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27 The Dancing Men from The Return of Sherlock Holme · Sherlock Holmes

0:02
Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Dancing Men. Holmes had been seated
0:09
Speaker 1: for some hours in silence, with his long, thin back
0:13
Speaker 1: curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing
0:17
Speaker 1: a particularly malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast,
0:23
Speaker 1: and he looked, from my point of view, like a strange,
0:25
Speaker 1: lank bird with a dull gray plumage and a black
0:29
Speaker 1: top knot so, Watson said he suddenly, you do not
0:34
Speaker 1: propose to invest in South African securities. I gave a
0:39
Speaker 1: start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes's curious faculties,
0:44
Speaker 1: this sudden intrusion into my most intimate thoughts was utterly inexplicable.
0:50
Speaker 1: How on earth do you know that, I asked. He
0:53
Speaker 1: wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test tube
0:56
Speaker 1: in his hand and a gleam of amusement in his
0:59
Speaker 1: deep set eyes. Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken, Aback
1:04
Speaker 1: said he, I am. I ought to make you sign
1:08
Speaker 1: a paper to that effect. Why, because in five minutes
1:12
Speaker 1: you will say that it is all so absurdly simple.
1:16
Speaker 1: I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind.
1:19
Speaker 1: You see, my dear Watson. He propped his test tube
1:22
Speaker 1: in the rack, and began to lecture with the air
1:25
Speaker 1: of a professor addressing his class. It is not really
1:28
Speaker 1: difficult to construct a series of inferences, each dependent upon
1:33
Speaker 1: its predecessor, and each simple in itself. If after doing so,
1:37
Speaker 1: one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents
1:41
Speaker 1: one's audience with the starting point and the conclusion, one
1:44
Speaker 1: may produce a startling, though possibly a meretricious effect. Now
1:48
Speaker 1: it was not really difficult. Buy an inspection of the
1:51
Speaker 1: groove between your left forefinger and thumb to feel sure
1:55
Speaker 1: that you did not propose to invest your small capital
1:58
Speaker 1: in the gold fields. I see no connection. Very likely not,
2:04
Speaker 1: but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here
2:07
Speaker 1: are the missing links of the very simple chain. One
2:11
Speaker 1: you have chalk between your left finger and thumb when
2:14
Speaker 1: you returned from the club last night. Two you put
2:17
Speaker 1: chalk there when you play billiards to steady the queue.
2:20
Speaker 1: Three you never play billiards except with Thurston. Four you
2:24
Speaker 1: told me four weeks ago that Thurston had an option
2:27
Speaker 1: on some South African property which would expire in a month,
2:31
Speaker 1: and which he desired you to share with him. Five
2:34
Speaker 1: your check book is locked in my drawer, and you
2:36
Speaker 1: have not asked for the key six. You do not
2:39
Speaker 1: propose to invest your money in this manner. How absurdly simple,
2:44
Speaker 1: I cried, Quite so, said he, a little nettled. Every
2:49
Speaker 1: problem becomes very childish when once it is explained to you.
2:53
Speaker 1: Here is an unexplained one. See what you can make
2:56
Speaker 1: of that, friend, Watson. He tossed a sheet of paper
3:00
Speaker 1: upon the table and turned once more to his chemical analysis.
3:05
Speaker 1: I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper. Why, Holmes,
3:10
Speaker 1: it's a child's drawing, I cried, Oh that's your idea.
3:14
Speaker 1: What else should it be? That is what mister Hilton
3:18
Speaker 1: Cubit of riding Thorpe, Manor Norfolk, is very anxious to
3:21
Speaker 1: know this little conundrum. Came by the first post, and
3:25
Speaker 1: he was to follow by the next train. There's a
3:28
Speaker 1: ring at the bell, Watson, I should not be very
3:31
Speaker 1: much surprised if this were he. A heavy step was
3:34
Speaker 1: heard upon the stairs, and an instant later there entered
3:37
Speaker 1: a tall, ruddy, clean shaven gentleman, whose clear eyes and
3:41
Speaker 1: florid cheeks told of a life led far from the
3:44
Speaker 1: fogs of Baker Street. He seemed to bring a whiff
3:47
Speaker 1: of his strong, fresh bracing East Coast air with him
3:51
Speaker 1: as he entered. Having shaken hands with each of us,
3:54
Speaker 1: he was about to sit down when his eye rested
3:57
Speaker 1: upon the paper with the curious markings, which I had
4:00
Speaker 1: just examined and left upon the table. Well, mister Holmes,
4:04
Speaker 1: what you make of these? He cried. They told me
4:07
Speaker 1: that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't
4:09
Speaker 1: think you can find a queerer one than that. I
4:12
Speaker 1: sent the paper on ahead so that you might have
4:14
Speaker 1: time to study it before I came. It is certainly
4:18
Speaker 1: rather a curious production, said Holmes. At first sight, it
4:21
Speaker 1: would appear to be some childish prank. It consists of
4:26
Speaker 1: a number of absurd little figures dancing across the paper
4:29
Speaker 1: on which they are drawn. Why should you attribute any
4:32
Speaker 1: importance to so grotesque an object? I never should, mister Holmes,
4:36
Speaker 1: But my wife does. It is frightening her to death.
4:40
Speaker 1: She says nothing, but I can see the terror in
4:42
Speaker 1: her eyes. That's why I want to sift the matter
4:45
Speaker 1: to the bottom. Holmes held up the paper so that
4:49
Speaker 1: the sunlight shone full upon it. It was a page
4:52
Speaker 1: torn from a note book. The markings were done in pencil.
4:57
Speaker 1: Holmes examined it for some time, and then folding it
5:00
Speaker 1: carefully up, he placed it in his pocket book. This
5:03
Speaker 1: promises to be a most interesting and unusual case, he said.
5:08
Speaker 1: You gave me a few particulars in your letter, mister
5:10
Speaker 1: Hilton cubit, but I should be very much obliged if
5:13
Speaker 1: you would kindly go over it all again for the
5:16
Speaker 1: benefit of my friend doctor Watson. I'm not much of
5:19
Speaker 1: a story teller, said our visitor, nervously, clasping and unclasping
5:24
Speaker 1: his great strong hands. You'll ask me anything that I
5:27
Speaker 1: don't make clear. I'll begin at the time of my
5:31
Speaker 1: marriage last year. But I want to say first of
5:34
Speaker 1: all that though I'm not a rich man, my people
5:37
Speaker 1: have been at riding Thorpe for a matter of five centuries,
5:40
Speaker 1: and there is no better known family in the county
5:42
Speaker 1: of Norfolk. Last year I came up to London for
5:46
Speaker 1: the jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding house in
5:48
Speaker 1: Russell Square because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was
5:53
Speaker 1: staying in it. There was an American young lady there.
5:57
Speaker 1: Patrick was the name Elsie Patrick. In some way we
6:01
Speaker 1: became friends until before my month was up. I was
6:05
Speaker 1: as much in love as man could be. We were
6:08
Speaker 1: quietly married at a registry office, and we returned to
6:12
Speaker 1: Norfolk a wedded couple. You'll think it very mad, mister Holmes,
6:16
Speaker 1: that a man of a good old family should marry
6:18
Speaker 1: a wife in this fashion, knowing nothing of her past
6:22
Speaker 1: or of her people. But if you saw her and
6:25
Speaker 1: knew her, it would help you to understand. She was
6:30
Speaker 1: very straight about it was, Elsie. I can't say that
6:32
Speaker 1: she did not give me every chance of getting out
6:35
Speaker 1: of it if I wished to do so. I have
6:38
Speaker 1: had some very disagreeable associations in my life, said she.
6:42
Speaker 1: I wish to forget all about them. I would rather
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Speaker 1: never allude to the past, for it is very painful
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Speaker 1: to me. If you take me, Hilton, you will take
6:51
Speaker 1: a woman who has nothing that she need be personally
6:53
Speaker 1: ashamed of. But you will have to be content with
6:57
Speaker 1: my word for it, and to allow me to be silent,
7:00
Speaker 1: and as to all that passed up to the time
7:02
Speaker 1: when I became yours. If these conditions are too hard,
7:06
Speaker 1: then go back to Norfolk and leave me to the
7:08
Speaker 1: lonely life in which you found me. It was only
7:13
Speaker 1: the day before our wedding that she said those very
7:15
Speaker 1: words to me. I'd told her that I was content
7:18
Speaker 1: to take her on her own terms, and I have
7:21
Speaker 1: been as good as my word. Well. We've been married
7:26
Speaker 1: now for a year, and very happy we have been.
7:29
Speaker 1: But about a month ago, at the end of June,
7:32
Speaker 1: I saw for the first time signs of trouble. One day,
7:36
Speaker 1: my wife received a letter from America. I saw the
7:39
Speaker 1: American stamp. She turned deadly white, read the letter and
7:43
Speaker 1: threw it into the fire. She made no allusion to
7:47
Speaker 1: it afterwards, and I made none. For a promise is
7:50
Speaker 1: a promise. But she has never known an easy hour.
7:53
Speaker 1: From that moment. There is always a look of fear
7:57
Speaker 1: upon her face, a look as if she were waiting
8:00
Speaker 1: and expecting she would do better to trust me, she
8:04
Speaker 1: would find that I was her best friend. But until
8:07
Speaker 1: she speaks, I can say nothing. Mind you, she is
8:10
Speaker 1: a truthful woman, mister Holmes, and whatever trouble there may
8:13
Speaker 1: have been in her past life, it has been no
8:15
Speaker 1: fault of hers. I'm only a simple Norfolk squire, but
8:19
Speaker 1: there is not a man in England who ranks his
8:22
Speaker 1: family honor more highly than I do. She knows it well,
8:26
Speaker 1: and she knew it well before she married me. She
8:29
Speaker 1: would never bring any stain upon it. Of that, I'm sure. Well.
8:35
Speaker 1: Now I come to the queer part of my story.
8:38
Speaker 1: About a week ago. It was the Tuesday of last
8:40
Speaker 1: week I found on one of the window sills a
8:43
Speaker 1: number of absurd little dancing figures like those upon the paper.
8:48
Speaker 1: They were scrawled with chalk. I thought it was the
8:52
Speaker 1: stable boy who had drawn them, but the lad swore
8:55
Speaker 1: he knew nothing about it. Anyway, They had come there
8:58
Speaker 1: during the night. I had them washed out, and I
9:02
Speaker 1: only mentioned the matter to my wife afterwards. To my surprise,
9:06
Speaker 1: she took it very seriously and begged me if any
9:09
Speaker 1: more came to let her see them. None did come
9:12
Speaker 1: for a week, and then yesterday morning I found this
9:14
Speaker 1: paper lying on the sun dial in the garden. I
9:18
Speaker 1: showed it to Elsie, and down she dropped in a
9:21
Speaker 1: dead faint. Since then she has looked like a woman
9:24
Speaker 1: in a dream, half dazed and with terror always lurking
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Speaker 1: in her eyes. It was then that I wrote and
9:31
Speaker 1: sent the paper to you, mister Holmes. It was not
9:34
Speaker 1: a thing that I could take to the police, for
9:36
Speaker 1: they would have laughed at me, But you will tell
9:39
Speaker 1: me what to do. I am not a rich man,
9:42
Speaker 1: but if there is any danger threatening my little woman,
9:45
Speaker 1: I would spend my last copper to shield her. He
9:50
Speaker 1: was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil, simple,
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Speaker 1: straight and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes and broad,
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Speaker 1: comely face. Love for his wife and his trust in
10:01
Speaker 1: her shone in his features. Holmes had listened to his
10:05
Speaker 1: story with the utmost attention, and now he sat for
10:09
Speaker 1: some time in silent thought. Don't you think, mister Cubit?
10:14
Speaker 1: Said he at last, that your best plan would be
10:17
Speaker 1: to make a direct appeal to your wife and to
10:20
Speaker 1: ask her to share her secret with you. Hilton Cubit
10:23
Speaker 1: shook his massive head. A promise is a promise, mister Holmes.
10:28
Speaker 1: If Elsie wished to tell me, she would, If not,
10:31
Speaker 1: it is not for me to force her confidence. But
10:34
Speaker 1: I am justified in taking my own line, and I
10:37
Speaker 1: will then I will help you with all my heart.
10:41
Speaker 1: In the first place, have you heard of any strangers
10:43
Speaker 1: being seen in your neighborhood? No, I presume that it
10:47
Speaker 1: is a very quiet place. Any fresh face would cause
10:50
Speaker 1: comment in the immediate neighborhood. Yes, but we have several
10:54
Speaker 1: small watering places not very far away, and the farmers
10:58
Speaker 1: take in lodgers. These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning. If
11:03
Speaker 1: it is a purely arbitrary one, it may be impossible
11:06
Speaker 1: for us to solve it. If, on the other hand,
11:09
Speaker 1: it is systematic, I have no doubt that we shall
11:12
Speaker 1: get to the bottom of it. But this particular sample
11:15
Speaker 1: is so short that I can do nothing, and the
11:18
Speaker 1: facts which you have brought me are so indefinite that
11:21
Speaker 1: we have no basis for an investigation. I would suggest
11:25
Speaker 1: that you return to Norfolk, that you keep a keen
11:27
Speaker 1: look out, and that you take an exact copy of
11:30
Speaker 1: any fresh dancing men which may appear. It is a
11:34
Speaker 1: thousand pities that we have not a reproduction of those
11:37
Speaker 1: which were done in chalk upon the window sill. Make
11:40
Speaker 1: a discreet inquiry. Also as to any strangers in the neighborhood.
11:45
Speaker 1: When you have collected some fresh evidence, come to me again.
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Speaker 1: That is the best advice which I can give you,
11:51
Speaker 1: mister Hilton Cubit. If there are any pressing fresh developments,
11:55
Speaker 1: I shall be always ready to run down and see
11:57
Speaker 1: you in your Norfolk home. The interview left Sherlock Holmes
12:02
Speaker 1: very thoughtful, and several times in the next few days
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Speaker 1: I saw him take his slip of paper from his
12:09
Speaker 1: note book and look long and earnestly at the curious
12:12
Speaker 1: figures inscribed upon it. He made no allusion to the affair, however,
12:17
Speaker 1: until one afternoon, a fortnight or so later, I was
12:21
Speaker 1: going out when he called me back. You had better
12:24
Speaker 1: stay here, Watson. Why because I had a wire from
12:27
Speaker 1: Hilton Cubit this morning. You remember Hilton Cubit, of the
12:30
Speaker 1: dancing men. He was to reach Liverpool Street at one twenty.
12:35
Speaker 1: He may be here at any moment. I gather from
12:37
Speaker 1: his wire that there have been some new incidents of importance.
12:42
Speaker 1: We had not long to wait for our Norfolk squire
12:44
Speaker 1: came straight from the station as fast as a hansom
12:47
Speaker 1: could bring him. He was looking worried and depressed, with
12:50
Speaker 1: tired eyes and a lined forehead. It's getting on my nerves,
12:54
Speaker 1: this business, mister Holmes, said he as he sank like
12:57
Speaker 1: a wearied man into an arm chair. It's bad enough
13:01
Speaker 1: to feel that you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk
13:04
Speaker 1: who have some kind of design upon you. But when
13:07
Speaker 1: in addition to that you know that it is just
13:09
Speaker 1: killing your wife by inches, then it becomes as much
13:12
Speaker 1: as flesh and blood can endure. She's wearing away under it,
13:17
Speaker 1: just wearing away before my eyes. Has she said anything yet, No,
13:22
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, she has not. And yet there have been
13:25
Speaker 1: times when the poor girl has wanted to speak, and
13:28
Speaker 1: yet could not quite bring herself to take the plunge.
13:31
Speaker 1: I have tried to help her, but I dare say
13:33
Speaker 1: I did it clumsily and scared her from it. She
13:36
Speaker 1: has spoken about my old family and our reputation in
13:40
Speaker 1: the county, and our pride in our unsullied honor. And
13:44
Speaker 1: I always felt it was leading to the point, but
13:47
Speaker 1: somehow it turned off before we got there. But you
13:50
Speaker 1: have found out something for yourself, a good deal, mister Holmes.
13:54
Speaker 1: I have several fresh dancing men pictures for you to examine.
13:58
Speaker 1: And what is more important, I have seen the fellow
14:02
Speaker 1: what the mount who draws them. Yes, I saw him
14:04
Speaker 1: at his work, but I will tell you everything in order.
14:08
Speaker 1: When I got back after my visit to you, the
14:11
Speaker 1: very first thing I saw next morning was a fresh
14:14
Speaker 1: crop of dancing men. They had been drawn in chalk
14:17
Speaker 1: upon the black wooden door of the tool house, which
14:20
Speaker 1: stands beside the lawn in full view of the front windows.
14:24
Speaker 1: I took an exact copy, and here it is. He
14:28
Speaker 1: unfolded a paper and laid it upon the table. Here
14:32
Speaker 1: is a copy of the hieroglyphics. Excellent, said Holmes. Excellent,
14:37
Speaker 1: the prey continue. When I had taken the copy, I
14:40
Speaker 1: rubbed out the marks. But two mornings later a fresh
14:43
Speaker 1: inscription had appeared. I have a copy of it here.
14:48
Speaker 1: Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight. Our material
14:52
Speaker 1: is rapidly accumulating, said he. Three days later a message
14:57
Speaker 1: was left, scrawled upon paper and placed under a pebble
15:00
Speaker 1: upon the sun dial. Here it is. The characters are
15:04
Speaker 1: as you see, exactly the same as the last one.
15:07
Speaker 1: After that, I determined to lie in wait, so I
15:10
Speaker 1: got out my revolver and I sat up in my study,
15:13
Speaker 1: which overlooks the lawn and garden. About two in the morning,
15:17
Speaker 1: I was seated by the window, all being dark save
15:20
Speaker 1: for the moonlight outside, when I heard steps behind me,
15:24
Speaker 1: and there was my wife in her dressing gown. She
15:27
Speaker 1: implored me to come to bed. I told her frankly
15:30
Speaker 1: that I wished to see who it was who played
15:32
Speaker 1: such absurd tricks upon us. She answered that it was
15:36
Speaker 1: some senseless, practical joke, and that I should not take
15:40
Speaker 1: any notice of it. If it really annoys you, Hilton,
15:44
Speaker 1: we might go and travel, you and I, and so
15:46
Speaker 1: avoid this nuisance. What be driven out of our own
15:50
Speaker 1: house by a practical joker, said I? Why we should
15:53
Speaker 1: have the whole county laughing at us. Well, come to bed,
15:56
Speaker 1: said she, and we can discuss it in the morning. Suddenly,
16:00
Speaker 1: as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter
16:04
Speaker 1: yet in the moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder.
16:09
Speaker 1: Something was moving in the shadow of the tool house.
16:12
Speaker 1: I saw a dark, creeping figure which crawled round the
16:15
Speaker 1: corner and squatted in front of the door, seizing my pistol.
16:19
Speaker 1: I was rushing out when my wife threw her arms
16:22
Speaker 1: round me and held me with convulsive strength. I tried
16:25
Speaker 1: to throw her off, but she clung to me most desperately.
16:29
Speaker 1: At last I got clear, But by the time I
16:31
Speaker 1: had opened the door and reached the house, the creature
16:34
Speaker 1: was gone. He had left a trace of his presence, however,
16:37
Speaker 1: for there on the door was the very same arrangement
16:40
Speaker 1: of dancing men, which had already twice appeared, and which
16:44
Speaker 1: I have copied on that paper. There was no sign
16:47
Speaker 1: of the fellow anywhere, though I ran all over the grounds.
16:51
Speaker 1: And yet the amazing thing is that he must have
16:53
Speaker 1: been there all the time, for when I examined the
16:56
Speaker 1: door again in the morning, he had scrawled some more
16:59
Speaker 1: of his pictures under the line which I had already seen.
17:03
Speaker 1: Have you that fresh drawing? Yes, it's very short, but
17:07
Speaker 1: I made a copy of it, and here it is again.
17:10
Speaker 1: He produced a paper on which the new dance appeared.
17:15
Speaker 1: Tell me, said Holmes, and I could see by his
17:18
Speaker 1: eyes that he was much excited. Was this a mere
17:21
Speaker 1: addition to the first? Or did it appear to be
17:24
Speaker 1: entirely separate? It was on a different panel of the door. Excellent,
17:31
Speaker 1: This is far the most important of all for our purpose.
17:34
Speaker 1: It fills me with hopes. Now, mister Hilton cubit, please
17:38
Speaker 1: continue your most interesting statement. I have nothing more to say,
17:43
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, except that I was angry with my wife
17:46
Speaker 1: that night for having held me back when I might
17:49
Speaker 1: have caught the skulking rascal. She said that she feared
17:53
Speaker 1: that I might come to harm for an instant. It
17:57
Speaker 1: had crossed my mind that perhaps what she really feared
18:00
Speaker 1: was that he might come to harm. For I could
18:03
Speaker 1: not doubt that she knew who this man was and
18:06
Speaker 1: what he meant by these strange signals. But there is
18:09
Speaker 1: a tone in my wife's voice, mister Holmes, and a
18:11
Speaker 1: look in her eyes which forbid doubt. And I am
18:15
Speaker 1: sure that it was indeed my own safety that was
18:18
Speaker 1: in her mind. There's the whole case, and now I
18:22
Speaker 1: want your advice as to what I ought to do.
18:25
Speaker 1: My own inclination is to put half a dozen of
18:28
Speaker 1: my farm lads in the shrubbery, and when this fellow
18:31
Speaker 1: comes again, to give him such a hiding that he
18:33
Speaker 1: will leave us in peace for the future. I fear
18:37
Speaker 1: it is too deep a case for such simple remedies,
18:40
Speaker 1: said Holmes. How long can you stay in London? I
18:45
Speaker 1: must go back to day. I would not leave my
18:48
Speaker 1: wife alone all night for anything. She is very nervous
18:51
Speaker 1: and beg me to come back. I dare say, you're right,
18:55
Speaker 1: But if you could have stopped, I might possibly have
18:58
Speaker 1: been able to return with you in a day. Meanwhile,
19:02
Speaker 1: you will leave me these papers, and I think it
19:04
Speaker 1: is very likely that I shall be able to pay
19:06
Speaker 1: you a visit shortly, and to throw some light upon
19:09
Speaker 1: your case. Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm, professional manner until
19:14
Speaker 1: our visitor had left us, although it was easy for me,
19:18
Speaker 1: who knew him so well, to see that he was
19:20
Speaker 1: profoundly excited. The moment that Hilton Cubit's broad back had
19:26
Speaker 1: disappeared through the door, my comrade rushed to the table,
19:29
Speaker 1: laid out all the slips of paper containing dancing men
19:32
Speaker 1: in front of him, and threw himself into an intricate
19:36
Speaker 1: and elaborate calculation. For two hours, I watched him as
19:40
Speaker 1: he covered sheet after sheet of paper with figures and letters,
19:44
Speaker 1: so completely absorbed in his task that he had evidently
19:47
Speaker 1: forgotten my presence. Sometimes he was making progress and whistled
19:51
Speaker 1: and sang at his work. Sometimes he was puzzled and
19:55
Speaker 1: would sit for long spells with a furrowed brow and
19:57
Speaker 1: a vacant eye. Finally he sprang from his chair with
20:01
Speaker 1: a cry of satisfaction, and walked up and down the room,
20:04
Speaker 1: rubbing his hands together. Then he wrote a long telegram
20:08
Speaker 1: upon a cable form. If my answer to this is
20:11
Speaker 1: as I hope you will have a very pretty case
20:14
Speaker 1: to add to your collection. Watson said he, I expect
20:18
Speaker 1: that we shall be able to go down to Norfolk
20:20
Speaker 1: tomorrow and to take our friend some very definite news
20:23
Speaker 1: as to the secret of his annoyance. I confess that
20:28
Speaker 1: I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that
20:31
Speaker 1: Holmes liked to make his disclosures at his own time
20:34
Speaker 1: and in his own way. So I waited until it
20:37
Speaker 1: should suit him to take me into his confidence. But
20:42
Speaker 1: there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two
20:44
Speaker 1: days of impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his
20:48
Speaker 1: ears at every ring of the bell. On the evening
20:52
Speaker 1: of the second there came a letter from Hilton Cubid.
20:55
Speaker 1: All was quiet with him, save that a long inscription
20:59
Speaker 1: had appeared that morning upon the pedestal of the sun dial.
21:02
Speaker 1: He enclosed a copy of it, which is here reproduced.
21:07
Speaker 1: Holmes bent over this grotesque freeze for some minutes, and
21:11
Speaker 1: then suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation of
21:14
Speaker 1: surprise and dismay. His face was haggard with anxiety. We
21:20
Speaker 1: have let this affair go far enough, said he is
21:23
Speaker 1: there a train to North Walsham to night. I turned
21:26
Speaker 1: up the timetable the last had just gone. Then we
21:30
Speaker 1: shall breakfast early and take the very first in the morning,
21:33
Speaker 1: said Holmes. Our presence is most urgently needed. Ah here
21:38
Speaker 1: is our expected cablegram one moment, Missus Hudson, there may
21:42
Speaker 1: be an answer. No, that is quite as I expected.
21:46
Speaker 1: This message makes it even more essential that we should
21:49
Speaker 1: not lose an hour in letting Hilton cubit know how
21:52
Speaker 1: matters stand. For it is a singular and a dangerous
21:55
Speaker 1: web in which our simple Norfolk squire is entangled. So
22:01
Speaker 1: indeed it proved. And as I come to the dark
22:05
Speaker 1: conclusion of a story which had seemed to me to
22:07
Speaker 1: be only childish and bizarre, I experience once again the
22:11
Speaker 1: dismay and horror with which I was filled. Would that
22:15
Speaker 1: I had some brighter ending to communicate to my readers.
22:19
Speaker 1: But these are the chronicles of fact, and I must
22:22
Speaker 1: follow to their dark crisis. The strange chain of events
22:26
Speaker 1: which for some days made Riding Thorpe Manor a household
22:30
Speaker 1: word through the length and breadth of England. We had
22:34
Speaker 1: hardly alighted at North Walsham and mentioned the name of
22:37
Speaker 1: our destination. When the station master hurried towards us, I
22:42
Speaker 1: suppose that you are the detectives from London, said he.
22:46
Speaker 1: A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face. What makes
22:49
Speaker 1: you think such a thing, because Inspector Martin from Norwich
22:53
Speaker 1: has just passed through. But maybe you are the surgeons.
22:56
Speaker 1: She is not dead, or wasn't by last accounts. You
23:00
Speaker 1: may be in time to savor. Yet, though it be
23:03
Speaker 1: for the gallows, Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety. We
23:08
Speaker 1: are going to riding forpe Manor, said he. But we
23:11
Speaker 1: have heard nothing of what has passed there. It's a
23:14
Speaker 1: terrible business, said the station master. They are shot, both
23:19
Speaker 1: mister Hilton Cubit and his wife. She shot him and
23:22
Speaker 1: then herself, So the servants say he is dead and
23:26
Speaker 1: her life is despaired of dear, dear, one of the
23:30
Speaker 1: oldest families in the County of Norfolk, and one of
23:33
Speaker 1: the most honored. Without a word, Holmes hurried to a carriage,
23:38
Speaker 1: and during the long seven miles drive he never opened
23:41
Speaker 1: his mouth. Seldom have I seen him so utterly despondent.
23:47
Speaker 1: He had been uneasy during all our journey from town,
23:51
Speaker 1: and I had observed that he had turned over the
23:53
Speaker 1: morning papers with anxious attention. But now this sudden realization
23:57
Speaker 1: of his worst fears left him in a blank melancholy.
24:01
Speaker 1: He leaned back in his seat, lost in gloomy speculation.
24:06
Speaker 1: Yet there was much a round to interest us, for
24:09
Speaker 1: we were passing through as singular a countryside as any
24:12
Speaker 1: in England, where a few scattered cottages represented the population
24:17
Speaker 1: of to day, while on every hand enormous square towered
24:21
Speaker 1: churches bristled up from the flat green landscape and told
24:25
Speaker 1: of the glory and prosperity of old East Anglia. At last,
24:30
Speaker 1: the violet rim of the German Ocean appeared over the
24:33
Speaker 1: green edge of the Norfolk coast, and the driver pointed
24:36
Speaker 1: with his whip to two old brick and timber gables
24:40
Speaker 1: which projected from a grove of trees. As ridentthorpe Manner,
24:45
Speaker 1: said he. As we drove up to the porticoed front door,
24:49
Speaker 1: I observed in front of it, beside the tennis lawn,
24:52
Speaker 1: the black tool house, and the pedestaled sun dial with
24:56
Speaker 1: which we had such strange associations. A dapper little man
25:00
Speaker 1: with a quick alert manner and a waxed mustache had
25:04
Speaker 1: just descended from a high dog cart. He introduced himself
25:08
Speaker 1: as Inspector Martin of the Norfolk Constabulary, and he was
25:13
Speaker 1: considerably astonished when he heard the name of my companion. Why,
25:17
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this morning?
25:21
Speaker 1: How could you hear of it in London and get
25:23
Speaker 1: to the spot as soon as I I anticipated it.
25:27
Speaker 1: I came in the hope of preventing it. Then you
25:30
Speaker 1: must have important evidence of which we are ignorant, for
25:33
Speaker 1: they were said to be a most united couple. I
25:36
Speaker 1: have only the evidence of the dancing men, said Holmes.
25:40
Speaker 1: I will explain the matter to you later. Meanwhile, since
25:43
Speaker 1: it is too late to prevent this tragedy, I am
25:46
Speaker 1: very anxious that I should use the knowledge which I
25:48
Speaker 1: possess in order to ensure that justice be done. Will
25:52
Speaker 1: you associate me in your investigation, or will you prefer
25:56
Speaker 1: that I should act independently. I should be proud to
25:59
Speaker 1: feel that we were acting together, mister Holmes, said the
26:02
Speaker 1: inspector earnestly. In that case, I should be glad to
26:05
Speaker 1: hear the evidence and to examine the premises without an
26:08
Speaker 1: instant of unnecessary delay. Inspector Martin had the good sense
26:13
Speaker 1: to allow my friend to do things in his own fashion,
26:17
Speaker 1: and contented himself with carefully noting the results. The local surgeon,
26:23
Speaker 1: an old, white haired man, had just come down from
26:25
Speaker 1: Missus Hilton Cubit's room, and he reported that her injuries
26:29
Speaker 1: were serious, but not necessarily fatal. The bullet had passed
26:34
Speaker 1: through the front of her brain, and it would probably
26:37
Speaker 1: be some time before she would regain consciousness. On the
26:41
Speaker 1: question of whether she had been shot or had shot herself,
26:44
Speaker 1: he would not venture to express any decided opinion. Certainly,
26:49
Speaker 1: the bullet had been discharged at very close quarters. There
26:52
Speaker 1: was only the one pistol found in the room, two
26:55
Speaker 1: barrels of which had been emptied. Mister Hilton Cubid had
27:00
Speaker 1: been shot through the heart. It was equally conceivable that
27:04
Speaker 1: he had shot her and then himself, or that she
27:07
Speaker 1: had been the criminal. For the revolver lay upon the
27:10
Speaker 1: floor midway between them. Has he been moved, asked Holmes.
27:15
Speaker 1: We have moved nothing except the lady. We could not
27:18
Speaker 1: leave her lying wounded upon the floor. How long have
27:21
Speaker 1: you been here, doctor, since four o'clock? Anyone else? Yes,
27:26
Speaker 1: the a constable here and you have touched nothing nothing.
27:31
Speaker 1: You have acted with great discretion. Who sent for you?
27:36
Speaker 1: The housemaid Saunders. Was it she who gave the alarm?
27:40
Speaker 1: She and Missus King the cork? Where are they now
27:44
Speaker 1: in the kitchen? I believe then? I think we had
27:47
Speaker 1: better hear their story at once. The old hall, oak
27:51
Speaker 1: paneled and high windowed, had been turned into a court
27:54
Speaker 1: of investigation. Holmes sat in a great, old fashioned chair,
27:58
Speaker 1: his inexorable eye gleaming out of his haggard face. I
28:03
Speaker 1: could read in them as set purpose to devote his
28:06
Speaker 1: life to this quest, until the client whom he had
28:08
Speaker 1: failed to save, should at last be avenged. The trim
28:12
Speaker 1: Inspector Martin, the old gray headed country doctor, myself, and
28:17
Speaker 1: a stolid village policeman made up the rest of that
28:20
Speaker 1: strange company. The two women told their story clearly enough.
28:26
Speaker 1: They had been aroused from their sleep by the sound
28:28
Speaker 1: of an explosion, which had been followed a minute later
28:31
Speaker 1: by a second one. They slept in adjoining rooms, and
28:35
Speaker 1: Missus King had rushed into Saunders. Together. They had descended
28:39
Speaker 1: the stairs. The door of the study was open, and
28:42
Speaker 1: a candle was burning upon the table. Their master lay
28:46
Speaker 1: upon his face in the center of the room. He
28:49
Speaker 1: was quite dead near the window. His wife was crouching
28:54
Speaker 1: her head leaning against the wall. She was horribly wounded,
28:57
Speaker 1: and the side of her face was red with blood.
29:01
Speaker 1: She breathed heavily, but was incapable of saying anything. The passage,
29:06
Speaker 1: as well as the room, was full of smoke and
29:08
Speaker 1: the smell of powder. The window was certainly shut and
29:11
Speaker 1: fastened upon the inside. Both women were positive upon the point.
29:16
Speaker 1: They had at once sent for the doctor and for
29:18
Speaker 1: the constable. Then, with the aid of the groom and
29:22
Speaker 1: the stable boy, they had conveyed their injured mistress to
29:25
Speaker 1: her room. Both she and her husband had occupied the bed.
29:30
Speaker 1: She was clad in her dress, he and his dressing
29:33
Speaker 1: gown over his night clothes. Nothing had been moved in
29:36
Speaker 1: the study. So far as they knew, there had never
29:39
Speaker 1: been any quarrel between husband and wife. They had always
29:43
Speaker 1: looked upon them as a very united couple. These were
29:46
Speaker 1: the main points of the servants evidence. In answer to
29:50
Speaker 1: Inspector Martin, they were clear that every door was fastened
29:53
Speaker 1: upon the inside, and that no one could have escaped
29:56
Speaker 1: from the house. In answer to Holmes, they both remembered
30:00
Speaker 1: that they were conscious of the smell of powder from
30:03
Speaker 1: the moment that they ran out of their rooms. Upon
30:05
Speaker 1: the top floor. I commend that fact very carefully to
30:08
Speaker 1: your attention, said Holmes to his professional colleague. And now
30:13
Speaker 1: I think that we are in a position to undertake
30:15
Speaker 1: a thorough examination of the room. The study proved to
30:19
Speaker 1: be a small chamber, lined on three sides with books,
30:23
Speaker 1: and with a writing table, facing an ordinary window which
30:27
Speaker 1: looked out upon the garden. Our first attention was given
30:31
Speaker 1: to the body of the unfortunate squire, whose huge frame
30:34
Speaker 1: lay stretched across the room. His disordered dress showed that
30:39
Speaker 1: he had been hastily aroused from sleep. The bullet had
30:42
Speaker 1: been fired at him from the front and had remained
30:45
Speaker 1: in his body after penetrating the heart. His death had
30:49
Speaker 1: certainly been instantaneous and painless. There was no powder marking,
30:54
Speaker 1: either upon his dressing gown or on his hands. According
30:58
Speaker 1: to the country surgeon, the lady had stains upon her face,
31:02
Speaker 1: but none upon her hand. The absence of the latter
31:06
Speaker 1: means nothing, though its presence may mean everything, said Holmes.
31:11
Speaker 1: Unless the powder from a badly fitting cartridge happens to
31:14
Speaker 1: spurt backward, one may fire many shots without leaving a sign.
31:19
Speaker 1: I would suggest that mister Cwbot's body may now be removed.
31:23
Speaker 1: I suppose, doctor, you have not recovered the bullet which
31:25
Speaker 1: wounded the lady. A serious operation will be necessary before
31:30
Speaker 1: that can be done. But there are still four cartridges
31:33
Speaker 1: in the revolver. Two have been fired and two wounds inflicted,
31:38
Speaker 1: so each bullet can be accounted for, so it would seem,
31:43
Speaker 1: said Holmes, perhaps you can account also for the bullet
31:46
Speaker 1: which had so obviously struck the edge of the window.
31:49
Speaker 1: He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was
31:52
Speaker 1: pointing to a hole which had been drilled right through
31:55
Speaker 1: the lower window sash, about an inch above the bottom
31:59
Speaker 1: by George, cried the inspector. However, did you see that
32:04
Speaker 1: because I looked for it? Wonderful, said the country doctor.
32:08
Speaker 1: You are certainly right, sir. Then a third shot has
32:11
Speaker 1: been fired, and therefore a third person must have been present.
32:15
Speaker 1: But who could that have been, and how could he
32:18
Speaker 1: have got away? That is the problem which we are
32:21
Speaker 1: now about to solve, said Sherlock Holmes. You remember, Inspector Martin,
32:27
Speaker 1: when the servants said that on leaving their room they
32:29
Speaker 1: were at once conscious of a smell of powder. I
32:32
Speaker 1: remarked that the point was an extremely important one. Yes, so,
32:36
Speaker 1: but I confess I do not quite follow you. It
32:39
Speaker 1: suggested that at the time of the firing, the window
32:42
Speaker 1: as well as the door of the broom had been open.
32:45
Speaker 1: Otherwise the fumes of powder could not have been blown
32:48
Speaker 1: so rapidly through the house. A draft in the room
32:51
Speaker 1: was necessary for that both door and window were only
32:55
Speaker 1: open for a very short time. However, how do you
32:58
Speaker 1: prove that because the candle was not guttered? Capital, cried
33:04
Speaker 1: the inspector. Capital, feeling sure that the window had been
33:08
Speaker 1: open at the time of the tragedy, I conceived that
33:12
Speaker 1: there might have been a third person in the affair
33:14
Speaker 1: who stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any
33:19
Speaker 1: shot directed that this person might hit the sash. I looked,
33:23
Speaker 1: and there, sure enough was the bullet mark. But how
33:28
Speaker 1: came the window to be shut and fastened? The woman's
33:31
Speaker 1: first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window.
33:35
Speaker 1: But ullo, what is this? It was a lady's hand
33:39
Speaker 1: bag which stood upon the study table, a trim little
33:42
Speaker 1: hand bag of crocodile skin and silver. Holmes opened it
33:46
Speaker 1: and turned the contents out. There were twenty fifty pound
33:51
Speaker 1: notes of the Bank of England, held together by an
33:54
Speaker 1: India rubber band. Nothing else. This must be preserved, for
33:59
Speaker 1: it will figure in the trial, said Holmes as he
34:02
Speaker 1: handed the bag with its contents to the inspector. It
34:06
Speaker 1: is now necessary that we should try to throw some
34:09
Speaker 1: light upon this third bullet, which has clearly from the
34:12
Speaker 1: splintering of the wood, been fired from inside the room.
34:17
Speaker 1: I should like to see Missus King the cook again.
34:20
Speaker 1: You said, Missus King, that you were awakened by a
34:23
Speaker 1: loud explosion. When you said that, did you mean that
34:26
Speaker 1: it seemed to you to be louder than the second one? Well, sir,
34:30
Speaker 1: it awakened me from my sleep, so it is hard
34:33
Speaker 1: to judge, but it did seem very loud. You don't
34:36
Speaker 1: think that it might have been two shots fired almost
34:39
Speaker 1: at the same instant. I am sure. I couldn't say, sir,
34:43
Speaker 1: I believe that it was undoubtedly, So I rather think,
34:47
Speaker 1: Inspector Martin, that we have now exhausted all that this
34:50
Speaker 1: room can teach us. If you will kindly step round
34:53
Speaker 1: with me, we shall see what fresh evidence the garden
34:56
Speaker 1: has to offer. A flower bed extended after the study window,
35:01
Speaker 1: and we all broke into an exclamation as we approached it.
35:05
Speaker 1: The flowers were trampled down, and the soft soil was
35:08
Speaker 1: imprinted all over with footmarks. Large masculine feet they were,
35:13
Speaker 1: with peculiarly long sharp toes. Holmes hunted about among the
35:19
Speaker 1: grass and leaves, like a retriever after a wounded bird. Then,
35:23
Speaker 1: with a cry of satisfaction, he bent forward and picked
35:27
Speaker 1: up a little brazen cylinder. I thought, so, said he.
35:31
Speaker 1: The revolver had an ejector, and here is the third cartridge.
35:36
Speaker 1: I really think, Inspector Martin, that our case is almost complete.
35:40
Speaker 1: The country Inspector's face had shown his intense amazement at
35:44
Speaker 1: the rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation. At first
35:49
Speaker 1: he had shown some disposition to assert his own position,
35:53
Speaker 1: but now he was overcome with admiration and ready to
35:56
Speaker 1: follow without question wherever Holmes led. Whom do you suspect,
36:00
Speaker 1: he asked, I'll go into that later. There are several
36:04
Speaker 1: points in this problem which I have not been able
36:07
Speaker 1: to explain to you yet. Now that I have got
36:10
Speaker 1: so far, I had best proceed on my own lines
36:14
Speaker 1: and then clear the whole matter up once and for all,
36:18
Speaker 1: just as you wish, mister Holmes. So long as we
36:20
Speaker 1: get our man, I have no desire to make mysteries,
36:24
Speaker 1: but it is impossible at the moment of action to
36:28
Speaker 1: enter into long and complex explanations. I have the threads
36:32
Speaker 1: of this affair all in my hand. Even if this
36:35
Speaker 1: lady should never recover consciousness, we can still reconstruct the
36:38
Speaker 1: events of last night and ensure that justice be done.
36:43
Speaker 1: First of all, I wish to know whether there is
36:46
Speaker 1: any inn in this neighborhood known as Elridge's. The servants
36:50
Speaker 1: were cross questioned, but none of them had heard of
36:53
Speaker 1: such a place. The stable boy threw a light upon
36:56
Speaker 1: the matter by remembering that a farmer of that name
37:00
Speaker 1: lived some miles off in the direction of East Ruston.
37:05
Speaker 1: Is it a lonely farm, very lonely, sir? Perhaps they
37:09
Speaker 1: have not yet heard of all that happened here during
37:11
Speaker 1: the night. Maybe not, Sir Holmes thought for a little,
37:16
Speaker 1: and then a curious smile played over his face. Saddle
37:19
Speaker 1: a horse, my lad said he, I shall wish you
37:22
Speaker 1: to take a note to Elridge's farm. He took from
37:26
Speaker 1: his pocket the various slips of the dancing men. With
37:29
Speaker 1: these in front of him, he worked for some time
37:31
Speaker 1: at the study table. Finally he handed a note to
37:35
Speaker 1: the boy with directions to put it into the hands
37:37
Speaker 1: of the person to whom it was addressed, and especially
37:41
Speaker 1: to answer no questions of any sort which might be
37:43
Speaker 1: put to him. I saw the outside of the note
37:47
Speaker 1: addressed in straggling irregular characters, very unlike Holmes's usual precise hand.
37:54
Speaker 1: It was consigned to mister Abe Slaney Elridge's farm, East Russston, Norfolk.
38:03
Speaker 1: I think Inspector Holmes remarked that you would do well
38:06
Speaker 1: to telegraph for an escort, as if my calculations prove
38:11
Speaker 1: to be correct, you may have a particularly dangerous prisoner
38:14
Speaker 1: to convey to the county jail. The boy who takes
38:18
Speaker 1: this note could no doubt forward your telegram. If there
38:21
Speaker 1: is an afternoon train to town, Watson, I think we
38:24
Speaker 1: should do well to take it, as I have a
38:27
Speaker 1: chemical analysis of some interest to finish, and this investigation
38:31
Speaker 1: draws rapidly to a close. When the youth had been
38:35
Speaker 1: dispatched with the note, Sherlock Holmes gave his instructions to
38:39
Speaker 1: the servants. If any visitor were to call asking for
38:43
Speaker 1: missus Hilton Cubit, no information should be given as to
38:47
Speaker 1: her condition, but he was to be shown at once
38:49
Speaker 1: into the drawing room. He impressed these points upon them
38:53
Speaker 1: with the utmost earnestness. Finally, he led the way into
38:57
Speaker 1: the drawing room with the remark that the business was
39:00
Speaker 1: now out of our hands, and that we must while
39:03
Speaker 1: away the time as best we might, until we could
39:06
Speaker 1: see what was in store for us. The doctor had
39:09
Speaker 1: departed to his patients, and only the Inspector and myself remained.
39:14
Speaker 1: I think that I can help you pass an hour
39:16
Speaker 1: in an interesting and profitable manner, said Holmes, drawing his
39:20
Speaker 1: chair up to the table and spreading out in front
39:23
Speaker 1: of him the various papers upon which were recorded the
39:26
Speaker 1: antics of the dancing men. As to you, friend Watson,
39:31
Speaker 1: I owe you every atonement for having allowed your natural
39:34
Speaker 1: curiosity to remain so long unsatisfied. To you, Inspector, the
39:38
Speaker 1: whole incident may appeal as a remarkable professional study. I
39:44
Speaker 1: must tell you first of all the interesting circumstances connected
39:47
Speaker 1: with the previous consultations which mister Hilton Cubit has had
39:51
Speaker 1: with me in Baker Street. He then shortly recapitulated the
39:55
Speaker 1: facts which have already been recorded. I have here in
39:59
Speaker 1: front of me these singular productions at which one might
40:02
Speaker 1: smile had they not proved themselves to be the forerunners
40:06
Speaker 1: of so terrible a tragedy. I am fairly familiar with
40:09
Speaker 1: all forms of secret writings, and am myself the author
40:13
Speaker 1: of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I
40:15
Speaker 1: analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers. But I confess
40:20
Speaker 1: that this is entirely new to me. The object of
40:23
Speaker 1: those who invented the system has apparently been to conceal
40:27
Speaker 1: that these characters convey a message, and to give the
40:30
Speaker 1: idea that they are the mere random sketches of children.
40:34
Speaker 1: Having once recognized, however, that the symbol stood for letters,
40:38
Speaker 1: and having applied the rules which guide us in all
40:40
Speaker 1: forms of secret writings, the solution was easy enough. The
40:45
Speaker 1: first message submitted to me was so short that it
40:49
Speaker 1: was impossible for me to do more than to say
40:51
Speaker 1: with some confidence that this symbol stood for E. As
40:55
Speaker 1: you are aware, E is the most common letter in
40:58
Speaker 1: the English alphabet, and it predominates to so marked an
41:01
Speaker 1: extent that even in a short sentence, one would expect
41:05
Speaker 1: to find it most often. Out of fifteen symbols in
41:09
Speaker 1: the first message, four were the same. So it was
41:12
Speaker 1: reasonable to set this down as E. It is true
41:16
Speaker 1: that in some cases the figure was bearing a flag,
41:19
Speaker 1: and in some cases not, But it was probable from
41:23
Speaker 1: the way in which the flags were distributed that they
41:25
Speaker 1: were used to break the sentence up into words. I
41:29
Speaker 1: accepted this as a hypothesis, and noted that E was
41:33
Speaker 1: represented by the following. But now came the real difficulty
41:38
Speaker 1: of the inquiry. The order of the English letters after
41:42
Speaker 1: E is by no means well marked, and any preponderance
41:46
Speaker 1: which may be shown in an average of a printed
41:48
Speaker 1: sheet may be reversed in a single short sentence, speaking roughly, TAOI, N, S, hr, D,
41:58
Speaker 1: and L are the U S numerical order in which
42:01
Speaker 1: letters occur. But t ao and I are very nearly
42:06
Speaker 1: abreast of each other, and it would be an endless
42:10
Speaker 1: task to try each combination until a meaning was arrived at.
42:14
Speaker 1: I therefore waited for fresh material. In my second interview
42:19
Speaker 1: with mister Hilton Cubit, he was able to give me
42:21
Speaker 1: two other short sentences and one message, which appeared since
42:26
Speaker 1: there was no flag to be a single word. Here
42:30
Speaker 1: are the symbols now in the single word, I have
42:34
Speaker 1: already got the two ease coming second and fourth. In
42:38
Speaker 1: a word of five letters, it might be sever or
42:42
Speaker 1: lever or never. There can be no question that the latter,
42:48
Speaker 1: as a reply to an appeal, is far the most probable,
42:52
Speaker 1: and the circumstances pointed to its being a reply written
42:55
Speaker 1: by the lady. Accepting it as correct, we are now
42:59
Speaker 1: able to say that the symbols stand respectively for N,
43:03
Speaker 1: V and R. Even now I was in considerable difficulty,
43:09
Speaker 1: but a happy thought put me in possession of several
43:12
Speaker 1: other letters. It occurred to me that if these appeals
43:15
Speaker 1: came as I expected from someone who had been intimate
43:19
Speaker 1: with the lady in her early life, a combination which
43:22
Speaker 1: contained two ease with three letters between might very well
43:26
Speaker 1: stand for the name Elsie. On examination, I found that
43:33
Speaker 1: such a combination formed the termination of the message, which
43:36
Speaker 1: was three times repeated. It was certainly some appeal to Elsie.
43:42
Speaker 1: In this way I had got my l S and I.
43:45
Speaker 1: But what appeal could it be? There were only four
43:49
Speaker 1: letters in the word which preceded Elsie, and it ended
43:52
Speaker 1: in E. Surely the word must be come. I tried
43:58
Speaker 1: all other four letters ending in E E, but could
44:00
Speaker 1: find none to fit the case. So now I was
44:04
Speaker 1: in possession of C, O, M, and I was in
44:07
Speaker 1: a position to attack the first message once more, dividing
44:11
Speaker 1: it into words and putting dots for each symbol which
44:14
Speaker 1: was still unknown. So treated it worked out in this
44:19
Speaker 1: fashion dot M dot e r E dot dot e
44:27
Speaker 1: s l dot n e dot. Now the first letter
44:32
Speaker 1: can only be A, which is a most useful discovery,
44:37
Speaker 1: since it occurs no fewer than three times in this
44:40
Speaker 1: short sentence, and the H is also apparent in the
44:44
Speaker 1: second word. Now it becomes a M M, H E
44:51
Speaker 1: r e here a dot e slain s l a
44:57
Speaker 1: n e, or filling in the obvious vacancies in the
45:02
Speaker 1: name am here abe slaney. I had so many letters
45:08
Speaker 1: now that I could proceed with considerable confidence to the
45:11
Speaker 1: second message, which worked out in this fashion a dot E,
45:17
Speaker 1: L r I dot e s dot here. I could
45:22
Speaker 1: only make sense by putting T and G for the
45:25
Speaker 1: missing letters, and supposing that the name was that of
45:29
Speaker 1: some house or inn at which the writer was staying.
45:34
Speaker 1: Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest
45:38
Speaker 1: to the full and clear account of how my friend
45:41
Speaker 1: had produced results which had led to so complete a
45:45
Speaker 1: command over our difficulties. What did you do, then, Sir
45:49
Speaker 1: asked the inspector. I had every reason to suppose that
45:53
Speaker 1: this Abe Slaney was an American, since Abe is an
45:57
Speaker 1: American contraction, and since a letter from America had been
46:02
Speaker 1: the starting point of all the trouble, I had also
46:05
Speaker 1: every cause to think that there was some criminal secret
46:08
Speaker 1: in the matter. The lady's allusions to her past and
46:12
Speaker 1: her refusal to take her husband into her confidence both
46:15
Speaker 1: pointed in that direction. I therefore cabled to my friend
46:19
Speaker 1: Wilson Hargreave of the New York Police Bureau, who has
46:24
Speaker 1: more than once made use of my knowledge of London crime.
46:28
Speaker 1: I asked him whether the name of Abe Slaney was
46:31
Speaker 1: known to him. Here is his reply, the most dangerous
46:36
Speaker 1: crook in Chicago. On the very evening upon which I
46:41
Speaker 1: had this answer, Hilton Cubit sent me the last message
46:44
Speaker 1: from Slaney. Working with known letters, It took this form
46:51
Speaker 1: E L S I E ELSI DOT R E dot
46:56
Speaker 1: A R E T O two M E E T
47:03
Speaker 1: meet t h y thy g O dot. The addition
47:10
Speaker 1: of a P and a D completed a message which
47:14
Speaker 1: showed me that the rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats,
47:19
Speaker 1: and my knowledge of the crooks of Chicago prepared me
47:22
Speaker 1: to find that he might very rapidly put his words
47:25
Speaker 1: into action. I at once came to Norfolk with my
47:28
Speaker 1: friend and colleague, doctor Watson, but unhappily, only in time
47:32
Speaker 1: to find that the worst had already occurred. It is
47:36
Speaker 1: a privilege to be associated with you in the handling
47:38
Speaker 1: of a case, said the inspector warmly. You will excuse me, however,
47:43
Speaker 1: if I speak frankly to you, you were only answerable
47:47
Speaker 1: to yourself. But I have to answer to my superiors.
47:51
Speaker 1: If this abe slaany living at Elbridge's is indeed the murderer.
47:54
Speaker 1: And if he has made his escape while I am
47:57
Speaker 1: seated here, I should certainly get into serious trees. You
48:01
Speaker 1: need not be uneasy. He will not try to escape.
48:05
Speaker 1: How do you know to fly would be a confession
48:08
Speaker 1: of guilt. Then let us go arrest him. I expect
48:12
Speaker 1: him here every instant. But why should he come because
48:17
Speaker 1: I have written and asked him? But this is incredible,
48:20
Speaker 1: mister Holmes. Why should he come because you have asked him?
48:24
Speaker 1: Would not such a request rather rouse his suspicions and
48:27
Speaker 1: cause him to fly? I think I have known how
48:30
Speaker 1: to frame the letter, said Sherlock Holmes. In fact, if
48:34
Speaker 1: I am not very much mistaken, here is the gentleman
48:38
Speaker 1: himself coming up the drive. A man was striding up
48:42
Speaker 1: the path which led to the door. He was a tall, handsome,
48:46
Speaker 1: swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of gray flannel, with
48:50
Speaker 1: a panama hat, a bristling black beard, and a great,
48:54
Speaker 1: aggressive hooked nose, and flourishing a cane. As he walked.
48:59
Speaker 1: He swaggered up path as if the place belonged to him,
49:02
Speaker 1: and we heard his loud, confident peal at the bell.
49:06
Speaker 1: I think, gentlemen, said Holmes quietly, that we had best
49:10
Speaker 1: take up our position behind the door. Every precaution is
49:14
Speaker 1: necessary when dealing with such a fellow. You will need
49:17
Speaker 1: your handcuffs. Inspector, you can leave the talking to me.
49:22
Speaker 1: We waited in silence for a minute, one of those
49:25
Speaker 1: minutes which one can never forget. Then the door opened
49:29
Speaker 1: and the man stepped in. In an instant, Holmes clapped
49:33
Speaker 1: a pistol to his head, and Martin slipped the handcuffs
49:37
Speaker 1: over his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and
49:40
Speaker 1: deftly that the fellow was helpless before he knew that
49:43
Speaker 1: he was attacked. He glared from one to the other
49:46
Speaker 1: of us with a pair of blazing black eyes. Then
49:50
Speaker 1: he burst into a bitter laugh. Well, gentlemen, you have
49:54
Speaker 1: the drop on me this time. I seem to have
49:56
Speaker 1: knocked up against something hard. But I came here in
50:00
Speaker 1: answer to a letter from missus Hilton Cubit. Don't tell
50:04
Speaker 1: me that she is in this. Don't tell me that
50:06
Speaker 1: she helped to set a trap for me. Missus Hilton
50:10
Speaker 1: Cubit was seriously injured and is a death's door. The
50:15
Speaker 1: man gave a hoarse cry of grief, which rang through
50:18
Speaker 1: the house. You're crazy, he cried fiercely. It was he
50:23
Speaker 1: that was hurt, not she who would have hurt little Elsie.
50:27
Speaker 1: I may have threatened her, God forgive me, but I
50:29
Speaker 1: would not have touched a hair of her pretty head.
50:32
Speaker 1: Take it back, you say that she is not hurt.
50:36
Speaker 1: She was found badly wounded by the side of her
50:38
Speaker 1: dead husband. He sank with a deep groan on the
50:42
Speaker 1: settee and buried his face in his manacled hands. For
50:47
Speaker 1: five minutes he was silent. Then he raised his face
50:50
Speaker 1: once more and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
50:56
Speaker 1: I have nothing to hide from you. Gentlemen, said he
51:00
Speaker 1: If I shot the man, he had his shod at me,
51:04
Speaker 1: and there's no murder in that. But if you think
51:08
Speaker 1: I could have hurt that woman, then you don't know
51:11
Speaker 1: either me or her. I tell you there was never
51:14
Speaker 1: a man in this world loved a woman more than
51:16
Speaker 1: I loved her. I had a right to her. She
51:20
Speaker 1: was pledged to me years ago. Who was this englishman
51:24
Speaker 1: that he should come between us. I tell you that
51:27
Speaker 1: I had the first right to her, and that I
51:29
Speaker 1: was only claiming my own. She broke away from your
51:33
Speaker 1: influence when she found the man that you are, said
51:36
Speaker 1: Holmes sternly. She fled from America to avoid you, and
51:41
Speaker 1: she married an honorable gentleman in England. You dogged her
51:45
Speaker 1: and followed her, and made her life a misery to
51:48
Speaker 1: her in order to induce her to abandon the husband
51:51
Speaker 1: whom she loved and respected, in order to fly with you,
51:55
Speaker 1: whom she feared and hated. You have ended by bringing
51:59
Speaker 1: about the death of a noble man and driving his
52:02
Speaker 1: wife to suicide. That is your record in this business,
52:06
Speaker 1: mister abe Slaney, and you will answer for it to
52:09
Speaker 1: the law. If Elsie dies, I care nothing what becomes
52:14
Speaker 1: of me, said the American. He opened one of his
52:18
Speaker 1: hands and looked at a note crumpled up in his palm.
52:21
Speaker 1: See here, mister, he cried, with a gleam of suspicion
52:25
Speaker 1: in his eyes. You are not trying to scare me
52:28
Speaker 1: over this, are you? If the lady is hurt as
52:30
Speaker 1: bad as you say? Who was it that wrote this note?
52:34
Speaker 1: He tossed it forward on to the table. I wrote
52:37
Speaker 1: it to bring you here. You wrote it. There was
52:40
Speaker 1: no one on earth outside the joint who knew the
52:43
Speaker 1: secret of the dancing men? How came you to write it?
52:47
Speaker 1: What one man can invent, another can discover? Said Holmes.
52:52
Speaker 1: There is a cab coming to convey you to Norwich,
52:55
Speaker 1: mister Slaney. But meanwhile you have time to make some
52:59
Speaker 1: small reparation for the injury you have wrought. Are you
53:03
Speaker 1: aware that missus Hilton Cubit has herself lain under grave
53:06
Speaker 1: suspicion of the murder of her husband, and that it
53:10
Speaker 1: was only my presence here and the knowledge which I
53:13
Speaker 1: happened to possess, which has saved her from the accusation.
53:17
Speaker 1: The least that you owe her is to make it
53:19
Speaker 1: clear to the whole world that she was in no
53:22
Speaker 1: way directly or indirectly responsible for his tragic end. I
53:27
Speaker 1: ask nothing better, said the American. I guess the very
53:30
Speaker 1: best case I can make for myself is the absolute
53:34
Speaker 1: naked truth. It is my duty to warn you that
53:37
Speaker 1: it will be used against you, cried the inspector. With
53:41
Speaker 1: the magnificent fair play of the British criminal law. Slainy
53:46
Speaker 1: shrugged his shoulders ill chance, that said he. First of all,
53:51
Speaker 1: I want you, gentlemen, to understand that I have known
53:54
Speaker 1: this lady since she was a child. There were seven
53:57
Speaker 1: of us in a gang in Chicago, and Elsie's father
54:01
Speaker 1: was the boss of the joint. He was a clever man,
54:04
Speaker 1: was Old Patrick. It was he who invented that writing
54:08
Speaker 1: which would pass as a child's scrawl unless you happen
54:11
Speaker 1: to have the key to it. Well, Elsie learned some
54:15
Speaker 1: of our ways, but she couldn't stand the business, and
54:18
Speaker 1: she had a bit of honest money of her own,
54:21
Speaker 1: so she gave us all the slip and got away
54:23
Speaker 1: to London. She had been engaged to me, and she
54:26
Speaker 1: would have married me, I believe, if I had taken
54:29
Speaker 1: over another profession. But she would have nothing to do
54:33
Speaker 1: with anything on the cross. It was only after her
54:37
Speaker 1: marriage to this Englishman that I was able to find
54:39
Speaker 1: out where she was. I wrote to her but got
54:42
Speaker 1: no answer. After that I came over and as letters
54:47
Speaker 1: were no use, I put my messages where she could
54:49
Speaker 1: read them. Well, I've been here a month now. I
54:54
Speaker 1: lived in that farm where I had a room down below,
54:57
Speaker 1: and I could get in and out every night, and
55:00
Speaker 1: no one the wiser. I tried all I could to
55:03
Speaker 1: coax Elsie away. I knew that she read the messages,
55:08
Speaker 1: for once she wrote an answer under one of them.
55:11
Speaker 1: Then my temper got the better of me, and I
55:14
Speaker 1: began to threaten her. She sent me a letter then,
55:18
Speaker 1: imploring me to go away, and saying that it would
55:22
Speaker 1: break her heart if any scandal should come upon her husband.
55:26
Speaker 1: She said that she would come down when her husband
55:28
Speaker 1: was asleep at three in the morning and speak with
55:31
Speaker 1: me through the end window if I would go away
55:34
Speaker 1: afterwards and leave her in peace. She came down and
55:39
Speaker 1: brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go.
55:42
Speaker 1: This made me mad, and I caught her arm and
55:45
Speaker 1: tried to pull her through the window. At that moment,
55:48
Speaker 1: in rushed the husband with his revolver in his hand.
55:51
Speaker 1: Elsie had sunk down upon the floor and we were
55:54
Speaker 1: face to face. I was healed also, and I held
55:58
Speaker 1: up my gun to scare him off and let me
56:00
Speaker 1: get away. He fired and missed me. I pulled off
56:05
Speaker 1: almost at the same instant, and down he dropped. I
56:08
Speaker 1: made a way across the garden, and as I went
56:11
Speaker 1: I heard the window shut behind me. That's God's truth, gentlemen,
56:17
Speaker 1: every word of it. And I heard no more about
56:20
Speaker 1: it until that lad came riding up with a note
56:23
Speaker 1: which made me walk in here like a jay and
56:26
Speaker 1: give myself into your hands. The cab had driven up
56:30
Speaker 1: whilst the American had been talking. Two uniformed policemen sat inside.
56:36
Speaker 1: Inspector Martin rose and touched his prisoner on the shoulder.
56:40
Speaker 1: It is time for us to go. Can I see
56:43
Speaker 1: her first? No, she is not conscious, mister Sherlock Holmes.
56:49
Speaker 1: I only hope that if ever again I have an
56:51
Speaker 1: important case, I shall have the good fortune to have
56:54
Speaker 1: you by my side. We stood at the window and
56:59
Speaker 1: watched the cab drive away. As I turned back, my
57:03
Speaker 1: eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner had
57:06
Speaker 1: tossed upon the table. It was the note with which
57:09
Speaker 1: Holmes had decoyed him. See if you can read it,
57:13
Speaker 1: Watson said he with a smile. It contained no word
57:18
Speaker 1: but a little line of dancing men. If you use
57:22
Speaker 1: the code which I have explained, said Holmes, you will
57:26
Speaker 1: find that it simply means come here. At once, I
57:30
Speaker 1: was convinced that it was an invitation which he would
57:33
Speaker 1: not refuse, since he never could imagine that it could
57:37
Speaker 1: come from any one but the lady. And so, my
57:40
Speaker 1: dear Watson, we have ended by turning the dancing men
57:44
Speaker 1: to good, when they have so often been the agents
57:47
Speaker 1: of evil. And I think that I have fulfilled my
57:50
Speaker 1: promise of giving you something unusual for your note book.
57:55
Speaker 1: Three forty is our train, and I fancy we should
57:58
Speaker 1: be back in Baker Street for only one word of epilog.
58:05
Speaker 1: The American Abe Slaney was condemned to death at the
58:10
Speaker 1: Winter Assizes at Norwich, but his penalty was changed to
58:14
Speaker 1: penal servitude in consideration of mitigating circumstances and the certainty
58:21
Speaker 1: that Hilton Cubit had fired the first shot of missus
58:26
Speaker 1: Hilton Cubit. I only know that I have heard she
58:29
Speaker 1: recovered entirely, and that she still remains a widow, devoting
58:34
Speaker 1: her whole life to the care of the poor and
58:37
Speaker 1: to the administration of her husband's estate.