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The Adventure of The Copper Beaches - Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · Thrilling Adventures - Daily

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Speaker 1: The adventure of the Copper Beaches to the man who
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Speaker 1: loves art for its own sake, remarked Sherlock Holmes, tossing
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Speaker 1: aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Telegraph. It is
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Speaker 1: frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the
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Speaker 1: keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is pleasant to
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Speaker 1: me to observe Watson, that you have so far grasped
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Speaker 1: this truth. That in these little records of our cases,
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Speaker 1: which you have been good enough to draw up, and
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Speaker 1: I am bound to say occasionally to embellish, you have
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Speaker 1: given prominence not so much to the many cause celebres
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Speaker 1: and sensational trials in which I have figured, but rather
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Speaker 1: to those incidents which may have been trivial in themselves,
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Speaker 1: but which have given room for those faculties of deduction
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Speaker 1: and of logical synthesis which I have made my special province.
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Speaker 1: And yet, said I, smiling, I cannot quite hold myself
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Speaker 1: absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged
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Speaker 1: against my records. You have erred, perhaps he observed, taking
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Speaker 1: up a glowing cinder with the tongs, and lighting with
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Speaker 1: it the long cherrywood pipe which was wont to replace
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Speaker 1: his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than
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Speaker 1: a meditative mood. You have erred, perhaps in attempting to
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Speaker 1: put color and life into each of your statements, instead
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Speaker 1: of confining yourself to the task of placing upon record
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Speaker 1: that severe reasoning from cause to effect, which is really
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Speaker 1: the only notable feature about the thing. It seems to
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Speaker 1: me that I have done you full justice in the matter,
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Speaker 1: I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by
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Speaker 1: the egotism which I had more than once observed to
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Speaker 1: be a strong factor in my friend's singular character. No,
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Speaker 1: it is not selfishness or conceit, said he answering, as
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Speaker 1: was his Wont my thoughts rather than my words? If
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Speaker 1: I claim full justice for my art, it is because
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Speaker 1: it is an impersonal thing, a thing beyond myself. Crime
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Speaker 1: is common, is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic,
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Speaker 1: rather than upon the crime, that you should dwell. You
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Speaker 1: have degraded what should have been a course of lectures
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Speaker 1: into a series of tails. It was a cold morning
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Speaker 1: of the early spring, and we sat after breakfast, on
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Speaker 1: either side of a cheery fire in the old room
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Speaker 1: at Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the
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Speaker 1: lines of dun colored houses, and the opposing windows loomed
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Speaker 1: like dark, shapeless splurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our
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Speaker 1: gas was lit and shown on the white cloth and
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Speaker 1: glimmer of china and metal. For the table had not
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Speaker 1: been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning,
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Speaker 1: dipping continuously into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers,
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Speaker 1: until at last, having apparently given up his search, he
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Speaker 1: had emerged in no very sweet temper to lecture me
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Speaker 1: upon my literary shortcomings. At the same time, he remarked,
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Speaker 1: after a pause during which he had sat puffing at
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Speaker 1: his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, you
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Speaker 1: can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for
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Speaker 1: out of those cases which you have been so kind
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Speaker 1: as to interest yourself in a fair proportion, do not
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Speaker 1: treat of crime in its legal sense at all. The
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Speaker 1: small matter in which I endeavored to help the King
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Speaker 1: of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the
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Speaker 1: problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and
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Speaker 1: the incident of the noble bachelor were all matters which
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Speaker 1: are outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding
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Speaker 1: this sensational I fear that you may have bordered on
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Speaker 1: the trivial. The end may have been so, I answered,
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Speaker 1: but the methods I hold to have been novel and
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Speaker 1: of interest. Pshaw, my dear fellow, What do the public,
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Speaker 1: the great unobservant public, who could hardly tell a weaver
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Speaker 1: by his tooth or a compositor by his left thumb,
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Speaker 1: care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction? But indeed,
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Speaker 1: if you are trivial, I cannot blame you, for the
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Speaker 1: days of the great cases are past. Man, or at
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Speaker 1: least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As
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Speaker 1: to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating
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Speaker 1: into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving
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Speaker 1: advice to young ladies from boarding schools. I think that
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Speaker 1: I have touched bottom at last. However, this note I
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Speaker 1: had this morning marks my zero point. I fancy read it.
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Speaker 1: He tossed a crumpled letter across to me. It was
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Speaker 1: dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran, thus,
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Speaker 1: dear mister Holmes, I am very anxious to consult you
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Speaker 1: as to whether I should or should not accept a
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Speaker 1: situation which has been offered to me as governess. I
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Speaker 1: shall call at half past ten tomorrow if I do not,
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Speaker 1: inconvenience you yours faithfully, Violet Hunter. Do you know the
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Speaker 1: young lady, I asked, not I It is half past
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Speaker 1: ten now, yes, and I have no doubt that is
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Speaker 1: her ring. It may turn out to be of more
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Speaker 1: interest than you think. You remember that the affair of
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Speaker 1: the blue carbuncle, which appeared to be a mere whim
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Speaker 1: at first, developed into a serious investigation. It may be
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Speaker 1: so in this case also. Well, let us hope so.
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Speaker 1: But our doubts will very soon be solved. For here,
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Speaker 1: unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question.
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Speaker 1: As he spoke, the door opened and a young lady
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Speaker 1: entered the room. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with
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Speaker 1: a bright, quick face, freckled like a plubb's egg, and
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Speaker 1: with the brisk manner of a woman who has had
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Speaker 1: her own way to make in the world. You will
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Speaker 1: excuse my troubling you, I am sure, said she, as
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Speaker 1: my companion rose to greet her. But I have had
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Speaker 1: a very strange experience, and as I have no parents
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Speaker 1: or relations of any sort from whom I could ask advice.
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Speaker 1: I felt that perhaps you would be kind enough to
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Speaker 1: tell me what I should do. Pray, take a seat,
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Speaker 1: miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that
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Speaker 1: I can to serve you. I could see that Holmes
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Speaker 1: was favorably impressed by the manner and speech of his
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Speaker 1: new client. He looked her over in his searching fashion,
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Speaker 1: and then composed himself with his lids drooping and his
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Speaker 1: finger tips together to listen to her story. I have
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Speaker 1: been a governess for five years, said she, in the
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Speaker 1: family of Colonel Spence Munroe. But two months ago the
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Speaker 1: colonel received an appointment at Halifax in Nova Scotia and
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Speaker 1: took his children over to America with him. So that
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Speaker 1: I found myself without a situation. I advertised and I
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Speaker 1: answered advertisements, but without success. At last the little money
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Speaker 1: which I had saved began to run short, and I
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Speaker 1: was at my wits end as to what I should do.
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Speaker 1: There here is a well known agency for governesses in
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Speaker 1: the West End called west Away's, and there I used
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Speaker 1: to call about once a week in order to see
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Speaker 1: whether anything had turned up which might suit me. West
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Speaker 1: Away was the name of the founder of the business,
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Speaker 1: but it is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits
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Speaker 1: in her own little office, and the ladies who are
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Speaker 1: seeking employment wait in an ante room and are then
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Speaker 1: shown in one by one when she consults her ledgers
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Speaker 1: and sees whether she has anything which would suit them well.
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Speaker 1: When I called last week, I was shown into the
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Speaker 1: little office as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper
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Speaker 1: was not alone. A prodigiously stout man with a very
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Speaker 1: smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled down
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Speaker 1: in fold upon fold over his throat, sat at her
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Speaker 1: elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking
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Speaker 1: very earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in,
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Speaker 1: he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned
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Speaker 1: quickly to Miss Stoper. That will do, said he. I
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Speaker 1: could not ask for anything better. Capital capital. He seemed
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Speaker 1: quite enthusiastic, and rubbed his hands together in the most
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Speaker 1: genial fashion. He was such a comfortable looking man that
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Speaker 1: it was quite a pleasure to look at him. You
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Speaker 1: are looking for a situation, miss, he asked, yes, sir,
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Speaker 1: as Governess, Yes sir, And what salary do you ask?
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Speaker 1: I had four pounds a month in my last place
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Speaker 1: with Colonel Spence Monroe, oh, tut tut, sweating, rank sweating,
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Speaker 1: he cried, throwing his fat hands out into the air
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Speaker 1: like a man who is in a boiling passion. How
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Speaker 1: could any one offer so pitiful a sum to a
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Speaker 1: lady with such attractions and accomplishments. My accomplishments, sir, may
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Speaker 1: be less than you imagine, said I, A little French,
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Speaker 1: a little German, music and drawing. Tut tut, he cried.
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Speaker 1: This is all quite beside the question. The point is,
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Speaker 1: have you or have you not the bearing and deportment
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Speaker 1: of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If
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Speaker 1: you have not, you are not fitted for the rearing
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Speaker 1: of a child who may some day play a considerable
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Speaker 1: part in the history of the country. But if you have,
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Speaker 1: why then how could any gentleman ask you to condescend
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Speaker 1: to accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, madam,
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Speaker 1: would commence at one hundred pounds a year. You may imagine,
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Speaker 1: mister Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, such
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Speaker 1: an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, however,
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Speaker 1: seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, opened
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Speaker 1: a pocket book and took out a note. It is
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Speaker 1: also my custom, said he, smiling in the most pleasant fashion,
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Speaker 1: until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid
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Speaker 1: the white creases of his face. To advance to my
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Speaker 1: young ladies half their salary beforehand, so that they may
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Speaker 1: meet any little expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.
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Speaker 1: It seemed to me that I had never met so
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Speaker 1: fascinating and so thoughtful a man, as I was already
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Speaker 1: in debt to my tradesman. The advance was a great convenience,
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Speaker 1: and yet there was something unnatural about the whole transaction
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Speaker 1: which made me wish to know a little more before
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Speaker 1: I quite committed myself. May I ask where you live, sir,
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Speaker 1: said I Hampshire, charming rural place, the Copper Beaches, five
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Speaker 1: miles on the far side of Winchester. It is the
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Speaker 1: most lovely country, my dear young lady, and the dearest
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Speaker 1: old country house, and my duty, sir, I should be
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Speaker 1: glad to know what they would be. One child, one
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Speaker 1: dear little romper, just six years old. Oh, if you
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Speaker 1: could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper, smack, smack, smack,
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Speaker 1: Three gone before you could wink. He leaned back in
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Speaker 1: his chair and laughed, his eyes into his head again.
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Speaker 1: I was a little startled at the nature of the
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Speaker 1: child's amusement, but the father's laughter made me think that
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Speaker 1: perhaps he was joking. My soul duties? Then, I asked,
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Speaker 1: are to take charge of a single child? No? No,
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Speaker 1: not the soul, Not the soul, My dear young lady,
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Speaker 1: he cried, Your duty would be, as I am sure
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Speaker 1: your good sense would suggest, to obey any little commands
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Speaker 1: my wife might give, provided always that they were such
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Speaker 1: commands as a lady might with propriety obey. You see
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Speaker 1: no difficulty, eh, I should be happy to make myself useful,
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Speaker 1: quite so, and dressed now for example, we are fatty people,
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Speaker 1: you know, fatty but kind hearted. If you were asked
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Speaker 1: to wear any dress which we might give you, you
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Speaker 1: would not object to our little whim, eh no, said I,
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Speaker 1: considerably astonished at his words. Or to sit here or
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Speaker 1: sit there that would not be offensive to you, oh no,
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Speaker 1: Or to cut your hair quite short before you come
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Speaker 1: to us. I could hardly believe my ears. As you
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Speaker 1: may observe, mister Holmes, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, of
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Speaker 1: a rather peculiar tint of chestnut. It has been considered artistic.
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Speaker 1: I could not dream of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
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Speaker 1: I am afraid that that is quite impossible, said I.
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Speaker 1: He had been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes,
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Speaker 1: and I could see a shadow pass over his face
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Speaker 1: as I spoke. I am afraid that it is quite essential,
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Speaker 1: said he. It is a little fancy of my wife's
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Speaker 1: and lady's fancies. You know, madam, ladies fancies must be consulted,
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Speaker 1: And so you won't cut your hair? No, sir, I
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Speaker 1: really could not, I answered firmly. Ah, very well, then
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Speaker 1: that quite settles the matter. It is a pity, because
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Speaker 1: in other respects you would really have done very nicely.
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Speaker 1: In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a
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Speaker 1: few more of your young ladies. The manageress had sat
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Speaker 1: all this while busy with her papers, without a word
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Speaker 1: to either of us. But she glanced at me now
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Speaker 1: with so much annoyance upon her face that I could
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Speaker 1: not help suspecting that she had lost a handsome commission
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Speaker 1: through my refusal. Do you desire your name to be
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Speaker 1: kept upon the books? She asked, if you please, Miss Stoper. Well,
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Speaker 1: really it seems rather useless since you refuse the most
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Speaker 1: excellent offers in this fashion, said she sharply, you can
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Speaker 1: hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such
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Speaker 1: opening for you. Good day to you, miss Hunter. She
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Speaker 1: struck a gong upon the table, and I was shown
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Speaker 1: out by the page. Well, mister Holmes. When I got
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Speaker 1: back to my lodgings and found little enough in the
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Speaker 1: cupboard and two or three bills upon the table, I
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Speaker 1: began to ask myself whether I had not done a
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Speaker 1: very foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange
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Speaker 1: fads and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they
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Speaker 1: were at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very
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Speaker 1: few governesses in England are getting one hundred pounds a year. Besides,
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Speaker 1: what use was my hair to me? Many people are
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Speaker 1: improved by wearing it short, and perhaps I should be
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Speaker 1: among the number. Next day I was inclined to think
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Speaker 1: that I had made a mistake, and by the day
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Speaker 1: after I was sure of it. I had almost overcome
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Speaker 1: my pride so far as to go back to the
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Speaker 1: agency and inquire whether the place was still open. When
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Speaker 1: I received this letter from the gentleman himself, I have
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Speaker 1: it here and I will read it to you the
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Speaker 1: Copper Beeches near Winchester. Dear miss Hunter, Miss Stoper has
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Speaker 1: very kindly given me your address, and I write from
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Speaker 1: here to ask you whether you have reconsidered your decision.
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Speaker 1: My wife is very anxious that you should come, for
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Speaker 1: she has been much attracted by my description of you.
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Speaker 1: We are willing to give thirty pounds a quarter or
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Speaker 1: a hundred and twenty pounds a year, so as to
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Speaker 1: recompense you for any little inconvenience which our fads may
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Speaker 1: cause you. They are not very exacting. After all. My
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Speaker 1: wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue,
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Speaker 1: and would like you to wear such a dress indoors
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Speaker 1: in the morning. You need not, however, go to the
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Speaker 1: expense of purchasing one, as we have one belonging to
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Speaker 1: my dear daughter Alice now in Philadelphia, which would I
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Speaker 1: should think fit you very well. Then, as to sitting
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Speaker 1: here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner, indicated
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Speaker 1: that need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair,
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Speaker 1: it is no doubt a pity, especially as I could
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Speaker 1: not help remarking its beauty during our short interview. But
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Speaker 1: I am afraid that I must remain firm upon this point,
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Speaker 1: and I only hope that the increased salary may recompense
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Speaker 1: you for the loss. Your duties as far as the
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Speaker 1: child is concerned, are very light. Now do try to
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Speaker 1: come and I shall meet you with a dogcart at Winchester.
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Speaker 1: Let me know your train. Yours faithfully, jeffro Rucastle. That
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Speaker 1: is the letter which I have just received, mister Holmes,
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Speaker 1: and my mind is made up that I will accept it.
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Speaker 1: I thought, however, that before taking the final step, I
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Speaker 1: should like to submit the whole matter to your consideration. Well,
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Speaker 1: miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles
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Speaker 1: the question, said Holmes, smiling. But you would not advise
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Speaker 1: me to refuse. I confess that it is not the
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Speaker 1: situation which I should like to see a sister of
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Speaker 1: mine apply. For what is the meaning of it all,
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Speaker 1: mister Holmes, Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps you have yourself to form some opinion. Well, there
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Speaker 1: seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mister
17:06
Speaker 1: Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good natured man.
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Speaker 1: Is it not possible that his wife is a lunatic
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Speaker 1: and that he desires to keep the matter quiet for
17:15
Speaker 1: fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that
17:18
Speaker 1: he humors her fancies in every way in order to
17:20
Speaker 1: prevent an outbreak. That is a possible solution. In fact,
17:26
Speaker 1: as matters stand, it is the most probable one. But
17:29
Speaker 1: in any case, it does not seem to be a
17:31
Speaker 1: nice household for a young lady. But the money, mister Holmes,
17:35
Speaker 1: the money, well, yes, of course, the pay is good,
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Speaker 1: too good. That is what makes me uneasy. Why should
17:43
Speaker 1: they give you one hundred and twenty pounds a year
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Speaker 1: when they could have their pick for forty pounds. There
17:49
Speaker 1: must be some strong reason behind. I thought that if
17:53
Speaker 1: I told you the circumstances, you would understand afterwards if
17:56
Speaker 1: I wanted your help, I should feel so much stronger
17:59
Speaker 1: if I felt that you are at the back of me. Oh,
18:03
Speaker 1: you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure
18:06
Speaker 1: you that your little problem promises to be the most
18:08
Speaker 1: interesting which has come my way for some months. There
18:12
Speaker 1: is something distinctly novel about some of the features. If
18:15
Speaker 1: you should find yourself in doubt or in danger, danger,
18:20
Speaker 1: what danger do you foresee? Holmes shook his head gravely.
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Speaker 1: It would cease to be a danger, if we could
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Speaker 1: define it, said he. But at any time, day or night,
18:31
Speaker 1: a telegram would bring me down to your help. That
18:35
Speaker 1: is enough. She rose briskly from her chair, with the
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Speaker 1: anxiety all swept from her face. I shall go down
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Speaker 1: to Hampshire quite easy in my mind. Now I shall
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Speaker 1: write to mister Rucastle at once, sacrifice my poor hair
18:48
Speaker 1: to night, and start for Winchester tomorrow. With a few
18:53
Speaker 1: grateful words to Holmes. She bade us both good night,
18:55
Speaker 1: and bustled off upon her way. At least, said I,
19:01
Speaker 1: as we heard her quick firm steps descending the stairs.
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Speaker 1: She seems to be a young lady who is very well,
19:07
Speaker 1: able to take care of herself, and she would need
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Speaker 1: to be said Holmes gravely. I am much mistaken if
19:14
Speaker 1: we do not hear from her before many days are past.
19:19
Speaker 1: It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled.
19:23
Speaker 1: A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my
19:26
Speaker 1: thoughts turning in her direction and wondering what strange side
19:29
Speaker 1: alley of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into
19:34
Speaker 1: the unusual salary. The curious conditions, the light duties all
19:39
Speaker 1: pointed to something abnormal, though, whether a fad or a plot,
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Speaker 1: or whether the man were a philanthropist or a villain,
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Speaker 1: it was quite beyond my powers to determine. As to Holmes,
19:50
Speaker 1: I observed that he sat frequently for half an hour
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Speaker 1: on end, with knitted brows and an abstracted air, but
19:57
Speaker 1: he swept the matter away with a wave of his hand.
19:59
Speaker 1: When I mentioned data, data, data, he cried impatiently, I
20:04
Speaker 1: can't make bricks without clay. And yet he would always
20:08
Speaker 1: wind up by muttering that no sister of his should
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Speaker 1: ever have accepted such a situation. The telegram, which we
20:15
Speaker 1: eventually received, came late one night, just as I was
20:18
Speaker 1: thinking of turning in, and Holmes was settling down to
20:21
Speaker 1: one of those all night chemical researches which he frequently
20:25
Speaker 1: indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a
20:28
Speaker 1: retort and a test tube at night and find him
20:30
Speaker 1: in the same position when I came down to breakfast
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Speaker 1: in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope and, then,
20:37
Speaker 1: glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Just
20:41
Speaker 1: look up the trains in Bradshaw, said he, and turned
20:45
Speaker 1: back to his chemical studies. The summons was a brief
20:49
Speaker 1: and urgent one. Please be at the black Swan Hotel
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Speaker 1: at Winchester at midday tomorrow, it said, Do come. I
20:58
Speaker 1: am at my wits end, Hunter, Will you come with me?
21:04
Speaker 1: Asked Holmes, glancing up. I should wish to just look
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Speaker 1: it up. Then there is a train at half past nine,
21:14
Speaker 1: said I, glancing over my Bradshaw. It is due at
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Speaker 1: Winchester at eleven thirty. That will do very nicely. Then
21:22
Speaker 1: perhaps I had better postpone my analysis of the acetones,
21:25
Speaker 1: as we may need to be at our best in
21:27
Speaker 1: the morning. By eleven o'clock the next day we were
21:31
Speaker 1: well upon our way to the old English capital. Holmes
21:35
Speaker 1: had been buried in the morning papers all the way down,
21:38
Speaker 1: but after we had passed the Hampshire border, he threw
21:41
Speaker 1: them down and began to admire the scenery. It was
21:44
Speaker 1: an ideal spring day, a light blue sky flecked with
21:48
Speaker 1: little fleecy white clouds drifting across from west to east.
21:53
Speaker 1: The sun was shining very brightly, and yet there was
21:56
Speaker 1: an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge
21:58
Speaker 1: to a man's energy. All over the countryside, away to
22:03
Speaker 1: the rolling hills around Aldershot the little red and gray
22:06
Speaker 1: roofs of the farmsteadings peeped out from amid the light
22:09
Speaker 1: green of the new foliage. Are they not fresh and beautiful?
22:14
Speaker 1: I cried, with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh
22:16
Speaker 1: from the fogs of Baker Street. But Holmes shook his
22:21
Speaker 1: head gravely. Do you know, Watson? Said he, that it
22:25
Speaker 1: is one of the curses of a mind with a
22:27
Speaker 1: turn like mine, that I must look at everything with
22:30
Speaker 1: reference to my own special subject. You look at these
22:33
Speaker 1: scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I
22:37
Speaker 1: look at them, and the only thought which comes to
22:39
Speaker 1: me is a feeling of their isolation, and of the
22:42
Speaker 1: impunity with which crime may be committed there, Good Heavens,
22:47
Speaker 1: I cried, who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads.
22:53
Speaker 1: They always fill me with a certain horror. It is
22:56
Speaker 1: my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest
23:00
Speaker 1: and vilest alleys in London do not present a more
23:03
Speaker 1: dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.
23:08
Speaker 1: You horrify me, but the reason is very obvious. The
23:13
Speaker 1: pressure of public opinion can do in the town what
23:16
Speaker 1: the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile
23:20
Speaker 1: that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud
23:23
Speaker 1: of a drunkard's blow does not beget sympathy and indignation
23:26
Speaker 1: among the neighbors. And then the whole machinery of justice
23:30
Speaker 1: is ever so close that a word of complaint can
23:32
Speaker 1: set it going. And there is but a step between
23:35
Speaker 1: the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses,
23:39
Speaker 1: each in its own fields, filled for the most part
23:42
Speaker 1: with poor, ignorant folk who know little of the law.
23:46
Speaker 1: Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness
23:49
Speaker 1: which may go on year in, year out in such places,
23:53
Speaker 1: and none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to
23:57
Speaker 1: us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should
24:00
Speaker 1: never have had a fear for her. It is the
24:02
Speaker 1: five miles of country which makes the danger. Still, it
24:06
Speaker 1: is clear that she is not personally threatened. No, if
24:11
Speaker 1: she can come to Winchester to meet us, she can
24:13
Speaker 1: get away. Quite so, she has her freedom. What can
24:18
Speaker 1: be the matter? Then? Can you suggest no explanation? I
24:22
Speaker 1: have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would cover
24:26
Speaker 1: the facts as far as we know them, but which
24:29
Speaker 1: of these is correct can only be determined by the
24:31
Speaker 1: fresh information which we shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well,
24:36
Speaker 1: there is the tower of the cathedral, and we shall
24:38
Speaker 1: soon learn all that miss Hunter has to tell. The
24:42
Speaker 1: Black Swan is an inn of repute in the high Street,
24:45
Speaker 1: at no distance from the station, and there we found
24:48
Speaker 1: the young lady waiting for us. She had engaged a
24:52
Speaker 1: sitting room, and our lunch awaited us upon the table.
24:56
Speaker 1: I am so delighted that you have come, she said earnestly.
25:00
Speaker 1: It is so very kind of you both. But indeed
25:03
Speaker 1: I do not know what I should do. Your advice
25:05
Speaker 1: will be altogether invaluable to me. Pray, tell us what
25:10
Speaker 1: has happened to you. I will do so, and I
25:13
Speaker 1: must be quick, for I have promised mister Rowcastle to
25:16
Speaker 1: be back before three. I got his leave to come
25:19
Speaker 1: into town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose.
25:24
Speaker 1: Let us have everything in its due order. Holmes thrust
25:28
Speaker 1: his long, thin legs out towards the fire and composed
25:31
Speaker 1: himself to listen. In the first place, I may say
25:36
Speaker 1: that I have met on the whole with no actual
25:38
Speaker 1: ill treatment. For mister and missus Rowcastle. It is only
25:42
Speaker 1: fair to them to say that, But I cannot understand them,
25:45
Speaker 1: and I am not easy in my mind about them.
25:49
Speaker 1: What can you not understand? There are reasons for their conduct,
25:55
Speaker 1: but you shall have it all. Just as it occurred
25:58
Speaker 1: when I came down, mister Rucastle met me here and
26:02
Speaker 1: drove me in his dog cart to the copper beaches.
26:05
Speaker 1: It is, as he said, beautifully situated. But it is
26:09
Speaker 1: not beautiful in itself, for it is a large square
26:12
Speaker 1: block of a house, whitewashed, but all stained and streaked
26:16
Speaker 1: with damp and bad weather. There are grounds round it,
26:20
Speaker 1: woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field
26:23
Speaker 1: which slopes down to the Southampton high Road, which curves
26:26
Speaker 1: past about a hundred yards from the front door. This
26:30
Speaker 1: ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods
26:33
Speaker 1: all round are part of Lord Southerton's preserves. A clump
26:37
Speaker 1: of copper beaches immediately in front of the hall door
26:39
Speaker 1: has given its name to the place. I was driven
26:44
Speaker 1: over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever,
26:47
Speaker 1: and was introduced by him that evening to his wife
26:50
Speaker 1: and the child. There was no truth, mister Holmes in
26:54
Speaker 1: the conjecture which seemed to us to be probable in
26:56
Speaker 1: your rooms at Baker Street. Missus Roucastle is not mad.
27:01
Speaker 1: I found her to be a silent, pale faced woman,
27:05
Speaker 1: much younger than her husband, and not more than thirty,
27:08
Speaker 1: I should think, while he can hardly be less than
27:10
Speaker 1: forty five. From their conversation, I have gathered that they
27:14
Speaker 1: have been married about seven years, that he was a widower,
27:18
Speaker 1: and that his only child by the first wife was
27:21
Speaker 1: the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mister Rucastle told
27:25
Speaker 1: me in private that the reason why she had left
27:27
Speaker 1: them was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother.
27:32
Speaker 1: As the daughter could not have been less than twenty,
27:35
Speaker 1: I can quite imagine that her position must have been
27:37
Speaker 1: uncomfortable with her father's young wife. Missus Rucastle seemed to
27:42
Speaker 1: me to be colorless in mind as well as in feature.
27:46
Speaker 1: She impressed me neither favorably nor the reverse. She was
27:50
Speaker 1: a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was
27:54
Speaker 1: passionately devoted both to her husband and to her little son.
27:58
Speaker 1: Her light gray eyes wandered cont gennually from one to
28:01
Speaker 1: the other, noting every little want and forestalling it if possible.
28:06
Speaker 1: He was kind to her also in his bluff boisterous fashion,
28:10
Speaker 1: and on the whole they seemed to be a happy couple.
28:13
Speaker 1: And yet she had some secret sorrow. This woman. She
28:17
Speaker 1: would often be lost in deep thought, with the saddest
28:20
Speaker 1: look upon her face. More than once I have surprised
28:24
Speaker 1: her in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was
28:27
Speaker 1: the disposition of her child which weighed upon her mind.
28:31
Speaker 1: For I have never met so utterly spoilt and so
28:34
Speaker 1: ill natured a little creature. He is small for his age,
28:38
Speaker 1: with a head which is quite disproportionately large. His whole
28:43
Speaker 1: life appears to be spent in an alternation between savage
28:46
Speaker 1: fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving pain
28:51
Speaker 1: to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his
28:53
Speaker 1: one idea of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent
28:57
Speaker 1: in planning the capture of mice, the birds, and insects.
29:02
Speaker 1: But I would rather not talk about the creature, mister Holmes,
29:05
Speaker 1: And indeed he has little to do with my story.
29:10
Speaker 1: I am glad of all details, remarked my friend, whether
29:13
Speaker 1: they seem to you to be relevant or not, I
29:17
Speaker 1: shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one
29:21
Speaker 1: unpleasant thing about the house which struck me at once
29:25
Speaker 1: was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are
29:28
Speaker 1: only two, a man and his wife, taller, for that
29:32
Speaker 1: is his name, is a rough, uncouth man, with grizzled
29:36
Speaker 1: hair and whiskers, and a perpetual smell of drink. Twice
29:40
Speaker 1: since I have been with him he has been quite drunk,
29:43
Speaker 1: and yet mister Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it.
29:46
Speaker 1: His wife is a very tall and strong woman, with
29:49
Speaker 1: a sour face, as silent as Missus Rucastle, and much
29:53
Speaker 1: less amiable. They are a most unpleasant couple. But fortunately
29:58
Speaker 1: I spend most of my time in the nurse tree
30:00
Speaker 1: and my own room, which are next to each other
30:02
Speaker 1: in one corner of the building. For two days after
30:06
Speaker 1: my arrival at the Copper Beaches, my life was very quiet.
30:10
Speaker 1: On the third, Missus Rucastle came down just after breakfast
30:13
Speaker 1: and whispered something to her husband. Oh yes, said he,
30:18
Speaker 1: turning to me. We are very much obliged to you,
30:21
Speaker 1: miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far
30:23
Speaker 1: as to cut your hair. I assure you that it
30:26
Speaker 1: is not detracted in the tiniest iota from your appearance.
30:30
Speaker 1: We shall now see how the electric blue dress will
30:33
Speaker 1: become you. You will find it laid out upon the
30:35
Speaker 1: bed in your room, and if you will be so
30:38
Speaker 1: good as to put it on, we should both be
30:40
Speaker 1: extremely obliged. The dress which I found waiting for me,
30:44
Speaker 1: was of a peculiar shade of blue. It was of
30:47
Speaker 1: excellent material, a sort of beige, but it bore unmistakable
30:52
Speaker 1: signs of having been worn before. It could not have
30:55
Speaker 1: been a better fit if I had been measured for it.
30:59
Speaker 1: Both mister and Missus Roucastle expressed a delight at the
31:02
Speaker 1: look of it, which seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence.
31:06
Speaker 1: They were waiting for me in the drawing room, which
31:09
Speaker 1: is a very large room stretching along the entire front
31:12
Speaker 1: of the house, with three long windows reaching down to
31:15
Speaker 1: the floor. A chair had been placed close to the
31:18
Speaker 1: central window, with its back turned towards it. In this
31:22
Speaker 1: I was asked to sit, and then mister Rucastle, walking
31:26
Speaker 1: up and down on the other side of the room,
31:28
Speaker 1: began to tell me a series of the funniest stories
31:31
Speaker 1: that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how
31:35
Speaker 1: comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary.
31:39
Speaker 1: Missus Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humor,
31:43
Speaker 1: never so much as smiled, but sat with her hands
31:46
Speaker 1: in her lap and a sad, anxious look upon her face.
31:50
Speaker 1: After an hour or so, mister Rucastle suddenly remarked that
31:54
Speaker 1: it was time to commence the duties of the day,
31:56
Speaker 1: and that I might change my dress and go to
31:58
Speaker 1: little Edward in the nursery. Two days later, this same
32:02
Speaker 1: performance was gone through under exactly similar circumstances. Again I
32:07
Speaker 1: changed my dress. Again, I sat in the window, and
32:11
Speaker 1: again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of
32:14
Speaker 1: which my employer had an immense repertoire, and which he
32:17
Speaker 1: told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow backed novel, and,
32:22
Speaker 1: moving my chair a little sideways that my own shadow
32:25
Speaker 1: might not fall upon the page, he begged me to
32:28
Speaker 1: read aloud to him. I read for about ten minutes,
32:32
Speaker 1: beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then suddenly,
32:35
Speaker 1: in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to
32:37
Speaker 1: cease and to change my dress. You can easily imagine,
32:42
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, how curious I became as to what the
32:45
Speaker 1: meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly be. They were
32:49
Speaker 1: always very careful, I observed to turn my face away
32:53
Speaker 1: from the window, so that I became consumed with a
32:56
Speaker 1: desire to see what was going on behind my back.
33:00
Speaker 1: First it seemed to be impossible, but I soon devised
33:03
Speaker 1: a means. My hand mirror had been broken, so a
33:07
Speaker 1: happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of
33:10
Speaker 1: the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in
33:14
Speaker 1: the midst of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up
33:16
Speaker 1: to my eyes and was able, with a little management,
33:20
Speaker 1: to see all that there was behind me. I confess
33:23
Speaker 1: that I was disappointed there was nothing, at least that
33:27
Speaker 1: was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I
33:31
Speaker 1: perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road,
33:35
Speaker 1: a small bearded man in a gray suit, who seemed
33:38
Speaker 1: to be looking in my direction. The road is an
33:41
Speaker 1: important highway and there are usually people there. This man, however,
33:46
Speaker 1: was leaning against the railings which bordered our field, and
33:49
Speaker 1: was looking earnestly up. I lowered my handkerchief and glanced
33:53
Speaker 1: at missus Rowcastle, to find her eyes fixed upon me
33:56
Speaker 1: with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, but I
34:00
Speaker 1: am convinced that she had divined that I had a
34:03
Speaker 1: mirror in my hand and had seen what was behind me.
34:07
Speaker 1: She rose at once. Jeoff Row said she, there is
34:12
Speaker 1: an impertinent fellow upon the road there who stares up
34:14
Speaker 1: at Miss Hunter. No friend of yours, Miss Hunter, he asked, No,
34:21
Speaker 1: I know no one in these parts. Dear me, how
34:25
Speaker 1: very impertinent? Kindly turn round and motion to him to
34:28
Speaker 1: go away. Surely it would be better to take no notice. No, no,
34:35
Speaker 1: we should have him loitering here. Always kindly turn round
34:38
Speaker 1: and wave him away like that. I did as I
34:42
Speaker 1: was told, and at the same instant missus Rucastle drew
34:45
Speaker 1: down the blind. That was a week ago, and from
34:48
Speaker 1: that time I have not sat again in the window,
34:51
Speaker 1: nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen the
34:54
Speaker 1: man in the road. Pray continue, said Holmes. Your narrative
34:59
Speaker 1: promises to be a most interesting one. You will find
35:03
Speaker 1: it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove to
35:06
Speaker 1: be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak.
35:10
Speaker 1: On the very first day that I was at the
35:12
Speaker 1: Copper Beaches, mister Rucastle took me to a small outhouse
35:16
Speaker 1: which stands near the kitchen door. As we approached it,
35:19
Speaker 1: I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the
35:21
Speaker 1: sound as of a large animal moving about. Look in here,
35:26
Speaker 1: said mister Rucastle, showing me a slit between two planks.
35:30
Speaker 1: Is he not a beauty? I looked through and was
35:34
Speaker 1: conscious of two glowing eyes and of a vague figure
35:37
Speaker 1: huddled up in the darkness. Don't be frightened, said my employer,
35:42
Speaker 1: laughing at the start which I had given. It's only Carlo,
35:46
Speaker 1: my mastiff, I call him mine, but really old Toller,
35:50
Speaker 1: my groom, is the only man who can do anything
35:52
Speaker 1: with him. We feed him once a day, and not
35:55
Speaker 1: too much thin, so that he is always as keen
35:58
Speaker 1: as mustard. Taller lets him loose every night, and God
36:02
Speaker 1: helped the trespasser whom he lays his fangs upon. For
36:06
Speaker 1: goodness sake, don't you, ever, on any pretext set your
36:09
Speaker 1: foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much
36:12
Speaker 1: as your life is worth. The warning was no idle
36:16
Speaker 1: one for two nights later. I happened to look out
36:19
Speaker 1: of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning.
36:22
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in
36:25
Speaker 1: front of the house was silvered over and almost as
36:28
Speaker 1: bright as day. I was standing wrapped in the peaceful
36:32
Speaker 1: beauty of the scene, when I was aware that something
36:35
Speaker 1: was moving under the shadow of the Copper beaches. As
36:38
Speaker 1: it emerged into the moonshine, I saw what it was.
36:42
Speaker 1: It was a giant dog as large as a calf,
36:45
Speaker 1: tawny tinted with hanging jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones.
36:51
Speaker 1: It walked slowly across the lawn and vanished into the
36:54
Speaker 1: shadow upon the other side. That dreadful sentinel sent a
36:58
Speaker 1: chill to my heart, which I do not think that
37:00
Speaker 1: any burglar could have done. And now I have a
37:04
Speaker 1: very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you know,
37:08
Speaker 1: cut off my hair in London, and I had placed
37:10
Speaker 1: it in a great coil at the bottom of my trunk.
37:14
Speaker 1: One evening, after the child was in bed, I began
37:17
Speaker 1: to amuse myself by examining the furniture of my room
37:20
Speaker 1: and by rearranging my own little things. There was an
37:24
Speaker 1: old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper
37:27
Speaker 1: ones empty and open, the lower one locked. I had
37:30
Speaker 1: filled the first two with my linen, and as I
37:33
Speaker 1: had still much to pack away, I was naturally annoyed
37:36
Speaker 1: at not having the use of the third drawer. It
37:39
Speaker 1: struck me that it might have been fastened by a
37:41
Speaker 1: mere oversight, So I took out my bunch of keys
37:44
Speaker 1: and tried to open it. The very first key fitted
37:48
Speaker 1: to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There was
37:52
Speaker 1: only one thing in it, but I am sure that
37:54
Speaker 1: you would never guess what it was. It was my
37:57
Speaker 1: coil of hair. I took it up and examined it.
38:02
Speaker 1: It was of the same peculiar tint and the same thickness.
38:06
Speaker 1: But then the impossibility of the thing obtruded itself upon me.
38:10
Speaker 1: How could my hair have been locked in the drawer.
38:14
Speaker 1: With trembling hands, I undid my trunk, turned out the contents,
38:18
Speaker 1: and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid
38:21
Speaker 1: the two tresses together, and I assure you that they
38:24
Speaker 1: were identical? Was it not extraordinary puzzle? As I would,
38:29
Speaker 1: I could make nothing at all of what it meant.
38:32
Speaker 1: I returned the strange hair to the drawer, and I
38:35
Speaker 1: said nothing of the matter to the roue Castles, as
38:37
Speaker 1: I felt that I had put myself in the wrong
38:39
Speaker 1: by opening a drawer which they had locked. I am
38:43
Speaker 1: naturally observant, as you may have remarked, mister Holmes, and
38:47
Speaker 1: I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole
38:49
Speaker 1: house in my head. There was one wing, however, which
38:52
Speaker 1: appeared not to be inhabited at all. A door which
38:56
Speaker 1: faced that which led into the quarters of the tollers
38:59
Speaker 1: opened into this, but it was invariably locked. One day, however,
39:04
Speaker 1: as I ascended the stair, I met mister Rucastle coming
39:08
Speaker 1: out through this door, his keys in his hand, and
39:11
Speaker 1: a look on his face which made him a very
39:13
Speaker 1: different person to the round, jovial man to whom I
39:16
Speaker 1: was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his brow was all
39:20
Speaker 1: crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his
39:23
Speaker 1: temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past
39:27
Speaker 1: me without a word or a look. This aroused my curiosity,
39:32
Speaker 1: so when I went out for a walk in the
39:34
Speaker 1: grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side
39:37
Speaker 1: from which I could see the windows of this part
39:39
Speaker 1: of the house. There were four of them in a row,
39:43
Speaker 1: three of which were simply dirty, while the fourth was
39:45
Speaker 1: shuddered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I strolled
39:51
Speaker 1: up and down, glancing at them, occasionally, mister Rucastle came
39:54
Speaker 1: out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever,
39:59
Speaker 1: Ah said he you must not think me rude if
40:02
Speaker 1: I passed you without a word, My dear young lady,
40:04
Speaker 1: I was preoccupied with business matters. I assured him that
40:08
Speaker 1: I was not offended by the way, said I. You
40:12
Speaker 1: seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there,
40:15
Speaker 1: and one of them has the shutters up. He looked surprised, and,
40:20
Speaker 1: as it seemed to me a little startled at my remark.
40:23
Speaker 1: Photography is one of my hobbies, said he, I have
40:27
Speaker 1: made my dark room up there. But dear me, what
40:30
Speaker 1: an observant young lady we have come upon. Who would
40:33
Speaker 1: have believed it? Who would have ever believed it? He
40:37
Speaker 1: spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest
40:40
Speaker 1: in his eyes. As he looked at me. I read
40:43
Speaker 1: suspicion there, an annoyance, but no jest. Well, mister Holmes.
40:49
Speaker 1: From the moment that I understood that there was something
40:51
Speaker 1: about that suite of rooms which I was not to know,
40:54
Speaker 1: I was all on fire to go over them. It
40:57
Speaker 1: was not mere curiosity, though I have my share of that.
41:01
Speaker 1: It was more a feeling of duty, a feeling that
41:04
Speaker 1: some good might come from my penetrating to this place.
41:08
Speaker 1: They talk of woman's instinct. Perhaps it was woman's instinct
41:12
Speaker 1: which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there,
41:16
Speaker 1: and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance
41:18
Speaker 1: to pass the forbidden door. It was only yesterday that
41:22
Speaker 1: the chance came. I may tell you that besides mister Rucastle,
41:26
Speaker 1: both Toller and his wife find something to do in
41:29
Speaker 1: these deserted rooms. And I once saw him carrying a
41:32
Speaker 1: large black linen bag with him through the door. Recently
41:36
Speaker 1: he has been drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was
41:39
Speaker 1: very drunk. And when I came upstairs there was the
41:42
Speaker 1: key in the door. I had no doubt at all
41:45
Speaker 1: that he had left it there. Mister and Missus Roucastle
41:48
Speaker 1: were both downstairs, and the child was with them, so
41:52
Speaker 1: that I had an admirable opportunity. I turned the key
41:55
Speaker 1: gently in the lock, opened the door, and slipped through.
42:00
Speaker 1: There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered
42:03
Speaker 1: and uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle. At the
42:05
Speaker 1: farther end. Round this corner were three doors in a line,
42:10
Speaker 1: the first and third of which were open. They each
42:13
Speaker 1: led into an empty room, dusty and cheerless with two
42:16
Speaker 1: windows in the one and one in the other, so
42:20
Speaker 1: thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through them.
42:24
Speaker 1: The center door was closed, and across the outside of
42:27
Speaker 1: it had been fastened one of the broad bars of
42:29
Speaker 1: an iron bed padlocked at one end to a ring
42:32
Speaker 1: in the wall, and fastened at the other with stout cord.
42:36
Speaker 1: The door itself was locked as well, and the key
42:39
Speaker 1: was not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the
42:44
Speaker 1: shuttered window outside, And yet I could see by the
42:47
Speaker 1: glimmer from beneath it that the room was not in darkness.
42:51
Speaker 1: Evidently there was a skylight which led in light from above.
42:56
Speaker 1: As I stood in the passage, gazing at the sinister
42:58
Speaker 1: door and wondering what secret it might veil, I suddenly
43:02
Speaker 1: heard the sound of steps within the room, and saw
43:04
Speaker 1: a shadow pass backward and forward against the little slit
43:07
Speaker 1: of dim light which shone out from under the door.
43:11
Speaker 1: A mad, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight,
43:13
Speaker 1: mister Holmes. My overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I
43:18
Speaker 1: turned and ran ran, as though some dreadful hand were
43:21
Speaker 1: behind me, Clutching at the skirt of my dress. I
43:24
Speaker 1: rushed down the passage, through the door and straight into
43:27
Speaker 1: the arms of mister Rucastle, who was waiting outside, so
43:32
Speaker 1: said he, smiling. It was you, then I thought that
43:35
Speaker 1: it must be when I saw the door open. Oh
43:39
Speaker 1: I am so frightened, I panted, my dear young lady.
43:44
Speaker 1: You cannot think how caressing and soothing his manner was,
43:48
Speaker 1: And what has frightened you, my dear young lady. But
43:52
Speaker 1: his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it.
43:56
Speaker 1: I was keenly on my guard against him. I was
44:00
Speaker 1: foolish enough to go into the empty wing, I answered,
44:03
Speaker 1: But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim
44:06
Speaker 1: light that I was frightened and ran out again. Oh
44:09
Speaker 1: it is so dreadfully still in there only that, said he,
44:14
Speaker 1: looking at me keenly. Why what did you think, I asked,
44:20
Speaker 1: Why do you think that I locked this door? I
44:23
Speaker 1: am sure that I do not know. It is to
44:27
Speaker 1: keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?
44:31
Speaker 1: He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. I
44:35
Speaker 1: am sure if I had known, well, then you know now,
44:40
Speaker 1: and if you ever put your foot over that threshold
44:42
Speaker 1: again here in an instant the smile hardened into a
44:45
Speaker 1: grin of rage, and he glared down at me with
44:48
Speaker 1: the face of a demon. I'll throw you to the mastiff.
44:52
Speaker 1: I was so terrified that I do not know what
44:54
Speaker 1: I did. I suppose that I must have rushed past
44:57
Speaker 1: him into my room. I remember nothing until I found
45:00
Speaker 1: myself lying on my bed, trembling all over. Then I
45:04
Speaker 1: thought of you, mister Holmes. I could not live there
45:07
Speaker 1: longer without some advice. I was frightened of the house,
45:10
Speaker 1: of the man, of the woman, of the servants, even
45:13
Speaker 1: of the child. They were all horrible to me. If
45:17
Speaker 1: I could only bring you down, all would be well.
45:21
Speaker 1: Of course, I might have fled from the house, but
45:23
Speaker 1: my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My
45:27
Speaker 1: mind was soon made up. I would send you a wire.
45:31
Speaker 1: I put on my hat and cloak, went down to
45:34
Speaker 1: the office, which is about half a mile from the house,
45:37
Speaker 1: and then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt
45:42
Speaker 1: came into my mind as I approached the door, lest
45:44
Speaker 1: the dog might be loose. But I remembered that Toller
45:47
Speaker 1: had drunk himself into a state of insensibility that evening,
45:51
Speaker 1: and I knew that he was the only one in
45:53
Speaker 1: the household who had any influence with the savage creature,
45:56
Speaker 1: or who would venture to set him free. I slipped
45:59
Speaker 1: in in safety and lay awake half the night in
46:02
Speaker 1: my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had
46:06
Speaker 1: no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this morning,
46:09
Speaker 1: but I must be back before three o'clock, for mister
46:12
Speaker 1: and Missus Rowcastle are going on a visit and will
46:14
Speaker 1: be away all the evening, so that I must look
46:17
Speaker 1: after the child. Now I have told you all my adventures,
46:20
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, and I should be very glad if you
46:23
Speaker 1: could tell me what it all means, and above all,
46:26
Speaker 1: what I should do. Holmes and I had listened spellbound
46:30
Speaker 1: to this extraordinary story. My friend rose now and paced
46:34
Speaker 1: up and down the room, his hands in his pockets
46:37
Speaker 1: and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his face.
46:42
Speaker 1: Is Toller still drunk? He asked? Yes. I heard his
46:47
Speaker 1: wife tell Missus Rowcastle that she could do nothing with him.
46:50
Speaker 1: That is well, and the Roecastles go out to night. Yes,
46:56
Speaker 1: is there a cellar with a good strong lock, the
47:00
Speaker 1: wine cellar. You seem to me to have acted all
47:04
Speaker 1: through this matter like a very brave and sensible girl,
47:06
Speaker 1: Miss Hunter, Do you think that you could perform one
47:09
Speaker 1: more feat? I should not ask it of you if
47:11
Speaker 1: I did not think you quite an exceptional woman. I
47:15
Speaker 1: will try. What is it? We shall be at the
47:19
Speaker 1: Copper Beaches by seven o'clock, my friend and I. The
47:23
Speaker 1: roof castles will be gone by that time, and Toller will,
47:26
Speaker 1: we hope, be incapable. There only remains missus Toller, who
47:30
Speaker 1: might give the alarm. If you could send her into
47:33
Speaker 1: the cellar on some errand and then turn the key
47:35
Speaker 1: upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely. I will do it, excellent.
47:43
Speaker 1: We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course,
47:46
Speaker 1: there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought
47:50
Speaker 1: there to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned
47:53
Speaker 1: in this chamber. That is obvious as to who this
47:57
Speaker 1: prisoner is. I have no doubt that it is the
48:00
Speaker 1: daughter Miss Alice Rucastle. If I remember right who was
48:04
Speaker 1: said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless
48:07
Speaker 1: as resembling her in height, figure and the color of
48:10
Speaker 1: her hair. Hers had been cut off, very possibly in
48:14
Speaker 1: some illness through which she has passed, and so, of
48:17
Speaker 1: course yours had to be sacrificed. Also, by a curious chance,
48:22
Speaker 1: you came upon her tresses. The man in the road
48:25
Speaker 1: was undoubtedly some friend of hers, possibly her fiancee, and
48:30
Speaker 1: no doubt, as you wore the girl's dress and were
48:32
Speaker 1: so like her, he was convinced from your laughter whenever
48:36
Speaker 1: he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, that Miss
48:39
Speaker 1: Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer desired
48:43
Speaker 1: his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to
48:46
Speaker 1: prevent him from endeavoring to communicate with her. So much
48:50
Speaker 1: is fairly clear. The most serious point in the case
48:53
Speaker 1: is the disposition of the child. What on earth has
48:57
Speaker 1: that to do with it? I ejaculated, My dear Watson, You,
49:02
Speaker 1: as a medical man, are continually gaining light as to
49:04
Speaker 1: the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents.
49:08
Speaker 1: Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I
49:12
Speaker 1: have frequently gained my first real insight into the character
49:15
Speaker 1: of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is
49:20
Speaker 1: abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he derives
49:25
Speaker 1: this from his smiling father, as I should suspect or
49:28
Speaker 1: from his mother. It bodes evil for the poor girl
49:31
Speaker 1: who is in their power. I am sure that you
49:35
Speaker 1: are right, mister Holmes, cried our client. A thousand things
49:39
Speaker 1: come back to me which make me certain that you
49:40
Speaker 1: have hid it. Oh, let us lose not an instant
49:44
Speaker 1: in bringing help to this poor creature. We must be circumspect,
49:49
Speaker 1: for we are dealing with a very cunning man. We
49:52
Speaker 1: can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we
49:55
Speaker 1: shall be with you, and it will not be long
49:57
Speaker 1: before we solve the mystery. We were as good as
50:01
Speaker 1: our word, for it was just seven when we reached
50:04
Speaker 1: the Copper Beaches, having put up our trap at a
50:06
Speaker 1: wayside public house. The group of trees, with their dark
50:10
Speaker 1: leaves shining like burnished metal in the light of the
50:13
Speaker 1: setting sun, were sufficient to mark the house even had
50:16
Speaker 1: miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the doorstep. Have
50:21
Speaker 1: you managed it? Asked Holmes. A loud thudding noise came
50:25
Speaker 1: from somewhere downstairs. That is missus Toller in the cellar,
50:30
Speaker 1: said she. Her husband lies snoring on the kitchen rug.
50:35
Speaker 1: Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of mister Rucastle's.
50:39
Speaker 1: You have done well indeed, cried Holmes with enthusiasm. Now
50:43
Speaker 1: lead the way, and we shall soon see the end
50:45
Speaker 1: of this black business. We passed up the stair, unlocked
50:50
Speaker 1: the door, followed on down a passage, and found ourselves
50:54
Speaker 1: in front of the barricade which miss Hunter had described.
50:58
Speaker 1: Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse bar. Then
51:02
Speaker 1: he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success.
51:06
Speaker 1: No sound came from within, and at the silence, Holmes's
51:10
Speaker 1: face clouded over. I trust that we are not too late,
51:14
Speaker 1: said he. I think, miss Hunter, that we had better
51:17
Speaker 1: go in without you. Now, Watson, put your shoulder to it,
51:21
Speaker 1: and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in.
51:25
Speaker 1: It was an old, rickety door, and gave it once
51:27
Speaker 1: before our united strength. Together we rushed into the room.
51:32
Speaker 1: It was empty. There was no furniture save a little
51:36
Speaker 1: pallet bed, a small table, and a basketful of linen.
51:40
Speaker 1: The skylight above was open, and the prisoner gone. There
51:45
Speaker 1: has been some villainy here, said Holmes. This beauty has
51:48
Speaker 1: guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim off.
51:52
Speaker 1: But how through the skylight, we shall soon see how
51:57
Speaker 1: he managed it? He swung himself up on to the roof. Ah, yes,
52:02
Speaker 1: he cried, here's the end of a long light ladder
52:05
Speaker 1: against the eaves. That is how he did it. But
52:09
Speaker 1: it is impossible, said miss Hunter. The latter was not
52:12
Speaker 1: there when the rooe castles went away. He has come
52:16
Speaker 1: back and done it. I tell you that he is
52:19
Speaker 1: a clever and dangerous man. I should not be very
52:22
Speaker 1: much surprised if this were he whose step I hear
52:25
Speaker 1: now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it would
52:28
Speaker 1: be as well for you to have your pistol ready.
52:32
Speaker 1: The words were hardly out of his mouth before a
52:34
Speaker 1: man appeared at the door of the room, a very
52:37
Speaker 1: fat and burly man with a heavy stick in his hand.
52:42
Speaker 1: Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wall at the
52:44
Speaker 1: sight of him, but Sherlock Holms sprang forward and confronted him.
52:49
Speaker 1: You villain, said he where's your daughter? The fat man
52:54
Speaker 1: cast his eyes round and then up at the open skylight.
52:58
Speaker 1: It is for me to ask you, you that, he shrieked,
53:01
Speaker 1: You thieves, spies and thieves. I have caught you, have
53:05
Speaker 1: I You are in my power. I'll serve you. He
53:09
Speaker 1: turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he
53:11
Speaker 1: could go. He's gone for the dog, cried miss Hunter.
53:17
Speaker 1: I have my revolver, said I better close the front door,
53:21
Speaker 1: cried Holmes, and we all rushed down the stairs together.
53:26
Speaker 1: We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the
53:28
Speaker 1: baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony,
53:31
Speaker 1: with a horrible, worrying sound, which it was dreadful to
53:34
Speaker 1: listen to. An elderly man with a red face and
53:37
Speaker 1: shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door. My god,
53:42
Speaker 1: he cried, some one has loosed the dog. It's not
53:45
Speaker 1: been fed for two days. Quit quick, or it'll be
53:48
Speaker 1: too late. Holmes and I rushed out and round the
53:52
Speaker 1: angle of the house, with Taller hurrying behind us. There
53:57
Speaker 1: was the huge, famished brute, its black muzzled buried in
54:00
Speaker 1: Rucastle's throat while he writhed and screamed upon the ground.
54:04
Speaker 1: Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over,
54:07
Speaker 1: with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great
54:10
Speaker 1: creases of his neck. With much labor, we separated them
54:14
Speaker 1: and carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house.
54:19
Speaker 1: We laid him upon the drawing room sofa and having
54:21
Speaker 1: dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to his wife.
54:25
Speaker 1: I did what I could to relieve his pain. We
54:29
Speaker 1: were all assembled round him when the door opened and
54:31
Speaker 1: a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Missus Toller cried,
54:36
Speaker 1: Miss Hunter. Yes, miss mister Rucastle let me out when
54:41
Speaker 1: he came back before he went up to you. Ah, miss,
54:45
Speaker 1: it is a pity you didn't let me know what
54:46
Speaker 1: you were planning for I would have told you that
54:48
Speaker 1: your pains were wasted, ha said Holmes, looking keenly at her.
54:54
Speaker 1: It is clear that missus Toller knows more about this
54:56
Speaker 1: matter than any one else. Yes, Sir, I do, and
55:00
Speaker 1: I am ready enough to tell what I know. Then pray,
55:04
Speaker 1: sit down and let us hear it, for there are
55:06
Speaker 1: several points on which I must confess that I am
55:09
Speaker 1: still in the dark. I will soon make it clear
55:13
Speaker 1: to you, said she, and i'd have done so before
55:15
Speaker 1: now if I could have got out from the cellar.
55:18
Speaker 1: If there's police court business over this, you'll remember that
55:21
Speaker 1: I was the one that stood your friend, and that
55:23
Speaker 1: I was miss Alice's friend too. She was never happy
55:28
Speaker 1: at home. Miss Alice wasn't from the time that her
55:30
Speaker 1: father married again. She was slighted like and had no
55:34
Speaker 1: say in anything, but it never really became bad for
55:37
Speaker 1: her until after she met mister Fowler at a friend's house.
55:41
Speaker 1: As well as I could learn, miss Alice had rights
55:44
Speaker 1: of her own by will, but she was so quiet
55:47
Speaker 1: and patient she was that she never said a word
55:49
Speaker 1: about them, but just left everything in mister Rucastle's hands.
55:54
Speaker 1: He knew he was safe with her. But when there
55:57
Speaker 1: was a chance of a husband coming forward who would
55:59
Speaker 1: ask for all that the law would give him, then
56:02
Speaker 1: her father thought it time to put a stop on it.
56:05
Speaker 1: He wanted her to sign a paper so that whether
56:07
Speaker 1: she married or not, he could use her money. When
56:10
Speaker 1: she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until
56:13
Speaker 1: she got brain fever, and for six weeks was at
56:16
Speaker 1: death's door. Then she got better at last, all worn
56:20
Speaker 1: to a shadow and with her beautiful hair cut off.
56:24
Speaker 1: But that didn't make no change in her young man,
56:26
Speaker 1: and he stuck to her as true as man could be.
56:30
Speaker 1: Ah said Holmes. I think that what you have been
56:33
Speaker 1: good enough to tell us makes the matter fairly clear,
56:36
Speaker 1: and that I can deduce all that remains mister Rucastle.
56:40
Speaker 1: Then I presume took to this system of imprisonment, yes, sir,
56:46
Speaker 1: and brought miss Hunter down from London in order to
56:48
Speaker 1: get rid of the disagreeable persistence of mister Fowler. That
56:52
Speaker 1: was it, sir. But mister Fowler, being a persevering man,
56:57
Speaker 1: as a good sea man should be blockaded the house,
57:01
Speaker 1: and having met you, succeeded by certain arguments, metallic or
57:04
Speaker 1: otherwise in convincing you that your interests were the same
57:08
Speaker 1: as his. Mister Fowler was a very kind spoken, free
57:13
Speaker 1: handed gentleman, said Missus Toller serenely, And in this way
57:18
Speaker 1: he managed that your good man should have no want
57:20
Speaker 1: of drink, and that a latter should be ready at
57:23
Speaker 1: the moment when your master had gone out. You have it, sir,
57:27
Speaker 1: just as it happened. I am sure we owe you
57:30
Speaker 1: an apology, Missus Toller, said Holmes, for you have certainly
57:34
Speaker 1: cleared up everything which puzzled us. And here comes the
57:38
Speaker 1: country surgeon and Missus Rucastle. So I think, Watson, that
57:41
Speaker 1: we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, as
57:44
Speaker 1: it seems to me that our locust standy now is
57:47
Speaker 1: rather a questionable one. And thus was solved the mystery
57:51
Speaker 1: of the sinister house with the Copper Beaches in front
57:54
Speaker 1: of the door. Mister Rucastle survived, but was always a
57:58
Speaker 1: broken man, kept alives solely through the care of his
58:01
Speaker 1: devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who
58:05
Speaker 1: probably know so much of Rowcastle's past life that he
58:08
Speaker 1: finds it difficult to part from them. Mister Fowler and
58:12
Speaker 1: Miss Rucastle were married by special license in Southampton the
58:16
Speaker 1: day after their flight, and he is now the holder
58:19
Speaker 1: of a government appointment in the island of Mauritius. As
58:23
Speaker 1: to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather, to my disappointment,
58:28
Speaker 1: manifested no further interest in her, when once she had
58:31
Speaker 1: ceased to be the center of one of his problems.
58:34
Speaker 1: And she is now the head of a private school
58:36
Speaker 1: at Walsall, where I believe that she has met with
58:39
Speaker 1: considerable success. End of the Adventure of the Copper Beaches.
58:47
Speaker 1: This concludes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur
58:51
Speaker 1: Conan Doyle