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54 The Retired Colourman from The Case-Book of Sherl · Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: The adventure of the retired color man. Sherlock Holmes was
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Speaker 1: in a melancholy and philosophic mood that morning. His alert,
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Speaker 1: practical nature was subject to such reactions. Did you see him,
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Speaker 1: he asked? You mean the old fellow who has just
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Speaker 1: gone out? Precisely, Yes, I met him at the door.
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Speaker 1: What did you think of him? A pathetic, futile, broken creature? Exactly, Watson,
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Speaker 1: pathetic and futile. But is not all life pathetic and futile?
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Speaker 1: Is not his story a microcosm of the whole we reach,
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Speaker 1: we grasp, and what is left in our hands at
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Speaker 1: the end a shadow, or worse than a shadow? Misery?
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Speaker 1: Is he one of your clients? Well, I suppose I
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Speaker 1: may call him so. He has been sent on by
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Speaker 1: the yard, just as medical men occasionally send their incurables
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Speaker 1: to a quack. They argue that they can do nothing more,
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Speaker 1: and that whatever happens, the patient can be no worse
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Speaker 1: than he is. What is the matter? Holmes took a
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Speaker 1: rather soiled card from the table, Josiah Amberley. He says
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Speaker 1: he was junior partner of Brickfall and Amberley, who are
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Speaker 1: manufacturers of artistic materials. You will see their names upon
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Speaker 1: paint boxes. He made his little pile, retired from business
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Speaker 1: at the age of sixty one, bought a house at Lewisham,
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Speaker 1: and settled down to rest. After a life of ceaseless grind.
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Speaker 1: One would think his future was tolerably assured. Indeed, Holmes
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Speaker 1: glanced over some notes which he had scribbled on the
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Speaker 1: back of an envelope. Retired in eighteen ninety six. Watson
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Speaker 1: early in eighteen ninety seven he married a woman twenty
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Speaker 1: years younger than himself, a good looking woman too, if
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Speaker 1: the photograph does not flatter a competence, a wife leisure.
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Speaker 1: It seemed a straight road which lay before him. And
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Speaker 1: yet within two years he is as you have seen,
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Speaker 1: as broken and miserable, a creature as crawls beneath the sun.
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Speaker 1: But what has happened the old story Watson, a treacherous
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Speaker 1: friend and a fickle wife. It would appear that Amberley
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Speaker 1: has one hobby in life, and it is chess. Not
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Speaker 1: far from him at Lewisham there lives a young doctor
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Speaker 1: who is also a chess player. I have no his name,
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Speaker 1: as doctor Ray Ernest. Ernest was frequently in the house,
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Speaker 1: and an intimacy between him and missus Amberley was a
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Speaker 1: natural sequence. For you must admit that our unfortunate client
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Speaker 1: has few outward graces, whatever his inner virtues may be.
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Speaker 1: The couple went off together last week, destination untraced. What
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Speaker 1: is more, the faithless spouse carried off the old man's
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Speaker 1: deed box as her personal luggage, with a good part
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Speaker 1: of his life savings within. Can we find the lady?
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Speaker 1: Can we save the money? A commonplace problem so far
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Speaker 1: as it has developed, and yet a vital one for
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Speaker 1: Josiah Amberley. What will you do about it? Well, the
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Speaker 1: immediate question, my dear Watson, happens to be what will
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Speaker 1: you do if you will be good enough to understudy me?
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Speaker 1: You know that I am preoccupied with this case of
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Speaker 1: the two Coptic patriarchs, which should come to a head
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Speaker 1: to day. I really have not time to go out
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Speaker 1: to Lewisham, and yet evidence taken on the spot has
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Speaker 1: a special value. The old fellow was quite insistent that
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Speaker 1: I should go, but I explained my difficulty. He is
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Speaker 1: prepared to meet a representative by all means, I answered,
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Speaker 1: I confess I don't see that I can be of
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Speaker 1: much service, but I am willing to do my best.
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Speaker 1: And so it was that on a summer afternoon I
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Speaker 1: set forth to Lewisham, little dreaming that within a week
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Speaker 1: the affair in which I was engaging would be the
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Speaker 1: eager debate of all England. It was late that evening
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Speaker 1: before I returned to Baker Street and gave an account
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Speaker 1: of my mission. Holmes lay with his gaunt figure stretched
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Speaker 1: in his deep chair, his pipe curling forth slow wreaths
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Speaker 1: of acrid tobacco, while his eyelids drooped over his eyes
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Speaker 1: so lazily that he might almost have been asleep, were
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Speaker 1: it not that at any halt or questionable passage of
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Speaker 1: my narrative, they half lifted, and two gray eyes, as
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Speaker 1: bright and keen as rapiers, transfixed me with their searching glance.
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Speaker 1: The Haven is the name of mister Josiah Amberley's house,
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Speaker 1: I explained. I think it would interest you, Holmes. It
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Speaker 1: is like some penurious patrician who was sunk into the
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Speaker 1: company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the
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Speaker 1: monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the
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Speaker 1: middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and
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Speaker 1: comfort lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun
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Speaker 1: baked wall, mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the
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Speaker 1: sort of wall cut out the poetry, Watson, said Holmes severely.
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Speaker 1: I note that it was a high brick wall. Exactly,
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Speaker 1: I should not have known which was the haven had
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Speaker 1: I not asked a lounger who was smoking in the street.
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Speaker 1: I have a reason for mentioning him. He was a tall, dark,
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Speaker 1: heavily mustached, rather military looking man. He nodded in answer
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Speaker 1: to my inquiry and gave me a curiously questioning glance,
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Speaker 1: which came back to my memory A little later. I
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Speaker 1: had hardly entered the gateway before I saw mister Amberley
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Speaker 1: coming down the drive. I only had a glimpse of
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Speaker 1: him this morning, and he certainly gave me the impression
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Speaker 1: of a strange creature. But when I saw him in
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Speaker 1: the full light, his appearance was even more abnormal. I have,
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Speaker 1: of course studied it, and yet I should be interested
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Speaker 1: to have your impressions, said Holmes. He seemed to me
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Speaker 1: like a man who was literally bowed down by care.
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Speaker 1: His back was curved, as though he carried a heavy burden.
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Speaker 1: Yet he was not the weakling that I had at
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Speaker 1: first imagined, for his shoulders and chest have the framework
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Speaker 1: of a giant, though his figure tapers away into a
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Speaker 1: pair of spindled legs, left shoe wrinkled, right one smooth.
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Speaker 1: I did not observe that, No, you wouldn't. I spotted
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Speaker 1: his artificial limb, but proceed I was struck by the
7:39
Speaker 1: snaky locks of grizzled hair which curled from under his
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Speaker 1: old straw hat, and his face with its fierce, eager expression,
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Speaker 1: and the deeply lined features. Very good Watson, what did
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Speaker 1: he say? He began pouring out the story of his grievances.
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Speaker 1: We walked down the drive together, and of course course
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Speaker 1: I took a good look round. I have never seen
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Speaker 1: a worse kept place. The garden was all running to seed,
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Speaker 1: giving me an impression of wild neglect, in which the
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Speaker 1: plants had been allowed to find the way of nature
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Speaker 1: rather than of art. How any decent woman could have
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Speaker 1: tolerated such a state of things, I don't know. The house, too,
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Speaker 1: was slattern late to the last degree, but the poor
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Speaker 1: man seemed himself to be aware of it, and to
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Speaker 1: be trying to remedy it. For a great pot of
8:32
Speaker 1: green paint stood in the center of the hall, and
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Speaker 1: he was carrying a thick brush in his left hand.
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Speaker 1: He had been working on the woodwork. He took me
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Speaker 1: into his dingy sanctum and we had a long chat.
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Speaker 1: Of course, he was disappointed that you had not come yourself.
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Speaker 1: I hardly expected, he said, that so humble an individual
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Speaker 1: as myself, especially after my heavy financial loss, could obtain
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Speaker 1: the complete attention of so famous a man as mister
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Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes. I assured him that the financial question did
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Speaker 1: not arise. No, of course, it is art for art's
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Speaker 1: sake with him, said he. But even on the artistic
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Speaker 1: side of crime, he might have found something here to study.
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Speaker 1: And human nature, doctor Watson, the black ingratitude of it all,
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Speaker 1: When did I ever refuse one of her requests? Was
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Speaker 1: ever a woman so pampered? And that young man he
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Speaker 1: might have been my own son. He had the run
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Speaker 1: of my house. And yet see how they have treated me, Oh,
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Speaker 1: doctor Watson, it is a dreadful, dreadful world. That was
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Speaker 1: the burden of his song. For an hour or more
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Speaker 1: he had it seems no suspicion of an intrigue. They
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Speaker 1: lived alone, save for a woman who comes in by
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Speaker 1: the day and leaves every evening at six. On that
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Speaker 1: particular evening, Old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat,
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Speaker 1: had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theater.
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Speaker 1: At the last moment, she had complained of a headache
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Speaker 1: and had refused to go. He had gone alone. There
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Speaker 1: seemed to be no doubt about the fact, for he
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Speaker 1: produced the unused ticket which he had taken for his wife.
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Speaker 1: That is remarkable, most remarkable, said Holmes, whose interest in
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Speaker 1: the case seemed to be rising. Pray continue, Watson, I
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Speaker 1: find your narrative most arresting. Did you personally examine the ticket?
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Speaker 1: You did not perchance take the number? It so happens
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Speaker 1: that I did, I answered, with some pride. It chanced
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Speaker 1: to be my old school number thirty one, and so
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Speaker 1: is stuck in my head. Excellent Watson. His seat then
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Speaker 1: was either thirty or thirty two, quite so, I answered,
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Speaker 1: with some mystification, and on b row, that is most satisfactory.
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Speaker 1: What else did he tell you? He showed me his
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Speaker 1: strong room, as he called it. It really is a
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Speaker 1: strong room like a bank, with iron door and shutter
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Speaker 1: burglar proof, as he claimed. However, the woman seems to
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Speaker 1: have had a duplicate key, and between them they had
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Speaker 1: carried off some seven thousand pounds worth of cash and securities. Securities.
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Speaker 1: How could they dispose of those? He said that he
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Speaker 1: had given the police a list, and that he hoped
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Speaker 1: they would be unsaleable. He had got back from the
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Speaker 1: theater about midnight and found the place plundered, the door
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Speaker 1: and window open, and the fugitives gone. There was no
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Speaker 1: letter or message, nor has he heard a word since
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Speaker 1: he at once gave the alarm to the police. Holmes
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Speaker 1: brooded for some minutes. You say he was painting. What
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Speaker 1: was he painting? Well, he was painting the passage, but
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Speaker 1: he had already painted the door and wood work of
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Speaker 1: this room. I spoke of, Does it not strike you
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Speaker 1: as a strange occupation In the circumstances, one must do
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Speaker 1: something to ease an aching heart? And that was his
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Speaker 1: own explanation. It was eccentric, no doubt, But he is
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Speaker 1: clearly an eccentric man. He tore up one of his
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Speaker 1: wife's photographs in my presence, tore it up furiously in
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Speaker 1: a tempest of passion. I never wished to see her
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Speaker 1: damned face again. He shrieked. Anything more Watson. Yes, one
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Speaker 1: thing which struck me more than anything else. I had
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Speaker 1: driven to black Heath's station and had caught my train there,
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Speaker 1: when just as it was starting, I saw a man
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Speaker 1: dart into the carriage next to my own. You know
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Speaker 1: that I have a quick eye for faces homes. It
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Speaker 1: was undoubtedly the tall, dark man whom I had addressed
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Speaker 1: in the street. I saw him once more at London Bridge,
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Speaker 1: and then I lost him in the crowd. But I
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Speaker 1: am convinced that he was following me, no doubt, No doubt,
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Speaker 1: said Holmes, A tall, dark, heavily mustached man. You say,
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Speaker 1: with gray tinted sunglasses. Holmes, you are a wizard. I
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Speaker 1: did not say so. But he had gray tinted sunglasses
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Speaker 1: and a Masonic tie pin. Holmes. Quite simple, my dear Watson.
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Speaker 1: But let us get down to what is practical. I
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Speaker 1: must admit to you that the case which seemed to
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Speaker 1: me to be so absurdly simple as to be hardly
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Speaker 1: worth my notice, as rapidly assuming a very different aspect.
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Speaker 1: It is true that though in your mission you have
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Speaker 1: missed everything of importance, yet even those things which have
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Speaker 1: obtruded themselves upon your notice give rise to serious thought,
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Speaker 1: what have I missed? Don't be hurt, my dear fellow.
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Speaker 1: You know that I am quite impersonal. No one else
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Speaker 1: would have done better, some possibly not so well. But
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Speaker 1: clearly you have missed some vital points. What is the
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Speaker 1: opinion of the neighbors about this man Amberly and his wife?
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Speaker 1: That surely is of importance. What of doctor Ernest? Was
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Speaker 1: he the gay lethario one would expect with your natural advantages, Watson,
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Speaker 1: every lady is your helper and accomplice. What about the
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Speaker 1: girl at the post office or the wife of the greengrocer?
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Speaker 1: Picture you whispering soft nothings with the young lady at
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Speaker 1: the blue anchor, and receiving hard somethings in exchange. All
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Speaker 1: this you have left undone. It can still be done.
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Speaker 1: It has been done. Thanks to the telephone and the
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Speaker 1: help of the yard. I can usually get my essentials
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Speaker 1: without leaving this room. As a matter of fact, my
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Speaker 1: information confirms the man's story. He has the local repute
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Speaker 1: of being a miser as well as a harsh and
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Speaker 1: exacting husband. That he had a large sum of money
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Speaker 1: in that strong room of his is certain. So also
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Speaker 1: is it that young doctor Ernest an unmarried man played
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Speaker 1: chess with Amberley, and probably played the fool with his wife.
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Speaker 1: All this seems plain sailing, and one would think that
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Speaker 1: there was no more to be said. And yet, and
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Speaker 1: yet where lies the difficulty in my imagination? Perhaps well
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Speaker 1: leave it there, Watson, Let us escape from this weary,
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Speaker 1: workaday world by the side door of music. Carina sings
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Speaker 1: to night at the Albert Hall, and we still have
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Speaker 1: time to dress, dine, and enjoy. In the morning. I
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Speaker 1: was up betimes, but some toast crumbs and two empty
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Speaker 1: egg shells told me that my companion was earlier. Still
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Speaker 1: I found a scribbled note upon the table. Dear Watson,
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Speaker 1: there are one or two points of contact which I
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Speaker 1: should wish to establish with mister Josiah Amberley. When I
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Speaker 1: have done so, we can dismiss the case or not.
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Speaker 1: I would only ask you to be on hand at
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Speaker 1: three o'clock, as I conceive it possible that I may
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Speaker 1: want you s h. I saw nothing of homes all day,
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Speaker 1: but at the hour named he returned grave, preoccupied and aloof.
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Speaker 1: At such times it was wiser to leave him to himself.
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Speaker 1: Has Amberley been here yet? No Ah, I am expecting him.
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Speaker 1: He was not disappointed. For presently the old fellow arrived
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Speaker 1: with a very worried and puzzled expression upon his austere face.
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Speaker 1: I've had a telegram, mister Holmes. I can make nothing
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Speaker 1: of it. He handed it over and Holmes read it aloud.
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Speaker 1: Come at once, without fail, can give you information as
17:35
Speaker 1: to your recent loss. Elman. The vicarage dispatched out two
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Speaker 1: ten from Little Purlington, said Holmes. Little Purlington is in Essex.
17:47
Speaker 1: I believe not far from Frinton. Well, of course you
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Speaker 1: will start at once. This is evidently from a responsible person,
17:56
Speaker 1: the vicar of the place. Where is my Crockford? Yes,
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Speaker 1: here we have him J. C. Elman, m A living
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Speaker 1: of Mossmore. Come Little Purlington. Look up the trains, Watson,
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Speaker 1: there is one at five twenty from Liverpool Street. Excellent.
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Speaker 1: You had best go with him, Watson. He may need
18:19
Speaker 1: help or advice. Clearly we have come to a crisis
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Speaker 1: in this affair, but our client seemed, by no means
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Speaker 1: eager to start. It's perfectly absurd, mister Holmes, he said,
18:32
Speaker 1: what can this man possibly know of what has occurred?
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Speaker 1: It is waste of time and money. He would not
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Speaker 1: have telegraphed you if he did not know something. Why
18:41
Speaker 1: are at once that you are coming? I don't think
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Speaker 1: I shall go, Holmes assumed his sternest aspect. It would
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Speaker 1: make the worst possible impression, both on the police and
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Speaker 1: upon myself. Mister Amberley, if when so obvious a clue arose,
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Speaker 1: you should refuse to follow it up, we should feel
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Speaker 1: that that you were not really in earnest in this investigation.
19:04
Speaker 1: Our client seemed horrified at the suggestion. Why of course
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Speaker 1: I shall go if you look at it in that way,
19:10
Speaker 1: said he. On the face of it, it seems absurd
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Speaker 1: to suppose that this parson knows anything. But if you think,
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Speaker 1: I do, think, said Holmes with emphasis. And so we
19:22
Speaker 1: were launched upon our journey. Holmes took me aside before
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Speaker 1: we left the room and gave me one word of counsel,
19:30
Speaker 1: which showed that he considered the matter to be of importance.
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Speaker 1: Whatever you do see that he really does go, said he.
19:39
Speaker 1: Should he break away or return, get to the nearest
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Speaker 1: telephone exchange and send the single word bolted. I will
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Speaker 1: arrange here that it shall reach me wherever I am.
19:53
Speaker 1: Little Purlington is not an easy place to reach, for
19:56
Speaker 1: it is on a branch line. My remembrance of the journey.
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Speaker 1: He is not a pleasant one, for the weather was hot,
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Speaker 1: the train slow, and my companion sullen and silent, hardly
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Speaker 1: talking at all save to make an occasional sardonic remark
20:11
Speaker 1: as to the futility of our proceedings. When we at
20:15
Speaker 1: last reached the little station. It was a two mile
20:19
Speaker 1: drive before we came to the vicarage, where a big, solemn,
20:23
Speaker 1: rather pompous clergyman received us in his study. Our telegram
20:29
Speaker 1: lay before him. Well, gentlemen, he asked, what can I
20:33
Speaker 1: do for you? We came, I explained, in answer to
20:37
Speaker 1: your wire my wire, I sent no wire. I mean
20:41
Speaker 1: the wire which you sent to mister Josiah Amberley about
20:44
Speaker 1: his wife and his money. If this is a joke, sir,
20:47
Speaker 1: it is a very questionable one, said the vicar angrily.
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Speaker 1: I have never heard of the gentleman you name, and
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Speaker 1: I have not sent a wire to anyone. Our client
20:57
Speaker 1: and I looked at each other in amazement. Perhaps there
21:01
Speaker 1: is some mistake, said I are there perhaps two vicarages.
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Speaker 1: Here is the wire, itself, signed Elman and dated from
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Speaker 1: the vicarage. There is only one vicarage, sir, and only
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Speaker 1: one vicar, and this wire is a scandalous forgery, the
21:19
Speaker 1: origin of which shall certainly be investigated by the police. Meanwhile,
21:23
Speaker 1: I can see no possible object in prolonging this interview.
21:28
Speaker 1: So mister Ambley and I found ourselves on the roadside
21:31
Speaker 1: in what seemed to me to be the most primitive
21:34
Speaker 1: village in England. We made for the telegraph office, but
21:39
Speaker 1: it was already closed. There was a telephone, however, at
21:43
Speaker 1: the little railway arms, and by it I got in
21:47
Speaker 1: touch with Holmes, who shared in our amazement and the
21:51
Speaker 1: result of our journey. Most singular, said the distant voice,
21:57
Speaker 1: most remarkable. I much fear, my dear Watson, that there
22:01
Speaker 1: is no return train to night. I have unwittingly condemned
22:05
Speaker 1: you to the horrors of a country inn. However, there
22:09
Speaker 1: is always nature, Watson, Nature, and Josiah Amberley. You can
22:16
Speaker 1: be in close commune with both. I heard his dry
22:21
Speaker 1: chuckle as he turned away. It was soon apparent to
22:25
Speaker 1: me that my companion's reputation as a miser was not undeserved.
22:31
Speaker 1: He had grumbled at the expense of the journey, but
22:34
Speaker 1: insisted upon traveling third class, and was now clamorous in
22:39
Speaker 1: his objections to the hotel bill. Next morning, when we
22:43
Speaker 1: did at last arrive in London, it was hard to
22:47
Speaker 1: say which of us was in the worse humor. You
22:50
Speaker 1: had best take Baker Street as we pass, said I,
22:54
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, may have some fresh instructions. If they are
22:57
Speaker 1: not worth more than the last ones, they are not
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Speaker 1: of much, you, said Amberley with a malevolent scowl. Nonetheless,
23:05
Speaker 1: he kept me company. I had already warned homes by
23:09
Speaker 1: telegram of the hour of our arrival, but we found
23:13
Speaker 1: a message waiting that he was at Lewisham and would
23:16
Speaker 1: expect us there. That was a surprise. But an even
23:22
Speaker 1: greater one was to find that he was not alone.
23:25
Speaker 1: In the sitting room of our client, A stern looking,
23:28
Speaker 1: impassive man sat beside him, a dark man with gray
23:34
Speaker 1: tinted glasses and a large Masonic pin projecting from his tie.
23:40
Speaker 1: This is my friend, mister Barker, said Holmes. He has
23:43
Speaker 1: been interesting himself also in your business, though we have
23:48
Speaker 1: been working independently. But we both have the same question
23:52
Speaker 1: to ask you. Mister Amberley sat down heavily. He sensed
23:57
Speaker 1: impending danger. I read it in his straining eyes and
24:02
Speaker 1: his twitching features. What is the question, mister Holmes, only this,
24:07
Speaker 1: What did you do with the bodies? The man sprang
24:11
Speaker 1: to his feet with a hoarse scream. He clawed into
24:15
Speaker 1: the air with his bony hands. His mouth was open,
24:19
Speaker 1: and for the instant he looked like some horrible bird
24:22
Speaker 1: of prey. In a flash, we got a glimpse of
24:25
Speaker 1: the real Josiah Amberly, a misshapen demon with a soul
24:31
Speaker 1: as distorted as his body. As he fell back into
24:35
Speaker 1: his chair, he clapped his hands to his lips as
24:38
Speaker 1: if to stifle a cough. Holmes sprang at his throat
24:42
Speaker 1: like a tiger, and twisted his face towards the ground.
24:46
Speaker 1: A white pellet fell from between his gasping lips. No shortcuts,
24:51
Speaker 1: Josiah Amberly. Things must be done decently and in order.
24:57
Speaker 1: What about it, Barker, I have a cab at the
25:00
Speaker 1: aw said our taciturn companion. It is only a few
25:04
Speaker 1: hundred yards to the station. We will go together. You
25:08
Speaker 1: can stay here, Watson. I shall be back within half
25:11
Speaker 1: an hour. The old color man had the strength of
25:15
Speaker 1: a lion in that great trunk of his, but he
25:18
Speaker 1: was helpless in the hands of the two experienced man handlers,
25:23
Speaker 1: wriggling and twisting. He was dragged to the waiting cab,
25:27
Speaker 1: and I was left to my solitary vigil in the
25:31
Speaker 1: ill omened house. In less time than he had named. However,
25:35
Speaker 1: Holmes was back in company with a smart young police inspector.
25:40
Speaker 1: I've left Barker to look after the formalities, said Holmes.
25:45
Speaker 1: You had not met Barker Watson. He is my hated
25:48
Speaker 1: rival upon the Surrey shore. When you said a tall
25:53
Speaker 1: dark man, it was not difficult for me to complete
25:56
Speaker 1: the picture. He has several good cases to his crew,
26:00
Speaker 1: has he not, Inspector? He has certainly interfered several times.
26:06
Speaker 1: The inspector answered with reserve. His methods are irregular, no doubt,
26:11
Speaker 1: like my own. The irregulars are useful sometimes, you know. You,
26:16
Speaker 1: for example, with your compulsory warning about whatever he said
26:20
Speaker 1: being used against him, could never have bluffed this rascal
26:24
Speaker 1: into what is virtually a confession. Perhaps not, but we
26:29
Speaker 1: gather all the same. Mister Holmes. Don't imagine that we
26:31
Speaker 1: had not formed our own views of this case, and
26:34
Speaker 1: that we would not have laid our hands on our man.
26:37
Speaker 1: You will excuse us for feeling sore when you jump
26:40
Speaker 1: in with methods which we cannot use, and so rob
26:44
Speaker 1: us of the credit. There shall be no such robbery. MacKinnon,
26:48
Speaker 1: I assure you that I effaced myself from now onward.
26:52
Speaker 1: And as to Barker, he has done nothing save what
26:55
Speaker 1: I told him. The inspector seemed considerably relieved. That is
27:00
Speaker 1: very handsome of you, mister Holmes. Praise or blame can
27:04
Speaker 1: matter little to you, but it is very different to
27:07
Speaker 1: us when the newspapers begin to ask questions. Quite so,
27:11
Speaker 1: but they are pretty sure to ask questions anyhow, so
27:14
Speaker 1: it would be as well to have answers. What will
27:17
Speaker 1: you say? For example, when the intelligent and enterprising reporter
27:21
Speaker 1: asks you what the exact points were which aroused your
27:25
Speaker 1: suspicion and finally gave you a certain conviction as to
27:28
Speaker 1: the real facts, the inspector looked puzzled. We don't seem
27:33
Speaker 1: to have got any real facts yet, mister Holmes. You
27:36
Speaker 1: say that the prisoner, in the presence of three witnesses,
27:39
Speaker 1: practically confessed by trying to commit suicide, that he had
27:44
Speaker 1: murdered his wife and her lover. What other facts have
27:48
Speaker 1: you have you arranged for a search? There are three
27:51
Speaker 1: constables on their way, then you will soon get the
27:54
Speaker 1: clearest fact of all. The bodies cannot be far away.
27:59
Speaker 1: Try the seller and the garden. It should not take
28:02
Speaker 1: long to dig up the likely places. This house is
28:06
Speaker 1: older than the water pipes. There must be a disused
28:09
Speaker 1: well somewhere. Try your luck there. But how did you
28:13
Speaker 1: know of it? And how is it done? I'll show
28:16
Speaker 1: you first how it was done, and then I will
28:19
Speaker 1: give the explanation, which is due to you, and even
28:23
Speaker 1: more to my long suffering friend here has been invaluable throughout.
28:29
Speaker 1: But first I would give you an insight into this
28:31
Speaker 1: man's mentality. It is a very unusual one, so much
28:36
Speaker 1: so that I think his destination is more likely to
28:39
Speaker 1: be brought more than the scaffold. He has, to a
28:43
Speaker 1: high degree the sort of mind which one associates with
28:46
Speaker 1: the medieval Italian nature rather than with the modern Britain.
28:51
Speaker 1: He was a miserable miser who made his wife so
28:55
Speaker 1: wretched by his niggardly ways that she was a ready
28:59
Speaker 1: prey for any adventurer. Such a one came upon the
29:03
Speaker 1: scene in the person of this chess playing doctor Amberly
29:08
Speaker 1: excelled at chess, one Mark Watson, of a scheming mind.
29:13
Speaker 1: Like all misers, he was a jealous man, and his
29:17
Speaker 1: jealousy became a frantic mania. Rightly or wrongly, he suspected
29:23
Speaker 1: an intrigue. He determined to have his revenge, and he
29:28
Speaker 1: planned it with diabolical cleverness. Come here, Holmes led us
29:35
Speaker 1: along the passage with as much certainty as if he
29:37
Speaker 1: had lived in the house, and halted at the open
29:40
Speaker 1: door of the strong room. Poor, what an awful smell
29:44
Speaker 1: of paint, cried the inspector. That was our first clue,
29:48
Speaker 1: said Holmes. You can thank doctor Watson's observation for that.
29:53
Speaker 1: Though he failed to draw the inference. It set my
29:56
Speaker 1: foot upon the trail. Why should this man at such
30:00
Speaker 1: a time be filling his house with strong odors, obviously
30:05
Speaker 1: to cover some other smell which he wished to conceal,
30:09
Speaker 1: some guilty smell which would suggest suspicions. Then came the
30:14
Speaker 1: idea of a room such as you see here, with
30:17
Speaker 1: iron door and shutter, a hermetically sealed room. Put those
30:23
Speaker 1: two facts together, and whither do they lead? I could
30:27
Speaker 1: only determine that by examining the house myself. I was
30:31
Speaker 1: already certain that the case was serious, for I had
30:34
Speaker 1: examined the box office chart at the Haymarket Theater another
30:38
Speaker 1: of doctor Watson's bull's eyes, and ascertained that neither B
30:43
Speaker 1: thirty nor thirty two of the upper circle had been
30:46
Speaker 1: occupied that night. Therefore, Amberley had not been to the theater,
30:52
Speaker 1: and his alibi fell to the ground. He made a
30:55
Speaker 1: bad slip when he allowed my astute friend to notice
30:59
Speaker 1: the number of the seat taken for his wife. The
31:02
Speaker 1: question now arose how I might be able to examine
31:06
Speaker 1: the house. I sent an agent to the most impossible
31:10
Speaker 1: village I could think of, and summoned my man to
31:15
Speaker 1: it at such an hour that he could not possibly
31:17
Speaker 1: get back. To prevent any miscarriage, Doctor Watson accompanied him.
31:23
Speaker 1: The good Vicar's name I took, of course, out of
31:27
Speaker 1: my Crockford. Do I make it all clear to you?
31:31
Speaker 1: It is masterly, said the inspector in an awed voice.
31:36
Speaker 1: There being no fear of interruption, I proceeded to burgle
31:41
Speaker 1: the house. Burglary has always been an alternative profession had
31:46
Speaker 1: I cared to adopt it, and I have little doubt
31:50
Speaker 1: that I should have come to the front observe what
31:55
Speaker 1: I found. You see the gas pipe along the skirting
32:00
Speaker 1: here very good. It rises in the angle of the wall,
32:04
Speaker 1: and there is a tap here in the corner. The
32:08
Speaker 1: pipe runs out into the strong room, as you can see,
32:11
Speaker 1: and ends in that plaster rose in the center of
32:15
Speaker 1: the ceiling, where it is concealed by the ornamentation. That
32:21
Speaker 1: end is wide open. At any moment by turning the
32:25
Speaker 1: outside tap, the room could be flooded with gas, with
32:30
Speaker 1: door and shutter closed down the tap fular, I would
32:34
Speaker 1: not give two minutes of conscious sensation to any one
32:37
Speaker 1: shut up in that little chamber. By what devilish device
32:42
Speaker 1: he decoyed them there? I do not know. But once
32:46
Speaker 1: inside the door they were at his mercy. The inspector
32:51
Speaker 1: examined the pipe with interest. One of our officers mentioned
32:55
Speaker 1: the smell of gas, said he, But of course the
32:58
Speaker 1: window and door were open, and then and the paint,
33:02
Speaker 1: or some of it, was already about. He had begun
33:05
Speaker 1: the work of painting the day before, according to his story.
33:09
Speaker 1: But what next, mister Armes Well, then came an incident
33:13
Speaker 1: which was rather unexpected to myself. I was slipping through
33:16
Speaker 1: the pantry window in the early dawn when I felt
33:20
Speaker 1: a hand inside my collar, and a voice said, now
33:25
Speaker 1: you Rascal, what are you doing in there? When I
33:28
Speaker 1: could twist my head round, I looked into the tinted
33:31
Speaker 1: spectacles of my friend and rival, mister Barker. It was
33:36
Speaker 1: a curious for gathering and set us both smiling. It
33:41
Speaker 1: seems that he had been engaged by Doctor ray Ernest's
33:45
Speaker 1: family to make some investigations and had come to the
33:49
Speaker 1: same conclusion as to foul play. He had watched the
33:52
Speaker 1: house for some days and had spotted Dr Watson as
33:56
Speaker 1: one of the obviously suspicious characters who had called there.
34:00
Speaker 1: He could hardly arrest Watson, but when he saw a
34:03
Speaker 1: man actually climbing out of the pantry window, there came
34:07
Speaker 1: a limit to his restraint. Of course, I told him
34:10
Speaker 1: how matters stood, and we continued the case together. Why him,
34:15
Speaker 1: why not us? Because it was in my mind to
34:19
Speaker 1: put that little test, which answered so admirably. I fear
34:23
Speaker 1: you would not have gone so far. The inspector smiled, Well,
34:28
Speaker 1: maybe not. I understand that I have your word, mister Holmes,
34:32
Speaker 1: that you step right out of the case now, and
34:34
Speaker 1: that you turn all your results over to us. Certainly
34:37
Speaker 1: that is always my custom. Well, in the name of
34:40
Speaker 1: the Force, I thank you. It seems a clear case
34:43
Speaker 1: as you put it, and there can't be much difficulty
34:46
Speaker 1: over the bodies. I'll show you a grim little bit
34:49
Speaker 1: of evidence, said Holmes, And I am sure Amberley himself
34:54
Speaker 1: never observed it. You'll get results, Inspector, by always putting
34:59
Speaker 1: yourself in the eye the fellow's place and thinking what
35:02
Speaker 1: you would do yourself. It takes some imagination, but it pays. Now.
35:08
Speaker 1: We will suppose that you were shut up in this
35:10
Speaker 1: little room, had not two minutes to live, but wanted
35:13
Speaker 1: to get even with the fiend, who was probably mocking
35:17
Speaker 1: at you from the other side of the door. What
35:20
Speaker 1: would you do? Write a message exactly? You would like
35:26
Speaker 1: to tell people how you died. No use writing on
35:29
Speaker 1: paper that would be seen. If you wrote on the wall,
35:34
Speaker 1: someone might rest upon it. Now, look here, just above
35:38
Speaker 1: the skirting is scribbled with a purple indelible pencil. We
35:43
Speaker 1: were that's all. What do you make of that? Well,
35:47
Speaker 1: it's only a foot above the ground. The poor devil
35:50
Speaker 1: was on the floor dying when he wrote it. He
35:53
Speaker 1: lost his senses before he could finish. He was writing,
35:57
Speaker 1: we were murdered. That's how I read. If you find
36:02
Speaker 1: an indelible pencil on the body. We'll look out for it.
36:05
Speaker 1: You may be sure, but those securities. But clearly there
36:09
Speaker 1: was no robbery at all. And yet he did possess
36:12
Speaker 1: those bonds. We verified that. You may be sure he
36:16
Speaker 1: has them hidden in a safe place. When the whole
36:19
Speaker 1: elopement had passed into history, he would suddenly discover them
36:24
Speaker 1: and announce that the guilty couple had relented and sent
36:27
Speaker 1: back the plunder or had dropped it on the way.
36:31
Speaker 1: You certainly seem to have met every difficulty, said the inspector.
36:36
Speaker 1: Of course he was bound to call us in. But
36:39
Speaker 1: why he should have gone to you, I can't understand.
36:42
Speaker 1: Pure swank Holmes answered. He felt so clever and so
36:47
Speaker 1: sure of himself that he imagined no one could touch him.
36:51
Speaker 1: He could say to any suspicious neighbor, look at the
36:54
Speaker 1: steps I have taken. I have consulted not only the police,
36:57
Speaker 1: but even Sherlock Holmes. The inspector laughed, we must forgive
37:02
Speaker 1: you your even mister Holmes, eh said he. It's as
37:06
Speaker 1: workman like a job as I can remember. A couple
37:11
Speaker 1: of days later, my friend tossed across to me a
37:14
Speaker 1: copy of the bi weekly North Surrey Observer under a
37:18
Speaker 1: series of flaming headlines which began with the Haven horror
37:23
Speaker 1: and ended with brilliant police investigation. There was a packed
37:28
Speaker 1: column of print which gave the first consecutive account of
37:31
Speaker 1: the affair. The concluding paragraph is typical of the whole
37:37
Speaker 1: it ran. Thus, the remarkable acumen by which Inspector mac
37:41
Speaker 1: kinnon deduced from the smell of paint that some other smell,
37:45
Speaker 1: that of gas, for example, might be concealed, the bold
37:49
Speaker 1: deduction that the strong room might also be the death chamber,
37:54
Speaker 1: and the subsequent inquiry which led to the discovery of
37:57
Speaker 1: the bodies in a disused well clever concealed by a
38:01
Speaker 1: dog kennel, should live in the history of crime as
38:05
Speaker 1: a standing example of the intelligence of our professional detectives.
38:11
Speaker 1: Well Well, McKinnon is a good fellow, said Holmes, with
38:17
Speaker 1: a tolerant smile. You can file it in our archives, Watson.
38:23
Speaker 1: Some day the true story may be told. That is
38:32
Speaker 1: the end of the Adventure of the Retired color Man
38:38
Speaker 1: by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for
38:44
Speaker 1: Magpie Audio twenty twenty two. And of course please like, subscribe,
38:52
Speaker 1: support me on Patreon, be alert, be free, be happy,
38:57
Speaker 1: and good night.