Latest / Sherlock Holmes / 38b Wisteria Lodge (Part Two) from His Last Bow Remi

Transcript

38b Wisteria Lodge (Part Two) from His Last Bow Remi · Sherlock Holmes

0:00
Speaker 1: Two, the Tiger of San Pedro. A cold and melancholy
0:07
Speaker 1: walk of a couple of miles brought us to a
0:10
Speaker 1: high wooden gate which opened into a gloomy avenue of chestnuts.
0:15
Speaker 1: The curved and shadow drive led us to a low,
0:19
Speaker 1: dark house, pitch black against a slate colored sky. From
0:24
Speaker 1: the front window, upon the left of the door, there
0:26
Speaker 1: peeped a glimmer of a feeble light. There is a
0:29
Speaker 1: constable impossession, said Baines. I'll knock at the window. He
0:34
Speaker 1: stepped across the grass plot and tapped with his hand
0:37
Speaker 1: on the pane. Through the fogged glass eye dimly saw
0:40
Speaker 1: a man spring up from a chair beside the fire,
0:43
Speaker 1: and heard a sharp cry from within the room. An
0:47
Speaker 1: instant later, a white faced, hard breathing policeman had opened
0:51
Speaker 1: the door, the candle wavering in his trembling hand. What's
0:56
Speaker 1: the matter, Walters asked Baines sharply. The man mopped his
1:00
Speaker 1: forehead with his handkerchief and gave a long sigh of relief.
1:05
Speaker 1: I'm glad you've come, sir. It has been a long evening,
1:08
Speaker 1: and I don't think my nerve is as good as
1:10
Speaker 1: it was your nerve. Walters. I should not have thought
1:12
Speaker 1: you had a nerve in your body. Well, sir, it's
1:15
Speaker 1: this lonely, silent house and the queer thing in the kitchen.
1:18
Speaker 1: Then when you tapped at the window, I thought it
1:20
Speaker 1: had come again. But what had come again? The devil, sir?
1:24
Speaker 1: For all I know it was at the window? What
1:27
Speaker 1: was at the window? And when it was just about
1:30
Speaker 1: two hours ago the light was just fading. I was
1:34
Speaker 1: sitting reading in the chair. I don't know what made
1:37
Speaker 1: me look up, but there was a face looking in
1:38
Speaker 1: at me through the lower pane. Lord, sir, what a
1:41
Speaker 1: face it was. I'll see it in my dreams. Tut tut, Walters.
1:45
Speaker 1: This is not talk for a police constable. I know, sir,
1:49
Speaker 1: I know, but it shook me, sir, and there's no
1:52
Speaker 1: use to deny it. It wasn't black, sir. No is
1:55
Speaker 1: it white, nor any color that I know, but a
1:59
Speaker 1: kind of queer shade like clay who with a splash
2:03
Speaker 1: of milk in it. Then there was the size of it.
2:06
Speaker 1: It was twice yours, sir, And the look of it,
2:10
Speaker 1: the great staring goggle eyes and the line of white
2:13
Speaker 1: teeth like a hungry beast. I tell you, sir, I
2:15
Speaker 1: couldn't move a finger, and I'll get my breath till
2:18
Speaker 1: it whisked away and was gone out. I ran and
2:21
Speaker 1: through the shrubbery, but thank god there was no one there.
2:25
Speaker 1: If I didn't know you were a good man, Walters,
2:27
Speaker 1: I should put a black mark against you for this.
2:31
Speaker 1: If it were the devil himself, a constable arm duty
2:34
Speaker 1: should never thank God that he could not lay his
2:37
Speaker 1: hands upon him. I suppose the whole thing is not
2:40
Speaker 1: a vision and a touch of nerves that at least
2:44
Speaker 1: is very easily settled, said Holmes, lighting his little pocket lantern. Yes,
2:51
Speaker 1: he reported, after a short examination of the grass bed,
2:54
Speaker 1: a number twelve shoe. I should say, if he was
2:57
Speaker 1: all on the same scale as his foot, he must
3:00
Speaker 1: certainly have been a giant. What became of him? He
3:04
Speaker 1: seems to have broken through the shrubbery and made for
3:06
Speaker 1: the road, well, said the inspector, with a grave and
3:10
Speaker 1: thoughtful face. Whoever he may have been, and whatever he
3:14
Speaker 1: may have wanted, he's gone for the present, and we
3:18
Speaker 1: have more immediate things to attend to. Now, mister Holmes,
3:21
Speaker 1: with your permission, I will show you round the house.
3:25
Speaker 1: The various bedrooms and sitting rooms had yielded nothing to
3:28
Speaker 1: a careful search. Apparently the tenants had brought little or
3:33
Speaker 1: nothing with them, and all the furniture, down to the
3:36
Speaker 1: smallest details, had been taken over with the house. A
3:40
Speaker 1: good deal of clothing with the stamp of Marx and Co.
3:43
Speaker 1: High Hoburn, had been left behind. Telegraphic inquiries had been
3:48
Speaker 1: already made, which showed that Marx knew nothing of his customer,
3:52
Speaker 1: save that he was a good payer. Odds and ends,
3:55
Speaker 1: some pipes, a few novels, two of them in Spanish,
3:58
Speaker 1: an old fashioned pin fire revolver, and a guitar were
4:02
Speaker 1: among the personal property. Nothing in all this, said Baines,
4:06
Speaker 1: stalking candle in hand from room to room. But now,
4:10
Speaker 1: mister Elmes, I invite your attention to the kitchen. It
4:15
Speaker 1: was a gloomy, high ceilinged room at the back of
4:18
Speaker 1: the house, with a straw litter in one corner, which
4:22
Speaker 1: served apparently as a bed for the cook. The table
4:26
Speaker 1: was piled with half eaten dishes and dirty plates, the
4:30
Speaker 1: debris of last night's dinner. Look at this, said Baines,
4:34
Speaker 1: What do you make of it? He held up his
4:36
Speaker 1: candle before an extraordinary object, which stood at the back
4:40
Speaker 1: of the dresser. It was so wrinkled and shrunken and
4:44
Speaker 1: withered that it was difficult to say what it might
4:48
Speaker 1: have been. One could but say that it was black
4:52
Speaker 1: and leathery, and that it bore some resemblance to a
4:56
Speaker 1: dwarfish human figure. At first, as I examined it, I
5:02
Speaker 1: thought that it was a mummified Negro baby, and then
5:07
Speaker 1: it seemed a very twisted and ancient monkey. Finally I
5:13
Speaker 1: was left in doubt as to whether it was animal
5:16
Speaker 1: or human. A double band of white shells were strung
5:20
Speaker 1: round the center of it. Very interesting, very interesting, indeed,
5:25
Speaker 1: said Holmes, peering at this sinister relic anything more. In silence,
5:31
Speaker 1: bains led the way to the sink and held forward
5:34
Speaker 1: his candle. The limbs and body of some large white bird,
5:40
Speaker 1: torn savagely to pieces, with the feathers still on, were
5:44
Speaker 1: littered all over it. Holmes pointed to the wattles on
5:48
Speaker 1: the severed head a white cock, said he most interesting.
5:53
Speaker 1: It is really a very curious case. But mister Baines
5:58
Speaker 1: had kept his most sinister exhibit to the last. From
6:02
Speaker 1: under the sink he drew a zinc pail which contained
6:05
Speaker 1: a quantity of blood. Then from the table. He took
6:09
Speaker 1: a platter heaped with small pieces of charred bone. Something
6:13
Speaker 1: has been killed, and something has been burned. We raked
6:18
Speaker 1: all these out of the fire. We had a doctor
6:21
Speaker 1: in this morning. He says that they are not human homes,
6:26
Speaker 1: smiled and rubbed his hands. I must congratulate you, Inspector,
6:29
Speaker 1: on handling so distinctive and instructive a case. Your powers,
6:34
Speaker 1: if I may say so, without offense, seem superior to
6:38
Speaker 1: your opportunities. Inspector Baines's small eyes twinkled with pleasure. Your right,
6:45
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, We stagnate in the provinces. A case of
6:49
Speaker 1: this sort gives a man a chance, and I hope
6:52
Speaker 1: that I shall take it. What do you make of
6:54
Speaker 1: these bones? A lamb, I should say, or a kid
6:57
Speaker 1: and the white cock? Curious, mister Baines, very curious, I
7:02
Speaker 1: should say, almost unique, Yes, sir, there must have been
7:06
Speaker 1: some very strange people with some very strange ways in
7:09
Speaker 1: this house. One of them is dead. Did his companions
7:13
Speaker 1: follow him and kill him? If they did, we should
7:17
Speaker 1: have them, for every port is watched. But my own
7:20
Speaker 1: views are different, Yes, sir, my own views are very different.
7:24
Speaker 1: You have a theory then, and I'll work it myself,
7:26
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, as only due to my own credit to
7:29
Speaker 1: do so. Your name is made, but I still have
7:32
Speaker 1: to make mine. I should be glad to be able
7:35
Speaker 1: to say afterwards that I had solved it without your help.
7:39
Speaker 1: Holmes laughed, good humoredly. Well, well, inspect Sir, said he
7:43
Speaker 1: do you follow your path, and I will follow mine.
7:47
Speaker 1: My results are always very much at your service, if
7:50
Speaker 1: you care to apply to me for them. I think
7:52
Speaker 1: that I have seen all that I wish in this house,
7:55
Speaker 1: and that my time may be more profitably employed elsewhere.
8:00
Speaker 1: Au revoir and good luck. I could tell, by numerous
8:05
Speaker 1: subtle signs which might have been lost upon any one
8:08
Speaker 1: but myself, that Holmes was on a hot scent, as
8:12
Speaker 1: impassive as ever to the casual observer, there were none
8:16
Speaker 1: the less a subdued eagerness and suggestion of tension in
8:19
Speaker 1: his brightened eyes and brisker manner, which assured me that
8:24
Speaker 1: the game was afoot. After his habit, he said nothing,
8:30
Speaker 1: and after mine I asked no questions, sufficient for me
8:33
Speaker 1: to share the sport and lend my humble help to
8:36
Speaker 1: the capture without distracting that intent brain, with needless interruption,
8:41
Speaker 1: all would come round to me in due time. I
8:46
Speaker 1: waited therefore, but to my ever deepening disappointment, I waited
8:50
Speaker 1: in vain. Day succeeded day, and my friend took no
8:54
Speaker 1: step forward. One morning he spent in town, and I
8:58
Speaker 1: learned from a casual reference that he had visited the
9:01
Speaker 1: British Museum. Save for this one excursion, he spent his
9:05
Speaker 1: days in long and often solitary walks, or in chatting
9:09
Speaker 1: with a number of village gossips whose acquaintance he had cultivated.
9:13
Speaker 1: I'm sure, Watson, a week in the country will be
9:16
Speaker 1: invaluable to you, he remarked. It is very pleasant to
9:20
Speaker 1: see the first green shoots upon the hedges and the
9:23
Speaker 1: catkins on the hazels. Once again, with a spud, a
9:27
Speaker 1: tin box and an elementary book on botany, there are
9:30
Speaker 1: instructive days to be spent. He prowled about with this
9:34
Speaker 1: equipment himself, but it was a poor show of plants,
9:37
Speaker 1: which he would bring back of an evening. Occasionally, in
9:41
Speaker 1: our rambles we came across Inspector Baines. His fat red
9:45
Speaker 1: face wreathed itself in smiles, and his small eyes glittered
9:49
Speaker 1: as he greeted my companion. He said little about the case,
9:54
Speaker 1: but from that little we gathered that he also was
9:57
Speaker 1: not dissatisfied at the course of events. I must admit, however,
10:02
Speaker 1: that I was somewhat surprised when, some five days after
10:06
Speaker 1: the crime, I opened my morning paper to find in
10:10
Speaker 1: large letters the ox Shot mystery a solution arrest of
10:17
Speaker 1: supposed assassin. Holmes sprang in his chair as if he
10:21
Speaker 1: had been stung. When I read the headlines by Jove,
10:24
Speaker 1: he cried, you don't mean that Baines has got him, Apparently,
10:28
Speaker 1: said I as I read the following report. Great excitement
10:33
Speaker 1: was caused in Esha and the neighboring district when it
10:36
Speaker 1: was learned late last night that an arrest had been
10:39
Speaker 1: effected in connection with the ox Shot murder. It will
10:44
Speaker 1: be remembered that mister Garcia of Wisteria Lodge was found
10:48
Speaker 1: dead on ox Shot Common, his body showing signs of
10:52
Speaker 1: extreme violence, and that on the same night his servant
10:56
Speaker 1: and his cook fled, which appeared to show their participation
11:01
Speaker 1: in the crime. It was suggested, but never proved, that
11:05
Speaker 1: the deceased gentleman may have had valuables in the house
11:09
Speaker 1: and that their abstraction was the motive of the crime.
11:13
Speaker 1: Every effort was made by Inspector Baines, who has the
11:16
Speaker 1: case in hand, to ascertain the hiding place of the fugitives,
11:21
Speaker 1: and he had good reason to believe that they had
11:23
Speaker 1: not gone far, but were lurking in some retreat which
11:26
Speaker 1: had been already prepared. It was certain from the first, however,
11:31
Speaker 1: that they would eventually be detected, as the cook, from
11:35
Speaker 1: the evidence of one or two tradespeople who have caught
11:38
Speaker 1: a glimpse of him through the window, was a man
11:41
Speaker 1: of most remarkable appearance, being a huge and hideous mulatto
11:47
Speaker 1: with the yellowish features of a pronounced negroid type. This
11:52
Speaker 1: man has been seen since the crime, for he was
11:54
Speaker 1: detected and pursued by Constable Walters on the same evening
11:58
Speaker 1: when he had the ordain to revisit Wisteria Lodge. Inspector Baines,
12:04
Speaker 1: considering that such a visit must have some purpose in
12:07
Speaker 1: view and was likely therefore to be repeated, abandoned the
12:10
Speaker 1: house but left an ambuscade in the shrubbery. The man
12:16
Speaker 1: walked into the trap and was captured last night after
12:19
Speaker 1: a struggle in which Constable Downing was badly bitten by
12:24
Speaker 1: the savage. We understand that when the prisoner is brought
12:28
Speaker 1: before the magistrates, a remand will be applied for by
12:31
Speaker 1: the police, and that great developments are hoped from his capture.
12:36
Speaker 1: Really we must see Baines at once, cried Holmes, picking
12:39
Speaker 1: up his hat. We will just catch him before he starts.
12:43
Speaker 1: We hurried down the village street and found, as we
12:46
Speaker 1: had expected, that the inspector was just leaving his lodgings.
12:50
Speaker 1: You've seen the paper, mister Holmes, he asked, holding one
12:53
Speaker 1: out to us. Yes, Bains I've seen it. Pray don't
12:56
Speaker 1: think it a liberty if I give you a word
12:58
Speaker 1: of friendly warning. Of warning, mister Holmes, I have looked
13:02
Speaker 1: into this case with some care, and I am not
13:05
Speaker 1: convinced that you are on the right lines. I don't
13:09
Speaker 1: want you to commit yourself too far unless you are sure.
13:12
Speaker 1: You're very kind, mister Holmes. I assure you I speak
13:15
Speaker 1: for your good. It seemed to me that something like
13:18
Speaker 1: a wink quivered for an instant over one of mister
13:22
Speaker 1: Baines's tiny eyes. We agreed to work on our own lines.
13:26
Speaker 1: Mister Holmes. That's what I am doing. Oh, very good
13:29
Speaker 1: said Holmes. Don't blame me, no, sir. I believe you
13:33
Speaker 1: mean well by me. But we all have our own systems.
13:36
Speaker 1: Mister Holmes, you have yours, and maybe I have mine.
13:40
Speaker 1: Let us say no more about it. You're welcome always
13:43
Speaker 1: to my news. This fellow is a perfect savage, as
13:46
Speaker 1: strong as a cart horse, and as fierce as the devil.
13:50
Speaker 1: He chewed Downing's thumb nearly off before they could master him.
13:54
Speaker 1: He hardly speaks a word of English, and we can
13:56
Speaker 1: get nothing out of him but grunts. And you think
13:59
Speaker 1: you have evidence that he murdered his late master. I
14:02
Speaker 1: didn't say so, mister Olms. I didn't say so. We
14:06
Speaker 1: all have our little ways. You try yours and I
14:09
Speaker 1: will try mine. Thus the agreement. Holmes shrugged his shoulders
14:13
Speaker 1: as we walked away together. I can't make the man out.
14:17
Speaker 1: He seems to be riding for a fall well, as
14:21
Speaker 1: he says, we must each try our own way and
14:23
Speaker 1: see what comes of it. But there's something in Inspector
14:27
Speaker 1: Banes which I can't quite understand. Just sit down in
14:31
Speaker 1: that chair, Watson, said Sherlock Holmes, when we had returned
14:34
Speaker 1: to our apartment at the ball. I want to put
14:37
Speaker 1: you in touch with the situation, as I may need
14:41
Speaker 1: your help tonight. Let me show you the evolution of
14:44
Speaker 1: this case so far as I have been able to
14:45
Speaker 1: follow it simple as it has been in its leading features,
14:49
Speaker 1: it has nonetheless presented surprising difficulties in the way of
14:53
Speaker 1: an arrest. There are gaps in that direction which we
14:56
Speaker 1: have still to fill. We will go back to the
14:59
Speaker 1: note which was handed into Garcia upon the evening of
15:02
Speaker 1: his death. We may put aside this idea of Baines's
15:06
Speaker 1: that Garcia's servants were concerned in the matter. The proof
15:09
Speaker 1: of this lies in the fact that it was he
15:12
Speaker 1: who had arranged for the presence of Scott Eccles, which
15:16
Speaker 1: could only have been done for the purpose of an alibi.
15:19
Speaker 1: It was Garcia, then, who had an enterprise, and apparently
15:24
Speaker 1: a criminal enterprise, in hand that night, in the course
15:26
Speaker 1: of which he met his death. I say criminal because
15:30
Speaker 1: only a man with a criminal enterprise desires to establish
15:33
Speaker 1: an alibi, who then is most likely to have taken
15:37
Speaker 1: his life surely the person against whom the criminal enterprise
15:40
Speaker 1: was directed. So far, it seems to me that we
15:43
Speaker 1: are on safe ground. We can now see a reason
15:46
Speaker 1: for the disappearance of Garcia's household. They were all confederates
15:50
Speaker 1: in the same unknown crime. If it came off when
15:54
Speaker 1: Garcia returned, any possible suspicion would be warded off by
15:59
Speaker 1: the Englishman's ever dance, and all would be well. But
16:02
Speaker 1: the attempt was a dangerous one, and if Garcia did
16:04
Speaker 1: not return by a certain hour, it was probable that
16:07
Speaker 1: his own life had been sacrificed. It had been arranged, therefore,
16:11
Speaker 1: that in such a case his two subordinates were to
16:14
Speaker 1: make for some pre arranged spot where they could escape
16:17
Speaker 1: investigation and be in a position afterwards to renew their attempt.
16:22
Speaker 1: That would fully explain the facts, would it not? The
16:26
Speaker 1: whole inexplicable tangle seemed to straighten out before me, I wondered,
16:32
Speaker 1: as I always did, how it had not been obvious
16:35
Speaker 1: to me before? But why should one servant return? We
16:39
Speaker 1: can imagine that in the confusion of flight, something precious,
16:44
Speaker 1: something which he could not bear to part with, had
16:46
Speaker 1: been left behind. That would explain his persistence, would it not? Well?
16:52
Speaker 1: What is the next step? The next step is the
16:56
Speaker 1: note received by Garcia at the dinner. It indicates a
17:00
Speaker 1: confederate at the other end, now where was the other end?
17:07
Speaker 1: I have already shown you that it could only lie
17:09
Speaker 1: in some large house, and that the number of large
17:12
Speaker 1: houses is limited. My first days in this village were
17:16
Speaker 1: devoted to a series of walks, in which, in the
17:19
Speaker 1: intervals of my botanical researches, I made a reconnaissance of
17:23
Speaker 1: all the large houses and an examination of the family
17:26
Speaker 1: history of the occupants. One house, and only one, riveted
17:31
Speaker 1: my attention. It is the famous old Jacobean grange of
17:35
Speaker 1: High Gable, one mile on the farther side of Oxshot,
17:40
Speaker 1: and less than half a mile round the scene of
17:42
Speaker 1: the tragedy. The other mansions belong to prosaic and respectable
17:47
Speaker 1: people who live far aloof from Romance. But mister Henderson
17:52
Speaker 1: of High Gable was, by all accounts a curious man
17:55
Speaker 1: to whom curious adventures might befall traded. My attention. Therefore
18:01
Speaker 1: upon him and his household a singular set of people.
18:06
Speaker 1: Watson the man himself, the most singular of them all.
18:11
Speaker 1: I managed to see him on a plausible pretext. But
18:14
Speaker 1: I seemed to read in his dark, deep set, brooding
18:18
Speaker 1: eyes that he was perfectly aware of my true business.
18:22
Speaker 1: He is a man of fifty, strong, active, with iron
18:25
Speaker 1: gray hair, great bunched black eyebrows, the step of a deer,
18:30
Speaker 1: and the air of an emperor. A fierce, masterful man
18:34
Speaker 1: with a red hot spirit behind his parchment face. He
18:39
Speaker 1: is either a foreigner or has lived long in the tropics,
18:42
Speaker 1: for he is yellow and sapless, but tough as whip cord.
18:47
Speaker 1: His friend and secretary, mister Lucas, is undoubtedly a foreigner,
18:52
Speaker 1: chocolate brown, wily, suave and catlike, with a poisonous gentleness
18:58
Speaker 1: of speech. You see, Watson, we have come already upon
19:03
Speaker 1: two sets of foreigners, one at Wisteria Lodge and one
19:08
Speaker 1: at high Gable, So our gaps are beginning to close.
19:13
Speaker 1: These two men, close and confidential friends, are the center
19:17
Speaker 1: of the household. But there is one other person who,
19:21
Speaker 1: for our immediate purpose, may be even more important. Henderson
19:26
Speaker 1: has two children, girls of eleven and thirteen. Their governess
19:31
Speaker 1: is a Miss Burnett, an English woman of forty or thereabouts.
19:35
Speaker 1: There is also one confidential manservant. This little group forms
19:40
Speaker 1: the real family, for they travel about together, and Henderson
19:44
Speaker 1: is a great traveler, always on the move. It is
19:48
Speaker 1: only within the last weeks that he has returned after
19:51
Speaker 1: a year's absence to High Gable. I may add that
19:54
Speaker 1: he is enormously rich, and whatever his whims may be,
19:58
Speaker 1: he can very easily satisfy them. For the rest His
20:02
Speaker 1: house is full of butler's footmen, made servants, and the
20:04
Speaker 1: usual overfed, underworked staff of a large English country house.
20:09
Speaker 1: So much I learned, partly from village gossip and partly
20:12
Speaker 1: from my own observation. There are no better instruments than
20:16
Speaker 1: discharged servants with a grievance, and I was lucky enough
20:20
Speaker 1: to find one. I call it luck, but it would
20:23
Speaker 1: not have come my way had I not been looking
20:26
Speaker 1: out for it. As Baines remarks, we all have our systems.
20:30
Speaker 1: It was my system which enabled me to find John Warner,
20:33
Speaker 1: late gardener of High Gable, sacked in a moment of
20:37
Speaker 1: temper by his imperious employer. He in turn had friends
20:41
Speaker 1: among the indoor servants, who unite in their fear and
20:46
Speaker 1: dislike of their master. So I had my key to
20:49
Speaker 1: the secrets of the establishment. Curious people, Watson, I don't
20:54
Speaker 1: pretend to understand it all yet, but very curious people. Anyway.
20:59
Speaker 1: It's a double winged house, and the servants live on
21:01
Speaker 1: one side. The family. On the other there's no link
21:04
Speaker 1: between the two save for Henderson's own servant, who serves
21:09
Speaker 1: the family's meals. Everything is carried to a certain door,
21:14
Speaker 1: which forms the one connection. Governess and children hardly go
21:18
Speaker 1: out at all, except into the garden. Henderson never, by
21:22
Speaker 1: any chance, walks alone. His dark secretary is like his shadow.
21:27
Speaker 1: The gossip among the servants is that their master is
21:30
Speaker 1: terribly afraid of something. Sold is old to the devil
21:33
Speaker 1: in exchange for money, says Warner, and expects his creditor
21:37
Speaker 1: to come up and claim his own. Where they came
21:40
Speaker 1: from or who they are, nobody has an idea. They
21:45
Speaker 1: are very violent. Twice Henderson has lashed at folk with
21:49
Speaker 1: his dog whip, and only his long purse and heavy
21:52
Speaker 1: compensation have kept him out of the courts. Well, now, Watson,
21:57
Speaker 1: let us judge the situation by this new in. We
22:01
Speaker 1: may take it that the letter came out of this
22:03
Speaker 1: strange household and was an invitation to Garcia to carry
22:08
Speaker 1: out some attempt which had already been planned. Who wrote
22:12
Speaker 1: the note? It was someone within the citadel, and it
22:17
Speaker 1: was a woman who then but miss Burnet the governess.
22:22
Speaker 1: All our reasoning seems to point that way. At any rate,
22:25
Speaker 1: we may take it as a hypothesis and see what
22:27
Speaker 1: consequences it would entail. I may add that Miss Burnet's
22:31
Speaker 1: age and character make it certain that my first idea
22:35
Speaker 1: that there might be a love interest in our story
22:38
Speaker 1: is out of the question. If she wrote the note,
22:41
Speaker 1: she was presumably the friend and confederate of Garcia. What
22:44
Speaker 1: then might she be expected to do if she heard
22:47
Speaker 1: of his death? If he met it in some Nefario's enterprise,
22:51
Speaker 1: her lips might be sealed still in her heart. She
22:55
Speaker 1: must retain bitterness and hatred against those who had killed him,
22:58
Speaker 1: and would presumably help so far as she could, to
23:01
Speaker 1: have revenge upon them. Could we see her then and
23:06
Speaker 1: try to use her? That was my first thought. But
23:10
Speaker 1: now we come to a sinister fact. Miss Burnet has
23:13
Speaker 1: not been seen by any human eye since the night
23:16
Speaker 1: of the murder. From that evening she has utterly vanished.
23:21
Speaker 1: Is she alive, Has she perhaps met her end on
23:26
Speaker 1: the same night as the friend whom she had summoned,
23:29
Speaker 1: or is she merely a prisoner? There is the point
23:32
Speaker 1: which we still have to decide. You will appreciate the
23:36
Speaker 1: difficulty of the situation Watson, there is nothing upon which
23:39
Speaker 1: we can apply for a warrant. Our whole scheme might
23:42
Speaker 1: seem fantastic if laid before a magistrate. The woman's disappearance
23:47
Speaker 1: counts for nothing, since in that extraordinary household, any member
23:52
Speaker 1: of it might be invisible for a week, and yet
23:55
Speaker 1: she may, at the present moment be in danger of
23:58
Speaker 1: her life. All I can do is to watch the
24:01
Speaker 1: house and leave my agent Warner on guard at the gates.
24:06
Speaker 1: We can't let such a situation continue. If the law
24:09
Speaker 1: can do nothing, we must take the risk ourselves. What
24:12
Speaker 1: do you suggest? I know which is her room? It
24:16
Speaker 1: is accessible from the top of an outhouse. My suggestion
24:20
Speaker 1: is that you and I go to night and see
24:23
Speaker 1: if we can strike at the very heart of the mystery.
24:28
Speaker 1: It was not I must confess a very alluring prospect.
24:32
Speaker 1: The old house, with its atmosphere of murder, the singular
24:35
Speaker 1: and formidable inhabitants, the unknown dangers of the approach, and
24:40
Speaker 1: the fact that we were putting ourselves legally in a
24:42
Speaker 1: false position, all combined to damp my ardor But there
24:48
Speaker 1: was something in the ice cold reasoning of homes which
24:50
Speaker 1: made it impossible to shrink from any adventure which he
24:53
Speaker 1: might recommend. One knew that thus, and only thus could
24:57
Speaker 1: a solution be found. I clasped his hand in silence,
25:02
Speaker 1: and the die was cast. But it was not destined
25:05
Speaker 1: that our investigation should have so adventurous an ending. It
25:10
Speaker 1: was about five o'clock and the shadows of the march
25:12
Speaker 1: evening were beginning to fall, when an excited rustic rushed
25:17
Speaker 1: into our room. They've gone, mister Holmes. They went by
25:20
Speaker 1: the last train. The lady broke away, and I've got
25:23
Speaker 1: her in a cab downstairs, Excellent Warner, cried Holmes, springing
25:27
Speaker 1: to his feet. Watson, the gaps are closing rapidly. In
25:32
Speaker 1: the cab was a woman, half collapsed from nervous exhaustion.
25:36
Speaker 1: She bore upon her aquiline and emaciated face the traces
25:40
Speaker 1: of some recent tragedy. Her head hung listlessly upon her breast,
25:45
Speaker 1: But as she raised it and turned her dull eyes
25:47
Speaker 1: upon us, I saw that her pupils were dark dots
25:51
Speaker 1: in the center of the broad gray iris. She was
25:55
Speaker 1: drugged with opium. I watched at the gate same as
25:58
Speaker 1: you advised, mister Holmes, said our emissary, the discharged gardener.
26:03
Speaker 1: When the carriage came out. I followed it to the station.
26:06
Speaker 1: She was like one walking in her sleep. But when
26:09
Speaker 1: they tried to get her into the train, she came
26:11
Speaker 1: to life and struggled. They pushed her into the carriage,
26:14
Speaker 1: and she fought her way out again. I took her part,
26:17
Speaker 1: got her into a cab, and here we are. I
26:20
Speaker 1: shan't forget the face at the carriage window as I
26:22
Speaker 1: led her away. I'd have a short life if he
26:25
Speaker 1: had his way, the black eyed, scowling yellow devil. We
26:29
Speaker 1: carried her upstairs later on the sofa, and a couple
26:32
Speaker 1: of cups of the strongest coffee soon cleared her brain
26:35
Speaker 1: from the mists of the drug. Baines had been summoned
26:39
Speaker 1: by Holmes, and the situation rapidly explained to him. Why, sir,
26:44
Speaker 1: you've got me the very evidence I want, said the inspector, warmly,
26:48
Speaker 1: shaking my friend by the hand. I was on the
26:51
Speaker 1: same cent as you from the first What you were after, Henderson, Why,
26:56
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, when you were crawling in the shrubbery at
26:59
Speaker 1: high Gay, I was up one of the trees in
27:02
Speaker 1: the plantation and saw you down below. It was just
27:06
Speaker 1: who would get his evidence first? Then why did you
27:09
Speaker 1: arrest them? Mulatto, Baines chuckled. I was sure Henderson, as
27:14
Speaker 1: he calls himself, felt that he was suspected, and that
27:18
Speaker 1: he would lie low and make no move so long
27:20
Speaker 1: as he thought he was in any danger. I arrested
27:23
Speaker 1: the wrong man to make him believe that our eyes
27:26
Speaker 1: were off him. I knew he would be likely to
27:28
Speaker 1: clear off then and give us a chance of getting
27:31
Speaker 1: at miss Burnet. Holmes laid his hand upon the inspector's shoulder.
27:36
Speaker 1: You will rise high in your profession. You have instinct
27:40
Speaker 1: and intuition, said he Bains, flushed with pleasure. I've had
27:45
Speaker 1: a plain clothes man waiting at the station all the week.
27:48
Speaker 1: Wherever the high gable folk go, he will keep them
27:51
Speaker 1: in sight. But he must have been hard put to
27:54
Speaker 1: it when Miss Burnet broke away. However, your man picked
27:58
Speaker 1: her up, and it all ends well. We can't arrest
28:02
Speaker 1: without her evidence, that is clear. So the sooner we
28:04
Speaker 1: get a statement, the better. Every minute she gets stronger,
28:09
Speaker 1: said Holmes, glancing at the Governess. But tell me, Baines,
28:13
Speaker 1: who is this man Henderson Anderson, the inspector answered, is
28:18
Speaker 1: Don Marillo, once called the Tiger of San Pedro, the
28:23
Speaker 1: Tiger of San Pedro, The whole history of the man
28:27
Speaker 1: came back to me in a flash. He had made
28:30
Speaker 1: his name as the most lewde and bloodthirsty tyrant that
28:34
Speaker 1: had ever governed any country with a pretense to civilization. Strong, fearless,
28:39
Speaker 1: and energetic, he had sufficient virtue to enable him to
28:44
Speaker 1: impose his odious vices upon a cowering people. For ten
28:48
Speaker 1: or twelve years, his name was a terror through all
28:51
Speaker 1: Central America. At the end of that time there was
28:54
Speaker 1: a universal rising against him. But he was as cunning
28:58
Speaker 1: as he was cruel, and at the first whisper of
29:01
Speaker 1: coming trouble, he had secretly conveyed his treasures aboard a
29:05
Speaker 1: ship which was manned by devoted adherents. It was an
29:09
Speaker 1: empty palace which was stormed by the insurgents next day.
29:14
Speaker 1: The dictator, his two children, his secretary, and his wealth
29:17
Speaker 1: had all escaped them. From that moment, he had vanished
29:20
Speaker 1: from the world, and his identity had been a frequent
29:24
Speaker 1: subject for comment in the European press. Yes, Sir Don Marillo,
29:29
Speaker 1: the Tiger of San Pedro, said Baines, if you look
29:34
Speaker 1: it up, you will find that the San Pedro. Colors
29:36
Speaker 1: are green and white, same as in the note mister Holmes, Henderson,
29:41
Speaker 1: he called himself, but I traced him back Paris, and
29:44
Speaker 1: Rome and Madrid to Barcelona, where his ship came in
29:49
Speaker 1: in eighty six. They've been looking for him all the
29:52
Speaker 1: time for their revenge, but it is only now that
29:56
Speaker 1: they have begun to find him out. They discovered him
29:59
Speaker 1: a year ago, said miss Burnet, who had sat up
30:03
Speaker 1: and was now intently following the conversation. Once already his
30:07
Speaker 1: life has been attempted, but some evil spirit shielded him.
30:11
Speaker 1: Now again it is the noble, chivalrous Guarcier who has fallen,
30:16
Speaker 1: while the monster goes safe. But another will come, and
30:20
Speaker 1: yet another, until some day justice will be done. That
30:23
Speaker 1: is as certain as the rise of to morrow's sun.
30:27
Speaker 1: Her thin hands clenched and her worn face blanched with
30:31
Speaker 1: the passion of her hatred. But how come you into
30:34
Speaker 1: this matter, miss Burnet, asked Holmes. How can an English
30:38
Speaker 1: lady join in such a murderous affair? I join it
30:43
Speaker 1: because there is no other way in the world by
30:45
Speaker 1: which justice can be gained. What does the law of
30:49
Speaker 1: England care for the rivers of blood shed? Years? Ago
30:52
Speaker 1: in Saint Pedro, or for the shipload of treasure which
30:56
Speaker 1: this man has stolen to you. They are like crimes
31:00
Speaker 1: committed in some other planet. But we know we have
31:03
Speaker 1: learned the truth in sorrow and in suffering. To us
31:07
Speaker 1: there is no fiend in hell like Juan Murigo, and
31:11
Speaker 1: no peace in life, while his victims still cry for vengeance.
31:15
Speaker 1: No doubt, said Holmes, he was as you say. I
31:20
Speaker 1: have heard that he was atrocious, But how are you affected?
31:26
Speaker 1: I will tell you it all. This villain's policy was
31:30
Speaker 1: to murder, on one pretext or another, every man who
31:34
Speaker 1: showed such promise that he might in time come to
31:37
Speaker 1: be a dangerous rival. My husband, yes, my real name
31:41
Speaker 1: is Senora Victor Durando, was the San Pedro minister in London.
31:48
Speaker 1: He met me and married me there. A nobler man
31:52
Speaker 1: never lived upon earth. Unhappily, Maurigo heard of his excellence,
31:57
Speaker 1: recalled him on some pretext, and had him shot. With
32:01
Speaker 1: a premonition of his fate. He had refused to take
32:04
Speaker 1: me with him. His estates were confiscated, and I was
32:08
Speaker 1: left with a pittance and a broken heart. Then came
32:13
Speaker 1: the downfall of the tyrant. He escaped as you have
32:17
Speaker 1: just described. But the many whose lives he had ruined,
32:21
Speaker 1: whose nearest and dearest had suffered torture and death at
32:24
Speaker 1: his hands, would not let the matter rest. They banded
32:30
Speaker 1: themselves into a society which should never be dissolved until
32:33
Speaker 1: the work was done. It was my part, after we
32:38
Speaker 1: had discovered in the transformed Henderson, the fallen despot, to
32:43
Speaker 1: attach myself to his household and keep the others in
32:46
Speaker 1: touch with his movements. This I was able to do
32:50
Speaker 1: by securing the position of governess in his family. He
32:54
Speaker 1: little knew that the woman who faced him at every
32:56
Speaker 1: meal was the woman whose husband he had hurried at
32:59
Speaker 1: an hour notice into eternity. I smiled on him, did
33:04
Speaker 1: my duty to his children, and bided my time. An
33:09
Speaker 1: attempt was made in Paris and failed. We zigzagged swiftly
33:14
Speaker 1: here and there over Europe to throw off the pursuers,
33:18
Speaker 1: and finally returned to this house which he had taken
33:22
Speaker 1: upon his first arrival in England. But here also the
33:26
Speaker 1: ministers of justice were waiting, knowing that he would return. There. Garcia,
33:33
Speaker 1: who was the son of the former highest dignitary in
33:35
Speaker 1: San Pedro, was waiting with two trusty companions of Humble Station.
33:41
Speaker 1: All three fired with the same reasons for revenge. He
33:45
Speaker 1: could do little during the day, for Murigo took every
33:48
Speaker 1: precaution and never went outsafe with his satellite. Lucas saw Lopez,
33:54
Speaker 1: as he was known in the days of his greatness.
33:58
Speaker 1: At night, however, he slept alone, and the avenger might
34:03
Speaker 1: find him on a certain evening which had been pre arranged.
34:07
Speaker 1: I sent my friend final instructions, for the man was
34:11
Speaker 1: forever on the alert and continually changed his room. I
34:16
Speaker 1: was to see that the doors were open, and the
34:18
Speaker 1: signal of a green or white light in a window
34:21
Speaker 1: which faced the drive was to give notice if all
34:24
Speaker 1: was safe, or if the attempt had better be postponed.
34:28
Speaker 1: But everything went wrong with us. In some way I
34:32
Speaker 1: had excited the suspicion of Lopez the Secretary. He crept
34:37
Speaker 1: up behind me and sprang upon me. Just as I
34:39
Speaker 1: had finished the note. He and his master dragged me
34:43
Speaker 1: to my room and held judgment upon me as a
34:46
Speaker 1: convicted traitress. Then and there they would have plunged their
34:52
Speaker 1: knives into me. Could they have seen how to escape
34:54
Speaker 1: the consequences of the deed. Finally, after much debate, they
34:59
Speaker 1: concl who did that my murder was too dangerous, but
35:03
Speaker 1: they determined to get rid forever of Garcia. They had
35:07
Speaker 1: gagged me, and Mariijo twisted my arm round until I
35:11
Speaker 1: gave him the address. I swear that he might have
35:14
Speaker 1: twisted it off had I understood what it would mean
35:17
Speaker 1: to Garcia. Lopez addressed the note which I had written,
35:22
Speaker 1: sealed it with his sleeve link, consented by the hand
35:24
Speaker 1: of the servant Josey. How they murdered him, I do
35:28
Speaker 1: not know, save that it was Marijo's hand who struck
35:31
Speaker 1: him down, for Lopez had remained to guard me. I
35:36
Speaker 1: believe he must have waited among the gorse bushes through
35:39
Speaker 1: which the path winds, and struck him down as he passed.
35:44
Speaker 1: At first, they were of a mind to let him
35:46
Speaker 1: enter the house and to kill him as a detected burglar.
35:50
Speaker 1: But they argued that if they were mixed up in
35:52
Speaker 1: an inquiry, their own identity would at once be publicly disclosed,
35:56
Speaker 1: and they would be open to further attacks. With the
36:00
Speaker 1: death of Garcia, the pursuit might cease. Since such a
36:04
Speaker 1: death might frighten others from the task. All would now
36:09
Speaker 1: have been well for them. Had it not been for
36:12
Speaker 1: my knowledge of what they had done. I have no
36:16
Speaker 1: doubt that there were times when my life hung in
36:18
Speaker 1: the balance. I was confined to my room, terrorized by
36:22
Speaker 1: the most horrible threats. Cruelly ill used to break my spirit.
36:27
Speaker 1: See this stab on my shoulder, and the bruises from
36:31
Speaker 1: end to end of my arms, and a gag was
36:35
Speaker 1: thrust into my mouth on the one occasion when I
36:37
Speaker 1: tried to call from the window. For five days, this
36:41
Speaker 1: cruel imprisonment continued, with hardly enough food to hold a
36:44
Speaker 1: body and soul together. This afternoon, a good lunch was
36:49
Speaker 1: brought me, but the moment after I took it, I
36:54
Speaker 1: knew that I had been drugged. In a sort of dream,
36:58
Speaker 1: I remember being half led, half carried to the carriage
37:02
Speaker 1: in the same state I was conveyed to the train.
37:05
Speaker 1: Only then, when the wheels were almost moving, did I
37:09
Speaker 1: suddenly realize that my liberty lay in my own hands.
37:12
Speaker 1: I sprang out. They tried to drag me back, and
37:15
Speaker 1: had it not been for the help of this good
37:17
Speaker 1: man who led me to the cab, I should never
37:20
Speaker 1: have broken away. Now, thank God, I am beyond their power. Forever.
37:29
Speaker 1: We had all listened intently to this remarkable statement. It
37:34
Speaker 1: was Holmes who broke the silence. Our difficulties are not over,
37:39
Speaker 1: he remarked, shaking his head. Our police work ends, but
37:43
Speaker 1: our legal work begins exactly, said I. A plausible lawyer
37:49
Speaker 1: could make it out as an act of self defense.
37:52
Speaker 1: There may be a hundred crimes in the background, but
37:55
Speaker 1: it is only on this one that they can be tried. Come, Come,
37:59
Speaker 1: said Babs cheerily. I think better of the law than that.
38:03
Speaker 1: Self defense is one thing. To entice a man in
38:06
Speaker 1: cold blood with the object of murdering him is another,
38:11
Speaker 1: whatever danger you may fear from him. No, no, we
38:15
Speaker 1: shall all be justified when we see the tenants of
38:17
Speaker 1: High Gable at the next Guildford Assizes. It is a
38:22
Speaker 1: matter of history, however, that a little time was still
38:25
Speaker 1: to elapse before the Tiger of San Pedro should meet
38:29
Speaker 1: with his deserts Wiley and bold. He and his companion
38:33
Speaker 1: threw their pursuer off their track by entering a lodging
38:37
Speaker 1: house in Edmonton Street and leaving by the back gate
38:41
Speaker 1: into Curzon Square. From that day they were seen no
38:46
Speaker 1: more in England. Some six months afterwards, the Marquis of
38:50
Speaker 1: Montalva and Signor Rouley, his secretary, were both murdered in
38:56
Speaker 1: their rooms at the Hotel Escurial at Madrid. The crime
39:01
Speaker 1: was ascribed to nihilism, and the murderers were never arrested.
39:07
Speaker 1: Inspector Baines visited us at Baker Street with a printed
39:10
Speaker 1: description of the dark face of the secretary, and of
39:14
Speaker 1: the masterful features, the magnetic black eyes and the tufted
39:19
Speaker 1: brows of his master. We could not doubt that justice,
39:24
Speaker 1: if belated, had come at last a chaotic case, my
39:29
Speaker 1: dear Watson, said Holmes over an evening pipe. It will
39:34
Speaker 1: not be possible for you to present in that compact
39:38
Speaker 1: form which is dear to your heart. It covers two continents,
39:43
Speaker 1: concerns two groups of mysterious persons, and is further complicated
39:47
Speaker 1: by the highly respectable presence of our friend Scott Eccles,
39:53
Speaker 1: whose inclusion shows me that the deceased Garcia had a
39:57
Speaker 1: scheming mind and a well developed instinct of self preservation.
40:03
Speaker 1: It is remarkable only for the fact that, amid a
40:06
Speaker 1: perfect jungle of possibilities, we, with our worthy collaborator, the Inspector,
40:12
Speaker 1: have kept our close hold on the essentials, and so
40:15
Speaker 1: been guided along the crooked and winding path. Is there
40:20
Speaker 1: any point which is not quite clear to you the
40:24
Speaker 1: object of the mulatto Cook's return. I think that the
40:29
Speaker 1: strange creature in the kitchen may account for it. The
40:34
Speaker 1: man was a primitive savage from the backwoods of San Pedro,
40:38
Speaker 1: and this was his fetish. When his companion and he
40:43
Speaker 1: had fled to some prearranged retreat, already occupied, no doubt
40:48
Speaker 1: by a confederate, The companion had persuaded him to leave
40:52
Speaker 1: so compromising an article of furniture, but the Mulatto's heart
40:56
Speaker 1: was with it, and he was driven back to it
40:59
Speaker 1: next day, when, on reconnoitering through the window, he found
41:03
Speaker 1: Policeman Walters in possession. He waited three days longer, and
41:09
Speaker 1: then his piety or his superstition, drove him to try
41:12
Speaker 1: once more. Inspector Baines, who with his usual astuteness had
41:18
Speaker 1: minimized the incident before me, had really recognized its importance,
41:23
Speaker 1: and had left a trap into which the creature walked.
41:27
Speaker 1: Any other point Watson, the torn bird, the pale of blood,
41:32
Speaker 1: the charred bones, all the mystery of that weird kitchen,
41:37
Speaker 1: Holmes smiled as he turned up an entry in his
41:40
Speaker 1: note book. I spent a morning in the British Museum
41:43
Speaker 1: reading up on that and other points. Here's a quotation
41:46
Speaker 1: from Eckermann's Voodooism and the Negroid Religions. The true voodoo
41:52
Speaker 1: worshiper attempts nothing of importance without certain sacrifices which are
41:57
Speaker 1: intended to propitiate his un clean gods. In extreme cases,
42:03
Speaker 1: these rites take the form of human sacrifices, followed by cannibalism.
42:10
Speaker 1: The more usual victims are a white cock which is
42:14
Speaker 1: plucked in pieces alive, or a black goat whose throat
42:18
Speaker 1: is cut and body burned. So you see, our savage
42:24
Speaker 1: friend was very orthodox in his ritual. It is grotesque,
42:30
Speaker 1: Watson Holmes added, as he slowly fastened his note book.
42:34
Speaker 1: But as I have had occasion to remark, there is
42:39
Speaker 1: but one step from the grotesque to the horrible. That
42:48
Speaker 1: is the end of the Adventure of Wisteria Lodge by
42:53
Speaker 1: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for Magpie Audio,
43:01
Speaker 1: Copyright Magpie Audio, twenty nineteen.