The Valley of Fear V 4 - The Solution

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Part one, Chapter seven of the Valley of Fay by
Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Chapter seven The Solution.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Next morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector MacDonald and Whitemason
seated in close consultation in the small parlor of the
local police sergeant. On the table in front of them
were piled a number of letters and telegrams which they
were carefully sorting and docketing. Three had been placed on
one side.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Still on the track of the elusive bicyclist.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Holmes asked, cheerfully, what.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Is the latest news of the ruffian?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
MacDonald pointed ruefully to his heap of correspondents.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, Southampton, Darby,
East Richmond, and fourteen other places. In three of them
east Ham, Luster and Liverpool. There is a clear case
against him, and he has actually been arrested. The country
seems to be full of fugitives with yellow coats, dear.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Me, said Holmes sympathetically.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Now, mister mac and you, mister Whitemason, I wish to
give you a very earnest piece of advice. When I
went into this case with you, I bargained, as you
will no doubt remember, that I should not present you
with half proved theories, but that I should retain and
work out my own ideas until I had satisfied myself

(01:43):
that they were correct. For this reason, I am not
at the present moment telling you all that is in
my mind. On the other hand, I said that I
would play the game fairly by you, and I do
not think it is a fair game to allow you,
for one unnecessary moment, to waste your energies upon a
profitless task. Therefore, I am here to advise you this morning,

(02:07):
and my advice to you is summed up in three words.
Abandon the case.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Mac Donald and Waite Mason stared in amazement at their
celebrated colleague.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
You consider it hopeless.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Cried the inspector.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I consider your case to be hopeless. I do not
consider that it is hopeless to arrive at the truth.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
But the cyclist, he is not an invention. We have
his description, his valise, his bicycle. The follow must be somewhere.
Why should we not get him?

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yes, yes, No, doubt he is somewhere, and no doubt
we shall get him. But I would not have you
waste your energies in east Ham or Liverpool. I am
sure that we can find some shorter cut to a result.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
You are halting something back. It's hardly fair of you,
mister Holmes.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
The inspector was annoyed.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know my methods of work, mister mac but I
will hold it back for the shortest time possible. I
only wish to verify my details in one way, which
can very readily be done, and then I make my
bow and return to London, leaving my results entirely at
your service. I owe you too much to act otherwise,

(03:25):
for in all my experience I cannot recall any more
singular and interesting study.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
This is clean beyond me, mister Holmes. We saw you
when we returned from Tunbridge Wells last night, and you
were in general agreement with our results. What has happened
since then? To give you a completely new idea of
the case.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Well, since you ask me, I spent as I told
you that I would, some hours last night at the
manor house.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Well what happened?

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Ah? I can only give you a very general answer
to that for the moment, by the way, I have
been reading a short but clear and interesting account of
the old building, purchasable at the modest sum of one
penny from the local tobacconist.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Here Holmes drew a small tract embellished with a rude
engraving of the ancient manor house from his waistcoat pocket.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation, My
dear mister mac when one is in conscious sympathy with
the historical atmosphere of one's surroundings, don't look so impatient,
for I assure you that even so bald an account
as this raises some sort of picture of the past

(04:45):
in one's mind. Permit me to give you a sample.
Erected in the fifth year of the reign of James
the First, and standing upon the site of a much
older building, the manor House of Bellstone presents one of
the finest surviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
You are making fools of us, mister Holmes.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Mister Mack. The first sign of temper I have detected
in you. Well, I won't read it verbatim, since you
feel so strongly upon the subject. But when I tell
you that there is some account of the taking of
the place by a parliamentary colonel in sixteen forty four,
of the concealment of Charles for several days in the

(05:30):
course of the Civil War, and finally of a visit
there by the second George, you will admit that there
are various associations of interest connected with this ancient house.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
I don't doubt it, mister Holmes, But that is no
business of ours, is it not?

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Is it not? Breadth of view, my dear mister mac
is one of the essentials of our profession. The interplay
of ideas and the oblique uses of knowledge are often
of extraordinary interest. You will excuse these remarks from one who,
though a mere connoisseur of crime, is still rather older

(06:10):
and perhaps more experienced than yourself.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
I am the first to admit that, said the detective heartily.
You get to your point, I admit, But you have
such a deuced round the corner way of doing it.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Well, well, I'll drop past history and get down to
present day facts. I called last night, as I have
already said, at the manor house. I did not see
either Barker or missus Douglas. I saw no necessity to
disturb them. But I was pleased to hear that the

(06:44):
lady was not visibly pining, and that she had partaken
of an excellent dinner. My visit was specially made to
the good mister Ames, with whom I exchanged some amiabilities,
which culminated in his allowing me, without reference to any
one else, to sit alone for a time in the study.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
What with that?

Speaker 3 (07:07):
I ejaculated, No, No, everything is now in order. You
gave permission for that, mister mac As, I am informed
the room was in its normal state, and in it
I passed an instructive quarter of an hour.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
What were you doing well?

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Not to make a mystery of so simple a matter.
I was looking for the missing dumbbell. It has always
bulked rather large in my estimate of the case. I
ended by finding it. Where Ah, there we come to
the edge of the unexplored. Let me go a little further,

(07:45):
very little further, and I will promise that you shall
share everything that I know.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
Well, we're bound to take you on your own terms,
said the inspector. But when it comes to telling us
to abandon the case, why in the name of goodness
should we abandon the case.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
For the simple reason, my dear mister Mac, that you
have not got the first idea what it is that
you are investigating.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
We are investigating the murder of mister John Douglas of
Burlstone manner.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yes, yes, so you are. But don't trouble to trace
the mysterious gentleman on the bicycle. I assure you that
it won't help you.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Then what do you suggest we do.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
I will tell you exactly what to do if you
will do it.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Well, I'm bound to say I've always found you had
reason behind all your queer ways.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
I'll do what you advise, and you, mister Whitemason.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
The country detective, looked helplessly from one to the other.
Holmes and his methods were new to him.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Well, if it's good enough for the inspector, it is
good enough for me.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
He said at last, capital said Holmes.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, then I should recommend a nice, cheery country walk
for both of you. They tell me that the views
from Burlstone Ridge over the Wield are very remarkable. No
doubt lunch could be got at some suitable hostelry, though
my ignorance of the country prevents me from recommending one.
In the evening. Tired but happy.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
Man, this is getting past a.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Jog, cried mac Donald, rising angrily from his chair.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
Well, well, spend the day as you.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Like, said Holmes, patting him cheerfully upon the shoulder.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Do what you like and go where you will, But
meet me here before dusk without fail, without fail, mister.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
Mack, that sounds more like sanity.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
All of it was excellent advice. But I don't insist
so long as you are here when I need you.
But now, before we pass, I want you to write
a note to mister Barker. Well, I'll dictate.

Speaker 5 (10:06):
It if you like.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Ready, dear sir, it has struck me that it is
our duty to drain the moat in the hope that
we may find some.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
It's impossible, said the inspector.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
I have made inquiry, My dear sir, Please do what
I ask you. Well, go on in the hope that
we may find something which may bear upon our investigation.
I have made arrangements and the workmen will be at
work early to morrow morning, diverting the stream. Impossible diverting

(10:42):
the stream, so I thought it best to explain matters beforehand.
Now sign that and send it by hand. About four o'clock.
At that hour we shall meet again in this room.
Until then we may each do what we like, for
I can assure you that this inquiry has come to
a definite pause.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Evening was drawing in when we reassembled. Holmes was very
serious in his manner, myself curious, and the detectives obviously
critical and annoyed. Well, gentlemen, said my friend gravely.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
I am asking you now to put everything to the
test with me, and you will judge for yourselves whether
the observations I have made justify the conclusions to which
I have come. It is a chill evening, and I
do not know how long our expedition may last, so
I beg that you will wear your warmest coats. It

(11:41):
is of the first importance that we should be in
our places before it grows dark, So with your permission,
we shall get started at once.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
We passed along the outer bounds of the manor House
park until we came to a place where there was
a gap in the rails which fenced it. Through this
we slipped, and then, in the gathering gloom, we followed
Holmes until we had reached a shrubbery which lies nearly
opposite to the main door and the drawbridge. The latter
had not been raised. Holmes crouched down behind the screen

(12:16):
of laurels, and we all three followed his example.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
Well, what are we to do now, asked.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Mac donald, with some gruffness.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Possess our souls in patience and make as little noise
as possible.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Holmes answered, what.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
Are we here for at all? I really think that
you might treat us with more frankness.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Holmes laughed.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Watson insists that I am the dramatist in real life,
said he. Some touch of the artist wells up within
me and calls insistently for a well staged performance. Surely
our profession, mister mac would be a drab and sordi
if we did not sometimes set the scene so as

(13:03):
to glorify our results. The blunt accusation, the brutal tap
upon the shoulder. What can one make of such a denouement?
But the quick inference, the subtle trap, the clever forecast
of coming events, the triumphant vindication of bold theories. Are
these not the pride and the justification of our life's work?

(13:27):
At the present moment, you thrill with the glamor of
the situation, and the anticipation of the hunt. Where would
be that thrill if I had been as definite as
a timetable. I only ask a little patience, mister mac
and all will be clear to you.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Well, I hope the pride and justification and the rest
of it will come before we all get our death
of cold.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Said the London detective, with comic resignation. We all had
a good reason and to join in the aspiration for
our vigil was a long and bitter one. Slowly the
shadows darkened over the long, somber face of the old house.
A cold, damp reek from the moat chilled us to

(14:15):
the bones and set our teeth chattering. There was a
single lamp over the gateway and a steady globe of
light in the fatal study. Everything else was dark.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
And still, how long is this to last?

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Asked the inspector.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
Finally, and what is it we are watching for?

Speaker 3 (14:36):
I have no more notion than you how long it
is to last?

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Holmes answered, with some asperity.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
If criminals would always schedule their movements like railway trains,
it would certainly be more convenient for all of us.
As to what it is we Well, that's what we
are watching.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
For as he spoke, the bright yellow light in study
was obscured by somebody passing to and fro before it.
The laurels among which we lay were immediately opposite the window,
and not more than a hundred feet from it. Presently
it was thrown open with a whining of hinges, and

(15:16):
we could dimly see the dark outline of a man's
head and shoulders looking out into the gloom. For some minutes,
he pared forth in furtive, stealthy fashion, as one who
wishes to be assured that he is unobserved. Then he
leaned forward, and in the intense silence, we were aware
of the soft lapping of agitated water. He seemed to

(15:39):
be stirring up the moat with something which he held
in his hand. Then suddenly he holds something in as
a fisherman lands a fish, some large round object, which
obscured the light as it was dragged through the open casement.
Now cried Holmes. Now we were all upon our feet,

(16:03):
staggering after him with our stiffened limbs, while he ran
swiftly across the bridge and rang violently at the bell.
There was the rasping of bolts from the other side.
And the amazed Aims stood in the entrance. Holmes brushed
him aside without a word, and, followed by all of us,
rushed into the room which had been occupied by the

(16:23):
man whom we had been watching. The oil lamp on
the table represented the glow which we had seen from outside.
It was now in the hand of Cecil Barker, who
held it towards us as we entered. Its light shone
upon his strong, resolute, clean shaved face and his menacing eyes.
What the devil is the meaning of all this? He cried?

(16:47):
What are you after?

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Anyhow?

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Holmes took a swift glance round, and then pounced upon
a sodden bundle tied together with cord, which lay where
it had been thrust under the writing table.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
This is what we are after, mister Barker, this bundle,
weighted with a dumbbell, which you have just raised from
the bottom of the moat.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Barker stared at Holmes with amazement in his face. Oh
and thunder came you to know anything about it?

Speaker 3 (17:17):
He asked, simply that I put it there. You put
it there? You, perhaps, I should have said, replaced.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
It there, said Holmes.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
You will remember, Inspector mac donald that I was somewhat
struck by the absence of a dumbbell. I drew your
attention to it, But with the pressure of other events,
you had hardly the time to give it the consideration
which would have enabled you to draw deductions from it.
When water is near and a weight is missing, it

(17:52):
is not a very far fetched supposition that something has
been sunk in the water. The idea was at least
worth testing. So, with the help of Ames, who admitted
me to the room, and the crook of doctor Watson's umbrella,
I was able last night to fish up and inspect
this bundle. It was of the first importance, however, that

(18:15):
we should be able to prove who placed it there.
This we accomplished by the very obvious device of announcing
that the moat would be dried to morrow, which had
of course the effect that whoever had hidden the bundle
would most certainly withdraw it the moment that darkness enabled
him to do so. We have no less than four

(18:37):
witnesses as to who it was who took advantage of
the opportunity, And so, mister Barker, I think the word
lies now with you.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Sherlock Holmes put the sopping bundle upon the table beside
the lamp, and undid the cord which bound it. From within.
He extructed a dumbbell, which he tossed down to its fellow.
In the next he drew forth a pair of boots American,
as you perceive, he remarked, pointing to the toes. Then

(19:10):
he laid upon the table a long, deadly sheathed knife.
Finally he unraveled a bundle of clothing comprising a complete
set of underclothes, socks, a gray tweed suit, and a
short yellow overcoat.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
The clothes are commonplace, remarked Holmes, save only the overcoat,
which is full of suggestive touches.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
He held it tenderly towards the light.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Here, as you perceive, is the inner pocket prolonged into
the lining in such fashion as to give ample space
for the truncated fowling piece. The tailor's tab is on
the neck. Nil Outfitter, Vermissa, Usa. I have spent an
instructive afternoon in the Rector's library, and have enlarged my

(20:01):
knowledge by adding the fact that Vermissa is a flourishing
little town at the head of one of the best
known coal and iron valleys. In the United States. I
have some recollection, mister Barker, that you associated the coal
districts with mister Douglas's first wife, And it would surely

(20:23):
not be too far fetched an inference that the v
V on the card by the dead body might stand
for Vermissa Valley, or that this very valley which sends
forth emissaries of murder may be that valley of fear
of which we have heard so much. Is fairly clear.

(20:44):
And now, mister Barker, I seem to be standing rather
in the way of your explanation.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
It was a sight to see Cecil Barker's expressive face
during this exposition of the great detective anger, a consternation
and indecision swept over it. In turn. Finally he took
refuge in a somewhat acrid irony.

Speaker 5 (21:10):
You know such a lot, mister Holmes, Perhaps you had
better tell us.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Some more, he sneered.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
I have no doubt that I could tell you a
great deal more, mister Barker, but it would come with
a better grace from you.

Speaker 5 (21:25):
How you think so, do you?

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Well? I can say that if there's any secret here,
it's not my secret, and I'm not the man to
give it away.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Well, if you take that line, mister.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Barker, said the inspector quietly.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
We must just keep you in sight until we have
the warrant and can hold you.

Speaker 5 (21:46):
You can do what you damn.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Please about that, said Barker defiantly. The proceedings seemed to
have come to a definite end so far as he
was concerned, For one had only to look at that
granite fan to realize that no Pennfort Dedieu would ever
force him to plead against his will. The deadlock was broken, however,

(22:09):
by a woman's voice. Missus Douglas had been standing listening
at the half opened door, and now she entered the room.
You have done enough for now, cecil, said she.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Whatever comes of it in the future, You have done.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Enough enough, and more than enough, remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
I have every sympathy with you, madam, and should strongly
urge you to have some confidence in the common sense
of our jurisdiction and to take the police voluntarily into
your complete confidence. It may be that I am myself
at fault for not following up the hint which you

(22:51):
conveyed to me through my friend doctor Watson, but At
that time I had every reason to believe that you
were direct concerned in the crime. Now I am assured
that this is not so. At the same time, there
is much that is unexplained, and I should strongly recommend

(23:11):
that you ask mister Douglas to tell us his own story.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Missus Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at Holmes's words.
The detectives and I must have echoed it when we
were aware of a man who seemed to have emerged
from the wall, who advanced now from the gloom of
the corner in which he had appeared. Missus Douglas turned
and in an instant her arms were round him. Barker
had seized his outstretched hand.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
It's best this way, Jack.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
His wife repeated, I am sure that.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
It is best.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
Indeed, yes, mister Douglas.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Said Sherlock Holmes, I.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Am sure that you will find it best.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
The man stood blinking at us with the dazed look
of one who comes from the dark into the light.
It was a remarkable face, bold gray eyes, a strong, short,
clipped grizzled mustache, a square projecting chin, and a humorous mouth.
He took a good look at U s Aul and then,

(24:13):
to my amazement, he advanced to me and handed me
a bundle of paper.

Speaker 5 (24:19):
I've heard of you.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Said he in a voice which was not quite English
and not quite American, but was altogether mellow and pleasing.

Speaker 5 (24:30):
You are these storian of this bunch. Well, doctor Watson,
you've never had such a story as that passed through
her hands before. And I'll lay my last dollar on that.
Tell it your own way. But there are the facts,
and you can't miss the public so long as you
have those. I've been cooped up two days, and I've

(24:52):
spent the daylight hours as much daylight as I could
get in that rat trap. In putting the thing into words.
You're welcome to them, you and your public. There's the
story of the Valley of Fear.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
That's the past, mister Douglas.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Said Sherlock Holmes quietly.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
What we desire now is to hear your story of
the present.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
You'll have it, sir, said Douglas.

Speaker 5 (25:21):
May I smoke as I talk? Well, thank you, mister Holmes.
You're a smoker yourself, if I remember right. And you'll
guess what it is to be sitting for two days
with tobacco in your pocket and afraid that the smell
will give you away.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
He leaned against the mantelpiece and sucked at the cigar
which Holmes had handed him.

Speaker 5 (25:42):
I've heard of you, mister Holmes. I never guessed that
I should meet you. But before you are through.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
With that, he nodded at my papers.

Speaker 5 (25:51):
You'll say I've brought you something fresh.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
And Spector mac donald had been staring at the newcomer
with the greatest amazement.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
Well this fairly beats me.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
He cried at last.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
If you are mister John Douglas of Barrelstone, Manor, then
whose death have we been investigating for these two days?
And where in the world have you sprung from? Now?
You seem to me to have come out to the
floor like a jack in a box.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Ah, mister mac said Holmes, shaking a reproving forefinger.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
You would not read that excellent local compilation which described
the concealment of King Charles. People did not hide in
those days without excellent hiding places. And the hiding place
that has once been used may be again. I had
persuaded myself that we should find mister Douglas under this roof.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
And how long have you been playing this trick? Upon us,
mister Holmes.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Said the inspector angrily.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
How long have you allowed us to waste ourselves upon
a search that you knew to be an absurd one?

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Not one instant, my dear mister Mack. Only last night
did I form my views of the case, As they
could not be put to the proof until this evening,
I invited you and your colleague to take a holiday
for the day. Pray what more could I do? When
I found the suit of clothes in the moat, it
at once became apparent to me that the body we

(27:29):
had found could not have been the body of mister
John Douglas at all, but must be that of the
bicyclist from Tunbridge Wells. No other conclusion was possible. Therefore,
I had to determine where mister John Douglas himself could be,
and the balance of probability was that, with the connivance

(27:49):
of his wife and his friend, he was concealed in
a house which had such conveniences for a fugitive, and
awaiting quieter times when he could make his final escape.

Speaker 5 (28:01):
Well you've figured it out about.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Right, said Douglas approvingly.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
I thought i'd dodge your British law, for I was
not sure how I stood under it. And also I
saw my chance to throw these hounds once we're all
off my track. Mind you, from first to last, I
have done nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing that
I would not do again. But you'll judge that for

(28:27):
yourselves when I tell you my story. Never mind warning me, inspector.
I'm ready to stand pat upon the truth. I'm not
going to begin at the beginning.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
That's all there, he indicated. My bundle of papers.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
And a mighty queer yarn, you'll find it. It all
comes down to this, And there are some men that
have good cause to hate me, and will give their
last dollar to know that they had got me. So
long as I'm alive and they are alive, there's no
safety in this world for me. They haunted me from
Chicago to California. Then they'd chased me out of America.

(29:07):
But when I married and settled down in this quiet spot,
I thought my last years were going to be peaceable.
I never explained to my wife how things were. Why
should I pull her into it? She would never have
a quiet moment again, but would always be imagining trouble.
I fancy she knew something, For I may have dropped

(29:28):
a word here or a word there, But until yesterday,
after you, gentlemen, had seen her, she never knew the
rights of the matter. She told you all she knew,
and so did Baka hear. For on the night when
this thing happened, there was mighty little time for explanations.
She knows everything now, and I would have been a

(29:49):
wiser man if I had told her sooner. But it
was a hard question. Dear.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
He took her hand for an instant in his own.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
And I acted for the best well, gentlemen. The day
before these happenings, I was over in Tunbridge Wells and
I got a glimpse of a man in the street.
It was only a glimpse, but I've a quick eye
for these things, and I never doubted who it was.
It was a worst enemy I had among them. All.

(30:19):
One has been after me like a hungry wolf after
a caribou all these years. I knew there was trouble coming,
and I came home and made ready for it. I
guess I'd fight through it all right on my own.
My luck was a proverb in the States about seventy six.
I never doubted that it would be with me. Still,

(30:39):
I was on my guard all that next day and
never went out into the park. It's as well or
you've had the drop on me with that back shot
gun of his before ever I could draw on him.
After the bridge was up. My mind was always more
RESTful when that bridge was up. In the evenings, I
put the thing clear out of my head. I never

(31:01):
dreamed of his getting into the house and waiting for me.
But when I made my round in my dressing gown,
as was my habit, I had no sooner entered the
study than I sent a danger. I guess when a
man has had dangers in his life, and I've had
more than most in my time. There was a kind
of seek fence that waves the red flag. I saw

(31:22):
the signal clear enough, and yet I couldn't tell you why.
Next instant I spotted a boot under the window curtain,
and then I saw why plain enough. I just the
one candle that was in my hand, but there was
a good light from the hall lamp through the open door.
I put down the candle and jumped for a hammer
that I left on the mantle. At the same moment

(31:45):
he sprang at me. I saw the glint of a knife,
and I lashed at him with the hammer. I got
him somewhere for the knife tinkled down on the floor.
He dodged round the table as quick as an eel,
and a moment later he got his gun from one coat.
I heard him cock it, but I got hold of
it before he could fire. I had it by the barrel.

(32:07):
He wrestled for it. All ends up for a minute
or more. It was death to the man that lost
his grip. He never lost his grip, but he got
it but downward for a moment too long. Maybe it
was I that pulled the trigger. Maybe we just joded
it off between us. Anyhow, he got both barrels in

(32:28):
the face, and there I was staring down at all
that was left of Ted Baldwin. I'd recognized him in
the township and again when he sprang for me, but
his own mother wouldn't recognize him as I saw him. Then.
I'm used to rough work, but I fairly turned sick
at the side of him. I was hanging on the

(32:49):
side of the table when Barker came hurrying down. I
had my wife coming, and I ran to the door
and stopped her. It was no sight for a woman
promised I'd come to very soon. I said a word
or two tobacco. He took it all in at a glance.
We waited for the race to come along, but there

(33:09):
was no sign of them. Then we understood that they
could hear nothing, and that all that had happened was
known only to ourselves. It was at that instant that
the idea came to me. I was fairly dazzled by
the brilliance of it. The man's sleeves had slipped up,
and there was the branded mark of the lodge upon
his forearm.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
See here the man whom we had known as Douglas
turned up his own coat and cuff to show a
brown triangle within a circle, exactly like that which we
had seen upon the dead man.

Speaker 5 (33:43):
It was the sight of that which started me on it.
I seemed to see it all clear at a glance.
There were his height and hair and fegar about the
same as my own. No one would swear to his face,
poor devil. I brought down his souder clothes, and in
a quarter of an hour Barker and I had put
my dressing gown on him, and he lay as you

(34:06):
found him. We tied all his things into a bundle,
and I waited them with the only weight I could find,
and put them through the window. The card he had
meant to lay upon my body was lying beside his own.
My rings were put on his finger, but when it
came to the wadding ring.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
He held out his muscular hand.

Speaker 5 (34:27):
You can see for yourselves that I had struck the limit.
I have not moved it since the day I was married,
and would have taken a file to get it off.
I don't know anyhow that I should have cared to
part with it, but if I had wanted to, I couldn't,
So we just had to leave that detail to take
care of itself. On the other hand, I brought a

(34:49):
bit of plaster down and put it where I am
wearing one myself for this instant. You slipped up there,
mister Holmes, clever as you are, for if you had
chance to take off that laster, you would have found
no cut underneath it. Well, that was the situation. If
I could lie low for a while and then get
away where I could be joined by my widow, we

(35:11):
would have a chance at last of living in peace
for the rest of our lives. These devils were to
give me no rest so long as I was above ground.
If they saw in the papers that Bolbwin had got
his man, there would be an end of all my troubles.
I hadn't much time to make it all clear to
Barker and to my wife, but they understood enough to

(35:31):
be able to help me. I knew all about this
hiding place, so it aims, but it never entered his
head to connect it with the matter. I retired into it,
and it was up to Barker to do the rest.
I guess you can feel in for yourselves what he did.
He opened the window and made the mark on the
sill to give an idea where the murderer escaped. It

(35:54):
was a tall order that, but as the bridge was
up there was no other way. Then everything was fixed.
He rang the bell for all he was worth. What
happened afterward, you know. And so, gentlemen, you can do
what you please. But I've told you the truth and
the whole truth. So help me God. Well I ask

(36:16):
you now, is how do I stand by the English law?

Speaker 2 (36:20):
There was a silence which was broken by Sherlock Holmes.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
The English law is in the main a just law.
You will get no worse than your deserts from that,
mister Douglas. But I would ask you how did this
man know that you lived here? Or how to get
into your house, or where to hide to get you?

Speaker 5 (36:43):
I know nothing of this.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Holmes's face was very white and grave.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
The story is not over yet, I fear said he.
You may find worse dangers than the English law, more
even than your enemies from America. I see trouble before you,
mister Douglas. You'll take my advice and still be on
your guard.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
And now, my long suffering readers, I will ask you
to come away with me for a time, far from
the Sussex manor house of Burlstone, and far also from
the year of Grace, in which we made our eventful journey,
which ended with the strange story of the man who
had been known as John Douglas. I wish you to

(37:28):
journey back some twenty years in time and westward, some
thousands of miles in space, that I may lay before
you a singular and terrible narrative, so singular and so
terrible that you may find it hard to believe that
even as I tell it, even so did it occur.

(37:49):
Do not think that I intrude one story before another
is finished. As you read on, you will find that
this is not so. And when I have detailed those
distant events, and you have solved this mystery of the past,
we shall meet once more in those rooms on Baker Street,
where this, like so many other wonderful happenings, will find

(38:10):
its end.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
End of Part one, Chapter seven,