Speaker 1: Well, doctor Watson, who rode in Doctor Winthrop's notorious carriage.
Speaker 2: Well, mister Harris. This adventure with homes occurred in the
Speaker 2: early nineteen hundreds. It began backstage at one of London's
Speaker 2: most famous theaters. It was in the dressing room of
Speaker 2: Margaret Ashley, an exquisite and very popular young actress.
Speaker 3: Her performance for that evening.
Speaker 2: Had ended, and Margaret had a visitor, a doctor Charles Winthrop.
Speaker 4: I made up my mind, Charles.
Speaker 5: I'm going to your wife.
Speaker 4: I'm going to see Elizabeth.
Speaker 5: Are you, Margarets.
Speaker 4: I shall tell her that I adore you, that you
Speaker 4: and I have been sweethearts all these months. I shall
Speaker 4: ask her to give you your freedom. I think she
Speaker 4: will too.
Speaker 5: Well. It's very touching and very foolish. Why do you
Speaker 5: say that, my words, You have an appalling self centered mind, Margarets.
Speaker 5: Like many women, you believe it's simply because you want something,
Speaker 5: you'll automatically get it. My wife would not be struck
Speaker 5: at all by the magic of our romance. To her,
Speaker 5: this would be a rather cheap, sordid business, an insult
Speaker 5: to her ego. Being a mature and poised woman, she'd
Speaker 5: take this with an air of dignity and tolerance, but
Speaker 5: in her heart of hearts.
Speaker 4: I'm afraid she'd be furious for the letter be Are
Speaker 4: you satisfied with these desperate, dangerous meetings. You're coming to
Speaker 4: my flat if and when you can find the time,
Speaker 4: if and when you can somehow lie to.
Speaker 5: Elizabeth it has been difficulty has I'm sick of it.
Speaker 4: I sha'n't tolerate.
Speaker 5: We must face it, Margaret. We must do as best
Speaker 5: we can.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you are tired of her, that you love me,
Speaker 4: that you see her only as a dowdy, bedraggled housewife,
Speaker 4: that your marriage was wrong to begin with. It's nothing
Speaker 4: more or less than an exercise in boredom.
Speaker 5: Now look, Margaret, I want you to control yourself, control.
Speaker 4: Myself, and Heaven's name why I want you? And I'm
Speaker 4: going to fight to keep you. When a thing is wrong?
Speaker 4: Must you go on and on and on with it?
Speaker 5: I said, you will not tell Elizabeth.
Speaker 4: Nothing on earth could stop me.
Speaker 5: I will.
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
Speaker 5: You knew I was married, Margaret, You knew the terms
Speaker 5: of the bargain, you accepted them gladly. But we love
Speaker 5: each oille, do we? I listened to me. You made
Speaker 5: a great romance out of this. I didn't you wanted
Speaker 5: to believe I was in love with you, that I
Speaker 5: couldn't live without you, simply to please yourself, to cover
Speaker 5: up the truth, what truth, that this has all been
Speaker 5: just a lock for me. That I was attracted to
Speaker 5: you because you're very beautiful, and that's all, and that
Speaker 5: is all, Margaret. It begins and ends there.
Speaker 4: I don't think it does.
Speaker 5: Oh yes, It's taken years for me to become a
Speaker 5: reputable physician, Margaret. It's taken every ounce of strength, in
Speaker 5: every moment of time I had to achieve a position
Speaker 5: in my profession, end in society. I'm a well ordered household.
Speaker 5: I've a decent, honest wife who who loves me. You're
Speaker 5: not going to place a bomb under that structure?
Speaker 4: Oh yes I am, Charles. Now that you've told me
Speaker 4: how you really feel, I'll give your taste of my vengeance.
Speaker 4: I'll wreck your home, in your life, and I don't
Speaker 4: think for one moment that I can.
Speaker 5: You'll do nothing of the sort. And you know why,
Speaker 5: do you know why you won't say a word to
Speaker 5: my wife? Go on tell me, because if you do,
Speaker 5: I'll kill you.
Speaker 4: He'll never do that. You could never get away with it.
Speaker 5: You underestimate me, Margaret. I haven't an ordinary mind. I
Speaker 5: have a way, a wonderful way. Remember that, and remember
Speaker 5: if you go to Elizabeth, I'll murder you.
Speaker 6: I believe me, Miss Ashley.
Speaker 2: Shall I call a cab for you?
Speaker 7: Miss?
Speaker 6: Yes, Peter, it might be a bit difficult, misssorwfully late.
Speaker 2: You're the last to believe in this. Hte it.
Speaker 4: I want to avoid the crowd that's always here at
Speaker 4: the stage door of Peter. I'm exhausted. I couldn't possibly
Speaker 4: write an autographer smile at anyone.
Speaker 6: Your gentleman. Coola hasn't been here in a few days. Amen, No,
Speaker 6: he hasn't answered to your fine gentlemen. I certainly miss
Speaker 6: those tips of his art.
Speaker 5: Cab people, please, I.
Speaker 2: Heard a carriage coming down. It's a cab and.
Speaker 8: You'll be having a talk with a Bobby will rubbing
Speaker 8: down the alley.
Speaker 9: And that's mere.
Speaker 2: Look at miss, he's at answer. You got to stop.
Speaker 2: Come back here, you stop.
Speaker 10: Stop.
Speaker 3: Who's killed her?
Speaker 2: Who's killed.
Speaker 5: Elizabeth? I must speak to you. Yes, it's about this
Speaker 5: item of the newspaper.
Speaker 11: One of your patience in trouble read that please? Oh yes, yes,
Speaker 11: I heard about that terrible accident. And Margaret Ashley was
Speaker 11: such a lovely young actress. It was a horrible premature
Speaker 11: of death for Elizabeth Darling.
Speaker 5: I I don't know how to tell you this, but
Speaker 5: I must. I what should to try to understand?
Speaker 11: Understand what? Charles Darling? You seem so distraught? What's wrong
Speaker 11: with you?
Speaker 5: But there'll be an investigation. The police will be after
Speaker 5: the driver of that carriage, the man who locked her
Speaker 5: down and then drove off.
Speaker 11: Well, yes, of course they will, and I hope they'll
Speaker 11: find them too insane brutal to drive so carelessly.
Speaker 5: Will the police suspect that it wasn't an accident? The
Speaker 5: doorman testified that the driver of the carriage seemed to
Speaker 5: go deliberately out of.
Speaker 9: His way to hit her.
Speaker 11: They suspect murder?
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, they'll pro very deeply. The most intimate details
Speaker 5: of Margaret Ashley's life will be exposed to public. Hue,
Speaker 5: And so, Elizabeth, before you find out some other way,
Speaker 5: I must tell you.
Speaker 4: Tell me what, dear I.
Speaker 5: Knew Margaret Ashley. Oh yes, it wasn't a passing acquaintance.
Speaker 5: I was seeing her regularly. I visited her flat whenever
Speaker 5: I heard the chance she was in love with me.
Speaker 11: Oh you were sweetheart's child?
Speaker 2: Is that it?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 5: I I've no excuse. It's it's just just some mysterious
Speaker 5: element in the chemistry of a marriage that does that
Speaker 5: to a man. I'm prepared to do whatever you say, Elizabeth.
Speaker 11: Well, Charles, it's sir, it's quite hard for me to
Speaker 11: say anything at all. It's very difficult for me to
Speaker 11: face it.
Speaker 10: Dear I.
Speaker 5: I I'm so sorry, Elizabeth, terribly sorry.
Speaker 11: Have you any idea who might have killed her?
Speaker 5: I know, Charles, Yes, Charles, did you kill Margaret Ashley?
Speaker 2: Of course not.
Speaker 5: How could you think such a thing?
Speaker 11: Child, don't lie. Don't try to live with a lie
Speaker 11: like that. You you've told me some of the story.
Speaker 11: Please tell me the rest. I've got to know, Charles, Please, please?
Speaker 5: Did you kill her?
Speaker 11: Did you drive the carriage that awful light?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 5: No, I did not.
Speaker 2: I did not listen to me.
Speaker 11: I might try to forgive an escapade of yours, but
Speaker 11: I couldn't forgive murder.
Speaker 5: Now you must tell me.
Speaker 3: You cald me.
Speaker 5: You're out of your mind accusing me you did kill her.
Speaker 5: I can sense it in your eyes.
Speaker 11: Your hands are trembling. I've never seen an expression on
Speaker 11: your face like that before.
Speaker 5: I get hold of yourself. Don't ever say that again.
Speaker 5: Is that clear? If you ever say that again, you
Speaker 5: won't live to say another word.
Speaker 11: I had to tell you my story in mister Holmes,
Speaker 11: I quite understand, Missus Wintrop. My husband has lost his
Speaker 11: love for me. He's betrayed me. I have no reason
Speaker 11: to defend him, and lately he's been impossible. He behaves
Speaker 11: like a sadistic lunatic.
Speaker 3: Why haven't you told the police, Missus.
Speaker 11: Winter Because doctor Watson, I have no formal charge to make.
Speaker 4: I can't prove a thing.
Speaker 11: It's it's just my instinct. I feel that he killed
Speaker 11: that poor girl, and I will not harbor a killer.
Speaker 11: I need your help, mister Holmes.
Speaker 9: Well, the secondstances of the accident, Missus Wintrup, make it
Speaker 9: almost impossible to prove wilful homicide. Where does your husband
Speaker 9: say he was On the evening of Margaret Ashley's death, He'd.
Speaker 11: Had a call an emergency quite far out of town.
Speaker 11: He claims that he left the carriage at home and
Speaker 11: took a cab. He was too tired to drive himself.
Speaker 11: He claims that when he reached the address given him,
Speaker 11: there was no such place, so he came home aty.
Speaker 3: It's very flimsy.
Speaker 2: Did you give you the name of the patient who
Speaker 2: had called him on this wild goose?
Speaker 11: Chase Perkins, Missus Thomas Perkins. I did some investigating on
Speaker 11: my own. I telephoned every Thomas Perkins in the directory.
Speaker 11: None of them ever heard of doctor Winthrop.
Speaker 9: Did your husband mention this supposed patient to vanish?
Speaker 11: Not a word. But mister Holmes, you must find the
Speaker 11: evidence quickly. He knows I suspect him, and I am
Speaker 11: afraid of what he might do.
Speaker 9: I shall move as quickly as possible. Missus Winthrop, come, Watson.
Speaker 9: We shall speak first with Peter the dorman, the witness
Speaker 9: to the accident. I'm ready, hope we shall move very cautiously, Watson,
Speaker 9: if we var you our own lives. But this is
Speaker 9: an allusive murderer of Greek talent, a talent for slaughter
Speaker 9: in a sudden and surprising way.
Speaker 1: With June just around the corner, you can expect a
Speaker 1: sudden heat wave any day, and that means many men
Speaker 1: will rush into Clippercraft's stores for new, smart, cool lightweight suits.
Speaker 1: So to get the very best in service, the widest selection,
Speaker 1: and prompt attention. It's smart to come in now for
Speaker 1: your clipper Craft summer suit, and it's smart at any
Speaker 1: time to buy your suits from the fine local store
Speaker 1: that sells famous clipper Craft lightweight suits at only thirty
Speaker 1: three seventy five.
Speaker 9: To forty two fifty.
Speaker 1: The exceptional quality of clipper Craft clothes is guaranteed by
Speaker 1: the clipper Craft label in every suit in sport jacket.
Speaker 1: The trade mark derived from the staunch Clipper ships that
Speaker 1: established honest New England quality everywhere in the world. You
Speaker 1: can always rely on clipper Craft clothes and the store
Speaker 1: that proudly sells them. That's why men who know insist
Speaker 1: on clipper Craft clothes bearing the clipper Craft label. So
Speaker 1: be sure to visit the clipper Craft store in your city.
Speaker 10: These leading stores in the metropolitan area are proud to
Speaker 10: add their names to clipper Craft in your suits, fort
Speaker 10: jackets and tropicals. In Manhattan Sacks thirty fourth Broadway at
Speaker 10: thirty fourth John Wannamaker Men's Stores Broadway at eighth and
Speaker 10: sixty seven Liberty Street. In Brooklyn, Abraman Strauss in Newark,
Speaker 10: New Jersey, Boulevard Men's Shop Cresgy, Newark, and in jam
Speaker 10: Maker the B and B Clothes Shop, one six four
Speaker 10: oh eight, Jamaica Avenue.
Speaker 1: Dr Watson, Doctor Watson, you and mister Holmes were racing
Speaker 1: to speak with Peter the dormond backstage of the theater
Speaker 1: where Margaret Ashley died.
Speaker 2: There's mister Harris for the enchanting. Margaret was killed by
Speaker 2: a passing carriage that night. Holmes and I stood in
Speaker 2: the dark custed valley by the stage door, under a
Speaker 2: pale moon, talking with the door.
Speaker 9: You say, Peter, you had a glimpse of the driver
Speaker 9: of that carriage, Yes, mister Jones, I did.
Speaker 3: He was wearing an eye at in the cape.
Speaker 2: The cape was purple. I could see it flying in
Speaker 2: the wind.
Speaker 9: Did you see his face?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 2: It was too dark and he passed like fury?
Speaker 9: Did you recognize the carriage?
Speaker 3: At first?
Speaker 2: I didn't you mean that?
Speaker 3: You remember it?
Speaker 2: Now we're in a way, Dr Watson.
Speaker 8: He looked to me that, well, it isn't very discreet
Speaker 8: of me, but this is so serious a matter. It
Speaker 8: looked to me like the carriage of a certain gentleman
Speaker 8: were often comes to see miss Ashley.
Speaker 2: Oh you know the gentleman, Peter.
Speaker 8: No, I'm sorry, doctor, you never told me his name.
Speaker 8: And whenever he stepped out of the carriage, he was
Speaker 8: carrying all kids for miss.
Speaker 7: Ashley, and he yelled them up in front of his face,
Speaker 7: you see.
Speaker 2: And he held the cape up.
Speaker 5: Too, a purple cape sometimes miss Jones.
Speaker 2: Yet he didn't want anyone to recognize.
Speaker 7: In my guess it must have been one of those
Speaker 7: romances what you read about in the papers. You know,
Speaker 7: maybe he was a cabinet minister or sam I Makim
Speaker 7: Mack who was in love with Miss Ashley.
Speaker 9: Yes, that's quite would you know the gentleman were you
Speaker 9: to see.
Speaker 3: Him, not by his face, mister Ums. It's even more
Speaker 3: difficult at homes.
Speaker 9: More than you would imagine, Watson. Even if the dorman
Speaker 9: here did recognize our men, that wouldn't prove the accident
Speaker 9: was deliberate. Peter, After the accident, did you notice anything
Speaker 9: curious about the body, or the street, or any of
Speaker 9: the other circumstances.
Speaker 5: I found a flower fell out of the carriage and
Speaker 5: all kids.
Speaker 2: Well, again an indication of our man.
Speaker 8: I say it's him all right, he sirr, I don't
Speaker 8: like to send a man to the gallows just on
Speaker 8: my face.
Speaker 9: No, no, no, thank you, Peter, you've been rather helpful.
Speaker 3: We're tons every forest.
Speaker 9: In the district. Watson, we have the rope. We must
Speaker 9: now draw the noose tighter and tighter.
Speaker 2: That's the draw to doctor Winthrop's house, hose.
Speaker 9: Let's just keep an eye on it.
Speaker 5: Missus.
Speaker 9: Winthrop said he'd be leaving about this. Ah. Once he's gone,
Speaker 9: we can speak to her and look at the house
Speaker 9: and search for crews. But we must have him out
Speaker 9: of the way.
Speaker 2: First, Homes at Florest he recognized the photograph of doctor Winthrop,
Speaker 2: so he always bought flowers there. But he wasn't there
Speaker 2: the night of Margaret Ashley's death. You seem very impressed,
Speaker 2: homes confounded was.
Speaker 9: Look, Watson, there he goes. He's leaving his wife. Now
Speaker 9: see this.
Speaker 2: Is going down the street. She's waving goodbye to him
Speaker 2: from the door. Attractive bland, isn't she? Why should he
Speaker 2: lose interest in her the sake of their actress.
Speaker 9: Fascinating as that province may be, Watson, it is not
Speaker 9: within the bounds of my territory. Now come across the
Speaker 9: streets out of side.
Speaker 3: I'll ring Holmes.
Speaker 5: Well, mister Holmes, doctor Watson, he's just left.
Speaker 9: Will you return shortly?
Speaker 11: No, No, we've time. Come in.
Speaker 2: Well, lovely home, Missus Winthrop.
Speaker 11: It was doctor Watson until the shadow fell across it.
Speaker 11: But I've been living in this house with a man
Speaker 11: I know as a murderer.
Speaker 9: That is your husband's consulting room, Missus winterrom.
Speaker 11: Oh, yes, yes, he does all his work down here.
Speaker 11: The drawing room and the bedrooms are upstairs. Maybe go up, yes, certainly,
Speaker 11: But mister Holmes, you must find the evidence.
Speaker 5: I can't stand it. I'm so afraid all the time he's.
Speaker 11: Going to kill me too. You know, I saw him
Speaker 11: alone in his office last night. He didn't know that
Speaker 11: I could see him in the mirror. He'd a scalpel
Speaker 11: in his hand and he was fingering it sight like.
Speaker 5: Then there's another thing.
Speaker 11: The night before we took the underground to go to
Speaker 11: the theater, I was on the edge of the platform.
Speaker 11: I realized that just in time, he was standing directly
Speaker 11: close behind me. He could easily have pushed me in
Speaker 11: front of the train. Then there are poisons here in
Speaker 11: this cabinet. He opened the cabinet just before he left.
Speaker 11: He must have stood gazing at it for a full
Speaker 11: five minutes. He'd never done that before.
Speaker 9: Mister calmly, Missus Winsford, calmly, from along Watson, we shall
Speaker 9: search every inch of these quarters.
Speaker 2: By George hosebyth We've gone through every room. No letters
Speaker 2: from miss Ashley, nothing at all on a scrap of evidence.
Speaker 9: Missus Winthrope, in which wardrobe does your husband keep his clothes?
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 11: Here, mister Holmes, but you'd better hurry. This has taken
Speaker 11: a great deal of time in back soon looking.
Speaker 3: For the altfit you while the night he drove the
Speaker 3: carriage house.
Speaker 9: Ah, the purple cake trousers, double breasted jacket to match,
Speaker 9: and on this shelf a high silk hat.
Speaker 5: So please be careful. I never touch his things.
Speaker 11: If he suspects that anyone's been in his wardrobe, you
Speaker 11: have another one of his fits.
Speaker 9: I see well. I believe this concludes the search. Missus Winthrop.
Speaker 11: Yes, but have you found anything?
Speaker 9: We'll discuss it downstairs. Then we can slip out of
Speaker 9: the back door.
Speaker 2: Should we risk Missus Winthrop's life again for another night?
Speaker 2: Wouldn't you advise her to leave on some pretense until
Speaker 2: you have the facts that you want.
Speaker 9: I have the facts, Watson, facts which prove I killed
Speaker 9: Margaret Ashley.
Speaker 5: Doctor Wintlop, Charles, I didn't hear you come in. I
Speaker 5: came in very quietly through the front door, Elizabeth. I
Speaker 5: heard voices upstairs. I kept very still and waited for you. You
Speaker 5: steaming conliving you break my eyes. I just want to
Speaker 5: keep you close to me, that's all. If you move,
Speaker 5: mister Holmes or doctor Watson, I'll take his scalpel I
Speaker 5: have in my other hand, and I'll drive it into
Speaker 5: my wife's back.
Speaker 11: Charles, please listen to me. It won't help to kill me.
Speaker 11: Mister Holmes will see that you die for it, because
Speaker 11: he knows how you send.
Speaker 5: For him, didn't you You wouldn't believe my story. I'd
Speaker 5: like to kill you slowly, Elizabeth. You should suffer a bit,
Speaker 5: need strokes of the scalpel to cause unbearable pain, but
Speaker 5: a slow death, the same slow death you've given me,
Speaker 5: with your suspicion, your accusations.
Speaker 9: Killing your wife now would accomplish nothing, Doctor Winthrop.
Speaker 3: It would to me.
Speaker 5: I don't care about the consequences.
Speaker 9: I said, killing your wife would not be necessary, Doctor Wintrop.
Speaker 9: His majesty's hangman will do that. What I said, his
Speaker 9: Majesty's hangman will do that?
Speaker 5: Well, I I don't know what you mean.
Speaker 9: He dropped his scalpel. Watson quickly pick it up. I
Speaker 9: I wanted to be sure you didn't pick it up
Speaker 9: missus Winthrop, since you drove doctor Winthrop's notorious carriage, since
Speaker 9: you killed Margaret Ashley I did.
Speaker 5: Mister Holmes, that's preposterous both at all and got it well, yes, right,
Speaker 5: elizit why my wife killed Margaret?
Speaker 9: Precisely? Doctor. When Watson and I visited the forest where
Speaker 9: you regularly purchased orchids for Margaret, he told us that
Speaker 9: you hadn't been in his shop on the night of
Speaker 9: her death. It struck me as odd. Perhaps you purchased
Speaker 9: the orchids elsewhere. Eh.
Speaker 3: Of course Holser doesn't prom Watson.
Speaker 9: The driver of the carriage dropped an orchid on the
Speaker 9: cobblestones to the alley. The dorman told us that would
Speaker 9: a man stop to purchase orchids for miss Ashleigh when
Speaker 9: he knew he wouldn't see her, but intended to run
Speaker 9: her down with the carriage. Definitely not but you accused
Speaker 9: me exactly who else would have borrowed your husband's carriage
Speaker 9: in the bedroom. You told us that you never touched
Speaker 9: your husband's things, but you had, Missus Winthrope.
Speaker 11: You're guessing, mister Holmes, you're unable to prove one.
Speaker 9: I open your husband's purple cape, identified by the dorman,
Speaker 9: was draped over his double breasted jacket.
Speaker 5: The jacket was neatly buttoned.
Speaker 9: You see it was buttoned, Missus Winthrop, to the left,
Speaker 9: not to the right, where a woman wears such a jacket. Elizabeth,
Speaker 9: You out of blonde, Missus Winthrop, and in the lining
Speaker 9: of your husband's high silk hat, I noticed a long
Speaker 9: blonde hair. You called your husband that night, Missus Wintrop,
Speaker 9: to get him out of the house. You were a
Speaker 9: non existent Missus Thomas Perkins. You gave him a false
Speaker 9: address far on the outskirts of London. Then you put
Speaker 9: him into a cab, convincing him that he was too
Speaker 9: tired to drive himself. You put on his clothes, You
Speaker 9: took his carriage. You purchased orchids. You killed Margaret Ashley,
Speaker 9: being careful to make the cake very conspicuous, and to
Speaker 9: drop an orchid, so the dorman's testimony would indict Charles.
Speaker 11: You're quite right, mister Holmes.
Speaker 5: She wasn't satisfied with Margaret's death. She wanted to see
Speaker 5: me died too, to hang for the murder.
Speaker 9: Yes, she painted a vivid portrait of you as a murderer,
Speaker 9: Doctor Winfrop. Remember Watson, the underground, the medicine cabinet, all lies.
Speaker 5: And Elizabeth Hugh. You knew all along about Margaret for months, Charles.
Speaker 11: It just took a bit of time to plan my
Speaker 11: vengeance on both of you.
Speaker 9: Call the aunt Watson, come and fetch a prisoner. Now,
Speaker 9: my dear Missus Winthrop, I observed you once the proving
Speaker 9: this was wilful homicide was almost impossible, I should have added,
Speaker 9: but nothing short of genius could accomplish it.
Speaker 1: Well, doctor Watson, that was a very astonishing development to
Speaker 1: find that Missus Winthrop had driven the doctor's carriage.
Speaker 2: Well, if surprises are your dish, mister Harris, then use
Speaker 2: something to look forward to in the adventure. I shall
Speaker 2: relate next week.
Speaker 9: And what do you call that memoir? Doctor?
Speaker 2: Next week, mister Harris, I shall relate to you the
Speaker 2: Adventure of the Curious crit It concerns a bow legged man,
Speaker 2: a weird laugh, and a taste in silver.