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50 The Illustrious Client from The Case-Book of Sher · Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: The adventure of the illustrious client. It can't hurt now,
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Speaker 1: was Sherlock Holmes's comment when for the tenth time in
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Speaker 1: as many years I asked his leave to reveal the
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Speaker 1: following narrative. So it was that, at last I obtained
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Speaker 1: permission to put on record what was, in some ways
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Speaker 1: the supreme moment of my friend's career. Both Holmes and
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Speaker 1: I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was
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Speaker 1: over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying
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Speaker 1: room that I have found him less reticent and more
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Speaker 1: human than anywhere else. On the upper floor of the
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Speaker 1: Northumberland Avenue Establishment, there is an isolated corner where two
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Speaker 1: couches lie side by side, and it was on these
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Speaker 1: that we lay upon September third, nineteen hundred and two,
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Speaker 1: the day when my narrative begins. I had asked him
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Speaker 1: whether anything was stirring, and for answer he had shot
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Speaker 1: his long, thin, nervous arm out of the sheets which
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Speaker 1: enveloped him, and had drawn an envelope from the inside
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Speaker 1: pocket of the coat which hung beside him. It may
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Speaker 1: be some fussy, self important fool. It may be a
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Speaker 1: matter of life or death, said he as he handed
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Speaker 1: me the note. I know no more than this message
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Speaker 1: tells me. It was from the Carlton Club and dated
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Speaker 1: the evening before. This is what I read. Sir James
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Speaker 1: Damery presents his compliments to mister Sherlock Holmes and will
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Speaker 1: call upon him at four thirty tomorrow. Sir James begs
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Speaker 1: to say that the matter upon which he desires to
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Speaker 1: consult mister Holmes is very delicate and also very important.
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Speaker 1: He trusts, therefore, that mister Holmes will make every effort
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Speaker 1: to grant this interview, and that he will confirm it
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Speaker 1: over the telephone to the Carlton Club. I need not
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Speaker 1: say that I have confirmed it, Watson, said Holmes, as
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Speaker 1: I returned the paper. Do you know anything of this man,
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Speaker 1: day Marie, only that this man is a household word
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Speaker 1: in society. Well, I can tell you a little more
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Speaker 1: than that. He has rather a reputation for arranging delicate
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Speaker 1: matters which are to be kept out of the papers.
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Speaker 1: You may remember his negotiations with Sir George Lewis over
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Speaker 1: the Hamrford Will case. He is a man of the
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Speaker 1: world with a natural turn for diplomacy. I am bound,
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Speaker 1: therefore to hope that it is not a false scent,
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Speaker 1: and that he has some real need for our assistance.
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Speaker 1: Our well, if you will be so good, Watson, I
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Speaker 1: shall be honored. Then you have the hour four thirty.
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Speaker 1: Until then we can put the matter out of our heads.
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Speaker 1: I was living in my own rooms in Queen Anne
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Speaker 1: Street at the time, but I was round at Baker
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Speaker 1: Street before the time named sharp to the half hour
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Speaker 1: Colonel Sir James Damery was announced. It is hardly necessary
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Speaker 1: to describe him, for many will remember that large, bluff
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Speaker 1: honest personality, that broad, clean shaven face, and above all
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Speaker 1: that pleasant, mellow voice. Frankness shone from his gray Irish eyes,
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Speaker 1: and good humor played round his mobile, smiling lips, his
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Speaker 1: lucent top hat, his dark frock coat. Indeed, every detail
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Speaker 1: from the pearl pin and the black satin cravat to
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Speaker 1: the lavender spats over the varnished shoes spoke of the
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Speaker 1: meticulous care in dress for which he was famous. The big,
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Speaker 1: mass full aristocrat dominated the little room. Of course, I
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Speaker 1: was prepared to find doctor Watson, he remarked, with a
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Speaker 1: courteous bow. His collaboration may be very necessary, for we
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Speaker 1: are dealing on this occasion. Mister Holmes. With a man
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Speaker 1: to whom violence is familiar and who will literally stick
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Speaker 1: at nothing, I should say that there is no more
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Speaker 1: dangerous man in Europe. I have had several opponents to
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Speaker 1: whom that flattering term has been applied, said Holmes, with
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Speaker 1: a smile. Don't you smoke? Then you will excuse me
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Speaker 1: if I liked my pipe. If your man is more
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Speaker 1: dangerous than the late Professor Moriarty, or than the living
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Speaker 1: Colonel Sebastian Moran, then he is indeed worth meeting. May
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Speaker 1: I ask his name? Have you ever heard of Baron Gruener?
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Speaker 1: You mean the Austrian murderer Colonel DAMERI threw up his
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Speaker 1: kid gloved hands with a laugh. There is no getting
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Speaker 1: past you, mister Holmes. Wonderful so you have already sized
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Speaker 1: him up as a murderer. It is my business to
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Speaker 1: follow the details of continental crime. Who could possibly have
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Speaker 1: read what happened at Prague and have any doubts as
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Speaker 1: to the man's guilt. It was a purely technical legal
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Speaker 1: point and the suspicious death of a witness that saved him.
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Speaker 1: I am as sure that he killed his wife when
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Speaker 1: the so called accident happened in the splugen pass as
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Speaker 1: if I had seen him do it. I knew also
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Speaker 1: that he had come to England and had a presentiment
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Speaker 1: that sooner or later he would find me some work
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Speaker 1: to do. Well, what has Baron Gruner been up to?
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Speaker 1: I presume it is not this old tragedy which has
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Speaker 1: come up again. No, it is more serious than that.
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Speaker 1: To revenge crime is important, but to prevent it is
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Speaker 1: more so. It is a terrible thing, mister Holmes, to
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Speaker 1: see a dreadful event, an atrocious situation preparing itself before
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Speaker 1: your eyes, to clearly understand whither it will lead, and
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Speaker 1: yet to be utterly unable to avert it. Can a
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Speaker 1: human being be placed in a more trying position? Perhaps not?
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Speaker 1: Then you will sympathize with the client in whose interests
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Speaker 1: I am acting. I did not understand that you were
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Speaker 1: merely an intermediary. Who is the principle, mister Holmes. I
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Speaker 1: must beg you not to press that question. It is
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Speaker 1: important that I should be able to assure him that
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Speaker 1: his honored name has been in no way dragged into
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Speaker 1: the matter. His motives are to the last degree honorable
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Speaker 1: and chivalrous, But he prefers to remain unknown I need
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Speaker 1: not say that your fees will be assured, and that
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Speaker 1: you will be given a perfectly free hand. Surely the
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Speaker 1: actual name of your client is immaterial. I am sorry,
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Speaker 1: said Holmes. I am accustomed to have mystery at one
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Speaker 1: end of my cases, but to have it at both
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Speaker 1: ends is too confusing. I fear, Sir James, that I
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Speaker 1: must decline to act. Our visitor was greatly disturbed. His large,
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Speaker 1: sensitive face was darkened with emotion and disappointment. You hardly
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Speaker 1: realize the effect of your own action, mister Holmes, said
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Speaker 1: he you place me in a most serious dilemma. For
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Speaker 1: I am perfectly certain that you would be proud to
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Speaker 1: take over the case if I could give you the facts,
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Speaker 1: And yet a promise forbids me from revealing them all.
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Speaker 1: May I at least lay all that I can before
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Speaker 1: you by all means, sir, so long as it is
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Speaker 1: understood that I commit myself to nothing that is understood
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Speaker 1: in the first place. You have no doubt heard of
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Speaker 1: General de Meyerville, de Meyerville of kuiber fame. Yes, I
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Speaker 1: have heard of him. He has a daughter, Violet de Mayreville, young, rich, beautiful, accomplished,
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Speaker 1: a wonder woman in every way. It is this daughter,
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Speaker 1: this lovely, innocent girl, whom we are endeavoring to save
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Speaker 1: from the clutches of a fiend. Baron Gruner has some
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Speaker 1: hold over her. Then, the strongest of all holds where
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Speaker 1: a woman is concerned, the hold of love. The fellow is,
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Speaker 1: as you may have heard, extraordinarily handsome, with a most
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Speaker 1: fascinating manner, a gentle voice, and that air of romance
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Speaker 1: and mystery which means so much to a woman. He
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Speaker 1: is said to have the whole sex at his mercy,
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Speaker 1: and to have made ample use of the fact. But
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Speaker 1: how came such a man to meet a lady of
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Speaker 1: the standing of Misviolet de Merville. It was on a
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Speaker 1: Mediterranean yachting voyage. The company, though select paid their own passages.
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Speaker 1: No doubt, the promoters hardly realized the baron's true character
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Speaker 1: until it was too late. The villain attached himself to
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Speaker 1: the lady, and with such effect that he has completely
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Speaker 1: and absolutely won her heart. To say that she loves
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Speaker 1: him hardly expresses it. She dots upon him. She is
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Speaker 1: obsessed by him. Outside of him. There is nothing on earth.
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Speaker 1: She will not hear one word against him. Everything has
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Speaker 1: been done to cure her of her madness, but in
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Speaker 1: vain to sum up, she proposes to marry him next month.
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Speaker 1: As she is of age and has a will of iron,
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Speaker 1: it is hard to know how to prevent her. Does
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Speaker 1: she know about the Austrian episode. The cunning devil has
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Speaker 1: told her every unsavory public scandal of his past life,
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Speaker 1: but always in such a way as to make himself
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Speaker 1: out to be an innocent martyr. She absolutely accepts his
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Speaker 1: version and will listen to no other. Dear me, but
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Speaker 1: surely you have inadvertently let out the name of your client.
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Speaker 1: It is no doubt General de Merville, our visitor, fidgeted
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Speaker 1: in his chair. I could deceive you by saying so,
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Speaker 1: mister Holmes, but it would not be true. De Maareville
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Speaker 1: is a broken man. The strong soldier has been utterly
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Speaker 1: demoralized by this incident. He has lost the nerve which
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Speaker 1: never failed him on the battlefield, and has become a weak,
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Speaker 1: doddering old man, utterly incapable of contending with a brilliant,
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Speaker 1: forceful rascal like this Austrian. My client, however, is an
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Speaker 1: old friend, one who has known the general intimately for
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Speaker 1: many years, and taken a paternal interest in this young girl,
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Speaker 1: since she wore short frocks. He cannot see this tragedy
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Speaker 1: consummated without some attempt to stop it. There is nothing
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Speaker 1: in which Scotland Yard can act. It was his own
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Speaker 1: suggestion that you should be called in, but it was,
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Speaker 1: as I have said, on the express stipulation that he
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Speaker 1: should not be personally involved in the matter. I have
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Speaker 1: no doubt, mister Holmes, with your great powers, you could
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Speaker 1: easily trace my client back through me, but I must
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Speaker 1: ask you, as a point of honor, to refrain from
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Speaker 1: doing so, and not to break in. Upon his incognito,
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Speaker 1: Holmes gave a whimsical smile. I think I may safely
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Speaker 1: promise that said he, I may add that your problem
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Speaker 1: interests me and that I shall be prepared to look
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Speaker 1: into it. How shall I keep in touch with you?
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Speaker 1: The Carlton Club will find me, but in case of
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Speaker 1: emergency there is a private telephone call XX three to one.
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Speaker 1: Holmes noted it down and sat still smiling, with the
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Speaker 1: open memorandum book upon his knee. The Baron's present address
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Speaker 1: please Vernon Lodge, near Kingston. It is a large house.
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Speaker 1: He has been fortunate in some rather shady speculations, and
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Speaker 1: is a rich man, which naturally makes him a more
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Speaker 1: dangerous antagonist. Is he at home at present? Yes, Apart
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Speaker 1: from what you have told me, can you give me
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Speaker 1: any further information about the man? He has expensive tastes.
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Speaker 1: He is a horse founcier. For a short time he
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Speaker 1: played polo at Hurlingham, but then this Prague affair got
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Speaker 1: noised about and he had to leave. He collects books
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Speaker 1: and pictures. He is a man with a considerable artistic
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Speaker 1: side to his nature. He is I believe, a recognized
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Speaker 1: authority upon Chinese pottery, and has written a book upon
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Speaker 1: the subject. A complex mind, said Holmes. All great criminals
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Speaker 1: have that. My old friend Charlie Pease was a violin virtuoso.
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Speaker 1: Wainwright was no mean artist. I could quote many more. Well,
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Speaker 1: Sir James, you will inform your client that I am
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Speaker 1: turning my mind upon Baron Gruner. I can say no more.
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Speaker 1: I have some sources of information of my own, and
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Speaker 1: I dare say we may find some means of opening
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Speaker 1: the matter up. When our visitor had left us, Holmes
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Speaker 1: sat so long in deep thought that it seemed to
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Speaker 1: me that he had forgotten my presence at last. However,
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Speaker 1: he came briskly back to earth Well Watson any views,
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Speaker 1: he asked, I should think you had better see the
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Speaker 1: young lady herself, my dear Watson. If a poor old
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Speaker 1: broken father cannot move her, how shall I a stranger prevail?
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Speaker 1: And yet there is something in the suggestion if all
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Speaker 1: else fails. But I think we must begin from a
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Speaker 1: different angle. I rather fancy that Shinwell Johnson might be
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Speaker 1: a help. I have not had occasion to mention Shinwell
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Speaker 1: Johnson in these memoirs because I have seldom drawn my
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Speaker 1: cases from the latter phases of my friend's career. During
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Speaker 1: the first years of the century he became a valuable assistant. Johnson,
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Speaker 1: I grieved to say, made his name first as a
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Speaker 1: very dangerous villain, and served two terms at Parkhurst. Finally
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Speaker 1: he repented and allied himself to Holmes, acting as his
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Speaker 1: agent in the huge criminal underworld of London and obtaining
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Speaker 1: information which often proved to be of vital importance. Had
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Speaker 1: Johnson been a knark of the police, he would soon
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Speaker 1: have been exposed. But as he dealt with cases which
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Speaker 1: never came down directly into the courts, his activities were
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Speaker 1: never realized by his companions. With the glamour of his
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Speaker 1: two convictions upon him, he had the entree of every nightclub,
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Speaker 1: doss house and gambling den in the town, and his
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Speaker 1: quick observation and active brain made him an ideal agent
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Speaker 1: for gaining information. It was to him that Sherlock Holmes
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Speaker 1: now proposed to turn. It was not possible for me
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Speaker 1: to follow the immediate steps taken by my friend, for
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Speaker 1: I had some pressing professional business of my own. But
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Speaker 1: I met him by appointment that evening at Simpson's, where
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Speaker 1: sitting at a small table in the front window, and
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Speaker 1: looking down at the rushing stream of life in the strand,
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Speaker 1: he told me something of what had passed. Johnson is
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Speaker 1: on the prowl, said he. He may pick up some
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Speaker 1: garbage in the darker recesses of the underworld. For it
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Speaker 1: is down there, amid the black rooms of crime, that
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Speaker 1: we must hunt for this man's secrets. But if the
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Speaker 1: lady will not accept what is already known, why should
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Speaker 1: any fresh discovery of yours turn her from her purpose?
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Speaker 1: Who knows, watson Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles
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Speaker 1: to the male? Murder might be condoned or explained, and
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Speaker 1: yet some smaller offense might rankle. Baron Gruener remarked to me.
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Speaker 1: He remarked to you, Oh, to be sure I had
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Speaker 1: not told you of my plans. Well, Watson, I love
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Speaker 1: to come to close grips with my man. I like
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Speaker 1: to meet him, I to eye and read for myself
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Speaker 1: the stuff that he is made of. When I had
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Speaker 1: given Johnson his instructions, I took a cab out to
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Speaker 1: Kingston and found a baron in a most affable mood.
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Speaker 1: Did he recognize you? There was no difficulty about that,
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Speaker 1: for I simply sent in my card. He is an
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Speaker 1: excellent antagonist, cool as ice, silky voiced and soothing as
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Speaker 1: one of your fashionable consultants, and poisonous as a cobra.
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Speaker 1: He has breeding in him, a real aristocrat of crime,
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Speaker 1: with a superficial suggestion of afternoon tea and all the
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Speaker 1: cruelty of the grave behind it. Yes, I am glad
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Speaker 1: to have had my attention called to Baron Adelbert Gruner.
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Speaker 1: You say he was affable, a purring cat who thinks
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Speaker 1: he sees prospective mice. Some people's affability is more deadly
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Speaker 1: than the violence of coarser souls. His greeting was characteristic.
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Speaker 1: I rather thought I should see you sooner or later.
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Speaker 1: Mister Holmes said he, you have been engaged, no doubt
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Speaker 1: by General de Merville, to endeavor to stop my marriage
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Speaker 1: with his daughter Violet. That is so, is it not?
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Speaker 1: I acquiesced? My dear man, said he. You will only
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Speaker 1: ruin your own well deserved reputation. It is not a
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Speaker 1: case in which you can possibly succeed. You will have
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Speaker 1: barn work, to say nothing of incurring some danger. Let
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Speaker 1: me very strongly advise you to draw off at once.
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Speaker 1: It is curious, I answered, but that was the very
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Speaker 1: advice which I had intended to give you. I have
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Speaker 1: a respect for your brains, Baron, and the little which
18:47
Speaker 1: I have seen of your personality has not lessened it.
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Speaker 1: Let me put it to you, as man to man.
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Speaker 1: No one wants to break up your past and make
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Speaker 1: you unduly uncomfortable. It is over and you are now
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Speaker 1: in smooth waters. But if you persist in this marriage,
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Speaker 1: you will raise up a swarm of powerful enemies who
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Speaker 1: will never leave you alone until they have made England
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Speaker 1: too hot to hold you. Is the game worth it?
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Speaker 1: Surely you would be wiser if you left the lady alone.
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Speaker 1: It would not be pleasant for you if these facts
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Speaker 1: of your past were brought to her. Notice. The baron
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Speaker 1: has little waxed tips of hair under his nose, like
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Speaker 1: the short antennae of an insect. These quivered with amusement
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Speaker 1: as he listened, and he finally broke into a gentle chuckle.
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Speaker 1: Excuse my amusement, mister Holmes, said he, but it is
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Speaker 1: really funny to see you trying to play a hand
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Speaker 1: with no cards in it. I don't think any one
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Speaker 1: could do it better, but it is rather pathetic all
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Speaker 1: the same. Not a color card there, mister Holmes, nothing
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Speaker 1: but the smallest of the small so you think so,
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Speaker 1: I know. Let me make the thing clear to you,
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Speaker 1: for my own hand is so strong that I can
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Speaker 1: afford to show it. I have been fortunate enough to
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Speaker 1: win the entire affection of this lady. This was given
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Speaker 1: to me in spite of the fact that I told
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Speaker 1: her very clearly of all the unhappy incidents in my
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Speaker 1: past life. I also told her that certain wicked and
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Speaker 1: designing persons I hope you recognize yourself, would come to
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Speaker 1: her and tell her these things. And I warned her
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Speaker 1: how to treat them. You have heard of post hypnotic suggestion,
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Speaker 1: mister Holmes, well you will see how it works, for
20:53
Speaker 1: a man of personality can use hypnotism without any vulgar
20:58
Speaker 1: passes orlery. So she is ready for you, and I
21:05
Speaker 1: have no doubt would give you an appointment, for she
21:08
Speaker 1: is quite amenable to her father's will to save. Only
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Speaker 1: in the one little matter, will Watson. There seemed to
21:17
Speaker 1: be no more to say, so I took my leave
21:19
Speaker 1: with as much cold dignity as I could summon. But
21:24
Speaker 1: as I had my hand on the door handle, he
21:27
Speaker 1: stopped me by the way. Mister Holmes said he did
21:32
Speaker 1: you know Le Brune, the French agent? Yes, said I
21:37
Speaker 1: do you know what befell him? I heard that he
21:42
Speaker 1: was beaten by some apaches in the Montmartre district and
21:47
Speaker 1: crippled for life. Quite true, mister Holmes. By a curious coincidence,
21:53
Speaker 1: he had been inquiring into my affairs only a week before.
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Speaker 1: Don't do it, mister Holmes, It's not a lucky thing
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Speaker 1: to do. Several have found that out. My last word
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Speaker 1: to you is go your own way and let me
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Speaker 1: go mine. Goodbye. So there you are, Watson, You are
22:17
Speaker 1: up to date. Now the fellow seems dangerous, mighty dangerous.
22:22
Speaker 1: I disregard the blusterer, but this is the sort of
22:26
Speaker 1: man who says rather less than he means. Must you interfere?
22:30
Speaker 1: Does it really matter if he marries the girl? Considering
22:34
Speaker 1: that he undoubtedly murdered his last wife? I should say
22:37
Speaker 1: it mattered very much. Besides the client, well, well, we
22:42
Speaker 1: need not discuss that. When you have finished your coffee,
22:46
Speaker 1: you had best come home with me, for the blithe
22:49
Speaker 1: Shinwell will be there with his report. We found him,
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Speaker 1: sure enough, a huge, coarse, red faced, scorbutic man, with
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Speaker 1: a pair of vivid black eyes, which were the only
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Speaker 1: external sign of the very cunning mind within. It seems
23:06
Speaker 1: that he had dived down into what was peculiarly his kingdom,
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Speaker 1: And beside him on the settee was a brand which
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Speaker 1: he had brought up, in the shape of a slim,
23:18
Speaker 1: flamelike young woman with a pale, intense face, youthful and
23:23
Speaker 1: yet so worn with sin and sorrow that one read
23:27
Speaker 1: the terrible years which had left their leprous mark upon her.
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Speaker 1: This is miss Kitty Winter, said Shinwell Johnson, waving his
23:37
Speaker 1: fat hand as an introduction, or she don't know. Well,
23:40
Speaker 1: now she'll speak for herself. Put my aunt right on
23:43
Speaker 1: a mister Olmes. Within an hour of your message, I'm
23:46
Speaker 1: easy to find, said the young woman Hell London. Guess
23:51
Speaker 1: me every time. Same addressed for Porky Shinwell, we're old mates, Porky,
23:56
Speaker 1: you and I. But by cripes, there is another who
23:58
Speaker 1: ought to be down in a lower hell than we
24:01
Speaker 1: if there was any justice in the world. That is
24:03
Speaker 1: the man you are after, mister Elmes. Holmes smiled. I
24:07
Speaker 1: gather we have your good wishes, Miss Winter. If I
24:10
Speaker 1: can help to put him where he belongs, I'm yours
24:13
Speaker 1: to the rattle, said our visitor, with fierce energy. There
24:17
Speaker 1: was an intensity of hatred in her white set face
24:21
Speaker 1: and her blazing eyes, such as woman seldom and man
24:25
Speaker 1: never can attain. You needn't go into my past, mister Elmes.
24:29
Speaker 1: That's neither I nor there. But what I am. Adelbert
24:34
Speaker 1: Gruner made me if I could pull him down. She
24:38
Speaker 1: clutched frantically with her hands into the air. Oh, if
24:42
Speaker 1: I could only pull him into the pit where he
24:45
Speaker 1: has pushed so many You know how the matter stands,
24:49
Speaker 1: Poor Ki Shinwell, has been telling me he's after some
24:52
Speaker 1: other poor fool and wants to marry her this time.
24:55
Speaker 1: You want to stop it, Well, surely you know enough
24:59
Speaker 1: about this devil to prevent any decent girl in her
25:02
Speaker 1: senses wanting to be in the same parish with him.
25:05
Speaker 1: She is not in her senses. She is madly in love.
25:08
Speaker 1: She has been told all about him. She cares nothing
25:12
Speaker 1: told about the murder. Yes, my lord, she must have
25:15
Speaker 1: a nerve. She puts them all down as slanders. Couldn't
25:19
Speaker 1: you lay proofs before her silly eyes? Well? Can you
25:22
Speaker 1: help us do so? Ain't I approved myself? If I
25:25
Speaker 1: stood before her and told her how he used me?
25:28
Speaker 1: Would you do this? Would I? Would? I? Not? Well,
25:32
Speaker 1: it might be worth trying. But he has told her
25:36
Speaker 1: most of his sins and had pardon from her, and
25:39
Speaker 1: I understand she will not reopen the question. I'll lay
25:43
Speaker 1: He didn't tell her all, said, Miss Winter. I caught
25:46
Speaker 1: a glimpse of one or two murders besides the one
25:49
Speaker 1: that made such a fuss. He would speak of some
25:52
Speaker 1: one in his velvet way, and then look at me
25:55
Speaker 1: with a steady eye and say he died within a month.
25:59
Speaker 1: It wasn't either, but I took little notice. You see,
26:03
Speaker 1: I loved him myself at that time. Whatever he did
26:06
Speaker 1: went with me, same as with this poor fool. There
26:09
Speaker 1: was just one thing that shook me. Yes, by cripes,
26:13
Speaker 1: if it had not been for his poisonous lying tongue
26:16
Speaker 1: that explains and soothes, I'd have left him that very night.
26:21
Speaker 1: It's a book. He has a brown leather book with
26:25
Speaker 1: a lock and his arms in gold on the outside.
26:29
Speaker 1: I think he was a bit drunk that night, or
26:31
Speaker 1: he would not have shown it to me. What was it? Then?
26:35
Speaker 1: I tell you, mister Olmes, this man collects women and
26:39
Speaker 1: takes a pride in his collection, as some men collect
26:43
Speaker 1: moss or butterflies. He had it all in that book, snapshot, photographs, names, details,
26:52
Speaker 1: everything about them. There was a beastly book, a book
26:56
Speaker 1: no man, even if he had come from the gutter,
26:59
Speaker 1: could have put together. But it was Adelbert Groooner's book
27:03
Speaker 1: all the same souls. I have ruined he could have
27:09
Speaker 1: put that on the outside if he had been so minded. However,
27:13
Speaker 1: that's neither in or there. For the book would not
27:15
Speaker 1: serve you, And if it would, you can't get it.
27:18
Speaker 1: Where is it? How can I tell you where it
27:21
Speaker 1: is now. It's more than a year since I left him.
27:24
Speaker 1: I know where he kept it. Then he's a precise,
27:27
Speaker 1: tidy cat of a man in many of his ways.
27:31
Speaker 1: So maybe it is still in the piginole of the
27:33
Speaker 1: old bureau in the inner study. Do you know he's out?
27:37
Speaker 1: I've been in the study, said Holmes. Have you though,
27:40
Speaker 1: you haven't been slow on the job. If you only
27:43
Speaker 1: started out this morning, Maybe dear Adelbert has met his
27:48
Speaker 1: match this time. The outer study is the one with
27:52
Speaker 1: the Chinese crockery in it, big glass cupboard between the windows.
27:57
Speaker 1: Then behind his desk is the door that leads to
28:00
Speaker 1: the inner study, a small room where he keeps papers
28:04
Speaker 1: and things. Is he not afraid of burglars? Adelbert is
28:08
Speaker 1: now coward? His worst enemy couldn't say that of him.
28:12
Speaker 1: He can look after himself. There's a burglar alarm at night. Besides,
28:17
Speaker 1: what is there for a burglar? Unless they got away
28:19
Speaker 1: with all this fancy crockery, No good, said Shinwell Johnson,
28:24
Speaker 1: with the decided voice of the expert. Now Fens wants
28:27
Speaker 1: stuff of that sort that you can neither melt nor sell.
28:31
Speaker 1: Quite so, said Holmes. Well, now, miss winter. If you
28:35
Speaker 1: would call here tomorrow evening at five, I would consider
28:39
Speaker 1: in the meanwhile whether your suggestion of seeing this lady
28:42
Speaker 1: personally may not be arranged. I am exceedingly obliged to
28:46
Speaker 1: you for your co operation. I need not say that
28:49
Speaker 1: my clients will consider liberally. None of that. Mister Arms,
28:53
Speaker 1: cried the young woman. I'm not out for money. Let
28:56
Speaker 1: me see this man in the mud, and I've got
28:59
Speaker 1: all I've worked for in the mud. With my foot
29:03
Speaker 1: on his cursed face, that's my price. I'm with you
29:07
Speaker 1: tomorrow or any other day, so long as you are
29:10
Speaker 1: on his track. Poorky ear can tell you always where
29:14
Speaker 1: to find me. I did not see Holmes again until
29:18
Speaker 1: the following evening, when we dined once more at our
29:21
Speaker 1: Strand restaurant. He shrugged his shoulders when I asked him
29:26
Speaker 1: what luck he had had in his interview. Then he
29:30
Speaker 1: told the story, which I would repeat in this way.
29:34
Speaker 1: His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften
29:40
Speaker 1: it into the terms of real life. There was no
29:44
Speaker 1: difficulty at all about the appointment, said Holmes, for the
29:47
Speaker 1: girl glories in showing abject filial obedience in all secondary
29:52
Speaker 1: things in an attempt to atone for her flagrant breach
29:56
Speaker 1: of it in her engagement. The General phoned that all
30:01
Speaker 1: was ready, and the fiery miss w turned up according
30:05
Speaker 1: to schedule, so that at half past five a cab
30:09
Speaker 1: deposited us outside one hundred and four Berkley Square, where
30:14
Speaker 1: the old Soldier resides, one of those awful gray London
30:18
Speaker 1: castles which would make a church seem frivolous. A footman
30:24
Speaker 1: showed us into a great yellow curtained drawing room, and
30:27
Speaker 1: there was the lady awaiting us, demure pale, self contained,
30:33
Speaker 1: as inflexible and remote as a snow image on a mountain.
30:39
Speaker 1: I don't quite know how to make her clear to you, Watson.
30:42
Speaker 1: Perhaps you may meet her before we are through, and
30:45
Speaker 1: you can use your own gift of words. She is beautiful,
30:50
Speaker 1: but with the ethereal other world beauty of some fanatic
30:55
Speaker 1: whose thoughts are set on high. I have seen such
30:59
Speaker 1: face in the pictures of the old masters of the
31:02
Speaker 1: Middle Ages. How a beast man could have laid his
31:06
Speaker 1: vile pause upon such a being of the beyond, I
31:10
Speaker 1: cannot imagine. You may have noticed how extremes call to
31:14
Speaker 1: each other, the spiritual to the animal. The caveman to
31:18
Speaker 1: the angel, you never saw a worse case than this.
31:24
Speaker 1: She knew what we had come for. Of course, that
31:28
Speaker 1: villain had lost no time in poisoning her mind against us.
31:32
Speaker 1: Miss Winter's advent rather amazed her, I think, But she
31:37
Speaker 1: waved us into our respective chairs like a reverend abbess
31:41
Speaker 1: receiving two rather leprous mendicants. If your head is inclined
31:46
Speaker 1: to swell, my dear Watson, take a course of Misviolet
31:51
Speaker 1: de Meyerville, Well, sir, said she, in a voice like
31:56
Speaker 1: the wind from an iceberg. Your name is familiar to me.
32:02
Speaker 1: You have called, as I understand, to malign my fiancee,
32:07
Speaker 1: Baron Gruener. It is only by my father's request that
32:11
Speaker 1: I see you at all, and I warn you in
32:13
Speaker 1: advance that anything you can say could not possibly have
32:16
Speaker 1: the slightest effect upon my mind. I was sorry for her, Watson.
32:22
Speaker 1: I thought of her for the moment as I would
32:25
Speaker 1: have thought of a daughter of my own. I am
32:29
Speaker 1: not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart,
32:34
Speaker 1: but I really did plead with her with all the
32:38
Speaker 1: warmth of words that I could find in my nature.
32:42
Speaker 1: I pictured to her the awful position of the woman
32:46
Speaker 1: who only wakes to a man's character after she is
32:49
Speaker 1: his wife, a woman who has to submit to be
32:53
Speaker 1: caressed by bloody hands and lecherous lips. I spared her
33:00
Speaker 1: the shame, the fear, the agony, the hopelessness of it all.
33:05
Speaker 1: All my hot words could not bring one tinge of
33:09
Speaker 1: color to those ivory cheeks, or one gleam of emotion
33:13
Speaker 1: to those abstracted eyes. I thought of what the Rascal
33:18
Speaker 1: had said about a post hypnotic influence. One could really
33:22
Speaker 1: believe that she was living above the earth in some
33:25
Speaker 1: ecstatic dream. Yet there was nothing indefinite in her replies.
33:32
Speaker 1: I have listened to you with patience, mister Holmes, said she.
33:38
Speaker 1: The effect upon my mind is exactly as predicted. I
33:44
Speaker 1: am aware that Adelbert, that my fiancee has had a
33:48
Speaker 1: stormy life in which he has incurred bitter hatreds and
33:53
Speaker 1: most unjust aspersions. You are only the last of a
33:58
Speaker 1: series who have brought their slanders before me. Possibly you
34:04
Speaker 1: mean well, though I learned that you are a paid
34:07
Speaker 1: agent who would have been equally willing to act for
34:10
Speaker 1: the Baron as against him. But in any case, I
34:15
Speaker 1: wish you to understand once for all that I love him,
34:17
Speaker 1: and that he loves me, and that the opinion of
34:20
Speaker 1: all the world is no more to me than the
34:22
Speaker 1: twitter of those birds outside the window. If his noble
34:27
Speaker 1: nature has ever for an instant fallen, it may be
34:31
Speaker 1: that I have been specially sent to raise it to
34:35
Speaker 1: its true and lofty level. I am not clear here.
34:42
Speaker 1: She turned her eyes upon my companion. Who this young
34:45
Speaker 1: lady may be? I was about to answer, when the
34:48
Speaker 1: girl broke in like a whirlwind. If ever you saw
34:52
Speaker 1: flame and ice face to face, it was those two women.
34:58
Speaker 1: I'll tell you who I am, she cried, springing out
35:01
Speaker 1: of her chair, her mouth all twisted with passion. I
35:05
Speaker 1: am his last mistress. I am one of a hundred
35:08
Speaker 1: that he has tempted and used and ruined and thrown
35:12
Speaker 1: into the refuse heap as he will you. Also, your
35:17
Speaker 1: refuse heap is more likely to be a grave. And
35:21
Speaker 1: maybe that's the best. I tell you, you, foolish woman,
35:25
Speaker 1: if you marry this man, he'll be the death of you.
35:29
Speaker 1: It may be a broken heart, or it may be
35:31
Speaker 1: a broken neck, but he'll have you one way or
35:34
Speaker 1: the other. It's not out of love for you. I'm speaking.
35:39
Speaker 1: I don't care a Tinker's curse. Whether you live or die,
35:42
Speaker 1: it's out of hate for him and to spite him,
35:45
Speaker 1: and to get back on him for what he did
35:47
Speaker 1: to me. But it's all the same. And you needn't
35:50
Speaker 1: look at me like that, my fine lady, for you
35:54
Speaker 1: may be lower than I am before you are through
35:57
Speaker 1: with it. I should prefer not to discuss such matters,
36:01
Speaker 1: said mister Merville coldly. Let me say once for all
36:06
Speaker 1: that I am aware of three passages in my fiance's
36:11
Speaker 1: life in which he became entangled with designing women, and
36:15
Speaker 1: that I am assured of his hearty repentance for any
36:19
Speaker 1: evil that he may have done. Three passages, screamed my companion,
36:24
Speaker 1: You fool, you unutterable fool, mister Holmes. I beg that
36:30
Speaker 1: you will bring this interview to an end, said the
36:33
Speaker 1: icy voice. I have obeyed my father's wish in seeing you,
36:38
Speaker 1: but I am not compelled to listen to the ravings
36:41
Speaker 1: of this person. With an oath. Miss Winter darted forward,
36:46
Speaker 1: and if I had not caught her wrist, she would
36:49
Speaker 1: have clutched this maddening woman by the hair. I dragged
36:53
Speaker 1: her towards the door and was lucky to get her
36:56
Speaker 1: back into the cab without a public scene, for she
37:00
Speaker 1: was beside herself with rage in a cold way. I
37:04
Speaker 1: felt pretty furious myself, Watson, for there was something indescribably
37:10
Speaker 1: annoying in the calm aloofness and supreme self complaisance of
37:15
Speaker 1: the woman whom we were trying to save. So now
37:19
Speaker 1: once again you know exactly how we stand, and it
37:23
Speaker 1: is clear that I must plan some fresh opening move
37:27
Speaker 1: for this gambit won't work. I'll keep in touch with you, Watson,
37:31
Speaker 1: for it is more than likely that you will have
37:34
Speaker 1: your part to play. Though it is just possible that
37:38
Speaker 1: the next move may lie with them rather than with us.
37:43
Speaker 1: And it did their blow fell, or his blow rather,
37:48
Speaker 1: for never could I believe that the lady was privy
37:51
Speaker 1: to it. I think I could show you the very
37:54
Speaker 1: paving stone upon which I stood when my eyes fell
37:58
Speaker 1: upon the placard and a pang of horror passed through
38:02
Speaker 1: my very soul. It was between the Grand Hotel and
38:06
Speaker 1: Charing Cross Station, where a one legged newsvendor displayed his
38:10
Speaker 1: evening papers. The date was just two days after the
38:14
Speaker 1: last conversation. There, Black upon Yellow was the terrible news
38:20
Speaker 1: sheet murderous attack on Sherlock Holmes. I think I stood
38:25
Speaker 1: stunned for some moments. Then I have confused recollection, of
38:30
Speaker 1: snatching at a paper, of the remonstrance of the man
38:33
Speaker 1: whom I had not paid, and finally of standing in
38:36
Speaker 1: the doorway of a chemist's shop while I turned up
38:40
Speaker 1: the fateful paragraph. This was how it ran. We learn
38:44
Speaker 1: with regret that mister Sherlock Holmes, the well known private detective,
38:49
Speaker 1: was the victim this morning of a murderous assault which
38:52
Speaker 1: has left him in a precarious position. There are no
38:56
Speaker 1: exact details to hand, but the event seems to have
39:00
Speaker 1: heard about twelve o'clock in Regent Street, outside the Cafe Royal.
39:05
Speaker 1: The attack was made by two men armed with sticks,
39:09
Speaker 1: and mister Holmes was beaten about the head and body,
39:12
Speaker 1: receiving injuries which the doctors describe as most serious. He
39:17
Speaker 1: was carried to Charing Cross Hospital and afterwards insisted upon
39:21
Speaker 1: being taken to his rooms in Baker Street. The miscreants
39:25
Speaker 1: who attacked him appear to have been respectably dressed men
39:29
Speaker 1: who escaped from the bystanders by passing through the Cafe
39:32
Speaker 1: Royal and out into Glasshouse Street behind it. No doubt
39:37
Speaker 1: they belonged to that criminal fraternity which has so often
39:41
Speaker 1: had occasion to bewail the activity and ingenuity of the
39:45
Speaker 1: injured man. I need not say that my eyes had
39:49
Speaker 1: hardly glanced over the paragraph before I had sprung into
39:53
Speaker 1: a hansom and was on my way to Baker Street.
39:56
Speaker 1: I found Sir Leslie Oakshot, the famous surgeon, in the hall,
40:01
Speaker 1: and his broom waiting at the curb. No immediate danger
40:06
Speaker 1: was his report. Two lacerated scalp wounds, handsome considerable bruises.
40:11
Speaker 1: Several stitches have been necessary, morphine has been injected, and
40:16
Speaker 1: quiet is essential. But an interview of a few minutes
40:19
Speaker 1: would not be absolutely forbidden. With this permission, I stole
40:25
Speaker 1: into the darkened room. The sufferer was wide awake, and
40:30
Speaker 1: I heard my name in a hoarse whisper. The blind
40:34
Speaker 1: was three quarters down, but one ray of sunlight slanted
40:38
Speaker 1: through and struck the bandaged head of the injured man.
40:43
Speaker 1: A crimson patch had soaked through the white linen compress.
40:48
Speaker 1: I sat beside him and bent my head. All right, Watson,
40:52
Speaker 1: don't look so scared, he muttered, in a very weak voice.
40:57
Speaker 1: It's not as bad as it seems. Thank God for
41:01
Speaker 1: that I'm a bit of a single stick expert, as
41:04
Speaker 1: you know. I took most of them on my guard.
41:08
Speaker 1: It was the second man that was too much for me.
41:12
Speaker 1: What can I do? Holmes? Of course it was that
41:15
Speaker 1: damned fellow who set them on. I'll go and thrash
41:19
Speaker 1: the hide off him if you give the word, good
41:21
Speaker 1: old Watson, No, we can do nothing there unless the
41:26
Speaker 1: police lay their hands on the men. But their getaway
41:30
Speaker 1: had been well prepared. We may be sure of that.
41:34
Speaker 1: Wait a little. I have my plans. The first thing
41:38
Speaker 1: is to exaggerate my injuries. They'll come to you and
41:43
Speaker 1: use put it on thick Watson. Luckily if I live
41:47
Speaker 1: the week out a concussion delirium, what you like? You
41:52
Speaker 1: can't overdo it. But sir Leslie Oakshot, Oh he's all right.
41:57
Speaker 1: He shall see the worst side of me. I'll look
41:59
Speaker 1: up that. Anything else, Yes, tell Shinwell Johnson to get
42:05
Speaker 1: that girl out of the way. Those beauties will be
42:08
Speaker 1: after her now. They know, of course, that she was
42:12
Speaker 1: with me in the case if they dared to do
42:15
Speaker 1: me in, it is not likely they will neglect her.
42:19
Speaker 1: That is urgent. Do it tonight. I'll go now. Anything more,
42:26
Speaker 1: put my pipe on the table, and the tobacco slipper right.
42:32
Speaker 1: Come in each morning and we will plan our campaign.
42:37
Speaker 1: I arranged with Johnson that evening to take Miss Winter
42:41
Speaker 1: to a quiet suburb and see that she lay low
42:45
Speaker 1: until the danger was past. For six days the public
42:49
Speaker 1: were under the impression that Holmes was at the door
42:52
Speaker 1: of death. The bulletins were very grave, and there were
42:56
Speaker 1: sinister paragraphs in the papers. Continual visits assured me that
43:02
Speaker 1: it was not so bad, as that his wiry constitution
43:07
Speaker 1: and his determined will were working wonders. He was recovering fast,
43:12
Speaker 1: and I had suspicions at times that he was really
43:15
Speaker 1: finding himself faster than he pretended, even to me. There
43:20
Speaker 1: was a curious, secretive streak in the man, which led
43:24
Speaker 1: to many dramatic effects, but left even his closest friend
43:28
Speaker 1: guessing as to what his exact plans might be. He
43:33
Speaker 1: pushed to an extreme the axiom that the only safe
43:37
Speaker 1: plotter was he who plotted alone. I was nearer him
43:41
Speaker 1: than anyone else, and yet I was always conscious of
43:45
Speaker 1: the gap between. On the seventh day, the stitches were
43:50
Speaker 1: taken out, in spite of which there was a report
43:54
Speaker 1: of Erysipolis in the evening papers. The same evening papers
43:59
Speaker 1: had an announcement which I was bound, sick or well
44:04
Speaker 1: to carry to my friend. It was simply that among
44:08
Speaker 1: the passengers on the Cunard boat Ruritania, starting from Liverpool
44:13
Speaker 1: on Friday, was the Baron Adelbert Gruner, who had some
44:17
Speaker 1: important financial business to settle in the States before his
44:21
Speaker 1: impending wedding to Miss Violet de Merville, only daughter of
44:26
Speaker 1: et Cetera et Cetera. Holmes listened to the news with
44:31
Speaker 1: a cold, concentrated look upon his pale face, which told
44:35
Speaker 1: me that it hit him hard. Friday. He cried only
44:40
Speaker 1: three clear days. I believe the rascal wants to put
44:44
Speaker 1: himself out of danger's way, but he won't Watson, by
44:47
Speaker 1: the Lord Harry, he won't. Now, Watson, I want you
44:51
Speaker 1: to do something for me. I am here to be used.
44:54
Speaker 1: Holmes well then spend the next twenty four hours in
44:58
Speaker 1: an intensive study of Chinese pottery. He gave no explanations,
45:04
Speaker 1: and I asked for none. By long experience, I had
45:08
Speaker 1: learned the wisdom of obedience. But when I had left
45:11
Speaker 1: his room, I walked down Baker Street, revolving in my head,
45:16
Speaker 1: how on earth I was to carry out so strange
45:18
Speaker 1: an order. Finally I drove to the London Library in
45:22
Speaker 1: Saint James's Square, put the matter to my friend Lomax,
45:26
Speaker 1: the sub librarian, and departed to my rooms with a
45:30
Speaker 1: goodly volume under my arm. It is said that the
45:34
Speaker 1: barrister who crams up a case with such care that
45:37
Speaker 1: he can examine an expert witness upon the Monday, has
45:41
Speaker 1: forgotten all his forced knowledge before the Saturday. Certainly I
45:45
Speaker 1: should not like now to pose as an authority upon ceramics.
45:50
Speaker 1: And yet all that evening and all that night, with
45:53
Speaker 1: a short interval for rest, and all next morning, I
45:57
Speaker 1: was sucking in knowledge and committing names to memory. There
46:01
Speaker 1: I learned of the hallmarks of the great artist decorators,
46:05
Speaker 1: of the mystery of cyclical dates, the marks of the
46:09
Speaker 1: hung Wu, and the beauties of yung Lo, the writings
46:12
Speaker 1: of tang Ying, and the glories of the primitive period
46:16
Speaker 1: of the Sung and the Yuan. I was charged with
46:20
Speaker 1: all this information. When I called upon Holmes next evening,
46:25
Speaker 1: he was out of bed now, though you would not
46:27
Speaker 1: have guessed it from the published reports, and he sat
46:31
Speaker 1: with his much bandaged head resting upon his hand in
46:35
Speaker 1: the depth of his favorite armchair. Why, Holmes, I said,
46:39
Speaker 1: if one believed the papers, you are dying, that said,
46:43
Speaker 1: he is the very impression which I intended to convey.
46:47
Speaker 1: And now, Watson, have you learned your lessons? At least
46:51
Speaker 1: I have tried to good. You could keep up an
46:55
Speaker 1: intelligent conversation on the subject. I believe I could. Then
47:00
Speaker 1: me that little box from the mantelpiece. He opened the
47:03
Speaker 1: lid and took out a small object, most carefully wrapped
47:07
Speaker 1: in some fine Eastern silk. This he unfolded and disclosed
47:12
Speaker 1: a delicate little saucer of the most beautiful deep blue color.
47:18
Speaker 1: It needs careful handling, Watson. This is the real eggshell
47:23
Speaker 1: pottery of the Ming dynasty. No finer piece ever passed
47:27
Speaker 1: through Christie's. A complete set of this would be worth
47:30
Speaker 1: a king's ransom. In fact, it is doubtful if there
47:34
Speaker 1: is a complete set outside the Imperial Palace of Peking.
47:39
Speaker 1: The site of this would drive a real connoisseur wild.
47:45
Speaker 1: What am I to do with it? Holmes handed me
47:48
Speaker 1: a card upon which was printed doctor Hill Barton three
47:53
Speaker 1: six nine Half Moon Street. That is your name for
47:57
Speaker 1: the evening, Watson, you will call upon Baron Gruner. I
48:02
Speaker 1: know something of his habits, and at half past eight
48:05
Speaker 1: he would probably be disengaged. A note will tell him
48:10
Speaker 1: in advance that you are about to call, and you
48:13
Speaker 1: will say that you are bringing him a specimen of
48:15
Speaker 1: an absolutely unique set of ming china. You may as
48:20
Speaker 1: well be a medical man, since that is a part
48:23
Speaker 1: which you can play without duplicity. You are a collector.
48:27
Speaker 1: This set has come your way. You have heard of
48:30
Speaker 1: the Baron's interest in the subject, and you are not
48:33
Speaker 1: a verse to selling at a price. What price, well,
48:37
Speaker 1: asked Watson. You would certainly fall down badly if you
48:41
Speaker 1: did not know the value of your own wares. This
48:43
Speaker 1: saucer was got for me by Sir James, and comes
48:48
Speaker 1: I understand from the collection of his client. You will
48:52
Speaker 1: not exaggerate if you say that it could hardly be
48:55
Speaker 1: matched in the world. I could perhaps suggest that the
48:59
Speaker 1: set should be valued by an expert. Excellent Watson, you
49:03
Speaker 1: scintillate to day, suggest Christie or southeby your delicacy, prevents
49:10
Speaker 1: your putting a price for yourself. But if he won't
49:13
Speaker 1: see me, oh yes, he will see you. He has
49:16
Speaker 1: the collection mania in its most acute form, and especially
49:22
Speaker 1: on this subject on which he is an acknowledged authority.
49:27
Speaker 1: Sit down, Watson, and I will dictate the letter. No
49:31
Speaker 1: answer needed, you will merely say that you are coming
49:34
Speaker 1: and why. It was an admirable document, short, courteous, and
49:39
Speaker 1: stimulating to the curiosity of the connoisseur. A district messenger
49:45
Speaker 1: was duly dispatched with it on the same evening. With
49:49
Speaker 1: the precious saucer in my hand and the card of
49:52
Speaker 1: doctor hill Barton in my pocket, I set off on
49:55
Speaker 1: my own adventure. The beautiful house and ground indicated that
50:01
Speaker 1: Baron Gruner was, as Sir James had said, a man
50:05
Speaker 1: of considerable wealth. A long winding drive with banks of
50:10
Speaker 1: rare shrubs on either side, opened out into a great
50:14
Speaker 1: graveled square adorned with statues. The place had been built
50:19
Speaker 1: by a South African gold king in the days of
50:23
Speaker 1: the Great Boom, and the long low house with the
50:26
Speaker 1: turrets at the corners, though an architectural nightmare, was imposing
50:32
Speaker 1: in its size and solidity. A butler who would have
50:36
Speaker 1: adorned a bench of bishops, showed me in and handed
50:40
Speaker 1: me over to a plush clad footman, who ushered me
50:44
Speaker 1: into the baron's presence. He was standing at the open
50:47
Speaker 1: front of a great case which stood between the windows,
50:51
Speaker 1: and which contained part of his Chinese collection. He turned
50:56
Speaker 1: as I entered, with a small brown vase in his hand,
51:00
Speaker 1: and pray, sit down, doctor said he. I was looking
51:06
Speaker 1: over my own treasures and wondering whether I could really
51:10
Speaker 1: afford to add to them. This little tang specimen, which
51:17
Speaker 1: dates from the seventh century, would probably interest you. I
51:22
Speaker 1: am sure you never saw finer workmanship or a richer glaze.
51:28
Speaker 1: Have you the mean saucer with you of which you spoke?
51:33
Speaker 1: I carefully unpacked it and handed it to him. He
51:36
Speaker 1: seated himself at his desk, pulled over the lamp, for
51:40
Speaker 1: it was growing dark, and set himself to examine it.
51:45
Speaker 1: As he did so, the yellow light beat upon his
51:48
Speaker 1: own features, and I was able to study them at
51:52
Speaker 1: my ease. He was certainly a remarkably handsome man. His
51:57
Speaker 1: European reputation for beauty was fully deserved. In figure. He
52:04
Speaker 1: was not more than of middle size, but was built
52:07
Speaker 1: upon graceful and active lines. His face was swarthy, almost oriental,
52:15
Speaker 1: with large, dark, languorous eyes which might easily hold an
52:20
Speaker 1: irresistible fascination for women. His hair and mustache were raven black,
52:26
Speaker 1: the latter short pointed and carefully waxed. His features were
52:32
Speaker 1: regular and pleasing, save only his straight, thin lipped mouth.
52:38
Speaker 1: If ever I saw a murderer's mouth, it was there,
52:43
Speaker 1: a cruel, hard gash in the face, compressed, inexorable and terrible.
52:51
Speaker 1: He was ill advised to train his mustache away from it,
52:55
Speaker 1: for it was nature's danger signal, set as a warning
52:59
Speaker 1: to his victims. His voice was engaging and his manners
53:04
Speaker 1: perfect in age. I should have put him a little
53:08
Speaker 1: over thirty, though his record afterwards showed that he was
53:13
Speaker 1: forty two. Very fine, very fine, indeed, he said at last,
53:21
Speaker 1: And you say you have a set of six to correspond.
53:25
Speaker 1: What puzzles me is that I should not have heard
53:28
Speaker 1: of such magnificent specimens. I only know of one in
53:34
Speaker 1: England to match this, and it is certainly not likely
53:40
Speaker 1: to be in the market. Would it be indiscreet if
53:43
Speaker 1: I were to ask you, doctor hill Barton, how you
53:47
Speaker 1: obtained this? Does it really matter? I asked, with as
53:53
Speaker 1: careless an air as I could muster. You can see
53:56
Speaker 1: that the piece is genuine, and as to value, I
54:00
Speaker 1: am content to take an expert's valuation. Very mysterious, said he,
54:06
Speaker 1: with a quick suspicious flash of his dark eyes. In
54:10
Speaker 1: dealing with objects of such value, one naturally wishes to
54:15
Speaker 1: know all about the transaction. That the piece's genuine is certain.
54:22
Speaker 1: I have no doubts at all about that. But suppose
54:25
Speaker 1: I am bound to take every possibility into account that
54:29
Speaker 1: it should prove afterwards that you had no right to sell,
54:34
Speaker 1: I would guarantee you against any claim of the sort. That,
54:38
Speaker 1: of course, would open up the question as to what
54:41
Speaker 1: your guarantee was worth. My bankers would answer that quite so.
54:46
Speaker 1: And yet the whole transaction strikes me as rather unusual.
54:52
Speaker 1: You can do business or not, said I with indifference.
54:56
Speaker 1: I have given you the first offer, as I understood
54:58
Speaker 1: that you were a Connossean. But I shall have no
55:01
Speaker 1: difficulty in other quarters who told you I was a connoisseur.
55:06
Speaker 1: I was aware that you had written a book upon
55:08
Speaker 1: the subject. Have you read the book? No? Dear me,
55:14
Speaker 1: this becomes more and more difficult for me to understand.
55:17
Speaker 1: You are a connoisseur and collector with a very valuable
55:21
Speaker 1: piece in your collection, and yet you have never troubled
55:23
Speaker 1: to consult the one book which would have told you
55:26
Speaker 1: of the real meaning and value of what you held.
55:30
Speaker 1: How do you explain that I am a very busy man.
55:34
Speaker 1: I am a doctor in practice. That is no answer.
55:37
Speaker 1: If a man has a hobby, he follows it up,
55:41
Speaker 1: whatever his other pursuits may be. You said in your
55:45
Speaker 1: note that you were a connoisseur, so I am. Might
55:50
Speaker 1: I ask you a few questions to test you. I
55:54
Speaker 1: am obliged to tell you doctor, if you are indeed
55:58
Speaker 1: a doctor, the incident becomes more and more suspicious. I
56:03
Speaker 1: would ask you, what do you know of the emperor Shomu,
56:08
Speaker 1: and how do you associate him with the shose in
56:13
Speaker 1: ni' nara? Dear me, does that puzzle you? Tell me
56:19
Speaker 1: a little about the Northern Way dynasty and its place
56:24
Speaker 1: in the history of ceramics. I sprang from my chair
56:28
Speaker 1: in simulated anger. This is intolerable, sir, said I. I
56:33
Speaker 1: came here to do you a favor, and not to
56:36
Speaker 1: be examined as if I were a schoolboy. My knowledge
56:39
Speaker 1: on these subjects may be second only to your own.
56:42
Speaker 1: But I certainly shall not answer questions which have been
56:45
Speaker 1: put in so offensive a way. He looked at me steadily.
56:50
Speaker 1: The languor had gone from his eyes. They suddenly glared.
56:55
Speaker 1: There was a gleam of teeth from between those cruel lips.
57:00
Speaker 1: What is the game? You are here as a spy,
57:04
Speaker 1: You are an emissary of Holmes. This is a trick
57:08
Speaker 1: that you are playing upon me. The fellow is dying,
57:11
Speaker 1: I hear, so he sends his tools to keep watch
57:15
Speaker 1: upon me. You've made your way in here without leave,
57:19
Speaker 1: and by God, you may find it harder to get
57:22
Speaker 1: out than to get in. He had sprung to his feet,
57:27
Speaker 1: and I stepped back, bracing myself for an attack, for
57:32
Speaker 1: the man was beside himself with rage. He may have
57:35
Speaker 1: suspected me from the first. Certainly this cross examination had
57:40
Speaker 1: shown him the truth. But it was clear that I
57:43
Speaker 1: could not hope to deceive him. He dived his hand
57:47
Speaker 1: into a side drawer and rummaged furiously. Then something struck
57:52
Speaker 1: upon his ear, for he stood listening intently. Ah. He cried, ah,
57:59
Speaker 1: and dashed into the room behind him. Two steps took
58:02
Speaker 1: me to the open door, and my mind will ever
58:06
Speaker 1: carry a clear picture of the scene within the window
58:10
Speaker 1: leading out to the garden was wide open beside it,
58:15
Speaker 1: looking like some terrible ghost. His head girt with bloody bandages,
58:21
Speaker 1: his face drawn and white, stood Sherlock Holmes. The next
58:26
Speaker 1: instant he was through the gap, and I heard the
58:29
Speaker 1: crash of his body among the laurel bushes outside. With
58:33
Speaker 1: a howl of rage. The master of the house rushed
58:36
Speaker 1: after him to the open window. And then it was
58:40
Speaker 1: done in an instant, and yet I clearly saw it.
58:44
Speaker 1: An arm, a woman's arm, shot out from among the leaves.
58:50
Speaker 1: At the same instant, the baron uttered a horrible cry,
58:53
Speaker 1: a yell which will always ring in my memory. He
58:57
Speaker 1: clapped his two hands to his face and rushed round
59:00
Speaker 1: the room, beating his head horribly against the walls. Then
59:04
Speaker 1: he fell upon the carpet, rolling and writhing, while scream
59:08
Speaker 1: after scream resounded through the house. Water, for God's sake,
59:13
Speaker 1: water was his cry. I seized a caraff from a
59:18
Speaker 1: side table and rushed to his aid. At the same moment,
59:22
Speaker 1: the butler and several footmen ran in from the hall.
59:26
Speaker 1: I remember that one of them fainted as I knelt
59:29
Speaker 1: by the injured man and turned that awful face to
59:34
Speaker 1: the light of the lamp. The vitriol was eating into
59:38
Speaker 1: it everywhere and dripping from the ears and the chin.
59:43
Speaker 1: One eye was already white and glazed, the other was
59:47
Speaker 1: red and inflamed. The features which I had admired a
59:52
Speaker 1: few minutes before were now like some beautiful painting over
59:57
Speaker 1: which the artist had passed a wet and foul sponge.
1:00:02
Speaker 1: They were blurred, discolored, inhuman, terrible. In a few words,
1:00:09
Speaker 1: I explained exactly what had occurred so far as the
1:00:13
Speaker 1: vitriol attack was concerned. Some had climbed through the window,
1:00:19
Speaker 1: and others had rushed out onto the lawn. That it
1:00:21
Speaker 1: was dark, and it had begun to rain. Between his screams,
1:00:26
Speaker 1: the victim raged and raved against the avenger. It was
1:00:31
Speaker 1: that hell cat, kittyvinter. He cried, Oh the she devil.
1:00:35
Speaker 1: She shall pay for it, She shall pay, Oh God
1:00:38
Speaker 1: in heaven. This pain is more than I can bear.
1:00:43
Speaker 1: I bathed his face in oil, put cotton wadding on
1:00:48
Speaker 1: the raw surfaces, and administered a hypodermic of Morphear. All
1:00:54
Speaker 1: suspicion of me had passed from his mind in the
1:00:59
Speaker 1: presence of this shock, and he clung to my hands
1:01:04
Speaker 1: as if I might have the power even yet to
1:01:06
Speaker 1: clear those dead fish eyes which gazed up at me.
1:01:11
Speaker 1: I could have wept over the ruin. Had I not
1:01:15
Speaker 1: remembered very clearly the vile life which had led up
1:01:19
Speaker 1: to so hideous a change. It was loathsome to feel
1:01:25
Speaker 1: the pouring of his burning hands, and I was relieved
1:01:30
Speaker 1: when his family surgeon, closely followed by a specialist, came
1:01:34
Speaker 1: to relieve me of my charge. An inspector of police
1:01:39
Speaker 1: had also arrived, and to him I handed my real card.
1:01:44
Speaker 1: It would have been useless, as well as foolish to
1:01:46
Speaker 1: do otherwise, for I was nearly as well known by
1:01:50
Speaker 1: sight at the yard as Holmes himself. Then I left
1:01:55
Speaker 1: that house of gloom and terror. Within an hour I
1:02:00
Speaker 1: was at Baker Street. Holmes was seated in his familiar chair,
1:02:05
Speaker 1: looking very pale and exhausted. Apart from his injuries, even
1:02:10
Speaker 1: his iron nerves had been shocked by the events of
1:02:14
Speaker 1: the evening, and he listened with horror to my account
1:02:18
Speaker 1: of the Baron's transformation. The wages of sin, Watson, the
1:02:25
Speaker 1: wages of sin, said he. Sooner or later it will
1:02:30
Speaker 1: always come. God knows. There was sin enough, he added,
1:02:36
Speaker 1: taking up a brown volume from the table. Here is
1:02:41
Speaker 1: the book the woman talked of. If this will not
1:02:44
Speaker 1: break off the marriage nothing ever could but it will Watson,
1:02:50
Speaker 1: it must. No self respecting woman could stand it. It
1:02:55
Speaker 1: is his love diary or his lust diary. Call it
1:03:00
Speaker 1: what you will. The moment the woman told us of it,
1:03:05
Speaker 1: I realized what a tremendous weapon was there, if we
1:03:09
Speaker 1: could but lay our hands on it. I said nothing
1:03:12
Speaker 1: at the time to indicate my thoughts, for this woman
1:03:15
Speaker 1: might have given it away, but I brooded over it.
1:03:20
Speaker 1: Then this assault upon me gave me the chance of
1:03:24
Speaker 1: letting the baron think that no precautions need be taken
1:03:28
Speaker 1: against me. That was all to the good. I would
1:03:32
Speaker 1: have waited a little longer, but his visit to America
1:03:36
Speaker 1: forced my hand. He would never have left so compromising
1:03:40
Speaker 1: a document behind him. Therefore we had to act at once.
1:03:45
Speaker 1: Burglary at night is impossible. He takes precautions, but there
1:03:49
Speaker 1: was a chance in the evening if I could only
1:03:52
Speaker 1: be sure that his attention was engaged. That was where
1:03:55
Speaker 1: you and your blue saucer came in. But I had
1:03:59
Speaker 1: to be sure of the position of the book, and
1:04:03
Speaker 1: I knew I had only a few minutes in which
1:04:07
Speaker 1: to act, for my time was limited by your knowledge
1:04:12
Speaker 1: of Chinese pottery. Therefore, I gathered the girl up at
1:04:16
Speaker 1: the last moment. How could I guess what the little
1:04:20
Speaker 1: packet was that she carried so carefully under her cloak.
1:04:26
Speaker 1: I thought she had come altogether on my business, but
1:04:31
Speaker 1: it seems she had some of her own, he guessed.
1:04:35
Speaker 1: I came from you. I feared he would, but you
1:04:40
Speaker 1: held him in play just long enough for me to
1:04:42
Speaker 1: get the book, though not long enough for an unobserved escape. Ah,
1:04:48
Speaker 1: Sir James, I am very glad you have come. Our
1:04:53
Speaker 1: courtly friend had appeared in answer to a previous summons.
1:04:58
Speaker 1: He listened with the deepest attention of Holmes's account of
1:05:02
Speaker 1: what had occurred. You have done wonders, wonders, he cried
1:05:07
Speaker 1: when he had heard the narrative. But if these injuries
1:05:11
Speaker 1: are as terrible as doctor Watson describes, then surely our
1:05:15
Speaker 1: purpose of thwarting the marriage is sufficiently gained without the
1:05:20
Speaker 1: use of this horrible book. Holmes shook his head. Women
1:05:26
Speaker 1: of the de Marville type do not act like that.
1:05:30
Speaker 1: She would love him the more as a disfigured martyr. No, No,
1:05:35
Speaker 1: it is his moral side, not his physical, which we
1:05:38
Speaker 1: have to destroy. That book will bring her back to earth,
1:05:43
Speaker 1: And I know nothing else that could. It is in
1:05:46
Speaker 1: his own writing. She cannot get past it. Sir James
1:05:52
Speaker 1: carried away both it and the precious saucer. As I
1:05:58
Speaker 1: was myself overdue, I went down with him into the street.
1:06:03
Speaker 1: A bruain was waiting for him. He sprang in, gave
1:06:07
Speaker 1: a hurried order to the cockaded coachman, and drove swiftly away.
1:06:13
Speaker 1: He flung his overcoat half out of the window to
1:06:17
Speaker 1: cover the armorial bearings upon the panel. But I had
1:06:22
Speaker 1: seen them in the glare of our fanlight none the less,
1:06:27
Speaker 1: I gasped with surprise. Then I turned back and ascended
1:06:32
Speaker 1: the stair to Holmes's room. I have found out who
1:06:36
Speaker 1: our client is, I cried, bursting with my great news.
1:06:40
Speaker 1: Why Holmes it is. It is a loyal friend and
1:06:45
Speaker 1: a chivalrous gentleman, said Holmes, holding up a restraining hand
1:06:51
Speaker 1: let that now and forever be enough for us. I
1:06:57
Speaker 1: do not know how the incriminating book was used. Sir
1:07:02
Speaker 1: James may have managed it, or it is more probable
1:07:06
Speaker 1: that so delicate a task was entrusted to the young
1:07:10
Speaker 1: lady's father. The effect, at any rate, was all that
1:07:14
Speaker 1: could be desired. Three days later, appeared a paragraph in
1:07:19
Speaker 1: the Morning Post to say that the marriage between Baron
1:07:23
Speaker 1: Adalbert Gruner and Miss Violet de Meyrville would not take place.
1:07:30
Speaker 1: The same paper had the first police court hearing of
1:07:33
Speaker 1: the proceedings against Miss Kitty Winter on the grave charge
1:07:38
Speaker 1: of vitriol throwing. Such extenuating circumstances came out in the
1:07:44
Speaker 1: trial that the sentence, as will be remembered, was the
1:07:49
Speaker 1: lowest that was possible for such an offense. Sherlock Holmes
1:07:55
Speaker 1: was threatened with a prosecution for burglary. But when an
1:08:00
Speaker 1: object is good and a client is sufficiently illustrious, even
1:08:06
Speaker 1: the rigid British law becomes human and elastic. My friend
1:08:13
Speaker 1: has not yet stood in the dark. That is the
1:08:19
Speaker 1: end of the Adventure of the Illustrious Client by Sir
1:08:24
Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for Magpie Audio
1:08:31
Speaker 1: twenty twenty