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Chapter 2 of the valley of fear 
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

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This LibriVox recording is in 
the public domain. 

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Chapter 2 Sherlock Holmes 
discourses. 

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It was one of those dramatic 
moments for which my friend 

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existed. 
It would be an overstatement to 

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say that he was shocked or even 
excited by the amazing 

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announcement without having a 
tinge of Cruelty in his singular

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composition. 
He was undoubtedly callous from 

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long overstimulation yet, if his
emotions were dulled his 

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intellectual perceptions were 
exceedingly active there was no 

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Trace them. 
Of the horror which I had myself

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felt at this Kurt declaration, 
but his face showed rather the 

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quiet and interested. 
Composure of the chemist who 

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sees the crystals falling into 
position from his over saturated

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solution. 
Remarkable said, he remarkable. 

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You don't seem surprised 
interested. 

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Mr. Mack but hardly surprised, 
why should I be surprised I 

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receive an anonymous 
communication from a quarter 

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which I know to be important 
warning me that danger threatens

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a certain person within an hour.
I learned that this danger has 

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actually materialized and that 
the person is dead. 

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I'm interested, but as you 
observe, I am not surprised in a

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few short sentences. 
He explain to the inspector, the

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facts about the letter and the 
cipher McDonald's sat with his 

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chin on his hands and is great. 
Sandy eyebrows bunched into a 

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yellow tangle, it was going down
to birlstone this morning said 

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he had come to ask you if you 
care to come with me. 

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You and your friend here. 
But from what you say, we might 

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perhaps be doing better work. 
Work in London. 

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I rather think not said Holmes. 
Hang it, all mr. 

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Holmes, cried the inspector, the
papers will be full of the 

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bolster and mystery in a day or 
two. 

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But where's the mystery? 
If there's a man in London, who 

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prophesied the crime before ever
it occurred, we all need to lay 

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our hands on that man. 
And the rest will follow. 

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No doubt, mr. 
Mack but how do you propose to 

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lay your hands on the so-called 
porlock? 

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McDonald turn over the letter 
which Holmes had handed him 

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posted in camberwell. 
That doesn't help us much name 

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you say as assumed not much to 
go on. 

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Certainly didn't you say that 
your sent him money twice and 

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how in notes to camberwell post 
office? 

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Did you ever trouble to see who 
called for them? 

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Know, the inspector looked 
surprised and a little shot, why

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not? 
Because I always keep faith and 

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I had promised when he first 
wrote that, I would not try to 

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trace him. 
You think there's someone behind

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him? 
I know there. 

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Is this professor that I've 
heard you mentioned. 

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Exactly. 
Inspector MacDonald smiled and 

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his eyelid quivered. 
As he glanced toward me, I won't

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conceal from you. 
Mr. Holmes, but we think in the 

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CID that you have a wee bit of a
bee in your Bonnet over this 

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professor, I made some inquiries
myself about the matter. 

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He seems to be a very 
respectable learned and talented

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sort of man. 
I'm glad you've got so far as to

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recognize the talent, man. 
You can't, but recognize it 

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after. 
I heard your view, I made it my 

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business to see him. 
I had a chat with him on 

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eclipses how the talk got that 
way, I kind of think but he had 

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outer reflector Lantern and a 
globe and he made it all clear 

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in a minute. 
He lent me a book but I don't 

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mind saying that it was a bit 
above my head. 

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Though I had a good Aberdeen 
upbringing. 

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He'd have made a grand minister 
with his thin face and grey hair

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and Solemn, like way of talking.
When he put his hand on my 

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shoulder as we were part in. 
It was like a father's blessing 

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before you go out into the cold 
cruel world, Holmes chuckled and

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rubbed his hands great. 
He said, great. 

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Tell me. 
Friend MacDonald, this pleasing 

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and touching interview was I 
suppose in the professor's 

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study. 
That's so a fine room. 

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Is it? 
Not very fine, very handsome, 

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indeed, mr. 
Holmes, you sat in front of his 

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writing desk, just so sun in 
your eyes and his face in the 

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shadow. 
Well, it was evening, but a mind

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that the lamp was turned on my 
face. 

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It would be, did you happen to 
observe a picture over the 

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professor's head? 
I don't miss much mr. 

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Holmes, maybe I learned that 
from you. 

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Yes, I saw the picture a young 
woman with a head on our hands 

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peeping at you sideways. 
That painting was by 

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Jean-Baptiste Growers inspector 
endeavored to look interested. 

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Jean-Baptiste grows Holmes 
continued joining his fingertips

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and leaning. 
Well, back in his chair was a 

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French artist who flourished 
between the years 1750 and 1850 

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elude of course, to his working 
career. 

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Modern criticism has more than 
endorsed the high opinion formed

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of him by his contemporaries. 
The inspectors eyes grabs 

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tracted hadn't we better. 
He said we are doing so homes, 

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interrupted all the time saying,
has a very direct and vital 

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bearing upon what you have 
called. 

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The birlstone mystery. 
In fact, it may in a sense be 

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called a very center of it. 
McDonald's smiled feebly and 

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looked appealingly to me. 
Your thoughts move a bit too 

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quick for me. 
Mr. Holmes, you leave out a link

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or two and I can't get over the 
Gap. 

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What in the whole wide world can
be the connection between this 

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dead painting, man and the 
affair at birlstone. 

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All knowledge comes useful to 
the detective remarked Holmes. 

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Even the trivial fact that in a 
year 1865 a picture by grows 

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entitled La Jeune fille Ilan. 
You fetched 1 million two 

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hundred thousand francs more 
than 40,000 pounds at the 

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portalis sale. 
May start a train of reflection 

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in your mind. 
It was clear that it did. 

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The inspector looked honestly 
interested. 

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I may remind you Holmes 
continued that the professor's 

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salary can be ascertained in 
several trustworthy books of 

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reference. 
It is seven hundred a year. 

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How could you buy quite? 
So how could he? 

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Hi, that's remarkable. 
So the inspector thoughtfully 

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talk away mr. 
Holmes, I'm just loving it. 

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It's fine. 
Holmes smiled. 

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He was always warmed by genuine 
admiration. 

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The characteristic of the real 
artist, What about birlstone? 

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He asked we've time yet. 
So the inspector glancing at his

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watch, I have a cab at the door 
and it won't take us 20 minutes 

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to Victoria, but about this 
picture I thought you told me 

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once mr. 
Holmes, that you had never met 

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Professor Moriarty no I never 
have. 

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And how do you know about his 
rooms? 

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That's another matter. 
I have been three times in his 

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rooms twice, waiting for him 
under different protects and 

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leaving before he came once. 
Well, I can hardly tell about 

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the ones to an official 
detective. 

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It was on the last occasion that
I took the liberty of running 

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over his papers. 
With the most unexpected 

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results, you found something 
compromising Absolutely nothing.

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That was what amazed me. 
However, you have now seen the 

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point of the picture. 
It shows him to be a very 

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wealthy man. 
How did he acquire wealth? 

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He is unmarried, his younger, 
brother is a station master. 

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In the west of England. 
His chair is worth seven hundred

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a year and he owns a grows. 
Well surely. 

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The inference is plain. 
You mean that is a great income 

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and if you must earn it in an 
illegal, Fashion. 

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Exactly. 
Of course, I have other reasons 

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for thinking so dozens of 
exiguous threads, which lead 

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vaguely up towards the center of
the web where the poisonous 

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motionless creature is lurking. 
I only mention the grows because

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it brings the matter within the 
range of your own observation. 

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Well, mr. 
Holmes, I admit that. 

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What you say is interesting, 
it's more than interesting, it's

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just wonderful but let us have 
it a little clearer if you can. 

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Is it forgery coining burglary? 
Where does the money come from? 

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Have you ever read of Jonathon 
Wilde? 

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Well, the name has a familiar 
sound someone in a novel, was he

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not? 
I don't take much stock of 

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detectives in novels Chaps at do
things and never let you see how

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they do them. 
That's just inspiration, not 

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business. 
Jonathon Wilde wasn't a 

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detective and he wasn't in a 
novel. 

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He was a master criminal and he 
lived last century 1750 or 

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thereabouts and he's no use to 
me. 

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I'm a practical man. 
Mr. Mack, the most practical 

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thing that you ever did in your 
life would be to shut yourself 

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up for three months and read 12 
hours a day at the annals of 

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crime. 
Everything comes in circles, 

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even Sir, Moriarty. 
Jonathon Wilde was the hidden 

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force of the London, criminals 
to whom he sold his brains and 

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his organization on a 15% 
commission, the old wheel turns 

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and the same spoke comes up. 
It's all been done before. 

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And will be again, I'll tell you
one or two things about Moriarty

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which may interest you. 
You'll interest me right enough.

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I happen to know who is the 
first link in his chain, a chain

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with this Napoleon gone, wrong 
at one end and a hundred broken,

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fighting men, pickpockets 
blackmailers and card sharp, as 

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at the other, with every sort of
crime in between his chief of 

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staff, is Colonel, Sebastian 
Moran as aloof and guarded, and 

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inaccessible to the law as 
himself. 

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What do you think? 
He pays him. 

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I'd like to hear. 
Six thousand a year that's 

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paying for brains, you see the 
American Business principle. 

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I learned that detail quite by 
chance. 

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It's more than the Prime 
Minister gets that gives you an 

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idea of Moriarty's gains and of 
the scale on which he works. 

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Another point, I made it my 
business to hunt down some of 

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Moriarty's checks lately. 
Just common innocent checks that

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he pays his household bills with
they were drawn on six different

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banks. 
Does that make any impression on

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your mind? 
Queer, certainly. 

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But what you gather from it that
he wanted no gossip about his 

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wealth. 
No single man should know what 

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he had. 
I have no doubt that he has 20 

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banking accounts, the bulk of 
his fortune abroad and Deutsche 

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Bank or the credi Leon are as 
likely as not sometime when you 

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have a year or two to spare. 
I commend to you the study of 

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Professor. 
Moriarty inspector MacDonald Had

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grown steadily more impressed as
the conversation proceeded. 

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He had lost himself in his 
interest. 

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Now, his practical Scotch 
intelligence, Back with a snap 

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to the matter in hand. 
He can keep anyhow said he 

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you've got a sidetracked with 
your interesting anecdotes mr. 

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Holmes what really counts is 
your remark that there is some 

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connection between the professor
and the crime that you get from 

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the warning received through the
man porlock? 

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Can we for our present practical
needs get any further than that?

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We may form some conception as 
to the motives of the crime it 

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is. 
As I gather from your original 

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remarks and inexplicable or at 
least an unexplained murder. 

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Now presuming that the source of
the crime is as we suspected to 

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be, there might be two different
motives in the first place. 

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I may tell you that Moriarty 
rules with a rod of iron over 

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his people. 
His discipline is tremendous. 

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There is only one punishment in 
his code. 

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It is death. 
Now we might suppose that this 

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murdered man this Douglas who's 
approaching fate was known by 

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one of the arch criminals. 
Subordinates had in some way 

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betrayed the chief his 
punishment, followed and would 

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be known to all if only to put 
the fear of death into them. 

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Well, that is one suggestion, 
mr. 

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Holmes, the other is that it has
been engineered by Moriarty in 

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the ordinary course of business.
Was there any I have not heard 

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if so, it would have cost me 
against the first hypothesis and

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in favor of the second, Moriarty
may have been engaged to 

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engineer it on a promise of part
spoils. 

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Or he may have been paid so much
down to manage it either as 

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possible, but whichever it may 
be. 

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Or if it's some third 
combination, it is down at 

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belston that we must seek the 
solution. 

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I know our man too well to 
suppose that he has left 

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anything up here which may lead 
us to Him then to birthstone, we

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must go cried, McDonald jumping 
from his chair, my word. 

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It's later than I thought. 
I can give you gentlemen, five 

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minutes for Preparation and that
is all and ample. 

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For us, both said, Holmes, as he
sprang up and hastened to change

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from his dressing gown to his 
coat while we are, on our way, 

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mr. 
Mac, I will ask you to be good 

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enough to tell me all about it. 
All about it, proved to be 

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disappointingly little and yet 
there was enough to assure us 

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that the case before us might, 
well be worthy of the experts 

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closest attention. 
He brightened and rubbed his 

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thin hands together as he 
listened to the meager. 

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But remarkable details a long 
series of sterile weeks, lay 

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behind us. 
And here at last, there was a 

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fitting object for those 
remarkable Powers which like all

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special gifts become accustomed 
to their owner. 

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When they are not in use, That's
razor brain blunted and rusted 

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with in action. 
Sherlock, Holmes, his eyes 

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glistened his pale cheeks took, 
a warmer Hugh. 

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And his whole eager face Shawn 
was an inward light, when the 

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call for work reached him 
leaning forward in the cab. 

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He listened intently to 
McDonald's short sketch of the 

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problem, which awaited US in 
Sussex. 

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The inspector was himself 
dependent as he explained to us 

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Upon A scribbled account forward
to him by the milk, train in the

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early hours of the morning. 
White Mason. 

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The local officer was a personal
friend and hence. 

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McDonald had been notified much 
more promptly than his usual at 

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Scotland Yard when provincials 
need their assistance. 

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It is a very cold sent upon 
which the most Metropolitan 

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expert is generally asked to 
run. 

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Dear inspector MacDonald, said 
the letter which he read to us 

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official requisition for your 
services is in separate. 

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Enveloped this is for your 
private eye. 

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Why am I the what trained in The
morning you can get for Bolston 

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and I will meet it or have it 
met if I am too occupied? 

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This case is a snorter. 
Don't waste a moment in getting 

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started. 
If you can bring mr. 

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Holmes, please do. 
So for he will find something 

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after his own heart, we would 
think the whole had been fixed 

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up for theatrical effect. 
If there wasn't a dead man in 

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the middle of it, my word. 
It is a snorter. 

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Your friend seems to be no fool 
remarked Holmes. 

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No sir. 
White Mason is a very live, man,

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if I'm any judge. 
Well, have you anything more 

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00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:17,500
only that he will give us every 
detail when we meet, then, how 

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00:16:17,500 --> 00:16:19,300
did you get at mr. 
Douglas. 

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And the fact that he had been 
horribly murdered that was in 

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the enclosed official report. 
It didn't say horrible, that's 

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not a recognized official term. 
It gave the name, John. 

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00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,300
Douglas mentioned that his 
injuries have been in the head 

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from the discharge of a shotgun.
And it also mentioned the hour 

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of the alarm which was closed on
to midnight last night. 

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It added that the case was 
undoubtedly one of murder. 

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00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,600
But there no arrests have been 
made that the case was one, 

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00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,300
which presented some very 
perplexing and extraordinary 

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00:16:50,300 --> 00:16:53,500
features as absolutely. 
All we have at present mr. 

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00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:58,000
Holmes Then with your 
permission, we will leave it at 

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00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,300
that. 
Mr. Mack the temptation to form 

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00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:04,599
premature theories. 
Upon insufficient data is the 

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bane of our profession. 
I can see only two things for 

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certain that present. 
A great brain in London and a 

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dead man in Sussex. 
It's the chain between that we 

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are going to trace. 
End of chapter 2. 

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00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:20,099
End of chapter 2.