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The Musgrave Ritual - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: The musgrave ritual. An anomaly which often struck me in
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Speaker 1: the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes, was that although
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Speaker 1: in his methods of thought he was the neatest and
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Speaker 1: most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a
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Speaker 1: certain quiet primness of dress, he was nonetheless, in his
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Speaker 1: personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever
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Speaker 1: drove a fellow lodger to distraction. Not that I am
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Speaker 1: in the least conventional in that respect myself. The rough
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Speaker 1: and tumble work in Afghanistan, coming on the top of
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Speaker 1: a natural bohemianism of disposition, has made me rather more
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Speaker 1: lax than befits a medical man. But with me there
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Speaker 1: is a limit. And when I find a man who
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Speaker 1: keeps his cigars in the coal scuttle his tobacco in
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Speaker 1: the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered
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Speaker 1: correspondence transfixed by a jackknife into the very center of
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Speaker 1: his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs.
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Speaker 1: I have always held too, that pistol practice should be
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Speaker 1: distinctly an open air pastime. And when homes In, one
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Speaker 1: of his queer humors, would sit in an armchair with
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Speaker 1: his hair trigger and a hundred boxer cartridges, and proceed
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Speaker 1: to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic v R
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Speaker 1: done in bullet pocks. I felt strongly that neither the
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Speaker 1: atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.
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Speaker 1: Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics,
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Speaker 1: which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and
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Speaker 1: of turning up in the butter dish or in even
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Speaker 1: less desirable places. But his papers were my great crucks.
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Speaker 1: He had a horror of destroying documents, especially those which
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Speaker 1: were connected with his past cases. And yet it was
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Speaker 1: only once in every year or two that he would
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Speaker 1: muster energy to dock it and arrange them. For as
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Speaker 1: I have mentioned somewhere in these incoherent memoirs, the outbursts
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Speaker 1: of passionate energy when he performed the remarkable feats with
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Speaker 1: which his name is associated were followed by reactions of lethargy,
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Speaker 1: during which he would lie about with his violin and
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Speaker 1: his books, hardly moving save from the sofa to the table. Thus,
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Speaker 1: month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of
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Speaker 1: the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were
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Speaker 1: on no account to be burned, and which could not
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Speaker 1: be put away save by their owner. One winter's night,
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Speaker 1: as we sat together by the fire, I ventured to
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Speaker 1: suggest to him that, as he had finished pasting extracts
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Speaker 1: into his commonplace book, he might employ the next two
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Speaker 1: hours in making our room a little more habitable. He
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Speaker 1: could not deny the justice of my request, so with
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Speaker 1: a rather rueful face, he went off to his bedroom,
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Speaker 1: from which he returned presently pulling a large tin box
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Speaker 1: behind him. This he placed in the middle of the floor,
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Speaker 1: and squatting down upon a stool in front of it,
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Speaker 1: he threw back the lid. I could see that it
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Speaker 1: was already a third full of bundles of paper, tied
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Speaker 1: up with red tape in to separate packages. There are
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Speaker 1: cases enough here, Watson said, he looking at me with
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Speaker 1: mischievous eyes. I think that if you knew all that
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Speaker 1: I had in this box, you would ask me to
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Speaker 1: pull some out instead of putting others in. These are
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Speaker 1: the records of your early work, then I asked. I
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Speaker 1: often wish that I had notes of those cases. Yes,
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Speaker 1: my boy, these were all done prematurely before my biographer
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Speaker 1: had come to glorify me. He lifted bundle after bundle
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Speaker 1: in a tender, caressing sort of way. They are not
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Speaker 1: all successes, Watson said he, but there are some pretty
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Speaker 1: little problems among them. Here is the record of the
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Speaker 1: Tarletan murders, and the case of Vanbury, the wine merchant,
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Speaker 1: and the adventurer of the old Russian woman, and the
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Speaker 1: singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a
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Speaker 1: full account of Ricoletti, of the club foot and his
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Speaker 1: abominable wife. And here, ah, now this really is something
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Speaker 1: a little rich are shay. He dived his arm down
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Speaker 1: to the bottom of the chest and brought up a
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Speaker 1: small wooden box with a sliding lid, such as children's
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Speaker 1: toys are kept in. From within, he produced a crumpled
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Speaker 1: piece of paper, an old fashioned brass key, a peg
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Speaker 1: of wood with a ball of string attached to it,
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Speaker 1: and three rusty old disks of metal. Well, my boy,
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Speaker 1: what do you make of this lot, he asked, smiling
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Speaker 1: at my expression. It is a curious collection, very curious,
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Speaker 1: and the story that hangs round it will strike you
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Speaker 1: as being more curious. Still. These relics have a history, then,
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Speaker 1: so much so that they are history what do you
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Speaker 1: mean by that? Sherlock Holmes picked them up one by
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Speaker 1: one and laid them along the edge of the table.
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Speaker 1: Then he reseated himself in his chair and looked them
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Speaker 1: over with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes. These said,
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Speaker 1: he are all that I have left to remind me
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Speaker 1: of the advent nature of the Musgrave ritual. I'd heard
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Speaker 1: him mention the case more than once, though I'd never
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Speaker 1: been able to gather the details. I should be so glad,
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Speaker 1: said I, if you'd give me an account of it
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Speaker 1: and leave the litter as it is, He cried mischievously.
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Speaker 1: Your tidiness won't bear much strain, after all, Watson. But
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Speaker 1: I should be glad that you should add this case
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Speaker 1: to your annals, for there are points in it which
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Speaker 1: make it quite unique in the criminal records of this or,
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Speaker 1: I believe, of any other country. A collection of my
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Speaker 1: trifling achievements would certainly be incomplete which contained no account
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Speaker 1: of this very singular business. You may remember how the
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Speaker 1: affair of the glorious Scott and my conversation with the
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Speaker 1: unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first turned
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Speaker 1: my attention in the direction of the profession which had
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Speaker 1: become my life's work. You see me now when my
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Speaker 1: name has become known far and wide, and when I
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Speaker 1: am genuine recognized both by the public and by the
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Speaker 1: official force as being a final court of appeal in
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Speaker 1: doubtful cases. Even when you knew me first at the
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Speaker 1: time of the affair which you have commemorated in a
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Speaker 1: study in Scarlet, I had already established a considerable, though
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Speaker 1: not a very lucrative connection. You can hardly realize then,
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Speaker 1: how difficult I found it at first, and how long
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Speaker 1: I had to wait before I succeeded in making any headway.
6:29
Speaker 1: When I first came up to London, I had rooms
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Speaker 1: in Montague Street, just round the corner from the British Museum,
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Speaker 1: and there I waited, filling in my too abundant leisure
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Speaker 1: time by studying all those branches of science which might
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Speaker 1: make me more efficient. Now and again, cases came in
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Speaker 1: my way, principally through the introduction of old fellow students,
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Speaker 1: for during my last years at the university there was
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Speaker 1: a good deal of talk there about myself and my methods.
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Speaker 1: The third of these cases was that of the Musgrave Ritual,
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Speaker 1: and it is to the interest which was aroused by
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Speaker 1: that singular chain of events, and the large issues which
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Speaker 1: proved to be at stake that I traced my first
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Speaker 1: stride towards the position which I now hold. Reginald Musgrave
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Speaker 1: had been in the same college as myself, and I
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Speaker 1: had some slight acquaintance with him. He was not generally
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Speaker 1: popular among the undergraduates, though it always seemed to me
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Speaker 1: that what was set down as pride was really an
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Speaker 1: attempt to cover extreme natural diffidence. In appearance, he was
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Speaker 1: a man of exceedingly aristocratic type, thin, high nosed and
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Speaker 1: large eyed, with languid and yet courtly manners. He was
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Speaker 1: indeed a scion of one of the very oldest families
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Speaker 1: in the Kingdom, though his branch was a cadet one
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Speaker 1: which had separated from the northern Musgraves some time in
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Speaker 1: the sixteenth century and had established itself in western Sussex,
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Speaker 1: where the manor house of Hurlstone is perhaps the oldest
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Speaker 1: inhabited building in the county. Something of his birthplace seemed
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Speaker 1: to cling to the man, and I never looked at
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Speaker 1: his pale, keen face or the poise of his head
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Speaker 1: without associating him with gray archways and mullioned windows, and
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Speaker 1: all the venerable wreckage of a feudal keep. Once or
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Speaker 1: twice we drifted into talk, and I can remember that
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Speaker 1: more than once he expressed a keen interest in my
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Speaker 1: methods of observation and inference. For four years I had
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Speaker 1: seen nothing of him, until one morning he walked into
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Speaker 1: my room in Montague Street. He had changed little, was
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Speaker 1: dressed like a young man of fashion. He was always
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Speaker 1: a bit of a dandy, and preserved the same quiet,
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Speaker 1: suave manner which had formerly distinguished him. How has all
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Speaker 1: gone with you, Musgrave, I asked, after we had cordially
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Speaker 1: shaken hands. You probably heard of my poor father's death,
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Speaker 1: said he. He was carried off about two years ago.
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Speaker 1: Since then, I have, of course had the Hurlstone Estates
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Speaker 1: to manage, and as I am member for my district
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Speaker 1: as well, my life has been a busy one. But
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Speaker 1: I understand, Holmes, that you are turning to practical ends
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Speaker 1: those powers with which you used to amaze us. Yes,
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Speaker 1: said I I have taken to living by my wits.
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Speaker 1: I am delighted to hear it, for your advice at
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Speaker 1: present would be exceedingly valuable to me. We have had
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Speaker 1: some very strange doings at Hurlstone, and the police have
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Speaker 1: been able to throw no light upon the matter. It
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Speaker 1: is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable business. You can
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Speaker 1: imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson, for
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Speaker 1: the very chance for which I had been panting during
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Speaker 1: all those months of inaction seemed to have come within
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Speaker 1: my reach. In my inmost heart, I believed that I
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Speaker 1: could succeed where others failed, and now I had the
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Speaker 1: opportunity to test myself. Pray, let me have the details,
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Speaker 1: I cried. Reginald Muskrat sat down opposite to me and
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Speaker 1: lit the cigarette which I had pushed towards him. You
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Speaker 1: must know, said he, that though I am a bachelor,
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Speaker 1: I have to keep up a considerable staff of servants
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Speaker 1: at Hurlstone, for it is a rambling old place and
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Speaker 1: takes a good deal of looking after. I preserve too,
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Speaker 1: and in the pheasant months I usually have a house party,
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Speaker 1: so that it would not do to be short handed. Altogether,
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Speaker 1: there are eight maids, the cook, the butler, two footmen,
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Speaker 1: and a boy. The garden and the stables, of course,
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Speaker 1: have a separate staff. Of those servants. The one who
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Speaker 1: had been longest in our service was Brunton, the butler.
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Speaker 1: He was a young schoolmaster out of place when he
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Speaker 1: first taken up by my father, but he was a
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Speaker 1: man of great energy and character, and he soon became
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Speaker 1: quite invaluable in the household. He was a well grown,
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Speaker 1: handsome man with a splendid forehead. And though he has
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Speaker 1: been with us for twenty years, he cannot be more
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Speaker 1: than forty now. With his personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts,
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Speaker 1: for he can speak several languages and play nearly every
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Speaker 1: musical instrument. It is wonderful that he should have been
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Speaker 1: satisfied so long in such a position. But I suppose
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Speaker 1: that he was comfortable and lacked energy to make any change.
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Speaker 1: The butler of Hurlstone is always a thing that is
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Speaker 1: remembered by all who visit us. But this paragon has
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Speaker 1: one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan,
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Speaker 1: and you can imagine that for a man like him,
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Speaker 1: it is not a very difficult part to play in
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Speaker 1: a quiet country district. When he was married it was
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Speaker 1: all right. But since he has been a widower we
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Speaker 1: have had no end of trouble with him. A few
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Speaker 1: months ago we were in hopes that he was about
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Speaker 1: to settle down again, for he became engaged to Rachel Howells,
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Speaker 1: our second housemaid, but he has thrown her over since
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Speaker 1: then and taken up with Janet Drugellis, the daughter of
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Speaker 1: the head gamekeeper, Rachel, who is a very good girl
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Speaker 1: but of an excitable Welsh temperament, had a sharp touch
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Speaker 1: of brain fever, and goes about the house now, or
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Speaker 1: did until yesterday, like a black eyed shadow of her
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Speaker 1: former self. That was our first drama at Hurlstone, but
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Speaker 1: a second one came to drive it from our minds,
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Speaker 1: and it was prefaced by the disgrace and dismissal of
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Speaker 1: Butler Brunton. This is how it came about. I have
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Speaker 1: said that the man was intelligent, and this very intelligence
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Speaker 1: has caused his ruin, for it seems to have led
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Speaker 1: to an insatiable curiosity about things which did not in
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Speaker 1: the least concern him. I had no idea of the
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Speaker 1: lengths to which this would carry him until the merest
12:45
Speaker 1: accident opened my eyes to it. I have said that
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Speaker 1: the house is a rambling one. One day last week,
12:53
Speaker 1: on Thursday night, to be more exact, I found that
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Speaker 1: I could not sleep having foolishly taken a cup of
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Speaker 1: strong cafe noir after my dinner. After struggling against it
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Speaker 1: until two in the morning, I felt that it was
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Speaker 1: quite hopeless, so I rose and lit the candle with
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Speaker 1: the intention of continuing a novel which I was reading.
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Speaker 1: The book, however, had been left in the billiard room,
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Speaker 1: so I pulled on my dressing gown and started off
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Speaker 1: to get it. In order to reach the billiard room,
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Speaker 1: I had to descend a flight of stairs and then
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Speaker 1: to cross the head of a passage which led to
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Speaker 1: the library in the gun room. You can imagine my
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Speaker 1: surprise when as I looked down this corridor I saw
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Speaker 1: a glimmer of light coming from the open door of
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Speaker 1: the library. I had myself extinguished the lamp and closed
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Speaker 1: the door before coming to bed. Naturally, my first thought
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Speaker 1: was of burglars. The corridors at Hurlstone of their walls
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Speaker 1: largely decorated with trophies of old weapons. From one of these,
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Speaker 1: I picked a battle axe, and then, leaving my candle
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Speaker 1: behind me, I crept on tiptoe down the passage and
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Speaker 1: peeped in at the open door. Brunton, the butler was
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Speaker 1: in the library. He was sitting fully dressed in an
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Speaker 1: easy chair, with a slip of paper which looked like
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Speaker 1: a map upon his knee, and his forehead sunk forward
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Speaker 1: upon his hand in deep thought. I stood dumb with astonishment,
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Speaker 1: watching him from the darkness. A small taper on the
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Speaker 1: edge of the table shed of feeble light, which sufficed
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Speaker 1: to show me that he was fully dressed. Suddenly, as
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Speaker 1: I looked, he rose from his chair, and, walking over
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Speaker 1: to a bureau at the side, he unlocked it and
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Speaker 1: drew out one of the drawers. From this he took
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Speaker 1: a paper, and, returning to his seat, he flattened it
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Speaker 1: out beside the taper on the edge of the table,
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Speaker 1: and began to study it with minute attention. My indignation
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Speaker 1: at this calm examination of our family documents overcame me
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Speaker 1: so far that I took a step forward, and Brunton,
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Speaker 1: looking up, saw me standing in the doorway. He sprang
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Speaker 1: to his feet, his face turned livid with fear, and
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Speaker 1: he thrust into his breast the chart like paper which
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Speaker 1: he had been originally studying. So said I, this is
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Speaker 1: how you repay the trust which we have reposed in you.
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Speaker 1: You will leave my service to morrow. He bowed with
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Speaker 1: the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and
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Speaker 1: slunk past me without a word. The taper was still
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Speaker 1: on the table, and by its light I glanced to
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Speaker 1: see what the paper was which Brunton had taken from
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Speaker 1: the bureau. To my surprise, it was nothing of any
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Speaker 1: importance at all, but simply a copy of the questions
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Speaker 1: and answers in the singular old observance called the Musgrave Ritual.
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Speaker 1: It is a sort of ceremony peculiar to our family,
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Speaker 1: which each musgrave for centuries past has gone through on
15:59
Speaker 1: his coming of age, a thing of private interest, and
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Speaker 1: perhaps of some little importance to the archaeologist, like our
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Speaker 1: own blazonings and charges, but of no practical use whatever.
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Speaker 1: We had better come back to the paper afterwards, said I,
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Speaker 1: if you think it really necessary, he answered, with some hesitation,
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Speaker 1: to continue my statement. However, I relocked a bureau using
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Speaker 1: the key which Brunton had left, and I had turned
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Speaker 1: to go when I was surprised to find that the
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Speaker 1: butler had returned and was standing before me. Mister Musgrave, Sir,
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Speaker 1: he cried, in a voice which was hoarse with emotion.
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Speaker 1: I cannot bear disgrace sir, who I have always been
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Speaker 1: proud above my station in life, and disgrace would kill me.
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Speaker 1: My blood will be on your head, sir, it will, indeed,
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Speaker 1: if you drive me to despair. If you cannot keep
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Speaker 1: me after what has passed, then for God's sake, let
16:59
Speaker 1: me give you nois and leave in a month, as
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Speaker 1: if of my own free will. I could stand that,
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Speaker 1: mister Musgrave, but not to be cast out before all
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Speaker 1: the folk that I know so well. You don't deserve
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Speaker 1: much consideration, Brunton, I answered, Your conduct has been most infamous. However,
17:18
Speaker 1: as you have been a long time in the family,
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Speaker 1: I have no wish to bring public disgrace upon you.
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Speaker 1: A month, however, is too long. Take yourself away in
17:27
Speaker 1: a week, and give what reason you like for going
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Speaker 1: only a week, sir, he cried in a despairing voice.
17:37
Speaker 1: A fortnight, say at least a fortnight a week, I repeated,
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Speaker 1: and you may consider yourself to be very leniently dealt with.
17:46
Speaker 1: He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast like
17:49
Speaker 1: a broken man, while I put out the light and
17:52
Speaker 1: returned to my room. For two days. After this, Brunton
17:56
Speaker 1: was most assiduous in his attention to his duties. I
18:00
Speaker 1: made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with
18:03
Speaker 1: some curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace.
18:07
Speaker 1: On the third morning, however, he did not appear, as
18:11
Speaker 1: was his custom after breakfast to receive my instructions for
18:14
Speaker 1: the day. As I left the dining room, I happened
18:18
Speaker 1: to meet Rachael Howells, the maid. I have told you
18:22
Speaker 1: that she had only recently recovered from an illness, and
18:26
Speaker 1: was looking so wretchedly pale and wan that I remonstrated
18:29
Speaker 1: with her for being at work. You should be in bed,
18:33
Speaker 1: I said, come back to your duties when you are stronger.
18:37
Speaker 1: She looked at me with so strange an expression that
18:40
Speaker 1: I began to suspect that her brain was affected. I
18:44
Speaker 1: am strong enough, mister Musgrave, said she. We will see
18:48
Speaker 1: what the doctor says. I answered, you must stop work now,
18:52
Speaker 1: and when you go downstairs, just say that I wished
18:55
Speaker 1: to see Brunton. The butler is gone, said she gone. Gone.
19:01
Speaker 1: Where he is gone? Now one has seen him. He's
19:06
Speaker 1: not in his room. Oh, yes, he's gone. He's gone.
19:10
Speaker 1: She fell back against the wall with shriek after shriek
19:13
Speaker 1: of laughter, while I horrified at this sudden hysterical attack,
19:19
Speaker 1: rushed to the bell to summon help. The girl was
19:22
Speaker 1: taken to her room, still screaming and sobbing, while I
19:26
Speaker 1: made inquiries about Brunton. There was no doubt about it
19:30
Speaker 1: that he had disappeared. His bed had not been slept in,
19:33
Speaker 1: he had been seen by no one since he had
19:35
Speaker 1: retired to his room the night before. And yet it
19:38
Speaker 1: was difficult to see how he could have left the house,
19:41
Speaker 1: as both windows and doors were found to be fastened
19:44
Speaker 1: in the morning. His clothes, his watch, and even his
19:48
Speaker 1: money were in his room, but the black suit which
19:51
Speaker 1: he usually wore was missing. His slippers, too, were gone,
19:55
Speaker 1: but his boots were left behind. Where then could Butler
19:59
Speaker 1: Brunton have gone in the night, and what could have
20:02
Speaker 1: become of him? Now, of course, we searched the house
20:05
Speaker 1: from cellar to garret, but there was no trace of him.
20:10
Speaker 1: It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an
20:12
Speaker 1: old house, especially the original wing, which is now practically uninhabited.
20:18
Speaker 1: But we ransacked every room and cellar without discovering the
20:22
Speaker 1: least sign of the missing man. It was incredible to
20:26
Speaker 1: me that he could have gone away, leaving all his
20:29
Speaker 1: property behind him, and yet where could he be? I
20:33
Speaker 1: called in the local police, but without success. Rain had
20:38
Speaker 1: fallen on the night before, and we examined the lawn
20:41
Speaker 1: and the paths all round the house, but in vain.
20:45
Speaker 1: Matters were in this state when a new development quite
20:48
Speaker 1: drew our attention away from the original mystery. For two days,
20:53
Speaker 1: Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious, sometimes hysterical,
20:59
Speaker 1: that a nurse had been employed to sit up with
21:01
Speaker 1: her at night. On the third night after Brunton's disappearance,
21:06
Speaker 1: the nurse, finding her patients sleeping nicely, had dropped into
21:10
Speaker 1: a nap in the arm chair. When she woke in
21:13
Speaker 1: the early morning to find the bed empty, the window open,
21:18
Speaker 1: and no signs of the invalid. I was instantly aroused,
21:23
Speaker 1: and with the two footmen, started off at once in
21:26
Speaker 1: search of the missing girl. It was not difficult to
21:29
Speaker 1: tell the direction which she had taken, for starting from
21:32
Speaker 1: under her window, we could follow her footmarks easily across
21:35
Speaker 1: the lawn to the edge of the mere, where they
21:38
Speaker 1: vanished close to the gravel path which leads out of
21:41
Speaker 1: the grounds. The lake there is eight feet deep, and
21:45
Speaker 1: you can imagine our feelings when we saw that the
21:47
Speaker 1: trail of the poor demented girl came to an end
21:50
Speaker 1: at the edge of it. Of course, we had the
21:53
Speaker 1: drags at once and set to work to recover the remains,
21:57
Speaker 1: but no trace of the body could we find. On
22:00
Speaker 1: the other hand, we brought to the surface an object
22:04
Speaker 1: of a most unexpected kind. It was a linen bag,
22:09
Speaker 1: which contained within it a mass of old, rusted and
22:12
Speaker 1: discolored metal, and several dull colored pieces of pebble or glass.
22:17
Speaker 1: This strange find was all that we could get from
22:20
Speaker 1: the mere. And although we made every possible search and
22:24
Speaker 1: inquiry yesterday, we know nothing of the fate either of
22:28
Speaker 1: Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton. The county police are
22:33
Speaker 1: at their wits end, and I have come up to
22:35
Speaker 1: you as a last resource. You can imagine, Watson, with
22:40
Speaker 1: what eagerness I listened to this extraordinary sequence of events,
22:44
Speaker 1: and endeavored to piece them together, and to devise some
22:47
Speaker 1: common thread upon which they might all hang. The butler
22:51
Speaker 1: was gone, the maid was gone. The maid had loved
22:55
Speaker 1: the butler, but afterwards had cause to hate him. She
22:58
Speaker 1: was of Welsh blood, fiery and passionate. She had been
23:02
Speaker 1: terribly excited immediately after his disappearance, she had flung into
23:07
Speaker 1: the lake a bag containing some curious contents. These are
23:11
Speaker 1: all factors which had to be taken into consideration, and
23:14
Speaker 1: yet none of them got quite to the heart of
23:16
Speaker 1: the matter. What was the starting point of this chain
23:20
Speaker 1: of events? There lay the end of this tangled line.
23:26
Speaker 1: I must see that paper, Musgrave, said, I which this
23:30
Speaker 1: butler of yours thought it was worth his while to consult,
23:33
Speaker 1: even at the risk of the loss of his place.
23:37
Speaker 1: It is rather an absurd business, this ritual of ours,
23:40
Speaker 1: he answered, But it has at least the saving grace
23:43
Speaker 1: of antiquity to excuse it. I have a copy of
23:46
Speaker 1: the questions and answers here, if you care to run
23:49
Speaker 1: your eye over them. He handed me the very paper
23:52
Speaker 1: which I have here, Watson. And this is the strange
23:56
Speaker 1: catechism to which each Musgrave had to submit when he
23:59
Speaker 1: came to Man's estate. I will read you the questions
24:03
Speaker 1: and answers as they stand. Whose was it? His? Who
24:08
Speaker 1: is gone? Who shall have it? He? Who will come?
24:14
Speaker 1: Where was the sun over the oak? Where was the
24:18
Speaker 1: shadow under the elm? How is it stepped north by
24:24
Speaker 1: ten and by ten, east by five and by five,
24:27
Speaker 1: south by two, and by two, west by one, and
24:31
Speaker 1: by one, and so under? What shall we give for it?
24:36
Speaker 1: All that is ours? Why should we give it for
24:39
Speaker 1: the sake of the trust? The original has no date,
24:43
Speaker 1: but is in the spelling of the middle of the
24:45
Speaker 1: seventeenth century, remarked Musgrave. I am afraid, however, that it
24:50
Speaker 1: can be of little help to you in solving this mystery.
24:54
Speaker 1: At least, said I, it gives us another mystery, and
24:58
Speaker 1: one which is even more interesting than the first. It
25:01
Speaker 1: may be that the solution of the one may prove
25:03
Speaker 1: to be the solution of the other. You will excuse me, Musgrave,
25:07
Speaker 1: if I say that your butler appears to meet have
25:10
Speaker 1: been a very clever man, and to have had a
25:12
Speaker 1: clearer insight than ten generations of his masters. I hardly
25:17
Speaker 1: follow you, said Musgrave. The paper seems to me to
25:21
Speaker 1: be of no practical importance. But to me it seems
25:26
Speaker 1: immensely practical. And I fancy that Brunton took the same view.
25:30
Speaker 1: He had probably seen it before that night on which
25:33
Speaker 1: he caught him. It is very possible we took no
25:37
Speaker 1: pains to hide it. He simply wished, I should imagine
25:41
Speaker 1: to refresh his memory. Upon that last occasion, he had,
25:45
Speaker 1: as I understand, some sort of map or chart which
25:48
Speaker 1: he was comparing with the manuscript, and which he thrust
25:51
Speaker 1: into his pocket when you appeared. That is true, But
25:56
Speaker 1: what could he have to do with this old family
25:58
Speaker 1: custom of ours? And what does this rigmarole mean? I
26:03
Speaker 1: don't think that we should have much difficulty in determining that,
26:06
Speaker 1: said I, with your permission, we will take the first
26:09
Speaker 1: train down to Sussex and go a little more deeply
26:11
Speaker 1: into the matter. Upon the spot the same afternoon saw
26:16
Speaker 1: us both at Hurlstone possibly have seen pictures and red
26:19
Speaker 1: descriptions of the famous old building. So I will confine
26:23
Speaker 1: my account of it to saying that it is built
26:25
Speaker 1: in the shape of an ell, the long arm being
26:28
Speaker 1: the more modern portion, and the shorter the ancient nucleus
26:32
Speaker 1: from which the other had developed over. The low, heavily
26:36
Speaker 1: linteled door in the center of this old part is
26:39
Speaker 1: chiseled a date sixteen o seven, but experts are agreed
26:43
Speaker 1: that the beams and stone work are really much older
26:46
Speaker 1: than this. The enormously thick walls and tiny windows of
26:50
Speaker 1: this part had in the last century driven the family
26:53
Speaker 1: into building the new wing, and the old one was
26:56
Speaker 1: used now as a store house and a cellar. When
26:58
Speaker 1: it was used at all, A splendid park with fine
27:02
Speaker 1: old timber surrounds the house, and the lake to which
27:05
Speaker 1: my client had referred lay close to the avenue, about
27:09
Speaker 1: two hundred yards from the building. I was already firmly
27:12
Speaker 1: convinced Watson that there were not three separate mistress here,
27:16
Speaker 1: but only one, and that if I could read the
27:18
Speaker 1: Musgrave Ritual aright, I should hold in my hand the
27:22
Speaker 1: clue which would lead me to the truth concerning both
27:25
Speaker 1: the butler Brunton and the maid Howls. To that then
27:29
Speaker 1: I turned all my energies. Why should this servant be
27:33
Speaker 1: so anxious to master this old formula? Evidently because he
27:37
Speaker 1: saw something in it which had escaped all those generations
27:40
Speaker 1: of country squires, and from which he expected some personal advantage.
27:46
Speaker 1: What was it, then, and how had it affected his fate?
27:51
Speaker 1: It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the ritual
27:54
Speaker 1: that the measurements must refer to some spot to which
27:57
Speaker 1: the rest of the document alluded, and that if we
27:59
Speaker 1: could find that spot, we should be in a fair
28:02
Speaker 1: way towards finding what the secret was, which the old
28:05
Speaker 1: Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so curious
28:09
Speaker 1: a fashion. There were two guides given us to start
28:12
Speaker 1: with an oak and an elm. As to the oak,
28:16
Speaker 1: there could be no question at all. Right in front
28:19
Speaker 1: of the house, upon the left hand side of the drive,
28:23
Speaker 1: there stood a patriarch among oaks, one of the most
28:26
Speaker 1: magnificent trees that I have ever seen. That was there
28:31
Speaker 1: when your ritual was drawn up, said I, as we
28:33
Speaker 1: drove past it. It was there at the Norman conquest.
28:37
Speaker 1: In all probability, he answered. It has a girth of
28:40
Speaker 1: twenty three feet. Have you any old elms? I asked.
28:46
Speaker 1: There used to be a very old one over yonder,
28:48
Speaker 1: but it was struck by lightning ten years ago, and
28:51
Speaker 1: we cut down the stump. You can see where it
28:55
Speaker 1: used to be. Oh, yes, there are no other elms,
29:00
Speaker 1: no old ones, but plenty of beeches. I should like
29:04
Speaker 1: to see where it grew. We had driven up in
29:07
Speaker 1: a dog cart, and my client led me away at
29:09
Speaker 1: once without our entering the house, to the scar on
29:12
Speaker 1: the lawn where the elm had stood. It was nearly
29:15
Speaker 1: midway between the oak and the house. My investigation seemed
29:20
Speaker 1: to be progressing. I suppose it is impossible to find
29:24
Speaker 1: out how high the elm was, I asked, I can
29:28
Speaker 1: give you it at once. It was sixty four feet.
29:32
Speaker 1: How do you come to know it, I asked, in surprise.
29:36
Speaker 1: When my old tutor used to give me an exercise
29:38
Speaker 1: in trigonometry, it always took the shape of measuring heights.
29:43
Speaker 1: When I was a lad, I worked out every tree
29:46
Speaker 1: and building in the estate. This was an unexpected piece
29:51
Speaker 1: of luck. My data were coming more quickly than I
29:54
Speaker 1: could have reasonably hoped. Tell me, I asked, Did your
29:58
Speaker 1: butler ever ask you such a question? Reginald Musgrave looked
30:02
Speaker 1: at me in astonishment. Now that you call it to
30:05
Speaker 1: my mind, he answered, Brunton did ask me about the
30:09
Speaker 1: height of the tree some months ago, in connection with
30:12
Speaker 1: some little argument with the groom. This was excellent news, Watson,
30:18
Speaker 1: for it showed me that I was on the right road.
30:20
Speaker 1: I looked up at the sun. It was low in
30:23
Speaker 1: the heavens, and I calculated that in less than an
30:25
Speaker 1: hour it would lie just above the topmost branches of
30:28
Speaker 1: the old oak. One condition mentioned in the ritual would
30:32
Speaker 1: then be fulfilled, and the shadow of the elm must
30:35
Speaker 1: mean the farther end of the shadow. Otherwise the trunk
30:39
Speaker 1: would have been chosen as the guide. I had then
30:42
Speaker 1: to find out where the far end of the shadow
30:44
Speaker 1: would fall when the sun was just clear of the oak.
30:49
Speaker 1: That must have been difficult, homes when the elm was
30:51
Speaker 1: no longer there. Well, at least I knew that if
30:54
Speaker 1: Brunton could do it, I could also. Besides, there was
30:58
Speaker 1: no real difficulty. I went with Muskrave to his study
31:01
Speaker 1: and whittled myself this peg, to which I tied this
31:04
Speaker 1: long string with a knot at each yard. Then I
31:08
Speaker 1: took two lengths of a fishing rod, which came to
31:10
Speaker 1: just six feet, and I went back with my client
31:13
Speaker 1: to where the elm had been. The sun was just
31:16
Speaker 1: grazing the top of the oak. I fastened the rod
31:20
Speaker 1: on end, marked out the direction of the shadow, and
31:23
Speaker 1: measured it. It was nine feet in length. Of course,
31:27
Speaker 1: the calculation now was a simple one. If a rod
31:30
Speaker 1: of six feet through a shadow of nine a tree
31:33
Speaker 1: of sixty four feet would throw one of ninety six,
31:37
Speaker 1: and the line of the one would of course be
31:39
Speaker 1: the line of the other. I measured out the distance,
31:42
Speaker 1: which brought me almost to the wall of the house,
31:45
Speaker 1: and I thrust a peg into the spot. You can
31:48
Speaker 1: imagine my exultation, Watson, when within two inches of my
31:52
Speaker 1: peg I saw a conical depression in the ground. I
31:55
Speaker 1: knew that it was the mark made by Brunton in
31:58
Speaker 1: his measurements, and that I was still upon his trail.
32:02
Speaker 1: From this starting point, I proceeded to step, having first
32:05
Speaker 1: taken the cardinal points of my pocket compass. Ten steps
32:09
Speaker 1: with each foot took me along parallel with the wall
32:12
Speaker 1: of the house, and again I marked my spot with
32:14
Speaker 1: a peg. Then I carefully paced off five to the
32:18
Speaker 1: east and two to the south. It brought me to
32:21
Speaker 1: the very threshold of the old door. Two steps to
32:25
Speaker 1: the west. Meant now that I was to go two
32:27
Speaker 1: paces down the stone flagged passage, and this was the
32:30
Speaker 1: place indicated by the ritual. Never have I felt such
32:35
Speaker 1: a cold chill of disappointment, Watson. For a moment it
32:39
Speaker 1: seemed to me that there must be some radical mistake
32:41
Speaker 1: in my calculations. The setting sun shone full upon the
32:45
Speaker 1: passage floor, and I could see that the old, foot
32:48
Speaker 1: worn gray stones with which it was paved were firmly
32:51
Speaker 1: cemented together and had certainly not been moved for many
32:55
Speaker 1: a long year Brunton had not been at work here.
32:59
Speaker 1: I tapped upon the floor, but it sounded the same
33:02
Speaker 1: all over, and there was no sign of any crack
33:05
Speaker 1: or crevice. But fortunately Musgrave, who had begun to appreciate
33:09
Speaker 1: the meaning of my proceedings, and who was now as
33:12
Speaker 1: excited as myself, took out his manuscript to check my calculation,
33:17
Speaker 1: and under he cried, you have omitted the And under
33:23
Speaker 1: I had thought that it meant that we were to dig.
33:26
Speaker 1: But now, of course I saw at once that I
33:28
Speaker 1: was wrong. There is a cellar under this. Then I cried, yes,
33:34
Speaker 1: and as old as a house down here through this
33:37
Speaker 1: door we went down a winding stone stair, and my companion,
33:42
Speaker 1: striking a match, lit a large lantern which stood on
33:46
Speaker 1: a barrel in the corner. In an instant it was
33:49
Speaker 1: obvious that we had at last come upon the true place,
33:52
Speaker 1: and that we had not been the only people to
33:54
Speaker 1: visit the spot. Recently. It had been used for the
33:58
Speaker 1: storage of wood, but the billets, which had evidently been
34:01
Speaker 1: littered over the floor were now piled at the sides
34:04
Speaker 1: so as to leave a clear space in the middle.
34:07
Speaker 1: In this space lay a large and heavy flagstone with
34:11
Speaker 1: a rusted iron ring in the center, to which a
34:14
Speaker 1: thick shepherd's check muffler was attached by Jove, cried my client,
34:20
Speaker 1: that's Brunton's muffler. I've seen it on him and could
34:23
Speaker 1: swear to it. What has the villain been doing here?
34:27
Speaker 1: At my suggestion, a couple of the county police were
34:30
Speaker 1: summoned to be present, and I then endeavored to raise
34:33
Speaker 1: the stone by pulling on the cravat. I could only
34:36
Speaker 1: move it slightly, and it was with the aid of
34:39
Speaker 1: one of the constables that I succeeded at last in
34:41
Speaker 1: carrying it to one side. A black hole yawned beneath
34:45
Speaker 1: into which we all peered, while Musgrave, kneeling at the side,
34:50
Speaker 1: pushed down the lantern. A small chamber about seven feet
34:54
Speaker 1: deep and four feet square lay open to us. At
34:57
Speaker 1: one side of this was a squat brass bound wooden box,
35:01
Speaker 1: the lid of which was hinged upwards, with this curious
35:04
Speaker 1: old fashioned key projecting from the lock. It was furred
35:08
Speaker 1: outside by a thick layer of dust, and dampened worms
35:12
Speaker 1: had eaten through the wood, so that a crop of
35:15
Speaker 1: livid fungi was growing on the inside of it. Several
35:18
Speaker 1: disks of metal, old coins, apparently such as I hold here,
35:23
Speaker 1: were scattered over the bottom of the box, but it
35:25
Speaker 1: contained nothing else. At the moment, however, we had no
35:30
Speaker 1: thought for the old chest, for our eyes were riveted
35:33
Speaker 1: upon that which crouched beside it. It was the figure
35:37
Speaker 1: of a man clad in a suit of black, who
35:40
Speaker 1: squatted down upon his hands, with his forehead sunk upon
35:43
Speaker 1: the edge of the box, and his two arms thrown
35:46
Speaker 1: out on each side of it. The attitude had drawn
35:49
Speaker 1: all the stagnant blood to the face, and no man
35:53
Speaker 1: could have recognized that distorted, liver colored countenance. But his height,
35:58
Speaker 1: his dress, and his hair were all sufficient to show
36:01
Speaker 1: my client, when we had drawn the body up, that
36:04
Speaker 1: it was indeed his missing butler. He had been dead
36:09
Speaker 1: some days, but there was no wound or bruise upon
36:12
Speaker 1: his person to show how he had met his dreadful end.
36:15
Speaker 1: When his body had been carried from the cellar, we
36:18
Speaker 1: found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was almost
36:21
Speaker 1: as formidable as that which we had started. I confess
36:25
Speaker 1: that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my investigation.
36:30
Speaker 1: I had reckoned upon solving the matter. When once I
36:33
Speaker 1: had found the place referred to in the ritual. But
36:36
Speaker 1: now I was there, and was apparently as far as
36:39
Speaker 1: ever from knowing what it was which the family had
36:42
Speaker 1: concealed with such elaborate precautions. It is true that I
36:46
Speaker 1: had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, But
36:49
Speaker 1: now I had to ascertain how that fate had come
36:52
Speaker 1: upon him, and what part had been played in the
36:55
Speaker 1: matter by the woman who had disappeared. I sat down
36:59
Speaker 1: upon a keg in the corner and thought the whole
37:02
Speaker 1: matter carefully over. You know my methods in such cases, Watson.
37:07
Speaker 1: I put myself in the man's place, and having first
37:11
Speaker 1: gaged his intelligence, I tried to imagine how I should
37:14
Speaker 1: myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this case,
37:19
Speaker 1: the matter was simplified by Brunton's intelligence being quite first rate,
37:23
Speaker 1: so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for
37:26
Speaker 1: the personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it. He
37:30
Speaker 1: knew that something valuable was concealed. He had spotted the place.
37:35
Speaker 1: He found that the stone which covered it was just
37:37
Speaker 1: too heavy for a man to move unaided. What would
37:40
Speaker 1: he do next? He could not get help from outside,
37:44
Speaker 1: even if he had some one whom he could trust,
37:46
Speaker 1: without the unbarring of doors and considerable risk of detection.
37:50
Speaker 1: It was better if he could to have his helpmate
37:53
Speaker 1: inside the house. But whom could he ask? This girl
37:58
Speaker 1: had been devoted to him. A man always finds it
38:01
Speaker 1: hard to realize that he may have finally lost a
38:04
Speaker 1: woman's love, however badly he may have treated her. He
38:08
Speaker 1: would try, by a few attentions, to make his peace
38:10
Speaker 1: with the girl Howls, and then would engage her as
38:14
Speaker 1: his accomplice. Together they would come at night to the cellar,
38:18
Speaker 1: and their united force would suffice to raise a stone.
38:22
Speaker 1: So far I could follow their actions as if I
38:24
Speaker 1: had actually seen them. But for two of them and
38:28
Speaker 1: one a woman, it must have been heavy work the
38:31
Speaker 1: raising of that stone A burly Sussex policeman, and I
38:35
Speaker 1: had found it no light job. What would they do
38:38
Speaker 1: to assist them? Probably what I should have done myself.
38:42
Speaker 1: I rose and examined carefully the different billets of wood
38:45
Speaker 1: which were scattered round the floor. Almost at once I
38:49
Speaker 1: came upon what I expected. One piece about three feet
38:53
Speaker 1: in length, had a very marked indentation at one end,
38:57
Speaker 1: while several were flattened at the sides, as if they
39:00
Speaker 1: been compressed by some considerable weight. Evidently, as they had
39:04
Speaker 1: dragged the stone up, they had thrust the chunks of
39:06
Speaker 1: wood into the chink, until at last, when the opening
39:10
Speaker 1: was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it
39:12
Speaker 1: open by a billet placed lengthwise, which might very well
39:15
Speaker 1: become indented at the lower end, since the whole weight
39:19
Speaker 1: of the stone would press it down to the edge
39:21
Speaker 1: of this other slab. So far I was still on
39:25
Speaker 1: safe ground. And now how was I to proceed to
39:29
Speaker 1: reconstruct this midnight drama? Clearly only one could fit into
39:33
Speaker 1: the hole, and that one was Brunton. The girl must
39:38
Speaker 1: have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up
39:43
Speaker 1: the contents, presumably since they were not to be found.
39:47
Speaker 1: And then, and then what happened? What smoldering fire of
39:53
Speaker 1: vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this passionate Celtic
39:57
Speaker 1: woman's soul when she saw the man who had wronged
39:59
Speaker 1: her her wronged her perhaps far more than we suspected
40:03
Speaker 1: in her power? Was it a chance that the wood
40:07
Speaker 1: had slipped and that the stone had shut Brunton into
40:09
Speaker 1: what had become his sepulcher. Had she only been guilty
40:12
Speaker 1: of silence as to his fate, or had some sudden
40:16
Speaker 1: blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent
40:20
Speaker 1: the slab crashing down into its place. Be that as
40:24
Speaker 1: it might, I seemed to see that woman's figure still
40:28
Speaker 1: clutching at her treasure trove, and flying wildly up the
40:31
Speaker 1: winding stair, with her ears ringing, perhaps with the muffled
40:34
Speaker 1: screams from behind her, and with the drumming of frenzied
40:38
Speaker 1: hands against the slab of stone which was choking her
40:41
Speaker 1: faithless lover's life. Out Here was the secret of her
40:45
Speaker 1: blanched face, her shaken nerves, her peals of hysterical laughter.
40:50
Speaker 1: On the next morning, But what had been in the box?
40:54
Speaker 1: What had she done with that? Of course, it must
40:59
Speaker 1: have been the old man lettle and pebbles which my
41:01
Speaker 1: client had dragged from the mere. She had thrown them
41:04
Speaker 1: in there at the first opportunity to remove the last
41:07
Speaker 1: trace of her crime. For twenty minutes I had sat motionless,
41:12
Speaker 1: thinking the matter out. Musgrave still stood with a very
41:15
Speaker 1: pale face, swinging his lantern and peering down into the hole.
41:21
Speaker 1: These are the coins of Charles the First, said, he
41:25
Speaker 1: holding out the few which had been in the box.
41:28
Speaker 1: You see we were right in fixing our date for
41:30
Speaker 1: the ritual. We may find something else of Charles the First,
41:34
Speaker 1: I cried, as the probable meaning of the first two
41:37
Speaker 1: questions of the ritual broke suddenly upon me. Let me
41:41
Speaker 1: see the contents of the bag which you fished from
41:43
Speaker 1: the mere. We ascended to his study, and he laid
41:47
Speaker 1: the debris before me. I could understand his regarding it
41:51
Speaker 1: as of small importance when I looked at it, for
41:54
Speaker 1: the metal was almost black, and the stones lustreless and dull.
41:59
Speaker 1: I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and
42:02
Speaker 1: it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow
42:05
Speaker 1: of my hand. The metal work was in the form
42:08
Speaker 1: of a double ring, but it had been bent and
42:11
Speaker 1: twisted out of its original shape. You must bear in mind,
42:15
Speaker 1: said I, that the Royal party made head in England
42:19
Speaker 1: even after the death of the king, and that when
42:21
Speaker 1: they at last fled, they probably left many of their
42:24
Speaker 1: most precious possessions buried behind them, with the intention of
42:28
Speaker 1: returning for them in more peaceful times. My ancestor, Sir
42:33
Speaker 1: Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent cavalier and the right hand
42:37
Speaker 1: man of Charles the Second in his wanderings, said my friend, Ah, Indeed,
42:43
Speaker 1: I answered, well, now, I think that really should give
42:47
Speaker 1: us the last link that we wanted. I must congratulate
42:51
Speaker 1: you on coming into the possession, though in rather a
42:53
Speaker 1: tragic manner, of a relic which is of great intrinsic value,
42:58
Speaker 1: but of even greater importance as a historical curiosity. What
43:03
Speaker 1: is it, then, he gasped in astonishment. It is nothing
43:07
Speaker 1: less than the ancient crown of the kings of England,
43:11
Speaker 1: the crown precisely. Consider what the ritual says. How does
43:17
Speaker 1: it run? Whose was it? His? Who is gone? That
43:23
Speaker 1: was after the execution of Charles? Then who shall have it?
43:28
Speaker 1: He who will come? That was Charles the Second, whose
43:32
Speaker 1: advent was already foreseen. There can, I think, be no
43:36
Speaker 1: doubt that this battered than shapeless diadem once encircled the
43:40
Speaker 1: brows of the royal Stuarts. And how came it in
43:44
Speaker 1: the pond? Ah, that is a question that will take
43:48
Speaker 1: some time to answer. And with that I sketched out
43:52
Speaker 1: to him the whole long chain of surmise and of
43:54
Speaker 1: proof which I had constructed, the twilight had closed in,
43:59
Speaker 1: and the moon was shining brightly in the sky before
44:02
Speaker 1: my narrative was finished. And how was it then that
44:06
Speaker 1: Charles did not get his crown when he returned, asked Musgrave,
44:10
Speaker 1: pushing back the relic into its linen bag. Ah, there
44:15
Speaker 1: you lay your finger upon the one point which we
44:17
Speaker 1: shall probably never be able to clear up. It is
44:21
Speaker 1: likely that the musgrave who held the secret died in
44:24
Speaker 1: the interval, and by some oversight, left this guide to
44:27
Speaker 1: his descendant without explaining the meaning of it. From that
44:32
Speaker 1: day to this it has been handed down from father
44:34
Speaker 1: to son, until at last it came within reach of
44:38
Speaker 1: a man who tore its secret out of it and
44:40
Speaker 1: lost his life in the venture. And that's the story
44:44
Speaker 1: of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson. They have the crown down
44:47
Speaker 1: at Hurlstone, though they had some legal bother and the
44:50
Speaker 1: considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it.
44:54
Speaker 1: I am sure that if you mentioned my name, they
44:57
Speaker 1: would be happy to show it to you. Of the woman,
45:00
Speaker 1: nothing was ever heard, and the probability is that she
45:03
Speaker 1: got away out of England and carried herself and the
45:06
Speaker 1: memory of her crime to some land beyond the seas
45:11
Speaker 1: end of the musgrave ritual