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51 The Three Gables from The Case-Book of Sherlock H · Sherlock Holmes

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  Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Three Gables. I don't think that
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: any of my adventures with mister Sherlock Holmes opened quite
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  Speaker 1: so abruptly or so dramatically as that which I associate
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  Speaker 1: with the Three Gables. I had not seen homes for
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  Speaker 1: some days, and had no idea of the new channel
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  Speaker 1: into which his activities had been directed. He was in
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  Speaker 1: a chatty mood that morning, however, and had just settled
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  Speaker 1: me into the well worn low arm chair on one
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  Speaker 1: side of the fire, while he had curled down with
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  Speaker 1: his pipe in his mouth, upon the opposite chair when
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  Speaker 1: our visitor arrived. If I had said that a mad
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: bull had arrived, it would give a clearer impression of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: what occurred. The door had flown open, and a huge
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: negro had burst into the room. He would have been
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  Speaker 1: a comic figure if he had not been terrific, for
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  Speaker 1: he was dressed in a very loud gray check suit
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  Speaker 1: with a flowing salmon colored tie. His broad face and
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  Speaker 1: flattened nose were thrust forward as his sullen, dark eyes,
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  Speaker 1: with a smoldering gleam of malice in them, turned from
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  Speaker 1: one of us to the other. Which of you, gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: is massa Holmes, he asked. Holmes raised his pipe with
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  Speaker 1: a languid smile. Oh is you, is it, said our visitor,
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  Speaker 1: coming with an unpleasant, stealthy step round the angle of
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  Speaker 1: the table. See here, Massa, Holmes. You keep your hands
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  Speaker 1: out of other folk's business. Leave folks to manage their
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  Speaker 1: own affairs. God, Dad, Master Holmes, keep on talking, said Holmes.
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  Speaker 1: It's fine. Oh it's fine, is it? Growled the savage.
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  Speaker 1: It won't be so damn fine if I have to
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  Speaker 1: trim you up a bit. I've handled your kind before now,
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  Speaker 1: and they didn't look fine when I was through with them.
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  Speaker 1: Look at that, master Holmes. He swung a huge, knotted
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  Speaker 1: lump of fist under my friend's nose. Holmes examined it closely,
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  Speaker 1: with an air of great interest. Were you born, so
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  Speaker 1: he asked? Or did it come by degrees? It may
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: have been the icy coolness of my friend, or it
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: may have been the slight clatter which I made as
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  Speaker 1: I picked up the poker. In any case, our visitor's
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  Speaker 1: manner became less flamboyant. Well I've given you fair warning,
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  Speaker 1: said he. I've a friend that's interested out harrow way.
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  Speaker 1: You know what I'm meaning. And he don't intend to
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  Speaker 1: have no button in by you got that you ain't
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  Speaker 1: the law and I ain't the law either, And if
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  Speaker 1: you come in I'll be on hand also, don't you
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: forget it. I've wanted to meet you for some time,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: said Holmes. I won't ask you to sit down, for
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  Speaker 1: I don't like the smell of you. But aren't you
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Steve Dixie the bruiser. That's my name, Massa Holmes. And
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  Speaker 1: you'll get put through it for sure if you give
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  Speaker 1: me any lip. It is certainly the last thing you need,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: said Holmes, staring at our visitor's hideous mouth. But it
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: was the killing of young Perkins outside the hobn bar
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  Speaker 1: what you're not going? The negro had sprung back and
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  Speaker 1: his face was leaden. I won't listen to no such talk,
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  Speaker 1: said he. What have I to do with this here, Perkins?
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  Speaker 1: Master Holmes, I was training at the bull Ring in
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  Speaker 1: Birmingham when this boy done got into trouble. Yes, you'll
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  Speaker 1: tell the magistrate about it, Steve, said Holmes. I've been
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  Speaker 1: watching you and Barney Stockdale, so help me the lord,
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  Speaker 1: Master Holmes, that's enough, get out of it. I'll pick
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  Speaker 1: you up when I want you good mornin, Massa Holmes.
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  Speaker 1: I hope there ain't no hard feelings about this here, visit.
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  Speaker 1: There will be unless you tell me who sent you why.
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  Speaker 1: There ain't no secret about that, Massa Holmes. It was
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  Speaker 1: that same gentleman that you've just done. God mention and
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  Speaker 1: who set him on to it? Selp May I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: Massa Holmes. He just says, Steve, you go see mister
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  Speaker 1: Holmes and tell him his life ain't safe if he
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  Speaker 1: go down Harrow Way. That's the whole truth. Without waiting
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  Speaker 1: for any further questioning, our visitor bolted out of the room,
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  Speaker 1: almost as precipitately as he had entered. Holmes knocked out
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  Speaker 1: the ashes of his pipe with a quiet chuckle. I'm
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  Speaker 1: glad you are not forced to break his wooly head, Watson.
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  Speaker 1: I observed your maneuvers with the poker, but he is
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  Speaker 1: really rather a harmless fellow, a great muscular, foolish, blustering
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  Speaker 1: baby and easily cowed. As you have seen. He is
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  Speaker 1: one of the Spencer John gang, and has taken part
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  Speaker 1: in some dirty work of late, which I may clear
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  Speaker 1: up when I have time. I'm his immediate principle Barney
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: is a more astute person. They specialize in assaults intimidation,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: and like, what I want to know is who is
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  Speaker 1: at the back of them on this particular occasion. But
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: why do they want to intimidate you? It is this
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  Speaker 1: Harrow Wheeld case. It decides me to look into the matter,
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  Speaker 1: for if it is worth any one's while to take
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: so much trouble, there must be something in it. But
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: what is it? I was going to tell you when
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: we had this comic interlude. Here is missus Mabeley's note.
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  Speaker 1: If you care to come with me, we will wire
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  Speaker 1: her and go out at once. Dear mister Sherlock Holmes,
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  Speaker 1: I read I have had a succession of strange incidents
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: occur to me in connection with this house, and I
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: should much value your advice. You would find me at
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  Speaker 1: home at any time to morrow. The house is within
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  Speaker 1: a short walk of the Wheeled station. I believed that
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  Speaker 1: my late husband, Mortimer Maybelely, was one of your early clients, yours, faithfully,
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  Speaker 1: Mary Maybely. The address was the three gables, Harrow Wheeled.
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  Speaker 1: So that's that, said Holmes. And now if you can
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  Speaker 1: spare the time, Watson, we will get upon our way
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  Speaker 1: A short railway journey and a shorter drive brought us
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  Speaker 1: to the house, a brick and timber villa standing in
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  Speaker 1: its own acre of undeveloped grassland. Three small projections above
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  Speaker 1: the upper windows made a feeble attempt to justify its name.
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  Speaker 1: Behind was a grove of melancholy half grown pines, and
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  Speaker 1: the whole aspect of the place was poor and depressing.
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  Speaker 1: None the less, we found the house to be well furnished,
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  Speaker 1: and the lady who received us was a most engaging
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  Speaker 1: elderly person who bore every mark of refinement and culture.
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  Speaker 1: I remember your husband well, madam, said Holmes, though it
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: is some years since he used my services in some
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: trifling matter. Probably you would be more familiar with the
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  Speaker 1: name of my son, Douglas. Holmes looked at her with
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  Speaker 1: great interest. Dear me, are you the mother of Douglas?
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  Speaker 1: Maybeley I knew him slightly, but of course all London
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  Speaker 1: knew him. What a magnificent creature he was. Where is
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  Speaker 1: he now dead, mister Holmes dead? He was at ache
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  Speaker 1: at Rome, and he died there of pneumonia last month.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry one could not connect death with such a man.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I have never known any one so vitally alive. He
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  Speaker 1: lived intensely. Every fiber of him too intensely, mister Holmes,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: that was the ruin of him. You remember him as
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  Speaker 1: he was debonair and splendid. You did not see them morose,
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  Speaker 1: brooding creature into which he developed His heart was broken.
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  Speaker 1: In a single month, I seemed to see my gallant
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  Speaker 1: boy turn into a worn out, cynical man. A love affair,
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  Speaker 1: a woman or a friend. Well, it was not to
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  Speaker 1: talk of my poor lad that I asked you to come,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: mister Holmes. Dr Watson and I are at your service.
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  Speaker 1: There have been some very strange happenings. I have been
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  Speaker 1: in this house more than a year now, and as
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  Speaker 1: I wished to lead a retired life, I have seen
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  Speaker 1: little of my neighbors. Three days ago I had a
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  Speaker 1: call from a man who said that he was a
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  Speaker 1: house agent. He said that this house would exactly suit
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  Speaker 1: a client of his, and that if I would part
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  Speaker 1: with it, money would be no object. It seemed to
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  Speaker 1: me very strange, as there are several empty houses on
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  Speaker 1: the mount which appeared to be equally eligible. But naturally
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  Speaker 1: I was interested in what he said. I therefore named
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  Speaker 1: a price which was five hundred pounds more than I gave.
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  Speaker 1: He at once closed with the offer, but added that
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  Speaker 1: his client desired to buy the furniture as well, and
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  Speaker 1: would I put a price upon it. Some of this
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  Speaker 1: furniture is from my old home, and it is, as
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  Speaker 1: you see, very good, so that I named a good
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  Speaker 1: round sum to this also, he at once agreed. I
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  Speaker 1: had always wanted to travel, and the bargain was so
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  Speaker 1: good a one that it really seemed that I should
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  Speaker 1: be my own mistress for the rest of my life.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday the man arrived with the agreement all drawn out.
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  Speaker 1: Luckily I showed it to mister Sutro, my lawyer, who
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  Speaker 1: lives in Harrow. He said to me, this is a
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  Speaker 1: very strange document. Are you aware that if you sign
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  Speaker 1: it you could not legally take anything out of the house,
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  Speaker 1: not even your own private possessions. When the man came
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  Speaker 1: again in the evening, I pointed this out, and I
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  Speaker 1: said that I meant only to sell the furniture. No, no, everything,
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  Speaker 1: said he, but my clothes, my jewels. Well, well, some
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  Speaker 1: concession might be made for your personal effects, but nothing
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  Speaker 1: shall go out of the house unchecked. My client is
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  Speaker 1: a very liberal man, but he has his fads and
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  Speaker 1: his own way of doing things. It is everything or
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  Speaker 1: nothing with him, then it must be nothing, said I.
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  Speaker 1: There the matter was left, but the whole thing seemed
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  Speaker 1: to me to be so unusual that I thought, here
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  Speaker 1: we had a very extraordinary interruption. Holmes raised his hand
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  Speaker 1: for silence. Then he strode across the room, flung open
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  Speaker 1: the door, and dragged in a great, gaunt woman, whom
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  Speaker 1: he had seized by the shoulder. She entered with ungainly struggle,
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  Speaker 1: like some huge awkward chicken torn squawking out of its coop.
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  Speaker 1: Leave me alone? What are you doing of she screeched, Why, Susan,
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  Speaker 1: what is this? Well, ma'am? I was coming in to
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  Speaker 1: ask if the visitors were staying for lunch when this
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  Speaker 1: man jumped out of me. I have been listening to
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  Speaker 1: her for the last five minutes, but did not wish
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  Speaker 1: to interrupt your most interesting narrative. Just a little wheezy, Susan,
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  Speaker 1: are you not? You breathed too heavily for that kind
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  Speaker 1: of work. Susan turned a sulky but amazed face upon
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  Speaker 1: her captor. Oh be you anyhow, and what right of
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  Speaker 1: you are pulling me about like this? It was merely
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  Speaker 1: that I wished to ask a question in your presence.
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  Speaker 1: Did you, missus Maberley, mention to any one that you
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  Speaker 1: were going to write to me and consult me? No,
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  Speaker 1: mister Holmes, I did not. Who posted your letter, Susan
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  Speaker 1: did exactly? Now, Susan, to whom was it that you
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: wrote or sent a message to say that your mistress
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: was asking advice from me? It's a lie. I sent
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  Speaker 1: no message, now, Susan. Wheezy people may not live long,
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  Speaker 1: you know. It's a wicked thing to tell Fibbs. Whom
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  Speaker 1: did you tell? Susan, cried her mistress. I believe you
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: are a bad, treacherous woman. I remember now that I
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  Speaker 1: saw you speaking to some one over the hedge. That
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  Speaker 1: was my own business, said the woman, sullenly. Suppose I
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  Speaker 1: tell you that it was Barney Stockdale to whom you spoke,
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  Speaker 1: said Holmes. Well, if you know, what do you want
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  Speaker 1: to ask for? I was not sure, but I know
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  Speaker 1: now well now, Susan, it will be worth ten pounds
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  Speaker 1: to you if you will tell me who is at
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  Speaker 1: the back of Barney, some one that could lie down
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  Speaker 1: a thousand pounds for every ten you have in the world,
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  Speaker 1: so a rich man, No, you smiled, a rich woman.
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  Speaker 1: Now we have got so far. You may as well
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  Speaker 1: give the name and earn the tenor I'll see you
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  Speaker 1: in hell first. Oh Susan language, I am clearing out
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  Speaker 1: of here. I've had enough of you all. I'll send
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  Speaker 1: for my box to morrow. She flounced for the door.
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  Speaker 1: Good bye, Susan. Paragoric is the stuff now, he continued,
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  Speaker 1: turning suddenly from lively to severe, when the door had
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  Speaker 1: closed behind the flushed and angry woman. This gang means business.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Look how close they play the game. Your letter to
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  Speaker 1: me had the ten p m postmark, and yet Susan
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  Speaker 1: passes the word to Barney. Barney has time to go
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  Speaker 1: to his employer and get instructions. He or she I
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: inclined to the latter from Susan's grin when she thought
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  Speaker 1: I had blundered forms a plan. Black Steve is called
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  Speaker 1: in and I am warned off off by eleven o'clock
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  Speaker 1: next morning. That's quick work, you know. But what do
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  Speaker 1: they want? Yes, that's the question. Who had the house
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: before you? A retired sea captain called Ferguson. Anything remarkable
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: about him, not that I ever heard of. I was
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: wondering whether he could have buried something. Of course, when
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: people buried treasure. Nowadays they do it in the post
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: office bank. But there are always some lunatics about. It
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: would be a dull world without them. At first I
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: thought of some buried valuable But why in that case
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: should they want your furniture. You don't happen to have
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a Raphael or a first folio Shakespeare without knowing it. No,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I don't think I have anything rarer than a Crown
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Darby tea set. That would hardly justify all this mystery. Besides,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: why should they not openly state what they want? If
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: they covet your tea set, they can surely offer a
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: price for it without buying you out lock, stock and barrel. No,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: as I read it, there is something which you do
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: not know that you have, and which you would not
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: give up if you did know. That is how I
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: read it, said I. Doctor Watson agrees. So that settles it. Well,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: mister Holmes, what can it be? Let us see whether
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: by this purely mental analysis we can get it to
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: a finer point. You have been in this house a
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: year nearly two. All the better during this long period,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: no one wants anything from you now suddenly within three
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: or four days you have urgent demands. What would you
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: gather from that? It can only mean, said I, that
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the object, whatever it may be, has only just come
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: into the house. Settled once again, said Holmes, Now missus Maybelene,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: has any object just arrived? No? I have bought nothing
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: new this year. Indeed, that is very remarkable. Well, I
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: think we had best let matters develop a little further
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: until we have clearer data. Is that lawyer of yours
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: a capable man? Mister Sutro is most capable. Have you
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: another maid? Or was the fair Susan who just banged
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: your front door alone? I have a young girl. Try
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: and get Sutro to spend a night or two in
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the house. You might possibly want protection against whom who
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: knows the matter is certainly obscure. If I can't find
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: what they are after, I must approach the matter from
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: the other end and try to get to the principle.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Did this house agent man give any address? Simply his
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: card and occupation? Haines, Johnson, Aukshneer and Valuer. I don't
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: think we shall find him in the directory. Honest business
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: men don't conceal their place of business. Well, you will
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: let me know any fresh development. I have taken up
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: your case and you may rely upon it that I
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: shall see it through. As we passed through the hall,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Holmes's eyes, which missed nothing, lighted upon several trunks and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: cases which were piled in a corner. The labels shone
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: out upon them Milano Lucerne. These are from Italy. They
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: are poor Douglas's things. You have not unpacked them? How
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: long have you had them? They arrived last week? But
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: you said, why, surely this might be the missing link.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: How do we know that there is not something of
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: value there? There could not possibly be, mister Holmes. Poor
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Douglas had only his pay and a small annuity. What
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: could he have of value? Holmes was lost in thought.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Delay No longer, missus, Maybeley, he said, at last, have
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: these things taken upstairs to your bedroom. Examine them as
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: soon as possible, and see what they contain. I will
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: come to morrow and hear your report. It was quite
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: evident that the Three Gables was under very close surveillance,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: for as we came round the high hedge at the
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: end of the lane, there was the Negro prize fighter
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: standing in the shadow. We came on him quite suddenly,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and a grim and menacing figure he looked in that
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: lonely place. Holmes clapped his hand to his pocket, looking
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: for your gun, Massa Holmes, No for my scent bottle. Steve,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: you are funny, Massa Holmes, ain't you? It won't be
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: funny for you, Steve, if I get after you. I
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: gave you fair warning this morning. Well, Master Holmes, I
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: don'tn't think over what you said, and I don't want
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: no more talk about that affair of Massa Perkins. Suppose
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: I can help you, Master Holmes, I will. Well, then
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: tell me who is behind you on this job, So
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: help me the lord. Master Holmes, I told you the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: truth before. I don't know my boss Barney gives me
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: yours and that's all. Well, just bear in mind, Steve,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that the lady in that house and everything under that
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: roof is under my protection. Don't forget it or rab
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Maser Holmes. I remember, I've got him thoroughly frightened for
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: his own skin. Watson. Holmes remarked as we walked on,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I think he would double cross his employer if he
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: knew who he was. It was lucky I had some
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: knowledge of the spencer John Crowd, and that Steve was
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: one of them. Now, Watson, this is a case for
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Langdale Pike, and I'm going to see him now. When
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I get back, I may be clearer in the matter.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: I saw no more of Holmes during the day, but
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I could well imagine how he spent it. For Langdale
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Pike was his human book of reference upon all matters
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: of social scandal. This strange, anguid creature spent his waking
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: hours in the bow window of a Saint James's Street club,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and was the receiving station as well as the transmitter
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: for all the gossip of the metropolis. He made, it
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: was said, a four figure income by the paragraphs which
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: he contributed every week to the garbage papers, which cater
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: to an inquisitive public. If ever, far down in the
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: turbid depths of London life there was some strange swirl
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: or eddy. It was marked with automatic exactness by this
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: human dial upon the surface. Holmes discreetly helped Langdale to knowledge,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and on occasion was helped in turn. When I met
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: my friend in his room early next morning, I was
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: conscious from his bearing that all was well, but none
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the less a most unpleasant surprise was awaiting us. It
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: took the shape of the following telegram, Please come at
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: once client's house. Burgled in the night, police in possession.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Sutro Holmes whistled the DRUMA has come to a crisis,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: and quicker than I had expected. There is a great
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: driving power at the back of this business, Watson, which
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: does not surprise me after what I have heard. This Sutro,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of course, is her lawyer. I made a mistake, I
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: fear in not asking you to spend the night on guard.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: This fellow has clearly proved a broken reed. Well, there
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: is nothing for it but another journey to Harrow Wheeld.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: We found the Three Gables, a very different establishment to
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: the orderly household of the previous day. A small group
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: of idlers had assembled at the garden gate, while a
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: couple of constables were examining the windows and the geranium beds. Within,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: we met a gray, old gentleman who introduced himself as
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the lawyer, together with a bustling rubicund inspector who greeted
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Holmes as an old friend. Well, mister Olmes, no chance
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: for you in this case, I'm afraid, just a common
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: ordinary burglary, and well within the capacity of the poor
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: old police. No experts need apply. I am sure the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: case is in very good hands, said Holmes. Merely a
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: common burglary, you say, quite so. We know pretty well
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: who the men are and where to find them. It
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: is that gang of Barney Stockdale with the big in it.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: They've been seen about here. Excellent. What did they get? Well,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: they don't seem to have got much, missus. Maybeley was
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: chloroformed and the house was Ah. Here is the lady herself,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: our friend of yesterday, looking very pale and ill, had
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: entered the room leaning upon a little maidservant. You gave
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: me good advice, mister Holmes, said she, smiling ruefully. Alas
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: I did not take it. I did not wish to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: trouble mister Sutro, and so I was unprotected. I only
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: heard of it this morning, the lawyer explained. Mister Holmes
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: advised me to have some friend in the house. I
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: neglected his advice, and I have paid for it. You
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: look wretchedly ill, said Holmes. Perhaps you are hardly equal
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to telling me what occurred. It is all here, said
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the inspector, tapping a bulky note book. Still, if the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: lady is not too exhausted, there is really so little
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: to tell. I have no doubt that wicked Susan had
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: planned an entrance for them. They must have known the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: house to an inch. I was conscious for a moment
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of the chloroform rag which was thrust over my mouth,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: but I have no notion how long I may have
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: been senseless. When I woke, one man was at the bedside,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: and another was rising with a bundle in his hand
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: from among my son's baggage, which was partially opened and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: littered over the floor. Before he could get away, I
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: sprang up and seized him. You took a big risk,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: said the inspector. I clung to him, but he shook
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: me off, and the other may have struck me, for
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: I can remember no more. Mary the maid heard the
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: noise and began screaming out of the window. That brought
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the police. But the rascals had got away. What did
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: they take well, I don't think there is anything of
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: value missing. I am sure there was nothing in my
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: son's trunks. Did the men leave no Cland there was
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: one sheet of paper which I may have torn from
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the man that I grasped it was lying all crumpled
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: on the floor. It is in my son's handwriting, which
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: means that it is not of much use, said the inspector.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Now if it had been in the burglars exactly, said Holmes,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: what rugged common sense? None the less? I should be
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: curious to see it. The inspector drew a folded sheet
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: of fool's cap from his note book. I never pass anything,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: however trifling, said he, with some pomposity. That is my
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: advice to you, mister Holmes. In twenty five years experience,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: I've learned my lesson. There was always the chance of
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: finger marks or something. Holmes inspected the sheet of paper.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: What do you make of it, Inspector, seems to be
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the end of some queer novel, as far as I
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: can see it may certainly it proved to be the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: end of a queer tale, said Holmes. You have noticed
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the number on the top of the page. It is
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: two hundred and forty five. Where are the odd two
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty four pages? Well, I suppose the burglars
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: got loads, much good may it do them. It seems
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a queer thing to break into a house in order
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: to steal such papers as that. Does it suggest anything
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: to you, Inspector, Yes, sir, it suggests that, in their hurry,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: the rascals just grabbed at what came first a hand.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I wish them joy of what they got. Why should
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: they go to my son's things, asked missus Maberley. Well,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: they found nothing valuable downstairs, so they tried their luck
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: up stairs. That's how I read it. What do you
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: make of it, mister Holmes, I must think it over, Inspector.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Come to the window. Watson. Then, as we stood together,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: he read over the fragment of paper. It began in
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: the middle of a sentence and ran like this. Face
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: bled considerably from the cuts and blows, but it was
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: nothing to the bleeding of his heart. As he saw
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that lovely face, the face for which he had been
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: prepared to sacrifice his very life. Looking out at his
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: agony and humiliation, she smiled. Yes, by Heaven, she smiled
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: like the heartless fiend she was. As he looked up
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: at her. It was at that moment that love died
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: and hate was born. Man must live for something. If
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: it is not for your embrace, my lady, then it
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: shall surely be for your undoing and my complete revenge
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: queer Grammar, said Holmes with a smile as he handed
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the paper back to the inspector. Did you notice how
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the he suddenly changed to my The writer was so
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: carried away by his own story that he imagined himself
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the supreme moment, to be the hero. It seemed mighty
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: poor stuff, said the inspector as he replaced it in
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: his book. What are you off, mister Holmes. I don't
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: think there is anything more for me to do, now
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: that the case is in such capable hands. By the way,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: missus Mayberlee, did you say you wished to travel? It
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: has always been my dream, mister Holmes. Where would you
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: like to go? Cairo, Madeira, the Riviera. Oh? If I
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: had the money, I would go round the world. Quite so,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: round the world. Well, good morning, I may drop you
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: a line in the evening. As we passed the window,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: I caught a glimpse of the Inspector's smile and shake
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: of the head. These clever fellows have always a touch
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: of madness. That was what I read in the inspector's smile. Now, Watson,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: we are at the last lap of our little journey,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: said Holmer. When we were back in the roar of
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: central London once more. I think we had best clear
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: the matter up at once, and it would be well
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: that you should come with me, for it is safer
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: to have a witness when you are dealing with such
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: a lady as Isadora Cleine. We had taken a cab
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and were speeding to some address in Grosvenor Square. Holmes
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: had been sunk in thought, but he roused himself suddenly
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: by the way, Watson, I suppose you see it all clearly? No,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I can't say that I do. I only gather that
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: we are going to see the lady who is behind
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: all this mischief exactly. But does the name Isadora Klein
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: convey nothing to you? She was, of course the celebrated beauty.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: There was never a woman to touch her. She is
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: pure Spanish, the real blood of the masterful conquistadors, and
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: her people have been leaders in Pernambuco for generations. She
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: married the aged German sugar king Klein, and presently found
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: herself the richest as well as the most lovely widow
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: upon earth. Then there was an interval of adventure when
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: she pleased her own tastes. She had several lovers and
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Douglas Maybeley, one of the most striking men in London,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: was one of them. It was, by all accounts, more
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: than an adventure with him. He was not a society butterfly,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: but a strong, proud man who gave and expected all.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: But she is the Belle Dame Saint Mercy of fiction.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: When her caprice is satisfied, the matter is ended, and
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: if the other party in the matter can't take her
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: word for it, she knows how to bring it home
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: to him. Then that was his own story. Ah, you
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: are piecing it together now. I hear that she is
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: about to marry the young Duke of Lomond, who might
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: almost be her son. His grace's ma might overlook the
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: aide psh, but a big scandal would be a different matter.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: So it is imperative. Ah, here we are. It was
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: one of the finest corner houses of the West End.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: A machine like footman took up our cards and returned
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: with the word that the lady was not at home.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Then we shall wait until she is, said Holmes cheerfully.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: The machine broke down. Not at home means not at
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: home to you, said the footman. Good Holmes answered, that
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: means that we shall not have to wait. Kindly give
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: this note to your mysteries. He scribbled three or four
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: words upon a sheet of his note book, folded it
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: and handed it to the man. What did you say, Holmes,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: I asked, I simply wrote, Shall it be the police? Then?
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: I think that should pass us in It did with
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: amazing celerity. A minute later we were in an Arabian
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: night's drawing room, vast and wonderful, in a half gloom,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: picked out with an occasional pink electric light. The lady
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: had come, I felt, to that time of life when
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: even the proudest beauty finds the half light more welcome.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: She rose from a settee as we entered, tall, queenly,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: a perfect figure, a lovely mask like face, with two
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: wonderful Spanish eyes which looked murder at us. Both. What
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: is this intrusion and this insulting message? She asked, holding
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: up the slip of paper. I need not explain, Madame.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I have too much respect for your intelligence to do so,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: though I confess that intelligence has been surprisingly at fault
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: of late. How so, sir, by supposing that your hired
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: bullies could frighten me from my work, surely no man
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: would take up my profession if it were not the
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: danger attracts him. It was you, then, who forced me
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: to examine the case of young Maybey. I have no
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: idea what you are talking about. What have I to
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: do with hired bullies? Holmes turned away wearily. Yes, I
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: have underrated your intelligence. Well, good afternoon. Stop. Where are
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: you going to Scotland Yard. We had not got half
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: way to the door before she had overtaken us and
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: was holding his arm. She had turned in a moment
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: from steel to velvet. Come and sit down, gentlemen, let
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: us talk this matter over. I feel that I may
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: be frank with you, mister Holmes. You have the feelings
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: of a gentleman. How quick a woman's instinct is to
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: find it out. I will treat you as a friend.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: I cannot promise to reciprocate, Madam. I am not the law,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: I am ready to listen, and then I will tell
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: you how I will act. No doubt it was foolish
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: of me to threaten a brave man like yourself. What
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: was really foolish, madam, is that you have placed yourself
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: in the power of a band of rascals who may
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: blackmail or give you a way. No, no, I am
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: not so simple. Since I have promised to be frank,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: I may say that no one save Bonny Stockdale and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Susan his wife, have the least idea who their employer is.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: As to them, well, it is not the first, She
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: smiled and nodded with a charming, coquettish intimacy. I see
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: you've tested them before. They are good hounds who run silent.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Such hounds have a way sooner or later of biting
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: the hand that feeds them. They will be arrested for
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: this burglary. The police are already after them. They will
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: take what comes to them. That is what they are
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: paid for. I shall not appear in this matter unless
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: I bring you into it. No, no, you would not.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: You are a gentleman. It is a woman's secret. In
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: the first place, you must give back this manuscript. She
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: broke into a ripple of laughter and walked to the fireplace.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: There was a calcined mass which she broke up with
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: the poker. Shall I give this back? She asked? So
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: roguish and exquisite did she look as she stood before
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: us with a challenging smile that I felt, of all
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Holmes's criminals, this was the one whom he would find
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: it hardest to face. However, he was immune from sentiment
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: that seals your fate. He said coldly. You are very
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: prompt in your actions, madam, but you have overdone it
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: on this occasion. She threw the poker down with a clatter.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: How hard you are, she cried. May I tell you
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the whole story? I fancy I could tell it to you,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: but you must look at it with my eyes. Mister Holmes.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: You must realize it from the point of view of
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: a woman who sees all her life's ambition about to
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: be ruined at the last moment. Is such a woman
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: to be blamed if she protects herself. The original sin
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: was yours. Yes, yes, I admit it. He was he
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: dear boy Douglas. But it so chanced that he could
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: not fit into my plans. He wanted marriage, marriage, mister Holmes,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: with a penniless commoner. Nothing less would serve him. Then
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: he became pertinacious. Because I had given, he seemed to
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: think that I still must give, and to him only
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: It was intolerable. At last, I had to make him
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: realize it by hiring Ruffians to beat him under your
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: own window. You do indeed seem to know everything. Well,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: it is true, Bunny and the boys drove him away,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: and were I admit a little rough in doing so.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: But what did he do? Then? Could I have believed
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: that a gentleman would do such an act? He wrote
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: a book in which he described his own story. I,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: of course was the wolf, he the lamb. It was
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: all there, and the different names, of course, But who
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: in all London would have failed to recognize it? What
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: you say to that, mister Holmes, Well, he was within
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: his rights. He was as if the air of Italy
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: had got into his blood and brought with it the
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: old cruel Italian spirit. He wrote to me and sent
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: me a copy of his book, that I might have
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: the torture of anticipation. There were two copies, he said,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: one for me, one for his publisher. How did you
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: know the publishers had not reached him. I knew who
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: his publisher was. It is not his only novel, you know.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: I found out that he had not heard from Italy.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Then came Douglas's sudden death. So long as that other
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: manuscript was in the world, there was no safety for me.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Of course, it must be among his effects, and these
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: would be returned to his mother. I set the gang
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: at work. One of them got into the house as servant.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do the thing, honestly, really and truly did.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: I was ready to buy the house and everything in it.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: I offered any price she cad to ask. I only
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: tried the other way when everything else had failed. Now,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: mister Holmes, granting that I was too hard on Douglas,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: God knows I I'm sorry for it. What else could
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: I do with my whole future at stake? Sherlock Holmes
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: shrugged his shoulders. Well well, said he. I suppose I
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: shall have to compound a felony as usual. How much
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: does it cost to go round the world in first
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: class style? The lady stared in amazement. Could it be
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: done on five thousand pounds? Well, I should think so. Indeed,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: very good. I think you will sign me a check
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: for that, and I will see that it comes to missus. Maybeley,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: you owe her a little change of air. Meantime, lady,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: he wagged a cautionary forefinger, Have a care, have a care.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: You can't play with edged tools. Forever without cutting those
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: dainty hands. That is the end of the Adventure of
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: the Three Gables by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read by
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Greg Wagland for Magpie Audio twenty twenty two.