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18 The Musgrave Ritual from The Memoirs of Sherlock · Sherlock Holmes

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