1
00:00:00,900 --> 00:00:04,000
Adventure three of the return of
Sherlock Holmes by Sir, Arthur 

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,500
Conan Doyle. 
This LibriVox recording is in 

3
00:00:06,500 --> 00:00:12,300
the public domain. 
Adventure 3, The Adventure of 

4
00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:17,300
the dancing men. 
Homes have been seated for some 

5
00:00:17,300 --> 00:00:21,300
hours in Silence with his long. 
Thin back curved over a chemical

6
00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:24,700
vessel in which he was brewing, 
a particularly malodorous 

7
00:00:24,700 --> 00:00:27,200
product. 
His head was sunk upon his 

8
00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,400
breast and he looked from my 
point of view like a strange 

9
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,000
lank bird with dull grey plumage
and a black top. 

10
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:40,000
Not so Watson said, he suddenly,
you do not propose to invest in 

11
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:45,000
South African Securities. 
I gave a start of astonishment a

12
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,200
custom. 
Was two homes is curious 

13
00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,700
faculties. 
This sudden intrusion into my 

14
00:00:49,700 --> 00:00:52,600
most intimate thoughts was 
utterly inexplicable. 

15
00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:55,800
How on Earth do you know that I 
asked? 

16
00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,900
He wheeled round upon his stool 
with a steaming test tube in his

17
00:00:59,900 --> 00:01:03,400
hand and a gleam of amusement in
his deep-set eyes. 

18
00:01:04,300 --> 00:01:10,500
Now Watson confess yourself. 
Utterly taken aback said he I am

19
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,100
I ought to make you sign a paper
to that effect. 

20
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,700
Why? 
Because in five minutes, you 

21
00:01:19,700 --> 00:01:22,400
will say that. 
It is also absurdly simple. 

22
00:01:23,300 --> 00:01:25,500
I'm sure that I shall say 
nothing of the kind. 

23
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,400
You see my dear Watson. 
He propped his test tube in the 

24
00:01:29,408 --> 00:01:32,200
rack and began to lecture with 
the air of a professor 

25
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,000
addressing his class. 
It is not really difficult to 

26
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,100
construct a series of 
inferences. 

27
00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,600
Each dependent upon its 
predecessor and each simple in 

28
00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,700
itself, if after doing so one 
simply knocks out All the 

29
00:01:46,700 --> 00:01:50,800
central inferences and presents 
one's audience with the starting

30
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,200
point. 
And the conclusion one, may 

31
00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,200
produce a startling though, 
possibly a meretricious effect. 

32
00:01:57,700 --> 00:02:01,900
Now, it was not really difficult
by an inspection of the groove 

33
00:02:01,900 --> 00:02:04,700
between your left forefinger and
thumb to feel. 

34
00:02:04,700 --> 00:02:08,900
Sure that you did not propose to
invest your small capital in the

35
00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:13,900
gold fields. 
I see no connection, very likely

36
00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:17,700
not, but I can quickly show you 
a close connection. 

37
00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:22,400
Here are the missing links of 
the very simple chain one. 

38
00:02:22,900 --> 00:02:26,200
You had chalk between your left 
finger and thumb when you return

39
00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,700
from the club last night, to you
put chalk there. 

40
00:02:30,700 --> 00:02:36,200
When you play Billiards to 
steady the Q3 you never play 

41
00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,400
Billiards except with Thurston 
for you. 

42
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,100
Hold me for weeks ago, that 
Thurston had an option on some 

43
00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:47,800
South African property which 
will expire in a month and which

44
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:49,500
he desired you to share with 
him. 

45
00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:53,200
Five. 
Your checkbook is locked in my 

46
00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,200
drawer and you have not asked 
for the key 6. 

47
00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,000
You do not propose to invest 
your money in this manner. 

48
00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,500
How absurdly simple? 
I cried. 

49
00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:08,800
Quite so said, he a little 
nettled. 

50
00:03:09,300 --> 00:03:11,600
Every problem becomes very 
childish. 

51
00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,800
When once it is explained to 
you, here is an unexplained one.

52
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,700
See what you can make of that 
friend Watson. 

53
00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:22,900
He tossed a sheet of paper upon 
the table and turned once more 

54
00:03:22,900 --> 00:03:27,000
to his chemical analysis. 
I looked with amazement at the 

55
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000
Absurd hieroglyphics upon the 
paper. 

56
00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,400
Why Holmes it is a child's 
drawing. 

57
00:03:33,700 --> 00:03:37,300
I cried. 
Oh, that's your idea. 

58
00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,400
What else should it be? 
That is what mr. 

59
00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,600
Hilton cubitt have riding Thorpe
Manor. 

60
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:48,700
Norfolk is very anxious to know 
this little conundrum came by 

61
00:03:48,700 --> 00:03:52,400
the first post and he was to 
follow by the next train. 

62
00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:54,600
There's a ring at the Bell 
Watson. 

63
00:03:55,100 --> 00:03:59,300
I should not be very much 
surprised if this were he I have

64
00:03:59,300 --> 00:04:02,200
you step Was Heard upon the 
stairs and an instant later 

65
00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:06,400
there, interred at already clean
shaven gentleman, whose clear 

66
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,400
eyes and floret cheeks told of a
life LED far from the fog's of 

67
00:04:10,408 --> 00:04:13,200
Baker Street. 
He seemed to bring a whiff of 

68
00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:17,000
his strong fresh, bracing East 
Coast are with him as he entered

69
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,700
having shaken hands with each of
us. 

70
00:04:19,707 --> 00:04:24,000
He was about to sit down when 
his eye rested upon the paper 

71
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,900
with the Curious markings, which
I had just examined and left 

72
00:04:27,900 --> 00:04:30,400
upon the Table. 
Well, mr. 

73
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,900
Holmes. 
What do you make of these? 

74
00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,600
He cried? 
They told me that you are fond 

75
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,800
of queer Mysteries and I don't 
think you would find a queerer 

76
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,200
one than that. 
I sent a paper on her head so 

77
00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,500
that you might have time to 
study it before I came. 

78
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,200
It is certainly rather a curious
production said, Holmes at first

79
00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:51,800
sight. 
It would appear to be some 

80
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,700
Childish prank. 
It consists of a number of 

81
00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:58,100
absurd little figures dancing 
across the paper upon which they

82
00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:00,700
are drawn. 
Why should you attribute any 

83
00:05:00,700 --> 00:05:03,400
importance to? 
So grotesque an object? 

84
00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:08,100
I never should mr. 
Holmes, but my wife does it is 

85
00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:11,400
frightening her to death. 
She says nothing, but I can see 

86
00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,700
Terror in her eyes. 
That's why I want to sift the 

87
00:05:14,700 --> 00:05:19,200
matter to the Some. 
Holmes held up the paper so that

88
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,400
the sunlight Shone full upon it,
it was a page torn from a 

89
00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,700
notebook. 
The markings were done in pencil

90
00:05:27,300 --> 00:05:32,200
and ran in a particular way. 
Holmes, examined it for some 

91
00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,300
time, and then folded it 
carefully up. 

92
00:05:34,900 --> 00:05:39,700
He placed it in his pocketbook. 
This promises to be a most 

93
00:05:39,700 --> 00:05:43,600
interesting. 
And unusual case said, he you 

94
00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,500
gave me a few particulars in 
your letter. 

95
00:05:45,500 --> 00:05:48,800
Mr. Hilton cubitt, but I should 
be very much obliged. 

96
00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,000
If you would kindly go over it 
all again for the benefit of my 

97
00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,800
dear friend. 
Dr. Watson. 

98
00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,500
I'm not much of a Storyteller 
said, our visitor, nervously 

99
00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:01,800
clasping and unclasping, his 
great strong hands. 

100
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,100
You'll just ask me anything that
I don't make clear. 

101
00:06:05,700 --> 00:06:07,400
I'll begin at the time of my 
marriage. 

102
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,200
Last year, but I want to say 
first of all that though. 

103
00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,400
I'm not a rich man. 
My people have been at riding 

104
00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,900
salt for a matter of five 
centuries and there is no better

105
00:06:18,900 --> 00:06:22,300
known family in the county of 
Norfolk last year. 

106
00:06:22,300 --> 00:06:25,500
I came up to London for the 
Jubilee and I stopped at a 

107
00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:29,500
boarding house in Russell Square
because Parker the vicar of our 

108
00:06:29,500 --> 00:06:33,700
Parish was staying in it. 
There was an American young lady

109
00:06:33,700 --> 00:06:37,600
there, Patrick was the name 
Elsie Patrick. 

110
00:06:38,500 --> 00:06:41,900
Some way we became friends until
before my month was up. 

111
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,800
I was as much in love as man, 
could be. 

112
00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,000
We were quietly married at a 
registry office and we returned 

113
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,700
to Norfolk a wedded couple. 
You'll think it very mad. 

114
00:06:52,700 --> 00:06:55,500
Mr. Holmes, that a man of good 
old family. 

115
00:06:55,500 --> 00:06:58,700
Should marry a wife in this 
fashion knowing nothing of her 

116
00:06:58,700 --> 00:07:03,200
past or of her people, but if 
you saw her and knew her it 

117
00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:07,900
would help you to understand. 
She was very straight about it 

118
00:07:07,900 --> 00:07:10,500
was Elsie. 
I can't say that she did not 

119
00:07:10,500 --> 00:07:13,700
give me every chance of getting 
out of it, if I wish to do. 

120
00:07:13,700 --> 00:07:18,500
So I've had some very 
disagreeable associations in my 

121
00:07:18,500 --> 00:07:22,700
life said, she, I wish to forget
all about them. 

122
00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,700
I'd rather never allude to the 
Past for it is very painful to 

123
00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:29,500
me. 
If you take me Hilton, you'll 

124
00:07:29,500 --> 00:07:32,200
take a woman who was nothing 
that she need, be personally 

125
00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,900
ashamed of, but you'll have to 
be content with my word for it. 

126
00:07:36,300 --> 00:07:39,100
And to allow me to be silent as 
to all that passed up to the 

127
00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:42,600
time when I became yours. 
If these conditions are too 

128
00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,600
hard, then go back to Norfolk 
and leave me to the lonely life.

129
00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,200
In which you found me. 
It was only the day before our 

130
00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,000
wedding that she said those very
words to me. 

131
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,800
I told her that I was content to
take her on her own terms and I 

132
00:07:57,808 --> 00:08:02,100
have been as good as my word. 
Well, we've been married now for

133
00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:07,000
a year and very happy we've been
But about a month ago, at the 

134
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,000
end of June, I saw for the first
time signs of trouble one day, 

135
00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,500
my wife received a letter from 
America. 

136
00:08:15,100 --> 00:08:19,000
I saw the American stamp. 
She turned, deadly white. 

137
00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:21,500
Read the letter and threw it 
into the fire. 

138
00:08:22,300 --> 00:08:27,000
She made no allusion to it 
afterwards and I made none for a

139
00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,200
promise is a promise, but she 
has never known an easy. 

140
00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,500
Our from that moment. 
There's always a look of fear 

141
00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:36,700
upon her face. 
Look as if she were waiting and 

142
00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:39,600
expecting she would do better, 
to trust me. 

143
00:08:40,299 --> 00:08:42,600
She would find that I was her 
best friend. 

144
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,100
But until she speaks I can say 
nothing mind you. 

145
00:08:47,500 --> 00:08:50,700
She is a truthful woman. 
Mr. Holmes and whatever trouble,

146
00:08:50,700 --> 00:08:52,800
there may have been in her past 
life. 

147
00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:56,700
It has been no fault of hers. 
I'm only a simple Norfolk 

148
00:08:56,700 --> 00:09:00,400
Squire, but there's not a man in
England who ranks his family 

149
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,300
honor more highly than I do. 
She knows it. 

150
00:09:03,300 --> 00:09:05,900
Well, and she knew it well 
before she married me. 

151
00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:08,700
She would never bring any stain 
upon it. 

152
00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:09,900
That I am. 
Sure. 

153
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:15,100
Well, now I come to the queer 
part of my story about a week 

154
00:09:15,100 --> 00:09:17,800
ago. 
It was the Tuesday of last week.

155
00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,100
I found on one of the window 
sills and number of absurd 

156
00:09:21,100 --> 00:09:24,800
little dancing figures like 
these upon the paper. 

157
00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:29,300
They were scrawled with chalk. 
I thought it was a stable boy 

158
00:09:29,300 --> 00:09:34,000
who drawn them but the lad swore
he knew nothing about It anyhow,

159
00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,000
they had come there during the 
night. 

160
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,700
I had them washed out and I only
mentioned the matter to my wife 

161
00:09:39,700 --> 00:09:44,900
afterwards to my surprise. 
She took it very seriously and 

162
00:09:44,900 --> 00:09:47,300
begged me if any more came to 
let us see them. 

163
00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:52,400
Non did come for a week and then
yesterday morning. 

164
00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,800
I found this paper lying on the 
sundial in the garden. 

165
00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:01,000
I showed it to Elsie and down. 
She dropped in a dead faint 

166
00:10:01,700 --> 00:10:03,700
since then. 
She'd looked like a woman in a 

167
00:10:03,700 --> 00:10:07,900
dream half dazed and with Terror
always lurking in her eyes. 

168
00:10:08,700 --> 00:10:11,200
It was then that I wrote and 
sent a paper to you. 

169
00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,900
Mr. Holmes. 
He was not a thing that I could 

170
00:10:13,900 --> 00:10:17,100
take to the police for. 
They would have laughed at me. 

171
00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:19,200
Would you all tell me what to 
do? 

172
00:10:19,900 --> 00:10:22,400
I'm not a rich man. 
But if there is any danger, 

173
00:10:22,500 --> 00:10:26,300
threatening my little woman, I 
would spend my last copper to 

174
00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:29,700
Shield her. 
He was a fine creature. 

175
00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:34,300
This man of the Old English. 
Soil, simple straight and gentle

176
00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:37,800
with his great Earnest, blue 
eyes, and Broad comely face. 

177
00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,100
His love for his wife and his 
trust in her. 

178
00:10:41,100 --> 00:10:45,100
Shawn in his features Holmes had
listened to his story with the 

179
00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:49,400
utmost attention and now he sat 
for some time in silent thought.

180
00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,700
Don't you think mr. 
Cubitt said he at last that's 

181
00:10:54,700 --> 00:10:58,400
your best plan would be to make 
a direct appeal to your wife, 

182
00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:02,700
and to ask her to share her 
secret with you Hilton. 

183
00:11:02,700 --> 00:11:03,400
Cubitt. 
Shook. 

184
00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,600
His massive head. 
A promise is a promise. 

185
00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,400
Mr. Holmes. 
If L see wish to tell me she 

186
00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:15,200
would, if not, it is not for me 
to force her confidence, but I 

187
00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:21,100
am justified in taking my own 
line and I will Then I'll help 

188
00:11:21,100 --> 00:11:24,100
you with all my heart in the 
first place. 

189
00:11:24,100 --> 00:11:27,200
Have you heard of any strangers 
being seen in your neighborhood?

190
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,800
No, I presume that. 
It is a very quiet place. 

191
00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:37,000
Any fresh face would cause 
comment in the immediate 

192
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,500
neighborhood. 
Yes, but we have several small 

193
00:11:40,500 --> 00:11:44,500
watering places not very far 
away and the farmers take in 

194
00:11:44,500 --> 00:11:49,300
Lodgers these hieroglyphics of 
evidently a meaning. 

195
00:11:50,100 --> 00:11:53,500
Is a purely arbitrary one. 
It may be impossible for us to 

196
00:11:53,500 --> 00:11:56,700
solve it. 
If, on the other hand, it is 

197
00:11:56,700 --> 00:11:59,200
systematic. 
I have no doubt that we should 

198
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:02,700
get to the bottom of it. 
This particular sample is so 

199
00:12:02,700 --> 00:12:06,000
short that I can do nothing and 
the facts, which you have 

200
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,800
brought me as though indefinite,
but we have no basis for an 

201
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,700
investigation. 
I would suggest that you return 

202
00:12:13,700 --> 00:12:17,700
to Norfolk that you keep a keen 
Lookout and that you take an 

203
00:12:17,700 --> 00:12:21,600
exact copy of any fresh Dan. 
Dancing men which may appear. 

204
00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,000
It is a thousand pities that we 
have not a reproduction of 

205
00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,800
those, which were done in chalk 
up on the windowsill make a 

206
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,700
discreet inquiry. 
Also, as to any strangers in the

207
00:12:32,700 --> 00:12:36,200
neighborhood, when you've 
collected some fresh evidence, 

208
00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,900
come to me again. 
That is the best advice, which I

209
00:12:39,908 --> 00:12:42,600
can give you. 
Mr. Hilton cubitt. 

210
00:12:43,300 --> 00:12:45,400
If there are any pressing fresh 
developments. 

211
00:12:45,900 --> 00:12:49,000
I shall be always ready to run 
down and see you in your Norfolk

212
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,500
home. 
The interview left Sherlock, 

213
00:12:52,500 --> 00:12:55,100
Holmes, very thoughtful and 
several times. 

214
00:12:55,100 --> 00:12:56,600
In the next few days. 
I saw him. 

215
00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:00,600
Take his slip of paper from his 
notebook and looked long and 

216
00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,900
earnestly at the Curious figures
inscribed upon it. 

217
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:06,600
He may no allusion to the 
affair. 

218
00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:10,400
However, until one afternoon a 
fortnight or so later. 

219
00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,500
I was going out. 
When he called me back, you had 

220
00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:15,900
better, stay here. 
Watson. 

221
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,500
Why? 
Because I had a wire from 

222
00:13:19,500 --> 00:13:22,300
Hilton. 
It this morning you remember 

223
00:13:22,300 --> 00:13:24,900
Hilton cubitt of the dancing 
men. 

224
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,300
He was to reach Liverpool Street
at 120. 

225
00:13:28,900 --> 00:13:32,400
You may be here at any moment. 
I gather from his wire that 

226
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,400
there have been some new 
incidents of importance. 

227
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,900
We had not long to wait for our 
Norfolk Squire, came straight 

228
00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:42,600
from the station as fast as a 
handsome could bring him. 

229
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,600
He was looking worried and 
depressed with tired eyes and 

230
00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,300
aligned forehead. 
It's getting on my nerves is 

231
00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:53,000
business. 
Mr. Holmes said he as he sank 

232
00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:54,900
like a wearied man into an 
armchair. 

233
00:13:55,900 --> 00:14:00,500
It's bad enough to feel that you
are surrounded by unseen unknown

234
00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:03,000
folk who have some kind of 
design upon you. 

235
00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:07,400
But when in addition to that, 
you know that it is just Killing

236
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:11,400
Your Wife by inches, then it 
becomes as much as flesh and 

237
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,600
blood can endure. 
She's wearing away under it. 

238
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,500
Just wearing away before my 
eyes. 

239
00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,700
Has she said anything yet? 
No, mr. 

240
00:14:21,700 --> 00:14:23,500
Holmes. 
She has not. 

241
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,300
And yet there have been times 
when the poor girl has wanted to

242
00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:31,800
speak and yet could not quite 
bring herself to take the 

243
00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:35,300
plunge. 
I have tried to help her, but I 

244
00:14:35,300 --> 00:14:38,200
dare say, I did it clumsily and 
scared her from it. 

245
00:14:39,700 --> 00:14:43,600
She has spoken about my old 
family and our reputation in the

246
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:48,400
county and our pride in our 
unsullied honor and I always 

247
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,300
felt it was leading to the 
point, but somehow it turned off

248
00:14:52,300 --> 00:14:56,500
before we got there. 
But you have found out something

249
00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:59,200
for yourself. 
A good deal. 

250
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,000
Mr. Holmes. 
I have several fresh dancing, 

251
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,100
men pictures for you to examine.
And what is more important? 

252
00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:11,200
I have seen the fellow. 
What the man who draws them. 

253
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,700
Yes. 
I saw him at his work, but I 

254
00:15:14,700 --> 00:15:17,800
will tell you everything in 
order when I got back. 

255
00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,800
After my first visit to you. 
The very first thing I saw next 

256
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,200
morning was a fresh crop of 
Dance. 

257
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,400
Men, they have been drawn in 
chalk upon the black wooden door

258
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,400
of the to house which stands 
beside the lawn. 

259
00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:33,300
In full view of the front 
windows. 

260
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,000
I took an exact copy and here it
is. 

261
00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,900
He unfolded a paper and laid it 
upon the table. 

262
00:15:41,900 --> 00:15:43,900
Here is a copy of the 
hieroglyphics. 

263
00:15:45,700 --> 00:15:48,800
Excellent said Holmes. 
Excellent. 

264
00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:53,600
A pray continue. 
When I taken the copy, my rubbed

265
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,300
out the marks, but two mornings 
later a fresh inscription had 

266
00:15:57,300 --> 00:15:59,700
appeared. 
I have a copy of it here. 

267
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,400
Holmes, rubbed his hands and 
chuckled with delight. 

268
00:16:04,500 --> 00:16:09,400
Our material is rapidly. 
Accumulating said he three days 

269
00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:11,900
later. 
A message was left, scrawled 

270
00:16:11,900 --> 00:16:15,200
upon paper and placed under a 
pebble on the Sundial. 

271
00:16:15,900 --> 00:16:16,600
Here. 
It is. 

272
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:21,000
The characters are, as you see 
exactly the same as the, last 

273
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,900
one after that. 
I determined to lie in. 

274
00:16:23,900 --> 00:16:28,600
Wait, so I got out My Revolver 
and I sat up in my study which 

275
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,400
overlooks the lawn and garden. 
About two in the morning. 

276
00:16:32,900 --> 00:16:37,000
I was seated by the window all 
being dark say for the Moonlight

277
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,700
outside. 
When I heard steps behind me and

278
00:16:40,700 --> 00:16:42,800
there was my wife in her 
dressing gown. 

279
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:48,300
She implored me to come to bed. 
I told her frankly that I wish 

280
00:16:48,300 --> 00:16:52,000
to see who it was who played 
such absurd tricks upon us. 

281
00:16:52,900 --> 00:16:57,100
She answered that it was some 
senseless practical joke and 

282
00:16:57,100 --> 00:16:59,100
that I should not take any 
notice of it. 

283
00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:04,200
If it really annoys you Hilton, 
we might go and travel you and I

284
00:17:04,700 --> 00:17:10,000
and so avoid this nuisance. 
What be driven out of our own 

285
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:15,200
house by a practical joker said?
I why we should have the whole 

286
00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:20,900
County laughing at us. 
Well, come to bed said, she and 

287
00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:22,400
we can discuss it in the 
morning. 

288
00:17:23,500 --> 00:17:27,800
Suddenly, as she spoke. 
I saw her white face grow whiter

289
00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,400
yet in the Moonlight and her 
hand tightened upon my shoulder.

290
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,300
Something was moving in the 
shadow of the tool-house. 

291
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,700
I saw a dark creeping figure, 
which crawled around the corner 

292
00:17:40,100 --> 00:17:43,900
and squatted in front of the 
door seizing my pistol. 

293
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,500
I was rushing out when my wife 
threw her arms around me, and 

294
00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:49,400
held me with convulsive 
strength. 

295
00:17:50,100 --> 00:17:53,100
I tried to throw her off, but 
she clung, to me most, 

296
00:17:53,300 --> 00:17:56,100
Desperately At Last. 
I got clear. 

297
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,800
But by the time, I had opened 
the door and reached the house, 

298
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:04,000
the creature was gone. 
He had left a trace of his 

299
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,700
presence. 
However for there, on the door 

300
00:18:06,700 --> 00:18:09,900
was the very same arrangement of
dancing men which had already 

301
00:18:09,900 --> 00:18:13,500
twice appeared and which I had 
copied on that paper. 

302
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,300
There was no other sign of the 
fellow anywhere. 

303
00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:20,700
No, I ran all over the grounds 
and yet the amazing thing is 

304
00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:23,100
that he must have been there all
the time. 

305
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,800
For when I examined the door 
again in the morning. 

306
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,100
He has crawled some more of his 
pictures under the line, which I

307
00:18:29,108 --> 00:18:32,900
had already seen. 
Have you that fresh drawing? 

308
00:18:33,700 --> 00:18:37,000
Yes, it is very short, but I 
made a copy of it. 

309
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,500
And here it is. 
Again. 

310
00:18:39,500 --> 00:18:43,500
He produced a paper, the new 
dance was in a different form. 

311
00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:49,000
Tell me said Holmes and I could 
see by his eyes that he was much

312
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,400
excited. 
Was this a mere addition to the 

313
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,100
first? 
Or did it appear to be entirely 

314
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:58,700
separate? 
It was on a different panel of 

315
00:18:58,700 --> 00:19:01,100
the door. 
Excellent. 

316
00:19:01,700 --> 00:19:04,700
This is far the most important 
of all for our purpose. 

317
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,100
It fills me with hopes. 
Now, mr. 

318
00:19:09,100 --> 00:19:13,800
Hilton cubitt, please continue 
your most interesting statement.

319
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,800
I have nothing more to say mr. 
Holmes except that I was angry 

320
00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,200
with my wife that night for 
having held me back when I might

321
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,400
have caught the skulking Rascal.
She said that, she feared that I

322
00:19:26,408 --> 00:19:29,700
might come to harm for an 
instant. 

323
00:19:29,700 --> 00:19:33,000
It had crossed my mind that 
perhaps, what she really feared 

324
00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:36,500
was that he might come to harm 
for. 

325
00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:40,200
I could not doubt that she knew,
who this man was and what he 

326
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,400
meant by these strange signals, 
but there is a tone in my wife's

327
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:46,700
voice. 
Mr. Holmes, and the look in her 

328
00:19:46,700 --> 00:19:50,500
eyes, which forbid doubt and I 
am sure that it was indeed my 

329
00:19:50,500 --> 00:19:52,600
own safety. 
That was in her mind. 

330
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,200
There's the whole case. 
And now I want your advice as to

331
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,900
what I ought to do. 
My own inclination is to put 

332
00:20:01,900 --> 00:20:04,500
half a dozen of my farm lands in
the Shrubbery. 

333
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,900
And when this fellow comes again
to give him such a hiding that 

334
00:20:08,900 --> 00:20:11,100
he will leave us in peace for 
the future. 

335
00:20:12,500 --> 00:20:16,400
I fear it is too deeper case for
such simple remedies said 

336
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,400
Holmes. 
How long can you stay in London?

337
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,900
I must go back today. 
I would not leave my wife alone 

338
00:20:23,900 --> 00:20:28,300
all night for anything. 
She is very nervous and begged 

339
00:20:28,300 --> 00:20:32,700
me to come back. 
I dare say you are right, but if

340
00:20:32,700 --> 00:20:35,200
you could have stopped I might 
possibly have been able to 

341
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,800
return with you in a day or two.
Meanwhile, you will leave me 

342
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,700
these papers and I think that it
is very likely that I shall be 

343
00:20:43,700 --> 00:20:47,300
able to pay you a visit shortly 
and to throw some light upon 

344
00:20:47,300 --> 00:20:51,300
your case. 
Sherlock Holmes preserved, his 

345
00:20:51,300 --> 00:20:54,700
calm, professional manner, until
our visitor had left us. 

346
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,100
Although it was easy for me who 
knew him so well to see that. 

347
00:20:59,100 --> 00:21:03,600
He was profoundly excited. 
The moment that Tilton cubits 

348
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,800
broad back had disappeared 
through the door. 

349
00:21:06,300 --> 00:21:10,100
My comrade rushed to the table 
laid out all the slips of paper.

350
00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:14,100
Containing dancing men in front 
of him and threw himself into an

351
00:21:14,100 --> 00:21:18,800
intricate and elaborate 
calculation for two hours. 

352
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,800
I watched him as he covered 
sheet after sheet of paper with 

353
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,100
figures and letters. 
So completely absorbed in his 

354
00:21:26,100 --> 00:21:29,300
task and he had evidently 
forgotten my presence. 

355
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,500
Sometimes he was making progress
and whistled and sang at his 

356
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:36,800
work. 
Sometimes he was puzzled and 

357
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:40,100
would sit for long spells with a
furrowed brow and a vacant. 

358
00:21:40,100 --> 00:21:45,600
I finally, he sprang from his 
chair with a cry of satisfaction

359
00:21:45,900 --> 00:21:49,800
and walked up and down the room.
Rubbing his hands together, and 

360
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,300
he wrote A Long Telegram upon a 
cable form. 

361
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,900
If my answer to this is as I 
hope you will have a very pretty

362
00:21:58,900 --> 00:22:03,600
case to add to your collection. 
Watson said he I expect that we 

363
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,900
shall be able to go down to 
Norfolk tomorrow and to take our

364
00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:10,000
friends some very definite news 
as to the secret of his 

365
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,400
annoyance. 
I confess that I was filled with

366
00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,900
curiosity, but I was aware that 
homes like to make his 

367
00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:20,300
disclosures at his own time and 
in his own way. 

368
00:22:21,100 --> 00:22:24,100
So I waited until it should suit
him to take me into his 

369
00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:28,600
confidence, but there was a 
delay in that answering Telegram

370
00:22:28,700 --> 00:22:32,100
and two days of impatience 
followed during which Holmes 

371
00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:34,200
pricked up his ears at every 
ring of the Bell. 

372
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,100
On the evening of the second 
day. 

373
00:22:37,100 --> 00:22:41,300
I came a letter from Hilton. 
Cubitt all was quiet with him, 

374
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,200
say that a long inscription had 
appeared that morning upon the 

375
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:49,900
pedestal of the Sundial. 
He enclosed a copy of it which 

376
00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:55,300
he reproduced homes bent over 
this grotesque freeze for some 

377
00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:59,400
minutes and then suddenly sprang
to his feet with an exclamation 

378
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,400
of surprise and dismay. 
His face was Haggard with 

379
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:07,000
anxiety. 
We have let this affair go far 

380
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,100
enough said he is there a train 
to North Walsham tonight? 

381
00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:15,100
I turned up the timetable. 
The last had just gone. 

382
00:23:16,300 --> 00:23:18,900
Then we shall Breakfast early 
and take the very first in the 

383
00:23:18,900 --> 00:23:22,300
morning, said Holmes. 
Our presence is most urgently 

384
00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:25,300
needed. 
Ah, here is our expected 

385
00:23:25,300 --> 00:23:28,000
cablegram. 
One moment. 

386
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,800
Mrs. Hudson. 
There may be an answer. 

387
00:23:30,900 --> 00:23:35,000
No, that is quite as I expected 
this message, makes it even more

388
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,200
essential that we should not 
lose an hour in letting Hilton 

389
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,900
cubitt know how matters stand 
for. 

390
00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:44,700
It is a singular and a dangerous
web in which our simple, Norfolk

391
00:23:44,700 --> 00:23:50,000
Squire is entangled. 
So, indeed it proved, and as I 

392
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,200
come to the dark conclusion of a
story, which had seemed to me to

393
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,900
be only childish and bizarre. 
I experience once again, the 

394
00:23:57,900 --> 00:24:00,500
dismay and horror with which I 
was filled. 

395
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,900
Would that I had some bright 
attending to communicate to my 

396
00:24:04,900 --> 00:24:09,000
readers, but these are the 
chronicles of fact and I must 

397
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,300
follow to their dark crisis, the
strange chain of events, which 

398
00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:17,400
for some days made riding Thorpe
Manor, a household word through 

399
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,800
the length and breadth of 
England. 

400
00:24:21,300 --> 00:24:24,600
We had hardly alighted at North 
Walsham and mentioned the name 

401
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,400
of our destination when the 
stationmaster hurried towards us

402
00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:33,800
or suppose that you're the 
detectives from, Said he I look 

403
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,000
of annoyance passed over 
Holmes's face. 

404
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,700
What makes you think such a 
thing? 

405
00:24:39,500 --> 00:24:42,600
Because inspector mine from 
Norwich has just passed through.

406
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:47,400
But maybe you're the surgeons. 
She's not dead or wasn't by last

407
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,900
accounts. 
He may be in time to save her 

408
00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:52,100
yet. 
No, it be for The Gallows. 

409
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,800
Holmes, his brow was dark with 
anxiety. 

410
00:24:56,900 --> 00:25:00,200
We're going to riding Thorpe. 
Manor said he, but we have heard

411
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:01,700
nothing of what has passed 
there. 

412
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,500
It's a terrible business. 
Said the stationmaster, they are

413
00:25:06,500 --> 00:25:09,800
sure both. 
Mr. Hilton cubitt and his wife. 

414
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:14,900
She shot him and then herself. 
So, the servants say he's dead 

415
00:25:14,900 --> 00:25:17,300
and her life is despaired of 
dear. 

416
00:25:17,300 --> 00:25:19,600
Dear. 
One of the oldest families in 

417
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:24,600
the county of Norfolk and one of
the most honored without a word 

418
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,200
homes hurried to a carriage. 
During the long seven miles 

419
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:29,900
drive. 
He never opened his mouth 

420
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:31,800
seldom. 
Have I seen him. 

421
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,600
So utterly despondent. 
He had been uneasy during all 

422
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,500
our journey from town and I had 
observed that he had turned over

423
00:25:39,500 --> 00:25:44,000
the morning papers with anxious 
attention, but now this sudden 

424
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,300
realization of his worst fears 
left him in a blank Melancholy. 

425
00:25:49,100 --> 00:25:53,000
He leaned back in his seat lost 
in Gloomy speculation. 

426
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,100
Yet there was much around to 
interest us. 

427
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,900
For we were passing through as 
singular a Countryside as any in

428
00:25:59,900 --> 00:26:03,600
England were a few scattered 
Cottages represented the 

429
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:08,100
population of today, while on 
every hand enormous sqrt. 

430
00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:12,600
Our churches bristled up from 
the flat Green Landscape and 

431
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,900
told of the glory and prosperity
of old East Anglia. 

432
00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:20,400
At last, the violent rim of the 
German ocean appeared over the 

433
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:24,200
green edge of the Norfolk coast 
and the driver pointed with his 

434
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:28,400
whip, 22 Old Brick and Timber 
Gables which projected from a 

435
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,800
Grove of trees that's riding 
taught Banner. 

436
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:36,100
Said, he as we drove up to the 
porticoed front door. 

437
00:26:36,500 --> 00:26:39,900
I observed in front of it, 
beside the tennis lawn, the 

438
00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:43,200
black tulle house and the 
pedestal Sundial with which we 

439
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:48,100
had such strange associations. 
Dapper little man with a quick 

440
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,100
alerts Manner and a waxed 
mustache had just descended from

441
00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:55,700
a high dog cart. 
He introduced himself as 

442
00:26:55,700 --> 00:26:59,500
Inspector, Martin of the Norfolk
constabulary and he was 

443
00:26:59,500 --> 00:27:02,600
considerably astonished when he 
heard the name of my companion, 

444
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,800
why mr. 
Holmes, the crime was only 

445
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,000
committed at 3:00 this morning. 
How could you hear of it in 

446
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,400
London and get to the spot as 
soon as I? 

447
00:27:12,700 --> 00:27:16,200
I anticipated it. 
I came in the hope of preventing

448
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,800
it. 
Then you must have important 

449
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,200
evidence of which we are 
ignorant for. 

450
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,300
There were said to be a most 
United couple. 

451
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:26,400
I have only the evidence of the 
dancing. 

452
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,800
Men said Holmes. 
I will explain the matter to you

453
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,500
later. 
Meanwhile, since it is too late 

454
00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:36,900
to prevent this tragedy. 
I am very anxious that I should 

455
00:27:36,900 --> 00:27:40,300
use the knowledge which I 
possess in order to ensure that 

456
00:27:40,300 --> 00:27:43,500
Justice be done. 
You associate me in your 

457
00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:47,700
investigation or will you prefer
that I should act independently?

458
00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:51,400
I should be proud to feel that 
we were acting together. 

459
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,900
Mr. Holmes said the inspector 
earnestly in that case. 

460
00:27:55,900 --> 00:27:58,900
I should be glad to hear the 
evidence and to examine the 

461
00:27:58,900 --> 00:28:01,800
premises without an instant of 
unnecessary delay. 

462
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,700
Inspector, Martin had the good 
sense to allow my friend to do 

463
00:28:06,700 --> 00:28:10,400
things in his own fashion and 
contented himself with 

464
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,500
carefully. 
Noting the results, the local 

465
00:28:13,500 --> 00:28:16,900
surgeon. 
An old white-haired man had just

466
00:28:16,900 --> 00:28:20,200
come down from mrs. 
Hilton cubitt's room and he 

467
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,600
reported that. 
Her injuries were serious, but 

468
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,600
not necessarily fatal. 
The bullet had passed through 

469
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,600
the front of her brain, and it 
would probably be some time 

470
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,500
before she could regain 
Consciousness on the question of

471
00:28:34,500 --> 00:28:37,700
whether she had been shot or had
shot herself. 

472
00:28:38,100 --> 00:28:41,100
He would not venture to express.
Any decided opinion. 

473
00:28:41,900 --> 00:28:44,600
Certainly the bullet had been 
discharged at very close 

474
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,400
quarters. 
There was only the one pistol 

475
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,700
found in the room, two, barrels 
of which had been emptied. 

476
00:28:51,500 --> 00:28:54,200
Mr. Hilton cubitt had been shot 
through the heart. 

477
00:28:54,900 --> 00:28:58,400
It was equally conceivable that 
he had shot her and then himself

478
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,600
or that she had been the 
criminal for the revolver. 

479
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:06,700
Lay upon the floor midway 
between them has he been moved? 

480
00:29:06,700 --> 00:29:09,800
Asked Holmes. 
We have moved nothing except the

481
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,300
lady, we could not leave her 
lying wounded upon the floor. 

482
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:19,900
How long have you been here 
doctor since 4:00 anyone else? 

483
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,500
Yes, the Constable here and you 
have touched nothing. 

484
00:29:24,900 --> 00:29:27,600
Nothing. 
You have acted with great 

485
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:32,500
discretion who sent you the 
housemaid Saunders. 

486
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,100
Was it? 
She who gave the alarm? 

487
00:29:35,900 --> 00:29:38,300
She and mrs. 
King the cook. 

488
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,500
Where are they now in the 
kitchen, I believe. 

489
00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:46,000
Then I think we'd better hear 
their story at once. 

490
00:29:47,500 --> 00:29:51,600
The old Hall oak-paneled, and 
high windowed had been turned 

491
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,600
into a quarter investigation, 
Holmes sat in a great 

492
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,300
old-fashioned chair, his 
inexorable eyes gleaming out of 

493
00:29:59,308 --> 00:30:02,600
his Haggard face. 
I could read in them a set 

494
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,600
purpose to devote his life to 
this Quest until the client whom

495
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:11,100
he had failed to save should at 
last be Avenged the trim, 

496
00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:15,900
inspector Martin the old Re 
headed Country Doctor myself and

497
00:30:15,900 --> 00:30:19,600
a stolid Village policeman made 
up the rest of that strange 

498
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,500
company. 
The two women told their story. 

499
00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:26,400
Clearly enough. 
They had been aroused from their

500
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,500
sleep, by the sound of an 
explosion, which have been 

501
00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:31,700
followed a minute later by a 
second one. 

502
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,500
They slept in adjoining rooms 
and mrs. 

503
00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:38,400
King had rushed into Saunders 
together. 

504
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,300
They had descended the stairs. 
The door of the study was open 

505
00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:44,500
and a candle was burning upon 
the table. 

506
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,600
Their Master lay upon his face 
in the center of the room. 

507
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,200
He was quite dead near the 
window. 

508
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,200
His wife was crouching, her head
leaning against the wall. 

509
00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,200
She was horribly wounded. 
And the side of her face was red

510
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,300
with blood. 
She breathed heavily but was 

511
00:31:04,300 --> 00:31:08,300
incapable of saying anything. 
The passage as well as the room 

512
00:31:08,300 --> 00:31:10,400
was full of smoke and the smell 
of powder. 

513
00:31:11,300 --> 00:31:14,700
The window was certainly shut 
and fastened upon the inside 

514
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,400
both, women were positive upon 
the point. 

515
00:31:18,900 --> 00:31:21,800
They had at once sent for the 
doctor and for the Constable, 

516
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,400
then with the aid of the groom, 
and the stable boy. 

517
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:28,100
They had conveyed their injured 
mistress to her room. 

518
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,200
Both she and her husband had 
occupied the bed. 

519
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,800
She was clad in her dress. 
He in his dressing gown over his

520
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,600
nightclothes. 
Nothing had been moved in the 

521
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,000
study so far as they knew there,
had never been any quarrel 

522
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,200
between husband and wife. 
They had always looked upon them

523
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:50,500
as a very United couple. 
These were the main points of 

524
00:31:50,508 --> 00:31:54,200
the servants evidence in answer 
to inspect Martin. 

525
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,000
They were clear that every door 
was fastened upon the inside and

526
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,800
that no one could have escaped 
from the house in answer to 

527
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:03,300
homes. 
They both remembered that they 

528
00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:05,900
were conscious of the smell of 
powder from the moment that they

529
00:32:05,900 --> 00:32:08,100
ran out of their rooms upon the 
top floor. 

530
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,500
I command that fact, very 
carefully to your attention, 

531
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,700
said Holmes to his professional 
colleague. 

532
00:32:15,300 --> 00:32:17,900
And now, I think that we are in 
a position to undertake a 

533
00:32:17,900 --> 00:32:19,900
thorough examination of the 
room. 

534
00:32:21,300 --> 00:32:25,000
The study proved to be a small 
chamber lined on three sides 

535
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,900
with books and with a writing 
table, facing an ordinary 

536
00:32:27,900 --> 00:32:30,400
window, which looked out upon 
the garden. 

537
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,200
Our first attention was given to
the body of the unfortunate 

538
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,900
Squire, whose huge frame. 
They stretched across the room, 

539
00:32:38,700 --> 00:32:42,200
his disordered dress showed that
he had been hastily aroused from

540
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:44,900
sleep. 
The bullet had been fired at him

541
00:32:44,900 --> 00:32:48,500
from the front and had remained 
in his body after penetrating 

542
00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:51,400
the heart. 
His death had certainly been 

543
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,400
instantaneous and painless. 
There was no Powder marking 

544
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:59,800
either upon his dressing gown or
on his hands according to the 

545
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:04,100
country surgeon, the lady had 
stains upon her face, but none 

546
00:33:04,100 --> 00:33:07,900
upon her hand. 
The absence of the latter means 

547
00:33:07,900 --> 00:33:10,000
nothing. 
There its presence. 

548
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:14,400
May mean. 
Everything said, Holmes, Unless 

549
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,800
the powder from a badly fitting,
cartridge happens to spurt 

550
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,700
backward when they fire many 
shots without leaving a sign. 

551
00:33:22,700 --> 00:33:25,900
I would suggest that mr. 
Kubitz body may now be removed. 

552
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,600
I suppose doctor you have not 
recovered the bullet, which 

553
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,600
wounded the lady, a serious 
operation will be necessary 

554
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,500
before that can be done. 
But there are still four 

555
00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:41,300
cartridges in the revolver to 
have been fired and two wounds 

556
00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:44,500
inflicted, so that each bullet 
can be accounted for. 

557
00:33:45,500 --> 00:33:51,300
So it would seem said Holmes. 
Perhaps you can account also for

558
00:33:51,300 --> 00:33:54,700
the bullet which is so obviously
struck the edge of the window. 

559
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,500
He had turned suddenly and his 
long thin finger was pointing to

560
00:33:59,500 --> 00:34:02,500
a hole which had been drilled 
right through the lower window 

561
00:34:02,500 --> 00:34:07,400
sash about an inch above the 
Bottom, by George cried. 

562
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,800
The inspector. 
However, did you see that? 

563
00:34:11,100 --> 00:34:15,699
Because I looked for it. 
Wonderful said, the Country 

564
00:34:15,699 --> 00:34:18,300
Doctor you are certainly right, 
sir. 

565
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,400
Then a third shot has been 
fired. 

566
00:34:20,699 --> 00:34:24,600
And therefore, a third person 
must have been present but who 

567
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,300
could that have been and how 
could you've got away? 

568
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,900
That is a problem, which we are 
now about to solve said 

569
00:34:31,900 --> 00:34:35,300
Sherlock, Holmes. 
You remember inspector Martin? 

570
00:34:35,699 --> 00:34:38,400
When the servant said that on 
leaving their room they were at 

571
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,699
once conscious of a smell of 
powder. 

572
00:34:41,500 --> 00:34:44,500
I remark about the point was an 
extremely important one. 

573
00:34:45,300 --> 00:34:48,300
Yes, sir. 
But I confess I did not quite 

574
00:34:48,300 --> 00:34:51,600
follow you. 
It's suggested that at the time 

575
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,600
of the firing the window, as 
well as the door of the room had

576
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,200
been open. 
Otherwise, the fumes of powder 

577
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,100
could not have been blown. 
So rapidly through the house. 

578
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,800
A draft in the room was 
necessary for that both Door and

579
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,300
Window were only open for a very
short time. 

580
00:35:08,300 --> 00:35:10,800
However, How could you prove 
that? 

581
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:13,600
Because the candle was not 
guttered. 

582
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,500
Capital cried, the inspector 
capital? 

583
00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:21,100
Feeling sure that the window had
been open at the time of the 

584
00:35:21,100 --> 00:35:23,800
tragedy. 
I can see that there might have 

585
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,200
been a third person in the 
affair who stood outside this 

586
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:31,400
opening and fired through it. 
Any shot directed at this person

587
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,700
might hit the sash. 
I looked and there. 

588
00:35:34,700 --> 00:35:39,000
Sure enough was the bullet Mark,
but how came the window to be 

589
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,900
shut and fastened? 
The woman's first instinct would

590
00:35:42,900 --> 00:35:44,600
be to shut and fastened a 
window. 

591
00:35:45,300 --> 00:35:48,300
But hello. 
What is this? 

592
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:53,300
It was a lady's handbag, which 
stood upon the study table, a 

593
00:35:53,300 --> 00:35:58,300
trim little handbag of crocodile
skin and silver Holmes, opened 

594
00:35:58,300 --> 00:36:02,000
it and turned the contents out. 
There were twenty five pound 

595
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,400
notes of the bank of England 
held together by an india-rubber

596
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:10,200
bands and nothing else. 
This must be preserved for it 

597
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,400
will figure in the trial, said, 
Holmes, as he handed the bag 

598
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,300
with its contents to the 
inspector. 

599
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,100
It is now necessary that we 
should try to throw some light 

600
00:36:19,100 --> 00:36:22,700
upon this third bullet, which is
clearly from the splintering of 

601
00:36:22,700 --> 00:36:25,800
the wood been fired from inside 
the room. 

602
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,300
I should like to see mrs. 
King the cook again. 

603
00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:34,400
You said mrs. 
King that you were awakened by a

604
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,500
loud explosion when you said 
that. 

605
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,800
Did you mean that it seem to you
to be louder than the second 

606
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,600
one? 
Well, sir, it waked me from my 

607
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,400
sleep. 
So it is our to judge but it did

608
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,100
seem very loud. 
You don't think that it might 

609
00:36:52,100 --> 00:36:55,800
have been two shots fired almost
at the same instant. 

610
00:36:56,900 --> 00:37:00,900
I'm sure I couldn't say sir. 
I believe that it was 

611
00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:04,400
undoubtedly. 
So I rather think inspector 

612
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,600
Martin that we have now, 
exhausted, all that this room 

613
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,200
can teach us, if you will kindly
step around with me. 

614
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,700
We shall see what fresh evidence
the garden has to offer. 

615
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,800
A flower bed extended up to the 
study window and we all broke 

616
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:21,900
into an exclamation as we 
approached it. 

617
00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:26,300
The flowers were trampled down 
and the soft soil was imprinted 

618
00:37:26,300 --> 00:37:30,400
all over with footmarks. 
Large masculine feet. 

619
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,800
They were with peculiarly long. 
Sharp toes. 

620
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,400
Homes hunted about among the 
grass and leaves like a 

621
00:37:37,408 --> 00:37:42,500
retriever after a wounded bird. 
Then with a cry of satisfaction.

622
00:37:42,900 --> 00:37:45,900
He bent forward and picked up a 
little Brazen cylinder. 

623
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:53,100
I thought so said he the 
revolver had an ejector and here

624
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:57,100
is the third cartridge. 
I really think inspector Martin 

625
00:37:57,500 --> 00:37:59,900
that our case is almost 
complete. 

626
00:38:01,100 --> 00:38:04,300
The country inspectors face had 
shown his intense amazement at 

627
00:38:04,300 --> 00:38:08,900
the rapid and masterful progress
of homes is investigation at 

628
00:38:08,900 --> 00:38:10,900
first. 
He had shown some disposition to

629
00:38:10,900 --> 00:38:15,600
assert his own position, but now
he was overcome with admiration 

630
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,100
and ready to follow. without 
question, wherever homes LED 

631
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:24,100
Whom do you suspect? 
He asked, I'll go into that 

632
00:38:24,100 --> 00:38:26,500
later. 
There are several points in this

633
00:38:26,500 --> 00:38:29,400
problem, which I have not been 
able to explain to you yet. 

634
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,500
Now that I have got so far. 
I had a best proceed on my own 

635
00:38:33,500 --> 00:38:39,000
lines and then clear the whole 
matter up once and for all just 

636
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,200
as you wish. 
Mr. Holmes. 

637
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,200
So long, as we get our man. 
I have no desire to make 

638
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:48,000
Mysteries, but it is impossible 
at the moment of action to enter

639
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,200
into long and complex. 
Means I have the threads of this

640
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:54,900
affair. 
All in my hand, even if this 

641
00:38:54,900 --> 00:38:58,100
lady should never recover 
Consciousness, we can still 

642
00:38:58,100 --> 00:39:02,000
reconstruct the events of last 
night and ensure that Justice be

643
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,400
done. 
First of all, I wish to know 

644
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:09,100
whether there is any in in this 
neighborhood known as El ridges.

645
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:12,600
The servants were 
cross-questioned, but none of 

646
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:16,400
them had heard of such a place. 
The stable boy, threw a light 

647
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,400
upon the matter, by remembering 
that a farmer of that name. 

648
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,300
Lived some miles off in the 
direction of East Ruston. 

649
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:29,900
Is it a lonely Farm, very lonely
sir, perhaps they have not heard

650
00:39:29,900 --> 00:39:32,200
yet of all that happened here 
during the night. 

651
00:39:32,900 --> 00:39:36,900
Maybe not sir Holmes thought for
a little and then a curious 

652
00:39:36,900 --> 00:39:40,600
smile played over his face. 
Saddle horse. 

653
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:45,300
My lad said he, I shall wish you
to take a note to elrige's farm.

654
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,500
He took from his pocket, the 
various slips of the dancing men

655
00:39:50,900 --> 00:39:53,800
with these in front of him. 
He worked for some time at the 

656
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,000
study table. 
Finally. 

657
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,100
He handed a note to the boy with
directions to put it into the 

658
00:39:59,100 --> 00:40:03,200
hands of the person to whom it 
was addressed, and especially to

659
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,500
answer, no questions of any 
sort, which might be put to him.

660
00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:10,500
I saw the outside of the note 
addressed in straggling 

661
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:14,400
irregular characters, very, 
unlike homes, as usual, precise 

662
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:19,100
hand, it was consigned. 
Mr. Abe slaney elrige's, Farm 

663
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:23,700
East Ruston Norfolk. 
I think inspector Holmes 

664
00:40:23,700 --> 00:40:27,100
remarked that you would do well 
to Telegraph for an escort. 

665
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,500
As if my calculations proved to 
be correct. 

666
00:40:30,500 --> 00:40:33,600
You may have a particularly 
dangerous prisoner to convey to 

667
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:37,600
the county jail. 
The boy, who takes this note, 

668
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,500
could no doubt forward your 
telegram. 

669
00:40:40,100 --> 00:40:42,400
If there is an afternoon train 
to town Watson. 

670
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,200
I think we should do well to 
take it as I have a chemical 

671
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,300
analysis of some interest to 
finish. 

672
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:52,000
And this investigation draws 
rapidly to a close. 

673
00:40:53,500 --> 00:40:56,700
When the use of been dispatched 
with the note, Sherlock Holmes 

674
00:40:56,700 --> 00:40:58,600
gave his instructions to the 
servants. 

675
00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:01,400
If any visitor were to call 
asking for mrs. 

676
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,400
Hilton cubitt. 
No information should be given 

677
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,000
as to her condition, but he was 
to be shown at once into the 

678
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,000
drawing room. 
He impressed these points upon 

679
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:12,800
them with the utmost 
earnestness. 

680
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:15,900
Finally. 
He led the way into the drawing 

681
00:41:15,900 --> 00:41:19,000
room with a remarks at the 
business was now out of her 

682
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:23,500
hands and that we must while 
away the time as best we Until 

683
00:41:23,500 --> 00:41:25,300
we could see what was in store 
for us. 

684
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,800
The doctor had departed to his 
patients, and only the inspector

685
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:33,700
and myself remained. 
I think that I can help you to 

686
00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:36,900
pass an hour in an interesting 
and profitable manner. 

687
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,900
Said, Holmes, drawing his chair 
up to the table and spreading 

688
00:41:40,900 --> 00:41:44,500
out in front of him, the various
papers upon which were recorded 

689
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:49,300
the antics of the dancing. 
Men, as to you friend, Watson. 

690
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,700
I owe you every atonement for 
having allowed your Natural 

691
00:41:54,700 --> 00:41:58,300
Curiosity to remain so long 
unsatisfied. 

692
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,100
Do you inspector the whole 
incident May appeal as a 

693
00:42:02,107 --> 00:42:05,700
remarkable professional study? 
I must tell you. 

694
00:42:05,700 --> 00:42:09,400
First of all, the interesting 
circumstances connected with the

695
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:12,400
previous consultations, which 
mr. 

696
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,200
Hilton cubitt had with me in 
Baker Street. 

697
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,800
He then shortly recapitulated, 
the facts, which have already 

698
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,000
been recorded. 
I have here in front of me, 

699
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:26,200
these singular Productions at, 
which one might smile had. 

700
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,700
They not proved themselves to be
the forerunners of. 

701
00:42:28,700 --> 00:42:32,800
So, Terrible, a tragedy. 
I'm fairly familiar with all 

702
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,000
forms of secret writings and a 
myself. 

703
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,300
The author of a trifling 
monograph upon the subject in 

704
00:42:39,300 --> 00:42:45,500
which I analyzed 160 separate 
ciphers, but I confess that this

705
00:42:45,500 --> 00:42:49,500
is entirely new to me the object
of those who invented. 

706
00:42:49,500 --> 00:42:52,800
The system has apparently been 
to conceal that these characters

707
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:56,500
convey a message and to give the
idea that they are the mere 

708
00:42:56,500 --> 00:43:01,000
random sketches of children 
having once recognized her. 

709
00:43:01,100 --> 00:43:05,400
A that the symbols stood for 
letters and having applied the 

710
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,400
rules, which guide us in all 
forms of secret writings. 

711
00:43:09,100 --> 00:43:13,300
The solution was easy enough. 
The first message submitted to 

712
00:43:13,300 --> 00:43:16,400
me was so short that it was 
impossible for me to do more 

713
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:22,400
than to say with some confidence
that the symbol x x x stood for 

714
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,800
e. 
As you are, aware me is the most

715
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:29,400
common letter in the English 
alphabet and it predominates to.

716
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:32,900
So marked an extent. 
That even in a short sentence 

717
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:37,600
one would expect to find it most
often out of 15 symbols in the 

718
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:42,100
first message for with the same.
So it was reasonable to set this

719
00:43:42,100 --> 00:43:46,100
down as e.t. 
It is true that in some cases 

720
00:43:46,100 --> 00:43:51,100
the figure was bearing a flag 
and in some cases not but it was

721
00:43:51,100 --> 00:43:54,800
probable from the way in which 
the flags were distributed that 

722
00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:57,500
they were used to break the 
sentence up into words. 

723
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:02,900
I accepted this as a hypothesis.
I noted that he was represented 

724
00:44:02,900 --> 00:44:08,100
by x x x but now came the real 
difficulty of the inquiry. 

725
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:10,500
The order of the English 
letters. 

726
00:44:10,500 --> 00:44:14,400
After e is by, no means, well 
marked and any preponderance 

727
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,800
which may be shown in an average
of a printed sheet, may be 

728
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,100
reversed in a single short 
sentence. 

729
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaking roughly ta 0, ins hrd 
and L are the numerical order in

730
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:35,000
which letters occur. 
But t a 0 and I are very nearly 

731
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,800
a breast of each other and it 
would be an endless task to try 

732
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,100
each combination until a meaning
was arrived. 

733
00:44:41,100 --> 00:44:46,700
At I therefore waited for fresh 
material in my second interview 

734
00:44:46,700 --> 00:44:48,200
with mr. 
Hilton cubitt. 

735
00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:52,000
He was able to give me two other
short sentences and one message 

736
00:44:52,300 --> 00:44:56,700
which appeared since there was 
no flag to be a single word. 

737
00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:01,400
Here are the symbols now in the 
single word. 

738
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,300
I've already got the two, he's 
coming second and fourth in a 

739
00:45:04,300 --> 00:45:10,200
word of five letters. 
It might be sever or lever, or 

740
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:14,300
never. 
There can be no question that 

741
00:45:14,300 --> 00:45:17,600
the latter as a reply to an 
appeal is far the most probable 

742
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,400
and the circumstances pointed to
its being a reply written by the

743
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:26,900
lady accepting it as correct. 
We are now able to say that the 

744
00:45:26,900 --> 00:45:33,300
symbol stand respectively for n 
v and are even now. 

745
00:45:33,300 --> 00:45:37,000
I was in considerable difficulty
but a happy thought put me in 

746
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:38,700
possession of several other 
letters. 

747
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:44,100
It occurred to me that if these 
appeals came, as I expected from

748
00:45:44,100 --> 00:45:47,300
someone who had been intimate 
with the lady in her early life.

749
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:52,400
A combination, which contained 
to he's with three letters 

750
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:57,200
between might very well. 
Stand for the named Elsie on 

751
00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:59,600
examination. 
I found that such a combination 

752
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:01,300
formed. 
The termination of the message, 

753
00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:05,700
which was three times repeated. 
It was certainly some appeal to 

754
00:46:06,100 --> 00:46:11,200
Elsie in this way. 
I had got my LS and I, but what 

755
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:14,800
appeal could it be? 
There were only four letters in 

756
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:19,200
the word which preceded, Elsie 
and it ended in the E. 

757
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:23,300
Surely the word must become. 
I tried all other four letters 

758
00:46:23,300 --> 00:46:26,200
ending Annie, but could find 
none to fit the case. 

759
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:32,400
So now I was in possession of CE
o and m, and I was in a position

760
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:36,400
to attack the first message. 
Once more dividing it into words

761
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,400
and putting dots for each 
symbol, which was still unknown.

762
00:46:40,500 --> 00:46:42,600
So treated it worked out in 
this. 

763
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:48,600
Fashion m, space dot e, re 
space. 

764
00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:54,900
Dot dot e. 
Space s l.n e. . 

765
00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:00,900
Now the first letter can only be
a, which is a most useful 

766
00:47:00,900 --> 00:47:04,100
Discovery since it occurs. 
No, fewer than three times in 

767
00:47:04,100 --> 00:47:08,500
this short sentence and the H is
also apparent in the second 

768
00:47:08,500 --> 00:47:14,000
word. 
Now, it becomes am here, A.E, 

769
00:47:15,700 --> 00:47:19,300
slain. 
Or filling in the obvious. 

770
00:47:19,300 --> 00:47:23,900
Vacancies, in the name am here. 
Abe slaney. 

771
00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:27,600
I had so many letters. 
Now that I could proceed with 

772
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:31,300
considerable confidence to the 
second message, which worked out

773
00:47:31,300 --> 00:47:36,400
in this fashion. 
A DOT space ELR. 

774
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:42,500
I dot space es here. 
I could only make sense by 

775
00:47:42,500 --> 00:47:46,300
putting T and G for the missing 
letters and supposing that the 

776
00:47:46,300 --> 00:47:50,200
name was that of some House or 
in which the writer was staying 

777
00:47:51,300 --> 00:47:53,400
inspector Martin. 
And I had listened with the 

778
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,600
utmost interest to the full and 
clear account of how, my friend 

779
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:58,600
had produced results, which had 
led to. 

780
00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,200
So complete a command over our 
difficulties. 

781
00:48:02,300 --> 00:48:05,000
What did you do? 
Then sir asked the inspector. 

782
00:48:06,100 --> 00:48:09,700
I had every reason to suppose 
that this Abe slaney was an 

783
00:48:09,700 --> 00:48:14,200
American since Abe is an 
American contraction and since 

784
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,000
the letter from America had been
the starting point of all the 

785
00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:20,500
trouble. 
I had also every cause to think 

786
00:48:20,700 --> 00:48:23,000
that there was some criminal 
secret in the matter. 

787
00:48:23,900 --> 00:48:27,900
The lady's allusions to her past
and her refusal, to take her 

788
00:48:27,900 --> 00:48:31,900
husband into her confidence, 
both pointed in that direction. 

789
00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:35,800
I therefore cable to my friend 
Wilson. 

790
00:48:35,900 --> 00:48:39,500
The New York police Bureau who 
has more than once made as use 

791
00:48:39,500 --> 00:48:43,500
of my knowledge of London crime.
I asked him, whether the name of

792
00:48:43,700 --> 00:48:47,800
Abe, slaney was known to him. 
Here is his reply. 

793
00:48:48,900 --> 00:48:50,900
The most dangerous Crook in 
Chicago. 

794
00:48:52,100 --> 00:48:54,300
On the very evening upon which I
had his answer. 

795
00:48:54,900 --> 00:48:59,600
Hilton cubitt sent me the last 
message from slaney working with

796
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:03,300
known letters. 
It took this form else E.R. 

797
00:49:04,700 --> 00:49:10,300
E.A. 
Re space to meet thy go. 

798
00:49:11,900 --> 00:49:15,000
The addition of a p and a d 
completed a message, which 

799
00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:18,500
showed me that the Rascal was 
proceeding from persuasion to 

800
00:49:18,500 --> 00:49:22,900
threats and my knowledge of the 
crooks of Prepared me to find 

801
00:49:22,900 --> 00:49:26,000
that he might very rapidly, put 
his words into action. 

802
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:29,900
I at, once came to Norfolk with 
my friend and colleague. 

803
00:49:29,900 --> 00:49:35,700
Dr. Watson, but unhappily, only 
in time to find that the worst 

804
00:49:35,700 --> 00:49:39,800
had already occurred. 
It is a privilege to be 

805
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:43,000
associated with you in a 
handling of a case said, the 

806
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:45,700
inspector warmly, you will 
excuse me. 

807
00:49:45,700 --> 00:49:49,700
However, if I speak, frankly to 
you, you are only answerable to 

808
00:49:49,700 --> 00:49:53,000
yourself, but I have to answer 
to my superiors. 

809
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:57,800
If this Abe, slaney living at 
elrige's is indeed the murderer.

810
00:49:58,100 --> 00:50:00,900
And if he has made his Escape 
while I'm seated here. 

811
00:50:01,500 --> 00:50:03,800
I should certainly get into 
serious trouble. 

812
00:50:05,100 --> 00:50:08,300
You need not be uneasy. 
He will not try to escape. 

813
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:13,200
How do you know to fly? 
Would be a confession of guilt 

814
00:50:13,900 --> 00:50:15,400
then. 
Let us go arrest him. 

815
00:50:16,300 --> 00:50:20,300
I expect him here every instant,
but why should he come? 

816
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:25,500
Because I have written and asked
him, but this is incredible. 

817
00:50:25,500 --> 00:50:27,700
Mr. Holmes. 
Why should he come? 

818
00:50:27,700 --> 00:50:31,100
Because you have asked him would
not such a request, rather 

819
00:50:31,100 --> 00:50:34,000
arouse his suspicions and caused
him to fly. 

820
00:50:35,300 --> 00:50:38,800
I think I've known how to frame 
the letter said Sherlock Holmes.

821
00:50:39,300 --> 00:50:43,200
In fact, if I'm not very much 
mistaken, here is a gentleman 

822
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:48,200
himself, coming up the drive. 
A man was striding up the past, 

823
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:52,700
which led to the door. 
He was a tall handsome swarthy 

824
00:50:52,700 --> 00:50:57,000
fellow clad in a suit of gray 
flannel with a Panama Hat, a 

825
00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:00,800
bristling black beard, and a 
great aggressive hooked, nose 

826
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:02,900
and flourishing a cane as he 
walked. 

827
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:07,000
He swaggered up a path as if the
place belonged to him and we 

828
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,700
heard his loud confident peel at
the Bell. 

829
00:51:11,100 --> 00:51:15,500
I think gentleman said Holmes 
quietly that we had best take up

830
00:51:15,500 --> 00:51:19,500
our position behind the door. 
Every precaution is necessary. 

831
00:51:19,500 --> 00:51:23,100
When dealing with such a fellow 
you will need your handcuffs 

832
00:51:23,100 --> 00:51:26,200
inspector. 
You can leave the talking to me.

833
00:51:27,700 --> 00:51:29,400
We waited in silence for a 
minute. 

834
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:33,700
One of those minutes which one 
can never forget, then the door 

835
00:51:33,700 --> 00:51:38,400
opened, and the man stepped, in,
in an instant Holmes, clapped a 

836
00:51:38,408 --> 00:51:41,500
pistol to his head and Martin 
slipped the handcuffs over his 

837
00:51:41,500 --> 00:51:43,300
wrists. 
It was all done. 

838
00:51:43,300 --> 00:51:46,200
So, swiftly and deftly that the 
fellow was helpless. 

839
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,300
Before he knew that he was 
attacked. 

840
00:51:48,900 --> 00:51:52,000
He glared from one to the other 
of us with a pair of Blazing 

841
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,700
black eyes, and he burst into a 
bitter laugh. 

842
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,900
Well gentlemen, you have the 
drop on me. 

843
00:51:59,900 --> 00:52:02,700
This time. 
I seem to have knocked up 

844
00:52:02,700 --> 00:52:06,500
against something hard, but I 
came here in answer to a letter 

845
00:52:06,500 --> 00:52:08,400
from mrs. 
Hilton cubitt. 

846
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:12,600
Don't tell me that she is in. 
This don't tell me that she 

847
00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:17,600
helped to set a trap for me. 
Mrs. Hilton cubitt was seriously

848
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:22,900
injured and is at death's door. 
The man gave a hoarse Cry of 

849
00:52:22,900 --> 00:52:24,900
grief, which rang through the 
house. 

850
00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:28,700
You're crazy. 
He cried fiercely. 

851
00:52:29,300 --> 00:52:32,800
It was he that was hurt not. 
She who would have hurt little 

852
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:35,000
Elsie. 
I may have threatened her. 

853
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,500
God forgive me without not have 
touched her hair of her hair. 

854
00:52:38,500 --> 00:52:40,500
Pretty head. 
Take it back. 

855
00:52:40,500 --> 00:52:42,500
You say that. 
She's not hurt. 

856
00:52:43,500 --> 00:52:47,100
She was found badly wounded by 
the side of her dead husband. 

857
00:52:48,300 --> 00:52:52,900
He sank with a deep groan on the
city and buried his face in his 

858
00:52:52,900 --> 00:52:56,800
manacled hands. 
For five minutes, he was silent.

859
00:52:57,300 --> 00:53:00,800
Then he raised his face once 
more and spoke with a cold 

860
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:05,200
composure of despair. 
I have nothing to hide from you.

861
00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:08,400
Gentleman said he, he fast shot 
the man. 

862
00:53:08,700 --> 00:53:12,800
He had his shut up, me and 
there's no murder in that, but 

863
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:16,000
if you think I could have heard 
that woman and you don't know 

864
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:18,700
either me or her. 
I tell you. 

865
00:53:19,300 --> 00:53:22,000
There was never a man in this 
world loved a woman more than I 

866
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,500
loved her. 
I had a right to her. 

867
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:28,900
She was pledged to me years ago.
Who was this Englishman? 

868
00:53:28,900 --> 00:53:32,900
That he should come between us? 
I tell you that I had the first 

869
00:53:32,900 --> 00:53:35,900
rat turd. 
And that I was only claiming my 

870
00:53:35,900 --> 00:53:39,100
own. 
She broke away from your 

871
00:53:39,100 --> 00:53:42,100
influence when she found. 
The man that you are said, 

872
00:53:42,100 --> 00:53:46,500
Holmes sternly she fled from 
America to avoid you and she 

873
00:53:46,500 --> 00:53:50,400
married an honorable gentlemen. 
In England, you dogged her and 

874
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:54,600
followed her and made her life a
misery to her in order to induce

875
00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:58,200
her to abandon the husband who 
she loved and respected in order

876
00:53:58,200 --> 00:54:01,900
to fly with you whom she feared 
and hated. 

877
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:06,300
You have ended by bringing about
the death of a nobleman and 

878
00:54:06,300 --> 00:54:10,400
driving his wife, too. 
Aside, that is your record in 

879
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,300
this business. 
Mr. Abe slaney, and you will 

880
00:54:13,300 --> 00:54:18,000
answer for it to the law. 
If L see dies, I care. 

881
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:22,200
Nothing, What Becomes of me 
said, the American he opened one

882
00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:26,400
of his hands and looked at a 
note crumpled up in his palm see

883
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,500
here. 
Mr. He cried with a gleam of 

884
00:54:29,500 --> 00:54:32,700
Suspicion in his eyes. 
You're not trying to scare me 

885
00:54:32,700 --> 00:54:33,600
over this. 
Are you? 

886
00:54:34,300 --> 00:54:37,500
If the lady is heard as bad as 
you say, who was it? 

887
00:54:37,500 --> 00:54:40,100
That wrote this note. 
He tossed. 

888
00:54:40,100 --> 00:54:45,200
It Forward onto the table. 
I wrote it to bring you here. 

889
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:48,500
You wrote it. 
There was no one on earth. 

890
00:54:48,500 --> 00:54:51,700
Outside, The Joint who knew the 
secret of the dancing men. 

891
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:57,100
How came he derided? 
What one man, can invent another

892
00:54:57,100 --> 00:55:01,200
can discover said, Holmes? 
There is a cab coming to convey 

893
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:04,800
you to Norwich. 
Mr. Slaney, but meanwhile, you 

894
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:07,700
have time to make some small 
reparation for the injury. 

895
00:55:07,700 --> 00:55:10,900
You have wrought. 
Are you aware that mrs. 

896
00:55:10,900 --> 00:55:15,100
Hilton cubitt has herself Lane 
under grave suspicion of the 

897
00:55:15,100 --> 00:55:20,100
murder of her husband and that 
it was only my presence here and

898
00:55:20,100 --> 00:55:23,200
the knowledge, which I happen to
possess, which has saved her 

899
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:26,700
from the accusation. 
The least that you owe her is to

900
00:55:26,700 --> 00:55:31,200
make it clear to the whole world
that she was in no way directly 

901
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:34,800
or indirectly responsible for 
his tragic end. 

902
00:55:35,900 --> 00:55:39,200
I ask nothing better said the 
American I guess. 

903
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:41,700
Very best case I can make for 
myself. 

904
00:55:42,100 --> 00:55:47,300
Is the absolute naked truth. 
It is my duty to warn you that 

905
00:55:47,300 --> 00:55:50,600
it will be used against you 
cried, the inspector with the 

906
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:53,700
Magnificent, Fairplay of the 
British criminal law. 

907
00:55:54,700 --> 00:56:00,100
Slaney Shrugged, his shoulders. 
Now, chance, that said he, first

908
00:56:00,100 --> 00:56:03,700
of all, I want you gentlemen to 
understand that I've known this 

909
00:56:03,700 --> 00:56:07,700
lady since she was a child. 
There were seven of us in a gang

910
00:56:07,700 --> 00:56:10,800
in Chicago and else's. 
Father was the boss of the 

911
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:14,000
joint. 
He was a clever man, was all 

912
00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:16,800
Patrick who was he had invented 
that riding? 

913
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:20,000
Which would pass as a child 
scroll and she just happened to 

914
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:22,700
have the key to it. 
Well else. 

915
00:56:22,700 --> 00:56:25,500
He learned some of our ways. 
But she couldn't stand the 

916
00:56:25,508 --> 00:56:28,400
business and she had a bit of 
honest money of her own. 

917
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:31,100
So she gave us all the slip got 
away to London. 

918
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:35,000
She been engaged to me and she 
would have married me. 

919
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:39,300
I believe if I had taken over 
another profession, but she 

920
00:56:39,300 --> 00:56:42,800
would have nothing to do with 
anything on the cross was only 

921
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:45,400
after a marriage to this. 
Englishmen that I was able to 

922
00:56:45,400 --> 00:56:49,700
find out where she was. 
I wrote her, but got no answer 

923
00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:53,000
after that. 
I came over and as letters were 

924
00:56:53,008 --> 00:56:55,100
no use. 
I put my ages where she could 

925
00:56:55,100 --> 00:56:57,800
read them. 
Well, I've been here a month. 

926
00:56:57,800 --> 00:57:00,500
Now. 
I lived in that farm where I had

927
00:57:00,500 --> 00:57:04,600
a room down below to get in and 
out every night and no one the 

928
00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:06,600
wiser. 
I tried all. 

929
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:09,900
I could to coax Elsie away. 
I knew that she read the 

930
00:57:09,900 --> 00:57:13,000
messages for one. 
She wrote an answer under one of

931
00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:17,000
them in my temper. 
Got the better of me and I began

932
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:19,800
to threaten her. 
She sent me a letter then 

933
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:22,900
imploring me to go away and 
saying that it could break her 

934
00:57:22,900 --> 00:57:24,700
heart. 
If any Scandal should come upon 

935
00:57:24,700 --> 00:57:28,700
her husband. 
She said that she would come 

936
00:57:28,700 --> 00:57:32,000
down when her husband was asleep
at three in the morning and 

937
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,000
speak with me through the end 
window. 

938
00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:36,900
If I would go away afterwards 
and leave her in peace. 

939
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:40,800
She came down and brought money 
with her trying to bribe me to 

940
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:44,100
go. 
This made me mad, and I caught 

941
00:57:44,100 --> 00:57:47,200
her arm and try to pull her 
through the window at that 

942
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:49,200
moment. 
In rush to her husband, with his

943
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:52,600
revolver in his hand. 
Elsie had sunk down upon the 

944
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:56,600
floor and we were face-to-face. 
I was healed also. 

945
00:57:57,500 --> 00:57:59,500
And I held up my gun to scare 
them off. 

946
00:57:59,500 --> 00:58:04,300
And let me get away. 
He fired and miss me pulled off 

947
00:58:04,300 --> 00:58:06,900
almost at the same, instant and 
Downey dropped. 

948
00:58:07,700 --> 00:58:10,600
I made a way across the garden 
and Hazard when I heard the 

949
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:14,000
window shut behind me. 
That's God's truth gentlemen, 

950
00:58:14,500 --> 00:58:17,900
every word of it. 
And I heard no more about it. 

951
00:58:17,900 --> 00:58:21,300
Until that lad came riding up 
with a note which made me walk 

952
00:58:21,300 --> 00:58:25,000
in here like a j and give myself
into your hands. 

953
00:58:26,900 --> 00:58:30,300
A cab a drawn up whilst the 
American have been talking to 

954
00:58:30,300 --> 00:58:34,300
Uniformed policemen sat inside. 
Inspector, Martin Rose and 

955
00:58:34,300 --> 00:58:35,800
touched his prisoner on the 
shoulder. 

956
00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:40,800
It's time for us to go. 
Can I see her first? 

957
00:58:42,300 --> 00:58:45,500
No, she is not conscious. 
Mr. Sherlock Holmes. 

958
00:58:45,500 --> 00:58:48,900
I only hope that if ever again, 
I have an important case, I 

959
00:58:48,900 --> 00:58:51,500
shall have the Good Fortune to 
have you by my side. 

960
00:58:52,700 --> 00:58:55,500
We stood at the window and 
watched the cab driver way. 

961
00:58:56,500 --> 00:59:00,300
As I turned back my eye caught 
the pellet of paper, which The 

962
00:59:00,300 --> 00:59:02,200
Prisoner had tossed upon the 
table. 

963
00:59:03,100 --> 00:59:05,800
It was the note with which 
Holmes had decoy him. 

964
00:59:07,100 --> 00:59:11,400
See if you can read it, Watson 
said he with a smile, it 

965
00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:15,500
contained no word but a little 
line of dancing men. 

966
00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:20,700
If you use the code, which I 
have explained said, Holmes, you

967
00:59:20,700 --> 00:59:23,900
will find that. 
It simply means come here at 

968
00:59:23,900 --> 00:59:26,900
once. 
I was convinced that it was an 

969
00:59:26,900 --> 00:59:29,900
invitation, which he would not 
refuse since he could never 

970
00:59:29,900 --> 00:59:34,500
imagine that it could come from 
anyone but the lady And so my 

971
00:59:34,500 --> 00:59:38,000
dear Watson, we have ended by 
turning the dancing men too. 

972
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:41,100
Good when they have. 
So often been the Agents of evil

973
00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:44,600
and I think that I've fulfilled 
my promise of giving you 

974
00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:49,100
something unusual for your 
notebook, 340 is our train and I

975
00:59:49,100 --> 00:59:51,400
fancy we should be back in Baker
Street for dinner. 

976
00:59:52,700 --> 00:59:55,700
Only one word of epilogue the 
American Abe. 

977
00:59:55,700 --> 00:59:58,000
Slaney was condemned to death at
the winter. 

978
00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:01,500
Assizes at Norwich, but his 
penalty was changed to penal 

979
01:00:01,500 --> 01:00:05,200
servitude in consideration of 
mitigating circumstances. 

980
01:00:05,200 --> 01:00:08,600
And the certainty that Hilton 
cubitt had fired. 

981
01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:11,700
The first shot of mrs. 
Hilton, cubitt. 

982
01:00:11,700 --> 01:00:16,000
I only know that I have heard 
she recovered entirely and that 

983
01:00:16,000 --> 01:00:20,000
she still remains a widow, 
devoting her whole life to the 

984
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:22,500
care of the poor, and to the 
administration. 

985
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:28,000
Of her, husband's estate. 
End of the adventure of the 

986
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:28,000
dancing men. 
End of the adventure of the 

987
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:28,900
dancing men.
