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Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem (EP0978) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, Follow us on Twitter at
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Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com
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Slash Radio Detectives. Today's episode is brought to you by the financial support of
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our listeners. Thank you so much show for your support. You can support
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the show at support dot Great Detectives dot net. Now it's time for today's
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episode of Sherlock Holmes with special guest star Orson Wells. The Final Problem The
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Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. We present the original stories of the late Sir Arthur
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Conan Doyle dramatized anew with Sir John Gilgood as Sherlock Holmes, Sir Ralph Richardson
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as Doctor Watson, and today Orson Wells as Professor Moriarty. It is with
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a heavy heart that I come before you with the last adventure of my friend
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Sherlock Holmes. That I shall be able to relate. I have tried,
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in my humble way to chronicle some of our exploits together to demonstrate the singular
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gifts of that most remarkable of men. It lies with me now to tell
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you what occurred between Holmes and his arch enemy, Professor Moriarty, when at
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last they came face to face. Mister Sherlock Holmes, your efforts on the
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side of law and order seriously inconvenienced me. The situation between us is becoming
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an impossible one, mister Home. It simply cannot go on one or the
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other of us. Mister must die. Mister. It was in the spring
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of eighteen ninety one. You will remember, perhaps that, after my marriage
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and return to private practice, Holmes and I had drifted apart a little.
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I followed the newspaper reports of his cases, of course, and called on
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him quite often at the old rooms in Baker Street. Even so, however,
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many weeks would sometimes elapse between our meetings, and so it was with
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some surprise one April evening that I looked up and saw him standing before me
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in my study. Good evening, Watson, Oh, good evening, Holmes.
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Have you a cigarette for me? Oh? Is it great? Heavens
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man? How ill you look? Oh? I daresay I've been using myself
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up rather too freely of late old friend. You've no objection if I close
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your window shutters? No, of course not. Yeah, they're not afraid
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of anything, are you. I'll tell you the truth. I am rather
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but it's not like you, Holmes. What is it? Airguns? Air
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guns? What on earth do you mean? There's a new and deadly type
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of air gun, Watson, which has been specially designed by an old acquaintance
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of ours. What, Professor Moriarty, We could only be he from your
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tone the same a match? Give me a match with you, my day,
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fellow, Yes, of course, oh, thank you? Is a
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missus Watson at home? Oh no, she's on a visit to an armed
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alone. Good good. That makes it easier for me to propose that you
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should come away with me for a few days. Delighted? But where,
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oh the continent? Somewhere abroad? Abroad? Is that whiskey in the decanter?
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There? Now? Look here, Holmes, what's all this about?
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There's something more serious in your man other than you will Never did quite believe
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in the iniquities of Moriarty, did you, Watson? You've said so more
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than once I told you exaggerated a bit, after all, Professor MORIARTI is
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a respectable figure in public life, just so, And that's the very genius
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of the man. Even you, Watson, knowing me as you do,
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can't quite believe me when I tell you that he corrupts all London with his
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evil influence. Oh, I can't quite believe that. Oh, of course,
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to the world he's still the professor, a great mathematician. He's respectable.
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But what rell proof have you that he's anything else? None, well,
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at least not until this last month. And even now the chain isn't
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quite complete. Three days more, and I shall have him, Watson,
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three days more, if I live to see them. You can't seriously suppose
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that your life's in danger, homes No, you always love to be melodramatic,
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melodramatic. Listen, Watson, this this very morning, in those old
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rooms of ours in Baker Street, I saw him, face to face.
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I spoke to him, Moriarty, your distinguished professor. Within him a criminal
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strain of the most diabolical kind, that great white dome of a forehead,
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those hooded eyes, and the white face pushed forward, oscillating from side to
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side like a snake. Well, of course, if you believe the old
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heresy of physiognomy is not only that, of course not. I've worked for
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years to follow a thousand different threads, and every one of them has led
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to Moriarty. He's the Napoleon of crime. Watson, the secret organizer of
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almost everything evil that goes undetected in this great city of ours. There he
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sits and motionless, like a spider, in the center of its web,
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a web with a thousand strands, and he controls them everyone, but slowly,
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very slowly, my own secret plans to expose him a born fruit.
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Every day my knitt is drawing tighter, and he knows it, Watson,
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he knows the danger he is in. And that was why today he came
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to see me. I was playing my violin, as you know I often
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do when I want to think, and suddenly there he was, standing in
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the doorway, with his white face swaying in an evil way, peering at
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me with his hooded eyes. M Good morning, Professor Moriarty. Good morning
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to you, mister Sherlock Holmes. I believe how very charmingly you play.
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How kind of you to say so? Won't you be seated, Professor Moriarty,
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I can spare you just five minutes singularly good of you. Thank you.
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We'll sit down. May I say something personal, mister Homes. Certainly
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I'm surprised to discover that you are rather less crany development one might have expected,
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whereas you won the contrary, have rather more than I had imagined.
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Professor, you will recollect. I'm sure, however, that Beethoven's I did
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us both. How about our personal characteristics are highly relevant to the present situation.
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What have you really got to say to me? Well, perhaps I
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only suggested, of course, perhaps it is a dangerous habit to finger loaded
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firearms in the pocket of one's dressing guns to Holmes, Ah, even do
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you share that dangerous habit? Professor, I see that you keep your hand
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in the pocket of your morning coat. Supposing we lay our pistols and our
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cards on the table by all means, I was about to suggest it myself.
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See you favor the mouser type, mister Holmes, and without a silence,
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you must permit me to present you sometimes with one of these small devices
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of my own design. They are quite convenient in avoiding unpleasant noise. You
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know, how, better kind of your professor, you must ask the hangman
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to deliver it. To me as your last request. You evidently don't know
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me. On the contrary, I think I know you better than you know
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yourself. I wouldn't take up your gun again, Professor. I've already got
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you covered with mine, so I perceived, But I assure you it was
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only to give a harmless demonstration of the silencer of my own small accomplishments as
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a marksman. Mister Holmes, I've read in those accounts of doctor Watson that's
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somewhat b your part, no doubt, amiable friend of yours, that those
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marks on the wall they're made from your indoor revolver practice. Quite so.
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The initials there VR, Victoria, Regina, God save my majesty. Now
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that I see them, it seems they are not quite as symmetrical as they
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might be one side of the vis a. Look short, I think,
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permit me to correct the slip, Admirable Professor Mariarty. You were perfectly right.
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Of course, that little mistake has now been rectified. I would like
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how if I may to improve upon it. Your bullet mark is perhaps a
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shade smaller than my own. Permit me, Admirable mister Holmes's precisely above your
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own mark. Professor, the exact spot. I think, no, no,
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pray, don't look alarmed. My good l lady is quite accustomed to
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that noise. We shall not be disturbed, and dey'rely glad of it,
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for what I have to say is not without importance. Mister Holmes, shall
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we stop our fencing, and again, by all means, if you will
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permit me first to correct one statement that you made just now with reference to
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my friend doctor Watson. I am afraid I can hardly permit the adjective bovine
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in his accounts of my humble exploits. He's been good enough to exaggerate my
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own achievements, and has always been unduly modest about his own. He is
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a most upright and honorable gentleman, Professor, and very close to my heart.
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You may say what you will about me, but I can allow no
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derogatory words about him anywhere. Mister Holmes, I apologize, We who are
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about to die salute him, at least you do. You are very certain,
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aren't you, Professor Moriarty, that it is I who am going to
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die. There is no other course unless you listen to reason. The situation
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between us, mister Holmes is becoming an impossible one. It's if we come
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up, go on, it won't, I assure you. For these past
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few months, I've been working to put an end to it all at the
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earliest possible moment, and you have very nearly undone the careful endeavor of a
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lifetime, Sir, at least have seriously threatened it. No, no,
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no, no, don't moved your pistol again. I'm only taking out my
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memorandum book. I beg your pardon. I find it recorded here. And
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you crossed my path on the fourth of genuine homes. From the twenty third,
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you incommoded me. At the middle of February, I was seriously inconvenienced
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by you. The end of March I was absolutely hampered. And now at
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the close of April I find myself place in such a position through your continual
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persecution, that I'm in positive danger of losing my liberty, and that was
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certainly the end I had in view. Then you must drop it, mister
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Holmes, You really must. You know, not till after Monday, Professor.
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You know as well as I do that you've made a slip, one
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single tiny slip. For years, I've been aware of you Mariarty at the
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center of your organization. For juries, murder cases, robberies. A thousand
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crimes were planned by you. One hundred agents carried them out. Your subordinates
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were caught sometimes, but you never were. And yet you know you made
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that slip, that single tiny slip, and you know as well as I
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do, that it will destroy you. In three more days, my evidence
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will be complete. I shall have you exposed, brought to trial, condemned
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and hanged, and you can do nothing whatever to prevent it. My will
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is inflexible, and so is mine. Three days, do you say?
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And the further out the end will come. One or the other of us
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must die, sir, quite so the five minutes is a professor, and
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I must rarely ask you to excuse me in the pleasure of our conversation.
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I'm afraid that I've neglected business of importance elsewhere. Very well, then it
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seems a pity of st Holmes done what I could. I admit that it's
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been an intellectual pressure. Need to see the way in which you grapple with
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this affair. But I tell you solemnly, Sherlock Holmes, that if you
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are clever enough to bring destruction on me. You may rest assured that I
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shall do as much to you. You have paid me several compliments during this
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indiview, Professor, Let me pay you one in return. When I say
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that, if I were assured of the former eventuality, I would most cheerfully
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accept the letter. I can promise you the one, but not the other.
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Good day, mister Holmes, oh your pistol, professor, you may
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need it before Monday. Thank you, Good day, Professor. I think
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goodbye as the word mister Sherlock Holmes, goodbye. And so it was you
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see Watson, that singular interview with the greatest criminal of all time and his
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with the greatest detective. Oh thank you, my dear fellow. But but
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what are you going to do at home? I told you we leave for
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the continent. Mariot is not the man to let the grass grow under his
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feet. Already one or two accidents and nearly befallen me today upon myself.
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The police are gathering all my evidence against him. Everything will be complete in
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three short days. Meanwhile, I can only lie low. Are you able
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to leave your practice to come with me? I have an accommodating neighbor,
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Dear Watson. I knew I could count on you all right. Then,
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Now these are your instructions. Listen most carefully, instructions, homes, I
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assure you they are most necessary. Tomorrow morning, at eight forty five,
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you will take a handsome cab. I'll arranged for one to call you,
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and it must have baby to the letter Watson. You will leave the house
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alone tomorrow morning and take neither the first nor the second cab, which presents
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itself at the ranks, and the address to the cabman written on a slip
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of paper, and tell him not to throw it away, and I drive.
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I take it to Victoria Station. On the contrary, you drive to
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the strand end of the Lauda arcade I see, and then have your fare
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ready, and the instant your cab stops, pay him, and dash through
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the arcade, timing yourself to reach the other side at exactly a quarter past
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nine. Yes, but my dear, listen and listen carefully. It's vital.
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Our lives depend upon it. When you get there, you will find
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a broom standing close to the curb, driven by a fellow with a black
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cloak tipped with red. Say nothing, simply jump in and he'll drive you
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to Victoria in time for the Continental Express, where till I meet you homes
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the second coach from the front of the train, a first class carriage reserved
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for us. Good night, Watson, and as you value our lives,
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don't forget a single word of my instructions. No, no, no,
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of course, not home until we meet tomorrow. Then until we meet.
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I was infected myself with something of his own inner excitement and sense of menace.
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I took the hansom and then the brom with its massive hooded driver.
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I said nothing to him, as I was instructed, and he never spoke
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to me. A moment later we were rattling to the station. There he
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left me and drove off without a further glance, his face still hidden.
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There was no sign of Holmes, and my heart sank miserably. I found
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our reserved carriage, but through some confusion, a decrepit old Italian priest was
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sitting there. A moment came for departure. Still I waited by the window,
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in a chill of fear. Schools A senior prey goals, I don't
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speak at tell him, nor do I walk up. But Holmes, man,
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this is no laughing matter, not yet anyway, you see, stop,
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stop the train. It's Moriarty himself, the tall man. He'll never
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do it the train, I say, even the great Moriarty himself is helpless
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against the British railway system. Watson, Well, well, it gives us
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an hour's respite at least. But how did he know where we were?
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By watching you? I expect, But I did everything you told me.
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Wait Holmes, the driver of the broom. But what about him? He
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was muffled. I didn't see his face. It must have been one of
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Moriarty's men, right, dear Watson, there's nothing of the sort. It
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was my brother Mycroft, shaken for one side of his arm chair at the
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Diogenes Club. Or heavens the thing is here then, of course. But
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at least we have an hour, and I can use it to take off
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this disguise and think things over. But we've escaped him altogether, surely since
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the train connects with the boat. My dear fellow, you webb and they
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don't realize even now, but Moriarty is an opponent on practically the same intellectual
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plane as myself. Do you really imagine that if I were the pursuer,
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I will permit myself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle as an express
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training. What will he do? Then? What I should do? Engage
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a special But it'll be too late even then, I know. Means we
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stop at Canterbury, do forget, and then there's always a delay of a
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quarter of an hour when the train gets to Dover. Ah. I so
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you'd almost think we were the criminals to be chased like this. You mean
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he'll catch us after all that? I hope not. We shan't be there,
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I Watson, Look, look here, Holmes. I hate to grumble
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out all this time, but really I do think you ought to tell me
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what you mean. Heaven bless you for a startant, faithful friend. Watson.
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I'm sorry, it's only that. Well, well, I don't want
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to expose you to danger too. That's why I'm being so mysterious, which
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very simple really. We shall just get out at Canterbury. Indeed, and
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I've gone the continent after all. I suppose, yes, we must do
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that. We've no choice but to hide away until after Monday, when the
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evidence will have been completed. You've not seen the papers this morning, I
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suppose what time to think I've had for there. One must try to make
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time for everything. Watson, you really should have read about Baker Street.
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What Baker Street? Yes, they set fire to our rooms last night.
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Missus Hudson was away from home, fortunately, and no one was hurt.
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I'm glad to say they thought I was there. Of course, on my
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soul. The thing's intolerable. Yes, only till Monday, Watson and I.
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Then we'll be in Switzerland. We'll make a cross country journey from Canterbury
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and take the other boat from New Heaven to the app unless, of course,
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what our friend the professor deduces what I would deduce and gets off at
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Canterbury himself. Ah, that would truly be a couda matre. He surely
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never would. Were I rather doubted that our limits even to his intelligence.
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No, No, I think we are safe enough, old friend. And
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now there's time for a pipe. I fancy won't you join me? Watson?
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And thus it befell. As we hid behind a pile of luggage at
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Canterbury, we saw the single carriage of the Special Gulf thundering past us,
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And so we made our way across country and at last reached Switzerland. It
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seemed we had eluded him. To fill in every detail of the final scene
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is hardly possible, since there was no witness to it. Yet, from
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a certain source that I cannot yet divulge, I do know something of that
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last encounter. We wondered at our will through the lovely valley of the Rhone,
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and made our way by way of Interlachm to the little township of Mirgan
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among the Alps. The fatal monday came and went, and yet I was
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still aware of a strange, feebrile excitement in my companion. He was,
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at times feverishly on the alert, then, sinking into revere, would smile
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strangely to himself. I went with him on that last day of Wall on
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a visit to the falls of Reichenbach, forever hallowed and yet cursed in my
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memory. It's a fearful place, indeed, with a torrent plunging far below
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into a tremendous abyss, a chasm lined by coal, black glistening rock high
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above. Pathways been cut in the cliff face to afford a better view,
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but it ends abruptly in mid air, and the traveler I had to return
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as he came. We stood there guildily marveling at the great spectacle, And
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on the instant came a message for me by a village lad to say that
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an English lady back at the hotel was seriously ill and needed my immediate attention.
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I turned to go. I looked back, and I saw Holmes leaning
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against a rock with his arms folded, gazing down at the rush of the
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waters. Which was the last I saw? Is that you Watson back already?
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Well, Moriarty, Well, sir Lacas, you see I found you
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after all, and alone alone, as indeed you must be too. Your
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confederates are all under lock and key. I've heard from Scotland yard I escaped.
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I was too clever for them. Holmes, I don't doubt it.
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But I'm afraid your occupation's gone, Professor, with your organization destroyed. Unless
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you care to return to your mathematics. It was not my intention. I
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have another, more immediate intention, Sherlock Holmes. Are you prepared? But
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before we discussed that, perhaps you extend me one small courtesy, Professor,
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no surgeony, what is it? My friend Watson? Professor? No doubt
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he will be somewhat concerned. May I just take a moment to scribble a
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note to him. Certainly we can fix the paper beneath my help and stuff
23:45
there so it does not blow away. Pray, take as long as you
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wish. That's very good of you, peas, don't stop talking. Professor
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I mastered long ago the art of writing and conversing at the same time.
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Thank you. Know, of course it's a message to write it up to
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Watson as a falseman. Oh, yes, of course I knew it at
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once, and that it could only come from one source. And yet you
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let him go. Yes, Professor I let him go. I am not
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without some affection for him. I did not wish to put his life in
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danger too. Besides, he says, I have looked forward for a long
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time that this final duel between us. I believe at Holmes, you're a
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very remarkable man in many ways, many many ways, sir. I'm proud
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to have known you. Oh and I you, Professor There. My letters
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done, then, perhaps you will be kind enough to place it as you
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suggested. Now, how shall it be, moriarty, I did not bring
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a pistol, Holmes, Thank you. Your courtesy puts me to shame.
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Professor There, it is my pistol. It goes into the falls hand to
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hand. Yes, goodbye, Professor Moriarty, goodbye su Lack Homes the end,
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the end. When I returned to that broken pathway, it was only
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too clear what had happened. It needed no great application of Holme's own methods
25:55
of deduction. Two sets of footsteps to the verge, and none returning,
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locked in each other's arms as they fought. They had gone down to the
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abyss. Only the letter the last greeting from my friend and comrade, my
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dear dear Watson, he wrote, My dear dear Watson, I scribble this
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through the courtesy of Professor Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion
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of those eternal questions which lie before us. There can be but one outcome,
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although I fear that it is as the cost if you will give pain
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to my friends, and especially my dear Watson to you. I think,
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however, that I may go so fast to say that I have not lived
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entirely in vain pray. Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs for
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a full conviction of the Moriarty gang are in Pigeonhole m Before leaving England,
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I made every disposition of my property, and handed it over to my brother
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Mycroft. Pray give my affectionate greetings to missus Watson, and remember me as
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I used to be in our old days at Baker Street, pacing to and
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fro with my violin and driving you to a point of sad distraction. With
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that theme, he still were good enough to say you loved believe me to
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be my very dear good fellow, yours most sincerely, Sherlock Holmes, Yours
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most sincerely, Sherlock Holmes. And so he punished whom I shall ever regard
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as the best and wisest man that I have ever known. The Adventures of
27:56
Sherlock Holmes, based on the original stories of the late Sir Arthur and Doyle,
28:00
dramatized anew by John ker Cross, stars Sir John Gilgood as Sherlock Holmes,
28:06
Sir Ralph Richardson as Doctor Watson, and Today Orson Wells as Professor Moriarty.
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Produced by Harry Ellen Towers Welcome Back. I have to be honest that
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I'll listen to. The episode actually is one of the first ones when I
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was considering whether we would do this particular Sherlock Holmes series and I almost decided
29:14
not to do it, And trying to think of what I don't like about
29:21
this story, I think the big thing that that was an issue to me
29:30
is this feels this feels more stage. It could be the lack of lack
29:37
of a supporting a cast at all. You basically throughout the whole thing,
29:42
you've got Holmes, Watson and Moriarty, and as the feeling of three man
29:52
play rather than a typical radio drama. And I don't know. The other
29:56
thing I think that did was that Holmes and Moriarty were just ridiculously polite to
30:07
one another. Now some of this comes from the book, but you know,
30:11
when you're hearing it on the radio, it was a pleasure to know.
30:15
It was a pleasure to know you to Moriarty. Of course, the
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Sherlock Holmes story it's based on is uh in many ways, far from perfect.
30:26
The main throst of the story was to simply kill off Sherlock Holmes and
30:32
in the demand for new stories on Sir Arthur coded Doyle. This attempt,
30:37
of course, was ultimately unsuccessful, but that was the basic point of the
30:42
story as such. A Moriarty was originally written as a sort of plot device.
30:48
I will say that I enjoyed the original story Despotish Flaws and the Granada
30:56
Television adaptation more. But we have one more week for the series, the
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final episode. You'll want to be sure and tune in next Thursday as we
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wrap up the Gilgood Richardson series and our performance of Sherlock Holmes Radio Place.
31:17
On the bright side, we should have plenty of Sherlock Holmes video specials in
31:22
the future, but last two radio plays. Next week's the last one,
31:27
so I want to be sure and listen to that. In the meanwhile,
31:30
I'll send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detactives dot net, follow us
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Adam Graham's son and Off