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55 The Veiled Lodger from The Case-Book of Sherlock · Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger. When one considers that
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Speaker 1: mister Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twenty three years,
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Speaker 1: and that during seventeen of these I was allowed to
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Speaker 1: co operate with him and to keep notes of his doings,
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Speaker 1: it will be clear that I have a mass of
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Speaker 1: material at my command. The problem has always been not
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Speaker 1: to find, but to choose. There is a long row
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Speaker 1: of yearbooks which fill a shelf, and there are the
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Speaker 1: dispatch cases filled with documents, a perfect quarry for the
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Speaker 1: student not only of crime, but of the social and
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Speaker 1: official scandals of the late Victorian era. Concerning these latter,
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Speaker 1: i'm they say that the writers of agonized letters, who
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Speaker 1: beg that the honor of their families or the reputation
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Speaker 1: of famous forebears may not be touched, have nothing to fear.
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Speaker 1: The discretion and high sense of professional honor, which have
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Speaker 1: always distinguished my friend, are still at work in the
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Speaker 1: choice of these memoirs, and no confidence will be abused.
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Speaker 1: I deprecate, however, in the strongest way, the attempts which
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Speaker 1: have been made lately to get at and to destroy
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Speaker 1: these papers. The source of these outrages is known, and
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Speaker 1: if they are repeated. I have mister Holmes's authority for
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Speaker 1: saying that the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse,
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Speaker 1: and the trained cormorant will be given to the public.
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Speaker 1: There is at least one reader who will understand. It
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Speaker 1: is not reasonable to suppose that every one of these
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Speaker 1: cases gave Holmes the opportunity of showing those curious gifts
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Speaker 1: of instinct and observation which I have endeavored to set
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Speaker 1: forth in these memoirs. Sometimes he had, with much effort
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Speaker 1: to pick the fruit, sometimes it fell easily into his lap.
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Speaker 1: But the most terrible human tragedies were often involved in
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Speaker 1: those cases which brought him the fewest personal opportunities. And
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Speaker 1: it is one of these which I now desire to record.
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Speaker 1: In telling it, I have made a slight change of
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Speaker 1: name and place, but otherwise the facts are as stated.
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Speaker 1: One forenoon, it was late in eighteen ninety six, I
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Speaker 1: received a hurried note from Homes asking for my attendants.
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Speaker 1: When I arrived, I found him seated in a smoke
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Speaker 1: laden atmosphere, with an elderly, motherly woman of the buxom
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Speaker 1: landlady type in the corresponding chair in front of him.
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Speaker 1: This is Missus Merrilow of South Brixton, said my friend,
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Speaker 1: with a wave of the hand. Missus Merrillau does not
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Speaker 1: object to tobacco, Watson, if you wish to indulge your
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Speaker 1: filthy habits. Missus Merrilau has an interesting story to tell,
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Speaker 1: which may well lead to further developments in which your
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Speaker 1: presence may be useful anything I can do. You will understand,
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Speaker 1: Missus Merrilow, that if I come to Missus roonder, I
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Speaker 1: should prefer to have a witness. You will make her
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Speaker 1: understand that before we arrive. Lord bless you, mister Elmes,
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Speaker 1: said our visitor. She is that anxious to say you
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Speaker 1: that you might bring the whole parish at your heels.
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Speaker 1: Then we shall come early in the afternoon. Let us
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Speaker 1: see that we have our facts correct before we start.
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Speaker 1: If we go over them, it will help doctor Watson
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Speaker 1: to understand the situation. You say that Missus Ronda has
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Speaker 1: been your lodger for seven years, and that you have
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Speaker 1: only once seen her face. And I wish to God
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Speaker 1: I had not, said Missus Merrilow, it was I understand,
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Speaker 1: terribly mutilated. Well, mister Olmes, you would hardly say it
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Speaker 1: was a face at all. That's how it looked. Our
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Speaker 1: milkman got a glimpse of her once peeping out of
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Speaker 1: the upper window, and he dropped his tin and the
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Speaker 1: milk all over the front garden. That is the kind
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Speaker 1: of face it is. When I saw her, I happened
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Speaker 1: on her unawares. She covered up quick, and then she said, Now,
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Speaker 1: missus Merrilow, you know at last, why it is that
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Speaker 1: I never raised my veil. Do you know anything about
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Speaker 1: her history? Nothing at all? Did she give references when
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Speaker 1: she came, No, sir, but she gave hard cash, and
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Speaker 1: plenty of it, a quarter's rent right down on the
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Speaker 1: table in advance, and no arguing about terms. In these times,
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Speaker 1: a poor woman like me can't afford to turn down
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Speaker 1: a chance like that. Did she give any reason for
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Speaker 1: choosing your house? Mine stands well back from the road
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Speaker 1: and is more private than most. Then again, I only
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Speaker 1: take the one, and I have no family of my own.
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Speaker 1: I reckon she had tried others and found that mine
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Speaker 1: suited her best. It's privacy she is after, and she's
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Speaker 1: ready to pay for it. You say that she never
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Speaker 1: showed her face from first to last, save on the
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Speaker 1: one accidental location, Well it is a very remarkable story,
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Speaker 1: most remarkable, and I don't wonder that you want it examined.
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Speaker 1: I don't, mister Holmes. I'm quite satisfied so long as
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Speaker 1: I get my rent. You could not have a quieter lodger,
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Speaker 1: or one who gives less trouble. Then what has brought
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Speaker 1: matters to a head Her health, mister Holmes. She seems
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Speaker 1: to be wasting away and there's something terrible on her mind. Murder,
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Speaker 1: she cries, murder. And once I heard her, you cruel beast,
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Speaker 1: you monster, she cried. It was in the night, and
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Speaker 1: a fair rang through the house and sent the shivers
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Speaker 1: through me. So I went to her in the morning.
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Speaker 1: Missus Ronda, I says, if you have anything that is
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Speaker 1: troubling your soul. There's the clergy, I says, and there's
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Speaker 1: the police between them. You should get some help for
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Speaker 1: God's sake, not the police, says she. And the clergy
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Speaker 1: can't change what is past. And yet she says, it
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Speaker 1: would ease my mind if someone knew the truth before
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Speaker 1: I died. Well, says I. If you won't have the regulars,
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Speaker 1: there is this detective man. What we read about begging
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Speaker 1: your pardon, mister Rolmes, and she she fair jumped at it.
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Speaker 1: That's the man, says she. I wonder I never thought
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Speaker 1: of it before. Bring him here, Missus Merrilow. And if
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Speaker 1: he won't come, tell him I'm the wife of Ronda's
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Speaker 1: Wild Beast show say that and give him the name
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Speaker 1: Abbass Parver. Here it is as she wrote it, Abbass Parver.
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Speaker 1: That will bring him if he's the man I think
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Speaker 1: he is, And it will too, remarked Holmes. Very good,
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Speaker 1: Missus Merrilow, I should like to have a little chat
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Speaker 1: with doctor Watson. That will carry us to lunch time.
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Speaker 1: About three o'clock. You may expect to see us at
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Speaker 1: your house in Brixton. Our visitor had no sooner waddled
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Speaker 1: out of the room. No other verb can describe Missus
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Speaker 1: Merrilow's method of progression. Van Sherlock Holmes threw himself with
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Speaker 1: fierce energy upon the pile of commonplace books in the corner.
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Speaker 1: For a few minutes there was a constant swish of
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Speaker 1: the leaves, and then, with a grunt of satisfaction, he
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Speaker 1: came upon what he sought. So excited was he that
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Speaker 1: he did not rise, but sat upon the floor like
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Speaker 1: some strange Buddha with crossed legs, the huge books all
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Speaker 1: round him, and one open upon his knees. The case
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Speaker 1: worried me at the time, Watson, here are my marginal
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Speaker 1: notes to prove it. I confess that I could make
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Speaker 1: nothing of it, and yet I was convinced that the
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Speaker 1: coroner was wrong. Have you no recollection of the abbas
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Speaker 1: Pava tragedy, none, Holmes, And yet you were with me then.
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Speaker 1: But certainly my own impression was very superficial, for there
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Speaker 1: was nothing to go by, and none of the parties
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Speaker 1: had engaged my services. Perhaps you would care to read
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Speaker 1: the papers? Could you not give me the points? That
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Speaker 1: is very easily done. It will probably come back to
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Speaker 1: your memory as I talk. Ronda, of course, was a
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Speaker 1: household word. He was the rival of Wombwell and of Sanger,
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Speaker 1: one of the greatest showmen of his day. There is evidence, however,
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Speaker 1: that he took to drink, and that both he and
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Speaker 1: his show were on the downgrade. At the time of
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Speaker 1: the great tragedy. The caravan had halted for the night
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Speaker 1: at abbas Parva, which is a small village in Berkshire,
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Speaker 1: when this horror occurred. They were on their way to Wimbledon,
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Speaker 1: traveling by road, and they were simply camping and not exhibiting,
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Speaker 1: as the place is so small a one that it
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Speaker 1: would not have paid them to open. They had among
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Speaker 1: their exhibits a very fine North African lion, Sahara King
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Speaker 1: was its name, and it was the habit both of
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Speaker 1: Roonda and his wife to give exhibitions inside its cage.
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Speaker 1: Here you see is a photograph of the performance, by
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Speaker 1: which you will perceive that Ronda was a huge poresign
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Speaker 1: person and that his wife was a very magnificent woman.
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Speaker 1: It was deposed at the inquest that there had been
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Speaker 1: some signs that the lion was dangerous, but as usual,
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Speaker 1: familiarity begat contempt and no notice was taken of the fact.
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Speaker 1: It was usual for either Roonda or his wife to
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Speaker 1: feed the lion at night. Sometimes one went, sometimes both,
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Speaker 1: but they never allowed any one else to do it,
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Speaker 1: for they believed that so long as they were the
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Speaker 1: food carriers, he would regard them as benefactors and would
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Speaker 1: never molest them. On this particular night seven years ago,
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Speaker 1: they both went and a very terrible happening followed, the
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Speaker 1: details of which have never been made clear. It seems
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Speaker 1: that the whole camp was roused near midnight by the
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Speaker 1: roars of the animal and the screams of the woman.
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Speaker 1: The different grooms and employees rushed from their tents carrying lanterns,
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Speaker 1: and by their light an awful sight was revealed. Ronda
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Speaker 1: lay with the back of his head crushed in and
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Speaker 1: deep claw marks across his scalp, some ten yards from
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Speaker 1: the cage, which was open. Close to the door of
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Speaker 1: the cage lay missus Rohonda upon her back, with the
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Speaker 1: creature squatting and snarling above her. It had torn her
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Speaker 1: face in such a fashion that it was never thought
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Speaker 1: that she could live. Several of the circus men, headed
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Speaker 1: by Leonardo the strong Man and Griggs the Clown, drove
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Speaker 1: the creature off with poles, upon which it sprang back
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Speaker 1: into the cage and was at once locked in. How
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Speaker 1: it had got loose was a mystery. It was conjectured
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Speaker 1: that the pair intended to enter the cage, but that
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Speaker 1: when the door was loosed, the creature bounded out upon them.
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Speaker 1: There was no other point of interest in the evidence,
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Speaker 1: save that the woman, in a delirium of agony, kept
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Speaker 1: screaming coward, coward as she was carried back to the
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Speaker 1: van In which they lived. It was six months before
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Speaker 1: she was fit to give evidence. But the inquest was
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Speaker 1: duly held with the obvious verdict of death from misadventure.
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Speaker 1: What alternative could be conceived? Said I, You may well
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Speaker 1: say so. And yet there were one or two points
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Speaker 1: which worried young Edmonds of the Berkshire Constabulary, a smart
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Speaker 1: lad that he was sent later to Allahabad. That was
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Speaker 1: how I came into the matter, For he dropped in
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Speaker 1: and smoked a pipe or two over it, a thin
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Speaker 1: yellow haired man. Exactly. I was sure you would pick
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Speaker 1: up the trail presently. But what worried him? Well, we
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Speaker 1: were both worried. It was so deucedly difficult to reconstruct
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Speaker 1: the affair. Look at it from the lion's point of view.
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Speaker 1: He is liberated. What does he do? He takes half
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Speaker 1: a dozen bounds forward, which brings him to Ronda. Roonda
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Speaker 1: turns to fly. The claw marks were on the back
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Speaker 1: of his head, but the lion strikes him down. Then,
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Speaker 1: instead of bounding on and escaping, he returns to the
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Speaker 1: woman who was close to the cage, and he knocks
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Speaker 1: her over and choose her face up. Then again, those
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Speaker 1: cries of hers would seem to imply that her husband
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Speaker 1: had in some way failed her. What could the poor
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Speaker 1: devil have done to help her? You see the difficulty
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Speaker 1: quite And then there was another thing. It comes back
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Speaker 1: to me now as I think it over. There was
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Speaker 1: some evidence that just at the time the lion roared
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Speaker 1: and the woman screamed, a man began shouting in terror.
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Speaker 1: This man roonda, no doubt. Well, if his skull was
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Speaker 1: smashed in, you would hardly expect to hear from him again.
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Speaker 1: There were at least two witnesses who spoke of the
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Speaker 1: cries of a man being mingled with those of a woman.
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Speaker 1: I should think the whole camp was crying out by then.
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Speaker 1: As to the other points, I think I could suggest
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Speaker 1: a solution, I should be glad to consider it. The
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Speaker 1: two were together the ten yards from the cage when
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Speaker 1: the lion got loose. The man turned and was struck down.
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Speaker 1: The woman conceived the idea of getting into the cage
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Speaker 1: and shutting the door. It was her only refuge. She
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Speaker 1: made for it, and just as she reached it, the
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Speaker 1: beast bounded after her and knocked her over. She was
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Speaker 1: angry with her husband for having encouraged the beast's rage
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Speaker 1: by turning. If they had faced it, they might have
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Speaker 1: cowed it. Hence her cries of coward brilliant Watson, only
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Speaker 1: one floor in your diamond, what is the floor homes?
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Speaker 1: If they were both ten paces from the cage, how
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Speaker 1: came the beast to get loose? Is it possible that
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Speaker 1: they had some enemy who loosed it? And why should
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Speaker 1: it attack them savagely when it was in the habit
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Speaker 1: of playing with them and doing tricks with them inside
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Speaker 1: the cage. Possibly the same enemy had done something to
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Speaker 1: enrage it. Holmes looked thoughtful and remained in silence for
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Speaker 1: some moments. Well, Watson, there is this to be said
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Speaker 1: for your theory. Ronda was a man of many enemies.
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Speaker 1: Edmonds told me that in his cups he was horrible,
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Speaker 1: a huge bully of a man. He cursed and slashed
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Speaker 1: at everyone who came in his way. I expect those
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Speaker 1: cries about a monster of which our visitor has spoken
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Speaker 1: were nocturnal reminiscences of the dear departed. However, our speculations
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Speaker 1: are futile until we have all the facts. There is
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Speaker 1: a cold partridge on the sideboard, Watson, and a bottle
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Speaker 1: of montrachet. Let us renew our energies before we make
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Speaker 1: a fresh call upon them. When our handsome deposited us
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Speaker 1: at the house of missus Merrilow, we found that plump
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Speaker 1: lady blocking up the open door of her humble but
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Speaker 1: retired abode. It was very clear that her chief preoccupation
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Speaker 1: was lest she should lose a valuable lodger, and she
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Speaker 1: implored us, before showing us up, to say and do
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Speaker 1: nothing which could lead to so undesirable an end. Then,
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Speaker 1: having reassured her, we followed her up the straight, badly
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Speaker 1: carpeted staircase and were shown into the room of the
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Speaker 1: mysterious lodger. It was a close, musty, ill ventilated place,
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Speaker 1: as might be expected, since its inmate seldom left it.
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Speaker 1: From keeping beasts in a cage, the woman said deed,
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Speaker 1: by some retribution of fate, to have become herself a
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Speaker 1: beast in a cage. She sat now in a broken
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Speaker 1: armchair in the shadowy corner of the room. Long years
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Speaker 1: of inaction had coarsened the lines of her figure, but
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Speaker 1: at some period it must have been beautiful, and was
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Speaker 1: still full and voluptuous. A thick, dark veil covered her face,
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Speaker 1: but it was cut off close at her upper lip,
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Speaker 1: and disclosed a perfectly shaped mouth and a delicately rounded chin.
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Speaker 1: I could well conceive that she had indeed been a
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Speaker 1: very remarkable woman. Her voice, too, was well modulated and pleasing.
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Speaker 1: My name is not unfamiliar to you, mister Holmes, said she.
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Speaker 1: I thought that it would bring you. That is so, madam,
19:05
Speaker 1: though I do not know how you are aware that
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Speaker 1: I was interested in your case. I learned it when
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Speaker 1: I had recovered my health and was examined by mister Edmonds,
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Speaker 1: the county detective. I fear I lied to him. Perhaps
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Speaker 1: it would have been wiser had I told the truth.
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Speaker 1: It is usually wiser to tell the truth. But why
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Speaker 1: did you lie to him? Because the fate of some
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Speaker 1: one else depended upon it? I know that he was
19:42
Speaker 1: a very worthless being, and yet I would not have
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Speaker 1: his destruction upon my conscience. We had been so close,
19:56
Speaker 1: so close. But has this impediment been removed? Yes, sir,
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Speaker 1: the person that I allude to is dead, then why
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Speaker 1: should you not now tell the police anything you know?
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Speaker 1: Because there is another person to be considered. That other
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Speaker 1: person is myself. I could not stand the scandal and
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Speaker 1: publicity which would come from a police examination. I have
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Speaker 1: not longed to live, but I wish to die undisturbed.
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Speaker 1: And yet I wanted to find one man of judgment
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Speaker 1: to whom I could tell my terrible story, so that
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Speaker 1: when I am gone, all might be understood. You compliment me, Madam.
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Speaker 1: At the same time, I am a responsible person. I
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Speaker 1: do not promise you that, when you have spoken, I
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Speaker 1: may not myself think it my duty to refer the
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Speaker 1: case to the police. I think not, mister Holmes. I
21:18
Speaker 1: know your character and your methods too well, for I
21:24
Speaker 1: have followed your work for some years. Reading is the
21:28
Speaker 1: only pleasure which fate has left me, and I miss
21:32
Speaker 1: little which passes in the world. But in any case,
21:37
Speaker 1: I will take my chance of the use which you
21:40
Speaker 1: may make of my tragedy. It will ease my mind
21:46
Speaker 1: to tell it, my friend, and I would be glad
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Speaker 1: to hear it. The woman rose and took from a
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Speaker 1: drawer the photograph of a man. He was clearly professional acrobat,
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Speaker 1: a man of magnificent physique, taken with his huge arms
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Speaker 1: folded across his swollen chest, and a smile breaking from
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Speaker 1: under his heavy mustache, the self satisfied smile of the
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Speaker 1: man of many conquests. That is Leonardo, she said, Leonardo,
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Speaker 1: the strong man who gave evidence the same. And this,
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Speaker 1: this is my husband. It was a dreadful face, a
22:36
Speaker 1: human pig, or rather a human wild boar, for it
22:43
Speaker 1: was formidable in its bestiality. One could imagine that vile
22:49
Speaker 1: mouth champing and foaming in its rage. And one could
22:54
Speaker 1: conceive those small, vicious eyes darting pure malignancy as they
22:58
Speaker 1: looked forth upon the world. Ruffian bully beast. It was
23:06
Speaker 1: all written on that heavy, jowled face. Those two pictures
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Speaker 1: will help you, gentlemen, to understand the story. I was
23:16
Speaker 1: a poor circus girl, brought up on the sawdust and
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Speaker 1: doing springs through the hoop before I was ten. When
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Speaker 1: I became a woman, this man loved me, if such
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Speaker 1: lust as his can be called love, and in an
23:35
Speaker 1: evil moment, I became his wife. From that day I
23:41
Speaker 1: was in hell, and he the devil who tormented me.
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Speaker 1: There was no one in the show who did not
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Speaker 1: know of his treatment. He deserted me for others. He
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Speaker 1: tied me down and lashed me with his riding whip.
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Speaker 1: When I complained, they all pitied me, and they all
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Speaker 1: loathed him. But what could they do. They feared him
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Speaker 1: one and all, for he was terrible at all times,
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Speaker 1: and murderous when he was drunk. Again and again he
24:27
Speaker 1: was had up for assault and for cruelty to the beasts,
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Speaker 1: but he had plenty of money and the fines were
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Speaker 1: nothing to him. The best men all left us, and
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Speaker 1: the show began to go downhill. It was only Leonardo
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Speaker 1: and I who kept it up, with little Jimmy Griggs,
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Speaker 1: the clown, poor devil. He had not much to be
24:59
Speaker 1: funny that he did what he could to hold things together.
25:06
Speaker 1: Then Leonardo came more and more into my life. You
25:10
Speaker 1: see what he was like. I know now the poor
25:14
Speaker 1: spirit that was hidden in that splendid body. But compared
25:19
Speaker 1: to my husband, he seemed like the angel Gabriel. He
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Speaker 1: pitied me and helped me till at last our intimacy
25:32
Speaker 1: turned to love, deep, deep passionate love, such love as
25:39
Speaker 1: I had dreamed of but never hoped to feel. My
25:43
Speaker 1: husband suspected it, but I think that he was a
25:47
Speaker 1: coward as well as a bully, and that Leonardo was
25:52
Speaker 1: the one man that he was afraid of. He took
25:57
Speaker 1: revenge in his own way by torturing me more than ever,
26:01
Speaker 1: one night, my cries brought Leonardo to the door of
26:05
Speaker 1: our van. We were near tragedy that night, and soon
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Speaker 1: my lover and I understood that it could not be avoided.
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Speaker 1: My husband was not fit to live. We planned that
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Speaker 1: he should die. Leonardo had a clever, scheming brain. It
26:31
Speaker 1: was he who planned it. I do not say that
26:35
Speaker 1: to blame him, for I was ready to go with
26:38
Speaker 1: him every inch of the way. But I should never
26:42
Speaker 1: have had the wit to think of such a plan.
26:45
Speaker 1: We made a club. Leonardo made it, and in the
26:51
Speaker 1: leaden head he fastened five long steel nails, the points outwards,
26:59
Speaker 1: with such a spread as the lion's paw. This was
27:04
Speaker 1: to give my husband the death blow, and yet to
27:09
Speaker 1: leave the evidence that it was the lion which we
27:12
Speaker 1: would loose, who had done the deed. It was a
27:17
Speaker 1: pitch dark night when my husband and I went down,
27:20
Speaker 1: as was our custom, to feed the beast. We carried
27:25
Speaker 1: with us the raw meat in a zinc pail. Leonardo
27:31
Speaker 1: was waiting at the corner of the big van, which
27:34
Speaker 1: we should have to pass before we reached the cage.
27:38
Speaker 1: He was too slow, and we walked past him before
27:43
Speaker 1: he could strike, But he followed us on tiptoe, and
27:47
Speaker 1: I heard the crash as the club smashed my husband's skull.
27:51
Speaker 1: My heart leapt with joy at the sound. I sprang
27:54
Speaker 1: forward and I undid the catch which held the door
27:57
Speaker 1: of the great lion's cage. And then the terrible thing happened.
28:05
Speaker 1: You may have heard how quick these creatures are to
28:07
Speaker 1: scent human blood, and how it excites them. Some strange
28:12
Speaker 1: instinct had told the creature in one instant that a
28:15
Speaker 1: human being had been slain. As I slipped the bars,
28:19
Speaker 1: it bounded out and was on me. In an instant.
28:25
Speaker 1: Leonardo could have saved me. If he had rushed forward
28:29
Speaker 1: and struck the beast with his club, he might have
28:31
Speaker 1: cowed it. But the man lost his nerve. I heard
28:40
Speaker 1: him shout in his terror, and then I saw him
28:44
Speaker 1: turn and fly. At the same instant, the teeth of
28:49
Speaker 1: the lion met my face. Its heart filthy breath had
28:54
Speaker 1: already poisoned me, and I was hardly conscious of pain.
28:58
Speaker 1: With the palms of my hands, tried to push the great, steaming,
29:02
Speaker 1: blood stained jaws away from me, and I screamed for help.
29:08
Speaker 1: I was conscious that the camp was stirring, and then
29:11
Speaker 1: dimly I remembered a group of men, Leonardo Griggs and others,
29:16
Speaker 1: dragging me from under the creature's paws. That was my
29:22
Speaker 1: last memory, mister Holmes, for many a weary month. When
29:30
Speaker 1: I came to myself and saw myself in the mirror,
29:37
Speaker 1: I cursed that lion. Oh how I cursed him, not
29:43
Speaker 1: because he had torn away my beauty, but because he
29:45
Speaker 1: had not torn away my life. I had but one desire,
29:52
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, and I had enough money to gratify it.
29:59
Speaker 1: It was that I should cover myself so that my
30:04
Speaker 1: poor face should be seen by none, and that I
30:09
Speaker 1: should dwell where none whom I had ever known should
30:12
Speaker 1: find me. That was all that was left to me
30:17
Speaker 1: to do. And that is what I have done. A
30:22
Speaker 1: poor wounded beast that has crawled into its hole to die.
30:28
Speaker 1: That is the end of Eugenia Roonder. We sat in
30:37
Speaker 1: silence for some time after the unhappy woman had told
30:42
Speaker 1: her story. Then Holmes stretched out his long arm and
30:50
Speaker 1: patted her hand with such a show of sympathy as
30:55
Speaker 1: I had seldom known him to exhibit. Poor girl, he said,
31:04
Speaker 1: poor girl, the ways of fate are indeed hard to understand.
31:13
Speaker 1: If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world
31:18
Speaker 1: is a cruel jest. But what of this man Leonardo?
31:26
Speaker 1: I never saw or heard from him again. Perhaps I
31:30
Speaker 1: have been wrong to feel so bitterly against him. He
31:35
Speaker 1: might as soon have loved one of the freaks whom
31:38
Speaker 1: we carried round the country as the thing which the
31:43
Speaker 1: lion had left. But a woman's love is not so
31:47
Speaker 1: easily set aside. He had left me under the beast's claws.
31:56
Speaker 1: He had deserted me in my need. And yet that
32:00
Speaker 1: I could not bring myself to give him to the gallows.
32:06
Speaker 1: For myself I cared nothing what became of me, what
32:11
Speaker 1: could be more dreadful than my actual life. But I
32:16
Speaker 1: stood between Leonardo and his fate. And he is dead.
32:23
Speaker 1: He was drowned last month when bathing near Margate. I
32:28
Speaker 1: saw his death in the paper. And what did he
32:31
Speaker 1: do with this five clawed club, which is the most
32:35
Speaker 1: singular and ingenious part of all your story? I cannot tell,
32:40
Speaker 1: mister Holmes. There is a chalk pit by the camp,
32:46
Speaker 1: with a deep green pool at the base of it,
32:49
Speaker 1: perhaps in the depths of that pool. Well, well, it
32:53
Speaker 1: is of little consequence. Now the case is closed, Yes,
33:01
Speaker 1: said the woman. The case is closed. We had risen
33:09
Speaker 1: to go, but there was something in the woman's voice
33:14
Speaker 1: which arrested Holmes's attention. He turned swiftly upon her. Your
33:21
Speaker 1: life is not your own, he said, keep your hands
33:25
Speaker 1: off it. What use is it to anyone? How can
33:30
Speaker 1: you tell the example of patient suffering is in itself
33:36
Speaker 1: the most precious of all lessons to an impatient world.
33:42
Speaker 1: The woman's answer was a terrible one. She raised her
33:47
Speaker 1: veil and stepped forward into the light. I wonder if
33:53
Speaker 1: you would bear it, she said, It was horrible. No
34:01
Speaker 1: words can describe the framework of a face when the
34:05
Speaker 1: face itself is gone. Two living and beautiful brown eyes
34:12
Speaker 1: looking sadly out from that grisly ruin, did but make
34:18
Speaker 1: the view more awful. Holmes held up his hand in
34:25
Speaker 1: a gesture of pity and protest, and together we left
34:32
Speaker 1: the room. Two days later, when I called upon my friend,
34:39
Speaker 1: he pointed with some pride to a small blue bottle
34:43
Speaker 1: upon his mantelpiece. I picked it up. There was a
34:48
Speaker 1: red poison label, A pleasant armondy odor rose. When I
34:55
Speaker 1: opened it prussic acid, said I exactly, it came by post.
35:04
Speaker 1: I send you my temptation. I will follow your advice.
35:12
Speaker 1: That was the message, I think Watson, we can guess
35:16
Speaker 1: the name of the brave woman who sent it. That
35:26
Speaker 1: is the end of the Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
35:31
Speaker 1: by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for
35:38
Speaker 1: Magpie Audio twenty twenty three. So that, believe it or not,
35:49
Speaker 1: is the final Sherlock Holmes story that I've recorded. It
35:55
Speaker 1: completes the canon. That's all of them done, dusted, competeout,
36:04
Speaker 1: and I think it's quite by chance that that one
36:09
Speaker 1: is the last one. I don't think it's the order
36:13
Speaker 1: that Conan Doyle completed the casebook stories. But I actually
36:18
Speaker 1: think it's a really thought provoking, deep profound, in many
36:27
Speaker 1: ways satisfying story to end on, because some of the
36:31
Speaker 1: casebook stories are a little bit three star four star,
36:36
Speaker 1: but I think that is a real five star, somewhat neglected. Yes,
36:41
Speaker 1: he doesn't do a lot of detective work in it,
36:45
Speaker 1: but there's something very profound there. There's a pearl in
36:50
Speaker 1: there which I don't know whether I successfully prized out
36:55
Speaker 1: of the the Oyster, but I found that partly because
37:00
Speaker 1: it's the conclusion of a of a journey for me,
37:04
Speaker 1: but I thought there was lots in that story, much
37:11
Speaker 1: more than might immediately meet the eye. And maybe it's
37:14
Speaker 1: because I've read it a couple of times, but anyway,
37:19
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed it. Please subscribe, Please support me
37:23
Speaker 1: on Patreon if you wish to. There'll be more stories
37:28
Speaker 1: coming up, hopefully of an Edwardian detective flavor or pastiches
37:34
Speaker 1: of Sherlock Holmes or a bit of Poe maybe, or
37:38
Speaker 1: perhaps going forward, maybe Smaggath Christie, not quite sure. Let
37:43
Speaker 1: me know what you'd like to see or hear more
37:46
Speaker 1: you don't want to see you'd prefer to hear. I
37:49
Speaker 1: am the veiled lodger. You don't want to see me.
37:50
Speaker 1: You want to hear me, I understand. I get that.
37:53
Speaker 1: Don't send me any Prussic acid. Let's continue as we
37:57
Speaker 1: were friendly, Thank you, my friends, and talk to you
38:01
Speaker 1: anone