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May 15, 2025 • 34 mins
Dive into the final volume of Arthur Conan Doyles detective stories, where he bids a heartfelt farewell to his most renowned creation - Sherlock Holmes. These eclectic tales span different stages of Holmess life, including his retirement, and are narrated from varying perspectives, including Watson, Holmes, and an omnipotent narrator. While many stories showcase Holmess famed deductive reasoning, others highlight lesser-known aspects of his character, such as his compassion, empathy, and sense of humor. His rapport with Dr. Watson, while occasionally blunt, is marked by kindness, affection, and professional respect, painting a portrait of a profound and intricate friendship that captivates readers. (Summary by T. A. Copeland).
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section twelve of the case Book of Sherlock Holmes by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This livervox recording is in the
public domain. Read by Thomas Copeland, Story twelve, the Adventure
of the retired color man. Sherlock Holmes was in a
melancholy and philosophic mood that morning. His alert, practical nature

(00:22):
was subject to such reactions. Did you see him, he asked?
You mean the old fellow who has just gone out? Precisely, Yes,
I met him at the door. What did you think
of him? A pathetic, futile, broken creature? Exactly, Watson, Pathetic
and futile. But is not all life pathetic and futile?

(00:46):
Is not his story a microcosm of the whole? We reach,
we grasp, and what is left in our hands of
the end? A shadow or worse than a shadow? Misery?
Is he one of your clients? Well, I suppose I
may call him so. He has been sent on by
the yard, just as medical men occasionally send their incurables

(01:09):
to a quack. They argue that they can do nothing more,
and that whatever happens, the patient can be no worse
than he is. What is the matter, Holmes? Took a
rather soiled card from the table. Josiah Amberley. He says
he was junior partner of Brickfall and Amberley, who are

(01:29):
manufacturers artistic materials. You will see their names upon paint boxes.
He made his little pile, retired from business at the
age of sixty one, bought a house in Lewisham, and
settled down to rest. After a life of ceaseless grind.
One would think his future was tolerably assured. Yes, indeed,

(01:52):
Holmes glanced over some notes which he had scribbled upon
the back of an envelope. Retired in eighteen ninety six.
Swatson early in eighteen ninety seven he married a woman
twenty years younger than himself, a good looking woman too,
if the photograph does not flatter a competence, a wife leisure.

(02:12):
It seemed a straight road which lay before him. And
yet within two years he is as you have seen,
as broken and miserable, a creature as crawls beneath the sun.
But what has happened the old story Watson, a treacherous
friend and a fickle wife. It would appear that Amberley
has one hobby in life, and it is chess. Not

(02:35):
far from him. At Lewisham, there lives a young doctor
who is also a chess player. I have noted his
name as doctor Ray Ernest. Ernest was frequently in the house,
and an intimacy between him and Missus Amberley was a
natural sequence. For you must admit that our unfortunate client
has few outward graces, whatever his inner virtues may be.

(02:57):
The couple went off together last week, destination untraced. What
is more, the faithless spouse carried off the old man's
deed box as her personal luggage, with a good part
of his life's savings within. Can we find the lady?
Can we save the money? A commonplace problem so far
as it has developed, and yet a vital one for

(03:19):
Josiah Amberley. What will you do about it? Well, the
immediate question, my dear Watson, happens to be what will
you do if you will be good enough to understudy me?
You know that I am preoccupied with this case of
the two Coptic patriarchs, which should come to a head
to day. I really have not time to go out

(03:42):
to Lewisham, and yet evidence taken on the spot has
a special value. The old fellow was quite insistent that
I should go, but I explained my difficulty. He is
prepared to meet a representative by all means, I answered,
I confess, I don't see that I can be of
much service, but I am willing to do my best.

(04:02):
And so it was that on a summer afternoon I
set forth to Lewisham, little dreaming that within a week
the affair in which I was engaging would be the
eager debate of all England. It was late that evening
before I returned to Baker Street and gave an account
of my mission. Holmes lay with his gaunt figure stretched
in his deep chair, his pipe curling forth slow wreaths

(04:26):
of acrid tobacco, while his eyelids drooped over his eyes
so lazily that he might almost have been asleep, were
it not that at any halt or questionable passage of
my narrative. They half lifted, and two gray eyes, as
bright and keen as rapiers, transfixed me with their searching glance.
The Haven is the name of mister Josiah Amberley's house,

(04:48):
I explained, I think it would interest you, Holmes. It
is like some penurious patrician who is sunk into the
company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the
monotonous brick streets, though weary suburban highways. Right in the
middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and
comfort lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun

(05:12):
baked wall, modeled with lichens and topped with moss, the
sort of walk cut out the poetry, Watson, said Holmes severely.
I note that it was a high brick wall. Exactly.
I should not have known which was the haven had
I not asked a lounger who was smoking in the street.
I have a reason for mentioning him. He was a tall, dark,

(05:35):
heavily mustached, rather military looking man. He nodded in answer
to my inquiry and gave me a curiously questioning glance,
which came back to my memory A little later. I
had hardly entered the gateway before I saw mister Amberley
coming down the drive. I only had a glimpse of
him this morning, and he certainly gave me the impression

(05:56):
of a strange creature. But when I saw him in
full light, his appearance was even more abnormal. I have,
of course studied it, and yet I should be interested
to have your impression, said Holmes. He seemed to me
like a man who was literally bowed down by care.
His back was curved, as though he carried a heavy burden.

(06:18):
Yet he was not the weakling that I had at
first imagined, for his shoulders and chest have the framework
of a giant, though his figure tapers away into a
pair of spindled legs, left shoe wrinkled, right, one smooth.
I did not observe that, No, you wouldn't. I spotted
his artificial limb, but prossed. I was struck by the

(06:41):
snaky locks of grizzled hair which curled from under his
old straw hat, and his face with its fierce, eager expression,
and the deeply lined features. Very good Watson, what did
he say? He began pouring out the story of his grievances.
We walked down the drive together, and of course I
took a good look round. I have never seen a

(07:03):
worse kept place. The garden was all running to seed,
giving me an impression of wild neglect, in which the
plants had been allowed to find the way of nature
rather than of art. How any decent woman could have
tolerated such a state of things. I don't know. The
house too was slatternly to the last degree. But the
poor man seemed himself to be aware of it, and

(07:25):
to be trying to remedy it. For a great pot
of green paint stood in the center of the hall,
and he was carrying a thick brush in his left hand.
He had been working on the wood work. He took
me into his dingy sanctum and we had a long chat.
Of course, he was disappointed that you would not come yourself.

(07:45):
I hardly expected, he said, that so humble an individual
as myself, especially after my heavy financial loss, could obtain
the complete attention of so famous a man as mister
Sherlock Holmes. I assured him that the financial question did
not arise. No, of course, it is art for art's
sake with him, said he not even on the artistic

(08:08):
side of crime. He might have found something here to study.
And human nature, doctor Watson, the black ingratitude of it all,
When did I ever refuse one of her requests? Was
ever a woman so pampered? And that young man he
might have been my own son. He had the run
of my house, And yet see how they have treated me, Oh,

(08:31):
doctor Watson, it is a dreadful dreadful world. That was
the burden of his song. For an hour or more
he had it seems no suspicion of an intrigue. They
lived alone, save for a woman who comes in by
the day and leaves every evening at six. On that
particular evening, Old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat,

(08:52):
had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theater.
At the last moment, she had complained of a headache
and had refused to go. He had gone alone. There
seemed to be no doubt about the fact, for he
produced the unused ticket which he had taken for his wife.
That is remarkable, most remarkable, said Holmes, whose interest in

(09:14):
the case seemed to be rising. Pray continue, Watson, I
find your narrative most arresting. Did you personally examine this ticket?
You did not, perchance take the number? It so happens
that I did. I answered with some pride. It chanced
to be my old school number thirty one, and so
it stuck in my head. Excellent Watson, His seat then

(09:38):
was either thirty or thirty two. Quite so, I answered,
with some mystification, and on b row. That is most satisfactory.
What else did he tell you? He showed me his
strong room, miss he called it. It is really a
strong room like a bank, with iron door and shutter
burglar proof, as he claimed. However, the woman seems to

(10:01):
have had a duplicate key, and between them they had
carried off some seven thousand pounds worth of cash and securities. Securities?
How could they dispose of those? He said that he
had given the police a list, and that he hoped
they would be unsaleable. He had got back from the
theater about midnight and found the place plundered, the door

(10:22):
and window open, and the fugitives gone. There was no
letter or message, nor has he heard a word since
he at once gave the alarm to the police. Holmes
brooded for some minutes. You say he was painting. What
was he painting? Well, he was painting the passage. But

(10:42):
he had already painted the door and woodwork of this
room I spoke of. Does it not strike he as
a strange occupation In the circumstances, one must do something
to ease an aching heart. That was his own explanation.
It was eccentric, no doubt, But he is clearly an
eccentric man. He tore up one of his wife's photographs

(11:05):
in my presence, tore it up furiously in a tempest
of passion. I never wished to see her damned face again.
He shrieked, anything more, Watson, Yes, one thing which struck
me more than anything else. I had driven to the
Black Heath station and had caught my train there, when

(11:25):
just as it was starting, I saw a man dart
into the carriage next to my own. You know that
I have a quick eye for faces, Holmes. It was
undoubtedly the tall dark man whom I had addressed in
the street. I saw him once more at London Bridge,
and then I lost him in the crowd. But I
am convinced that he was following me, no doubt, No doubt,

(11:48):
said Holmes. A tall dark held a mustached man. You say,
with great tinted sunglasses. Holmes, you are a wizard. I
did not say so. But he had great tinted sun
glows asses and a Masonic tie pin. Holmes. Quite simple,
my dear Watson. But let us get down to what
is practical. I must admit to you that the case

(12:11):
which seemed to me to be so absurdly simple as
to be hardly worth my notice is rapidly assuming a
very different aspect. It is true that though in your
mission you have missed everything of importance. Yet even those
things which have obtruded themselves upon your notice give rise
to serious thought. What have I missed? Don't be hurt,

(12:32):
my dear fellow. You know that I am quite impersonal.
No one else would have done better, some possibly not
so well. But clearly you have missed some vital points.
What is the opinion of the neighbors about this men
Amberley and his wife? That surely is of importance. What
of doctor Ernest? Was he the gay lothario one would

(12:53):
expect with your natural advantages, Watson, every lady is your
helper and accomplice. What about the girl at the post
office or the wife of the greengrocer? I can picture
you whispering soft nothings with the young lady at the
blue anchor, and receiving hard somethings in exchange. All this
you have left undone. It can still be done. It

(13:17):
has been done. Thanks to the telephone and the help
of the art. I can usually get my essentials without
leaving this room. As a matter of fact, my information
confirms the man's story. He has the local repute of
being a miser as well as a harsh and exacting husband.
That he had a large sum of money in that
strong room of his is certain. So also is it

(13:39):
that young doctor Ernest, an unmarried man, played chess with Amberley,
and probably played the fool with his wife. All this
seems plain sailing, and one would think that there was
no more to be said. And yet and yet realize
the difficulty in my imagination. Perhaps well leave it there, Watson,

(14:03):
Let us escape from this weary, workaday world. By the
side door of music Carina sings to night at the
Albert Hall, and we still have time to dress, dine,
and enjoy. In the morning, I was up betimes, but
some toast crumbs and two empty egg shells told me
that my companion was earlier. Still, I found a scribbled

(14:24):
note upon the table. Dear Watson, there are one or
two points of contact which I should wish to establish
with mister Josiah Amberley. When I have done so, we
can dismiss the case or not. I would only ask
you to be on hand about three o'clock, as I
conceive it possible that I may want you s h.

(14:46):
I saw nothing of homes all day, but at the
hour named he returned grave, preoccupied and aloof. At such
times it was wiser to leave him to himself. Has
Amberley been here yet? No Ah, I am expecting him.
He was not disappointed, for presently the old fellow arrived,

(15:08):
with a very worried and puzzled expression upon his austere face.
I have had a telegram, mister Holmes. I can make
nothing of it. He handed it over, and Holmes read
it aloud. Come at once, without fail, can give you
information as to your recent loss. Elman. The vicarage dispatched

(15:29):
at two ten from Little Turlington, said Holmes. A Little
Turlington is in Essex. I believe not far from Printon. Well,
of course you will start at once. This is evidently
from a responsible person, the vicar of the place. Where
is my Crockford, Yes, here we have him, J. C. Elman,
m A living of Mossmore. Come Little Purlington. Look up

(15:53):
the trains, Watson, there is one at five twenty from
Liverpool Street. Excellent. You had best go with him, Watson.
He made need help or advice. Clearly we have come
to a crisis in this affair. But our client seemed
by no means eager to start. It's perfectly absurd, mister Holmes,
he said, what can this man possibly know of what

(16:16):
has occurred? It is a waste of time and money.
He would not have telegraphed to you if he did
not know something. Why are at once that you are coming.
I don't think I shall go, Holmes assumed his sternest aspect.
It would make the worst possible impression, both on the
police and upon myself. Mister Amberley, if when so obvious

(16:38):
a clue arose, you should refuse to follow it up,
we should feel that you were not really in earnest
in this investigation. Our client seemed horrified at the suggestion.
Why of course I shall go if you look at
it that way, said he. On the face of it,
it seems absurd to suppose that this parson knows anything.

(16:58):
But if you think, I do, think, said Holmes with emphasis.
And so we were launched upon our journey. Holmes took
me aside before we left the room and gave me
one word of counsel, which showed that he considered the
matter to be of importance. Whatever you do see that
he really does go, said he should he break away

(17:20):
or return get to the nearest telephone exchange and send
the single word bolted. I will arrange here that it
shall reach me wherever I am. Little Purlington is not
an easy place to reach, for it is on a
branch line. My remembrance of the journey is not a
pleasant one, for the weather was hot, the train slow,

(17:41):
and my companion sullen and silent, hardly talking at all
save to make an occasional sardonic remark as to the
futility of our proceedings. When we at last reached the
little station. It was a two mile drive before we
came to the vicarage, where a big, solemn, rather pompous
clergyman received us in his study. Our telegram lay before him. Well, gentlemen,

(18:05):
he asked, what can I do for you? We came,
I explained, in answer to your wire my wire, I
sent no wire. I mean the wire which you sent
to mister Josiah Amberley about his wife and his money.
If this is a joke, sir, it is a very
questionable one. Said the vicar angrily. I have never heard

(18:27):
of the gentleman you name, and I have not sent
a wire to any one. Our client and I looked
at each other, in amazement. Perhaps there is some mistake,
said I are there perhaps two vicarages. Here is the
wire itself, signed Elman and dated from the vicarage. There

(18:48):
is only one vicarage, Sir, and only one vicar and
this wire is a scandalous forgery, the origin of which
shall certainly be investigated by the police. Meanwhile, well, I
can see no possible object in prolonging this interview. So
mister Amberley and I found ourselves on the road side
in what seemed to me to be the most primitive

(19:10):
village in England. We made for the telegraph office, but
it was already closed. There was a telephone, however, in
the little railway arms, and by it I got in
touch with Holmes, who shared in our amazement. At the
result of our journey, most singular, said the distant voice,
most remarkable. I much fear, my dear Watson, that there

(19:33):
is no return train to night. I have unwittingly condemned
you to the horrors of a country inn. However, there
is always nature, Watson, Nature, and Josiah Amberley, you can
be in close commune with both. I heard his dry
chuckle as he turned away. It was soon apparent to
me that my companion's reputation as a miser was not undeserved.

(19:57):
He had grumbled at the expense of the journey, had
insisted upon traveling third class, and was now clamorous in
his objections to the hotel bill. Next morning, when we
did at last arrive in London, it was hard to
say which of us was in the worst humor. You
had best take Baker Street as we pass, said I,
mister Holmes may have some fresh instructions. If they are

(20:21):
not worth more than the last ones, they are not
much use, said Amberley, with a malevolent scowl. None the less,
he kept me company. I had already warned Holmes by
telegram of the hour of our arrival, but we found
a message waiting that he was in Lewisham and would
expect us there. That was a surprise, But an even

(20:41):
greater one was to find that he was not alone.
In the sitting room of our client, A stern looking,
impassive man sat beside him, A dark man with gray
tinted glasses and a large Masonic pin rejecting from his tie.
This is my friend, mister Barker, said, Holmes, been interesting himself.
Also in your business, mister Josiah Amberley. Though we have

(21:05):
been working independently, but we both have the same question
to ask you. Mister Amberley sat down heavily. He sensed
impending danger. I read it in his straining eyes and
his twitching features. What is the question, mister Holmes, Only this,
What did you do with the bodies? The man sprang

(21:27):
to his feet with a hoarse scream. He clawed into
the air with his bony hands. His mouth was open,
and for the instant he looked like some horrible bird
of prey. In a flash, we got a glimpse of
the real Josiah Amberley, a misshapen demon with a soul
as distorted as his body. As he fell back into
his chair, he clapped his hand to his lips, as

(21:50):
if to stifle a cough. Holmes sprang at his throat
like a tiger, and twisted his face towards the ground.
A white pellet fell from between his gasping lips. No
short cuts, Josiah Amberley. Things must be done decently and
in order. But about it, Barker, I have a cab

(22:10):
at the door, said our taciturn companion. It is only
a few hundred yards to the station. We will go together.
You can stay here, Watson. I shall be back within
half an hour. The old colorman had the strength of
a lion in that great trunk of his, but he
was helpless in the hands of the two experienced man handlers.

(22:31):
Wriggling and twisting. He was dragged to the waiting cab,
and I was left to my solitary vigil in the
ill omened house. In less time than he had named, however,
Holmes was back in company with a smart young police inspector.
I have left Barker to look after the formalities, said Holmes.
You had not met Barker Watson. He is my hated

(22:53):
rival upon the Surrey shore. When you said a tall
dark man, it was not difficult for me to complete
the picture. He has several good cases to his credit.
As he not inspector, he has certainly interfered several times.
The inspector answered with reserve. His methods are irregular, no doubt,
like my own. The irregulars are useful sometimes, you know. You,

(23:17):
for example, with your compulsory warning about whatever he said
being used against him, could never have bluffed this rascal
into what is virtually a confession. Perhaps not, but we
get there all the same. Mister Holmes. Don't imagine that
we had not formed our own views of this case,
and that we would not have laid our hands on
our man. You will excuse us for feeling sore when

(23:40):
you jump in with methods which we cannot use and
so rob us of the credit. There shall be no
such robbery, MacKinnon. I assure you that I effaced myself
from now onwards. And as to Barker, he has done
nothing save what I told him. The inspector seemed considerably relieved.
That is very handsome of you, mister Holmes. Praise or

(24:03):
blame can matter little to you, but it is very
different to us. When the newspapers begin to ask questions.
Quite so, But they are pretty sure to ask questions anyhow,
so it would be as well to have answers. What
will you say? For example, when the intelligent and enterprising
reporter asks you what the exact points were which aroused

(24:26):
your suspicion and finally gave you a certain conviction as
to the real facts, the inspector looked puzzled. We don't
seem to have got any real facts yet, mister Holmes.
You say that the prisoner in the presence of three
witnesses practically confessed by trying to commit suicide, that he
had murdered his wife and a lover. What other facts

(24:49):
have you? Have you arranged for a search? There are
three constables on their way. Then you will soon get
the clearest fact of all. The bodies cannot be far away.
Try the cellars and the garden. It should not take
long to dig up the likely places. This house is
older than the water pipes. There must be a disused
well somewhere. Try your luck there. But how did you

(25:13):
know of it? And how was it done? I'll show
you first how it was done, and then I will
give the explanation, which is due to you, and even
more to my long suffering friend here, who has been
invaluable throughout. But first I would give you an insight
into this man's mentality. It is a very unusual one,

(25:34):
so much so that I think his destination is more
likely to be broad more than the scaffold. He has,
to a high degree the sort of mind which one
associates with the medieval Italian nature rather than with the
modern Briton. He was a miserable miser who made his
wife so wretched by his niggardly ways, that she was

(25:54):
a ready prey for any adventurer. Such a one came
upon the scene in the person of this test playing
doctor Amberley, excelled at chess. One marked Watson of a
scheming mind like all miser's. He was a jealous man,
and his jealousy became a frantic mania. Rightly or wrongly,
he suspected an intrigue. He determined to have his revenge,

(26:17):
and he planned it with diabolical cleverness. Come here, Holmes
led us along the passage with as much certainty as
if he had lived in the house, and halted at
the open door of the strong room. Who what an
awful smell of paint? Cried the inspector. That was our
first clue, said Holmes. You can thank doctor Watson's observation

(26:40):
for that. Though he failed to draw the inference. It
set my foot upon the trail. Why should this man
at such a time be filling his house with strong odors,
obviously to cover some other smell which he wished to conceal,
some guilty smell which would suggest suspicions. Then came the

(27:01):
idea of a room such as you see here, with
iron door and shutter a hermetically sealed room. Put those
two facts together, and whither do they lead? I could
only determine that by examining the house myself. I was
already certain that the case was serious, for I had
examined the box office chart at the Haymarket Theater, another

(27:24):
of doctor Watson's bull's eyes, and ascertained that neither B
thirty nor thirty two of the upper circle had been
occupied that night. Therefore, Amberley had not been to the theater,
and his alibi fell to the ground. He made a
bad slip when he allowed my astute friend to notice
the number of the seat taken for his wife. The

(27:47):
question now arose how I might be able to examine
the house. I sent an agent to the most impossible
village I could think of, and summoned my man to
it at such an hour that he could not possibly
get back. To prevent any miscarriage, Doctor Watson accompanied him.
The good Vicar's name I took, of course, out of

(28:09):
my Crockford. Do I make it all clear to you?
It is, masterly, said the inspector in an awed voice.
There being no fear of interruption, I proceeded to burgle
the house. Burglary has always been an alternative profession had
I cared to adopt it, and I have little doubt
that I should have come to the front observe what

(28:31):
I found. You see the gas pipe along the skirting here,
very good. It rises in the angle of the wall,
and there is a tap here in the corner. The
pipe runs out into the strong room, as you can see,
and ends in that plaster rose in the center of
the ceiling, where it is concealed by the ornamentation. That

(28:53):
end is wide open. At any moment by turning the
outside tap, the room could be flooded with as with
door and shut her closed and the tap full on.
I would not give two minutes of conscious sensation to
any one shut up in that little chamber by what
devilish device he decoyed them there, I do not know.

(29:14):
But once inside the door they were at his mercy.
The inspector examined the pipe with interest. One of our
officers mentioned the smell of gas, said he, But of
course the window and door were opened then, and the paint,
or some of it, was already about. He had begun
the work of painting the day before, according to his story.

(29:36):
But what next, mister Holmes. Well, then came an incident
which was rather unexpected to myself. I was slipping through
the pantry window in the early dawn when I felt
a hand inside my collar and a voice said, now,
you rascal, what are you doing in there? When I
could twist my head round, I looked into the tinted

(29:57):
spectacles of my friend and rival. Mis to Parker, it
was a curious for gathering, and set us both smiling.
It seems that he had been engaged by doctor ray
Ernest's family to make some investigations and had come to
the same conclusion as to foul play. He had watched
the house for some days and had spotted doctor Watson

(30:19):
as one of the obviously suspicious characters who had called there.
He could hardly arrest Watson, but when he saw a
man actually climbing out of the pantry window, there came
a limit to his restraint. Of course, I told him
how matters stood, and we continued the case together. Why him,
why not us? Because it was in my mind to

(30:41):
put that little test, which answered so admirably. I fear
you would not have gone so far. The inspector smiled, Well,
maybe not, I understand that I have your word, mister Holmes,
that you stepped right out of the case now, and
that you turn all your results over to us. Certainly
that is always my custom. Well, in the name of

(31:05):
the force, I thank you. It seems a clear case
as you put it, and there can't be much difficulty
over the bodies. I'll show you a grim little bit
of evidence, said Holmes, and I am sure Ambery himself
never observed it. You'll get results, Inspector, by always putting
yourself in the other fellow's place and thinking what you

(31:25):
would do yourself. It takes some imagination, but it pays.
Now we will suppose that you were shut up in
this little room, had not two minutes to live, but
wanted to get even with the fiend who was probably
mocking at you from the other side of the door.
What would you do? Write a message exactly? You would

(31:47):
like to tell people how you died? Do use writing
on paper that would be seen? If you wrote on
the wall, some I might rest upon it. Now, look here,
just above the skirting is scribbled with a purple indelible pencil.
We will that's all. What do you make of that? Well,

(32:08):
it's only a foot above the ground. The poor devil
was on the floor and dying when he wrote it.
He lost his senses before he could finish. He was writing,
we were murdered. That's how I read it. If you
find an indelible pencil on the body, we'll look out
for it. You may be sure, but those securities, clearly

(32:30):
there was no robbery at all. And yet he did
possess those bonds. We verified that. You may be sure
he has hidden them in a safe place. When the
whole elopement had passed into history, he would certainly discover them,
and announced that the guilty couple had relented and sent
back the plunder or had dropped it on the way.

(32:51):
You certainly seem to have met every difficulty, said the inspector.
Of course he was bound to call us in. But
why he should have gone to you, I can't understand.
Pure swank Holmes answered. He felt so clever and so
sure of himself that he imagined no one could touch him.

(33:12):
He could say to any suspicious neighbor, look at the
steps I have taken. I have consulted not only the police,
but even Sherlock Holmes. The inspector laughed, we must forgive
your even, mister Holmes said he it's as workman like
a job as I can remember. A couple of days later,

(33:33):
my friend tossed across to me a copy of the
bi weekly North Surrey Observer, under a series of flaming
headlines which began the Haven Horror and ended with brilliant
police investigation. There was a packed column of print which
gave the first consecutive account of the affair. The concluding
paragraph is typical of the whole It ran. Thus, the

(33:57):
remarkable acumen by which Inspector MacKinnon as deduced from the
smell of paint that some other smell, that of gas,
for example, might be concealed, The bold deduction that the
strong room might also be the death chamber, and the
subsequent inquiry which led to the discovery of the bodies
in a disused well, cleverly concealed by a dog kennel,

(34:20):
should live in the history of crime as a standing
example of the intelligence of our professional detectives. Well, well,
MacKinnon is a good fellow, said Holmes, with a tolerant smile.
You can file it in our archives, Watson. Some day
the true story may be told. End of the Adventure

(34:44):
of the Retired Colorman. End of the case Book of
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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