Latest / Father Brown | G. K. Chesterton Detective Stories / The Curse of the Golden Cross: An Ancient Relic, a Death Threat | Father Brown

Transcript

The Curse of the Golden Cross: An Ancient Relic, a Death Threat | Father Brown · Father Brown | G. K. Chesterton Detective Stories

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We present The Curse of the Golden Cross, adapted by
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: John Scottney with Andrew Sachs as Father Brown.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: 620 miles yesterday.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: I was nowhere near it.
• 0:17
  Speaker 4: Me neither.
• 0:17
  Speaker 5: How about you, Professor?
• 0:18
  Speaker 6: I beg your pardon?
• 0:19
  Speaker 7: What is this? Oh, surely you know, Professor.
• 0:31
  Speaker 8: Each day they run a kind of sweepstake on how
• 0:34
  Speaker 8: far the ship has traveled.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: What a curious notion. Some people will gamble on anything.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Hey, look who's coming up for air. Poor old Father Brown.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: He sure looks one very sick priest.
• 0:45
  Speaker 5: Father Brown, how are you feeling today?
• 0:48
  Speaker 9: Oh, not very well, I'm afraid, Lady Diana.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: My poor fellow.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Do sit down.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, thank you, I will.
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: Father Brown.
• 0:57
  Speaker 9: Oh, yes.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Avoid jam.
• 1:00
  Speaker 9: I beg your pardon, Lady Diana.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: Avoid jam, especially strawberry jam. That's the answer. I always do,
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: and I'm never ceasing. Except, curiously, once on a Nile steamer.
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: But that could have been the pickled octopus. It tasted
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: awfully funny, I remember.
• 1:16
  Speaker 9: The pickled.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: Oh, dear.
• 1:18
  Speaker 9: Yes, I expected worse.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Gum and grapefruit juice. That's a cure.
• 1:22
  Speaker 7: Or champagne with a measure of brandy.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: That sounds like your style, Leonard.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Hey, you got any ideas, Prof? I confess I'm not
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a good traveler, but I generally manage to remain moderately
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: healthy by avoiding alcohol and rich foods. Perhaps you might
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: try some lemon tea, Father Grant.
• 1:40
  Speaker 9: Lemon tea?
• 1:41
  Speaker 10: Oh, yes.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Yes, perhaps I will.
• 1:42
  Speaker 7: Steward?
• 1:43
  Speaker 10: Yes, sir?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Bring us two glasses of lemon tea, will you?
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 1:48
  Speaker 8: I say, Professor, you're something of an expert on Byzantine thingies,
• 1:55
  Speaker 8: aren't you?
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I have written eight or nine books on various aspects
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: of the Byzantine Empire. Yes.
• 2:02
  Speaker 8: I've been looking through the New York papers we picked
• 2:05
  Speaker 8: up just before we left. There's something about the body
• 2:08
  Speaker 8: of a Byzantine bishop being found somewhere on the south coast,
• 2:12
  Speaker 8: near Dover.
• 2:13
  Speaker 7: Now, if I can ask you as a specialist.
• 2:16
  Speaker 9: In the field, isn't that.
• 2:17
  Speaker 7: Pretty improbable. In the 15th century, I mean, Dover's an
• 2:21
  Speaker 7: awfully long way from Constantinople.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Dover's also a long way from Jerusalem. Plenty of crusaders
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: made that journey three centuries earlier.
• 2:30
  Speaker 9: Oh, indeed. But, Mr.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Smythe, you say I'm a specialist in this field?
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what everyone says.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I must tell you, Mr. Smythe, that the hardest thing
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: on earth is to specialize. How can a man know
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: anything about Byzantium till he knows everything about Rome before it,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: and indeed about Islam? Why, take algebra.
• 2:50
  Speaker 11: But I won't take algebra, Professor Smale. I never did,
• 2:53
  Speaker 11: and I never do. But I love anything really ancient.
• 2:58
  Speaker 11: I was with Gatton in Egypt, you know, when he.
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: Opened those first dynasty tomb things, and I got some
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: jolly good bits for my collection.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Gatton, you say? He's an interesting man. That brother of
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: his who went into Parliament, he was tipped for cabinet office,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 3:14
  Speaker 10: We're not talking politics now, Prof.
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: I'll lay you six to four, you're going to visit
• 3:19
  Speaker 7: that little village where they found this bishop by in Kent.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Isn't that it? You know, Mr. Tarrant, Kent's pretty large
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: as these little English sections go. You could wander in
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: it for a goodish time, and it's a good place
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: to wander in.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: You don't say.
• 3:35
  Speaker 7: I don't know about you, Diana. I feel like a drink.
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Not before you've had a game of shovelboard with me.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Your word is my command.
• 3:43
  Speaker 10: Excuse me, gentlemen.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: I reckon I'll join you.
• 3:47
  Speaker 11: Join us if you like, but we're playing purely for fun.
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: Goodbye, Father Brown.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Goodbye.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Professor Smale.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, dear.
• 3:58
  Speaker 9: Lady Diana seems to have travelled very widely.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Lady Diana is the wife of a rich fool who
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: doesn't know she's gallivanting about with that drunken good-for-nothing Smythe,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: who in turn is no doubt being fleeced by my
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: fellow countryman, the card shop, Tarrant.
• 4:13
  Speaker 9: But what about her collection of antiquities and her travels?
• 4:17
  Speaker 9: I believe she's been as far as Luxor in Egypt.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Thanks to Thomas Cook, Luxor is nowadays as easy to
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: get to as Paris. They even have an English dance
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: band and a theatre company when I was last there.
• 4:27
  Speaker 9: Oh, yes.
• 4:29
  Speaker 10: Your lemon tea, gentlemen.
• 4:30
  Speaker 9: Oh, thank you, Stuart. Thank you so much.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: You know, Father Brown, you were pretty quiet during that
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: conversation about the bishop.
• 4:39
  Speaker 12: I was?
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Tell me. What do you think was the point of
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: that little talk? Um, well, um.
• 4:49
  Speaker 12: Well, it seemed to me that the company made three
• 4:52
  Speaker 12: attempts to get you to talk about the corpse.
• 4:54
  Speaker 9: Of a bishop found in Kent.
• 4:56
  Speaker 12: And you, on your side, offered to talk about algebra
• 5:00
  Speaker 12: and then politics and then the Kent landscape.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: In short, you thought I was ready to talk about
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: any subject but that one. You were quite right.
• 5:10
  Speaker 9: Ah, yes. Oh, this lemon tea is excellent, Stuart.
• 5:14
  Speaker 10: Thank you, sir.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Now, see here, Father Browne. I've only known you a
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: few days, but I consider you are about the wisest
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: and straightest man I ever met.
• 5:23
  Speaker 12: Oh.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to tell you why I was careful. No.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Plain scared of mentioning anything about the find. The conman Tarrant,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: by the way, he was right to guess that that's
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: why I'm going to Europe to look at it. Ah.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: A couple of years ago, I was in Egypt. I
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: got a call from Gatton. One of his colleagues had
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: been doing some work on the 20th Dynasty pharaohs. Their
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: tombs are hollowed out deep in a reasonably remote valley.
• 5:50
  Speaker 9: That's the Valley of the Kings.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Exactly. All of these tombs were robbed in Roman times,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: but he found some evidence that people had been living
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: in one in the first century. Oh. Of course, being
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: an Egyptologist, Gatton wasn't interested in anything later than 1000 B.C.,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: but he thought his finds might interest me, and they
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: certainly did. I found the walls were covered in this symbol. Here,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I'll draw it for you.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: Ahem.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. There.
• 6:21
  Speaker 9: Ah, yes, yes. It's the ichthys, the fish, the early
• 6:24
  Speaker 9: symbol for Christ, yes?
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Yes, Father Brown. I believe that this tomb was used
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: by the earliest Christian groups in Egypt to escape persecution,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: just like the catacombs in Rome. Only the catacombs were
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: used as a refuge for the 3rd century persecution of Diocletian.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: These dated from Nero's persecution, only 20 or 30 years
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: after Christ's death. Good heavens. I made my way along
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: a maze of subterranean passages which led to a heap
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: of broken vessels. Buried under this heap, I found a
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: small gold cross. On the back was the same realistic
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: fish design. Father Brown, I realized with awe that I
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: was holding probably the earliest known item of Christian regalia,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: a cross that for all I knew might have belonged
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: to St. Paul himself. Then the nightmare began.
• 7:17
  Speaker 9: How do you mean?
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: I started back. Everyone walking along stone passages knows what
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: it is to be followed by phantom feet. The echo
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: of one's own steps flapping along behind. The echo didn't
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: worry me until I stopped to examine one of the
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: painted figures on the wall and found the other feet
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: did not stop. Hey.
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: Hello.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Is anyone there?
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Hello?
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: I said, is anyone there?
• 7:55
  Speaker 10: Oh, good God, what do you want?
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: You!
• 8:00
  Speaker 10: What do you mean?
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: You have something.
• 8:02
  Speaker 10: That belongs to me. What?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: A gold crust.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: What do you mean it belongs to you?
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: It belongs to me.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: It would be better for you to return it.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I'm pretty unsuperficious, Father Brown, but I confess I got scared.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I began to run.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: You won't get away, Professor!
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Then we came to a long, straight passage. I could
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: just make out a shape at the end.
• 8:29
  Speaker 10: Stop that!
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: I can see you!
• 8:32
  Speaker 11: I got you!
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: I got a gun!
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: No! I said stop!
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: Stop or I shoot!
• 8:42
  Speaker 12: Very well!
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: The bullet bounced off the wall by my head.
• 8:46
  Speaker 9: That must have been frightening.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Strangely enough, I was reassured. At least I knew my
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: pursuer was human. Ghosts, I imagine, don't carry modern firearms. Anyway,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: eventually I got out and made as much speed as
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I could back to my hotel in Luxor. Next day,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: a note arrived. I've got it here.
• 9:06
  Speaker 12: The cross is mine. I found it, but I was
• 9:10
  Speaker 12: with another and could not remove it. When I came
• 9:12
  Speaker 12: back yesterday to retrieve it, I found you had stolen
• 9:15
  Speaker 12: it some minutes before.
• 9:17
  Speaker 9: Return it to the place you found it or you
• 9:19
  Speaker 9: will die.
• 9:21
  Speaker 10: Hmm.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Over the last couple of years, I've received several similar messages.
• 9:28
  Speaker 10: Your tea's cold, sir. Would you like some more?
• 9:31
  Speaker 7: No, thanks.
• 9:31
  Speaker 9: Oh, well, I will.
• 9:33
  Speaker 12: Oh, could I have some chicken sandwiches, Stuart?
• 9:36
  Speaker 9: You know, I'm beginning to feel better.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 9:38
  Speaker 10: I'll go and get them now.
• 9:39
  Speaker 9: Thank you so much.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 9:43
  Speaker 12: Professor Smale, it's a disturbing story, but what has it
• 9:48
  Speaker 12: to do with the find in Kent?
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The vicar at Dullum is something of an amateur archaeologist. Apparently,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: he met me at a conference some years back. He
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: wrote to me to say that the bishops seem to
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: have a similar cross with them. Good Lord. It's perfectly understandable.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: In the early 15th century, the Byzantine emperors were hard-pressed
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: by the Turks. They sent several embassies to Europe. The
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: cross might have been a gift to Henry V. It
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: wasn't long after Agincourt, and he was reckoned to be
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: the best soldier in Europe.
• 10:18
  Speaker 12: You kept changing the subject over the bishop because you
• 10:22
  Speaker 12: suspect one of.
• 10:23
  Speaker 9: Our fellow passengers is your mysterious enemy.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I know it. This note arrived in my cabin this morning.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: You'll see the handwriting's the same.
• 10:33
  Speaker 12: Ah, yes, yes, I see what you mean. The cross
• 10:36
  Speaker 12: in Kent is mine by rights. Touch it and you die. Hmm,
• 10:41
  Speaker 12: seems to have a rather dramatic turn of phrase. Have
• 10:45
  Speaker 12: you any idea who it might be?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: It could be anyone on board. He may be me.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: He may be anyone else. You're the only man I
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: feel sure is not my enemy.
• 10:56
  Speaker 9: Oddly enough, I'm not. But the man, the person threatening you,
• 11:02
  Speaker 9: might try to arrive at the village before you and
• 11:06
  Speaker 9: impersonate you.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: I hope my plan should take care of that. Your plan?
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I've telegraphed ahead for a fast automobile and a driver
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: to be waiting for me at Southampton. It's only 130,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: 940 miles to Dullam. I intend getting there before anyone else,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: and I'll wait. If any one of the passengers from
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: this boat turns up there, I'll know my man and
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I'll have my revolver in my pocket. Father Brown, I
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: hate to impose on you, but I'd be mighty grateful
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: if you'd come with me to Dullam. We'll be there first,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: and we'll have the element of surprise on our side.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I can't see anything going wrong. What in heaven's name
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: is wrong with this automobile driver?
• 11:55
  Speaker 10: Can't say as I can say, sir.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, hang on.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 12:02
  Speaker 10: Oh, dear. Oh, dear.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, dear.
• 12:06
  Speaker 12: Oh, dear.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Worse than I thought, sir.
• 12:09
  Speaker 10: Can't fix it on my own, I'm afraid.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Damned automobiles. We've been here an hour and three quarters.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I wonder where the devil the nearest railroad station is.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I say, can you hear?
• 12:22
  Speaker 10: Yes, it sounds like another motor.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. Look, I say.
• 12:25
  Speaker 10: Stop.
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: Stop, please.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Stop.
• 12:28
  Speaker 10: Thank you.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Can we help you out, Jack?
• 12:31
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: I say, Father Brown and Professor Smythe.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Mr.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Smythe, Lady Diana, this is very fortunate. What are you
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: doing in these parts, Smythe?
• 12:41
  Speaker 12: My dear Professor, your Byzantine bishop was simply too exciting
• 12:45
  Speaker 12: to be missed.
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: We simply had to come along.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Anything we can do to help, driver?
• 12:49
  Speaker 12: No.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Best thing I can ask you to do, sir, is
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: telephone this number.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: They'll send someone to tell us into Dover.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Will do, old man, will do.
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: Now, Professor Smale, Father Bond, unless you want to walk
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: the rest of the way, you'd better hop in.
• 13:04
  Speaker 10: There's plenty of room.
• 13:06
  Speaker 9: Oh, thank you so much.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: You come too, Professor. You must tell us all about
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: this bishop, this discovery at Dullam.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, very well.
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: Here we are, safe and sound.
• 13:27
  Speaker 10: Ah, this looks like the church. Look at that. There's
• 13:31
  Speaker 10: a telegraph office by the little station.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, I'll just go and telegraph the motor car
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: company about the breakdown.
• 13:37
  Speaker 10: I won't be long.
• 13:40
  Speaker 9: He seems very nervous, the professor. Yes, yes, I think
• 13:43
  Speaker 9: he is.
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: Oh, look, look, over there. That roped-off hole by the church.
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: That must be the excavation.
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: Come on.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Let's go have a look at it.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: May I help you, Father Brown?
• 13:55
  Speaker 9: Oh, yes, but what about Lady Diana?
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: Oh, I can look after myself, Father Brown.
• 14:00
  Speaker 11: There, see?
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: Come on, Leonard, I'll race you.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Oh, hang on.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: There.
• 14:08
  Speaker 10: Are you all right now, Father Brown?
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, thank you so much.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Right, you're on, Diana.
• 14:13
  Speaker 10: Hey, good God. Look who's coming out of the hole,
• 14:18
  Speaker 10: the excavation place.
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: Oh, no, Leonard, it can't be.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: That damn swine, Terence.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: What the devil's.
• 14:26
  Speaker 10: He playing at?
• 14:27
  Speaker 9: Shh, darling.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Why, Mr.
• 14:29
  Speaker 7: Terence.
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: Lady Diana and Mr. Smythe and Father Brown. So, you've
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: all come to look at the famous bishop, too. Yes,
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: I can tell you, it's quite something.
• 14:40
  Speaker 9: It seems the old boy was embalmed.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: He's lying there as large as life and twice as natural.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Come and have a look.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: And the vicar, shouldn't we see him first? Oh, Mr.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Walters, he's down here now. He was just coming out
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: when I got here.
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: Suddenly scurried back down again.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Forgot his glasses or something.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: He's a real eccentric. Come down and meet him. Right, absolutely.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: My, mind the steps, Dyer.
• 15:03
  Speaker 10: They're pretty muddy.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: A real tunnel.
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: Isn't it spooky?
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: You wait till you hear.
• 15:10
  Speaker 10: About the curse. What curse?
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Walters, the beggar, he'll tell you.
• 15:14
  Speaker 10: Are you all right, Father Brown?
• 15:15
  Speaker 9: Oh, yes, yes, I think so.
• 15:16
  Speaker 10: I can't see a thing. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, dear,
• 15:20
  Speaker 10: I'm sorry. I'm afraid I'm rather short-sighted. Oh, I beg
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: your pardon.
• 15:23
  Speaker 9: You can't be worse than me.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: It is dark.
• 15:26
  Speaker 10: I've only brought one candle down. I didn't expect... Yes,
• 15:30
  Speaker 10: it was.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I'm Mr.
• 15:31
  Speaker 10: Walters, the vicar here.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: This is Father Brown, Mr.
• 15:35
  Speaker 12: Walters.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Oh, and may I introduce Lady Diana Wales.
• 15:39
  Speaker 11: Mr.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Leonard Smythe.
• 15:42
  Speaker 10: I'm Fredrick Little Cramp.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: Well, as you can see, or I hope you can see,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: here's the old bishop.
• 15:51
  Speaker 10: He's amazing.
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: He looks almost alive.
• 15:54
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: Apparently, the Byzantines have brought the craft of embalming to
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: an almost modern level.
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: Can I have a closer look?
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 16:03
  Speaker 10: I beg you. The coffin lid is only propped up
• 16:06
  Speaker 10: by a stick.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: It's not safe. Oh, but I must.
• 16:10
  Speaker 10: Stand back, darling. That lid looks pretty heavy.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: Look at those vestments. They must be cloth of gold.
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: I've never seen anything like it.
• 16:21
  Speaker 13: But what's this about a curse, Mr.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Walters?
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: Briefly, it seems that one Guy of Guisors was lord
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: of the Nanner here.
• 16:31
  Speaker 10: When the bishop passed through, Guy, who was something of
• 16:34
  Speaker 10: a ruffian.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: Attacked him and, mortally injuring the old bishop, robbed him
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: of all he had, including this gold cross. But before
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: he died, the bishop proclaimed a curse on Guy and
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: all others who.
• 16:50
  Speaker 10: Should desecrate the sacred relic. And did he die?
• 16:53
  Speaker 12: Yes.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Guy died horribly of the plague a few months later,
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: but not before he had disposed of the cross to
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: a Jewish moneylender.
• 17:03
  Speaker 10: You're going to.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: Tell us something horrible happened to the Jew?
• 17:07
  Speaker 10: Yes, but first, Guy's son, who had become a monk,
• 17:11
  Speaker 10: perhaps because he was disgusted by his father's bandage, made
• 17:15
  Speaker 10: the Jew hand the cross back.
• 17:18
  Speaker 9: And how did he do that?
• 17:20
  Speaker 10: Apparently, the Jew was his vassal.
• 17:22
  Speaker 12: Oh.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: But you said something about the Jew dying a horrible death.
• 17:28
  Speaker 7: Oh, yes.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: By that time, the Jew also had the plague, and
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: he too died.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: The son returned the cross to the tomb, and to
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: stop anyone touching it, added his own curse to that
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: of the bishop, that anyone who so much as lays
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: a finger on it will also be accursed.
• 17:45
  Speaker 10: And here I am, holding it in my hand.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 17:51
  Speaker 10: Hello? Who's there? Hello?
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Hello?
• 17:56
  Speaker 10: Who's there?
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Professor, what are you doing?
• 18:02
  Speaker 10: When I heard voices, I thought someone was robbing the tomb.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Well, you can put the revolver away, Prof. It's only us.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Are you here, too?
• 18:11
  Speaker 13: Sure am.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Came on the railroad. I was the first one here.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: What kept you, Professor?
• 18:16
  Speaker 10: I went to look for the vicar.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, he's here. Who is this person?
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: This is Professor Smale, Mr.
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: Walters.
• 18:24
  Speaker 10: I don't believe I've had the pleasure.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Say, don't I know you from somewhere?
• 18:29
  Speaker 10: Quite possibly, Professor. I've certainly been expecting you. If you'd
• 18:34
  Speaker 10: care to come over here, I can show you the cross.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: This way.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Sorry.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Sorry.
• 18:38
  Speaker 10: My eyes aren't used.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: To the light yet.
• 18:40
  Speaker 10: Over here by the bishop. I'm afraid there's only the
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: one candle. Over here.
• 18:43
  Speaker 9: Don't all crowd round.
• 18:57
  Speaker 10: What happened? I couldn't quite see.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: One of us.
• 19:01
  Speaker 10: My God. It could have been me. Must have caught
• 19:03
  Speaker 10: the stick dropping the lid up. Oh, my God. Come on.
• 19:07
  Speaker 10: Let's try. Try and get the lid up.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Right here.
• 19:10
  Speaker 10: This is terrible.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: Terrible.
• 19:14
  Speaker 10: I must get help.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: I must get help.
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: Come on.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: We've got it up now, Mr.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Smythe.
• 19:20
  Speaker 10: Will you pull him out? Of course.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: He better be carried up into the air. I reckon
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: there's a chance for him.
• 19:34
  Speaker 10: Hey, give me a hand. Carry him out.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: That's right. Watch it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 10: Gently does it.
• 19:44
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 19:45
  Speaker 10: Careful now. Careful.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: There.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Put him down.
• 19:47
  Speaker 9: Put gently.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Under.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: There.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: He isn't dead, but I think it's pretty bad.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Mr.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Smythe.
• 19:53
  Speaker 12: Yes.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Would you go and get help in your motor car?
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Bring a doctor?
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: But hasn't the vicar gone?
• 19:57
  Speaker 12: Yes.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you should go as well.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Come on, Diana.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Don't argue.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: We'll be as quick as we can.
• 20:02
  Speaker 9: Thank you so much.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Well, this way. You've done what I can for him.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Very good.
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: Professional, Mr.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Tarrant.
• 20:11
  Speaker 9: You obviously know what you're doing.
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: My business, you have to know a bit about this
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: sort of thing. I guess you must have realized I'm
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: not what I seem.
• 20:20
  Speaker 9: Well, I thought of it about halfway through the voyage.
• 20:23
  Speaker 12: I imagine you're a detective employed by Lady Diana's husband
• 20:27
  Speaker 12: to follow her and Smythe.
• 20:29
  Speaker 9: Are you? Sure thing, Father Brown. That's why I came here.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: Not to see the mummy.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I came because I heard they were coming here.
• 20:36
  Speaker 9: The lovebirds.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: By the way.
• 20:39
  Speaker 10: Why did you send them off?
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: After the vicar's gone to get help.
• 20:42
  Speaker 9: Oh, I sent them off to get a doctor, as
• 20:44
  Speaker 9: I said. You see, you're not the only person who
• 20:47
  Speaker 9: isn't what you seem.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: How is he, doctor? The professor?
• 20:55
  Speaker 10: Well, I've given him a draft and he's resting now.
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: Oh, good.
• 20:59
  Speaker 10: He's very weak, but much better than he was this morning.
• 21:02
  Speaker 10: It was your prompt action.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: That saved him, Mr. Tarrant.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Indeed, yes.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get back.
• 21:08
  Speaker 10: I'll come again tomorrow. You're all staying here at the inn?
• 21:12
  Speaker 12: Yes, we thought it best just for a day or
• 21:15
  Speaker 12: so until we're sure about Professor Smale's condition.
• 21:17
  Speaker 10: Well, you'll find it a pleasant enough place.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: If you can enjoy yourselves in the circumstances, there are
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: some excellent walks by the cliffs.
• 21:25
  Speaker 9: Oh, thank you.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Good evening.
• 21:28
  Speaker 9: Good evening, Doctor. Thank you so much.
• 21:30
  Speaker 13: I don't think we shall be walking by the cliffs again.
• 21:33
  Speaker 13: Not after what we found there just now.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: What do you mean?
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: It's the bishop's curse. It's taken the vicar just as
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: it did the professor.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: What in the world has happened now?
• 21:44
  Speaker 10: Mr. Walters, the vicar, has committed suicide.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: I don't believe it.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: We've just found his.
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: Black hat and clothes by the clifftop.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: He appears to have.
• 21:53
  Speaker 9: jumped into the sea.
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: I suppose the shock of what he did unhinged him.
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: In fact, I was just going to telephone the police
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: to tell them of the vicar's death.
• 22:01
  Speaker 12: I already have telephoned them about the vicar's death. I
• 22:04
  Speaker 12: expect they'll be here soon.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: What?
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: How did you know?
• 22:07
  Speaker 7: When?
• 22:08
  Speaker 12: About an hour ago, Mr Smythe, as soon as I
• 22:10
  Speaker 12: felt able to leave the professor's bedside.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: But we've only just.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: How do you mean?
• 22:15
  Speaker 12: Well, Lady Diana, you've travelled to the ends of the
• 22:18
  Speaker 12: earth in search of ancient history... But what do you
• 22:21
  Speaker 12: know about our own history? The men who built your
• 22:24
  Speaker 12: own parish churches, framed our laws, gave their names to
• 22:28
  Speaker 12: our towns. Now, I don't claim to know that much myself,
• 22:32
  Speaker 12: but I do know that no Jew could have been
• 22:35
  Speaker 12: the vassal of a feudal lord. They were all directly
• 22:39
  Speaker 12: under the king. In any case, in the early 15th century,
• 22:43
  Speaker 12: there were no Jewish moneylenders in England. The Jews had
• 22:46
  Speaker 12: all been expelled 100 years before by Edward I.
• 22:50
  Speaker 13: You mean the story of the curse wasn't true?
• 22:53
  Speaker 9: Indeed, I do mean that. It had nothing to do
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: with the Middle Ages.
• 22:57
  Speaker 12: It was made up by somebody whose notions of medieval
• 23:00
  Speaker 12: life came from novels and melodramas.
• 23:03
  Speaker 9: It was probably invented on the spur of the moment.
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: You mean the vicar made it up?
• 23:09
  Speaker 9: I mean the vicar's murderer did. What's this about the
• 23:13
  Speaker 9: vicar's murderer?
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, how do you know he was murdered?
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: Can't even be completely sure he's dead.
• 23:18
  Speaker 9: We haven't seen the body. But you have seen his body.
• 23:22
  Speaker 12: Dressed in the bishop's golden robes and lit by a
• 23:25
  Speaker 12: single candle.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: And you've seen his murderer.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Spinning us a romantic tale about a curse before dashing
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: off and abandoning his stolen clothes on the cliff top.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Indeed so.
• 23:36
  Speaker 10: My God.
• 23:38
  Speaker 13: Do you mean the corpse was actually the dead vicar
• 23:41
  Speaker 13: and the man we talked to was his murderer?
• 23:44
  Speaker 12: Yes.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Yes. It sure was good of you to come to
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: my lecture, Father Brown.
• 23:52
  Speaker 12: Not at all, not at all. It is extremely enlightening.
• 23:56
  Speaker 12: In fact, I'm surprised you gave it. Only six weeks
• 23:59
  Speaker 12: after what happened to you.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: One has one's duty to one's students. Do you think
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: he'll hang? Oh, no, no, no.
• 24:08
  Speaker 9: No, he's clearly a monomaniac. Completely insane.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: How did you realize it was him?
• 24:14
  Speaker 9: Well, um.
• 24:16
  Speaker 12: I'm rather short-sighted, but, um... Like you, I thought I
• 24:19
  Speaker 12: recognized him. And then it occurred to me that it
• 24:23
  Speaker 12: isn't uncommon for actors to take jobs as ship's stewards
• 24:27
  Speaker 12: between engagements. And you had mentioned there was a company
• 24:30
  Speaker 12: of actors in Luxor when you were last there?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Which was why he was able to impersonate the
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: vicar so effectively.
• 24:37
  Speaker 12: Yes, and also perhaps explains the melodramatic quality of the notes.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: But why do you think he killed the vicar?
• 24:45
  Speaker 12: Ah, I thought of that when he didn't seem to
• 24:47
  Speaker 12: recognize you. If you remember, the steward wasn't present when
• 24:51
  Speaker 12: you told me on board the ship. Do you remember
• 24:54
  Speaker 12: that the vicar.
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: Knew you by sight?
• 24:56
  Speaker 12: Oh. Well, perhaps when he came to the village, he
• 24:59
  Speaker 12: pretended to be you, and when Walters, the real vicar,
• 25:03
  Speaker 12: realized he was fake, the steward simply killed him.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Poor fellow. Oh, and by the way, embalming was pretty
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: rare in the 15th century. And there's no way the
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: body would have been in that state of preservation.
• 25:18
  Speaker 9: Oh, really?
• 25:19
  Speaker 12: So the card shop was not a card shop, the
• 25:22
  Speaker 12: vicar wasn't a vicar, the mummy wasn't a mummy, and the.
• 25:26
  Speaker 9: Medieval legend wasn't a medieval legend.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Perhaps it's as well there are some eternal verities. Yes.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Do you know I think I'm beginning to understand something?
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Something I never understood before.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: So the steward was mad. He was obsessed with one thing.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Why should I worry, because one madman among a million
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: sane men, leagued in a great society against him, chooses
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: to brag of pursuing me to death? The man who
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: drew those fishes, the secret symbol of Christ, in the
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: dark catacomb, he was pursued and persecuted too. He had
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: his obsession, and the whole of supposedly sane society was
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: against him, not in the dark tunnels, but ranged in
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: ranks in the daylights, and owning all the earth and
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: commanding all the armies and crowds.
• 26:13
  Speaker 12: Yes, yes. The fish was driven underground, will, I fear,
• 26:20
  Speaker 12: be driven underground again, but it will come out into
• 26:24
  Speaker 12: the daylight once more.
• 26:27
  Speaker 9: As St.
• 26:28
  Speaker 12: Anthony of Padua remarked, it is only fishes who survive
• 26:32
  Speaker 12: the deluge.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: In The Curse of the Golden Cross by G.K. Chesterton,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: the part of Father Brown was played by Andrew Sachs,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Professor Smale by Tim Reynolds, Mr. Tarrant by Peter Marinka,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Lady Diana Wales by Natasha Pine, Lemon Smythe by Peter Wickham,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: The Steward, The Vicar and The Voice by Terry O'Brien,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: The Driver by Jonathan Taffler, and The Doctor by Eric Stavell.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: The Curse of the Golden Cross was adapted by John Scottney,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and the director from Bristol was Alec Reid.