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The Greek Interpreter - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: The Greek interpreter. During my long and intimate acquaintance with
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Speaker 1: mister Sherlock Holmes, I had never heard him refer to
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Speaker 1: his relations, and hardly ever to his own early life.
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Speaker 1: This reticence upon his part had increased the somewhat inhuman
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Speaker 1: effect which he produced upon me, until sometimes I found
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Speaker 1: myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon, a brain without
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Speaker 1: a heart, as deficient in human sympathy as he was
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Speaker 1: pre eminent in intelligence. His aversion to women and his
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Speaker 1: disinclination to form new friendships were both typical of his
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Speaker 1: unemotional character, but not more so than his complete suppression
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Speaker 1: of every reference to his own people. I had come
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Speaker 1: to believe that he was an orphan with no relatives living.
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Speaker 1: But one day, to my very great surprise, he began
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Speaker 1: to talk to me about his brother. It was after
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Speaker 1: tea on a summer evening, and the conversation, which had
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Speaker 1: roamed in a desultory spasmodic fashion from golf clubs to
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Speaker 1: the causes of the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic,
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Speaker 1: came round at last to the question of atavism and
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Speaker 1: hereditary aptitudes. The point under discussion was how far any
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Speaker 1: singular gift in an individual was due to his ancestry,
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Speaker 1: and how far to his own early training? In your
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Speaker 1: own case, said I. From all that you've told me,
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Speaker 1: it seems obvious that your faculty of observation and your
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Speaker 1: peculiar facility for deduction are due to your own systematic training.
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Speaker 1: To some extent, he answered thoughtfully, my ancestors were country squires,
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Speaker 1: who appear to have led much the same life as
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Speaker 1: is natural to their class. But none the less, my
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Speaker 1: turn that way is in my veins, and may have
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Speaker 1: come with my grandmother, who was the sister of Vernay,
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Speaker 1: the French artist. Art in the blood is liable to
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Speaker 1: take the strangest forms. But how do you know that
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Speaker 1: its hereditary? Because my brother Mycroft possesses it in a
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Speaker 1: larger degree than I do. This was news to me. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: if there were another man with such singular powers in England,
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Speaker 1: how was it that neither police nor public had heard
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Speaker 1: of him? I put the question with a hint that
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Speaker 1: it was my companion's modesty which made him acknowledge his
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Speaker 1: brother as his superior. Holmes laughed at my suggestion, My
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Speaker 1: dear Watson, said he I cannot agree with those who
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Speaker 1: rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician, all things
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Speaker 1: should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate
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Speaker 1: one's self is as much a departure from truth as
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Speaker 1: to exaggerate one's own powers. When I say, therefore, that
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Speaker 1: Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you may
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Speaker 1: take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth.
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Speaker 1: Is he your junior, seven years my senior? How comes
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Speaker 1: it that he is unknown? Oh? He is very well
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Speaker 1: known in his own circle. Where then, well, in the
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Speaker 1: Diogenes Club, for example. I had never heard of the institution,
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Speaker 1: and my face must have proclaimed as much. For Sherlock
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Speaker 1: Holmes pulled out his watch. The Diogenes Club is the
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Speaker 1: queerest club in London, and Microft one of the queerest men.
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Speaker 1: He's always there from quarter to five to twenty to eight.
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Speaker 1: It's six now, So if you care for a stroll
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Speaker 1: this beautiful evening, I shall be very happy to introduce
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Speaker 1: you to two curiosities. Five minutes later, we were in
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Speaker 1: the street, walking towards Regent's Circus. You wonder, said my companion,
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Speaker 1: why it is that Mycroft does not use his powers
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Speaker 1: for detective work. He is incapable of it. But I
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Speaker 1: thought you said, I said that he was my superior
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Speaker 1: in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective
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Speaker 1: began and ended in reasoning from an arm chair, my
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Speaker 1: brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived.
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Speaker 1: But he has no ambition and no energy. He will
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Speaker 1: not even go out of his way to verify his
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Speaker 1: own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take
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Speaker 1: the trouble to prove himself right. Again and again. I've
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Speaker 1: taken a problem to him and have received an explanation
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Speaker 1: which has afterwards proved to be the correct one. And
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Speaker 1: yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical
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Speaker 1: points which must be gone into before a case could
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Speaker 1: be laid before a judge or jury. It is not
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Speaker 1: his profession, then, by no means. What is to me
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Speaker 1: a means of livelihood is to him the merest hobby
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Speaker 1: of a dilettante. He has an extraordinary faculty for figures
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Speaker 1: and audits the books in some of the government departments,
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Speaker 1: microft lodges in Palmont, and he walked round the corner
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Speaker 1: into Whitehall every morning and back every evening from year's
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Speaker 1: end to year's end. He takes no other exercise and
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Speaker 1: is seen nowhere else except only in the Diogenes Club,
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Speaker 1: which is just opposite his rooms. I cannot recall the name,
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Speaker 1: very likely not. There are many men in London, you
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Speaker 1: know who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no
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Speaker 1: wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are
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Speaker 1: not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It
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Speaker 1: is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club
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Speaker 1: was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and
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Speaker 1: unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take
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Speaker 1: the least notice of any other one, save in the
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Speaker 1: stranger's room. No talking is under any circumstances allowed, and
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Speaker 1: three offenses, if brought to the notice of the committee,
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Speaker 1: render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one
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Speaker 1: of the founders, and I had myself found it a
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Speaker 1: very soothing atmosphere. We had reached pal Marle as we
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Speaker 1: talked and were walking down it from the Saint James's end,
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Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes stopped at a door some little distance from
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Speaker 1: the Carlton, and, cautioning me not to speak, he led
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Speaker 1: the way into the hall. Through the glass paneling, I
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Speaker 1: caught a glimpse of a large and luxurious room in
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Speaker 1: which a considerable number of men were sitting about and
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Speaker 1: reading papers, each in his own little nook. Holmes showed
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Speaker 1: me into a small chamber which looked out into pal marl,
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Speaker 1: and then leaving me for a minute, he came back
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Speaker 1: with a companion whom I knew could only be his brother, Mycroft.
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Speaker 1: Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock.
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Speaker 1: His body was absolutely corpulent, but his face, though massive,
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Speaker 1: had preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was
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Speaker 1: so remarkable, and that of his brother. His eyes, which
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Speaker 1: were of a peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to have
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Speaker 1: always retain that far away, introspective look which I had
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Speaker 1: only observed in Sherlock's when he was exerting his full powers.
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Speaker 1: I am glad to meet you, sir, said he putting
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Speaker 1: out a broad, fat hand like the flipper of a seal.
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Speaker 1: I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler.
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Speaker 1: By the way, Sherlock, I expected to see you round
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Speaker 1: last week to consult me over that manor house case.
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Speaker 1: I thought you might be a little out of your depth. No,
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Speaker 1: I solved it, said my friend, smiling. It was Adams.
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Speaker 1: Of course, Yes it was Adams. I was sure of
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Speaker 1: it from the first. The two sat down together in
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Speaker 1: the bow window of the club. To anyone who wishes
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Speaker 1: to study mankind, this is the spot, said Microft. Look
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Speaker 1: at the magnificent types. Look at those two men who
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Speaker 1: had come towards us, for example, the billiard marker and
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Speaker 1: the other. Precisely, what do you make of the other.
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Speaker 1: The two men had stopped opposite the window. Some chalk
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Speaker 1: marks over the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of
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Speaker 1: billiards which I could see in one of them. The
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Speaker 1: other was a very small, dark fellow, with his hat
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Speaker 1: pushed back and several packages under his arm. An old soldier,
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Speaker 1: I perceive, said Sherlock, and very recently discharged, remarked the
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Speaker 1: brother served in India, I see, And a non commissioned
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Speaker 1: officer Royal Artillery. I fancy, said Sherlock. And a widower,
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Speaker 1: but with a child. Children, My dear boy, children, come,
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Speaker 1: said I, laughing. This is a little too much, surely,
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Speaker 1: answered Holmes. It is not hard to say that a
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Speaker 1: man with that bearing expression of authority and sun baked skin.
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Speaker 1: Is a soldier is more than a private and is
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Speaker 1: not long from India. That he has not left the
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Speaker 1: service long is shown by his still wearing his ammunition
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Speaker 1: boots as they are called observed Microft. He had not
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Speaker 1: the cavalry stride yet. He wore his hat on one side,
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Speaker 1: as is shown by the lighter skin of that side
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Speaker 1: of his brow. His weight is against his being a sapper.
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Speaker 1: He's in the artillery. Then, of course, his complete mourning
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Speaker 1: shows that he has lost someone very dear. The fact
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Speaker 1: that he is doing his own shopping looks as though
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Speaker 1: it were his wife. He's been buying things for children.
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Speaker 1: You perceive there's a rattle, which shows that one of
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Speaker 1: them is very young. The wife probably died in child bed.
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Speaker 1: The fact that he has a picture book under his
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Speaker 1: arm shows that there is another child to be thought of.
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Speaker 1: I began to understand what my friend meant when he
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Speaker 1: said that his brother possessed even keener faculties that he
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Speaker 1: did himself. He glanced across at me in Microft, took
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Speaker 1: snuff from a tortoise shell box and brushed away the
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Speaker 1: wondering grains from his coat front with a large red
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Speaker 1: silk handkerchief. By the way, Sherlock said he, I have
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Speaker 1: had something quite after your own heart, a most singular
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Speaker 1: problem submitted to my judgment. I really had not the
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Speaker 1: energy to follow it up, save in a very incomplete fashion,
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Speaker 1: but it gave me a basis for some pleasing speculation.
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Speaker 1: If you would care to hear the facts, my dear microft,
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Speaker 1: I should be delighted. The brother scribbled a note upon
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Speaker 1: a leaf of his pocket book, and ringing the bell,
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Speaker 1: he handed it to the waiter. I have asked mister
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Speaker 1: Maelus to step across, said he Me. Lodges on the
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Speaker 1: floor above me, and I have some slight acquaintance with him,
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Speaker 1: which led him to come to me in his perplexity.
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Speaker 1: Mister Maelus is a Greek by extraction, as I understand,
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Speaker 1: and he is a remarkable linguist. He earns his living
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Speaker 1: partly as interpreter in the law courts, and partly by
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Speaker 1: acting as guide to any wealthy Orientals who may visit
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Speaker 1: the Northumberland Avenue hotels. I think I will leave him
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Speaker 1: to tell his very remarkable experience in his own fashion.
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Speaker 1: A few minutes later we were joined by a short
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Speaker 1: stout man, whose olive face and cold black hair proclaimed
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Speaker 1: his Southern origin, though his speech was that of an
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Speaker 1: educated Englishman. He shook hands eagerly with Sherlock Holmes, and
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Speaker 1: his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure when he understood that
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Speaker 1: the specialist was anxious to hear his story. I do
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Speaker 1: not believe that the police credit me on my word.
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Speaker 1: I do not, said he in a wailing voice, just
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Speaker 1: because they have never heard of it before. They think
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Speaker 1: that such a thing cannot be. But I know that
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Speaker 1: I shall never be easy in my mind until I
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Speaker 1: know what has become of my poor man with the
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Speaker 1: sticking plaster upon his face. I am all attention, said
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Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes. This is Wednesday evening, said mister Maelis. Well,
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Speaker 1: then it was Monday night, only two days ago. You
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Speaker 1: understand that all this happened. I am an interpreter, as
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Speaker 1: perhaps my neighbor there has told you, I interpret all languages,
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Speaker 1: all nearly all. But as I am a Greek by
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Speaker 1: birth and with a Grecian name, it is with that
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Speaker 1: particular tongue that I am principally associated. For many years
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Speaker 1: I have been the chief Greek interpreter in London, and
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Speaker 1: my name is very well known in the hotels. It
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Speaker 1: happens not unfrequently that I am sent for at strange
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Speaker 1: hours by foreigners who get into difficulties, or by travelers
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Speaker 1: who arrive late and wish my services. I was not
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Speaker 1: surprised therefore on Monday night when a mister Latimer, a
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Speaker 1: very fashionably dressed young man, came up to my rooms
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Speaker 1: and asked me to accompany him in a cab which
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Speaker 1: was waiting at the door. A Greek friend had come
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Speaker 1: to see him upon business, he said, and as he
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Speaker 1: could speak nothing but his own tongue, the services of
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Speaker 1: an interpreter were indispensable. He gave me to understand that
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Speaker 1: his house was some little distance off in Kensington, and
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Speaker 1: he seemed to be in a great hurry, bustling me
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Speaker 1: rapidly into the cab when we had descended to the street.
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Speaker 1: I say, into the cab, but I soon became doubtful
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Speaker 1: as to whether it was not a carriage in which
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Speaker 1: I found myself. It was certainly more roomy than the
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Speaker 1: ordinary four wheel disgrace to London, and the fittings, though frayed,
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Speaker 1: were of rich quality. Mister Latimer seated himself opposite to me,
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Speaker 1: and we started off through Charing Cross and up the
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Speaker 1: Shaftesbury Avenue. We had come out upon Oxford Street, and
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Speaker 1: I had ventured some remark as to this being a
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Speaker 1: roundabout way to Kensington, when my words were arrested by
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Speaker 1: the extraordinary conduct of my companion. He began by drawing
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Speaker 1: a most formidable looking bludgeon loaded with lead, from his pocket,
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Speaker 1: and switching it backward and forward several times, as if
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Speaker 1: to test its weight and strength. Then he placed it,
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Speaker 1: without a word, upon the seat beside him. Having done this,
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Speaker 1: he drew up the windows on each side, and I found,
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Speaker 1: to my astonishment that they were covered with paper so
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Speaker 1: as to prevent my seeing through them. I am sorry
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Speaker 1: to cut off your view, mister Maelis, said he. The
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Speaker 1: fact is that I have no intention that you should
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Speaker 1: see what the place is to which we are driving.
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Speaker 1: It might possibly be inconvenient to me if you could
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Speaker 1: find your way there again. As you can imagine, I
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Speaker 1: was utterly taken aback by such an address. My companion
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Speaker 1: was a powerful, broad shouldered young fellow, and apart from
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Speaker 1: the weapon, I should not have had the slightest chance
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Speaker 1: in a struggle with him. This is a very extraordinary conduct,
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Speaker 1: mister Latimer, I stammered. You must be aware that what
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Speaker 1: your doing is quite illegal. It is something of a liberty,
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Speaker 1: no doubt, said he, but will make it up to you.
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Speaker 1: I must warn you, however, mister Malus, that if at
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Speaker 1: any time to night you attempt to raise an alarm
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Speaker 1: or do anything which is against my interests, you will
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Speaker 1: find it a very serious thing. I beg you to
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Speaker 1: remember that no one knows where you are, and that
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Speaker 1: whether you are in this carriage or in my house,
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Speaker 1: you are equally in my power. His words were quiet,
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Speaker 1: but he had a rasping way of saying them, which
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Speaker 1: was very menacing. I sat in silence, wondering what on
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Speaker 1: earth could be his reason for kidnapping me in this
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Speaker 1: extraordinary fashion. Whatever it might be, it was perfectly clear
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Speaker 1: that there was no possible use in my resisting, and
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Speaker 1: that I could only wait to see what might befall.
15:54
Speaker 1: For nearly two hours we drove without my having the
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Speaker 1: least clue as to where we were going. Sometimes the
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Speaker 1: rattle of the stones told of a paved causeway, and
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Speaker 1: that others our smooth, silent course suggested usfalt but save
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Speaker 1: by this variation in sound, there was nothing at all
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Speaker 1: which could, in the remotest way help me to form
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Speaker 1: a guess as to where we were. The paper over
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Speaker 1: each window was impenetrable to light, and a blue curtain
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Speaker 1: was drawn across the glass work in front. It was
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Speaker 1: a quarter past seven when we left Pall Mall, and
16:30
Speaker 1: my watch showed me that it was ten minutes to
16:32
Speaker 1: nine when we at last came to a standstill. My
16:36
Speaker 1: companion let down the window and I caught a glimpse
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Speaker 1: of a low arched doorway with a lamp burning above it.
16:44
Speaker 1: As I was hurried from the carriage, it swung open,
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Speaker 1: and I found myself inside the house, with a vague
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Speaker 1: impression of a lawn and trees on each side of me.
16:53
Speaker 1: As I entered whether these were private grounds, however, or
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Speaker 1: bona fide a country was more than I could possibly
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Speaker 1: venture to say. There was a colored gas lamp inside,
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Speaker 1: which was turned so low that I could see little
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Speaker 1: say that the hall was of some size and hung
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Speaker 1: with pictures. In the dim light, I could make out
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Speaker 1: that the person who had opened the door was a small,
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Speaker 1: mean looking middle aged man with rounded shoulders. As he
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Speaker 1: turned towards us. The glint of the light showed me
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Speaker 1: that he was wearing glasses. Is this, mister Maelis, Harold
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Speaker 1: said he yes, well done, well done. No ill will
17:35
Speaker 1: mister Maelis, I hope, but we could not get on
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Speaker 1: without you. If you deal fair with us, you'll not
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Speaker 1: regret it. But if you try any tricks, God help you.
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Speaker 1: He spoke in a nervous, jerky fashion, and with little
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Speaker 1: giggling laughs in between, but somehow he impressed me with
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Speaker 1: fear more than the other. What do you want with me?
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Speaker 1: I asked, only to ask a few questions of a
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Speaker 1: Greek gentleman who is visiting us, and to let us
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Speaker 1: have the answers, but say no more than you are
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Speaker 1: told to say. Or here came the nervous giggle again.
18:08
Speaker 1: You had better never have been born. As he spoke,
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Speaker 1: he opened a door and showed the way into a
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Speaker 1: room which appeared to be very richly furnished, But again
18:18
Speaker 1: the only light was afforded by a single lamp half
18:21
Speaker 1: turned down. The chamber was certainly large, and the way
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Speaker 1: which my feet sank into the carpet as I stepped
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Speaker 1: across it, told me of its richness. I caught glimpses
18:31
Speaker 1: of velvet chairs, a high white marble mantel piece, and
18:35
Speaker 1: what seemed to be a suit of Japanese armor. At
18:38
Speaker 1: one side of it. There was a chair just under
18:41
Speaker 1: the lamp, and the elderly man motioned that I should
18:44
Speaker 1: sit in it. The younger had left us, but he
18:47
Speaker 1: suddenly returned through another door, leading with him a gentleman
18:51
Speaker 1: clad in some sort of loose dressing gown, who moved
18:54
Speaker 1: slowly towards us. As he came into the circle of
18:58
Speaker 1: dim light which enables me to see him more clearly,
19:02
Speaker 1: I was thrilled with horror at his appearance. He was
19:05
Speaker 1: deadly pale and terribly emaciated, with the protruding brilliant eyes
19:10
Speaker 1: of a man whose spirit was greater than his strength.
19:14
Speaker 1: But what shocked me more than any signs of physical
19:17
Speaker 1: weakness was that his face was grotesquely crisscrossed with sticking plaster,
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Speaker 1: and that one large pad of it was fastened over
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Speaker 1: his mouth. Have you the slate, Harold, cried the older man,
19:31
Speaker 1: as this strange being fell rather than sat down into
19:34
Speaker 1: a chair. Ah, his hands loose. Now, then give him
19:39
Speaker 1: the pencil. You are to ask the questions mister Melics,
19:43
Speaker 1: and he will write the answers. Ask him, first of
19:46
Speaker 1: all whether he is prepared to sign the papers. The
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Speaker 1: man's eyes flashed fire. Never he wrote in Greek upon
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Speaker 1: the slate on no condition, I asked, at the bidding
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Speaker 1: of our tyrant, only if I see her married in
20:03
Speaker 1: my presence by a Greek priest whom I know. The
20:07
Speaker 1: man giggled in his venomous way. You know what awaits you,
20:10
Speaker 1: then I care nothing for myself. These are samples of
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Speaker 1: the questions and answers which made up our strange, half spoken,
20:20
Speaker 1: half written conversation. Again and again I had to ask
20:24
Speaker 1: him whether he would give in and sign the documents.
20:27
Speaker 1: Again and again I had the same indignant reply. But
20:32
Speaker 1: soon a happy thought came to me. I took to
20:35
Speaker 1: adding on little sentences of my own to each question,
20:38
Speaker 1: innocent ones, at first to test whether either of our
20:42
Speaker 1: companions knew anything of the matter. And then, as I
20:46
Speaker 1: found that they showed no signs, I played a more
20:49
Speaker 1: dangerous game. Our conversation ran something like this, you can
20:54
Speaker 1: do no good by this obstinacy. Who are you? I care? Not?
20:59
Speaker 1: I a stranger in London. Your fate will be upon
21:03
Speaker 1: your own head. How long have you been here? Let
21:06
Speaker 1: it be so three weeks? The property can never be yours.
21:11
Speaker 1: What ails you? It shall not go to villains. They
21:16
Speaker 1: are starving me. You shall go free. If you sign
21:19
Speaker 1: what house is this? I will never sign. I do
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Speaker 1: not know you are not doing her any service. What
21:27
Speaker 1: is your name? Let me hear her say so Crati
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Speaker 1: days you shall see her. If you sign where are
21:36
Speaker 1: you from? Then I shall never see her? Athens another
21:42
Speaker 1: five minutes, mister Holmes and I should have wormed out
21:44
Speaker 1: the whole story under their very noses. My very next
21:48
Speaker 1: question might have cleared the matter up. But at that
21:51
Speaker 1: instant the door opened and a woman stepped into the room.
21:56
Speaker 1: I could not see her clearly enough to know more
21:58
Speaker 1: than that she was tall and graceful, with black hair,
22:02
Speaker 1: and clad in some sort of loose white gown. Harold
22:06
Speaker 1: said she, speaking English with a broken accent. I could
22:10
Speaker 1: not stay away longer. It is so lonely up there
22:14
Speaker 1: with only Oh, my god, it is Paul. These last
22:18
Speaker 1: words were in Greek, and at the same instant the man,
22:22
Speaker 1: with a convulsive effort, tore the plaster from his lips
22:25
Speaker 1: and screaming out Soffie. Soffie rushed into the woman's arms.
22:31
Speaker 1: Their embrace was but for an instant, however, for the
22:34
Speaker 1: younger man seized the woman and pushed her out of
22:37
Speaker 1: the room, while the elder easily overpowered his emaciated victim
22:41
Speaker 1: and dragged him away through the other door. For a moment,
22:45
Speaker 1: I was left alone in the room, and I sprang
22:48
Speaker 1: to my feet with some vague idea that I might
22:51
Speaker 1: in some way get a clue to what this house
22:53
Speaker 1: was in which I found myself. Fortunately, however, I took
22:58
Speaker 1: no steps, for looking up, I saw that the older
23:01
Speaker 1: man was standing in the doorway with his eyes fixed
23:04
Speaker 1: upon me. That will do, mister Maelis, said he you
23:09
Speaker 1: perceive that we have taken you into our confidence, so
23:11
Speaker 1: as some very private business we should not have troubled you.
23:15
Speaker 1: Only that our friend, who speaks Greek and who began
23:19
Speaker 1: these negotiations, has been forced to return to the east.
23:23
Speaker 1: It was quite necessary for us to find some one
23:26
Speaker 1: to take his place, and we were fortunate in hearing
23:29
Speaker 1: of your powers. I bowed. There are five sovereigns here,
23:34
Speaker 1: said he, walking up to me, which will I hope
23:37
Speaker 1: be a sufficient fee? But remember, he added, tapping me
23:42
Speaker 1: lightly on the chest and giggling. If you speak to
23:45
Speaker 1: a human soul about this one human soul, mind, well,
23:50
Speaker 1: may God have mercy upon your soul. I cannot tell
23:54
Speaker 1: you the loathing and horror with which this insignificant looking
23:58
Speaker 1: man inspired me. I could see him better now, as
24:01
Speaker 1: the lamp light shone upon him. His features were piky
24:05
Speaker 1: and sallow, and his little pointed beard was thready and
24:09
Speaker 1: ill nourished. He pushed his face forward as he spoke,
24:14
Speaker 1: and his lips and eyelids were continually twitching, like a
24:17
Speaker 1: man with Saint Vitus dance. I could not help thinking
24:21
Speaker 1: that his strange, catchy little laugh was also a symptom
24:25
Speaker 1: of some nervous malady. The terror of his face lay
24:29
Speaker 1: in his eyes, however, steel gray and glistening coldly, with
24:33
Speaker 1: a malignant, inexorable cruelty in their depths. We shall now
24:38
Speaker 1: if you speak of this, said he, We have our
24:41
Speaker 1: own means of information. Now you'll find a carriage waiting,
24:46
Speaker 1: and my friend will see you on your way. I
24:49
Speaker 1: was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle, again,
24:52
Speaker 1: obtaining that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden. Mister
24:57
Speaker 1: Latimer followed closely at my heels, and took his place
25:00
Speaker 1: opposite to me, without a word. In silence, we again
25:04
Speaker 1: drove for an interminable distance, with the windows raised, until
25:08
Speaker 1: at last, just after midnight, the carriage pulled up. You
25:13
Speaker 1: will get down here, mister Malis, said my companion. I
25:17
Speaker 1: am sorry to leave you so far from your house,
25:20
Speaker 1: but there is no alternative. Any attempt upon your part
25:23
Speaker 1: to follow the carriage can only end in injury to yourself.
25:27
Speaker 1: He opened the door as he spoke, and I had
25:29
Speaker 1: hardly time to spring out when the coachman lashed the
25:33
Speaker 1: horse and the carriage rattled away. I looked around me
25:37
Speaker 1: in astonishment. I was on some sort of heathy common
25:42
Speaker 1: mottled over with dark clumps of furze bushes. Far away
25:46
Speaker 1: stretched a line of houses with a light here and
25:49
Speaker 1: there in the upper windows. On the other side, I
25:52
Speaker 1: saw the red signal lamps of a railway. The carriage
25:56
Speaker 1: which had brought me was already out of sight. I
25:59
Speaker 1: stood gazing and wondering where on earth I might be
26:03
Speaker 1: when I saw some one coming towards me in the darkness.
26:06
Speaker 1: As he came up to me, I made out that
26:09
Speaker 1: he was a railway porter, Can you tell me what
26:12
Speaker 1: place this is? I asked, want'sworth? Common said he can
26:17
Speaker 1: I get a train into town if you walk on
26:20
Speaker 1: a mile or so to Clapham Junction, said he You'll
26:24
Speaker 1: just be in time for the last of Victoria. So
26:27
Speaker 1: that was the end of my adventure. Mister Holmes, I
26:30
Speaker 1: do not know where I was, nor whom I spoke with,
26:34
Speaker 1: nor anything save what I have told you, But I
26:37
Speaker 1: know that there is foul play going on, and I
26:40
Speaker 1: want to help that unhappy man if I can. I
26:43
Speaker 1: told the whole story to mister Microft Holmes next morning,
26:46
Speaker 1: and subsequently to the police. We all sat in silence
26:51
Speaker 1: for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative.
26:56
Speaker 1: Then Sherlock looked across at his brother. Any step apps,
27:00
Speaker 1: he asked. Microft picked up the daily News which was
27:04
Speaker 1: lying on the side table. Anybody is supplying any information
27:07
Speaker 1: to the whereabouts of a Greek gentleman named Paul Crataeides
27:11
Speaker 1: from Athens who is unable to speak English, will be
27:15
Speaker 1: rewarded A similar reward paid to anyone giving information about
27:19
Speaker 1: a Greek lady whose first name is Sophie x two
27:23
Speaker 1: four seven three that was in all the dailies. No answer.
27:29
Speaker 1: How about the Greek legation I have inquired? They know nothing.
27:34
Speaker 1: A wire to the head of the Athens police, then
27:38
Speaker 1: Sherlock has all the energy of the family, said Microft,
27:41
Speaker 1: turning to me, Well, you take the case up by
27:44
Speaker 1: all means, and let me know if you do any good. Certainly,
27:49
Speaker 1: answered my friend, rising from his chair. I'll let you know.
27:53
Speaker 1: And mister Meelus also in the meantime, mister Meelus, I
27:58
Speaker 1: should certainly be on my guard if I were you,
28:00
Speaker 1: For of course they must know through these advertisements that
28:03
Speaker 1: you have betrayed them. As we walked home together, Holmes
28:08
Speaker 1: stopped at a telegraph office and sent off several wires.
28:12
Speaker 1: You see, Watson, he remarked, Our evening has been, by
28:16
Speaker 1: no means wasted. Some of my most interesting cases have
28:20
Speaker 1: come to me in this way through mycroft. The problem
28:23
Speaker 1: which we have just listened to, although it can admit
28:26
Speaker 1: of but one explanation, has still some distinguishing features. You
28:31
Speaker 1: have hopes of solving it well, knowing as much as
28:35
Speaker 1: we do it will be singular. Indeed, if we fail
28:38
Speaker 1: to discover the rest, you must yourself have formed some
28:42
Speaker 1: theory which will explain the facts to which we have
28:44
Speaker 1: listened in a vague way. Yes, what was your idea? Then?
28:50
Speaker 1: It seemed to me to be obvious that this Greek
28:53
Speaker 1: girl had been carried off by the young englishman named
28:55
Speaker 1: Harold Latimer, carried off from where Athens? Perhaps Sherlock Holmes
29:02
Speaker 1: shook his head. This young man could not talk a
29:06
Speaker 1: word of Greek. The lady could talk English fairly well.
29:10
Speaker 1: Inference that she had been in England some little time,
29:14
Speaker 1: but he had not been in Greece. Well, then we
29:17
Speaker 1: will presume that she had come on a visit to England,
29:19
Speaker 1: and that this Harold had persuaded her to fly with him.
29:23
Speaker 1: That is more probable then the brother, for that I
29:27
Speaker 1: fancy must be the relationship comes over from Greece to interfear.
29:31
Speaker 1: He imprudently puts himself into the power of the young
29:34
Speaker 1: man and his older associate. They seize him and use
29:38
Speaker 1: violence towards him in order to make him sign some
29:41
Speaker 1: papers to make over the girl's fortune, of which he
29:44
Speaker 1: may be trustee to them. This he refuses to do.
29:49
Speaker 1: In order to negotiate with him, they have to get
29:51
Speaker 1: an interpreter, and they pitch upon this mister Maelis, having
29:55
Speaker 1: used some other one before the girl is not told
29:57
Speaker 1: of the arrival of her brother, and find it out
30:00
Speaker 1: by the merest accident. Excellent Watson cried Holmes. I really
30:06
Speaker 1: fancy that you are not far from the truth. You
30:09
Speaker 1: see that we hold all the cards, and we have
30:11
Speaker 1: only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part.
30:15
Speaker 1: If they give us time, we must have them. How
30:18
Speaker 1: can we find where this house lies? Well? If our
30:23
Speaker 1: conjecture is correct, and the girl's name is or was
30:27
Speaker 1: Sophie Cartrides, we should have no difficulty in tracing her.
30:32
Speaker 1: That must be our main hope. For the brother is,
30:34
Speaker 1: of course a complete stranger. It is clear that some
30:38
Speaker 1: time has elapsed since this Harald established these relations with
30:41
Speaker 1: the girl, some weeks at any rate, since the brother
30:45
Speaker 1: in Greece has had time to hear of it and
30:47
Speaker 1: come across. If they have been living in the same
30:50
Speaker 1: place during this time, it is probable that we shall
30:54
Speaker 1: have some answer to Microft's advertisement. We had reached our
30:58
Speaker 1: house in Baker Street while we had been talking. Holmes
31:01
Speaker 1: ascended the stair first, and as he opened the door
31:04
Speaker 1: of our room, he gave a start of surprise, looking
31:08
Speaker 1: over his shoulder. I was equally astonished. His brother, Microft,
31:12
Speaker 1: was sitting smoking in the arm chair. Come in, Sherlock,
31:16
Speaker 1: Come in, sir, said he blandly, smiling at our surprised faces.
31:21
Speaker 1: You don't expect such energy from me, do you, Sherlock?
31:24
Speaker 1: But somehow this case attracts me. How did you get here?
31:30
Speaker 1: I passed you in a hansom? There has been some
31:34
Speaker 1: new development. I had an answer to my advertisement. Ah, yes,
31:40
Speaker 1: it came within a few minutes of your leaving. And
31:43
Speaker 1: to what effect? Microft Holmes took out a sheet of paper.
31:48
Speaker 1: Here it is, said he written with a J pen
31:52
Speaker 1: on royal cream paper by a middle aged man with
31:55
Speaker 1: a weak constitution. Sir, he says, in answer to you
32:00
Speaker 1: your advertisement of to day's date, I beg to inform
32:02
Speaker 1: you that I know the young lady in question very well.
32:07
Speaker 1: If you should care to call upon me, I could
32:10
Speaker 1: give you some particulars as to her painful history. She
32:13
Speaker 1: is living at present at the Myrtles Beckenham, Yours faithfully, J. Davenport.
32:21
Speaker 1: He writes from Lower Brixton, said Microft Holmes, do you
32:25
Speaker 1: not think that we might drive to him now, Sherlock,
32:27
Speaker 1: and learn these particulars my dear Microft, the brother's life
32:32
Speaker 1: is more valuable than the sister's story. I think we
32:36
Speaker 1: should call at Scotland Yard for Inspector Gregson and go
32:39
Speaker 1: straight out to Beckenham. We know that a man is
32:42
Speaker 1: being done to death, and every hour may be vital.
32:46
Speaker 1: Better pick up mister Maelis on our way. I suggested
32:49
Speaker 1: we may need an interpreter. Excellent, said Sherlock Holmes. Send
32:55
Speaker 1: the boy for a four wheeler and we shall be
32:57
Speaker 1: off at once. He opened the table drawers, he spoke,
33:01
Speaker 1: and I noticed that he slipped his revolver into his pocket. Yes,
33:05
Speaker 1: said he in answer to my glance. I should say
33:08
Speaker 1: from what we have heard, as we are dealing with
33:11
Speaker 1: a particularly dangerous gang. It was almost dark before we
33:16
Speaker 1: found ourselves in Pall Mall at the rooms of mister Maelis.
33:19
Speaker 1: A gentleman had just called for him, and he was gone.
33:23
Speaker 1: Can you tell me where, asked Mycroft Holmes. I don't know, sir,
33:28
Speaker 1: answered the woman who had opened the door. I only
33:30
Speaker 1: know that he drove away with a gentleman in a carriage.
33:34
Speaker 1: Did the gentleman give a name, now, sir? He wasn't
33:38
Speaker 1: a tall handsome, dark young man. Oh, no, sir, he
33:42
Speaker 1: was a little gentleman with glasses, thin in the face,
33:45
Speaker 1: but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing
33:48
Speaker 1: all the time that he was talking. Come along, cried
33:51
Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes abruptly. This grows serious, he observed, as we
33:55
Speaker 1: drove to Scotland Yard. These men have got hold of
33:59
Speaker 1: Maelus again. He is a man of no physical courage.
34:03
Speaker 1: As they are well aware from their experience the other night,
34:06
Speaker 1: this villain was able to terrorize him the instant that
34:09
Speaker 1: he got into his presence. No doubt they want his
34:12
Speaker 1: professional services, but having used him, they may be inclined
34:17
Speaker 1: to punish him for what they were regard as his treachery.
34:21
Speaker 1: Our hope was that by taking the train we might
34:23
Speaker 1: get to Beckenham as soon or sooner than the carriage.
34:27
Speaker 1: On reaching Scotland Yard, however, it was more than an
34:30
Speaker 1: hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and comply with
34:33
Speaker 1: the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the house.
34:38
Speaker 1: It was a quarter to ten before we reached London Bridge,
34:41
Speaker 1: and half passed before the four of us alighted on
34:43
Speaker 1: the Beckenham platform. A drive of half a mile brought
34:47
Speaker 1: us to the Myrtles, a large dark house standing back
34:51
Speaker 1: from the road in its own grounds. Here we dismissed
34:54
Speaker 1: our cab and made our way up the drive together.
34:58
Speaker 1: The windows are all ark remarked the inspector. Bahow seems deserted.
35:05
Speaker 1: Our birds are flown and the nest empty, said Holmes.
35:08
Speaker 1: Why do you say so? A carriage heavily loaded with
35:12
Speaker 1: luggage has passed out during the last hour, the inspector laughed.
35:17
Speaker 1: I saw the wheel tracks in the light of the
35:19
Speaker 1: gate lamp. But where does the luggage come in. You
35:22
Speaker 1: may have observed the same wheel tracks going the other way,
35:26
Speaker 1: but the outward bound ones were very much deeper, so
35:29
Speaker 1: much so that we can say for a certainty that
35:32
Speaker 1: there was a very considerable weight on the carriage. You
35:35
Speaker 1: get a trifle beyond me there, said the inspector, shrugging
35:39
Speaker 1: his shoulder. It will not be an easy door to force,
35:42
Speaker 1: but we will try. If we cannot make some one
35:44
Speaker 1: near us. He hammered loudly at the knocker and pulled
35:48
Speaker 1: at the bell, but without any success. Holmes had slipped away,
35:52
Speaker 1: but he came back in a few minutes. I have
35:55
Speaker 1: a window open, said he. It is a mercy that
35:59
Speaker 1: you are on the side the force and not against it,
36:01
Speaker 1: mister Elmes remarked the inspector, as he noted the clever
36:05
Speaker 1: way in which my friend had forced back the catch. Well,
36:09
Speaker 1: I think that under the circumstances we may enter with
36:12
Speaker 1: our invitation. One after the other. We made our way
36:16
Speaker 1: into a large apartment, which was evidently that in which
36:19
Speaker 1: mister Milis had found himself. The Inspector had lit his lantern,
36:24
Speaker 1: and by its light we could see the two doors,
36:26
Speaker 1: the curtain, the lamp, and the suit of Japanese mail
36:30
Speaker 1: as he had described them. On the table lay two glasses,
36:34
Speaker 1: an empty brandy bottle, and the remains of a meal.
36:38
Speaker 1: What is that? Asked Holmes. Suddenly we all stood still
36:42
Speaker 1: and listened. A low, moaning sound was coming from somewhere
36:46
Speaker 1: over our heads. Holmes rushed to the door and out
36:49
Speaker 1: into the hall. The dismal noise came from upstairs. He
36:54
Speaker 1: dashed up, the Inspector and I at his heels, while
36:58
Speaker 1: his brother Mycroft followed us quickly as his great bulk
37:00
Speaker 1: would permit. Three doors faced up upon the second floor,
37:05
Speaker 1: and it was from the central of these that the
37:07
Speaker 1: sinister sounds were issuing, sinking sometimes into a dull mumble
37:12
Speaker 1: and rising again into a shrill whine. It was locked,
37:16
Speaker 1: but the key had been left on the outside. Holmes
37:20
Speaker 1: flung open the door and rushed in, but he was
37:22
Speaker 1: out again in an instant. With his hand to his throat.
37:26
Speaker 1: It's charcoal, he cried, give it time, it'll clear. Peering in,
37:31
Speaker 1: we could see that the only light in the room
37:33
Speaker 1: came from a dull blue flame, which flickered from a
37:36
Speaker 1: small brass tripod in the center. It threw a livid,
37:40
Speaker 1: unnatural circle upon the floor, while in the shadows beyond
37:44
Speaker 1: we saw the vague loom of two figures which crouched
37:47
Speaker 1: against the wall. From the open door, there reeked a horrible,
37:51
Speaker 1: poisonous exhalation, which set us gasping and coughing. Homes rushed
37:57
Speaker 1: to the top of the stairs to draw in the
37:58
Speaker 1: fresh air, and then dashing into the room, he threw
38:02
Speaker 1: up the window and hurled the brazen tripod out into
38:05
Speaker 1: the garden. We can enter in a minute, he gasped,
38:09
Speaker 1: darting out again. Where is a candle? I doubt if
38:13
Speaker 1: we could strike a match in that atmosphere. Hold the
38:15
Speaker 1: light at the door and we shall get them out
38:17
Speaker 1: my croft. Now, with a rush we got to the
38:20
Speaker 1: poisoned men and dragged them out into the well lit hall.
38:24
Speaker 1: Both of them were blue lipped and insensible, with swollen,
38:28
Speaker 1: congested faces and protruding eyes. Indeed, so distorted were their
38:33
Speaker 1: features that, save for his black beard and stout figure,
38:37
Speaker 1: we might have failed to recognize in one of them,
38:40
Speaker 1: the Greek interpreter who had parted from us only a
38:42
Speaker 1: few hours before at the Diogenes Club. His hands and
38:46
Speaker 1: feet were securely strapped together, and he bore over one
38:50
Speaker 1: eye the marks of a violent blow. The other, who
38:53
Speaker 1: was secured in a similar fashion, was a tall man
38:56
Speaker 1: in the last stage of emaciation, with several strips of
38:59
Speaker 1: stee making plaster arranged in a grotesque pattern over his face.
39:04
Speaker 1: He had ceased to moan as we laid him down,
39:07
Speaker 1: and a glance showed me that for him, at least
39:09
Speaker 1: our aid had come too late. Mister Meelis, however, still lived,
39:14
Speaker 1: and in less than an hour, with the aid of
39:16
Speaker 1: ammonia and brandy, I had the satisfaction of seeing him
39:19
Speaker 1: open his eyes, and of knowing that my hand had
39:22
Speaker 1: drawn him back from that dark valley in which all
39:25
Speaker 1: paths meet. It was a simple story which we had
39:29
Speaker 1: to tell, and one which did not but confirm our
39:32
Speaker 1: own deductions. His visitor, on entering his rooms, had drawn
39:36
Speaker 1: a life preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed
39:40
Speaker 1: him with the fear of instant and inevitable death, that
39:43
Speaker 1: he had kidnapped him for the second time. Indeed, it
39:47
Speaker 1: was almost mesmeric the effect which this giggling Ruffian had
39:50
Speaker 1: produced upon the unfortunate linguist, for he could not speak
39:54
Speaker 1: of him save with trembling hands and a blanched cheek.
39:58
Speaker 1: He'd been taken swiftly to Beckenham, and had acted as
40:00
Speaker 1: interpreter in a second interview even more dramatic than the first,
40:05
Speaker 1: in which the two englishmen had menaced their prisoner with
40:08
Speaker 1: instant death if he did not comply with their demands.
40:12
Speaker 1: Finally finding him proof against every threat, they had hurled
40:16
Speaker 1: him back into his prison, and after reproaching Melas with
40:19
Speaker 1: his treachery which appeared from the newspaper advertisement, they had
40:23
Speaker 1: stunned him with a blow from a stick, and he
40:26
Speaker 1: remembered nothing more until he found us bending over him.
40:30
Speaker 1: And this was a singular case of the Grecian interpreter,
40:34
Speaker 1: the explanation of which is still involved in some mystery.
40:38
Speaker 1: We were able to find out, by communicating with the
40:40
Speaker 1: gentleman who had answered the advertisement, that the unfortunate young
40:44
Speaker 1: lady came of a wealthy Grecian family, and that she
40:48
Speaker 1: had been on a visit to some friends in England.
40:51
Speaker 1: While there she had met a young man named Harold Latimer,
40:55
Speaker 1: who had acquired an ascendancy over her, and had eventually
40:58
Speaker 1: persuaded her to fly with him. Her friends, shocked at
41:02
Speaker 1: the event, had contented themselves with informing her brother at Athens,
41:07
Speaker 1: and had then washed their hands of the matter. The brother,
41:10
Speaker 1: on his arrival in England, had imprudently placed himself in
41:14
Speaker 1: the power of Latimer and of his associate, whose name
41:17
Speaker 1: was Wilson Kemp, a man of the foulest antecedents. These two,
41:24
Speaker 1: finding that through his ignorance of the language he was
41:26
Speaker 1: helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and
41:30
Speaker 1: had endeavored, by cruelty and starvation to make him sign
41:33
Speaker 1: away his own and his sister's property. They had kept
41:37
Speaker 1: him in the house without the girl's knowledge, and the
41:40
Speaker 1: plaster over the face had been for the purpose of
41:42
Speaker 1: making recognition difficult in case she should ever catch a
41:45
Speaker 1: glimpse of him. Her feminine perception, however, had instantly seen
41:51
Speaker 1: through the disguise when, on the occasion of the interpreter's visit,
41:54
Speaker 1: she had seen him for the first time. The poor girl, however,
41:59
Speaker 1: was herself a prisoner, for there was no one about
42:02
Speaker 1: the house except the man who acted as coachman and
42:05
Speaker 1: his wife, both of whom were tools of the conspirators.
42:10
Speaker 1: Finding that their secret was out and that their prisoner
42:13
Speaker 1: was not to be coerced, the two villains with the
42:16
Speaker 1: girl had fled away at a few hours notice from
42:19
Speaker 1: the furnished house which they had hired, having first, as
42:23
Speaker 1: they thought, taken vengeance upon both the man who had
42:26
Speaker 1: defied and the one who had betrayed them. Months afterwards,
42:31
Speaker 1: a curious newspaper cutting reached us from Buda Pest. It
42:36
Speaker 1: told how two Englishmen who had been traveling with a
42:38
Speaker 1: woman had met with a tragic end. They had each
42:42
Speaker 1: been stabbed, it seems, and the Hungarian police were of
42:45
Speaker 1: opinion that they had quarreled and had inflicted mortal injuries
42:49
Speaker 1: upon each other. Holmes, however, is I fancy of a
42:53
Speaker 1: different way of thinking? And holds to this day that
42:56
Speaker 1: if one could find the Grecian girl, one might learn
43:00
Speaker 1: how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to
43:03
Speaker 1: be avenged. End of the Greek interpreter