In ten minutes we had all found 928 00:59:55.840 --> 00:59:58.679 our quarters. In ten more, we were seated in the 929 00:59:58.719 --> 01:00:01.360 parlor of the Inn and being treated to a rapid 930 01:00:01.400 --> 01:00:04.039 sketch of those events which have been outlined in the 931 01:00:04.079 --> 01:00:09.199 previous chapter. MacDonald made an occasional note while Holmes sat 932 01:00:09.239 --> 01:00:14.039 absorbed with the expression of surprised and reverent admiration with 933 01:00:14.119 --> 01:00:19.800 which the botanist surveys the rare and precious bloom. Remarkable, 934 01:00:19.960 --> 01:00:23.880 he said, when the story was unfolded most remarkable. I 935 01:00:23.880 --> 01:00:26.599 can hardly recall any case where the features have been 936 01:00:26.679 --> 01:00:30.800 more peculiar. I thought you would say so, mister Holmes, 937 01:00:31.000 --> 01:00:34.280 said White Mason, in great delight. We're well up with 938 01:00:34.320 --> 01:00:37.719 the times in Sussex. I've told you now how matters 939 01:00:37.760 --> 01:00:39.719 were up to the time when I took over from 940 01:00:39.760 --> 01:00:43.360 Sergeant Wilson between three and four this morning. My word, 941 01:00:43.400 --> 01:00:46.079 I made the old Mayor go. But I need not 942 01:00:46.199 --> 01:00:48.159 have been in such a hurry, as it turned out, 943 01:00:48.679 --> 01:00:51.599 for there was nothing immediate that I could do. Sergeant 944 01:00:51.639 --> 01:00:55.000 Wilson had all the facts. I checked them and considered them, 945 01:00:55.039 --> 01:00:58.159 and maybe added a few of my own. What were they, 946 01:00:58.559 --> 01:01:02.719 asked Holmes eagerly. Well. I first had the hammer examined. 947 01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:05.440 There was doctor Wood there to help me. We found 948 01:01:05.440 --> 01:01:08.039 no signs of violence upon it. I was hoping that 949 01:01:08.079 --> 01:01:10.840 if mister Douglas defended himself with the hammer, he might 950 01:01:10.840 --> 01:01:13.719 have left his mark upon the murderer before he dropped 951 01:01:13.719 --> 01:01:17.440 it on the mat. But there was no stain. That, 952 01:01:17.800 --> 01:01:22.079 of course, proves nothing at all, remarked Inspector MacDonald. There 953 01:01:22.119 --> 01:01:25.000 has been many a hammer murder and no trace on 954 01:01:25.039 --> 01:01:27.920 the hammer. Quite so It doesn't prove it wasn't used, 955 01:01:28.559 --> 01:01:30.800 but there might have been stains, and that would have 956 01:01:30.840 --> 01:01:34.760 helped us. As a matter of fact, there were none. 957 01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:38.599 Then I examined the gun. They were buckshot cartridges, and 958 01:01:38.639 --> 01:01:41.960 a sergeant Wilson pointed out the triggers were wired together 959 01:01:42.119 --> 01:01:44.599 so that if you pulled on the hinder one, both 960 01:01:44.639 --> 01:01:48.519 barrels were discharged. Whoever fixed that up had made up 961 01:01:48.559 --> 01:01:50.800 his mind that he was going to take no chances 962 01:01:50.840 --> 01:01:54.440 of missing his man. The sword gun was not more 963 01:01:54.480 --> 01:01:57.599 than two foot long. One could carry it easily under 964 01:01:57.639 --> 01:02:01.239 one's coat. There was no complet maker's name, but the 965 01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:04.280 printed letters P, E N were on the fluting between 966 01:02:04.280 --> 01:02:06.719 the barrels, and the rest of the name had been 967 01:02:06.840 --> 01:02:09.960 cut off by the saw. A big P with a 968 01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:15.280 flourish above it, E and N smaller, asked Holmes, exactly 969 01:02:15.800 --> 01:02:20.599 Pennsylvania Small Arms Company, well known American firm, said Holmes. 970 01:02:21.679 --> 01:02:25.239 White Mason gazed at my friend as the little village 971 01:02:25.280 --> 01:02:29.039 practitioner looks at the Harley Street specialist, who by a 972 01:02:29.079 --> 01:02:33.599 word can solve the difficulties that perplex him. That is 973 01:02:33.679 --> 01:02:38.000 very helpful, mister Holmes. No doubt you are right wonderful, wonderful. 974 01:02:38.199 --> 01:02:40.079 Do you carry the names of all the gun makers 975 01:02:40.079 --> 01:02:43.719 in the world in your memory? Holmes dismissed the subject 976 01:02:43.760 --> 01:02:47.960 with a wave. No doubt it is an American shotgun, 977 01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:51.239 White Mason continued, I seem to have read that a 978 01:02:51.239 --> 01:02:53.960 sword off shotgun is a weapon used in some parts 979 01:02:53.960 --> 01:02:57.119 of America. Apart from the name upon the barrel, the 980 01:02:57.199 --> 01:03:00.000 idea had occurred to me. There is some evidence there 981 01:03:00.159 --> 01:03:02.159 that this man who entered the house and killed its 982 01:03:02.239 --> 01:03:07.159 master was an American. Mac Donald shook his head. Man, 983 01:03:07.280 --> 01:03:11.000 you are surely traveling over fast, said he. I have 984 01:03:11.119 --> 01:03:14.280 had no evidence yet that any stranger was ever in 985 01:03:14.360 --> 01:03:17.760 the house at all. The open window, the blood on 986 01:03:17.800 --> 01:03:20.559 the sill, the queer card, the marks of boots in 987 01:03:20.599 --> 01:03:24.960 the corner, the gun, nothing there that could not have 988 01:03:25.039 --> 01:03:29.039 been arranged. Mister Douglas was an American, or had lived 989 01:03:29.199 --> 01:03:32.840 long in America, sawed mister Barker. You don't need to 990 01:03:32.920 --> 01:03:36.599 import an American from outside in order to account for 991 01:03:36.760 --> 01:03:42.880 American doings. Eames, the butler, what about him? Is he reliable? 992 01:03:43.920 --> 01:03:47.519 Ten years with Sir Charles Chandos as solid as a rock. 993 01:03:48.199 --> 01:03:50.039 He has been with Douglas ever since he took the 994 01:03:50.079 --> 01:03:52.440 manor house five years ago. He has never seen a 995 01:03:52.440 --> 01:03:55.920 gun of this sort in the house. The gun was 996 01:03:56.000 --> 01:04:00.280 made to conceal, that's why the barrels were swored that 997 01:04:00.360 --> 01:04:04.000 would fit into any box. How could he swear there 998 01:04:04.119 --> 01:04:07.719 was no such gun in the house. Well, anyhow, he 999 01:04:07.760 --> 01:04:12.559 had never seen one. Mac Donald shook his obstinate Scotch head. 1000 01:04:13.280 --> 01:04:15.960 I'm not convinced yet that there was ever any one 1001 01:04:16.079 --> 01:04:19.679 in the house, said he I'm asking you to conceider. 1002 01:04:20.559 --> 01:04:23.960 His accent became more Abadonian as he lost himself in 1003 01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:28.039 his argument. I'm asking you to concede, don What it 1004 01:04:28.159 --> 01:04:31.840 involves if you suppose that this gun was ever brought 1005 01:04:31.880 --> 01:04:35.199 into the house, and that all these strange things were 1006 01:04:35.239 --> 01:04:39.920 done by a person from outside. Oh man, it's just inconceivable. 1007 01:04:40.079 --> 01:04:42.800 It's clean against common sense. I put it to you, 1008 01:04:42.920 --> 01:04:47.280 mister Holmes, judging it by what we have heard, Well 1009 01:04:47.360 --> 01:04:51.159 state your case, mister mac said Holmes in his most 1010 01:04:51.360 --> 01:04:56.440 judicial style. The man is not a burglar, supposing that 1011 01:04:56.559 --> 01:05:00.679 he ever existed the ring business, and the hard point 1012 01:05:00.719 --> 01:05:05.400 to premeditated murder for some private reason. Very good. Here 1013 01:05:05.480 --> 01:05:07.960 is a man who slips into a house with the 1014 01:05:08.039 --> 01:05:12.719 deliberate intention of committing murder. He knows, if he knows anything, 1015 01:05:12.800 --> 01:05:16.360 that he will have a difficulty in making his escape 1016 01:05:17.239 --> 01:05:21.519 as the house is surrounded with water. What weapon would 1017 01:05:21.519 --> 01:05:26.159 he choose? You would say, the most silent in the world. 1018 01:05:26.480 --> 01:05:28.480 Then he could hope, when the deed was done, to 1019 01:05:28.519 --> 01:05:31.559 slip quickly from the window, to wait the moat, and 1020 01:05:31.639 --> 01:05:34.840 to get away at his leisure. That's understandable. But is 1021 01:05:34.880 --> 01:05:37.760 it understandable that he should go out of his way 1022 01:05:37.800 --> 01:05:40.679 to bring with him the most noisy weapon he could select, 1023 01:05:41.400 --> 01:05:44.360 knowing well that it will fetch every human being in 1024 01:05:44.440 --> 01:05:47.159 the house to the spot as quick as they can run, 1025 01:05:48.360 --> 01:05:50.760 and that it is all odds that he will be 1026 01:05:50.840 --> 01:05:54.400 seen before he can get across the moat. Is that credible, 1027 01:05:54.440 --> 01:05:58.320 mister Holmes. Well you put the case strongly, my friend 1028 01:05:58.360 --> 01:06:02.719 replied thoughtfully. It certainly needs a good deal of justification. 1029 01:06:03.239 --> 01:06:07.599 May I ask, mister Whitemason whether you examined the farther 1030 01:06:07.719 --> 01:06:09.760 side of the moat at once to see if there 1031 01:06:09.760 --> 01:06:12.360 were any signs of the man having climbed out from 1032 01:06:12.360 --> 01:06:16.079 the water. There were no signs, mister Holmes, But it 1033 01:06:16.159 --> 01:06:19.960 is a stone ledge and one could hardly expect them 1034 01:06:20.360 --> 01:06:25.360 no tracks or marks none. Ha. Would there be any objection, 1035 01:06:25.679 --> 01:06:29.480 mister Whitemason to our going down to the house at once? 1036 01:06:30.679 --> 01:06:34.320 There may possibly be some small point which might be suggestive. 1037 01:06:35.079 --> 01:06:37.599 I was going to propose it, mister Holmes, but I 1038 01:06:37.639 --> 01:06:39.400 thought it well to put you in touch with all 1039 01:06:39.440 --> 01:06:42.719 the facts before we go. I suppose if anything should 1040 01:06:42.719 --> 01:06:48.480 strike you. White Mason looked doubtfully at the amateur. I 1041 01:06:48.559 --> 01:06:51.960 have worked with mister Holmes before, said Inspector mac Donald. 1042 01:06:52.320 --> 01:06:56.039 He plays the game my own idea of the game 1043 01:06:56.239 --> 01:07:00.039 at any rate, said Holmes, with a smile. I go 1044 01:07:00.079 --> 01:07:02.360 into a case to help the ends of justice and 1045 01:07:02.480 --> 01:07:05.960 the work of the police. If I have ever separated 1046 01:07:06.000 --> 01:07:09.440 myself from the official force, it is because they have 1047 01:07:09.519 --> 01:07:14.119 first separated themselves from me. I have no wish ever 1048 01:07:14.360 --> 01:07:19.079 to score at their expense. At the same time, mister Whitemason, 1049 01:07:19.599 --> 01:07:22.039 I claimed the right to work in my own way 1050 01:07:22.159 --> 01:07:26.360 and give my results at my own time, complete rather 1051 01:07:26.440 --> 01:07:30.000 than in stages. I am sure we are honored by 1052 01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:32.639 your presence, and to show you all we know, said 1053 01:07:32.639 --> 01:07:36.280 white Mason. Cordially, come along, doctor Watson, and when the 1054 01:07:36.320 --> 01:07:38.760 time comes, we all hope for a place in your book. 1055 01:07:40.679 --> 01:07:43.480 We walked down the quaint village street, with a row 1056 01:07:43.599 --> 01:07:47.559 of pollarded elms on each side of it. Just beyond 1057 01:07:47.599 --> 01:07:51.840 were two ancient stone pillars, weather stained and lichen blotched, 1058 01:07:52.360 --> 01:07:55.920 bearing upon their summits a shapeless something which had once 1059 01:07:56.000 --> 01:08:00.719 been the rampant lion of carpas of Burlstone. A short 1060 01:08:00.760 --> 01:08:03.920 walk along the winding drive, with such sword and oaks 1061 01:08:03.960 --> 01:08:07.360 around it as one only sees in rural England. Then 1062 01:08:07.400 --> 01:08:10.519 a sudden turn, and the long, low Jacobian house of 1063 01:08:10.599 --> 01:08:14.320 dingy liver colored brick lay before us, with an old 1064 01:08:14.320 --> 01:08:17.119 fashioned garden of cut ewes on each side of it. 1065 01:08:17.840 --> 01:08:21.520 As we approached it, there was the wooden drawbridge, the 1066 01:08:21.520 --> 01:08:25.680 beautiful broad moat, as still and luminous as quicksilver in 1067 01:08:25.720 --> 01:08:30.520 the cold winter sunshine. Three centuries had flowed past the 1068 01:08:30.560 --> 01:08:34.840 old manor house, centuries of births and of homecomings, of 1069 01:08:34.880 --> 01:08:39.199 country dances, and of the meetings of fox hunters. Strange 1070 01:08:39.319 --> 01:08:42.840 that now, in its old age, this dark business should 1071 01:08:42.840 --> 01:08:46.640 have cast its shadow upon the venerable walls. And yet 1072 01:08:46.680 --> 01:08:50.359 those strange peaked roofs and quaint overhung gables were a 1073 01:08:50.399 --> 01:08:55.399 fitting covering to grim and terrible intrigue. As I looked 1074 01:08:55.439 --> 01:08:57.640 at the deep set windows and the long sweep of 1075 01:08:57.680 --> 01:09:01.560 the dull colored water lapped front, I felt that no 1076 01:09:01.680 --> 01:09:04.560 more fitting scene could be set for such a tragedy. 1077 01:09:06.199 --> 01:09:08.960 That's the window, said white Mason. That one on the 1078 01:09:09.000 --> 01:09:12.119 immediate right of the drawbridge. It's opened just as it 1079 01:09:12.199 --> 01:09:15.159 was found last night. It looks rather narrow for a 1080 01:09:15.159 --> 01:09:18.199 man to pass. Well, it wasn't a fat man anyhow. 1081 01:09:18.720 --> 01:09:21.159 We don't need your deductions, mister Holmes, to tell us that. 1082 01:09:21.560 --> 01:09:25.279 But you or I could squeeze through, all right. Holmes 1083 01:09:25.279 --> 01:09:27.960 walked to the edge of the moat and looked across. 1084 01:09:28.439 --> 01:09:31.359 Then he examined the stone ledge and the grass border 1085 01:09:31.399 --> 01:09:34.640 beyond it. I've had a good look, mister Holmes, said 1086 01:09:34.640 --> 01:09:37.000 White Mason. There is nothing there, and no sign that 1087 01:09:37.039 --> 01:09:40.760 any one has landed. But why should he leave any sign? Exactly? 1088 01:09:40.840 --> 01:09:44.960 Why should he? Is the water always turbid, generally about 1089 01:09:44.960 --> 01:09:48.880 this color. The stream brings down the clay. How deep 1090 01:09:48.960 --> 01:09:52.119 is it? About two feet at each side and three 1091 01:09:52.119 --> 01:09:55.079 in the middle. So we can put aside all idea 1092 01:09:55.439 --> 01:09:58.359 of the man having been drowned in crossing. No, a 1093 01:09:58.479 --> 01:10:01.960 child could not be drowned in it. We walked across 1094 01:10:02.000 --> 01:10:06.199 the drawbridge and were admitted by a quaint, gnarled, dried 1095 01:10:06.319 --> 01:10:10.600 up person who was the butler Ames. The poor old 1096 01:10:10.640 --> 01:10:14.920 fellow was white and quivering from the shock. The village sergeant, 1097 01:10:15.279 --> 01:10:19.359 a tall, formal melancholy man, still held his vigil in 1098 01:10:19.439 --> 01:10:24.199 the room of fate. The doctor had departed anything fresh, 1099 01:10:24.239 --> 01:10:29.560 Sergeant Wilson asked Whitemason. No, sir, then you can go home. 1100 01:10:29.960 --> 01:10:32.560 You've had enough. We can send for you if we 1101 01:10:32.600 --> 01:10:36.439 want you. The butler had better wait outside. Tell him 1102 01:10:36.479 --> 01:10:39.479 to warn mister Cecil Barker, Missus Douglas, and the housekeeper 1103 01:10:39.479 --> 01:10:42.199 that we may want a word with them presently now, gentlemen, 1104 01:10:42.479 --> 01:10:44.560 perhaps he will allow me to give you the views 1105 01:10:44.640 --> 01:10:47.199 I have formed first, and then you will be able 1106 01:10:47.199 --> 01:10:51.319 to arrive at your own He impressed, made this country specialist. 1107 01:10:51.800 --> 01:10:54.880 He had a solid grip of fact and a cool, clear, 1108 01:10:54.960 --> 01:10:58.279 common sense brain, which should take him some way in 1109 01:10:58.319 --> 01:11:02.880 his profession. Holmes listened to him intently, with no sign 1110 01:11:02.960 --> 01:11:06.920 of that impatience which the official exponent too often produced. 1111 01:11:08.399 --> 01:11:11.920 Is it suicide or is it murder? That's our first question, gentlemen. 1112 01:11:12.039 --> 01:11:14.600 Is it not? If it were suicide. Then we have 1113 01:11:14.720 --> 01:11:17.399 to believe that this man began by taking off his 1114 01:11:17.479 --> 01:11:21.560 wedding ring and concealing it. That he then came down 1115 01:11:21.600 --> 01:11:25.079 here in his dressing gown, trampled mud into a corner 1116 01:11:25.079 --> 01:11:27.199 behind the curtain in order to give the idea some 1117 01:11:27.199 --> 01:11:30.680 one had waited for him, opened the window, put blood 1118 01:11:30.760 --> 01:11:35.039 on the We can surely dismiss that, said mac donald. 1119 01:11:35.239 --> 01:11:39.000 So I think suicide is out of the question. Then 1120 01:11:39.039 --> 01:11:42.239 a murder has been done. What we have to determine 1121 01:11:42.279 --> 01:11:44.640 is whether it was done by some one outside or 1122 01:11:44.840 --> 01:11:49.359 inside the house. Well, let's hear the argument. There are 1123 01:11:49.439 --> 01:11:53.079 considerable difficulties both ways, and yet one or the other 1124 01:11:53.119 --> 01:11:57.079 it must be. We will suppose first that some person 1125 01:11:57.199 --> 01:12:00.319 or persons inside the house did the crime. They got 1126 01:12:00.359 --> 01:12:03.279 this man down here at a time when everything was still, 1127 01:12:03.920 --> 01:12:07.000 and yet no one was asleep. They then did the 1128 01:12:07.039 --> 01:12:10.119 deed with the queerest and noisiest weapon in the world, 1129 01:12:10.560 --> 01:12:14.079 so as to tell everyone what had happened, a weapon 1130 01:12:14.119 --> 01:12:17.399 that was never seen in the house before. That does 1131 01:12:17.399 --> 01:12:21.840 not seem a very likely start, does it, No, it 1132 01:12:21.880 --> 01:12:25.359 does not. Well, then everyone is agreed that after the 1133 01:12:25.399 --> 01:12:28.399 alarm was given only a minute at the most had 1134 01:12:28.479 --> 01:12:33.000 passed before the whole household, not mister Cecil Barker alone, 1135 01:12:33.600 --> 01:12:35.800 though he claims to have been the first, but Aims 1136 01:12:35.840 --> 01:12:38.600 and all of them were on the spot. Do you 1137 01:12:38.680 --> 01:12:41.159 tell me that in that time the guilty person managed 1138 01:12:41.199 --> 01:12:44.079 to make footmarks in the corner, open the window, mark 1139 01:12:44.119 --> 01:12:46.279 the sill with blood, take the wedding ring off the 1140 01:12:46.279 --> 01:12:49.119 dead man's finger, and all the rest of it. It's impossible, 1141 01:12:49.640 --> 01:12:53.439 you put it very clearly, said Holmes. I am inclined 1142 01:12:53.439 --> 01:12:56.279 to agree with you. Well, then we are driven back 1143 01:12:56.319 --> 01:12:58.960 to the theory that it was done by someone from outside. 1144 01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:03.159 He'll faced with some big difficulties, but anyhow they have 1145 01:13:03.199 --> 01:13:07.640 ceased to be impossibilities. The man got into the house 1146 01:13:07.720 --> 01:13:11.239 between four thirty and six, that is to say, between 1147 01:13:11.319 --> 01:13:14.479 dusk and the time when the bridge was raised. There 1148 01:13:14.479 --> 01:13:17.560 had been some visitors and the door was open, so 1149 01:13:17.720 --> 01:13:20.479 there was nothing to prevent him. He may have been 1150 01:13:20.520 --> 01:13:23.039 a common burglar, or he may have had some private 1151 01:13:23.079 --> 01:13:27.479 grudge against mister Douglas. Since mister Douglas has spent most 1152 01:13:27.479 --> 01:13:30.119 of his life in America, and this shotgun seems to 1153 01:13:30.159 --> 01:13:33.479 be an American weapon, it would seem that the private 1154 01:13:33.520 --> 01:13:37.119 grudge is the more likely theory he slipped into this 1155 01:13:37.239 --> 01:13:39.159 room because it was the first he came to, and 1156 01:13:39.159 --> 01:13:42.359 he hid behind the curtain. There he remained until past 1157 01:13:42.399 --> 01:13:45.840 eleven at night. At that time mister Douglas entered the room. 1158 01:13:46.319 --> 01:13:49.000 It was a short interview, if there were any interview 1159 01:13:49.039 --> 01:13:52.760 at all. For missus Douglas declares that her husband had 1160 01:13:52.800 --> 01:13:54.720 not left her more than a few minutes when she 1161 01:13:54.800 --> 01:13:59.319 heard the shot. The candle shows that said Holmes exactly. 1162 01:14:00.199 --> 01:14:03.079 The candle, which was a new one, is not burned 1163 01:14:03.119 --> 01:14:05.600 more than half an inch. He must have placed it 1164 01:14:05.680 --> 01:14:08.840 on the table before he was attacked, Otherwise, of course 1165 01:14:08.840 --> 01:14:12.000 it would have fallen when he fell. This shows that 1166 01:14:12.079 --> 01:14:14.640 he was not attacked the instant that he entered the 1167 01:14:14.720 --> 01:14:18.359 room when mister Barker arrived, the candle was lit and 1168 01:14:18.439 --> 01:14:21.800 the lamp was out. That's all clear enough. Well, now 1169 01:14:22.640 --> 01:14:26.359 we can reconstruct things on those lines. Mister Douglas enters 1170 01:14:26.399 --> 01:14:30.039 the room. He puts down the candle. A man appears 1171 01:14:30.079 --> 01:14:33.119 from behind the curtain. He is armed with this gun. 1172 01:14:33.359 --> 01:14:36.039 He demands the wedding ring. Heaven only knows why, but 1173 01:14:36.199 --> 01:14:39.239 so it must have been mister Douglas gave it up. 1174 01:14:39.680 --> 01:14:42.479 Then either in cold blood or in the course of 1175 01:14:42.520 --> 01:14:45.640 a struggle. Douglas may have gripped the hammer that was 1176 01:14:45.640 --> 01:14:49.520 found upon the mat. He shot Douglas in this horrible way, 1177 01:14:50.520 --> 01:14:53.039 he dropped his gun, and also it would seem this 1178 01:14:53.159 --> 01:14:57.760 queer card v V three four one, whatever that may mean. 1179 01:14:58.079 --> 01:14:59.920 And he made his escape through the window and acros 1180 01:15:00.239 --> 01:15:02.960 the moat at the very moment when Cecil Barker was 1181 01:15:03.000 --> 01:15:07.720 discovering the crime. How's that, mister Holmes? Very interesting, but 1182 01:15:07.960 --> 01:15:12.960 just a little unconvincing. Man, It would be absolute nonsense 1183 01:15:12.960 --> 01:15:17.159 if it wasn't that. Anything else is even worse, cried MacDonald. 1184 01:15:17.560 --> 01:15:21.159 Somebody killed the man, and whoever it was, I could 1185 01:15:21.199 --> 01:15:23.960 clearly prove to you that he should have done it 1186 01:15:24.039 --> 01:15:27.680 some other way. What does he mean by allowing his 1187 01:15:27.880 --> 01:15:30.279 retreat to be cut off like that? What does he 1188 01:15:30.359 --> 01:15:33.039 mean by using a shotgun when silence was his one 1189 01:15:33.119 --> 01:15:36.600 chance of escape? Come, mister Holmes, it's up to you 1190 01:15:36.720 --> 01:15:39.680 to give us a lead, since you say, mister White 1191 01:15:39.680 --> 01:15:45.640 Meason's theory is unconvincing. Holmes had sat intently observant during 1192 01:15:45.680 --> 01:15:49.319 this long discussion, missing no word that was said, with 1193 01:15:49.439 --> 01:15:52.760 his keen eyes darting to right and to left, and 1194 01:15:52.840 --> 01:15:57.920 his forehead wrinkled with speculation. I should like a few 1195 01:15:57.960 --> 01:16:00.640 more facts before I get so far as a theory, 1196 01:16:00.800 --> 01:16:05.439 mister Mack said, he kneeling down beside the body. Dear me, 1197 01:16:05.640 --> 01:16:09.600 these injuries are really appalling. Can we have the butler 1198 01:16:09.640 --> 01:16:14.000 in for a moment, Aimes, I understand that you have 1199 01:16:14.279 --> 01:16:19.039 often seen this very unusual mark, a branded triangle inside 1200 01:16:19.039 --> 01:16:24.359 a circle upon mister Douglas's forearm frequently, Sir, you never 1201 01:16:24.520 --> 01:16:27.600 heard any speculation as to what it meant. No, sir, 1202 01:16:28.600 --> 01:16:31.720 it must have caused great pain when it was inflicted. 1203 01:16:32.439 --> 01:16:37.039 It is undoubtedly a burn. Now I observe, Aimes, that 1204 01:16:37.119 --> 01:16:39.880 there is a small piece of plaster at the angle 1205 01:16:39.960 --> 01:16:46.239 of mister Douglas's jaw. Did you observe that in life? Yes, sir, 1206 01:16:46.640 --> 01:16:50.720 he cut himself in shaving yesterday morning. Did you ever 1207 01:16:50.760 --> 01:16:53.960 know him to cut himself in shaving before? Not for 1208 01:16:54.000 --> 01:16:59.479 a very long time, sir. Suggestive, said Holmes. It may, 1209 01:16:59.560 --> 01:17:02.880 of course be a mere coincidence, or it may point 1210 01:17:02.920 --> 01:17:06.239 to some nervousness which would indicate that he had reason 1211 01:17:06.319 --> 01:17:11.079 to apprehend danger. Had you noticed anything unusual in his 1212 01:17:11.239 --> 01:17:15.159 conduct yesterday? Eames struck me that he was a little 1213 01:17:15.239 --> 01:17:19.600 restless and excited. Sir, ha, the attack may not have 1214 01:17:19.640 --> 01:17:24.119 been entirely unexpected. We do seem to make a little progress, 1215 01:17:24.159 --> 01:17:27.119 do we not. Perhaps you would rather do the questioning, 1216 01:17:27.199 --> 01:17:32.479 mister mack. No, mister Holmes has in better hands than mine. Well, 1217 01:17:32.520 --> 01:17:36.279 then we will pass to this card v V three 1218 01:17:36.399 --> 01:17:41.199 four one. It is rough cardboard. Have you any of 1219 01:17:41.199 --> 01:17:45.640 the sort in the house? I don't think so. Holmes 1220 01:17:45.680 --> 01:17:48.880 walked across to the desk and dabbed a little ink 1221 01:17:49.000 --> 01:17:52.279 from each bottle. Onder the blotting paper. It was not 1222 01:17:52.399 --> 01:17:55.399 printed in this room, he said. This is black ink, 1223 01:17:55.720 --> 01:17:59.039 and the other purplish. It was done by a thick pen, 1224 01:17:59.199 --> 01:18:02.720 and these off fine. No, it was done elsewhere. I 1225 01:18:02.760 --> 01:18:07.079 should say, can you make anything of the inscription? Aims no, 1226 01:18:07.239 --> 01:18:11.319 sir nothing. What do you think, mister mac It gives 1227 01:18:11.319 --> 01:18:14.000 me the impression of a secret society of some sort, 1228 01:18:14.960 --> 01:18:19.920 the same with his badge upon the forearm. That's my idea, too, 1229 01:18:20.279 --> 01:18:24.840 said Whitemason. Well we can adopt it as a working hypothesis, 1230 01:18:25.479 --> 01:18:29.880 and then see how far our difficulties disappear. An agent 1231 01:18:30.039 --> 01:18:33.199 from such a society makes his way into the house, 1232 01:18:34.079 --> 01:18:38.279 waits for mister Douglas blows his head nearly off with 1233 01:18:38.399 --> 01:18:41.720 this weapon and escapes by wading the mote, after leaving 1234 01:18:41.720 --> 01:18:45.479 a card beside the dead man, which will, when mentioned 1235 01:18:45.479 --> 01:18:48.479 in the papers, tell other members of the society that 1236 01:18:48.640 --> 01:18:53.960 vengeance has been done. That all hangs together. But why 1237 01:18:54.000 --> 01:18:58.439 this gun of all weapons exactly? And why the missing 1238 01:18:58.560 --> 01:19:05.000 ring quite so? And why no arrest? It's past two now. 1239 01:19:05.359 --> 01:19:08.640 I take it for granted that since dawn every constable 1240 01:19:08.680 --> 01:19:12.119 within forty miles has been looking out for a wet stranger. 1241 01:19:13.199 --> 01:19:16.520 That is so mister Holmes, Well, unless he has a 1242 01:19:16.560 --> 01:19:19.920 burrow close by or a change of clothes ready, they 1243 01:19:19.960 --> 01:19:23.000 can hardly miss him. And yet they have missed him 1244 01:19:23.279 --> 01:19:27.359 up to now. Holmes had gone to the window and 1245 01:19:27.640 --> 01:19:30.520 was examining with his lens the blood mark on the sill. 1246 01:19:31.239 --> 01:19:34.960 It is clearly the tread of a shoe. It is 1247 01:19:35.039 --> 01:19:40.560 remarkably broad a splay foot, one would say, curious, because 1248 01:19:40.600 --> 01:19:43.319 so far as one can trace any footmark in this 1249 01:19:43.439 --> 01:19:46.840 mud stained corner, one would say it was a more 1250 01:19:46.920 --> 01:19:52.840 shapely soul. However, they are certainly very indistinct. What's this 1251 01:19:53.119 --> 01:19:58.720 under the side table, mister Douglas's Dumbbells, said Eames, dumb bell. 1252 01:19:59.119 --> 01:20:02.439 There's only one. Where's the other? I don't know, mister Holmes. 1253 01:20:02.920 --> 01:20:06.000 There may have been only one. I have not noticed 1254 01:20:06.039 --> 01:20:11.840 them for months, one dumb bell, Holmes said seriously. But 1255 01:20:12.000 --> 01:20:15.279 his remarks were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. 1256 01:20:16.319 --> 01:20:20.199 At all sunburned, capable looking, clean shaved man looked in 1257 01:20:20.239 --> 01:20:23.760 at us. I had no difficulty in guessing that it 1258 01:20:23.880 --> 01:20:27.119 was the Cecil Barker of whom I had heard. His 1259 01:20:27.239 --> 01:20:31.159 masterful eyes traveled quickly with a questioning glance from face 1260 01:20:31.199 --> 01:20:35.800 to face. Sorry to interrupt your consultation, said he, but 1261 01:20:35.960 --> 01:20:40.520 you should hear the latest news an arrest. No such luck, 1262 01:20:41.159 --> 01:20:44.520 but they found his bicycle. The fellow left his bicycle 1263 01:20:44.640 --> 01:20:47.760 behind him. Come and have a look. It is within 1264 01:20:47.800 --> 01:20:51.720 a hundred yards of the hall door. We found three 1265 01:20:51.800 --> 01:20:55.560 or four grooms and idlers standing in the drive inspecting 1266 01:20:55.600 --> 01:20:58.399 a bicycle which had been drawn out from a clump 1267 01:20:58.479 --> 01:21:02.399 of evergreens in which it had been concealed. It was 1268 01:21:02.439 --> 01:21:07.479 a well used rudge whitworth splashed as from a considerable journey. 1269 01:21:08.319 --> 01:21:11.199 There was a saddle bag with spanner and oil can, 1270 01:21:11.960 --> 01:21:15.399 but no clue as to the owner. It would be 1271 01:21:15.439 --> 01:21:18.319 a grand help to the police, said the inspector, if 1272 01:21:18.359 --> 01:21:21.840 these things were numbered and registered. Bert, we must be 1273 01:21:21.840 --> 01:21:24.800 thankful for what we've got. If we can't find where 1274 01:21:24.800 --> 01:21:26.760 he went to, at least we are likely to get 1275 01:21:26.800 --> 01:21:30.079 where he came from. But what in the name of 1276 01:21:30.119 --> 01:21:32.680 all that is wonderful made the fellow leave it behind? 1277 01:21:33.319 --> 01:21:35.520 And how in the world has he got away without it? 1278 01:21:36.600 --> 01:21:38.439 We don't seem to get a gleam of light in 1279 01:21:38.479 --> 01:21:42.680 the case, mister Holmes, don't we, my friend answered thoughtfully, 1280 01:21:43.520 --> 01:21:54.399 I wonder Chapter five the people of the drama? Have 1281 01:21:54.520 --> 01:21:57.439 you seen all you want of the study? Asked Whitemason. 1282 01:21:57.520 --> 01:22:01.800 As we re entered the house for the time, said 1283 01:22:01.800 --> 01:22:06.199 the inspector, and Holmes nodded. Then perhaps you would now 1284 01:22:06.319 --> 01:22:08.439 like to hear the evidence of some of the people 1285 01:22:08.479 --> 01:22:12.560 in the house where he could use the dining room, Emes, 1286 01:22:13.159 --> 01:22:15.960 please come yourself first and tell us what you know. 1287 01:22:17.600 --> 01:22:21.079 The butler's account was a simple and a clear one, 1288 01:22:21.560 --> 01:22:25.560 and he gave a convincing impression of sincerity. He had 1289 01:22:25.600 --> 01:22:31.119 been engaged five years before when Douglas first came to Burlstone. 1290 01:22:31.479 --> 01:22:34.680 He understood that mister Douglas was a rich gentleman who 1291 01:22:34.680 --> 01:22:37.239 had made his money in America. He had been a 1292 01:22:37.319 --> 01:22:41.000 kind and considerate employer, not quite what Ames was used 1293 01:22:41.039 --> 01:22:45.199 to perhaps, but one can't have everything. He never saw 1294 01:22:45.239 --> 01:22:49.640 any signs of apprehension in mister Douglas. On the contrary, 1295 01:22:49.720 --> 01:22:51.920 he was the most fearless man he had ever known. 1296 01:22:53.399 --> 01:22:55.960 He ordered the drawbridge to be pulled up every night 1297 01:22:56.119 --> 01:22:58.439 because it was the ancient custom of the old house, 1298 01:22:58.840 --> 01:23:02.520 and he liked to keep the old ways up. Mister 1299 01:23:02.520 --> 01:23:06.600 Douglas seldom went to London or left the village, but 1300 01:23:06.680 --> 01:23:08.840 on the day before the crime, he had been shopping 1301 01:23:08.880 --> 01:23:14.359 at Tunbridge Wells. He Eames had observed some restlessness and 1302 01:23:14.479 --> 01:23:17.960 excitement on the part of mister Douglas that day, for 1303 01:23:18.039 --> 01:23:23.199 he had seemed impatient and irritable, which was unusual with him. 1304 01:23:23.720 --> 01:23:25.920 He had not gone to bed that night, but was 1305 01:23:25.920 --> 01:23:28.319 in the pantry at the back of the house putting 1306 01:23:28.319 --> 01:23:31.520 away the silver when he heard the bell ring violently. 1307 01:23:32.760 --> 01:23:35.720 He heard no shot, but it was hardly possible he would, 1308 01:23:36.119 --> 01:23:38.520 as the pantry and kitchens were at the very back 1309 01:23:38.560 --> 01:23:41.359 of the house, and there were several closed doors and 1310 01:23:41.439 --> 01:23:45.279 a long passage between. The housekeeper had come out of 1311 01:23:45.319 --> 01:23:48.520 her room. Attracted by the violent ringing of the bell, 1312 01:23:49.520 --> 01:23:51.319 they had gone to the front of the house together. 1313 01:23:52.920 --> 01:23:55.079 As they reached the bottom of the stairs, he had 1314 01:23:55.079 --> 01:23:59.119 seen Missus Douglas coming down. It. No, she was not hurrying. 1315 01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.439 It did not seem to him that she was particularly agitated. 1316 01:24:04.640 --> 01:24:07.239 Just as she reached the bottom of the stair, mister 1317 01:24:07.319 --> 01:24:10.560 Barker had rushed out of the study. He had stopped 1318 01:24:10.560 --> 01:24:14.399 Missus Douglas and begged her to go back, for God's sake, 1319 01:24:14.439 --> 01:24:17.840 go back to your room, he cried, poor Jack is dead. 1320 01:24:18.560 --> 01:24:23.439 You can do nothing for God's sake. Go back. After 1321 01:24:23.479 --> 01:24:26.920 some persuasion upon the stairs, Missus Douglas had gone back. 1322 01:24:27.479 --> 01:24:32.439 She did not scream, She made no outcry whatever. Missus Allen, 1323 01:24:32.600 --> 01:24:35.479 the housekeeper, had taken her upstairs and stayed with her 1324 01:24:35.560 --> 01:24:39.279 in the bedroom. Eames and mister Barker had then returned 1325 01:24:39.279 --> 01:24:42.640 to the study, where they had found everything exactly as 1326 01:24:42.680 --> 01:24:46.199 the police had seen it. The candle was not lit 1327 01:24:46.319 --> 01:24:50.159 at that time, but the lamp was burning. They had 1328 01:24:50.199 --> 01:24:52.640 looked out of the window, but the night was very 1329 01:24:52.720 --> 01:24:56.439 dark and nothing could be seen or heard. They had 1330 01:24:56.439 --> 01:24:59.600 then rushed out into the hall, where Eames had turned 1331 01:24:59.600 --> 01:25:03.960 the windowless, which lowered the drawbridge. Mister Barker had then 1332 01:25:04.079 --> 01:25:08.159 hurried off to get the police. Such in its essentials 1333 01:25:08.720 --> 01:25:12.800 was the evidence of the butler. The account of Missus Allen, 1334 01:25:13.039 --> 01:25:16.600 the housekeeper, was, so far as it went, a corroboration 1335 01:25:16.760 --> 01:25:20.359 of that of her fellow servant. The housekeeper's room was 1336 01:25:20.439 --> 01:25:22.399 rather nearer to the front of the house than the 1337 01:25:22.439 --> 01:25:25.920 pantry in which Eames had been working. She was preparing 1338 01:25:25.960 --> 01:25:28.359 to go to bed when the loud ringing of the 1339 01:25:28.399 --> 01:25:31.800 bell had attracted her attention. She was a little hard 1340 01:25:31.800 --> 01:25:35.159 of hearing. Perhaps that was why she had not heard 1341 01:25:35.239 --> 01:25:39.119 the shot, But in any case, the study was a 1342 01:25:39.159 --> 01:25:43.640 long way off. She remembered hearing some sound, which she 1343 01:25:43.680 --> 01:25:46.880 imagined to be the slamming of a door. That was 1344 01:25:46.920 --> 01:25:49.520 a good deal earlier, half an hour at least before 1345 01:25:49.560 --> 01:25:53.199 the ringing of the bell. When mister Eames ran to 1346 01:25:53.239 --> 01:25:56.760 the front, she went with him. She saw mister Barker, 1347 01:25:57.000 --> 01:26:00.520 very pale and excited, come out of the study. He 1348 01:26:00.680 --> 01:26:04.760 intercepted Missus Douglas, who was coming down the stairs. He 1349 01:26:04.960 --> 01:26:08.279 entreated her to go back, and she answered him, but 1350 01:26:08.399 --> 01:26:11.800 what she said could not be heard. Take her up, 1351 01:26:12.159 --> 01:26:16.119 stay with her he had said to Missus Allan. She 1352 01:26:16.159 --> 01:26:19.399 had therefore taken her to the bedroom and endeavored to 1353 01:26:19.439 --> 01:26:24.199 soothe her. She was greatly excited, trembling all over, but 1354 01:26:24.359 --> 01:26:28.439 made no other attempt to go down stairs. She just 1355 01:26:28.640 --> 01:26:31.960 sat in her dressing gown by her bedroom fire, with 1356 01:26:32.039 --> 01:26:35.920 her head sunk in her hands. Missus Allen stayed with 1357 01:26:36.000 --> 01:26:39.159 her most of the night. As to the other servants, 1358 01:26:39.199 --> 01:26:41.479 they had all gone to bed, and the alarm did 1359 01:26:41.479 --> 01:26:45.439 not reach them until just before the police arrived. They 1360 01:26:45.479 --> 01:26:48.560 slept at the extreme back of the house and could 1361 01:26:48.600 --> 01:26:53.279 not possibly have heard anything so far. The housekeeper could 1362 01:26:53.279 --> 01:26:58.760 add nothing on cross examination save lamentations and expressions of amazement. 1363 01:27:00.800 --> 01:27:05.079 Cecil Barker succeeded Missus Allen as a witness as to 1364 01:27:05.159 --> 01:27:08.840 the occurrences of the night before. He had very little 1365 01:27:08.880 --> 01:27:13.439 to add to what he had already told the police. Personally, 1366 01:27:13.520 --> 01:27:16.720 he was convinced that the murderer had escaped by the window. 1367 01:27:17.640 --> 01:27:22.159 The bloodstain was conclusive in his opinion on that point. Besides, 1368 01:27:22.199 --> 01:27:24.399 as the bridge was up, there was no other possible 1369 01:27:24.399 --> 01:27:28.239 way of escaping. He could not explain what had become 1370 01:27:28.279 --> 01:27:31.359 of the assassin or why he had not taken his bicycle. 1371 01:27:31.920 --> 01:27:35.520 If it were indeed his, he could not possibly have 1372 01:27:35.600 --> 01:27:38.560 been drowned in the moat, which was at no place 1373 01:27:38.600 --> 01:27:42.600 more than three feet deep. In his own mind, he 1374 01:27:42.640 --> 01:27:47.079 had a very definite theory about the murder. Douglas was 1375 01:27:47.119 --> 01:27:50.560 a reticent man, and there were some chapters in his 1376 01:27:50.640 --> 01:27:54.760 life of which he never spoke. He had emigrated to 1377 01:27:54.840 --> 01:27:58.239 America when he was a very young man. He had 1378 01:27:58.319 --> 01:28:01.800 prospered well, and Barker had first met him in California, 1379 01:28:02.479 --> 01:28:05.880 where they had become partners in a successful mining claim 1380 01:28:06.119 --> 01:28:10.720 at a place called Benito Cannon. They had done very well, 1381 01:28:11.439 --> 01:28:14.800 but Douglas had suddenly sold out and started for England. 1382 01:28:15.680 --> 01:28:19.720 He was a widower at that time. Barker had afterwards 1383 01:28:19.720 --> 01:28:23.920 realized his money and come to live in London. Thus 1384 01:28:23.960 --> 01:28:28.239 they had renewed their friendship. Douglas had given him the 1385 01:28:28.279 --> 01:28:31.520 impression that some danger was hanging over his head, and 1386 01:28:31.600 --> 01:28:34.800 he had always looked upon his sudden departure from California, 1387 01:28:35.319 --> 01:28:37.720 and also his renting a house in so quiet a 1388 01:28:37.760 --> 01:28:41.920 place in England, as being connected with this peril. He 1389 01:28:41.960 --> 01:28:47.239 imagined that some secret society, some implacable organization, was on 1390 01:28:47.319 --> 01:28:51.039 Douglas's track, which would never rest until it killed him. 1391 01:28:52.039 --> 01:28:55.560 Some remarks of his had given him this idea. Though 1392 01:28:55.560 --> 01:28:57.960 he had never told him what the society was, nor 1393 01:28:58.039 --> 01:29:00.960 how he had come to offend it. He could only 1394 01:29:00.960 --> 01:29:04.840 suppose that the legend upon the placard had some reference 1395 01:29:04.920 --> 01:29:08.720 to this secret society. How long were you worth? Douglas 1396 01:29:08.720 --> 01:29:14.079 in California, asked Inspector mac donald. Five years altogether. He 1397 01:29:14.159 --> 01:29:18.680 was a bachelor, you say, a widower. Have yer ever 1398 01:29:18.760 --> 01:29:23.520 heard where his first wife came from. No? I remember 1399 01:29:23.520 --> 01:29:27.119 his saying that she was of German extraction, and I 1400 01:29:27.199 --> 01:29:30.359 have seen her portrait. She was a very beautiful woman. 1401 01:29:31.359 --> 01:29:34.159 She died of typhoid the year before I met him. 1402 01:29:35.079 --> 01:29:38.840 You don't associate his past with any particular part of America. 1403 01:29:39.680 --> 01:29:43.119 I have heard him talk of Chicago. He knew that 1404 01:29:43.319 --> 01:29:46.760 city well and had worked there. I have heard him 1405 01:29:46.760 --> 01:29:50.680 talk of the coal and iron districts. He had traveled 1406 01:29:50.680 --> 01:29:53.840 a good deal in his time. Was he a politician? 1407 01:29:54.520 --> 01:29:58.720 Had this secret society to do with politics? No, he 1408 01:29:58.800 --> 01:30:02.720 cared nothing about politic You have no reason to think 1409 01:30:02.720 --> 01:30:06.199 it was criminal. On the contrary, I never met a 1410 01:30:06.199 --> 01:30:10.359 straighter man in my life. Was there anything curious about 1411 01:30:10.399 --> 01:30:14.439 his life in California. He liked best to stay and 1412 01:30:14.560 --> 01:30:17.600 to work at our claim in the mountains. He would 1413 01:30:17.640 --> 01:30:20.079 never go where other men were if he could help it. 1414 01:30:21.319 --> 01:30:25.319 That's why I first thought that someone was after him. Then, 1415 01:30:25.399 --> 01:30:28.880 when he left so suddenly for Europe, I made sure 1416 01:30:28.880 --> 01:30:32.119 that it was so. I believed that he had a 1417 01:30:32.159 --> 01:30:35.960 warning of some sort. Within a week of his leaving, 1418 01:30:36.079 --> 01:30:39.439 half a dozen men were inquiring for him, or sort 1419 01:30:39.479 --> 01:30:43.000 of men. Well, they were a mighty hard looking crowd. 1420 01:30:43.760 --> 01:30:45.880 They came up to the claim and wanted to know 1421 01:30:45.920 --> 01:30:48.199 where he was. I told them that he was gone 1422 01:30:48.239 --> 01:30:50.239 to Europe and that I did not know where to 1423 01:30:50.279 --> 01:30:52.920 find him. They meant him no good. It was easy 1424 01:30:52.960 --> 01:30:58.359 to see that were these men Americans Californians. Well, I 1425 01:30:58.359 --> 01:31:02.359 didn't know about Californians. They were Americans, all right, but 1426 01:31:02.399 --> 01:31:05.039 they were not miners. I don't know what they were, 1427 01:31:05.680 --> 01:31:08.600 and was very glad to see their backs. That was 1428 01:31:08.800 --> 01:31:12.720 six years ago, near a seven. And then you were 1429 01:31:12.840 --> 01:31:16.640 together five years in California, so that this business dates 1430 01:31:16.680 --> 01:31:19.840 back not less than eleven years at the least. That 1431 01:31:19.960 --> 01:31:23.239 is so, it must be a very serious feud that 1432 01:31:23.279 --> 01:31:26.079 would be kept up with such earnestness for as long 1433 01:31:26.119 --> 01:31:29.119 as that it would be no light thing that would 1434 01:31:29.119 --> 01:31:32.720 give rise to it. I think it shadowed his whole life. 1435 01:31:33.640 --> 01:31:36.960 It was never quite out of his mind. But if 1436 01:31:37.000 --> 01:31:40.000 a man had a danger hanging over him and knew 1437 01:31:40.000 --> 01:31:42.840 what it was, don't you think he would turn to 1438 01:31:42.880 --> 01:31:46.560 the police for protection. Maybe it was some danger that 1439 01:31:46.600 --> 01:31:49.880 he could not be protected against. There's one thing you 1440 01:31:49.920 --> 01:31:54.960 should know. He always went about armed. His revolver was 1441 01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:57.720 never out of his pocket. But by bad luck, he 1442 01:31:57.840 --> 01:32:00.479 was in his dressing gown and had left it in 1443 01:32:00.520 --> 01:32:03.920 the bedroom last night once the bridge was up. I 1444 01:32:03.960 --> 01:32:07.199 guess he thought he was safe. I should like these 1445 01:32:07.279 --> 01:32:10.600 dates a little clearer, said mac Donald. It is quite 1446 01:32:10.640 --> 01:32:15.880 six years since Douglas left California. You followed him next year, 1447 01:32:16.039 --> 01:32:19.399 did you not? That is so, and he had been 1448 01:32:19.439 --> 01:32:23.439 married five years. You must have returned about the time 1449 01:32:23.439 --> 01:32:26.239 of the marriage, about a month before. I was his 1450 01:32:26.279 --> 01:32:31.399 best man. Did you know missus Douglas before her marriage? No? 1451 01:32:31.520 --> 01:32:34.680 I did not. I'd been away from England for ten years. 1452 01:32:35.159 --> 01:32:37.680 But you have seen a good deal of her. Since 1453 01:32:38.600 --> 01:32:42.000 Barker looked sternly at the detective, I have seen a 1454 01:32:42.000 --> 01:32:45.199 good deal of him since, he answered, if I have 1455 01:32:45.319 --> 01:32:48.479 seen her, it is because you cannot visit a man 1456 01:32:48.520 --> 01:32:51.880 without knowing his wife. If you imagine there is any connection, 1457 01:32:52.399 --> 01:32:56.199 I imagine nothing, mister Barker. I am bound to make 1458 01:32:56.239 --> 01:32:59.399 every inquiry which can bear upon the case, but I 1459 01:32:59.479 --> 01:33:04.439 mean no offense. Some inquiries are offensive, Barker answered angrily. 1460 01:33:05.079 --> 01:33:07.800 There's only the facts that we want. It is in 1461 01:33:07.880 --> 01:33:11.199 your interest and everyone's interest that they should be cleared up. 1462 01:33:11.960 --> 01:33:15.399 Did mister Douglas entirely approve your friendship with his wife? 1463 01:33:16.520 --> 01:33:19.720 Barker grew paler, and his great strong hands were clasped 1464 01:33:19.800 --> 01:33:23.640 convulsively together. You have no right to ask such questions, 1465 01:33:23.680 --> 01:33:25.960 he cried, What has this to do with the matter 1466 01:33:26.000 --> 01:33:29.399 you are investigating? I must repeat the question. Well, I 1467 01:33:29.439 --> 01:33:33.279 refuse to answer. You can refuse to answer, but you 1468 01:33:33.359 --> 01:33:36.600 must be aware that your refusal is in itself an answer, 1469 01:33:37.319 --> 01:33:39.439 for you would not refuse if you had not something 1470 01:33:39.439 --> 01:33:43.119 to conceal. Barker stood for a moment, with his face 1471 01:33:43.159 --> 01:33:47.399 set grimly and his strong black eyebrows drawn low in 1472 01:33:47.399 --> 01:33:52.279 intense thought. Then he looked up with a smile. Well, 1473 01:33:52.319 --> 01:33:55.199 I guess you, gentlemen, are only doing your clear duty 1474 01:33:55.319 --> 01:33:58.359 after all, and I have no right to stand in 1475 01:33:58.399 --> 01:34:01.399 the way of it. I'd only ask you not to 1476 01:34:01.520 --> 01:34:04.600 worry missus Douglas over this matter, for she has enough 1477 01:34:04.680 --> 01:34:08.000 upon her. Just now, I may tell you that poor 1478 01:34:08.039 --> 01:34:12.279 Douglas had just one fault in the world, and that 1479 01:34:12.600 --> 01:34:15.399 was his jealousy. He was fond of me. No man 1480 01:34:15.439 --> 01:34:17.880 could be fonder of a friend. And he was devoted 1481 01:34:17.920 --> 01:34:21.520 to his wife. He loved me to come here, and 1482 01:34:21.720 --> 01:34:25.039 was forever sending for me. And yet if his wife 1483 01:34:25.079 --> 01:34:28.399 and I talked together, or there seemed any sympathy between us, 1484 01:34:28.960 --> 01:34:31.880 a kind of wave of jealousy would pass over him, 1485 01:34:32.359 --> 01:34:34.359 and he would be off the handle and saying the 1486 01:34:34.399 --> 01:34:38.239 wildest things in a moment. More than once. I've sworn 1487 01:34:38.279 --> 01:34:41.279 off coming for that reason. And then he would write 1488 01:34:41.319 --> 01:34:45.399 me such penitent, imploring letters that I just had to 1489 01:34:45.479 --> 01:34:47.319 But you can take it from me, gentlemen, if it 1490 01:34:47.399 --> 01:34:49.840 was my last word, that no man ever had a 1491 01:34:49.840 --> 01:34:53.760 more loving, faithful wife. And I can say also, no 1492 01:34:53.920 --> 01:34:58.399 friend could be more loyal than I. It was spoken 1493 01:34:58.399 --> 01:35:02.319 with fervor and feeling, And yet Inspector mac Donald could 1494 01:35:02.319 --> 01:35:06.520 not dismiss the subject. You are aware, said he that 1495 01:35:06.640 --> 01:35:09.720 the dead man's wedding ring has been taken from his finger. 1496 01:35:10.399 --> 01:35:14.840 So it appears, said Barker, What do you mean by appeers? 1497 01:35:15.960 --> 01:35:19.760 You know it as a fact. The man seemed confused 1498 01:35:19.800 --> 01:35:23.880 and undecided. When I said appears, I meant that it 1499 01:35:24.000 --> 01:35:27.279 was conceivable that he had himself taken off the ring. 1500 01:35:27.920 --> 01:35:30.680 The mere fact that the ring should be absent, whoever 1501 01:35:30.720 --> 01:35:33.600 may have removed it, would suggest to any one's mind, 1502 01:35:33.640 --> 01:35:36.920 would it not, that the marriage and the tragedy were connected. 1503 01:35:37.880 --> 01:35:41.199 Barker shrugged his broad shoulders. I can't profess to say 1504 01:35:41.199 --> 01:35:44.239 what it means, he answered, But if you mean to 1505 01:35:44.359 --> 01:35:47.359 hint that it could reflect in any way upon this 1506 01:35:47.439 --> 01:35:52.079 lady's honor, his eyes blazed for an instant, and then, 1507 01:35:52.159 --> 01:35:54.680 with an evident effort, he got a grip upon his 1508 01:35:54.760 --> 01:35:58.000 own emotions. Well you are on the wrong track, that's all. 1509 01:35:58.880 --> 01:36:01.840 I don't know that I've anything else to ask you 1510 01:36:01.920 --> 01:36:06.720 at present, said mac Donald coldly. There was one more point, 1511 01:36:07.119 --> 01:36:11.319 remarked Sherlock Holmes. When you entered the room. There was 1512 01:36:11.319 --> 01:36:15.720 only a candle lighted on the table, was there not? Yes? 1513 01:36:15.880 --> 01:36:18.720 That was so. By its light you saw that some 1514 01:36:18.920 --> 01:36:25.720 terrible incident had occurred exactly you at once rang for help. Yes, 1515 01:36:26.600 --> 01:36:30.359 and it arrived very speedily, within a minute or so. 1516 01:36:31.279 --> 01:36:34.800 And yet when they arrived they found that the candle 1517 01:36:34.880 --> 01:36:37.520 was out and that the lamp had been lighted. That 1518 01:36:37.640 --> 01:36:42.640 seems very remarkable. Again, Barker showed some signs of indecision. 1519 01:36:43.760 --> 01:36:47.840 I don't see that it was remarkable, mister Holmes, he answered, 1520 01:36:47.880 --> 01:36:51.600 after a pause. The candle threw a very bad light. 1521 01:36:51.880 --> 01:36:55.000 My first thought was to get a better one. The 1522 01:36:55.079 --> 01:36:57.479 lamp was on the table, so I lit it and 1523 01:36:57.640 --> 01:37:03.279 blew out the candle exactly. Holmes asked no further question, 1524 01:37:04.239 --> 01:37:07.079 and Barker, with a deliberate look from one to the 1525 01:37:07.119 --> 01:37:09.079 other of us, which had, as it seemed to me, 1526 01:37:09.199 --> 01:37:13.359 something of defiance in it, turned and left the room. 1527 01:37:13.600 --> 01:37:16.439 Inspector MacDonald had sent up a note to the effect 1528 01:37:16.600 --> 01:37:19.880 that he would wait upon missus Douglas in her room, 1529 01:37:20.920 --> 01:37:22.720 but she had replied that she would meet us in 1530 01:37:22.760 --> 01:37:26.439 the dining room. She entered now, a tall and beautiful 1531 01:37:26.439 --> 01:37:31.680 woman of thirty, reserved and self possessed to a remarkable degree, 1532 01:37:31.920 --> 01:37:35.159 very different from the tragic and distracted figure I had pictured. 1533 01:37:36.319 --> 01:37:38.600 It is true that her face was pale and drawn 1534 01:37:39.439 --> 01:37:41.520 like that of one who has endured a great shock. 1535 01:37:42.640 --> 01:37:45.479 But her manner was composed, and the finely molded hand 1536 01:37:45.520 --> 01:37:48.399 which she rested upon the edge of the table was 1537 01:37:48.439 --> 01:37:52.680 as steady as my own. Her sad appealing eyes traveled 1538 01:37:52.680 --> 01:37:55.399 from one to the other of us with a curiously 1539 01:37:55.600 --> 01:38:02.920 inquisitive expression that questioning Gay's transfer itself suddenly into abrupt speech. 1540 01:38:03.800 --> 01:38:07.439 Have you found anything out yet, she asked? Was it 1541 01:38:07.479 --> 01:38:11.520 my imagination that there was an undertone of fear rather 1542 01:38:11.640 --> 01:38:15.079 than of hope in the question. We have taken every 1543 01:38:15.119 --> 01:38:18.920 possible step, Missus Douglas, said the inspector. You may rest 1544 01:38:18.920 --> 01:38:23.760 assured that nothing will be neglected. Spare no money, she said, 1545 01:38:23.800 --> 01:38:27.359 in a dead even tone. It is my desire that 1546 01:38:27.439 --> 01:38:31.159 every possible effort should be made. Perhaps you can tell 1547 01:38:31.199 --> 01:38:33.479 us something which may throw some light upon the matter. 1548 01:38:34.039 --> 01:38:37.359 I fear not, but all I know is at your service. 1549 01:38:38.319 --> 01:38:41.079 We have heard from mister Cecil Barker that you did 1550 01:38:41.079 --> 01:38:44.319 not actually see, that you were never in the room 1551 01:38:44.479 --> 01:38:48.600 where the tragedy occurred. No, he turned me back upon 1552 01:38:48.640 --> 01:38:51.960 the stairs. He begged me to return to my room. 1553 01:38:52.560 --> 01:38:55.600 Quite so, you had heard the shot, and you had 1554 01:38:55.640 --> 01:38:58.960 at once come down. I put on my dressing gown 1555 01:38:59.000 --> 01:39:02.279 and then came down. How long was it after hearing 1556 01:39:02.319 --> 01:39:04.239 the shot that you were stopped on the stair by 1557 01:39:04.239 --> 01:39:07.600 mister Barker. It may have been a couple of minutes. 1558 01:39:08.720 --> 01:39:11.159 It is so hard to reckon time at such a moment. 1559 01:39:11.600 --> 01:39:14.239 He implored me not to go on. He assured me 1560 01:39:14.319 --> 01:39:18.000 that I could do nothing. Then Missus Allen, the housekeeper, 1561 01:39:18.079 --> 01:39:21.920 led me upstairs again. It was all like some dreadful dream. 1562 01:39:23.159 --> 01:39:25.760 Can you give us any idea how long your husband 1563 01:39:25.760 --> 01:39:29.560 had been downstairs before you heard the shot? No, I 1564 01:39:29.640 --> 01:39:32.840 cannot say. He went from his dressing room and I 1565 01:39:32.880 --> 01:39:35.359 did not hear him go. He did the round of 1566 01:39:35.399 --> 01:39:37.680 the house every night, for he was nervous of fire. 1567 01:39:38.800 --> 01:39:40.560 It is the only thing that I have ever known 1568 01:39:40.600 --> 01:39:44.079 him nervous of. That is just the point which I 1569 01:39:44.119 --> 01:39:47.279 want to come to. Missus Douglas. You have known your 1570 01:39:47.399 --> 01:39:50.920 husband only in England, have you not? Yes, we have 1571 01:39:51.000 --> 01:39:54.359 been married five years. Have you heard him speak of 1572 01:39:54.399 --> 01:39:58.479 anything which occurred in America and might bring some danger 1573 01:39:58.560 --> 01:40:04.079 upon him? Missus Douglas thought earnestly before she answered yes. 1574 01:40:04.760 --> 01:40:08.520 She said, at last, I have always felt that there 1575 01:40:08.640 --> 01:40:12.199 was a danger hanging over him. He refused to discuss 1576 01:40:12.239 --> 01:40:15.319 it with me. It was not from want of confidence 1577 01:40:15.319 --> 01:40:17.960 in me. There was the most complete love and confidence 1578 01:40:18.000 --> 01:40:20.600 between us. But it was out of his desire to 1579 01:40:20.680 --> 01:40:23.840 keep all alarm away from me. He thought I should 1580 01:40:23.880 --> 01:40:26.840 brood over it if I knew all, and so he 1581 01:40:26.920 --> 01:40:31.399 was silent. How did you know it, then, missus Douglas's 1582 01:40:31.399 --> 01:40:35.159 face lit with a quick smile. Can a husband ever 1583 01:40:35.279 --> 01:40:38.079 carry about a secret all his life and a woman 1584 01:40:38.119 --> 01:40:41.680 who loves him have no suspicion of it? I knew 1585 01:40:41.680 --> 01:40:45.039 it by his refusal to talk about some episodes in 1586 01:40:45.079 --> 01:40:48.680 his American life. I knew it by certain precautions he took. 1587 01:40:48.880 --> 01:40:52.159 I knew it by certain words he let fall. I 1588 01:40:52.239 --> 01:40:56.600 knew it by the way he looked at unexpected strangers. 1589 01:40:58.079 --> 01:41:02.119 I was perfectly certain that he had powerful enemies, that 1590 01:41:02.239 --> 01:41:05.640 he believed they were on his track, that he was 1591 01:41:05.680 --> 01:41:08.159 always on his guard against them. I was so sure 1592 01:41:08.199 --> 01:41:10.800 of it that for years I have been terrified if 1593 01:41:10.800 --> 01:41:15.439 ever he came home later than was expected? Might I ask, 1594 01:41:16.079 --> 01:41:19.960 asked Holmes, what the words were which attracted your attention? 1595 01:41:21.279 --> 01:41:26.439 The valley of fear? The lady answered that was an 1596 01:41:26.439 --> 01:41:30.119 expression he has used when I questioned him, I have 1597 01:41:30.239 --> 01:41:33.239 been in the Valley of Fear. I am not out 1598 01:41:33.239 --> 01:41:36.359 of it yet. Are we never to get out of 1599 01:41:36.399 --> 01:41:39.319 the Valley of Fear? I have asked him, when I 1600 01:41:39.359 --> 01:41:43.479 have seen him more serious than usual, Sometimes I think 1601 01:41:43.640 --> 01:41:48.000 that we never shall? He has answered, surely. You asked 1602 01:41:48.039 --> 01:41:51.560 him what he meant by the Valley of fear? I did, 1603 01:41:52.960 --> 01:41:56.199 But his face would become very grave, and he would 1604 01:41:56.199 --> 01:41:59.159 shake his head. It is bad enough that one of 1605 01:41:59.279 --> 01:42:02.680 us should have been in its shadow, he said, Please 1606 01:42:02.720 --> 01:42:06.920 guard it shall never fall upon you. It was some 1607 01:42:07.199 --> 01:42:10.680 real valley in which he had lived, and in which 1608 01:42:10.720 --> 01:42:14.079 something terrible had occurred to him. Of that I am certain, 1609 01:42:14.199 --> 01:42:17.000 But I can tell you no more. And he never 1610 01:42:17.119 --> 01:42:22.600 mentioned any names. Yes, he was delirious with fever once 1611 01:42:23.399 --> 01:42:27.319 when he had his hunting accident three years ago. Then 1612 01:42:27.359 --> 01:42:30.319 I remember that there was a name that came continually 1613 01:42:30.359 --> 01:42:34.119 to his lips. He spoke it with anger and a 1614 01:42:34.159 --> 01:42:39.720 sort of horror. Mc ginty was the name body Master 1615 01:42:40.000 --> 01:42:44.199 mc ginty. I asked him when he recovered who body 1616 01:42:44.199 --> 01:42:48.399 Master mc ginty was, and whose body he was master of? 1617 01:42:48.960 --> 01:42:52.119 Never of mine, thank god, he answered with a laugh, 1618 01:42:52.279 --> 01:42:55.199 And that was all I could get from him. But 1619 01:42:55.319 --> 01:42:58.720 there is a connection between body Master mc ginty and 1620 01:42:58.800 --> 01:43:03.279 the Valley of Fear. There is one other point, said 1621 01:43:03.319 --> 01:43:07.600 Inspector mac donald. You met mister Douglas in a boarding 1622 01:43:07.640 --> 01:43:10.760 house in London, did you not, and became engaged to him. 1623 01:43:10.800 --> 01:43:17.199 There was there any romance, anything secret or mysterious about 1624 01:43:17.239 --> 01:43:21.520 the wedding. There was romance, There is always romance. There 1625 01:43:21.600 --> 01:43:25.720 was nothing mysterious. He had no rival. No, I was 1626 01:43:25.840 --> 01:43:29.680 quite free. You have heard no doubt that his wedding 1627 01:43:29.760 --> 01:43:33.600 ring has been taken. Does that suggest anything to you? 1628 01:43:34.720 --> 01:43:37.479 Suppose that some enemy of his old life had tracked 1629 01:43:37.520 --> 01:43:41.560 him down and committed this crime. What possible reason could 1630 01:43:41.600 --> 01:43:45.359 he have for taking his wedding ring? For an instant, 1631 01:43:45.439 --> 01:43:47.640 I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a 1632 01:43:47.720 --> 01:43:52.199 smile flickered over the woman's lips. I really cannot tell, 1633 01:43:52.399 --> 01:43:57.520 she answered, It is certainly a most extraordinary thing. Well, 1634 01:43:57.640 --> 01:43:59.960 we will not detain you any longer, and we are 1635 01:44:00.119 --> 01:44:02.039 sorry to have put you to this trouble at such 1636 01:44:02.079 --> 01:44:06.079 a time, said the inspector. There are some other points, 1637 01:44:06.159 --> 01:44:09.319 no doubt, but we can refer to you as they arise. 1638 01:44:10.840 --> 01:44:13.439 She arose, and I was again, conscious of that quick 1639 01:44:13.840 --> 01:44:18.920 questioning glance with which she had surveyed us. What impression 1640 01:44:19.000 --> 01:44:22.760 has my evidence made upon you? The question might as 1641 01:44:22.800 --> 01:44:26.119 well have been spoken. Then with a bow, she swept 1642 01:44:26.159 --> 01:44:30.640 from the room. She is a beautiful woman, a very 1643 01:44:30.720 --> 01:44:34.680 beautiful woman, said mac Donald thoughtfully, after the door had 1644 01:44:34.720 --> 01:44:38.800 closed behind her. This man Barker has certainly been down 1645 01:44:38.840 --> 01:44:41.399 here a good deal. He is a man who might 1646 01:44:41.439 --> 01:44:44.840 be attractive to a woman. He admits that the dead 1647 01:44:44.840 --> 01:44:48.439 man was jealous, and maybe he knew best himself what 1648 01:44:48.600 --> 01:44:52.239 course he had for jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. 1649 01:44:53.159 --> 01:44:56.479 You can't get past that. The man who tears a 1650 01:44:56.520 --> 01:44:59.439 wedding ring off a dead man's What do you say 1651 01:44:59.479 --> 01:45:02.640 to it? Mister Holmes, My friend had sat with his 1652 01:45:02.760 --> 01:45:07.119 head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought. Now 1653 01:45:07.159 --> 01:45:11.079 he rose and rang the bell. Eames, he said, when 1654 01:45:11.119 --> 01:45:16.079 the butler entered, where is mister cecil Barker? Now, I'll say, sir, 1655 01:45:17.560 --> 01:45:20.079 He came back in a moment to say that Barker 1656 01:45:20.319 --> 01:45:24.239 was in the garden. Can you remember, Ames, what mister 1657 01:45:24.279 --> 01:45:26.880 Barker had on his feet last night when you joined 1658 01:45:26.920 --> 01:45:29.880 him in the study. Yes, mister Rohlmes, he had a 1659 01:45:29.920 --> 01:45:33.039 pair of bedroom slippers. I brought him his boots when 1660 01:45:33.039 --> 01:45:36.479 he went for the police. Where are the slippers now? 1661 01:45:37.039 --> 01:45:40.479 They are still under the chair in the hall. Very good, Aames. 1662 01:45:41.159 --> 01:45:43.520 It is of course important for us to know which 1663 01:45:43.680 --> 01:45:47.720 tracks may be mister Barker's and which from outside. Yes, Sir, 1664 01:45:48.359 --> 01:45:50.560 I may say that I noticed that the slippers were 1665 01:45:50.720 --> 01:45:54.319 stained with blood, so indeed were my own. That is 1666 01:45:54.439 --> 01:45:58.479 natural enough, considering the condition of the room. Very good, Aims. 1667 01:45:58.760 --> 01:46:02.560 We will ring if we want. A few minutes later 1668 01:46:02.680 --> 01:46:05.800 we were in the study. Holmes had brought with him 1669 01:46:05.840 --> 01:46:09.479 the carpet slippers from the hall. As Ames had observed, 1670 01:46:09.920 --> 01:46:14.960 the souls of both were dark with blood. Strange, murmured Holmes, 1671 01:46:15.239 --> 01:46:17.199 as he stood in the light of the window and 1672 01:46:17.439 --> 01:46:23.920 examined them minutely. Very strange, indeed, Stooping with one of 1673 01:46:23.960 --> 01:46:27.600 his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the 1674 01:46:27.640 --> 01:46:33.039 blood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled 1675 01:46:33.039 --> 01:46:38.039 in silence at his colleagues. The inspector was transfigured with excitement. 1676 01:46:38.800 --> 01:46:42.640 His native accent rattled like a stick upon railings Man. 1677 01:46:42.800 --> 01:46:46.079 He cried, there's not a doubt of it. Barker has 1678 01:46:46.159 --> 01:46:49.039 just marked the window himself. It's a good deal broader 1679 01:46:49.039 --> 01:46:51.359 than any bootmark. A mind that you said it was 1680 01:46:51.399 --> 01:46:55.119 a splay foot, and here's the explanation. But what's the game, 1681 01:46:55.279 --> 01:46:59.800 mister Holmes, what's the game? Ay, what's the game? My 1682 01:46:59.840 --> 01:47:05.039 friend repeated thoughtfully. Whitemason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands 1683 01:47:05.039 --> 01:47:09.760 together in his professional satisfaction. I said it was a snorter, 1684 01:47:10.199 --> 01:47:17.600 he cried, and a real snorter. It is chapter six, 1685 01:47:19.000 --> 01:47:25.319 a dawning light. The three detectives had many matters of 1686 01:47:25.359 --> 01:47:29.680 detail into which to inquire, so I returned alone to 1687 01:47:29.760 --> 01:47:34.720 our modest quarters at the village Inn. But before doing so, 1688 01:47:34.800 --> 01:47:37.640 I took a stroll in the curious old world garden, 1689 01:47:38.199 --> 01:47:42.800 which flanked the house. Rows of very ancient yew trees 1690 01:47:42.920 --> 01:47:47.920 cut into strange designs girded it round. Inside was a 1691 01:47:47.960 --> 01:47:51.279 beautiful stretch of lawn with an old sun dial in 1692 01:47:51.319 --> 01:47:55.800 the middle, the whole effect so soothing and RESTful that 1693 01:47:55.880 --> 01:48:01.199 it was welcome to my somewhat jangled nerves. In that 1694 01:48:01.399 --> 01:48:07.039 deeply peaceful atmosphere, one could forget or remember only of 1695 01:48:07.159 --> 01:48:11.920 some fantastic nightmare that darkened study. With the sprawling blood 1696 01:48:11.920 --> 01:48:16.239 stained figure on the floor. And yet as I strolled 1697 01:48:16.319 --> 01:48:19.079 round it and tried to steep my soul in its 1698 01:48:19.159 --> 01:48:24.319 gentle balm, a strange incident occurred which brought me back 1699 01:48:24.359 --> 01:48:27.920 to the tragedy and left a sinister impression in my mind. 1700 01:48:29.840 --> 01:48:32.760 I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled 1701 01:48:32.760 --> 01:48:37.600 the garden, but the end farthest from the house, they 1702 01:48:37.680 --> 01:48:42.000 thickened into a continuous hedge. On the other side of 1703 01:48:42.039 --> 01:48:44.800 this hedge, concealed from the eyes of any one approaching 1704 01:48:44.840 --> 01:48:47.800 from the direction of the house, there was a stone seat. 1705 01:48:49.359 --> 01:48:52.079 As I approached the spot, I was aware of voices, 1706 01:48:53.039 --> 01:48:56.479 some remark in the deep tones of a man, answered 1707 01:48:56.520 --> 01:49:01.680 by a little ripple of feminine laughter. An instant later 1708 01:49:01.800 --> 01:49:04.600 I had come round the end of the hedge, and 1709 01:49:04.720 --> 01:49:08.600 my eyes lit upon Missus Douglas and the man Barker, 1710 01:49:09.359 --> 01:49:13.680 before they were aware of my presence. Her appearance gave 1711 01:49:13.720 --> 01:49:17.279 me a shock. In the dining room, she had been 1712 01:49:17.319 --> 01:49:21.880 demure and discreet. Now all pretense of grief had passed 1713 01:49:21.920 --> 01:49:25.640 away from her, her eyes shone with the joy of living, 1714 01:49:26.640 --> 01:49:29.439 and her face still quivered with amusement at some remark 1715 01:49:29.520 --> 01:49:34.079 of her companion. He sat forward, his hands clasped and 1716 01:49:34.199 --> 01:49:37.680 his forearms on his knees, with an answering smile upon 1717 01:49:37.680 --> 01:49:42.520 his bold, handsome face. In an instant, but it was 1718 01:49:42.720 --> 01:49:47.279 just one instant too late. They resumed their solemn masks 1719 01:49:47.359 --> 01:49:51.239 as my figure came into view. A hurried word or 1720 01:49:51.239 --> 01:49:55.079 two passed between them, and then Barker rose and came 1721 01:49:55.119 --> 01:50:00.000 towards me. Excuse me, sir, said he, But am I 1722 01:50:00.039 --> 01:50:04.960 addressing doctor Watson? I bowed with a coldness which showed, 1723 01:50:05.000 --> 01:50:07.479 I dare say, very plainly the impression which had been 1724 01:50:07.520 --> 01:50:12.039 produced upon my mind. We thought that it was probably you, 1725 01:50:12.359 --> 01:50:15.239 as your friendship with mister Sherlock Holmes is so well known. 1726 01:50:16.199 --> 01:50:18.960 Would you mind coming over and speaking to missus Douglas 1727 01:50:19.039 --> 01:50:24.039 for one instant? I followed him with a dour face. 1728 01:50:25.600 --> 01:50:28.039 Very clearly I could see in my mind's eye that 1729 01:50:28.199 --> 01:50:33.359 shattered figure on the floor. Here, within a few hours 1730 01:50:33.399 --> 01:50:36.319 of the tragedy were his wife and his nearest friend 1731 01:50:36.920 --> 01:50:40.520 laughing together behind a bush in the garden which had 1732 01:50:40.560 --> 01:50:46.720 been his I greeted the lady with reserve. I had 1733 01:50:46.760 --> 01:50:50.560 grieved with her grief in the dining room. Now I 1734 01:50:50.640 --> 01:50:55.279 met her appealing gaze with an unresponsive eye. I fear 1735 01:50:55.319 --> 01:50:57.960 that you think me callous and hard hearted, said she. 1736 01:50:59.319 --> 01:51:02.399 I shrugged my shoulders. It is no business of mine, 1737 01:51:02.439 --> 01:51:06.119 said I. Perhaps some day you will do me justice 1738 01:51:06.239 --> 01:51:08.560 if you only realized. There is no need why doctor 1739 01:51:08.600 --> 01:51:12.960 Watson should realize, said Barker, quickly, as he has himself said, 1740 01:51:13.560 --> 01:51:18.000 it is no possible business of his, exactly said I, 1741 01:51:18.680 --> 01:51:21.399 and so I will beg leave to resume my walk 1742 01:51:22.039 --> 01:51:25.920 one moment, doctor Watson, cried the woman in a pleading voice. 1743 01:51:27.000 --> 01:51:30.560 There is one question which you can answer with more 1744 01:51:30.600 --> 01:51:34.159 authority than any one else in the world, and it 1745 01:51:34.199 --> 01:51:36.680 may make a very great difference to me. You know 1746 01:51:36.800 --> 01:51:39.880 mister Holmes and his relations with the police better than 1747 01:51:39.880 --> 01:51:43.479 any one else can. Supposing that a matter were brought 1748 01:51:43.479 --> 01:51:48.279 confidentially to his knowledge, is it absolutely necessary that he 1749 01:51:48.319 --> 01:51:52.119 should pass it on to the detectives. Yes, that's it, 1750 01:51:52.399 --> 01:51:55.119 said Barker, eagerly. Is he on his own or is 1751 01:51:55.159 --> 01:51:58.720 he entirely in with them? I really don't know that 1752 01:51:58.800 --> 01:52:01.560 I should be justified in discussing such a point. I 1753 01:52:01.600 --> 01:52:05.880 beg I implore that you will, doctor Watson. I assure 1754 01:52:05.920 --> 01:52:09.159 you that you will be helping us, helping me greatly, 1755 01:52:09.760 --> 01:52:13.239 if you will guide us on that point. There was 1756 01:52:13.279 --> 01:52:15.760 such a ring of sincerity in the woman's voice that 1757 01:52:15.880 --> 01:52:19.039 for the instant I forgot all about her levity and 1758 01:52:19.239 --> 01:52:22.840 was moved only to do her will. Mister Holmes is 1759 01:52:22.880 --> 01:52:26.840 an independent investigator, I said. He is his own master 1760 01:52:27.479 --> 01:52:31.319 and would act as his own judgment directed. At the 1761 01:52:31.359 --> 01:52:34.680 same time, he would naturally feel loyalty towards the officials 1762 01:52:34.720 --> 01:52:37.640 who were working on the same case, and he would 1763 01:52:37.640 --> 01:52:40.720 not conceal from them anything which would help them in 1764 01:52:40.840 --> 01:52:44.439 bringing a criminal to justice. Beyond this, I can say nothing, 1765 01:52:44.479 --> 01:52:47.319 and I would refer you to mister Holmes himself if 1766 01:52:47.319 --> 01:52:52.119 you wanted fuller information. So saying, I raised my hat 1767 01:52:52.159 --> 01:52:56.079 and went upon my way, leaving them still seated behind 1768 01:52:56.119 --> 01:53:00.279 that concealing hedge. I looked back as I round the 1769 01:53:00.279 --> 01:53:03.079 far end of it, and saw that they were still 1770 01:53:03.119 --> 01:53:07.319 talking very earnestly together, And as they were gazing after me, 1771 01:53:07.880 --> 01:53:10.640 it was clear that it was our interview that was 1772 01:53:10.720 --> 01:53:15.680 the subject of their debate. I wish none of their confidences, 1773 01:53:15.800 --> 01:53:18.920 said Holmes, when I reported to him what had occurred. 1774 01:53:19.840 --> 01:53:22.119 He had spent the whole afternoon at the manor house 1775 01:53:22.159 --> 01:53:26.279 in consultation with his two colleagues, and returned about five 1776 01:53:26.800 --> 01:53:29.760 with a ravenous appetite for a high tea, which I 1777 01:53:29.800 --> 01:53:33.600 had ordered for him. No confidence is Watson, for they 1778 01:53:33.640 --> 01:53:36.039 are mighty awkward. If it comes to an arrest for 1779 01:53:36.119 --> 01:53:40.359 conspiracy and murder? You think it will come to that? 1780 01:53:40.600 --> 01:53:43.880 He was in his most cheerful land debonair humor, My 1781 01:53:43.960 --> 01:53:48.560 dear Watson, when I have exterminated that fourth egg, I 1782 01:53:48.600 --> 01:53:50.319 shall be ready to put you in touch with the 1783 01:53:50.359 --> 01:53:53.079 whole situation. I don't say that we have fathomed it, 1784 01:53:53.319 --> 01:53:56.039 far from it. But when we have traced the missing 1785 01:53:56.119 --> 01:54:00.239 dumb bell, the dumb bell, dear me, Watson, is it 1786 01:54:00.239 --> 01:54:02.840 possible that you have not penetrated the fact that the 1787 01:54:02.880 --> 01:54:07.199 case hangs upon the missing dumb bell? Well, well, you 1788 01:54:07.279 --> 01:54:10.640 need not be downcast, for between ourselves, I don't think 1789 01:54:10.680 --> 01:54:13.760 that either inspector Mac or the excellent local practitioner has 1790 01:54:13.800 --> 01:54:19.439 grasped the overwhelming importance of this incident. One dumb bell. Watson, 1791 01:54:20.279 --> 01:54:25.159 consider an athlete with one dumb bell. Picture to yourself 1792 01:54:25.239 --> 01:54:32.479 the unilateral development the imminent danger of spinal curvature. Shocking, Watson, shocking. 1793 01:54:33.880 --> 01:54:36.560 He sat with his mouthful of toast, and his eyes 1794 01:54:36.680 --> 01:54:42.520 sparkling with mischief watching my intellectual entanglement. The mere sight 1795 01:54:42.600 --> 01:54:46.439 of his excellent appetite was an assurance of success, for 1796 01:54:46.520 --> 01:54:49.600 I had very clear recollections of days and nights without 1797 01:54:49.600 --> 01:54:53.079 a thought of food, when his baffled mind had chafed 1798 01:54:53.119 --> 01:54:57.039 before some problem, while his thin, eager features became more 1799 01:54:57.119 --> 01:55:02.720 attenuated with the asceticism of complete men concentration. Finally, he 1800 01:55:02.760 --> 01:55:05.399 lit his pipe, and sitting in the ingle nook of 1801 01:55:05.439 --> 01:55:09.159 the old village in he talked slowly and at random 1802 01:55:09.279 --> 01:55:13.439 about his case, rather as one who thinks aloud than 1803 01:55:13.479 --> 01:55:17.680 as one who makes a considered statement. A lie, Watson, 1804 01:55:18.640 --> 01:55:25.840 a great, big, thumping, obtrusive, uncompromising lie. That's what meets 1805 01:55:25.880 --> 01:55:31.680 us sunder threshold. There is our starting point. The whole 1806 01:55:31.680 --> 01:55:38.239 story told by Barker is a lie. But Barker's story 1807 01:55:38.279 --> 01:55:42.760 is corroborated by missus Douglas. Therefore she is lying. Also, 1808 01:55:42.880 --> 01:55:47.479 they are both lying and in a conspiracy. So now 1809 01:55:47.520 --> 01:55:51.800 we have the clear problem. Why are they lying and 1810 01:55:51.880 --> 01:55:54.279 what is the truth which they are trying so hard 1811 01:55:54.279 --> 01:55:56.880 to conceal? Let us try, Watson, you and I if 1812 01:55:56.920 --> 01:55:59.880 we can get behind the lie and reconstruct the true 1813 01:56:01.520 --> 01:56:04.720 How do I know that they are lying? Because it 1814 01:56:04.800 --> 01:56:09.479 is a clumsy fabrication which simply could not be true. Consider, 1815 01:56:10.439 --> 01:56:14.159 according to the story given to us, the assassin had 1816 01:56:14.239 --> 01:56:17.319 less than a minute after the murder had been committed 1817 01:56:17.720 --> 01:56:21.319 to take that ring, which was under another ring from 1818 01:56:21.359 --> 01:56:24.439 the dead man's finger, to replace the other ring, a 1819 01:56:24.520 --> 01:56:27.680 thing which she would surely never have done, and to 1820 01:56:27.720 --> 01:56:31.960 put that singular card beside his victim. I say that 1821 01:56:32.039 --> 01:56:36.279 this was obviously impossible. You may argue, but I have 1822 01:56:36.359 --> 01:56:38.720 too much respect for your judgment, Watson, to think that 1823 01:56:38.800 --> 01:56:40.840 you will do so. That the ring may have been 1824 01:56:40.880 --> 01:56:44.359 taken before the man was killed, The fact that the 1825 01:56:44.399 --> 01:56:47.800 candle had been lit only a short time shows that 1826 01:56:47.800 --> 01:56:51.920 there had been no lengthy interview. Was Douglas, from what 1827 01:56:52.039 --> 01:56:55.920 we hear of his fearless character, a man who would 1828 01:56:55.920 --> 01:56:58.000 be likely to give up his wedding ring at such 1829 01:56:58.079 --> 01:57:02.000 short notice? Or could we conceive of his giving it 1830 01:57:02.079 --> 01:57:05.720 up at all? No, No, Watson, The assassin was alone 1831 01:57:05.760 --> 01:57:08.520 with the dead man for some time, with the lamp lit. 1832 01:57:09.279 --> 01:57:12.920 Of that, I have no doubt at all. But the 1833 01:57:12.960 --> 01:57:18.000 gunshot was apparently the cause of death. Therefore the shot 1834 01:57:18.079 --> 01:57:21.279 must have been fired some time earlier than we are told. 1835 01:57:22.199 --> 01:57:24.239 But there could be no mistake about such a matter 1836 01:57:24.279 --> 01:57:27.239 as that we are in the presence therefore of a 1837 01:57:27.279 --> 01:57:30.119 deliberate conspiracy upon the part of the two people who 1838 01:57:30.159 --> 01:57:32.600 heard the gun shot, of a man Barker and of 1839 01:57:32.640 --> 01:57:35.840 the woman Douglas. When on the top of this I 1840 01:57:35.880 --> 01:57:37.520 am able to show that the blood mark on the 1841 01:57:37.560 --> 01:57:41.239 windowsill was deliberately placed there by Barker in order to 1842 01:57:41.239 --> 01:57:43.960 give a false clue to the police. You will admit 1843 01:57:44.159 --> 01:57:49.079 that the case grows dark against him. Now we have 1844 01:57:49.199 --> 01:57:53.319 to ask ourselves at what hour the murder actually did occur. 1845 01:57:54.800 --> 01:57:57.359 After half past ten, the servants were moving about the house, 1846 01:57:57.680 --> 01:58:00.239 so it was certainly not before that time. At a 1847 01:58:00.279 --> 01:58:02.880 quarter to eleven, they had all gone to their rooms, 1848 01:58:02.920 --> 01:58:05.840 with the exception of Ames, who was in the pantry. 1849 01:58:06.640 --> 01:58:09.079 I have been trying some experiments after you left us 1850 01:58:09.119 --> 01:58:11.880 this afternoon, and I find that no noise which mac 1851 01:58:11.960 --> 01:58:14.880 Donald can make in the study can penetrate to me 1852 01:58:15.199 --> 01:58:18.439 in the pantry when all the doors are shut. It 1853 01:58:18.520 --> 01:58:21.760 is otherwise, however, from the housekeeper's room. It is not 1854 01:58:21.880 --> 01:58:24.199 so far down the corridor, and from it I could 1855 01:58:24.279 --> 01:58:27.439 vaguely hear a voice when it was very loudly raised. 1856 01:58:28.479 --> 01:58:31.720 The sound from a shotgun is to some extent muffled. 1857 01:58:31.760 --> 01:58:34.840 When the discharge is at very close range, as it 1858 01:58:34.920 --> 01:58:38.159 undoubtedly was in this instance, it would not be very loud, 1859 01:58:38.199 --> 01:58:40.079 and yet in the silence of the night, it should 1860 01:58:40.079 --> 01:58:44.640 have easily penetrated to Missus Allan's room. She is, as 1861 01:58:44.680 --> 01:58:47.600 she has told us, somewhat deaf, but none the less. 1862 01:58:47.600 --> 01:58:50.560 She mentioned in her evidence that she did hear something 1863 01:58:50.760 --> 01:58:54.039 like a door slamming half an hour before the alarm 1864 01:58:54.159 --> 01:58:57.560 was given. Half an hour before the alarm was given 1865 01:58:57.640 --> 01:59:01.079 would be a quarter to eleven. I have no doubt 1866 01:59:01.279 --> 01:59:03.560 that what she heard was the report of the gun, 1867 01:59:04.279 --> 01:59:07.640 and that this was the real instant of the murder. 1868 01:59:09.199 --> 01:59:12.520 If this is so, we have now to determine what 1869 01:59:12.680 --> 01:59:16.520 Barker and Missus Douglas, presuming that they are not the 1870 01:59:16.640 --> 01:59:21.279 actual murderers, could have been doing from quarter to eleven 1871 01:59:21.800 --> 01:59:24.960 when the sound of the shot brought them down until 1872 01:59:25.039 --> 01:59:28.239 quarter past eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned 1873 01:59:28.239 --> 01:59:32.600 the servants. What were they doing and why did they 1874 01:59:32.640 --> 01:59:36.840 not instantly give the alarm? That is the question which 1875 01:59:36.880 --> 01:59:40.239 faces us, and when it has been answered, we shall 1876 01:59:40.279 --> 01:59:44.880 surely have gone some way to solve our problem. I 1877 01:59:44.880 --> 01:59:49.239 am convinced myself, said I that there is an understanding 1878 01:59:49.319 --> 01:59:53.079 between those two people. She must be a heartless creature 1879 01:59:53.119 --> 01:59:56.079 to sit laughing at some jest within a few hours 1880 01:59:56.119 --> 02:00:00.399 of her husband's murder. Exactly, she does not shy as 1881 02:00:00.439 --> 02:00:04.239 a wife, even in her own account of what occurred. 1882 02:00:05.560 --> 02:00:09.000 I'm not a whole souled admirer of womankind, as you 1883 02:00:09.079 --> 02:00:12.079 are aware, Watson, but my experience of life has taught 1884 02:00:12.119 --> 02:00:15.399 me that there are few wives, having any regard for 1885 02:00:15.439 --> 02:00:19.399 their husbands, who would let any man's spoken word stand 1886 02:00:19.479 --> 02:00:24.479 between them and that husband's dead body. Should I ever 1887 02:00:24.600 --> 02:00:27.439 marry Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with 1888 02:00:27.520 --> 02:00:31.039 some feeling which would prevent her from being walked off 1889 02:00:31.079 --> 02:00:34.239 by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a 1890 02:00:34.279 --> 02:00:38.560 few yards of her. It was badly stage managed, for 1891 02:00:38.640 --> 02:00:41.960 even the rawest investigators must be struck by the absence 1892 02:00:42.000 --> 02:00:46.279 of the usual feminine anulation. If there had been nothing else, 1893 02:00:46.359 --> 02:00:50.279 this incident alone would have suggested a pre arranged conspiracy. 1894 02:00:50.640 --> 02:00:54.600 To my mind. You think, then, definitely, that Barker and 1895 02:00:54.600 --> 02:00:57.800 missus Douglas are guilty of the murder. There is an 1896 02:00:57.800 --> 02:01:01.720 appalling directness about your questions. What said Holmes, shaking his 1897 02:01:01.840 --> 02:01:05.359 pipe at me, They come at me like bullets. If 1898 02:01:05.359 --> 02:01:07.720 you put it that, missus, Douglas and Barker know the 1899 02:01:07.760 --> 02:01:10.840 truth about the murder and are conspiring to conceal it, 1900 02:01:11.600 --> 02:01:14.600 then I can give you a whole souled answer. I'm 1901 02:01:14.640 --> 02:01:18.159 sure they do. But your more deadly proposition is not 1902 02:01:18.239 --> 02:01:22.159 so clear. Let us for a moment consider the difficulties 1903 02:01:22.199 --> 02:01:25.760 which stand in the way. We will suppose that this 1904 02:01:25.920 --> 02:01:29.000 couple are united by the bonds of a guilty love, 1905 02:01:29.800 --> 02:01:31.720 and that they have determined to get rid of the 1906 02:01:31.760 --> 02:01:34.840 man who stands between them. It is a large supposition, 1907 02:01:35.840 --> 02:01:39.560 for discreet inquiry among servants and others has failed to 1908 02:01:39.640 --> 02:01:43.520 corroborate it in any way. On the contrary, there is 1909 02:01:43.560 --> 02:01:45.840 a good deal of evidence that the Douglases were very 1910 02:01:45.880 --> 02:01:49.680 attached to each other. That I am sure cannot be true, 1911 02:01:49.760 --> 02:01:54.119 said I, thinking of the beautiful smiling face in the garden. Well, 1912 02:01:54.159 --> 02:01:57.800 at least they gave that impression. However, we will suppose 1913 02:01:57.880 --> 02:02:01.920 that they are an extraordinarily astute couple who deceive everyone. 1914 02:02:02.039 --> 02:02:06.079 Upon this point, and conspire to murder the husband. He 1915 02:02:06.199 --> 02:02:09.319 happens to be a man over whose head some danger hangs. 1916 02:02:09.800 --> 02:02:13.560 We have only their word for that. Holmes looked thoughtful. 1917 02:02:14.239 --> 02:02:17.479 I see, Watson, you are sketching out a theory by 1918 02:02:17.479 --> 02:02:22.600 which everything they say from the beginning is false. According 1919 02:02:22.640 --> 02:02:26.760 to your idea, there was never any hidden menace, or 1920 02:02:26.840 --> 02:02:32.560 secret society, or valley of fear, or boss mcsombody or 1921 02:02:32.600 --> 02:02:37.640 anything else. Well, that is a good sweeping generalization. Let 1922 02:02:37.720 --> 02:02:41.840 us see what that brings us to. They invent this 1923 02:02:42.000 --> 02:02:45.359 theory to account for the crime. They then play up 1924 02:02:45.359 --> 02:02:48.239 to the idea by leaving this bicycle in the park 1925 02:02:48.279 --> 02:02:52.119 as proof of the existence of some outsider. The stain 1926 02:02:52.199 --> 02:02:55.960 on the window sill conveys the same idea, so does 1927 02:02:56.039 --> 02:02:59.319 the card on the body, which might have been prepared 1928 02:02:59.319 --> 02:03:02.920 in the house. That all fits into your hypothesis, Watson. 1929 02:03:03.279 --> 02:03:06.840 But now we come on the nasty, angular, uncompromising bits 1930 02:03:07.359 --> 02:03:11.079 which won't slip into their places. Why a cut off shotgun, 1931 02:03:11.159 --> 02:03:15.279 of all weapons, and an American one at that. How 1932 02:03:15.319 --> 02:03:17.399 could they be so sure that the sound of it 1933 02:03:17.399 --> 02:03:20.960 would not bring someone on to them. It's a mere chance, 1934 02:03:21.079 --> 02:03:23.800 as it is that missus Allen did not start out 1935 02:03:23.840 --> 02:03:27.239 to inquire for the slamming door. Why did your guilty 1936 02:03:27.319 --> 02:03:31.000 couple do all this? Watson? I confess that I can't 1937 02:03:31.000 --> 02:03:34.920 explain it. Then again, if a woman and her lover 1938 02:03:35.159 --> 02:03:39.079 conspired a murderer husband, are they going to advertise their 1939 02:03:39.119 --> 02:03:43.159 guilt by ostentatiously removing his wedding ring after his death? 1940 02:03:44.279 --> 02:03:48.600 Does that strike you as very probable? Watson? No, it 1941 02:03:48.680 --> 02:03:51.960 does not. And once again, if the thought of leaving 1942 02:03:51.960 --> 02:03:55.479 a bicycle concealed outside had occurred to you, would it 1943 02:03:55.560 --> 02:03:58.520 really have seemed worth doing? When the dullest detective would 1944 02:03:58.600 --> 02:04:02.319 naturally say this is an odds blind as the bicycle 1945 02:04:02.359 --> 02:04:04.840 is the first thing which the fugitive needed in order 1946 02:04:04.880 --> 02:04:09.000 to make his escape, I can conceive of no explanation. 1947 02:04:10.119 --> 02:04:12.920 And yet there should be no combination of events for 1948 02:04:12.960 --> 02:04:17.079 which the wit of man cannot conceive an explanation simply 1949 02:04:17.319 --> 02:04:20.680 as a mental exercise, without any assertion that it is true. 1950 02:04:21.119 --> 02:04:23.680 Let me indicate a possible line of thought. It is, 1951 02:04:23.920 --> 02:04:28.000 I admit, mere imagination, But how often his imagination the 1952 02:04:28.039 --> 02:04:32.319 mother of truth. We will suppose that there was a 1953 02:04:32.359 --> 02:04:35.520 guilty secret, a really shameful secret, in the life of 1954 02:04:35.560 --> 02:04:39.119 this man Douglas. This leads to his murder by someone 1955 02:04:39.119 --> 02:04:43.159 who is We will suppose an avenger, someone from outside. 1956 02:04:43.640 --> 02:04:46.359 This avenger, for some reason which I confess I am 1957 02:04:46.399 --> 02:04:49.560 still at a loss to explain, took the dead man's 1958 02:04:49.600 --> 02:04:53.600 wedding ring. The vendetta might conceivably date back to the 1959 02:04:53.640 --> 02:04:56.720 man's first marriage, and the ring be taken for some 1960 02:04:56.920 --> 02:05:00.840 such reason. Before this avenger got away and the wife 1961 02:05:00.840 --> 02:05:04.359 had reached the room, the assassin convinced them that any 1962 02:05:04.359 --> 02:05:06.720 attempt to arrest him would lead to the publication of 1963 02:05:06.720 --> 02:05:10.720 some hideous scandal. They were converted to this idea and 1964 02:05:10.840 --> 02:05:14.239 preferred to let him go. For this purpose. They probably 1965 02:05:14.279 --> 02:05:17.439 lowered the bridge, which can be done quite noiselessly, and 1966 02:05:17.479 --> 02:05:21.000 then raised it again. He made his escape, and for 1967 02:05:21.079 --> 02:05:23.319 some reason thought that he could do so more safely 1968 02:05:23.319 --> 02:05:26.479 on foot than on the bicycle. He therefore left his 1969 02:05:26.560 --> 02:05:28.960 machine where it would not be discovered until he had 1970 02:05:29.039 --> 02:05:32.560 got safely away. So far we are within the bounds 1971 02:05:32.560 --> 02:05:36.359 of possibility, are we not? Well, it is possible, no doubt, 1972 02:05:36.520 --> 02:05:39.760 said I, with some reserve. We have to remember, Watson, 1973 02:05:39.840 --> 02:05:44.319 that whatever occurred is certainly something very extraordinary. Well, now 1974 02:05:44.359 --> 02:05:49.640 to continue our suppositious case, the couple, not necessarily a 1975 02:05:49.640 --> 02:05:54.079 guilty couple, realize, after the murderer is gone, that they 1976 02:05:54.079 --> 02:05:56.479 have placed themselves in a position in which it may 1977 02:05:56.520 --> 02:05:59.079 be difficult for them to prove that they did not 1978 02:05:59.199 --> 02:06:03.199 themselves either do the deed or connive at it. They 1979 02:06:03.279 --> 02:06:07.319 rapidly and rather clumsily met the situation. The mark was 1980 02:06:07.359 --> 02:06:10.479 put by Barker's blood stained slipper upon the window sill 1981 02:06:10.600 --> 02:06:14.680 to suggest how the fugitive got away. They obviously were 1982 02:06:14.680 --> 02:06:16.960 the two who must have heard the sound of the gun, 1983 02:06:17.720 --> 02:06:20.560 so they gave the alarm exactly as they would have done, 1984 02:06:21.119 --> 02:06:24.760 but a good half hour after the event. And how 1985 02:06:24.800 --> 02:06:28.000 do you propose to prove all this? Well, if there 1986 02:06:28.039 --> 02:06:32.800 were an outsider, he may be traced and taken. That 1987 02:06:32.840 --> 02:06:37.520 would be the most effective of all proofs. But if not, well, 1988 02:06:37.560 --> 02:06:41.079 the resources of science are far from being exhausted. I 1989 02:06:41.119 --> 02:06:44.239 think that an evening alone in that study would help 1990 02:06:44.319 --> 02:06:48.159 me much. An evening alone I proposed to go up 1991 02:06:48.199 --> 02:06:52.359 there presently. I have arranged it with the estimable aims. 1992 02:06:52.840 --> 02:06:56.800 Who is by no means wholehearted about Barker? I shall 1993 02:06:56.840 --> 02:06:59.279 sit in that room and see if its atmosphere brings 1994 02:06:59.279 --> 02:07:04.760 the inspiration. I'm a believer in the genius lockheye, you smile, 1995 02:07:04.920 --> 02:07:09.119 friend Watson. Well we shall see by the way you 1996 02:07:09.199 --> 02:07:11.680 have that big umbrella of yours, have you not it 1997 02:07:11.800 --> 02:07:15.359 is here? Well, I'll borrow that if I may, certainly, 1998 02:07:16.039 --> 02:07:19.560 But what a wretched weapon. If there is danger, nothing serious, 1999 02:07:19.560 --> 02:07:23.279 my dear Watson, or I should certainly ask for your assistance, 2000 02:07:24.279 --> 02:07:27.760 But I'll take the umbrella. At present, I am only 2001 02:07:27.800 --> 02:07:31.479 awaiting the return of our colleagues from Tunbridge Wells, where 2002 02:07:31.520 --> 02:07:34.079 they are at present engaged in trying for a likely 2003 02:07:34.159 --> 02:07:39.000 owner to the bicycle. It was nightfall before Inspector mac 2004 02:07:39.039 --> 02:07:43.840 Donald and Whitemason came back from their expedition, and they 2005 02:07:43.960 --> 02:07:49.600 arrived exultant, reporting a great advance in our investigation. Man, 2006 02:07:49.800 --> 02:07:52.279 I'll admit that I had my doubts if there was 2007 02:07:52.399 --> 02:07:56.199 ever an outsider, said mac Donald. But that's all past. 2008 02:07:56.279 --> 02:07:59.159 Now we've had the bicycle identified and we have a 2009 02:07:59.199 --> 02:08:02.199 description of our man. So that's a long step on 2010 02:08:02.239 --> 02:08:05.920 our journey. It sounds to me like the beginning of 2011 02:08:05.960 --> 02:08:10.039 the end, said Holmes. I'm sure I congratulate you both 2012 02:08:10.199 --> 02:08:13.439 with all my heart. Will has started from the fact 2013 02:08:13.479 --> 02:08:17.000 that mister Douglas had seemed disturbed since the day before 2014 02:08:17.640 --> 02:08:20.880 when he had been at Tunbridge Wells. It was at 2015 02:08:20.880 --> 02:08:24.239 Tunbridge Wells then that he had become conscious of some danger. 2016 02:08:25.399 --> 02:08:27.760 It was clear therefore, that if a man had come 2017 02:08:27.800 --> 02:08:30.760 over with a bicycle, it was from Tunbridge Wells that 2018 02:08:30.840 --> 02:08:33.640 he might be expected to have come. We took the 2019 02:08:33.640 --> 02:08:36.159 bicycle over with us and showed it at the hotels. 2020 02:08:36.640 --> 02:08:39.439 It was identified at once by the manager of the 2021 02:08:39.600 --> 02:08:44.239 Eagle Commercial as belonging to a man named Hargrave, who 2022 02:08:44.239 --> 02:08:47.840 had taken a room there two days before. This bicycle 2023 02:08:47.880 --> 02:08:52.199 and a small valise were his whole belongings. He had 2024 02:08:52.279 --> 02:08:55.720 registered his name as coming from London, but had given 2025 02:08:55.760 --> 02:08:59.840 no address. The valise was London made and the con 2026 02:09:00.119 --> 02:09:03.960 tents were British, but the man himself was undoubtedly an American. 2027 02:09:04.600 --> 02:09:07.880 Well well, said Holmes, gleefully, you have indeed done some 2028 02:09:07.960 --> 02:09:11.600 solid work while I have been sitting spinning theories with 2029 02:09:11.680 --> 02:09:16.560 my friend. It's a lesson in being practical, mister mack ay. 2030 02:09:16.760 --> 02:09:20.680 As just that, mister Holmes, said the inspector with satisfaction. 2031 02:09:21.680 --> 02:09:24.399 But this may all fit in with your theories, I remarked, 2032 02:09:25.039 --> 02:09:27.439 that may or may not be, but let us hear 2033 02:09:27.479 --> 02:09:31.640 the end, mister mack. Was there nothing to identify this man, 2034 02:09:32.399 --> 02:09:35.600 so little that it was evident that he had carefully 2035 02:09:35.640 --> 02:09:40.640 guarded himself against identification. There were no papers or letters, 2036 02:09:40.680 --> 02:09:43.920 and no marking upon the clothes. A cycle map of 2037 02:09:43.960 --> 02:09:46.920 the county lay on his bedroom table. He had left 2038 02:09:46.920 --> 02:09:50.880 the hotel after breakfast yesterday morning on his bicycle, and 2039 02:09:50.920 --> 02:09:55.359 no more was heard of him until our inquiries. That's 2040 02:09:55.359 --> 02:09:59.720 what puzzles me, mister Holmes, said Whitemason. If the fellow 2041 02:09:59.760 --> 02:10:02.359 did not want the hue and cry raised over him, 2042 02:10:02.760 --> 02:10:05.319 one would imagine that he would have returned and remained 2043 02:10:05.359 --> 02:10:08.880 at the hotel. As an inoffensive tourist. As it is, 2044 02:10:09.800 --> 02:10:12.279 he must know that he will be reported to the 2045 02:10:12.319 --> 02:10:16.039 police by the hotel manager, and that his disappearance will 2046 02:10:16.079 --> 02:10:20.760 be connected with the murder. So one would imagine still 2047 02:10:20.800 --> 02:10:23.199 he has been justified of his wisdom up to date 2048 02:10:23.279 --> 02:10:27.000 at any rate, since he has not been taken. But 2049 02:10:27.279 --> 02:10:32.119 his description what of that? McDonald referred to his notebook 2050 02:10:32.520 --> 02:10:34.760 here we have it so far as they could give it. 2051 02:10:35.520 --> 02:10:38.239 They don't seem to have taken any very particular stock 2052 02:10:38.279 --> 02:10:41.479 of him. But still, the porter, the clerk, and the 2053 02:10:41.640 --> 02:10:45.640 chambermaid are all agreed that this about covers the points. 2054 02:10:45.720 --> 02:10:47.960 He was a man about five foot nine in height, 2055 02:10:48.199 --> 02:10:51.720 fifty or so years of age, his hair slightly grizzled, 2056 02:10:52.359 --> 02:10:56.760 a grayish mustache, a carved nose, and a face which 2057 02:10:56.800 --> 02:11:01.720 all of them described as fierce and forbidding well by 2058 02:11:01.760 --> 02:11:06.119 the expression. That might almost be a description of Douglas himself, 2059 02:11:06.239 --> 02:11:10.119 said Holmes. He is just over fifty, with grizzled hair 2060 02:11:10.239 --> 02:11:14.439 and mustache, and about the same height. Did you get 2061 02:11:14.479 --> 02:11:18.199 anything else? He was dressed in a heavy gray suit 2062 02:11:18.279 --> 02:11:21.319 with a reefer jacket, and he wore a short yellow 2063 02:11:21.359 --> 02:11:26.279 overcoat and a soft cap. What about the shotgun that 2064 02:11:26.439 --> 02:11:28.720 is less than two feet long? It could very well 2065 02:11:28.760 --> 02:11:31.880 have fitted into his valise. He could have carried it 2066 02:11:32.000 --> 02:11:35.920 inside his overcoat without difficulty. And how do you consider 2067 02:11:35.920 --> 02:11:40.119 that all this bears upon the general case? Well, mister Holmes, 2068 02:11:40.439 --> 02:11:43.800 said mac donald. When we have got our man, and 2069 02:11:43.880 --> 02:11:46.399 you may be sure that I had his description on 2070 02:11:46.479 --> 02:11:49.119 the wires within five minutes of hearing it, we shall 2071 02:11:49.159 --> 02:11:52.680 be better able to judge. But even as it stands, 2072 02:11:52.720 --> 02:11:56.000 we have surely gone a long way. We know that 2073 02:11:56.159 --> 02:11:59.640 an American calling himself Hargrave, came to Tunbridge Wells two 2074 02:11:59.680 --> 02:12:03.520 days go with bicycle and valise in the latter was 2075 02:12:03.560 --> 02:12:07.399 a sord off shotgun, so he came with the deliberate 2076 02:12:07.479 --> 02:12:10.920 purpose of crime. Yesterday morning he set off at this 2077 02:12:11.000 --> 02:12:14.680 place on his bicycle with his gun concealed in his overcoat. 2078 02:12:15.760 --> 02:12:18.000 No one saw him arrive so far as we can learn. 2079 02:12:18.520 --> 02:12:20.479 But he did not need to pass through the village 2080 02:12:20.520 --> 02:12:24.279 to reach the park gates, and there are many cyclists 2081 02:12:24.399 --> 02:12:28.479 upon the road. Presumably he at once concealed his cycle 2082 02:12:28.520 --> 02:12:31.600 among the laurels where it was found, and possibly lucked 2083 02:12:31.640 --> 02:12:34.880 there himself with his eye on the house, waiting for 2084 02:12:34.960 --> 02:12:38.840 mister Douglas to come out. The shotgun is a strange 2085 02:12:38.880 --> 02:12:42.720 weapon to use inside a house, but he had intended 2086 02:12:42.760 --> 02:12:46.800 to use it outside, and there it has very obvious advantages, 2087 02:12:47.319 --> 02:12:49.960 as it would be impossible to miss with it, and 2088 02:12:50.000 --> 02:12:52.439 the sound of shots is so common in an English 2089 02:12:52.439 --> 02:12:55.800 sporting neighborhood that no particular notice would be taken. That 2090 02:12:56.119 --> 02:13:00.640 is all very clear, said Holmes. Well, mister Douglas did 2091 02:13:00.680 --> 02:13:05.239 not appear. What was he to do next? He left 2092 02:13:05.279 --> 02:13:09.920 his bicycle and approached the house in the twilight, he 2093 02:13:09.960 --> 02:13:12.520 found the bridge down and no one about. He took 2094 02:13:12.520 --> 02:13:16.479 his chance, intending no doubt to make some excuse if 2095 02:13:16.479 --> 02:13:19.560 he met anyone. He met no one. He slipped into 2096 02:13:19.600 --> 02:13:22.800 the first room that he saw and concealed himself behind 2097 02:13:22.840 --> 02:13:27.439 the curtain. Thence he could see the drawbridge go up, 2098 02:13:28.039 --> 02:13:30.640 and he knew that his only escape was through the moat. 2099 02:13:31.760 --> 02:13:35.479 He waited until Corte passed eleven. When mister Douglas, upon 2100 02:13:35.520 --> 02:13:39.239 his usual nightly round, came into the room. He shot 2101 02:13:39.319 --> 02:13:43.079 him and escaped as arranged. He was aware that the 2102 02:13:43.119 --> 02:13:46.439 bicycle would be described by the hotel people and be 2103 02:13:46.520 --> 02:13:49.880 a clue against him, so he left it there and 2104 02:13:49.960 --> 02:13:52.960 made his way by some other means to London, out 2105 02:13:53.000 --> 02:13:56.000 of some safe hiding place which he had already arranged. 2106 02:13:56.600 --> 02:14:00.600 How is that, mister Holmes, Well, mister mac it is 2107 02:14:00.720 --> 02:14:04.199 very good and very clear. So far as it goes. 2108 02:14:05.479 --> 02:14:09.319 That is your end of the story. My end is 2109 02:14:09.319 --> 02:14:13.359 that the crime was committed half an hour earlier than reported, 2110 02:14:14.039 --> 02:14:17.439 that missus Douglas and Barker are both in a conspiracy 2111 02:14:17.520 --> 02:14:22.359 to conceal something that they aided the murderer's escape, or 2112 02:14:22.439 --> 02:14:25.079 at least that they reached the room before he escaped, 2113 02:14:25.439 --> 02:14:28.399 and that they fabricated evidence of his escape through the window, 2114 02:14:29.359 --> 02:14:32.840 whereas in all probability they had themselves let him go 2115 02:14:32.960 --> 02:14:37.680 by lowering the bridge. That's my reading half the first half. 2116 02:14:39.319 --> 02:14:43.119 The two detectives shook their heads. Well, mister Holmes, if 2117 02:14:43.159 --> 02:14:46.720 this is true, we only tumble out of one mystery 2118 02:14:46.840 --> 02:14:51.479 into another, said the London inspector, and in some ways 2119 02:14:51.479 --> 02:14:54.880 a worse one, added White Mason. The lady has never 2120 02:14:54.920 --> 02:14:58.119 been in America in all her life. What possible connection 2121 02:14:58.239 --> 02:15:01.199 could she have with an American ass us in which 2122 02:15:01.239 --> 02:15:05.359 would cause her to shelter him? I freely admit the difficulties, 2123 02:15:05.479 --> 02:15:09.239 said Holmes. I propose to make a little investigation of 2124 02:15:09.279 --> 02:15:13.000 my own to night, and it is just possible that 2125 02:15:13.079 --> 02:15:17.640 it may contribute something to the common cause. Can we 2126 02:15:17.840 --> 02:15:23.800 help you, mister Holmes, No, no darkness and doctor Watson's umbrella. 2127 02:15:24.680 --> 02:15:28.600 My wants are simple, and Aimes the faithful Aimes no 2128 02:15:28.720 --> 02:15:31.800 doubt he will stretch a point for me. All my 2129 02:15:31.920 --> 02:15:34.800 lines of thought lead me back invariably to the one 2130 02:15:35.159 --> 02:15:40.159 basic question. Why should an athletic man develop his frame 2131 02:15:40.239 --> 02:15:44.720 upon so unnatural an instrument as a single dumb bell. 2132 02:15:46.960 --> 02:15:49.520 It was late that night when Holmes returned from his 2133 02:15:49.680 --> 02:15:54.760 solitary excursion. We slept in a double bedded room, which 2134 02:15:54.840 --> 02:15:57.359 was the best that the little country inn could do 2135 02:15:57.439 --> 02:16:01.119 for us. I was already asleep when I was partly 2136 02:16:01.159 --> 02:16:06.239 awakened by his entrance. Well Holmes, I murmured, have you 2137 02:16:06.279 --> 02:16:10.439 found anything out? He stood beside me in silence, his 2138 02:16:10.600 --> 02:16:15.239 candle in his hand. Then the tall, lean figure inclined 2139 02:16:15.319 --> 02:16:20.079 towards me, I say, Watson, He whispered, would you be 2140 02:16:20.159 --> 02:16:23.600 afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, 2141 02:16:24.600 --> 02:16:27.920 A man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose 2142 02:16:28.000 --> 02:16:32.840 mind has lost its grip? Not in the least, I answered, 2143 02:16:32.879 --> 02:16:38.559 in astonishment. Ah, that's lucky, he said, And not another 2144 02:16:38.639 --> 02:16:48.600 word would he utter that night. Chapter seven, The Solution. 2145 02:16:52.000 --> 02:16:56.520 Next morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector mac donald and 2146 02:16:56.680 --> 02:17:01.479 Whitemason seated in close consultation in the small parlor of 2147 02:17:01.520 --> 02:17:06.040 the local police sergeant. On the table in front of 2148 02:17:06.079 --> 02:17:10.280 them were piled a number of letters and telegrams which 2149 02:17:10.319 --> 02:17:14.680 they were carefully sorting and docketing. Three had been placed 2150 02:17:14.719 --> 02:17:18.639 on one side, still on the track of the elusive 2151 02:17:18.760 --> 02:17:22.879 bicyclist Holmes asked, cheerfully, what is the latest news of 2152 02:17:22.920 --> 02:17:28.360 the ruffian? Mac Donald pointed ruefully to his heap of correspondence. 2153 02:17:29.159 --> 02:17:34.239 He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, Southampton, Darby, 2154 02:17:34.840 --> 02:17:39.959 east Ham, Richmond, and fourteen other places. In three of 2155 02:17:39.959 --> 02:17:42.840 them east Ham, Lester and Liverpool. There is a clear 2156 02:17:42.920 --> 02:17:46.239 case against him, and he has actually been arrested. The 2157 02:17:46.319 --> 02:17:48.959 country seems to be full of the fugitives with the 2158 02:17:49.040 --> 02:17:54.760 yellow coats. Dear me, said Holmes sympathetically. Now, mister Mack 2159 02:17:54.920 --> 02:17:58.920 and you, mister Whitemason, I wish to give you a 2160 02:17:59.000 --> 02:18:02.319 very earnest piece of a vice. When I went into 2161 02:18:02.319 --> 02:18:05.079 this case with you, I bargained, as you will no 2162 02:18:05.159 --> 02:18:08.559 doubt remember, that I should not present you with half 2163 02:18:08.639 --> 02:18:12.079 proved theories, but that I should retain and work out 2164 02:18:12.120 --> 02:18:16.120 my own ideas until I had satisfied myself that they 2165 02:18:16.159 --> 02:18:19.079 were correct. For this reason, I am not at the 2166 02:18:19.079 --> 02:18:21.799 present moment telling you all that is in my mind. 2167 02:18:22.799 --> 02:18:24.559 On the other hand, I said that I would play 2168 02:18:24.559 --> 02:18:26.559 the game fairly by you, and I do not think 2169 02:18:26.600 --> 02:18:29.200 it is a fair game to allow you, for one 2170 02:18:29.280 --> 02:18:34.280 unnecessary moment, to waste your energies upon a profitless task. Therefore, 2171 02:18:34.399 --> 02:18:37.399 I am here to advise you this morning, and my 2172 02:18:37.520 --> 02:18:42.000 advice to you is summed up in three words. Abandon 2173 02:18:42.479 --> 02:18:47.920 the case. Mac Donald and Whitemason stared in amazement at 2174 02:18:47.959 --> 02:18:52.680 their celebrated colleague. You consider it hopeless, cried the inspector. 2175 02:18:53.399 --> 02:18:57.559 I consider your case to be hopeless. I do not 2176 02:18:57.920 --> 02:19:01.600 consider that it is hopeless to arrive the truth. But 2177 02:19:01.760 --> 02:19:06.239 the cyclist, he is not an invention. We have his description, 2178 02:19:06.760 --> 02:19:11.639 his valise, his bicycle. The fellow must be somewhere. Why 2179 02:19:11.680 --> 02:19:14.639 should we not get him? Yes, yes, no doubt he 2180 02:19:14.799 --> 02:19:19.120 is somewhere, and no doubt we shall get him. But 2181 02:19:19.239 --> 02:19:21.959 I would not have you waste your energies in east 2182 02:19:22.000 --> 02:19:25.399 Ham or Liverpool. I am sure that we can find 2183 02:19:25.399 --> 02:19:30.200 some shorter cut to a result. You are holding something back. 2184 02:19:31.280 --> 02:19:35.120 It's hardly fair of you, mister Holmes. The inspector was annoyed. 2185 02:19:36.159 --> 02:19:39.280 You know my methods of work, mister mac but I 2186 02:19:39.319 --> 02:19:42.920 will hold it back for the shortest time possible. I 2187 02:19:43.000 --> 02:19:46.680 only wish to verify my details in one way, which 2188 02:19:46.719 --> 02:19:49.239 can very readily be done, and then I make my 2189 02:19:49.360 --> 02:19:53.159 bow and return to London, leaving my results entirely at 2190 02:19:53.200 --> 02:19:56.760 your service. I owe you too much to act otherwise, 2191 02:19:57.159 --> 02:20:00.000 For in all my experience I cannot recall any more 2192 02:20:00.120 --> 02:20:05.559 singular and interesting study. This is clean beyond me. Mister Holmes. 2193 02:20:06.319 --> 02:20:10.399 We saw you when we returned from Tunbridge Wells last night, 2194 02:20:11.079 --> 02:20:13.479 and you were in general agreement with our results. What 2195 02:20:13.559 --> 02:20:16.200 has happened since then? To give you a completely new 2196 02:20:16.280 --> 02:20:19.399 idea of the case. Well, since you ask me, I 2197 02:20:19.479 --> 02:20:23.479 spent as I told you that I would, some hours 2198 02:20:23.559 --> 02:20:26.959 last night at the manor house. Well what happened? Ah? 2199 02:20:28.079 --> 02:20:30.319 I can only give you a very general answer to that. 2200 02:20:30.440 --> 02:20:33.440 For the moment, by the way, I have been reading 2201 02:20:33.440 --> 02:20:36.520 a short but clear and interesting account of the old building, 2202 02:20:37.000 --> 02:20:40.600 purchasable at the modest sum of one penny from the 2203 02:20:40.639 --> 02:20:46.520 local tobacconist. Here Holmes drew a small tract embellished with 2204 02:20:46.559 --> 02:20:49.760 a rude engraving of the ancient manor house from his 2205 02:20:49.920 --> 02:20:54.840 westcoat pocket. It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation. 2206 02:20:55.360 --> 02:20:58.920 My dear mister mac when one is in conscious sympathy 2207 02:20:58.959 --> 02:21:03.680 with the historical actsmosphere of one's surroundings, don't look so impatient, 2208 02:21:04.200 --> 02:21:06.639 For I assure you that even so bald an account 2209 02:21:06.639 --> 02:21:09.200 as this raises some sort of picture of the past 2210 02:21:09.280 --> 02:21:12.239 in one's mind. Permit me to give you a sample. 2211 02:21:13.399 --> 02:21:15.840 Erected in the fifth year of the reign of James 2212 02:21:15.840 --> 02:21:18.319 the First, and standing upon the site of a much 2213 02:21:18.360 --> 02:21:21.680 older building, the manor House of Burlstone, presents one of 2214 02:21:21.719 --> 02:21:25.920 the finest surviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence. You 2215 02:21:26.000 --> 02:21:29.120 are making fools of us, mister Holmes. Tut tut, mister Mack. 2216 02:21:29.680 --> 02:21:33.600 The first sign of temper I have detected in you. Well, 2217 02:21:33.639 --> 02:21:36.879 I won't read it verbatim, since you feel so strongly 2218 02:21:36.959 --> 02:21:40.280 upon the subject. But when I tell you that there 2219 02:21:40.360 --> 02:21:42.520 is some account of the taking of the place by 2220 02:21:42.559 --> 02:21:46.319 a parliamentary colonel in sixteen forty four, of the concealment 2221 02:21:46.360 --> 02:21:48.479 of Charles for several days in the course of the 2222 02:21:48.479 --> 02:21:51.360 Civil War, and finally of a visit there by the 2223 02:21:51.399 --> 02:21:55.680 Second George, you will admit that there are various associations 2224 02:21:55.680 --> 02:21:59.639 of interest connected with this ancient house. I don't doubt it, 2225 02:21:59.680 --> 02:22:02.959 mister Homes, But that is no business of ours, is 2226 02:22:03.000 --> 02:22:07.440 it not? Is it not breadth of you, my dear 2227 02:22:07.479 --> 02:22:10.680 mister mac is one of the essentials of our profession. 2228 02:22:11.040 --> 02:22:14.360 The interplay of ideas, and the oblique uses of knowledge 2229 02:22:14.639 --> 02:22:18.760 are often of extraordinary interest. You will excuse these remarks 2230 02:22:18.760 --> 02:22:22.239 from one who, though a mere connoisseur of crime, is 2231 02:22:22.239 --> 02:22:28.000 still rather older and perhaps more experienced than yourself. I'm 2232 02:22:28.040 --> 02:22:32.159 the first to admit that, said the detective heartily. You 2233 02:22:32.200 --> 02:22:34.840 get to your point, I admit, but you have such 2234 02:22:34.879 --> 02:22:38.280 a deuced round the corner way of doing it. Will well, 2235 02:22:39.639 --> 02:22:42.600 I'll drop the past history and get down to present 2236 02:22:42.719 --> 02:22:46.719 day facts. I called last night, as I have already said, 2237 02:22:46.760 --> 02:22:49.760 at the manor house. I did not see either Barker 2238 02:22:49.879 --> 02:22:53.719 or Missus Douglas. I saw no necessity to disturb them, 2239 02:22:54.200 --> 02:22:57.200 but I was pleased to hear that the lady was 2240 02:22:57.239 --> 02:22:59.680 not visibly pining, and that she had partaken of an 2241 02:22:59.680 --> 02:23:04.079 excellent dinner. My visit was specially made to the good 2242 02:23:04.200 --> 02:23:09.760 mister Ames, with whom I exchanged some amiabilities, which culminated 2243 02:23:09.879 --> 02:23:12.520 in his allowing me, without reference to any one else, 2244 02:23:13.319 --> 02:23:17.360 to sit alone for a time in the study. What 2245 02:23:18.360 --> 02:23:22.479 with that, I ejaculated, No, No, everything is now in order. 2246 02:23:23.319 --> 02:23:25.920 You gave permission for that, mister mac As I am 2247 02:23:25.920 --> 02:23:29.239 informed the room was in its normal state, and in 2248 02:23:29.319 --> 02:23:33.360 it I passed an instructive quarter of an hour. What 2249 02:23:33.479 --> 02:23:37.280 were you doing well not to make a mystery of 2250 02:23:37.319 --> 02:23:40.079 so simple a matter. I was looking for the missing 2251 02:23:40.239 --> 02:23:43.879 dumb bell. It has always bulked rather large in my 2252 02:23:44.079 --> 02:23:50.120 estimate of the case. I ended by finding it. Where Ah, 2253 02:23:50.159 --> 02:23:53.159 there we come to the edge of the unexplored. Let 2254 02:23:53.200 --> 02:23:56.559 me go a little further, a very little further, and 2255 02:23:56.639 --> 02:24:00.479 I will promise that you shall share everything that I know. Well, 2256 02:24:00.760 --> 02:24:03.639 we're bound to take you on your own terms, said 2257 02:24:03.680 --> 02:24:06.760 the inspector. But when it comes to telling us to 2258 02:24:06.799 --> 02:24:10.319 abandon the case, why in the name of goodness should 2259 02:24:10.360 --> 02:24:13.399 we abandon the case? For the simple reason, my dear 2260 02:24:13.440 --> 02:24:16.200 mister mac, that you have not got the first idea 2261 02:24:16.360 --> 02:24:20.440 what it is that you are investigating. We are investigating 2262 02:24:20.440 --> 02:24:24.200 the murder of mister John Douglas of Burlstone, Manor. Yes, yes, 2263 02:24:24.360 --> 02:24:28.040 so you are. But don't trouble to trace the mysterious 2264 02:24:28.079 --> 02:24:31.440 gentleman upon the bicycle. I assure you that it won't 2265 02:24:31.520 --> 02:24:34.399 help you. Then what do you suggest that we do. 2266 02:24:35.079 --> 02:24:37.600 I will tell you exactly what to do if you 2267 02:24:37.680 --> 02:24:41.159 will do it well, I'm bound to say, I've always 2268 02:24:41.200 --> 02:24:45.000 found you had reason behind all your queer ways. I'll 2269 02:24:45.040 --> 02:24:50.239 do what you advise, and you, mister Whitemason, the country detective, 2270 02:24:50.280 --> 02:24:53.920 looked helplessly from one to the other. Holmes and his 2271 02:24:54.000 --> 02:24:56.639 methods were new to him. Well, if it is good 2272 02:24:56.719 --> 02:24:58.840 enough for the inspector, it is good enough for me, 2273 02:24:59.200 --> 02:25:03.879 he said at last, capital said Holmes, Well, then I 2274 02:25:03.879 --> 02:25:07.399 should recommend a nice, cheery country walk for both of you. 2275 02:25:07.799 --> 02:25:10.280 They tell me that the views from Burlstone Ridge over 2276 02:25:10.319 --> 02:25:14.079 the Wield are very remarkable. No doubt lunch could be 2277 02:25:14.079 --> 02:25:17.440 got at some suitable hostelry, though my ignorance of the 2278 02:25:17.479 --> 02:25:21.399 country prevents me from recommending one. In the evening, tired 2279 02:25:21.440 --> 02:25:25.799 but happy man thus as getting past a joke, cried 2280 02:25:25.879 --> 02:25:29.719 mac Donald, rising angrily from his chair. Well, well, spend 2281 02:25:29.719 --> 02:25:32.760 the day as you like, said Holmes, patting him cheerfully 2282 02:25:32.840 --> 02:25:35.959 upon the shoulder. Do what you like and go where 2283 02:25:36.000 --> 02:25:39.760 you will, but meet me here before dusk without fail, 2284 02:25:39.959 --> 02:25:44.120 without fail. Mister mack, that sounds more like sanity. All 2285 02:25:44.159 --> 02:25:47.840 of it was excellent advice, but I don't insist so 2286 02:25:48.000 --> 02:25:51.159 long as you are here when I need you. But now, 2287 02:25:51.280 --> 02:25:54.079 before we part, I want you to write a note 2288 02:25:54.159 --> 02:25:58.520 to mister Barker. Well, I'll dictate it if you like ready, 2289 02:26:00.120 --> 02:26:03.399 Dear sir, it has struck me that it is our 2290 02:26:03.559 --> 02:26:06.440 duty to drain the moat in the hope that we 2291 02:26:06.520 --> 02:26:11.360 may find some as impossible, said the inspector, I've made inquiry. Tut, tut, 2292 02:26:11.600 --> 02:26:14.680 my dear sir, Please do what I ask you. Well, 2293 02:26:14.719 --> 02:26:17.600 go on in the hope that we may find something 2294 02:26:17.600 --> 02:26:21.959 which may bear upon our investigation. I have made arrangements, 2295 02:26:22.319 --> 02:26:24.920 and the workmen will be at work early to morrow morning, 2296 02:26:25.079 --> 02:26:30.520 diverting the stream. Impossible, diverting the stream, so I thought 2297 02:26:30.559 --> 02:26:34.520 it best to explain matters beforehand. Now sign that and 2298 02:26:34.600 --> 02:26:37.559 send it by hand about four o'clock. At that hour 2299 02:26:37.639 --> 02:26:40.760 we shall meet again in this room. Until then we 2300 02:26:40.840 --> 02:26:43.799 may each do what we like, for I can assure 2301 02:26:43.840 --> 02:26:46.760 you that this inquiry has come to a definite pause. 2302 02:26:48.920 --> 02:26:53.000 Evening was drawing in when we reassembled. Holmes was very 2303 02:26:53.079 --> 02:26:58.479 serious in his manner, myself curious, and the detectives obviously 2304 02:26:58.639 --> 02:27:04.680 critical and annoy Well, gentlemen, said my friend gravely. I 2305 02:27:04.719 --> 02:27:07.200 am asking you now to put everything to the test 2306 02:27:07.280 --> 02:27:10.280 with me, and you will judge for yourselves whether the 2307 02:27:10.319 --> 02:27:14.000 observations I have made justify the conclusions to which I 2308 02:27:14.040 --> 02:27:17.639 have come. It is a chill evening, and I do 2309 02:27:17.719 --> 02:27:21.280 not know how long our expedition may last, so I 2310 02:27:21.360 --> 02:27:25.000 beg that you will wear your warmest coats. It is 2311 02:27:25.040 --> 02:27:27.239 of the first importance that we should be in our 2312 02:27:27.319 --> 02:27:31.040 places before it grows dark, So with your permission, we 2313 02:27:31.079 --> 02:27:36.000 shall get started at once. We passed along the outer 2314 02:27:36.120 --> 02:27:39.440 bounds of the manor house park until we came to 2315 02:27:39.479 --> 02:27:41.479 a place where there was a gap in the rails 2316 02:27:41.520 --> 02:27:45.360 which fenced it. Through this we slipped, and then, in 2317 02:27:45.399 --> 02:27:49.120 the gathering gloom, we followed Homes until we had reached 2318 02:27:49.120 --> 02:27:52.479 a shrubbery which lies nearly opposite to the main door 2319 02:27:52.639 --> 02:27:57.680 and the drawbridge. The latter had not been raised. Homes 2320 02:27:57.719 --> 02:28:01.200 crouched down behind the screen of laurels, and we all 2321 02:28:01.280 --> 02:28:05.280 three followed his example. Well what are we to do now, 2322 02:28:05.840 --> 02:28:09.520 asked mac Donald, with some gruffness. Possess our souls in 2323 02:28:09.639 --> 02:28:14.200 patience and make as little noise as possible. Holmes answered, 2324 02:28:15.319 --> 02:28:18.159 what are we here for at all? I really think 2325 02:28:18.159 --> 02:28:21.840 that you might treat us with more frankness, Holmes laughed. 2326 02:28:23.000 --> 02:28:26.600 Watson insists that I am the dramatist in real life, 2327 02:28:26.840 --> 02:28:30.719 said he. Some touch of the artist wells up within me, 2328 02:28:31.399 --> 02:28:36.719 and calls insistently for a well staged performance. Surely our profession, 2329 02:28:36.799 --> 02:28:39.719 mister Mack, would be a drab and sordid one, if 2330 02:28:39.760 --> 02:28:42.879 we did not sometimes set the scene so as to 2331 02:28:42.920 --> 02:28:49.120 glorify our results. The blunt accusation, the brutal tap upon 2332 02:28:49.159 --> 02:28:52.559 the shoulder. What can one make of such a denouement? 2333 02:28:53.360 --> 02:28:56.040 But the quick inference, the subtle trap, the clever forecast 2334 02:28:56.079 --> 02:29:00.159 of coming events, the triumphant vindication of bold theories. Are 2335 02:29:00.159 --> 02:29:03.360 these not the pride and the justification of our life's work? 2336 02:29:04.479 --> 02:29:07.000 At the present moment you thrill with the glamor of 2337 02:29:07.040 --> 02:29:11.360 the situation and the anticipation of the hunt. Where would 2338 02:29:11.440 --> 02:29:14.600 be that thrill if I had been as definite as 2339 02:29:14.600 --> 02:29:18.079 a time table. I only ask a little patience, mister 2340 02:29:18.159 --> 02:29:21.639 mac and all will be clear to you. Well. I 2341 02:29:21.680 --> 02:29:24.200 hope the pride and justification and the rest of it 2342 02:29:24.600 --> 02:29:26.879 will come before we all get our death of cold, 2343 02:29:27.520 --> 02:29:32.639 said the London detective, with comic resignation. We all had 2344 02:29:32.680 --> 02:29:36.440 good reason to join in the aspiration, for our vigil 2345 02:29:36.639 --> 02:29:40.520 was a long and bitter one. Slowly the shadows darkened 2346 02:29:40.559 --> 02:29:44.719 over the long, somber face of the old house, A cold, 2347 02:29:44.799 --> 02:29:48.440 damp reek from the moat chilled us to the bones 2348 02:29:48.920 --> 02:29:52.879 and set our teeth chattering. There was a single lamp 2349 02:29:52.920 --> 02:29:55.440 over the gateway and a steady globe of light in 2350 02:29:55.479 --> 02:30:00.680 the fatal study. Everything else was dark. And still, how 2351 02:30:00.719 --> 02:30:04.079 long is this to last? Asked the inspector. Finally, and 2352 02:30:04.159 --> 02:30:06.799 what is it we are watching for? I have no 2353 02:30:06.879 --> 02:30:09.200 more notion than you how long it is to last? 2354 02:30:10.520 --> 02:30:14.879 Holmes answered, with some asperity. If criminals would always schedule 2355 02:30:14.920 --> 02:30:18.440 their movements like railway trains, it would certainly be more 2356 02:30:18.440 --> 02:30:21.639 convenient for all of us. As to what it is 2357 02:30:21.639 --> 02:30:27.319 we Well, that's what we are watching for. As he spoke, 2358 02:30:27.399 --> 02:30:30.319 the bright yellow light in the study was obscured by 2359 02:30:30.360 --> 02:30:34.440 somebody passing to and fro before it. The laurels among 2360 02:30:34.479 --> 02:30:38.680 which we lay were immediately opposite the window, and not 2361 02:30:38.799 --> 02:30:42.639 more than a hundred feet from it. Presently, it was 2362 02:30:42.719 --> 02:30:45.760 thrown open with a whining of hinges, and we could 2363 02:30:45.760 --> 02:30:48.239 dimly see the dark outline of a man's head and 2364 02:30:48.280 --> 02:30:52.200 shoulders looking out into the gloom. For some minutes, he 2365 02:30:52.280 --> 02:30:55.479 peered forth in furtive, stealthy fashion, as one who wishes 2366 02:30:55.559 --> 02:30:59.719 to be assured that he is unobserved. Then he leaned 2367 02:30:59.760 --> 02:31:04.319 forward and in the intense silence we were aware of 2368 02:31:04.360 --> 02:31:08.760 the soft lapping of agitated water. He seemed to be 2369 02:31:08.879 --> 02:31:11.399 stirring up the moat with something which he held in 2370 02:31:11.440 --> 02:31:15.760 his hand. Then suddenly he hauled something in as a 2371 02:31:15.760 --> 02:31:20.159 fisherman lands a fish, some large round object, which obscured 2372 02:31:20.200 --> 02:31:23.000 the light as it was dragged through the open casement. 2373 02:31:24.159 --> 02:31:28.799 Now cried Holmes. Now we were all upon our feet, 2374 02:31:28.840 --> 02:31:32.159 staggering after him with our stiffened limbs, while he ran 2375 02:31:32.280 --> 02:31:35.719 swiftly across the bridge and rang violently at the bell. 2376 02:31:37.040 --> 02:31:39.399 There was the rasping of bolts from the other side, 2377 02:31:39.840 --> 02:31:44.200 and the amazed Aims stood in the entrance. Holmes brushed 2378 02:31:44.239 --> 02:31:47.200 him aside without a word, and, followed by all of us, 2379 02:31:47.799 --> 02:31:50.159 rushed into the room which had been occupied by the 2380 02:31:50.239 --> 02:31:53.520 man whom we had been watching. The oil lamp on 2381 02:31:53.600 --> 02:31:57.000 the table represented the glow which we had seen from outside. 2382 02:31:58.280 --> 02:32:00.959 It was now in the hand of cecil Bar, who 2383 02:32:00.959 --> 02:32:04.360 held it towards us. As we entered. Its light shone 2384 02:32:04.440 --> 02:32:09.200 upon his strong, resolute, clean shaved face and his menacing eyes. 2385 02:32:10.120 --> 02:32:12.280 What the devil is the meaning of all this? He cried? 2386 02:32:12.639 --> 02:32:16.559 What are you after? Anyhow, Holmes took a swift glance round, 2387 02:32:17.600 --> 02:32:21.159 and then pounced upon a sodden bundle tied together with cord, 2388 02:32:21.200 --> 02:32:23.959 which lay where it had been thrust under the writing table. 2389 02:32:24.319 --> 02:32:27.120 This is what we are after, mister Barker. This bundle 2390 02:32:27.319 --> 02:32:30.479 waited with a dumb bell, which you have just raised 2391 02:32:30.479 --> 02:32:33.920 from the bottom of the moat. Barker stared at Holmes 2392 02:32:34.000 --> 02:32:36.840 with amazement in his face. How in thunder came you 2393 02:32:36.920 --> 02:32:40.239 to know anything about it? He asked, simply that I 2394 02:32:40.319 --> 02:32:44.000 put it there. You put it there? You, perhaps, I 2395 02:32:44.040 --> 02:32:48.840 should have said, replaced it there, said Holmes. You will remember, 2396 02:32:48.959 --> 02:32:51.520 in Spector mac donald, that I was somewhat struck by 2397 02:32:51.520 --> 02:32:54.600 the absence of a dumb bell. I drew your attention 2398 02:32:54.760 --> 02:32:58.159 to it, but with the pressure of other events, you 2399 02:32:58.239 --> 02:33:00.399 had hardly the time to give it the conceit iteration 2400 02:33:00.959 --> 02:33:03.639 which would have enabled you to draw deductions from it. 2401 02:33:04.280 --> 02:33:07.719 When water is near and a weight is missing, it 2402 02:33:07.799 --> 02:33:10.399 is not a very far fetched supposition that something has 2403 02:33:10.440 --> 02:33:13.559 been sunk in the water. The idea was at least 2404 02:33:13.600 --> 02:33:17.000 worth testing. So with the help of Ames, who admitted 2405 02:33:17.000 --> 02:33:20.239 me to the room, and the crook of doctor Watson's umbrella, 2406 02:33:20.680 --> 02:33:23.399 I was able last night to fish up and inspect 2407 02:33:23.440 --> 02:33:27.479 this bundle. It was of the first importance, however, that 2408 02:33:27.559 --> 02:33:29.879 we should be able to prove who placed it there. 2409 02:33:30.840 --> 02:33:33.639 This we accomplished by the very obvious device of announcing 2410 02:33:33.680 --> 02:33:36.719 that the moat would be dried to morrow, which had 2411 02:33:36.840 --> 02:33:39.920 of course the effect that whoever had hidden the bundle 2412 02:33:39.959 --> 02:33:43.639 would most certainly withdraw it the moment that darkness enabled 2413 02:33:43.719 --> 02:33:46.120 him to do so. We have no less than four 2414 02:33:46.159 --> 02:33:49.440 witnesses as to who it was who took advantage of 2415 02:33:49.479 --> 02:33:53.559 the opportunity, And so, mister Barker, I think the word 2416 02:33:53.719 --> 02:33:58.360 lies now with you. Sherlock Holmes put the sopping bundle 2417 02:33:58.440 --> 02:34:01.600 upon the table beside the lamp and undid the cord 2418 02:34:01.639 --> 02:34:05.600 which bounded from within. He extracted a dumb bell, which 2419 02:34:05.639 --> 02:34:09.000 he tossed down to its fellow in the corner. Next 2420 02:34:09.040 --> 02:34:13.280 he drew forth a pair of boots American as you perceive, 2421 02:34:13.600 --> 02:34:17.920 he remarked, pointing to the toes. Then he laid upon 2422 02:34:17.959 --> 02:34:23.479 the table a long, deadly sheathed knife. Finally, he unraveled 2423 02:34:23.520 --> 02:34:29.200 a bundle of clothing comprising a complete set of underclothes, socks, 2424 02:34:29.239 --> 02:34:33.239 a gray tweed suit, and a short yellow overcoat. The 2425 02:34:33.280 --> 02:34:38.479 clothes are commonplace remarked Holmes, save only the overcoat, which 2426 02:34:38.520 --> 02:34:42.719 is full of suggestive touches. He held it tenderly towards 2427 02:34:42.719 --> 02:34:45.840 the light. Here, as you perceive, is the inner pocket 2428 02:34:46.040 --> 02:34:48.719 prolonged into the lining in such fashion as to give 2429 02:34:48.760 --> 02:34:54.079 ample space for the truncated fowling piece. The tailor's tab 2430 02:34:54.120 --> 02:34:57.959 is on the neck kneel outfitter the Missa U s A. 2431 02:34:59.239 --> 02:35:02.360 I have spent an instructive afternoon in the Rector's library, 2432 02:35:03.040 --> 02:35:05.879 and have enlarged my knowledge by adding the fact that 2433 02:35:05.959 --> 02:35:09.120 Vermissa is a flourishing little town at the head of 2434 02:35:09.159 --> 02:35:11.879 one of the best known coal and iron valleys in 2435 02:35:11.879 --> 02:35:15.520 the United States. I have some recollection, mister Barker, that 2436 02:35:15.559 --> 02:35:19.799 you associated the coal districts with mister Douglas's first wife. 2437 02:35:21.000 --> 02:35:23.760 And it would surely not be too far fetched an 2438 02:35:23.799 --> 02:35:26.079 inference that the v V upon the card by the 2439 02:35:26.079 --> 02:35:30.760 dead body might stand for Vermissa Valley, or that this 2440 02:35:31.000 --> 02:35:34.719 very valley which sends forth emissaries of murder may be 2441 02:35:34.840 --> 02:35:39.280 that valley of fear of which we have heard so much. 2442 02:35:39.360 --> 02:35:43.600 Is fairly clear. And now, mister Barker, I seem to 2443 02:35:43.600 --> 02:35:48.399 be standing rather in the way of your explanation. It 2444 02:35:48.479 --> 02:35:51.840 was a sight to see Cecil Barker's expressive face during 2445 02:35:51.920 --> 02:35:57.639 this exposition of the great detective. Anger, Amazement, consternation, and 2446 02:35:57.840 --> 02:36:02.159 indecision swept over it in turns, and finally he took 2447 02:36:02.239 --> 02:36:06.520 refuge in a somewhat acrid irony. You know such a lot, 2448 02:36:06.639 --> 02:36:09.520 mister Holmes. Perhaps you had better tell us some more, 2449 02:36:09.959 --> 02:36:13.399 he sneered. I have no doubt that I could tell 2450 02:36:13.440 --> 02:36:16.120 you a great deal more, mister Barker, but it would 2451 02:36:16.159 --> 02:36:19.639 come with a better grace from you. Oh you think so, 2452 02:36:19.799 --> 02:36:22.159 do you? Well? All I can say is that if 2453 02:36:22.159 --> 02:36:26.079 there's any secret here, it is not my secret, and 2454 02:36:26.159 --> 02:36:28.600 I am not the man to give it away. Well, 2455 02:36:28.600 --> 02:36:31.920 if you take that line, mister Barker, said the inspector quietly. 2456 02:36:32.680 --> 02:36:34.680 We must just keep you in sight until we have 2457 02:36:34.760 --> 02:36:37.959 the warrant and can hold you. You can do what 2458 02:36:38.079 --> 02:36:43.280 you damn please about that, said Barker defiantly. The proceedings 2459 02:36:43.520 --> 02:36:45.959 seemed to have come to a definite end so far 2460 02:36:46.000 --> 02:36:49.360 as he was concerned, For one had only to look 2461 02:36:49.399 --> 02:36:53.239 at that granite face to realize that no penn forte 2462 02:36:53.200 --> 02:36:56.639 de dieu would ever force him to plead against his will. 2463 02:36:57.879 --> 02:37:02.280 The deadlock was broken, however, by a woman's voice. Missus 2464 02:37:02.280 --> 02:37:05.399 Douglas had been standing listening at the half opened door, 2465 02:37:06.159 --> 02:37:09.479 and now she entered the room. You have done enough 2466 02:37:09.520 --> 02:37:12.719 for our cecil, said she, whatever comes of it in 2467 02:37:12.760 --> 02:37:17.680 the future. You have done enough enough, and more than enough, 2468 02:37:18.040 --> 02:37:23.399 remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely. I have every sympathy with you, madam, 2469 02:37:23.639 --> 02:37:26.280 and should strongly urge you to have some confidence in 2470 02:37:26.319 --> 02:37:29.760 the common sense of our jurisdiction and to take the 2471 02:37:29.799 --> 02:37:33.920 police voluntarily into your complete confidence. It may be that 2472 02:37:34.000 --> 02:37:36.639 I am myself at fault for not following up the 2473 02:37:36.719 --> 02:37:39.879 hint which you conveyed to me through my friend doctor Watson, 2474 02:37:40.879 --> 02:37:43.639 But at that time I had every reason to believe 2475 02:37:43.840 --> 02:37:47.840 that you were directly concerned in the crime. Now I 2476 02:37:47.879 --> 02:37:51.879 am assured that this is not so. At the same time, 2477 02:37:53.040 --> 02:37:57.440 there is much that is unexplained, and I should strongly 2478 02:37:57.479 --> 02:38:00.840 recommend that you ask mister Douglas to tell us his 2479 02:38:01.000 --> 02:38:05.600 own story. Missus Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at 2480 02:38:05.600 --> 02:38:09.319 Holmes's words. The detectives and I must have echoed it 2481 02:38:10.000 --> 02:38:13.159 when we were aware of a man who seemed to 2482 02:38:13.200 --> 02:38:16.799 have emerged from the wall, who advanced now from the 2483 02:38:16.840 --> 02:38:21.120 gloom of the corner in which he had appeared. Missus 2484 02:38:21.159 --> 02:38:25.200 Douglas turned and in an instant her arms were round him. 2485 02:38:26.000 --> 02:38:30.760 Barker had seized his outstretched hand. It's best this way, Jack, 2486 02:38:31.120 --> 02:38:35.840 his wife repeated, I am sure that it is best. Indeed, yes, 2487 02:38:36.079 --> 02:38:39.440 mister Douglas, said Sherlock Holmes, I am sure that you 2488 02:38:39.520 --> 02:38:43.799 will find it best. The man stood blinking at us 2489 02:38:43.840 --> 02:38:45.879 with the dazed look of one who comes from the 2490 02:38:46.000 --> 02:38:50.399 dark into the light. It was a remarkable face, bold 2491 02:38:50.440 --> 02:38:54.840 gray eyes, a strong, short, clipped, grizzled mustache, a square 2492 02:38:54.879 --> 02:38:58.920 projecting chin, and a humorous mouth. He took a good 2493 02:38:58.959 --> 02:39:01.639 look at us all, and then, to my amazement, he 2494 02:39:01.760 --> 02:39:05.479 advanced to me and handed me a bundle of paper. 2495 02:39:07.280 --> 02:39:10.120 I've heard of you, said he in a voice which 2496 02:39:10.159 --> 02:39:13.799 was not quite English and not quite American, but was 2497 02:39:13.840 --> 02:39:19.239 altogether mellow and pleasing. You are the historian of this bunch, well, 2498 02:39:19.760 --> 02:39:22.840 doctor Watson, You've never had such a story as that 2499 02:39:23.239 --> 02:39:26.840 passed through your hands before, and I'll lay my last 2500 02:39:26.879 --> 02:39:31.520 dollar on that. Tell it your own way. But there 2501 02:39:31.559 --> 02:39:34.040 are the facts, and you can't miss the public so 2502 02:39:34.159 --> 02:39:38.760 long as you have those. I've been cooped up two days, 2503 02:39:39.239 --> 02:39:42.799 and I've spent the daylight hours as much daylight as 2504 02:39:42.840 --> 02:39:45.840 I could get in that rat trap. In putting the 2505 02:39:45.879 --> 02:39:50.239 thing into words, You're welcome to them, you and your public. 2506 02:39:51.719 --> 02:39:55.959 That's the story of the Valley of Fear. That's the past, 2507 02:39:56.079 --> 02:40:01.280 mister Douglas, said Sherlock Holmes quietly. What we desire now 2508 02:40:01.520 --> 02:40:05.120 is to hear your story of the present. You'll have it, sir, 2509 02:40:05.479 --> 02:40:10.280 said Douglas. May I smoke as I talk? Well, thank you, 2510 02:40:10.360 --> 02:40:13.920 mister Holmes. You're a smoker yourself, if I remember right, 2511 02:40:14.840 --> 02:40:17.200 And you'll guess what it is to be sitting for 2512 02:40:17.239 --> 02:40:20.479 two days with tobacco in your pocket and afraid that 2513 02:40:20.559 --> 02:40:24.280 the smell will give you away. He leaned against the 2514 02:40:24.319 --> 02:40:27.319 mantelpiece and sucked at the cigar which Holmes had handed him. 2515 02:40:28.120 --> 02:40:31.360 I've heard of you, mister Holmes. I never guessed that 2516 02:40:31.479 --> 02:40:34.840 I should meet you. But before you are through with that, 2517 02:40:35.559 --> 02:40:38.840 he nodded at my papers, you will say I've brought 2518 02:40:38.879 --> 02:40:43.879 you something fresh. Inspector mac Donald had been staring at 2519 02:40:43.879 --> 02:40:47.920 the new comer with the greatest amazement. Well this fairly 2520 02:40:48.000 --> 02:40:51.479 beasts me, he cried, at last. If you are mister 2521 02:40:51.680 --> 02:40:56.280 John Douglas of Bertlestone manor then whose death have we 2522 02:40:56.440 --> 02:40:59.680 been investigating for these two days? And where in the 2523 02:40:59.680 --> 02:41:02.879 world have you sprung from? Now? You seem to me 2524 02:41:03.000 --> 02:41:04.840 to come out of the floor like a jack in 2525 02:41:04.879 --> 02:41:09.959 a box. Ah, mister mac, said Holmes, shaking a reproving forefinger. 2526 02:41:10.840 --> 02:41:15.000 You would not read that excellent local compilation which described 2527 02:41:15.040 --> 02:41:19.040 the concealment of King Charles. People did not hide in 2528 02:41:19.120 --> 02:41:23.440 those days without excellent hiding places, and the hiding place 2529 02:41:23.520 --> 02:41:26.719 that has once been used may be again. I had 2530 02:41:26.760 --> 02:41:30.680 persuaded myself that we should find mister Douglas under this roof. 2531 02:41:31.559 --> 02:41:33.799 And how long have you been playing this trick upon us, 2532 02:41:33.799 --> 02:41:37.079 mister Holmes, said the inspector angrily. How long have you 2533 02:41:37.120 --> 02:41:40.040 allowed us to waste ourselves upon a search that you 2534 02:41:40.120 --> 02:41:43.559 knew to be an absurd one? Not one instant, my 2535 02:41:43.639 --> 02:41:47.120 dear mister Mack. Only last night did I form my 2536 02:41:47.319 --> 02:41:50.079 views of the case, as they could not be put 2537 02:41:50.120 --> 02:41:52.840 to the proof until this evening. I invited you and 2538 02:41:52.879 --> 02:41:55.920 your colliague to take a holiday for the day. Pray 2539 02:41:56.000 --> 02:41:58.840 what more could I do? When I found the suit 2540 02:41:58.879 --> 02:42:01.600 of clothes in the moat, it at once became apparent 2541 02:42:01.639 --> 02:42:03.840 to me that the body we had found could not 2542 02:42:04.319 --> 02:42:07.000 have been the body of mister John Douglas at all, 2543 02:42:07.680 --> 02:42:11.079 but must be that of the bicyclist from Tunbridge Wells. 2544 02:42:11.799 --> 02:42:15.799 No other conclusion was possible. Therefore, I had to determine 2545 02:42:15.840 --> 02:42:19.479 where mister John Douglas himself could be, and the balance 2546 02:42:19.520 --> 02:42:22.760 of probability was that, with the connivance of his wife 2547 02:42:22.760 --> 02:42:25.479 and his friend, he was concealed in a house which 2548 02:42:25.559 --> 02:42:29.920 had such conveniences for a fugitive, and awaiting quieter times 2549 02:42:30.079 --> 02:42:34.559 when he could make his final escape. Well you've figured 2550 02:42:34.600 --> 02:42:39.120 it out about right, said Douglas approvingly. I thought i'd 2551 02:42:39.159 --> 02:42:42.479 dodge your British law, for I was not sure how 2552 02:42:42.479 --> 02:42:45.399 I stood under it. And also I saw my chance 2553 02:42:45.520 --> 02:42:48.200 to throw these hounds once and for all off my track. 2554 02:42:48.600 --> 02:42:51.799 Mind you, from first to last, I have done nothing 2555 02:42:51.840 --> 02:42:54.520 to be ashamed of, and nothing that I would not 2556 02:42:54.680 --> 02:42:58.079 do again. But you'll judge that for yourselves when I 2557 02:42:58.159 --> 02:43:02.479 tell you my story. Never mind warning me, inspector, I'm 2558 02:43:02.520 --> 02:43:06.440 ready to stand pat upon the truth. I'm not going 2559 02:43:06.479 --> 02:43:11.120 to begin at the beginning. That's all there, he indicated. 2560 02:43:11.120 --> 02:43:14.280 My bundle of papers and a mighty queer yarn, you'll 2561 02:43:14.319 --> 02:43:18.600 find it. It all comes down to this, that there 2562 02:43:18.600 --> 02:43:20.920 are some men that have good cause to hate me, 2563 02:43:21.719 --> 02:43:24.200 and would give their last dollar to know that they 2564 02:43:24.200 --> 02:43:27.239 have got me. So long as I am alive and 2565 02:43:27.319 --> 02:43:30.239 they are alive, there is no safety in this world 2566 02:43:30.280 --> 02:43:34.920 for me. They hunted me from Chicago to California, then 2567 02:43:34.959 --> 02:43:38.120 they chased me out of America. But when I married 2568 02:43:38.159 --> 02:43:40.959 and settled down in this quiet spot, I thought my 2569 02:43:41.120 --> 02:43:45.840 last years were going to be peaceable. I never explained 2570 02:43:45.879 --> 02:43:49.639 to my wife how things were. Why should I pull 2571 02:43:49.680 --> 02:43:52.879 her into it? She would never have a quiet moment again, 2572 02:43:53.680 --> 02:43:58.959 but would always be imagining trouble. I fancy she knew something. 2573 02:44:00.120 --> 02:44:03.000 I may have dropped a word here or a word there, 2574 02:44:04.079 --> 02:44:07.079 But until yesterday, after you gentlemen, had seen her, she 2575 02:44:07.200 --> 02:44:10.040 never knew the rights of the matter. She told you 2576 02:44:10.200 --> 02:44:14.120 all she knew, and so did Barker Hear, For on 2577 02:44:14.200 --> 02:44:17.159 the night when this thing happened, there was mighty little 2578 02:44:17.200 --> 02:44:21.760 time for explanations. She knows everything now, and I would 2579 02:44:21.840 --> 02:44:24.239 have been a wiser man if I had told her sooner. 2580 02:44:25.120 --> 02:44:28.479 But it was a hard question, dear. He took her 2581 02:44:28.520 --> 02:44:31.680 hand for an instant in his own and I acted 2582 02:44:31.920 --> 02:44:36.680 for the best well gentlemen. The day before these happenings, 2583 02:44:37.000 --> 02:44:40.799 I was over in Tunbridge Wells and I got a 2584 02:44:40.840 --> 02:44:43.440 glimpse of a man in the street. It was only 2585 02:44:43.479 --> 02:44:46.440 a glimpse, but I have a quick eye for these things, 2586 02:44:47.079 --> 02:44:50.319 and I never doubted who it was. It was the 2587 02:44:50.399 --> 02:44:53.719 worst enemy I had among them all, one who has 2588 02:44:53.760 --> 02:44:57.120 been after me like a hungry wolf after a caribou 2589 02:44:57.479 --> 02:45:02.079 all these years. I knew there was trouble coming, and 2590 02:45:02.200 --> 02:45:05.920 I came home and made ready for it. I guessed 2591 02:45:05.959 --> 02:45:09.360 i'd fight through it all right on my own. My 2592 02:45:09.479 --> 02:45:12.319 luck was a proverb in the States about seventy six. 2593 02:45:13.200 --> 02:45:15.559 I never doubted that it would be with me. Still, 2594 02:45:16.840 --> 02:45:20.280 I was on my guard all that next day and 2595 02:45:20.479 --> 02:45:23.479 never went out into the park. It's as well, or 2596 02:45:23.520 --> 02:45:25.719 he'd have had the drop on me with that buckshot 2597 02:45:25.799 --> 02:45:29.319 gun of his before ever I could draw on him. 2598 02:45:29.719 --> 02:45:32.680 After the bridge was up, my mind was always more 2599 02:45:32.680 --> 02:45:35.840 RESTful when that bridge was up. In the evenings, I 2600 02:45:35.879 --> 02:45:38.840 put the thing clear out of my head. I never 2601 02:45:38.959 --> 02:45:41.799 dreamed of his getting into the house and waiting for me. 2602 02:45:43.000 --> 02:45:45.479 But when I made my round in my dressing gown, 2603 02:45:45.760 --> 02:45:48.959 as was my habit, I had no sooner entered the 2604 02:45:48.959 --> 02:45:52.639 study than I scented danger. I guess when a man 2605 02:45:52.639 --> 02:45:55.559 has had dangers in his life, and I've had more 2606 02:45:55.600 --> 02:45:58.559 than most in my time, there is a kind of 2607 02:45:58.639 --> 02:46:02.479 sixth sense that waved the red flag. I saw the 2608 02:46:02.520 --> 02:46:05.159 signal clear enough, and yet I couldn't tell you why. 2609 02:46:06.000 --> 02:46:09.600 Next instance, I spotted a boot under the window curtain, 2610 02:46:10.719 --> 02:46:14.120 and then I saw why. Plain enough, are just the 2611 02:46:14.120 --> 02:46:17.040 one candle that was in my hand, but there was 2612 02:46:17.079 --> 02:46:19.360 a good light from the hall lamp through the open door. 2613 02:46:20.000 --> 02:46:22.079 I put down the candle and jumped for a hammer 2614 02:46:22.120 --> 02:46:24.719 that I had left on the mantel. At the same 2615 02:46:24.719 --> 02:46:27.600 moment he sprang at me. I saw the glint of 2616 02:46:27.600 --> 02:46:30.200 a knife, and I lashed at him with the hammer. 2617 02:46:30.959 --> 02:46:33.959 I got him somewhere, for the knife tinkled down on 2618 02:46:34.040 --> 02:46:36.959 the floor. He dodged round the table as quick as 2619 02:46:37.000 --> 02:46:39.719 an eel, and a moment later he had got his 2620 02:46:39.799 --> 02:46:42.479 gun from under his coat. I heard him cock it, 2621 02:46:43.239 --> 02:46:45.360 but I had got hold of it before he could fire. 2622 02:46:45.879 --> 02:46:48.840 I had it by the barrel, and we wrestled for 2623 02:46:48.959 --> 02:46:52.120 it all ends up for a minute or more. It 2624 02:46:52.239 --> 02:46:55.760 was death to the man that lost his grip. He 2625 02:46:55.840 --> 02:46:59.799 never lost his grip, but he got it butt downward 2626 02:47:00.079 --> 02:47:03.840 for a moment too long. Maybe it was I that 2627 02:47:04.000 --> 02:47:08.639 pulled the trigger. Maybe we just jolted it off between us. Anyhow, 2628 02:47:09.440 --> 02:47:13.280 he got both barrels in the face, and there I 2629 02:47:13.479 --> 02:47:17.360 was staring down at all that was left of Ted Baldwin. 2630 02:47:18.719 --> 02:47:22.079 I'd recognized him in the township and again when he 2631 02:47:22.159 --> 02:47:27.200 sprang for me, but his own mother wouldn't recognize him 2632 02:47:27.239 --> 02:47:30.440 as I saw him. Then. I'm used to rough work, 2633 02:47:31.280 --> 02:47:33.760 but I fairly turned sick at the sight of him. 2634 02:47:34.879 --> 02:47:36.959 I was hanging on the side of the table when 2635 02:47:37.040 --> 02:47:41.159 Barker came hurrying down. I heard my wife coming, and 2636 02:47:41.239 --> 02:47:44.200 I ran to the door and stopped her. It was 2637 02:47:44.280 --> 02:47:47.600 no sight for a woman. I promised I'd come to 2638 02:47:47.639 --> 02:47:50.079 her soon. I said a word or two to Barker. 2639 02:47:50.319 --> 02:47:52.440 He took it all in at a glance, and we 2640 02:47:52.520 --> 02:47:55.319 waited for the rest to come along. But there was 2641 02:47:55.360 --> 02:47:59.040 no sign of them. Then we understood that they could 2642 02:47:59.040 --> 02:48:02.200 hear nothing, and that all that had happened was known 2643 02:48:02.399 --> 02:48:07.159 only to ourselves. It was at that instant that the 2644 02:48:07.200 --> 02:48:10.559 idea came to me. I was fairly dazzled by the 2645 02:48:10.559 --> 02:48:14.559 brilliance of it. The man's sleeve had slipped up, and 2646 02:48:14.600 --> 02:48:18.360 there was the branded mark of the lodge upon his forearm. 2647 02:48:18.600 --> 02:48:22.520 See here the man whom we had known as Douglas 2648 02:48:22.760 --> 02:48:25.440 turned up his own coat and cuff to show a 2649 02:48:25.479 --> 02:48:29.719 brown triangle within a circle, exactly like that which we 2650 02:48:29.760 --> 02:48:32.520 had seen upon the dead man. It was the sight 2651 02:48:32.600 --> 02:48:36.680 of that which started me on it. I seemed to 2652 02:48:36.680 --> 02:48:40.360 see it all clear at a glance. There were his 2653 02:48:40.479 --> 02:48:44.120 height and hair and figure about the same as my own. 2654 02:48:45.200 --> 02:48:48.719 No one could swear to his face, poor devil. I 2655 02:48:48.799 --> 02:48:52.120 brought down this suit of clothes, and in a quarter 2656 02:48:52.159 --> 02:48:54.760 of an hour Barker and I had put my dressing 2657 02:48:54.799 --> 02:48:56.920 gown on him, and he lay as you found him. 2658 02:48:57.719 --> 02:49:00.520 We tied all his things into a bundle, and I 2659 02:49:00.600 --> 02:49:04.120 waited them with the only weight I could find, and 2660 02:49:04.200 --> 02:49:07.440 put them through the window. The card he had meant 2661 02:49:07.440 --> 02:49:10.120 to lay upon my body was lying beside his own. 2662 02:49:11.280 --> 02:49:15.040 My rings were put on his finger, but when it 2663 02:49:15.079 --> 02:49:18.959 came to the wedding ring, he held out his muscular hand. 2664 02:49:19.280 --> 02:49:22.159 You can see for yourselves that I had struck the limit. 2665 02:49:23.239 --> 02:49:25.600 I have not moved it since the day I was married, 2666 02:49:26.239 --> 02:49:28.680 and it would have taken a file to get it off. 2667 02:49:29.920 --> 02:49:32.159 I don't know anyhow that I should have cared to 2668 02:49:32.200 --> 02:49:35.639 part with it, but if I had wanted to, I couldn't, 2669 02:49:36.520 --> 02:49:38.840 so we just had to leave that detail to take 2670 02:49:38.879 --> 02:49:42.040 care of itself. On the other hand, I brought a 2671 02:49:42.040 --> 02:49:44.239 bit of plaster down and put it where I am 2672 02:49:44.239 --> 02:49:47.760 wearing one myself at this instant. You slipped up there, 2673 02:49:47.799 --> 02:49:51.040 mister Holmes, clever as you are, for if you had 2674 02:49:51.120 --> 02:49:54.360 chanced to take off that plaster, you would have found 2675 02:49:54.399 --> 02:50:00.120 no cut underneath it. Well, that was the situation. I 2676 02:50:00.120 --> 02:50:02.280 could lie low for a while and then get away 2677 02:50:02.319 --> 02:50:05.399 where I could be joined by my widow. We should 2678 02:50:05.399 --> 02:50:07.440 have a chance at last of living in peace for 2679 02:50:07.479 --> 02:50:10.399 the rest of our lives. These devils would give me 2680 02:50:10.440 --> 02:50:13.479 no rest so long as I was above ground. But 2681 02:50:13.559 --> 02:50:16.079 if they saw in the papers that Baldwin had got 2682 02:50:16.120 --> 02:50:19.879 his man, there would be an end of all my troubles. 2683 02:50:20.360 --> 02:50:22.440 I hadn't much time to make it all clear to 2684 02:50:22.520 --> 02:50:26.360 Barker and to my wife, but they understood enough to 2685 02:50:26.360 --> 02:50:29.360 be able to help me. I knew all about this 2686 02:50:29.479 --> 02:50:33.600 hiding place, so did Aims, but it never entered his 2687 02:50:33.719 --> 02:50:37.360 head to connect it with the matter. I retired into 2688 02:50:37.399 --> 02:50:40.479 it and it was up to Barker to do the rest. 2689 02:50:41.639 --> 02:50:44.399 I guess you can fill in for yourselves what he did. 2690 02:50:45.200 --> 02:50:47.120 He opened the window and made the mark on the 2691 02:50:47.159 --> 02:50:49.639 sill to give an idea of how the murderer escaped. 2692 02:50:50.680 --> 02:50:54.120 It was a tall order that, but as the bridge 2693 02:50:54.159 --> 02:50:57.440 was up, there was no other way. Then, when everything 2694 02:50:57.520 --> 02:50:59.879 was fixed, he rang the bell. For all he was worth. 2695 02:51:00.799 --> 02:51:05.159 What happened afterward, you know. And so, gentlemen, you can 2696 02:51:05.200 --> 02:51:08.120 do what you please. But I've told you the truth 2697 02:51:08.159 --> 02:51:11.120 and the whole truth, So help me God. What I 2698 02:51:11.200 --> 02:51:14.639 ask you now is how do I stand by the 2699 02:51:14.760 --> 02:51:19.239 English law? There was a silence which was broken by 2700 02:51:19.319 --> 02:51:24.200 Sherlock Holmes. The English law is, in the main a 2701 02:51:24.479 --> 02:51:27.959 just law. You will get no worse than your deserts 2702 02:51:28.079 --> 02:51:31.760 from that, mister Douglas. But I would ask you how 2703 02:51:31.799 --> 02:51:35.399 did this man know that you lived here? Or how 2704 02:51:35.440 --> 02:51:38.719 to get into your house, or where to hide to 2705 02:51:38.799 --> 02:51:44.840 get you? I know nothing of this. Holmes's face was 2706 02:51:44.959 --> 02:51:49.120 very white and grave. The story is not over yet, 2707 02:51:49.280 --> 02:51:53.239 I fear said he. You may find worse dangers than 2708 02:51:53.280 --> 02:51:57.360 the English law, or even than your enemies from America. 2709 02:51:57.639 --> 02:52:00.639 I see trouble before you, mister Douglas, you'll take my 2710 02:52:00.719 --> 02:52:05.120 advice and still be on your guard. And now, my 2711 02:52:05.239 --> 02:52:09.040 long suffering readers, I will ask you to come away 2712 02:52:09.079 --> 02:52:12.879 with me for a time, far from the Sussex manor 2713 02:52:12.920 --> 02:52:17.479 house of Burlstone, and far also from the year of Grace, 2714 02:52:17.600 --> 02:52:21.399 in which we made our eventful journey, which ended with 2715 02:52:21.520 --> 02:52:24.319 the strange story of the man who had been known 2716 02:52:24.399 --> 02:52:29.399 as John Douglas. I wish you to journey back some 2717 02:52:29.520 --> 02:52:34.680 twenty years in time and westward, some thousands of miles 2718 02:52:34.680 --> 02:52:39.040 in space, that I may lay before you a singular 2719 02:52:39.280 --> 02:52:44.559 and terrible narrative, so singular and so terrible that you 2720 02:52:44.639 --> 02:52:46.959 may find it hard to believe that even as I 2721 02:52:47.040 --> 02:52:52.399 tell it, even so did it occur. Do not think 2722 02:52:52.440 --> 02:52:56.479 that I intrude one story before another is finished. As 2723 02:52:56.520 --> 02:52:59.680 you read on, you will find that this is not so. 2724 02:53:00.200 --> 02:53:04.040 And when you have detailed those distant events, and you 2725 02:53:04.120 --> 02:53:07.799 have solved this mystery of the past, we shall meet 2726 02:53:07.879 --> 02:53:11.040 once more in those rooms on Baker Street, where this, 2727 02:53:12.239 --> 02:53:16.479 like so many other wonderful happenings, will find its end.