1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Empty House. It was in the 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,720 spring of the year eighteen ninety four that all London 3 00:00:09,839 --> 00:00:13,919 was interested and the fashionable world dismayed by the murder 4 00:00:13,919 --> 00:00:19,320 of the Honorable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. 5 00:00:20,199 --> 00:00:22,839 The public has already learned those particulars of the crime 6 00:00:22,879 --> 00:00:26,199 which came out in the police investigation, But a good 7 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,920 deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for 8 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,799 the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:38,840 necessary to bring forward all the facts. Only now, at 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,679 the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to 11 00:00:41,679 --> 00:00:44,799 supply those missing links which make up the whole of 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,520 that remarkable chain. The crime was of interest in itself, 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,840 but that interest was as nothing to me compared to 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,359 the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest shock and 15 00:00:57,479 --> 00:01:03,119 surprise of any event in my adventurer. Even now, after 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,760 this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I think 17 00:01:06,799 --> 00:01:11,359 of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, 18 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:16,480 and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind. Let me say 19 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,159 to that public which has shown some interest in those 20 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,439 glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts 21 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,879 and actions of a very remarkable man, that they are 22 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,040 not to blame me if I have not shared my 23 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,840 knowledge with them, for I should have considered it my 24 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,840 first duty to do so, had I not been barred 25 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,920 by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was 26 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:42,319 only withdrawn upon the third of last month. It can 27 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,799 be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had 28 00:01:45,799 --> 00:01:50,000 interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance 29 00:01:50,599 --> 00:01:53,599 I never failed to read with care the various problems 30 00:01:53,599 --> 00:01:56,920 which came before the public, and I even attempted more 31 00:01:56,959 --> 00:02:00,879 than once, for my own private satisfaction, to employ his 32 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:07,079 methods in their solution, though with indifferent success. There was none, however, 33 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,360 which appealed to me like this tragedy of Ronald Adair. 34 00:02:11,439 --> 00:02:13,960 As I read the evidence at the inquest, which led 35 00:02:14,039 --> 00:02:17,000 up to a verdict of wilful murder against some person 36 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,120 or persons unknown, I realized more clearly than I had 37 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,879 ever done, the loss which the community had sustained by 38 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,599 the death of Sherlock Holmes. There were points about this 39 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,960 strange business which would, I was sure, have specially appealed 40 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,759 to him, and the efforts of the police would have 41 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,639 been supplemented or more probably anticipated by the trained observation 42 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,719 and the alert mind of the first criminal agent in Europe. 43 00:02:45,319 --> 00:02:48,879 All day, as I drove upon my round, I turned 44 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,080 over the case in my mind and found no explanation 45 00:02:52,199 --> 00:02:56,080 which appeared to me to be adequate. At the risk 46 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,719 of telling a twice told tale, I will recapitulate the 47 00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:01,800 fact says they were known to the public at the 48 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:06,639 conclusion of the inquest. The Honorable Ronald Adare was the 49 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,879 second son of the Earl of Maynooth, at that time 50 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,840 governor of one of the Australian colonies. Adair's mother had 51 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:18,199 returned from Australia to undergo the operation for cataract, and she, 52 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,120 her son Ronald, and her daughter Hilda were living together 53 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,960 at four twenty seven Park Lane. The youth moved in 54 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,560 the best society, had so far as was known, no 55 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,639 enemies and no particular vices. He had been engaged to 56 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,400 Miss Edith Woodley of Carstairs, but the engagement had been 57 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,240 broken off by mutual consent some months before, and there 58 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,520 was no sign that it had left any very profound 59 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:49,120 feeling behind it. For the rest sick. The man's life 60 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,199 moved in a narrow and conventional circle, for his habits 61 00:03:53,199 --> 00:03:57,400 were quiet and his nature unemotional. Yet it was upon 62 00:03:57,439 --> 00:04:02,080 this easy going young aristocrat that death came in most 63 00:04:02,159 --> 00:04:06,599 strange and unexpected form between the hours of ten and 64 00:04:06,719 --> 00:04:10,840 eleven twenty on the night of March thirtieth, eighteen ninety four. 65 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:16,800 Ronald Adare was fond of cards, playing continually, but never 66 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:19,639 for such stakes as would hurt him. He was a 67 00:04:19,639 --> 00:04:23,519 member of the Baldwin, the Cavendish and the Bagatelle card clubs. 68 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,040 It was shown that after dinner on the day of 69 00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:28,720 his death he had played a rubber of whist at 70 00:04:28,759 --> 00:04:32,040 the latter club. He had also played there in the afternoon. 71 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,199 The evidence of those who had played with him, Mister Murray, 72 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,199 Sir John Hardy and Colonel Moran, showed that the game 73 00:04:40,319 --> 00:04:42,759 was whist, and that there was a fairly equal fall 74 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,399 of the cards. A Dare might have lost five pounds, 75 00:04:46,399 --> 00:04:50,480 but not more. His fortune was a considerable one, and 76 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,759 such a loss could not in any way affect him. 77 00:04:54,879 --> 00:04:57,560 He had played nearly every day at one club or other, 78 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,279 but he was a cautious player and usually rose a winner. 79 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,319 It came out in evidence that in partnership with Colonel Moran, 80 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,160 he had actually won as much as four hundred and 81 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,879 twenty pounds in a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey 82 00:05:11,879 --> 00:05:16,040 Milner and Lord Balmoral. So much for his recent history, 83 00:05:16,079 --> 00:05:19,519 as it came out at the inquest. On the evening 84 00:05:19,519 --> 00:05:22,920 of the crime, he returned from the club exactly at ten. 85 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:25,959 His mother and sister were out spending the evening with 86 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,720 a relation. The servant deposed that she heard him enter 87 00:05:29,759 --> 00:05:32,879 the front room on the second floor, generally used as 88 00:05:32,879 --> 00:05:36,319 his sitting room. She had lit a fire there, and 89 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,879 as it smoked, she had opened the window. No sound 90 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,079 was heard from the room until eleven twenty, the hour 91 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,199 of the return of Lady Maynooth and her daughter. Desiring 92 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,480 to say good night, she attempted to enter her son's room. 93 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,319 The door was locked on the inside and no answer 94 00:05:54,319 --> 00:05:57,839 could be got to their cries and knocking, help was 95 00:05:57,879 --> 00:06:02,040 obtained and the door forced. The unfortunate young man was 96 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,439 found lying near the table. His head had been horribly 97 00:06:06,519 --> 00:06:10,839 mutilated by an expanding revolver bullet, but no weapon of 98 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,959 any sort was to be found in the room. On 99 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,800 the table lay two bank notes for ten pounds each, 100 00:06:16,959 --> 00:06:20,639 and seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold, the money 101 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,959 arranged in little piles of varying amount. There were some 102 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,240 figures also upon a sheet of paper with the names 103 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,120 of some club friends opposite to them, from which it 104 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,240 was conjectured. But before his death he was endeavoring to 105 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:39,000 make out his losses or winnings at cards. A minute 106 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:42,959 examination of the circumstances served only to make the case 107 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,160 more complex. In the first place, no reason could be 108 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:49,800 given why the young man should have fastened the door 109 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,680 upon the inside. There was the possibility that the murderer 110 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,759 had done this and had afterwards escaped by the window. 111 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,680 The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a 112 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,560 bed of crocuses in full bloom lay beneath. Neither the 113 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,399 flowers nor the earth showed any sign of having been disturbed, 114 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,240 nor were there any marks upon the narrow strip of 115 00:07:12,279 --> 00:07:16,879 grass which separated the house from the road. Apparently, therefore 116 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,279 it was the young man himself who had fastened the door. 117 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,240 But how did he come by his death? No one 118 00:07:23,279 --> 00:07:25,839 could have climbed up to the window without leaving traces. 119 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,759 Suppose a man had fired through the window. He would 120 00:07:29,759 --> 00:07:32,560 indeed be a remarkable shot, who could with a revolver 121 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,439 inflict so deadly a wound. Again, Park Lane is a 122 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,319 frequented thoroughfare. There's a cab stand within a hundred yards 123 00:07:40,319 --> 00:07:44,040 of the house. No one had heard a shot, and 124 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,800 yet there was the dead man. And there the revolver 125 00:07:46,879 --> 00:07:50,720 bullet which had mushroomed out as soft nosed bullets will, 126 00:07:51,439 --> 00:07:55,279 and so inflicted a wound which must have caused instantaneous death. 127 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,800 Such were the circumstances of the Park Lane mystery, which 128 00:08:00,839 --> 00:08:06,079 were further complicated by entire absence of motive, since, as 129 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:08,879 I have said, young Adare was not known to have 130 00:08:08,959 --> 00:08:11,920 any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove 131 00:08:11,959 --> 00:08:16,040 the money or valuables in the room. All day I 132 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,439 turned these facts over in my mind, endeavoring to hit 133 00:08:19,519 --> 00:08:23,079 upon some theory which could reconcile them all, and to 134 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,240 find that line of least resistance which my poor friend 135 00:08:26,279 --> 00:08:29,360 had declared to be the starting point of every investigation. 136 00:08:30,639 --> 00:08:34,480 I confess that I made little progress. In the evening, 137 00:08:34,519 --> 00:08:37,440 I strolled across the park and found myself about six 138 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,279 o'clock at the Oxford Street end of Park Lane, a 139 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,759 group of loafers upon them pavements, all staring up at 140 00:08:44,759 --> 00:08:47,879 a particular window directed me to the house which I 141 00:08:47,919 --> 00:08:52,080 had come to see. A tall, thin man with colored glasses, 142 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:56,120 whom I strongly suspected of being a plain clothes detective, 143 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,840 was pointing out some theory of his own, while the 144 00:08:59,879 --> 00:09:03,960 others crowded round to listen to what he said. I 145 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,399 got as near him as I could, but his observations 146 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,960 seemed to me to be absurd, so I withdrew again 147 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,360 in some disgust. As I did so, I struck against 148 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:19,039 an elderly deformed man who had been behind me, and 149 00:09:19,159 --> 00:09:22,480 I knocked down several books which he was carrying. I 150 00:09:22,519 --> 00:09:25,039 remember that as I picked them up, I observed the 151 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,720 title of one of them, the Origin of tree Worship, 152 00:09:29,159 --> 00:09:31,039 and it struck me that the fellow must be some 153 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,799 poor bibliophile who, either as a trade or as a hobby, 154 00:09:35,279 --> 00:09:39,559 was a collector of obscure volumes. I endeavored to apologize 155 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,679 for the accident, but it was evident that these books, 156 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:47,240 which I had so unfortunately maltreated, were very precious objects 157 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,399 in the eyes of their owner. With a snarl of contempt, 158 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,399 he turned upon his heel, and I saw his curved 159 00:09:54,440 --> 00:10:00,080 back and white side whiskers disappear among the throng. My 160 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:04,080 observations of No. Four twenty seven Park Lane did little 161 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,480 to clear up the problem in which I was interested. 162 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:09,879 The house was separated from the street by a low 163 00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:13,480 wall and railing, the hole not more than five feet high. 164 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,399 It was perfectly easy, therefore, for any one to get 165 00:10:17,399 --> 00:10:21,960 into the garden, but the window was entirely inaccessible, since 166 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,399 there was no water pipe or anything which could help 167 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,279 the most active man to climb it. More puzzled than ever, 168 00:10:29,039 --> 00:10:32,720 I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had not been 169 00:10:32,759 --> 00:10:35,679 in my study five minutes when the maid entered to 170 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:40,320 say that a person desired to see me. To my astonishment, 171 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,039 it was none other than my strange old book collector, 172 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:47,480 his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame of 173 00:10:47,519 --> 00:10:51,320 white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them 174 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,879 at least wedged under his right arm. You're surprised to 175 00:10:55,919 --> 00:10:59,639 see me, sir, said he in a strange croaking voice. 176 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,200 I acknowledged that I was well. I have a conscience, sir, 177 00:11:04,639 --> 00:11:07,080 And when I chanced to see you go into this house, 178 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,440 as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, 179 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,679 I'll just step in and see what kind gentleman and 180 00:11:13,759 --> 00:11:15,879 tell him that I was a bit gruff in my manner, 181 00:11:15,879 --> 00:11:18,480 that there was not any harm meant, and that I 182 00:11:18,519 --> 00:11:22,000 am much obliged to him for picking up my books. 183 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,440 You make too much of a trifle, said I may 184 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,679 I ask how you knew who I was. Well, Sir, 185 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,320 it isn't too great a liberty. I am a neighbor 186 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,159 of yours before you'll find my little book shop at 187 00:11:35,159 --> 00:11:38,360 the corner of Church Street, and very happy to see you. 188 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,879 I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir, is British 189 00:11:42,919 --> 00:11:48,399 birds and catalusts and the Holy war a bargain every 190 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,440 one of them with five volumes. You could just fill 191 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,320 that gap on that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it, not, Sir? 192 00:11:56,799 --> 00:11:59,039 I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. 193 00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:04,320 When I turned again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at 194 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:08,200 me across my study table. I rose to my feet, 195 00:12:08,919 --> 00:12:12,519 stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement. And 196 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,480 then it appears that I must have fainted for the 197 00:12:15,519 --> 00:12:19,200 first and the last time in my life. Certainly, a 198 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:22,919 gray mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared, 199 00:12:22,919 --> 00:12:25,840 I found my collar ends undone and the tingling after 200 00:12:25,919 --> 00:12:29,879 taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over 201 00:12:29,919 --> 00:12:35,360 my chair, his flask in his hand. My dear Watson, 202 00:12:36,039 --> 00:12:39,919 said the well remembered voice, I owe you a thousand apologies. 203 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,960 I had no idea that you would be so affected. 204 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,360 I gripped him by the arms. Holmes, I cried, is 205 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,159 it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? 206 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,919 Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of 207 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:01,120 that awful abyss? Wait a moment, said he Are you 208 00:13:01,279 --> 00:13:04,759 sure that you're really fit to discuss things? I have 209 00:13:04,799 --> 00:13:09,080 given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily dramatic reappearance. 210 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,159 I am all right, But indeed, Holmes, I can hardly 211 00:13:13,159 --> 00:13:17,519 believe my eyes. Good Heavens to think that you, you, 212 00:13:17,639 --> 00:13:21,519 of all men, should be standing in my study again. 213 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,200 I gripped him by the sleeve and felt the thin, 214 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,840 sinewy arm beneath it. Well, you're not a spirit, anyhow, 215 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,759 said I, my dear chap. I'm overjoyed to see you 216 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,360 sit down and tell me how you came alive out 217 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,639 of that dreadful chasm. He sat opposite to me and 218 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,559 lit a cigarette in his old, nonchalant manner. He was 219 00:13:43,639 --> 00:13:46,159 dressed in the seedy frock coat of the book merchant, 220 00:13:46,919 --> 00:13:49,600 but the rest of that individual lay in a pile 221 00:13:49,639 --> 00:13:53,799 of white hair and old books upon the table. Holmes 222 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,200 looked even thinner and keener than of old. But there 223 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,519 was a dead white tinge in his aquiline face which 224 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,720 told me that his life recently had not been a 225 00:14:03,799 --> 00:14:08,720 healthy one. I am glad to stretch myself, Watson said he. 226 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,639 It is no joke when a tall man has to 227 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:16,039 take a foot off his stature for several hours on end. Now, 228 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,360 my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, 229 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,919 if I may ask for your co operation a hard 230 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,279 and dangerous night's work in front of us, Perhaps it 231 00:14:26,279 --> 00:14:28,320 would be better if I gave you an account of 232 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:33,120 the whole situation when that work is finished. I am 233 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,480 full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear it. Now. 234 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:40,440 You will come with me to night when you like, 235 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:45,360 and where you like. This is indeed like the old days. 236 00:14:45,879 --> 00:14:48,440 We shall have time for a mouthful of dinner before 237 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:53,519 we need go. Well, then, about that chasm, I had 238 00:14:53,519 --> 00:14:56,559 no serious difficulty in getting out of it for the 239 00:14:56,679 --> 00:15:00,120 very simple reason that I never was in it. You 240 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,960 never were in it, No, Watson, I never was in it. 241 00:15:04,879 --> 00:15:08,799 My note to you was absolutely genuine. I had little 242 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,360 doubt that I had come to the end of my 243 00:15:10,559 --> 00:15:14,159 career when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the 244 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:18,440 late Professor Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led 245 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:23,519 to safety. I read an inexorable purpose in his gray eyes. 246 00:15:24,519 --> 00:15:28,279 I exchanged some remarks with him therefore, and obtained his 247 00:15:28,399 --> 00:15:32,480 courteous permission to write the short note, which you afterwards received. 248 00:15:33,559 --> 00:15:36,240 I left it with my cigarette box and my stick, 249 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:41,240 and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. 250 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,639 When I reached the end, I stood at bay. He 251 00:15:45,759 --> 00:15:48,519 drew no weapon, but he rushed at me and threw 252 00:15:48,559 --> 00:15:52,519 his long arms around me. He knew that his own 253 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,080 game was up, and was only anxious to revenge himself 254 00:15:56,159 --> 00:16:00,159 upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. 255 00:16:00,799 --> 00:16:04,000 I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese 256 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,240 system of wrestling, which has more than once been very 257 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,039 useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he 258 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,360 with a horrible scream. Kicked madly for a few seconds 259 00:16:14,679 --> 00:16:18,200 and clawed the air with both his hands, But for 260 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,080 all his efforts he could not get his balance, and 261 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,639 over he went, with my face over the brink. I 262 00:16:25,679 --> 00:16:28,919 saw him fall for a long way. Then he struck 263 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:34,919 a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water. I 264 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,639 listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered between 265 00:16:38,679 --> 00:16:43,039 the puffs of his cigarette. But the tracks, I re cried. 266 00:16:43,799 --> 00:16:46,320 I saw with my own eyes that two went down 267 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:51,279 the path anone returned. It came about in this way 268 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,759 the instant that the Professor had disappeared. It struck me 269 00:16:55,919 --> 00:16:59,600 what a really extraordinarily lucky chance fate had placed in 270 00:16:59,639 --> 00:17:03,440 my way. I knew that Moriarty was not the only 271 00:17:03,519 --> 00:17:07,640 man who had sworn my death. There were at least 272 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,079 three others whose desire for vengeance upon me would only 273 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:14,480 be increased by the death of their leader. They were 274 00:17:14,519 --> 00:17:18,839 all most dangerous men. One or other would certainly get me. 275 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,799 On the other hand, if all the world was convinced 276 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:25,759 that I was dead, they would take liberties these men, 277 00:17:26,279 --> 00:17:28,920 and they would soon lay themselves open, and sooner or 278 00:17:29,039 --> 00:17:32,880 later I could destroy them. Then it would be time 279 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:34,920 for me to announce that I was still in the 280 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,839 land of the living. So rapidly does the brain act 281 00:17:39,279 --> 00:17:41,839 that I believe I had thought this all out before 282 00:17:41,839 --> 00:17:45,359 Professor Moriarty had reached the bottom of the Reichenbach Fall. 283 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,279 I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me. 284 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,160 In your picturesque account of the matter, which I read 285 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,880 with great interest some months later, you assert that the 286 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,519 war was sheer. That was not little really true. A 287 00:18:01,559 --> 00:18:05,720 few small footholes presented themselves, and there was some indication 288 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,759 of a ledge. The cliff is so high that to 289 00:18:09,799 --> 00:18:13,279 climb it all was an obvious impossibility, and it was 290 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,559 equally impossible to make any way along the wet path 291 00:18:17,079 --> 00:18:21,200 without leaving some tracks. I might, it is true, have 292 00:18:21,279 --> 00:18:24,680 reversed my boots, as I have done on similar occasions, 293 00:18:25,599 --> 00:18:27,960 but the sight of three sets of tracks in one 294 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,960 direction would certainly have suggested a deception on the whole. 295 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,680 Then it was best that I should risk the climb. 296 00:18:36,519 --> 00:18:40,279 It was not a pleasant business, Watson, the fall roared 297 00:18:40,319 --> 00:18:44,160 beneath me. I am not a fanciful person, but I 298 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,559 give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's 299 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,240 voice screaming at me out of the abyss. A mistake 300 00:18:50,759 --> 00:18:54,519 would have been fatal. More than once, as tufts of 301 00:18:54,559 --> 00:18:57,079 grass came out in my hand or my foot slipped 302 00:18:57,079 --> 00:18:59,880 in the wet notches of the rock, I thought that 303 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:03,640 I was gone, But I struggled upward, and at last 304 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,880 I reached a ledge several feet deep and covered with 305 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,559 soft green moss, where I could lie unseen in the 306 00:19:10,559 --> 00:19:14,759 most perfect comfort. There I was stretched when you, my 307 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,319 dear Watson, and all your following, were investigating in the 308 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:22,839 most sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death. 309 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,400 At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and 310 00:19:27,599 --> 00:19:32,000 totally erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel, and I 311 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,680 was left alone. I had imagined that I had reached 312 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,480 the end of my adventures, but a very unexpected occurrence 313 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,720 showed me that there were surprises still in store for me. 314 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:48,759 A huge rock falling from above, boomed past me, struck 315 00:19:48,799 --> 00:19:52,559 the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an 316 00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:55,720 instant I thought that it was an accident, but a 317 00:19:55,799 --> 00:19:59,640 moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head against 318 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,480 the dark fucking sky, and another stone struck the very ledge, 319 00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:06,640 upon which I was stretched within a foot of my head. 320 00:20:07,759 --> 00:20:12,519 Of course, the meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had 321 00:20:12,519 --> 00:20:18,000 not been alone a confederate, and even that one glance 322 00:20:18,039 --> 00:20:21,000 had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was. 323 00:20:21,839 --> 00:20:25,559 Had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me from 324 00:20:25,599 --> 00:20:29,319 a distance unseen by me. He had been a witness 325 00:20:29,319 --> 00:20:33,119 of his friend's death and of my escape. He had waited, 326 00:20:33,799 --> 00:20:35,839 and then, making his way round to the top of 327 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,480 the cliff, he had endeavored to succeed where his comrade 328 00:20:39,519 --> 00:20:43,640 had failed. I did not take long to think about it. 329 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,680 Watson again. I saw that grim face look over the cliff, 330 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,920 and I knew that it was the precursor of another stone. 331 00:20:52,319 --> 00:20:55,240 I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think 332 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,680 I could have done it in cold blood. It was 333 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,880 a hundred times more difficult than getting up. But I 334 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,640 had no time to think of the danger, for another 335 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,319 stone sang past me as I hung by my hands 336 00:21:06,319 --> 00:21:09,839 from the edge of the ledge. Half way down, I slipped, 337 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,279 but by the blessing of God, I landed, torn and 338 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:17,200 bleeding upon the path. I took to my heels did 339 00:21:17,279 --> 00:21:20,160 ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a 340 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,000 week later I found myself in Florence, with the certainty 341 00:21:24,039 --> 00:21:26,319 that no one in the world knew what had become 342 00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:31,799 of me. I had only one confidant, my brother Microft. 343 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:37,079 I owe you many apologies, my dear Watson, but it 344 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,000 was all important that it should be thought I was dead, 345 00:21:40,759 --> 00:21:43,079 and it is quite certain that you would not have 346 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,920 written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had 347 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,400 you not yourself thought that it was true. Several times 348 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,319 during the last three years I have taken up my 349 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,759 pen to write to you, but always I feared lest 350 00:21:57,759 --> 00:22:00,880 your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some 351 00:22:01,319 --> 00:22:07,480 indiscretion which would betray my secret. For that reason, I 352 00:22:07,559 --> 00:22:10,480 turned away from you this evening when you upset my books, 353 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,640 for I was in danger at the time, and any 354 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,000 show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have 355 00:22:17,079 --> 00:22:20,440 drawn attention to my identity and led to the most 356 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:26,000 deplorable and irreparable results as to my craft. I had 357 00:22:26,039 --> 00:22:28,160 to confide in him in order to obtain the money 358 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,359 which I needed. The course of events in London did 359 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,160 not run so well as I had hoped. For the 360 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,119 trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most 361 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:43,200 dangerous members, my own most vindictive enemies. At liberty, I 362 00:22:43,279 --> 00:22:47,519 traveled for two years INTI bet therefore, and amused myself 363 00:22:47,559 --> 00:22:51,799 by visiting Lahsa and spending some days with the head Lama. 364 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,680 You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a 365 00:22:55,759 --> 00:22:59,200 Norwegian named Cigosuen, but I am sure that it never 366 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,839 occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend. 367 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,519 I then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and 368 00:23:07,599 --> 00:23:11,160 paid a short but interesting visit to the calipher at Khartoum, 369 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,839 the results of which I have communicated to the Foreign Office. 370 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,160 Returning to France, I spent some months in a research 371 00:23:20,319 --> 00:23:23,559 into the coal tar derivatives, which I conducted in the 372 00:23:23,599 --> 00:23:28,599 laboratory at Montpellier in the south of France. Having concluded 373 00:23:28,599 --> 00:23:32,119 this to my satisfaction, and learning that only one of 374 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,359 my enemies was now left in London, I was about 375 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,839 to return when my movements were hastened by the news 376 00:23:38,839 --> 00:23:43,200 of this very remarkable Park Lane mystery, which not only 377 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,359 appealed to me by its own merits, but which seemed 378 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:51,440 to offer some most peculiar personal opportunities. I came over 379 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,720 at once to London, called in my own person at 380 00:23:54,759 --> 00:23:59,640 Baker Street, threw missus Hudson into violent hysterics, and found 381 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,599 that my croft had preserved my rooms and my papers 382 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,839 exactly as they had always been. So it was my 383 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,720 dear Watson, that at two o'clock to day, I found 384 00:24:10,759 --> 00:24:14,359 myself in my old arm chair in my own old room, 385 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,079 and only wishing that I could have seen my old 386 00:24:18,079 --> 00:24:20,559 friend Watson in the other chair which he had so 387 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:26,200 often adorned. Such was a remarkable narrative to which I 388 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,559 listened on that April evening, a narrative which would have 389 00:24:29,559 --> 00:24:32,799 been utterly incredible to me had it not been confirmed 390 00:24:32,799 --> 00:24:36,119 by the actual sight of the tall, spare figure and 391 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,000 the keen, eager face which I had never thought to 392 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,519 see again. In some manner, he had learned of my 393 00:24:42,599 --> 00:24:46,039 own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was shown in his 394 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:50,359 manner rather than in his words. Work is the best 395 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,319 antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson said, he and I 396 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,079 have a piece of work for us both to night, which, 397 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,319 if we can bring it to a successful conclusion, will 398 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,799 in itself justify a man's life on this planet. In vain, 399 00:25:05,839 --> 00:25:08,960 I begged him to tell me more. You will hear 400 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,680 and see enough before morning, he answered, we have three 401 00:25:12,759 --> 00:25:16,160 years of the past to discuss. Let that suffice until 402 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,799 half past nine, when we start upon the notable adventure 403 00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:25,599 of the Empty House. It was indeed like old times, 404 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,079 when at that hour I found myself seated beside him 405 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:32,359 in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket, and the 406 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,400 thrill of adventure in my heart. Holmes as cold and 407 00:25:36,519 --> 00:25:39,839 stern and silent as the gleam of the street lamps 408 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,359 flashed upon his austere features. I saw that his brows 409 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,440 were drawn down in thought, and his thin lips compressed. 410 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,759 I knew not what wild beast we were about to 411 00:25:49,839 --> 00:25:53,440 hunt down in the dark jungle of criminal London, but 412 00:25:53,519 --> 00:25:55,920 I was well assured from the bearing of this master 413 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,160 huntsman that the adventure was a most grave one. While 414 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,400 the sardonic smile which occasionally broke through his acetic gloom, 415 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:10,200 boded little good for the object of our quest. I 416 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,079 had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but 417 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,039 Homes stopped the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square. 418 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,519 I observed that as he stepped out, he gave a 419 00:26:19,559 --> 00:26:23,000 most searching glance to right and left, and at every 420 00:26:23,039 --> 00:26:27,079 subsequent street corner he tucked the utmost panes to assure 421 00:26:27,079 --> 00:26:30,880 that he was not followed. Our route was certainly a 422 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,720 singular one. Holmes's knowledge of the byways of London was extraordinary, 423 00:26:36,319 --> 00:26:39,640 and on this occasion he passed rapidly and with an 424 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:43,640 assured step, through a network of mews and stables, the 425 00:26:43,759 --> 00:26:47,559 very existence of which I had never known. We emerged 426 00:26:47,559 --> 00:26:51,240 at last into a small road lined with old, gloomy houses, 427 00:26:51,279 --> 00:26:55,240 which led us into Manchester Street, and so to Blanford Street. 428 00:26:56,079 --> 00:26:59,960 Here he turned swiftly down a narrow passage, passed through 429 00:27:00,039 --> 00:27:03,400 a wooden gate into a deserted yard, and then opened 430 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,279 with a key the back door of a house. We 431 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:11,359 entered together, and he closed it behind us. The place 432 00:27:11,519 --> 00:27:14,200 was pitch dark, but it was evident to me that 433 00:27:14,279 --> 00:27:18,519 it was an empty house. Our feet creaked and crackled 434 00:27:18,559 --> 00:27:22,400 over the bare planking, and my outstretched hand touched a 435 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:27,039 wall from which the paper was hanging in ribbons. Holmes's cold, 436 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,960 thin fingers closed round my wrist and led me forward 437 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,240 down a long hall until I dimly saw the murky 438 00:27:34,319 --> 00:27:39,519 fanlight over the door. Here, Holmes turned suddenly to the right, 439 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,720 and we found ourselves in a large, square, empty room, 440 00:27:44,279 --> 00:27:47,480 heavily shadowed in the corners, but faintly lit in the 441 00:27:47,519 --> 00:27:50,960 center from the lights of the street beyond. There was 442 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,880 no lamp near, and the window was thick with dust, 443 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,799 so that we could only just discern each other's figures within. 444 00:27:58,079 --> 00:28:01,200 My companion put his hand upon my shore, and his 445 00:28:01,319 --> 00:28:05,359 lips close to my ear. Do you know where we are? 446 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:10,839 He whispered, Surely that is Baker Street, I answered, staring 447 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:16,160 through the dim window. Exactly, we are in Camden House, 448 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,359 which stands opposite to our own old quarters. But why 449 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:24,279 are we here? Because it commands so excellent a view 450 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,920 of that picturesque pile. Might I trouble you, my dear Watson, 451 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,640 to draw a little nearer to the window, taking every 452 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:36,279 precaution not to show yourself, and then to look up 453 00:28:36,319 --> 00:28:39,839 at our old rooms, the starting point of so many 454 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,240 of your little fairy tales. We will see if my 455 00:28:43,359 --> 00:28:47,200 three years of absence have entirely taken away my power 456 00:28:47,319 --> 00:28:52,720 to surprise you. I crept forward and looked across at 457 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,440 the familiar window. As my eyes fell upon it, I 458 00:28:56,519 --> 00:28:59,759 gave a gasp and a cry of amazement. The blind 459 00:28:59,839 --> 00:29:02,599 was down, and a strong light was burning in the room. 460 00:29:03,599 --> 00:29:05,880 The shadow of a man, who was seated in a 461 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,240 chair within was thrown in hard black outline upon the 462 00:29:09,319 --> 00:29:12,960 luminous screen of the window. There was no mistaking the 463 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,200 poise of the head, the squareness of the shoulders, the 464 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:21,279 sharpness of the features. The face was turned half rowned, 465 00:29:21,799 --> 00:29:23,839 and the effect was that of one of those black 466 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:28,319 silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame. It was a 467 00:29:28,359 --> 00:29:32,680 perfect reproduction of Holmes. So amazed was I that I 468 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,599 threw out my hand to make sure that the man 469 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:39,680 himself was standing beside me. He was quivering with silent laughter. 470 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:46,799 Well said he, Good heavens, I cried, it is marvelous. 471 00:29:48,079 --> 00:29:51,240 I trust that age does not wither nor custom stale. 472 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,440 My infinite variety, said he, And I recognized in his 473 00:29:55,559 --> 00:29:58,759 voice the joy and pride which the artist takes in 474 00:29:58,799 --> 00:30:03,440 his own creation. It really is rather like me, is 475 00:30:03,519 --> 00:30:06,759 it not. I shall be prepared to swear that it 476 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,559 was you. The credit of the execution is due to 477 00:30:10,599 --> 00:30:14,599 Monsieur Oscar Mounier of Grenoble, who spent some days in 478 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,400 doing the molding. It is a bust in wax the 479 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,559 rest I arranged myself during my visit to Baker Street 480 00:30:21,599 --> 00:30:28,000 this afternoon. But why because, my dear Watson, I had 481 00:30:28,039 --> 00:30:31,880 the strongest possible reason for wishing certain people to think 482 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:36,759 that I was there when I was really elsewhere. And 483 00:30:36,839 --> 00:30:40,400 you thought the rooms were watched, I knew that they 484 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:46,440 were watched by whom, by my old enemies, Watson, by 485 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,960 the charming society whose leader lies in the Reichenbach Fall. 486 00:30:51,039 --> 00:30:54,200 You must remember that they knew, and only they knew, 487 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:58,079 that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed 488 00:30:58,079 --> 00:31:01,640 that I should come back to my rooms. They watched 489 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:07,440 them continuously, and this morning they saw me arrive. How 490 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,519 do you know? Because I recognized their sentinel when I 491 00:31:11,559 --> 00:31:14,680 glanced out of my window. He is a harmless enough 492 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,480 fellow Parker by name, a Garrotta by trade, and a 493 00:31:18,519 --> 00:31:23,440 remarkable performer upon the Jew's harp. I cared nothing for him. 494 00:31:24,119 --> 00:31:26,279 But I cared a great deal for the much more 495 00:31:26,319 --> 00:31:31,119 formidable person who was behind him, the Bosom friend of Moriarty, 496 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,920 the man who dropped the rocks over the cliff, the 497 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:40,079 most cunning and dangerous criminal in London, that is, the 498 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,319 man who is after me to night, Watson, and that 499 00:31:43,519 --> 00:31:47,160 is the man who is quite unaware that we are 500 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:53,039 after him. My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves from 501 00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:56,599 this convenient retreat. The watchers were being watched, and the 502 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,000 trackers tracked that angular shadow up beyond. There was the bait, 503 00:32:01,559 --> 00:32:05,279 and we were the hunters. In silence, we stood together 504 00:32:05,319 --> 00:32:08,160 in the darkness and watched the hurrying figures who passed 505 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,400 and repassed in front of us. Holmes was silent and motionless, 506 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:15,799 but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and 507 00:32:15,839 --> 00:32:18,640 that his eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of 508 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:23,000 passers by. It was a bleak and boisterous night, and 509 00:32:23,079 --> 00:32:27,119 the wind whistled shrilly down the long street. Many people 510 00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:30,079 were moving to and fro, most of them muffled in 511 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,599 their coats and cravats. Once or twice, it seemed to 512 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:36,519 me that I had seen the same figure before, and 513 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,960 I especially noticed two men who appeared to be sheltering 514 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,680 themselves from the wind in the doorway of a house 515 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,440 some distance up the street. I tried to draw my 516 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,119 companion's attention to them, but he gave a little ejaculation 517 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,759 of impatience and continued to stare into the street more 518 00:32:54,759 --> 00:32:58,279 than once. He fidgeted with his feet and tapped rapidly 519 00:32:58,319 --> 00:33:01,400 with his fingers upon the wall. It was evident to 520 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:05,160 me that he was becoming uneasy, and that his plans 521 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:10,200 were not working out altogether as he had hoped. At last. 522 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,680 As midnight approached and the street gradually cleared, he paced 523 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,400 up and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. I was 524 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,039 about to make some remark to him when I raised 525 00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:24,880 my eyes to the lighted window, and again experienced almost 526 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,680 as great a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes's arm 527 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:33,799 and pointed upwards. The shadows moved. I cried. It was 528 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,359 indeed no longer the profile, but the back which was 529 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:41,200 turned towards us three years had certainly not smoothed the 530 00:33:41,279 --> 00:33:44,839 asperities of his temper or his impatience with a less 531 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:49,119 active intelligence than his own. Of course, it has moved, 532 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,759 said he am, I such a fascical bungler Watson, that 533 00:33:52,839 --> 00:33:55,839 I should erect an obvious dummy and expect that some 534 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,440 of the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it. 535 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,279 We have been in this room two hours, and missus 536 00:34:02,319 --> 00:34:05,359 Hudson has made some change in that figure. Eight times 537 00:34:06,039 --> 00:34:09,000 or once in every quarter of an hour, she works 538 00:34:09,039 --> 00:34:11,559 it from the front, so that her shadow may never 539 00:34:11,599 --> 00:34:15,719 be seen. Ah. He drew in his breath with a shrill, 540 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,880 excited intake. In the dim light, I saw his head 541 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:24,960 thrown forward, his whole attitude rigid with attention. Outside the 542 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:29,039 street was absolutely deserted. Those two men might still be 543 00:34:29,079 --> 00:34:32,639 crouching in the doorway, but I could no longer see them. 544 00:34:33,039 --> 00:34:36,639 All was still and dark, save only that brilliant yellow 545 00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:39,519 screen in front of us, with the black figure outlined 546 00:34:39,599 --> 00:34:44,199 upon its center. Again, in the utter silence, I heard 547 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,360 that thin, sibilant note which spoke of intense suppressed excitement. 548 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,480 An instant later he pulled me back into the blackest 549 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,079 corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand 550 00:34:55,119 --> 00:34:58,760 upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were quivering. 551 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,599 Never had I known my friend more moved. And yet 552 00:35:02,599 --> 00:35:06,440 the dark street still stretched lonely and motionless before us. 553 00:35:07,519 --> 00:35:10,760 But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener 554 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,880 senses had already distinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to 555 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,519 my ears, not from the direction of Baker Street, but 556 00:35:20,639 --> 00:35:23,599 from the back of the very house in which we lay, 557 00:35:23,639 --> 00:35:29,119 concealed a door opened and shut. An instant later, steps 558 00:35:29,119 --> 00:35:32,840 crept down the passage, steps which were meant to be silent, 559 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:38,760 but which reverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes crouched 560 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,840 back against the wall, and I did the same, my 561 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,639 hand closing upon the handle of my revolver. Peering through 562 00:35:45,679 --> 00:35:48,519 the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a man, 563 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,519 a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door. 564 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,559 He stood for an instant, and then he crept forward, 565 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,679 crouching menacing into the room. He was within three yards 566 00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,960 of us, this sinister figure, and I had braced myself 567 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,800 to meet his spring before I realized that he had 568 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,800 no idea of our presence. He passed close beside us, 569 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,239 stole over to the window, and very softly and noiselessly 570 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,239 raised it for half a foot. As he sank to 571 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:22,079 the level of this opening, the light of the street, 572 00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:25,920 no longer dimmed by the dusty glass, fell full upon 573 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:30,760 his face. The man seemed to be beside himself with excitement. 574 00:36:31,599 --> 00:36:34,960 His two eyes shone like stars, and his features were 575 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,559 working convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin 576 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,840 projecting nose, a high bald forehead and a huge grizzled mustache. 577 00:36:45,519 --> 00:36:47,599 An opera hat was pushed to the back of his head, 578 00:36:48,039 --> 00:36:51,079 and an evening dress shirt front gleamed out through his 579 00:36:51,159 --> 00:36:56,480 open overcoat. His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with 580 00:36:56,599 --> 00:37:01,280 deep savage lines. In his hand he carried what appeared 581 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,880 to be a stick, but as he laid it down 582 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,679 upon the floor, it gave a metallic clang. Then from 583 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:11,159 the pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulky object, 584 00:37:11,639 --> 00:37:14,639 and he busied himself in some task, which ended with 585 00:37:14,679 --> 00:37:18,280 a loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt 586 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,239 had fallen into its place. Still kneeling upon the floor, 587 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:25,960 he bent forward and threw all his weight and strength 588 00:37:26,079 --> 00:37:30,280 upon some lever, with the result that there came a long, whirling, 589 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:35,239 grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful click. He 590 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,559 straightened himself then, and I saw that what he held 591 00:37:38,599 --> 00:37:41,440 in his hand was a sort of gun with a 592 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:46,280 curiously misshapen butt. He opened it at the breach, put 593 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:51,000 something in, and snapped the breech lock. Then, crouching down, 594 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,320 he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge 595 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,800 of the open window, and I saw his long mustache 596 00:37:57,119 --> 00:38:00,320 droop over the stock and his eye gleam as it 597 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:05,840 peered along the sights. I heard a little sigh of 598 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,400 satisfaction as he cuddled the butt into his shoulder and 599 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,679 saw that amazing target, the black man on the yellow ground, 600 00:38:14,119 --> 00:38:17,280 standing clear at the end of his foresight. For an 601 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,599 instant he was rigid and motionless. Then his finger tightened 602 00:38:21,599 --> 00:38:25,960 on the trigger. There was a strange loud whiz and 603 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:30,559 a long, silvery tinkle of broken glass. At that instant, 604 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:33,599 Holmes sprang like a tiger onto the marksman's back and 605 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:36,519 hurled him flat upon his face. He was up again 606 00:38:36,559 --> 00:38:39,360 in a moment, and with a convulsive strength he seized 607 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,119 Holmes by the throat. But I struck him on the 608 00:38:42,159 --> 00:38:44,880 head with the butt of my revolver, and he dropped 609 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,239 again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as 610 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,800 I held him, my comrade blew a shrill call upon 611 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,159 a whistle. There was the clatter of running feet upon 612 00:38:54,159 --> 00:38:58,000 the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one plain 613 00:38:58,079 --> 00:39:02,920 clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the room. 614 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:07,639 That you, lestrade, said Holmes. Yes, mister Olmes, Oh, I 615 00:39:07,679 --> 00:39:10,079 took the job myself. It's good to see you back. 616 00:39:10,079 --> 00:39:14,280 In London, Sir, I think you want a little unofficial help. 617 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:18,599 Three undetected murders in one year won't do, Lestrade. But 618 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:21,639 you handled the Molesey mystery with less than your usual 619 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,400 That's to say you handled it fairly well. We had 620 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,760 all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard, with 621 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:33,480 a stalwart constable on each side of him. Already a 622 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:37,119 few loiterers had begun to collect in the street. Holmes 623 00:39:37,159 --> 00:39:40,679 stepped up to the window, closed it and dropped the blinds. 624 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:46,079 Lestrade had produced two candles, and the policemen had uncovered 625 00:39:46,119 --> 00:39:49,360 their lanterns. I was able at last to have a 626 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:53,280 good look at our prisoner. It was a tremendously virile 627 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:57,599 and yet sinister face which was turned towards us, with 628 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:00,440 the brow of a philosopher above and and the jaw 629 00:40:00,519 --> 00:40:03,800 of a sensualist below. The man must have started with 630 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:07,360 great capacities for good or for evil. But one could 631 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,480 not look upon his cruel blue eyes with their drooping 632 00:40:10,639 --> 00:40:14,880 cynical lids, or upon the fierce, aggressive nose and the threatening, 633 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:20,559 deep lined brow without reading nature's plainest danger signals. He 634 00:40:20,599 --> 00:40:23,199 took no heed of any of us, but his eyes 635 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:26,920 were fixed upon Holmes's face with an expression in which 636 00:40:27,079 --> 00:40:32,519 hatred and amazement were equally blended. You fiend, he kept 637 00:40:32,559 --> 00:40:38,559 on muttering. You clever fiend, clever fiend, Ah, Colonel, said Holmes, 638 00:40:38,639 --> 00:40:42,960 arranging his rumpled collar. Journey's end in Lovers Meetings, as 639 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,880 the old play says, I don't think I have had 640 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,159 the pleasure of seeing you since you favored me with 641 00:40:48,199 --> 00:40:51,119 those attentions. As I lay on the ledge above the 642 00:40:51,119 --> 00:40:55,440 Reichenbach Fall, the Colonel still stared at my friend like 643 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,119 a man in a trance. You cunning, cunning fiend, was 644 00:40:59,159 --> 00:41:02,480 all that he could say. I have not introduced you yet, 645 00:41:02,639 --> 00:41:08,639 said Holmes. This gentleman is Colonel Sebastian Moran, once of 646 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,400 Her Majesty's Indian Army, and the best heavy game shot 647 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,960 that our Eastern Empire has ever produced. I believe I 648 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,079 am correct, Colonel, in saying that your bag of tigers 649 00:41:19,119 --> 00:41:23,800 still remains unrivaled. The fierce old man said nothing, but 650 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:27,039 still glared at my companion with his savage eyes and 651 00:41:27,199 --> 00:41:32,000 bristling mustache. He was wonderfully like a tiger himself. I 652 00:41:32,039 --> 00:41:35,400 wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old 653 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:39,159 a Shikhari, said Holmes. It must be very familiar to you. 654 00:41:40,079 --> 00:41:42,719 Have you not tether the young kid under a tree 655 00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:46,039 lain above it with your rifle and waited for the 656 00:41:46,119 --> 00:41:49,679 bait to bring up your tiger. This empty house is 657 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:55,239 my tree, and you are my tiger. You have possibly 658 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,760 had other guns in reserve in case there should be 659 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:01,280 several tigers, or in the un likely supposition of your 660 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:06,559 own aim failing you, these, he pointed around, are my 661 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:12,840 other guns. The parallel is exact. Colonel Moran sprang forward 662 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:16,400 with a snarl of rage, but the constables dragged him back. 663 00:42:17,199 --> 00:42:20,039 The fury upon his face was terrible to look at. 664 00:42:21,599 --> 00:42:24,159 I confess that you had one small surprise for me, 665 00:42:24,519 --> 00:42:28,280 said Holmes. I did not anticipate that you would yourself 666 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:32,159 make use of this empty house and this convenient front window. 667 00:42:33,039 --> 00:42:36,559 I had imagined you as operating from the street where 668 00:42:36,599 --> 00:42:39,480 my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you. 669 00:42:40,199 --> 00:42:45,159 With that exception, all has gone as I expected. Colonel 670 00:42:45,199 --> 00:42:48,880 Moran turned to the official detective. You may or may 671 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,880 not have just caused for arresting me, said he. But 672 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,159 at least there can be no reason why I should 673 00:42:54,159 --> 00:42:57,719 submit to the jibes of this person. If I am 674 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,119 in the hands of the law, let things be done 675 00:43:00,119 --> 00:43:04,800 in a legal way. Well that's reasonable enough, said Lestrade. 676 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:07,920 Nothing further you have to say, mister Elmes. Before we go, 677 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,719 Holmes had picked up the powerful air gun from the 678 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:17,400 floor and was examining its mechanism. An admirable and unique weapon, 679 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:23,599 said he, noiseless and of tremendous power. I knew von Herder, 680 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,920 the blind German mechanic who constructed it to the order 681 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,719 of the late Professor Moriarty. For years. I've been aware 682 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:33,679 of its existence, though I have never before had the 683 00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:37,280 opportunity of handling it. I commend it very specially to 684 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:41,159 your attention, Lestrade, and also the bullets which fit it. 685 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,719 You can trust us to look after that, mister Elmes, 686 00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:48,039 said Lestrade, as the whole party moved toward the door, 687 00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:52,719 anything further to sight only to ask what charge you 688 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:57,119 intend to prefer? What charge, sir, why, of course, the 689 00:43:57,159 --> 00:44:03,039 attempted murderer of mister Sherlock Holmes. Not so, Lestrade. I 690 00:44:03,079 --> 00:44:05,280 do not propose to appear in the matter at all. 691 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:09,320 To you, and to you only belongs the credit of 692 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:13,960 the remarkable arrest which you have effected. Yes, Lestrade, I 693 00:44:14,079 --> 00:44:19,000 congratulate you with your usual happy mixture of cunning and audacity. 694 00:44:19,519 --> 00:44:25,079 You have got him. Go him, Go, mister Holmes, the 695 00:44:25,119 --> 00:44:28,119 man that the whole force has been seeking in vain. 696 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:33,400 Colonel Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honorable Ronald Adair with 697 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:36,239 an expanding bullet from an air gun through the open 698 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:40,119 window of the second floor front of number four twenty 699 00:44:40,199 --> 00:44:44,960 seven Park Lane, upon the thirtieth of last month. That's 700 00:44:45,039 --> 00:44:49,039 the charge, Lestrade. And now Watson, if you can endure 701 00:44:49,039 --> 00:44:51,920 the draft from a broken window, I think that half 702 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:54,760 an hour in my study over a cigar may afford 703 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:59,719 you some profitable amusement. Our old chambers have been left 704 00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:03,239 under changed through the supervision of Mycroft Homes and the 705 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:07,119 immediate care of Missus Hudson. As I entered, I saw, 706 00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:11,719 it is true an unwonted tidiness, But the old landmarks 707 00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:15,079 were all in their place. There were the chemical corner 708 00:45:15,199 --> 00:45:19,440 and the acid stained deal topped table. There Upon a 709 00:45:19,519 --> 00:45:22,559 shelf was the row of formidable scrap books and books 710 00:45:22,599 --> 00:45:25,679 of reference, which many of our fellow citizens would have 711 00:45:25,679 --> 00:45:30,280 been so glad to burn. The diagrams, the violin case, 712 00:45:30,599 --> 00:45:34,079 and the pipe rack, even the Persian slipper which contained 713 00:45:34,119 --> 00:45:37,760 the tobacco, all met my eyes as I glanced around me. 714 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,199 There were two occupants of the room, one Missus Hudson, 715 00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:45,719 who beamed upon us both as we entered. The other 716 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:49,400 the strange dummy, which had played so important a part 717 00:45:49,639 --> 00:45:53,320 in the evening's adventures. It was a wax colored model 718 00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:56,800 of my friend, so admirably done that it was a 719 00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:01,119 perfect facsimile. It stood on a small headstal table with 720 00:46:01,199 --> 00:46:03,880 an old dressing gown of holmes Is so draped around 721 00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:07,679 it that the illusion from the street was absolutely perfect. 722 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,679 I hope you observed all precautions, missus Hudson, said Holmes. 723 00:46:13,599 --> 00:46:15,840 I went to it on my knee, sir, just as 724 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:20,280 you told me. Excellent. You carried the thing out very well. 725 00:46:21,079 --> 00:46:25,079 Did you observe where the bullet went? Yes, sir, I'm 726 00:46:25,119 --> 00:46:29,159 afraid asport your beautiful bust, for it passed right through 727 00:46:29,199 --> 00:46:32,159 the head and flattened itself on the wall. I picked 728 00:46:32,199 --> 00:46:36,320 it up from the carpet. Here it is. Holmes held 729 00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:40,639 it out to me, a soft revolver bullet. As you perceive, Watson, 730 00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:44,599 there's genius in that, for who would expect to find 731 00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:48,159 such a thing fired from an air gun. All right, 732 00:46:48,199 --> 00:46:52,880 missus Hudson, I am much obliged for your assistance. And now, Watson, 733 00:46:53,519 --> 00:46:55,559 let me see you in your old seat once more, 734 00:46:56,159 --> 00:46:58,079 for there are several points which I should like to 735 00:46:58,119 --> 00:47:01,880 discuss with you. He had thrown off the seedy frock coat, 736 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,760 and now he was the homes of old in the 737 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:07,679 mouse colored dressing gown which he took from his effigy. 738 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:12,840 The old Shikhari's nerves have not lost their steadiness, nor 739 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:16,039 his eyes their keenness, said he with a laugh, as 740 00:47:16,039 --> 00:47:19,559 he inspected the shattered forehead of his bust. Plumb in 741 00:47:19,599 --> 00:47:21,440 the middle of the back of the head and smack 742 00:47:21,519 --> 00:47:24,599 through the brain. He was the best shot in India, 743 00:47:25,079 --> 00:47:27,360 and I expect that there are few better in London. 744 00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:32,159 Have you heard the name? No? I have not? Well, well, 745 00:47:32,519 --> 00:47:35,559 such is fame. But then, if I remember right, you 746 00:47:35,639 --> 00:47:39,280 had not heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who 747 00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:42,360 had one of the great brains of the century. Just 748 00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:44,880 give me down my index of biographies from the shelf. 749 00:47:46,199 --> 00:47:49,239 He turned over the pages, lazily, leaning back in his 750 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:54,159 chair and blowing great clouds from his cigar. My collection 751 00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:58,119 of ms is a fine one, said he. Moriarty himself 752 00:47:58,159 --> 00:48:01,800 is enough to make any letter illustrious. And here is Morgan, 753 00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:06,119 the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory, and Matthews who 754 00:48:06,199 --> 00:48:08,599 knocked out my left canine in the waiting room at 755 00:48:08,679 --> 00:48:13,719 charing Cross. And finally there is our friend tonight. He 756 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:19,480 handed over the book and I read Moran Sebastian colonel unemployed, 757 00:48:20,079 --> 00:48:25,280 formerly first Bangalore Pioneers, born London eighteen forty, son of 758 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:29,320 Sir Augustus Moran c B. Once British Minister to Persia. 759 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:34,880 Educated Eton and Oxford, served in Jiwacki campaign, Afghan campaign, 760 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:41,719 charasiab dispatches, Cherpour and Carbull, author of Heavy Game of 761 00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,199 the Western Himalayas eighteen eighty one, Three Months in the 762 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:51,679 Jungle eighteen eighty four, Address Conduit Street Clubs, the Anglo Indian, 763 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:56,840 the Tankerville, the Bagatel Card Club. On the margin was 764 00:48:56,840 --> 00:49:01,000 written in Holmes's precise hand, the second and most dangerous 765 00:49:01,039 --> 00:49:05,000 man in London. This is astonishing, said I as I 766 00:49:05,039 --> 00:49:08,239 handed back the volume. The man's career is that of 767 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:13,519 an honorable soldier. It is true, Holmes answered, up to 768 00:49:13,599 --> 00:49:16,679 a certain point. He did well. He was always a 769 00:49:16,679 --> 00:49:19,440 man of iron nerve, and the story is still told 770 00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:22,480 in India how he crawled down a drain after a 771 00:49:22,519 --> 00:49:27,360 wounded man eating tiger. There are some trees, Watson, which 772 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,079 grow to a certain height and then suddenly develop some 773 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:35,440 unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often in humans. I 774 00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:38,480 have a theory that the individual represents in his development 775 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:42,199 the whole procession of his ancestors, and that such a 776 00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:45,679 sudden turn to good or evil stands for some strong 777 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:49,360 influence which came into the line of his pedigree. The 778 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,880 person becomes, as it were, the epitome of the history 779 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:58,280 of his own family. It is surely rather fanciful. Well, 780 00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:02,320 I don't insist upon it, whatever the cause. Colonel Moran 781 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:06,599 began to go wrong without any open scandal. He still 782 00:50:06,639 --> 00:50:10,599 made India too hot to hold him. He retired, came 783 00:50:10,639 --> 00:50:14,599 to London, and again acquired an evil name. It was 784 00:50:14,639 --> 00:50:17,719 at this time that he was sought out by Professor Moriarty, 785 00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:21,760 to whom for a time he was chief of the staff. 786 00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:25,920 Moriarty supplied him liberally with money and used him only 787 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,920 in one or two very high class jobs, which no 788 00:50:29,119 --> 00:50:33,320 ordinary criminal could have undertaken. You may have some recollection 789 00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:36,840 of the death of Missus Stewart of Lauder in eighteen 790 00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:40,960 eighty seven. Not well. I'm sure Moran was at the 791 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:45,000 bottom of it, but nothing could be proved. So cleverly 792 00:50:45,079 --> 00:50:48,199 was the Colonel concealed that even when the Moriarty gang 793 00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:52,280 was broken up, we could not incriminate him. You remember 794 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:55,239 at that date, when I called upon you in your rooms, 795 00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:57,599 how I put up the shutters for fear of air guns. 796 00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:02,039 No doubt you thought me fanciful. I knew exactly what 797 00:51:02,119 --> 00:51:04,840 I was doing, for I knew of the existence of 798 00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:08,360 this remarkable gun, and I knew also that one of 799 00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:10,800 the best shots in the world would be behind it. 800 00:51:11,559 --> 00:51:14,719 When we were in Switzerland, he followed us with Moriarty, 801 00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:18,360 and it was undoubtedly he who gave me that evil 802 00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:22,880 five minutes on the Reichenbach Ledge. You may think that 803 00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:25,760 I read the papers with some attention during my sojourn 804 00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:28,599 in France, on the lookout for any chance of laying 805 00:51:28,679 --> 00:51:31,559 him by the heels. So long as he was free 806 00:51:31,599 --> 00:51:34,639 in London, my life would really not have been worth 807 00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:38,079 living night and day. The shadow would have been over me, 808 00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:42,440 and sooner or later his chance must have come. What 809 00:51:42,599 --> 00:51:45,519 could I do? I could not shoot him at sight, 810 00:51:46,199 --> 00:51:48,920 or I should myself be in the dock. There was 811 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,800 no use appealing to a magistrate. They cannot interfere on 812 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:54,800 the strength of what would appear to them to be 813 00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:58,760 a wild suspicion. So I could do nothing. But I 814 00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:02,079 watched the criminal new, knowing that sooner or later I 815 00:52:02,119 --> 00:52:06,199 should get him. Then came the death of this Ronald Adare. 816 00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:10,920 My chance had come at last, knowing what I did. 817 00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:14,159 Was it not certain that Colonel Moran had done it? 818 00:52:15,079 --> 00:52:18,000 He had played cards with the lad he had followed 819 00:52:18,039 --> 00:52:21,239 him home from the club. He had shot him through 820 00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:24,400 the open window. There was not a doubt of it. 821 00:52:25,199 --> 00:52:27,440 The bullets alone are enough to put this head in 822 00:52:27,519 --> 00:52:31,679 a noose. I came over at once. I was seen 823 00:52:31,719 --> 00:52:34,960 by the sentinel, who would I knew, direct the Colonel's 824 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:39,119 attention to my presence. He could not fail to connect 825 00:52:39,159 --> 00:52:43,159 my sudden return with his crime, and to be terribly alarmed. 826 00:52:44,119 --> 00:52:46,039 I was sure that he would make an attempt to 827 00:52:46,039 --> 00:52:49,679 get me out of the way at once, and would 828 00:52:49,679 --> 00:52:53,960 bring round his murderous weapon for that purpose. I left 829 00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:58,239 him an excellent mark in the window, and having warned 830 00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:01,800 the police that they might be needed. By the way, Watson, 831 00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:06,000 you spotted their presence in that doorway with unerring accuracy. 832 00:53:07,039 --> 00:53:08,599 I took up what seemed to me to be a 833 00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:13,000 judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he would choose 834 00:53:13,039 --> 00:53:16,920 the same spot for his attack. Now, my dear Watson, 835 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:21,880 does anything remain for me to explain? Yes, said I, 836 00:53:22,679 --> 00:53:25,519 You've not made it clear what was Colonel Moran's motive 837 00:53:26,039 --> 00:53:31,800 in murdering the Honorable Ronald Adare. Ah, My dear Watson, 838 00:53:32,440 --> 00:53:35,920 There we come into those realms of conjecture where the 839 00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:39,719 most logical mind may be at fault. Each may form 840 00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:43,440 his own hypothesis upon the present evidence, and yours is 841 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:47,639 as likely to be correct as mine. You have formed one, then, 842 00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:51,599 I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts. 843 00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:55,480 It came out in evidence that Colonel Moran and young 844 00:53:55,519 --> 00:53:58,599 Adare had between them won a considerable amount of money. 845 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:04,760 Now Miran undoubtedly played foul of that. I'm long been aware. 846 00:54:05,639 --> 00:54:07,760 I believe that on the day of the murder, Adair 847 00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:11,920 had discovered that Morn was cheating. Very likely he had 848 00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:15,440 spoken to him privately and had threatened to expose him. 849 00:54:15,519 --> 00:54:19,280 Unless he voluntarily resigned his membership of the club and 850 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:23,679 promised not to play cards again. It is unlikely that 851 00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:25,800 a youngster like a Dare would at once make a 852 00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:29,360 hideous scandal by exposing a well known man so much 853 00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:34,360 older than himself. Probably he acted as I suggest. The 854 00:54:34,519 --> 00:54:38,760 exclusion from his clubs would mean ruined to Moran, who 855 00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:43,119 lived by his ill gotten card gains. He therefore murdered Adair, 856 00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:46,119 who at the time was endeavoring to work out how 857 00:54:46,199 --> 00:54:49,440 much money he should himself return since he could not 858 00:54:49,599 --> 00:54:53,400 profit by his partner's foul play. He locked the door 859 00:54:53,519 --> 00:54:56,800 lest the ladies should surprise him and insist upon knowing 860 00:54:56,840 --> 00:55:00,280 what he was doing with these names and coins. Will 861 00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:03,360 it pass? I have no doubt that you have hit 862 00:55:03,440 --> 00:55:07,639 upon the truth. It will be verified or disproved at 863 00:55:07,679 --> 00:55:13,119 the trial. Meanwhile, come what may, Colonel Moran will trouble 864 00:55:13,199 --> 00:55:16,480 us no more. The famous heir gun of von Herder 865 00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:21,599 will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum, and once again mister 866 00:55:21,639 --> 00:55:25,000 Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to examining 867 00:55:25,039 --> 00:55:29,159 those interesting little problems which the complex life of London 868 00:55:29,639 --> 00:55:34,840 so plentifully presents. End of the empty house,