WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.120 The Five Orange Pips by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. When 2 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.559 I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlockombs 3 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.800 cases between the years eighty two and ninety, I am 4 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:14.199 faced by so many which present strange and interesting features 5 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:16.920 that it is no easy matter to know which to 6 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:20.879 choose and which to leave. Some, however, have already gained 7 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.960 publicity through the papers, and others have not offered a 8 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.239 field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in 9 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.600 so high a degree, and which it is the object 10 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.359 of these papers to illustrate. Some too, have baffled his 11 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:38.200 analytical skill, and would be as narratives beginnings without an ending, 12 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.799 while others have been but partially cleared up, and have 13 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:45.600 their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and surmise than on 14 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:49.240 that absolute logical proof which were so dear to him. 15 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:52.600 There is, however, one of these last, which was so 16 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:56.119 remarkable in its details and so startling in its results, 17 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:58.479 that I am tempted to give some account of it, 18 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:00.799 in spite of the fact that there are points in 19 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.280 connection with it which have never been and probably never 20 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:09.040 will be entirely cleared up. The year eighty seven furnished 21 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.159 us with a long series of cases of greater or 22 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:15.120 less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my 23 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.000 headings under this one twelve months, I find an account 24 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:21.560 of the adventures of the Paradol Chamber of the Amateur 25 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:25.000 Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower 26 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.400 vult of Furniture Warehouse, of the facts connected with the 27 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.719 loss of the British bark Sophie Anderson, of the singular 28 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.280 adventures of the Greis Pattersons in the island of Upha, 29 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:38.760 And finally of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, 30 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:41.879 as may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding 31 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:44.359 up the dead's man's watch, to prove that it had 32 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.480 been wound up two hours before, and that therefore the 33 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:50.760 deceased had gone to bed within that time, a deduction 34 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:53.200 which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the case. 35 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.120 All these I may sketch out at some future date, 36 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:00.560 but none of them present such singular features as the 37 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:03.920 strange strain of circumstances which had now taken up my 38 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:08.039 pen to describe. It was in the latter days of 39 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.360 September and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. 40 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.800 All day, the wind had screamed and the rain had 41 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.840 beaten against the windows, so that even here in the 42 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.199 heart of grand hand made London, we were forced to 43 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:24.840 raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life, 44 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:28.240 and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces 45 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.680 which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilization, 46 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.639 like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, 47 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.520 the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried 48 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:45.000 and sobbed like a child in the chimney. Sholockolms sat 49 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.919 moodily at one side of the fireplace, cross indexing his 50 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.560 records of crime, while I at the other, was deep 51 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:55.000 in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories, until the 52 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.039 howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with 53 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:59.759 the text, and the splash of the rain to lengthen 54 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:03.599 out into the long swash of the sea waves. My 55 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.000 wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for 56 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:08.520 a few days I was a dweller once more in 57 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:13.840 my old quarters at Baker Street. Why said I, glancing 58 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.000 up at my companion, that was surely the bell who 59 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:21.800 could come to night some friend of yours, perhaps, except yourselves, 60 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:24.759 I have none, he answered, I do not encourage visitors 61 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.240 a cland then if so it is a serious case. 62 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:30.960 Nothing less would bring a man out on such a 63 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:33.080 day and at such an hour. But I take it 64 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:35.000 that it is more likely to be some crony of 65 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:40.000 the landlady's Sherlock. Combs was wrong in his conjecture, however, 66 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:42.240 for there came a step in the passage, and a 67 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:45.520 tapping at the door. He stretched out his long arm 68 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.639 to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the 69 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:51.479 vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Come in, 70 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:56.080 said he. The man who entered was young, some two 71 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.120 and twenty at the outside, well groomed and trimly clad, 72 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:03.199 with something of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The 73 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:05.680 streaming umbrella which he held in his hand, and his 74 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:09.159 long shining waterproof told of the fierce weather through which 75 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:12.599 he had come. He looked about him anxiously on the 76 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:14.439 glare of the lamp, and I could see that his 77 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:17.759 face was pale, and his eyes heavy, like those of 78 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:20.439 a man who is weighed down with some great anxiety. 79 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.839 I owe you an apology, he said, raising his golden 80 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:27.360 parson ney to his eyes. I trust that I am 81 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:29.800 not intruding. I fear that I have brought some traces 82 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:33.240 of the storm and rain into your snug chamber. Now 83 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:35.759 give me your coat and umbrella, said Holmes. They may 84 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.560 rest here on the hook and will be dry. Presently. 85 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:41.480 You have come up from the southwest. I see, yes, 86 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.959 from Horsham. That clay and chalk mixture which I see 87 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:49.480 upon your toe caps is quite distinctive. I've come for advice, 88 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:53.079 and that is easy to God, and help that is 89 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:56.680 not always so easy. I have heard of you, mister Holmes. 90 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.480 I heard from Major Prendergarst how you saved him in 91 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.800 the tank of the club scandal, and of course he 92 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.360 was wrongly accused of cheating at cards. He said that 93 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:10.040 you could solve anything. He said too much, that you 94 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.600 are never beaten. I have been beaten four times, three 95 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.720 times by men and once by a woman. But what 96 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.040 is that compared with the number of your successes. It 97 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:23.439 is true that I have been generally successful. Then you 98 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:26.160 may be so with me. I beg that you will 99 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:27.759 draw your chair up to the far and favor him 100 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:31.160 with some details as to your case. It is no 101 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:33.920 ordinary one. None of those which come to me are. 102 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:38.079 I am the last court of appeal. And yet I 103 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.319 question sir, whether, in all your experience you have ever 104 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.680 listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events 105 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:46.879 than those which have happened in my own family. Hm. 106 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:49.560 You fill me with interest, said Holmes. Pray, give us 107 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:52.000 your central facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards 108 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.160 question you as to those details which seem to me 109 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:58.560 to be most important. The young man pulled up his 110 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:02.439 chair and pushed his way feet out towards the blaze. 111 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:07.199 My name, said, he is John Openshaw. But my own 112 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:09.560 affairs have, as far as I can understand, little to 113 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:13.360 do with this awful business. It's an hereditary matter. So 114 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.360 in order to give you any idea of the facts, 115 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:17.560 I must go back to the commencement of the affair. 116 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.560 You must know that my grandfather had two sons, my 117 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:26.560 uncle Elias and my father Joseph. My father had a 118 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:28.920 small factory at Coventry, which he enlarged at the time 119 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.040 of the invention of bicycling. He was a patentee of 120 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.560 the open Show Unbreakable tire, and his business met with 121 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:38.160 such success that he was able to sell it and 122 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:43.600 to retire upon a handsome competence. My uncle Elias emigrated 123 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:45.759 to America when he was a young man and became 124 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:48.800 a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have 125 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:51.759 done very well. At the time of the war, he 126 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:55.160 fought in Jackson's army and afterwards under Hood, where he 127 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:59.279 rose to be a colonel. When Lee laid down his arms, 128 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:01.920 my uncle returned and to his plantation, where he remained 129 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.040 for three or four years. About eighteen sixty nine or 130 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.879 eighteen seventy he came back to Europe and took a 131 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:12.600 small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. He had made a 132 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.360 very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for 133 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.439 leaving them was his aversion to the Negroes and his 134 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:21.959 dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them. 135 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.720 He was a singular man, fierce and quick tempered, very 136 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:29.480 foul mouthed when he was angry, and of a most 137 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:33.920 retiring disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, 138 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.040 I doubt if he ever set foot in the town. 139 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:39.360 He had a garden and two or three fields round 140 00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:42.639 his house, and there he would take his exercise, though 141 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:45.040 very often for weeks on end he would never leave 142 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:48.279 his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and 143 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.480 smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and 144 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:53.639 did not want any friends, not even his own brother. 145 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.360 He didn't mind me, in fact, he took a fancy 146 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.680 to me, for at the time when he saw me first, 147 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:04.079 I was a youngster of twelve or so. This would 148 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:06.839 be the year eighteen seventy eight, after he had been 149 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:10.360 eight or nine years in England. He begged my father 150 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:12.680 to let me live with him, and he was very 151 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.800 kind to me in his way. When he was sober. 152 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:18.079 He used to be fond of playing black gammon and 153 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:20.600 drafts with me, and he would make his representative both 154 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:23.319 with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by 155 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.600 the time I was sixteen, I was quite master of 156 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:28.959 the house. I kept all the keys, and he could 157 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.319 go where I liked and do what I liked, so 158 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.639 long as I did not disturb in him his privacy. 159 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.080 There was one singular exception, however, for he had a 160 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:42.320 single room, a lumber room up among the attics, which 161 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:45.279 was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either 162 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:49.960 me or any one else to enter. With a boy's curiosity, 163 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.399 I had peeped through the keyhole, but I was never 164 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.240 able to see more than such a collection of old 165 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:57.120 trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room. 166 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:03.000 One day he was in March eighteen eighty three, a 167 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:05.399 letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in 168 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:08.799 front of the colonel's plate. It was not a common 169 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.399 thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were 170 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.000 all paid in ready money, and he had no friends 171 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.679 of any sort from India, said he. He took it up. 172 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:22.759 PONDI jerry postmark, what can this be? Opening it hurriedly, 173 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:28.440 out there jumped five little dried orange pips, which pattered 174 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.120 down upon his plate. I began to laugh at this, 175 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:34.720 but the laugh was struck from my lips at the 176 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.960 sight of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes 177 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.759 were protruding, his skin the color of putty, and he 178 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.720 glared the envelope, which he still held in his trembling hand. 179 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:48.559 Kay Kay, Kay, he shrieked. And then, my god, my god, 180 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:54.480 my sins have overtaken me. What is it? Uncle? I cried? Death, 181 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:58.320 said he, and rising from the table, he retired to 182 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:03.960 his room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up 183 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.360 the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink upon the 184 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:09.919 inner flap, just above the gum, the letter K three 185 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:15.720 times repeated. There was nothing else save the five dried pips. 186 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:20.279 What could be the reason of his overpowering terror? I 187 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:22.799 left the breakfast table, and as I ascended the stair 188 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.320 I met him coming down with an old, rusty key 189 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:28.159 which must have belonged to the attic in one hand, 190 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:31.080 and a small brass box like a cash box in 191 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:34.519 the other. They may do what they like, but I'll 192 00:10:34.600 --> 00:10:38.200 check me them, still, said he, with an oath, tell 193 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:39.679 Mary that I shall want a fire in my room 194 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:42.080 to day and send down to Fordham the horseom lawyer. 195 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:46.720 I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived, 196 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.080 I was asked to step up to the room. The 197 00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:52.200 fire was burning brightly, and in the grate there was 198 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.480 a mass of black, fluffy ashes as of burnt paper, 199 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.279 while the brass box stood open and emptied beside it. 200 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:03.000 As I glanced at the box, I noticed with a 201 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.799 start that upon the lid was printed the treble K, 202 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:10.080 which I read in the morning upon the envelope. I 203 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.840 wish you, John, said my uncle, to witness my will. 204 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.759 I leave my state, with all its advantages and all 205 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:19.000 its disadvantages, to my brother, your father. Whence it will 206 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:21.039 no doubt descend it to you, if you can enjoy 207 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.200 it in peace, well and good. If you find you 208 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.840 cannot take my advice, my boy, and leave it to 209 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:29.240 your deadliest enemy, I am sorry to give you such 210 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:31.279 a two edged thing, but I can't say what turn 211 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.960 things are going to take. Kindest, sign the paper where 212 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:38.639 mister Fordham shows you. I signed the paper as directed, 213 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.840 and the lawyer took it away with him. The singular 214 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.799 incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression upon me, 215 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.679 and I pondered over it and turned it every way 216 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:49.759 in my mind, without being able to make anything of it. 217 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.120 Yet I could not shake off the vague feeling of 218 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.960 dread which it left behind. Though the sensation grew less 219 00:11:57.080 --> 00:12:00.519 keen as the weeks passed, and nothing happened to disturb 220 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:04.240 the usual routine of our lives. I could see a 221 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:07.240 change of my uncle. However, he drank more than ever, 222 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:09.559 and he was less inclined for any sort of society 223 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:12.039 most of his time he would spend in his room 224 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:15.559 with the door locked upon the inside. But sometimes he 225 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.480 would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy, and would 226 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:20.759 burst out of the house and tear about the garden 227 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:23.360 with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he 228 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:25.320 was afraid of no man, and that he was not 229 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:26.919 to be cooped up like a sheep in a pen 230 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:32.080 by man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, 231 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:35.480 he would rush tumultuously in at the door, and lock 232 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:37.960 and bar it behind him, like a man who can 233 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.519 brace it out no longer against the terror which lies 234 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.000 at the roots of his soul. At such times I 235 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:46.639 have seen his face, even on a cold day, glisten 236 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.679 with moisture, as though it were new raised from a basin. 237 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.440 While to come to an end of the matter, mister Holmes, 238 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.159 and not to abuse your patience, there came a knight 239 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:58.480 when he made one of those drunken sallies from which 240 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.000 he never came back. We found him when we went 241 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.080 to search for him, face downward in a little green, 242 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:07.600 scummed pool which lay at the foot of the garden. 243 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.879 There was no sign of any violence, and the water 244 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.279 was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having 245 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:19.039 regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of suicide. 246 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.399 But I, who knew how he winced from the very 247 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.399 thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself that 248 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:26.919 he had gone out of his way to meet it. 249 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.639 The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession 250 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.679 of the estate and of some fourteen thousand pounds which 251 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:39.080 lay to his credit at the bank. At one moment 252 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:42.039 Elmes interposed, your statement is I foresee, one of the 253 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.759 most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me 254 00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:46.679 have the date of the reception by your uncle of 255 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:50.799 the letter and the date of his supposed suicide. The 256 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.320 letter arrived on March tenth, eighteen eighty three. His death 257 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:56.679 was seven weeks later, upon the night of May. The 258 00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:02.440 second thank you pray proceed. When my father took over 259 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.639 the Harsham property, he, at my request made a careful 260 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:08.279 examination of the attic, which had always been locked up. 261 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:12.799 We found the brass box there, although its contents had 262 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:16.919 been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a 263 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:21.000 paper label with the initials of K K K repeated 264 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:26.480 upon it, and letters memoranda receipts, and a register written 265 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:30.559 beneath these, we presume indicated the nature of the papers 266 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:33.639 which had been destroyed by Colonel Openshore. For the rest, 267 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:36.000 there was nothing of much importance in the attic, save 268 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:39.000 a great many scattered papers and note books bearing upon 269 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.399 my uncle's life in America. Some of them were of 270 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:44.639 the wartime and showed that he had done his duty 271 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.600 well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. 272 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.639 Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the 273 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:53.639 Southern States, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he 274 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.759 had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet 275 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:02.360 bag politicians who been sent down from the North Well. 276 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:04.360 It was the beginning of eighty four when my father 277 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:06.639 came to live at Horsham, and all went as well 278 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:09.080 as possible with us until the January of eighty five. 279 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:12.559 On the fourth day after the new year, I heard 280 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.320 my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we 281 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:19.000 sat together at the breakfast table. There he was sitting 282 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:22.600 with a newly opened envelope in one hand and five 283 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:25.679 dried orange pips in the outstretched palm of the other. 284 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:28.879 He had always laughed at what he called my cock 285 00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:31.639 and bull story about the colonel. But he looked very 286 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:34.360 scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come 287 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:38.919 upon himself. Why what, what on earth does this mean? John, 288 00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:43.799 he stammered, My heart had turned to lead. It is 289 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:48.240 K K K, said I. He looked inside the envelope. 290 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:51.000 So it is, he cried. Here are the very letters, 291 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:54.399 But but what is this written above them? Put the 292 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.519 papers on the sun dial, I read, peeping over his shoulder. 293 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:03.559 What papers want sundial, he asked, the sundale and the garden. 294 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:05.879 There is no other, said I. But the papers must 295 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:10.559 be those that are destroyed. Uh, said he, gripping hard 296 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:13.080 at his courage. We are in a civilized land here, 297 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:16.039 and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Where does 298 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.519 the thing come from from? Dundee, I answered, glancing at 299 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.519 the postmark. Some preposterous practical joke, said he. What have 300 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:26.360 I to do with sun dials and papers? I should 301 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:30.279 take no notice of such nonsense. I should certainly speak 302 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:33.159 to the police, I said, and be laughed up for 303 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.600 my pains. Nothing of the sort, then let me do so. No, 304 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:39.759 I forbid you. You won't have a fuss made about 305 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.759 such nonsense. It was in vain to argue with him, 306 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:46.840 for he was a very obstinate man. I went about, however, 307 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:51.080 with a heart which was full of forebodings. On the 308 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.879 third day after the coming of the latter, my father 309 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:54.759 went from home to visit an old friend of his, 310 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.440 Major Freebody, who is in command of one of the 311 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:01.559 forts upon portsdown Hill. I was glad that he should go, 312 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:03.440 for it seemed to me that he was farther from 313 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.240 danger when he was away from home. In that, however, 314 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:11.400 I was in error. Upon the second day of his absence, 315 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:13.640 I received a telegram from the Major imploring me to 316 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.720 come at once. My father had fallen over one of 317 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:18.920 the deep chalk pits which are bound in the neighborhood, 318 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:22.599 and was lying senseless with a shattered skul. I hurried 319 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.720 to him, but he passed away without ever having recovered 320 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:30.039 his consciousness. He had, as he appeared, been returning from 321 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.680 Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown 322 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.799 to him and the chalk pit unfenced, the jury had 323 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:41.759 no hesitation in bringing a verdict of death from accidental causes. Carefully, 324 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.799 as I examined every fact connected with his death, I 325 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:46.920 was unable to find anything which could suggest to the 326 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:49.839 idea of murder. There was no signs of violence, no footmarks, 327 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:52.640 no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon 328 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.279 the roads. And yet I need not tell you that 329 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.680 my mind was far from at ease, and that I 330 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.720 was well nigh certain that some foul plot had been 331 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:07.599 woven round him. In this sinister way I came into 332 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.839 my inheritance. You will ask me why I did not 333 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.599 dispose of it. I answer because I was well convinced 334 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:16.960 that our troubles were in some way depended upon an 335 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.799 instant in my uncle's life, and that the danger would 336 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:24.279 be as pressing in one house as in another. It 337 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:26.480 was in January eighty five that my poor father met 338 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.880 his end, and two years and eight months have elapsed 339 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:34.160 since then. During that time I have lived happily at Horsham. 340 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:35.839 When I have begun to hope that this curse had 341 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:38.000 passed away from the family, and that it had ended 342 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:42.799 with the last generation, I begun to take comfort too soon. However, 343 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:46.799 yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in 344 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:51.279 which it had come upon my father. The young man 345 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:53.839 took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and turning to 346 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:57.400 the table, he shook out upon it five little dried 347 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:02.160 orange pips. This is the envelope. He continued to the 348 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:05.880 post markets in London Eastern Division, within the very words 349 00:19:05.880 --> 00:19:09.400 which are upon my father's last message, k k ky, 350 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:13.240 and then put the papers on the sun dial. What 351 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:19.839 have you done, asked Holmes. Nothing, nothing to tell the truth. 352 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.839 He sank his face into his thin white hands. I 353 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.599 have felt helpless. I felt like one of those poor 354 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:29.640 rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem 355 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:32.759 to be in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil 356 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:36.839 which no foresight and no precautions can guard against. Oh, 357 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.240 tut tut, cried Sherlock. Holmbs you must act, man, or 358 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:41.400 you are lost. Nothing but energy can save you. There 359 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:45.759 is no time for despair. I have seen the police. Ah, 360 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:49.880 they listened to my story with a smile. I am 361 00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:52.119 convinced that the inspector has formed the opinion that the 362 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:54.440 letters are all practical jokes, and that the deaths of 363 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:57.200 my relations were really accidents, as a jury stated, and 364 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:01.279 were not to be connected with the warnings. Holmes shook 365 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:05.359 his clenched hands in the air. Incredible imbecility, he cried. 366 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:09.079 They have, however, allowed me a policeman who may remain 367 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:11.599 in the house with me. Has he come with you 368 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:14.319 to night? No? His orders were to stay in the 369 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:19.079 house again, Holmes raved in the air. Why did you 370 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:21.000 come to me, he cried in a bubble. Why did 371 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:25.519 you not come at once? I did not know. It 372 00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:27.680 was only to day that I spoke to Major Prendergast 373 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:30.119 about my troubles, and was advised by him to come 374 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:33.279 to you. It is really two days since you had 375 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.680 the letter. We should have acted upon this. You have 376 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:38.319 no further evidence, I suppose, than that which you have 377 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:41.960 placed before us, no suggestive detail which might help us. 378 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.920 There is one thing, said John Openshaw. He rummaged in 379 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:49.839 his coat pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discolored 380 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:53.519 blue tinted paper, he laid it upon the table. I 381 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:56.359 have some remembrance, said he, that on the day when 382 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.640 my uncle burned the papers, I observed that the small, 383 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.640 un burned margins which lay amid the ashes were of 384 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:06.480 this particular color. I found this single sheet upon the 385 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:08.720 floor of his room, and I am inclined to think 386 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.240 that it may be one of the papers which had 387 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.799 perhaps fluttered out from among the others, and in that 388 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:16.880 way has escaped destruction. Beyond the mention of pips, I 389 00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:19.359 do not see that it helps us much. I think 390 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:22.119 myself that it is a page from some private dary, 391 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.119 that the writing is undoubtly my uncle's. Holmes moved the 392 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:29.559 lamp and we both bent over the sheet of paper, 393 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.319 which showed by its rugged edge that it had indeed 394 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:36.240 been torn from a book. It was headed March eighteen 395 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:41.880 sixty nine, and beneath with the following enigmatical notices. Fourth 396 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:48.759 Hudson came same old platform. Seventh set the pips on Macaulay, Paramore, 397 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:55.079 and John Swain as Saint p Augustin. Ninth. McCauley cleared tenth, 398 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:03.079 John Swain clad twelfth visited Paramore. Or well, thank you, 399 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:06.480 said Holmes, fulling off the paper and returning to our visitor. 400 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.200 And now you must, on no ac count, lose another instant. 401 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:11.799