The Adventure of the Second Stain, Part 1
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are back again, and this time it's a case of international proportions. They are visited at Baker Street by the Prime Minister and European Secretary to investigate the case of a lost letter of dire importance. If the letter is not found, it could upset the entire balance of power in Europe and lead to war. When Holmes finds out that one of his prime suspects was murdered at the same time the letter was being stolen, he knows this case is more complicated than it appears. As Sherlock Holmes begins one of his most important investigations, let this story of international intrigue fill your mind as you forget your day and drift into a night of soft and restful sleep.
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Welcome to the Sherlock Holmes Bedtime Stories podcast. Each episode is a section of a classic Sherlock Holmes story, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.
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Transcript
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to the Sherlock Holmes Bedtime Stories podcast. [SPEAKER_00]: Each episode is a section from a classic Sherlock Holmes story with relaxing music to help you fall asleep. [SPEAKER_00]: If you love the podcast and never miss an episode, please follow us on Spotify and Apple podcasts and leave a five star rating. [SPEAKER_00]: If our podcast has become a part of your bedtime routine, please consider supporting the show by clicking the link in the show notes. [SPEAKER_00]: Our show is completely free. [SPEAKER_00]: In part, thanks to support from listeners like you. [SPEAKER_00]: There are options to give one time or on a monthly basis. [SPEAKER_00]: So, sleep easier by clicking the, support this podcast link in the show notes and become a supporter today. [SPEAKER_00]: And as always, if you're enjoying the pod, please spread the word. [SPEAKER_00]: sharing with friends and family really does help. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us this evening. [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's time to relax. [SPEAKER_00]: Let your body fall into a comfortable position in your bed and drift gently into a state of total relaxation with tonight's story. [SPEAKER_00]: part one. [SPEAKER_00]: I had intended the adventure of the Abbey Grange to be the last of those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever communicate to the public. [SPEAKER_00]: This resolution of mine was not due to any lack of material since I have notes of many hundreds of cases to which I have never alluded. [SPEAKER_00]: Nor was it caused by any waning interest on the part of my readers in the singular personality and unique methods of this remarkable man. [SPEAKER_00]: The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr. Holmes has shown to the continued publication of his experiences. [SPEAKER_00]: So long as he was in actual professional practice, the records of his successes were of some practical value to him. [SPEAKER_00]: But since he has definitely retired from London and been taken himself to study and be farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him. [SPEAKER_00]: And he has peremptarily requested that his wishes in this matter should be strictly observed. [SPEAKER_00]: It was only upon my representing to him that I had given a promise that, the adventure of the second stain should be published when the times were ripe, and pointing out to him that it is only appropriate that this long series of episodes should culminate in the most important international case, which he has ever been called upon to handle. [SPEAKER_00]: That I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a carefully guarded account of the incident should at last be laid before the public. [SPEAKER_00]: If in telling the story, I seem to be somewhat vague in certain details, the public will readily understand that there is an excellent reason for my reticence. [SPEAKER_00]: It was then in a year and even in a decade that shall be nameless, that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn, we found two visitors of European fame within the walls of our humble room in Baker Street. [SPEAKER_00]: The one austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed and dominant, was none other than the illustrious Lord Belinger, twice premiere of Britain. [SPEAKER_00]: The other, dark, clear-cut and elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with every beauty of body and of mind, was the right honourable Triloni hope, secretary for European affairs, and the most rising statesman in the country. [SPEAKER_00]: They sat side by side upon our paper-litted setty, and it was easy to see from their worn and anxious faces that it was business of the most pressing importance which had brought them. [SPEAKER_00]: The premier's thin, blue veined hands were classed tightly over the ivory head of his umbrella, and his gaunt ascetic face looked gloomily from homes to me. [SPEAKER_00]: The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache and fidgeted with the seals of his watch chain. [SPEAKER_00]: When I discovered my loss Mr. Holmes, which was at 8 o'clock this morning, I had once informed the Prime Minister. [SPEAKER_00]: It was at his suggestion that we have both come to you. [SPEAKER_00]: Have you informed the police? [SPEAKER_00]: Nosa said the Prime Minister with the quick decisive manner for which he was famous. [SPEAKER_00]: We have not done so, nor is it possible that we should do so. [SPEAKER_00]: To inform the police must in the long run mean to inform the public. [SPEAKER_00]: This is what we particularly desire to avoid. [SPEAKER_00]: And why, sir? [SPEAKER_00]: Because the document in question is of such immense importance that its publication might very easily. [SPEAKER_00]: I might almost say probably. [SPEAKER_00]: lead to European complications of the utmost moment. [SPEAKER_00]: It is not too much to say that peace or war may hang upon the issue, unless its recovery can be attended with the utmost secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered at all. [SPEAKER_00]: For all that is aimed at by those who have taken it, is that its contents should be generally known. [SPEAKER_00]: I understand. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, Mr. Triloni Hope I should be much obliged if you would tell me exactly the circumstances under which this document disappeared. [SPEAKER_00]: That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes. [SPEAKER_00]: The letter, for it was a letter from a foreign potentate, was received six days ago. [SPEAKER_00]: It was of such importance that I have never left it in my safe, but have taken it across each evening to my house in Whitehall Terrace and kept it in my bedroom in a locked dispatch box. [SPEAKER_00]: It was there last night. [SPEAKER_00]: Of that I am certain. [SPEAKER_00]: I actually opened the box while I was dressing for dinner and saw the document inside. [SPEAKER_00]: This morning it was gone. [SPEAKER_00]: The dispatch box had stood beside the glass upon my dressing table all night. [SPEAKER_00]: I am a light sleeper, and so is my wife. [SPEAKER_00]: We are both prepared to swear that no one could have entered the room during the night, and yet I repeat that the paper is gone. [SPEAKER_00]: What time did you die? [SPEAKER_00]: Half past seven. [SPEAKER_00]: How long was it before you went to bed? [SPEAKER_00]: My wife had gone to the theatre, I waited up for her. [SPEAKER_00]: It was half past eleven before we went to our room. [SPEAKER_00]: Then for four hours the dispatch box had laid unguarded. [SPEAKER_00]: No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the house made in the morning and my valley or my wife's maid during the rest of the day. [SPEAKER_00]: They are both trusty servants who have been with us for some time, besides neither of them could possibly have known that there was anything more valuable than the ordinary departmental papers in my dispatch box. [SPEAKER_00]: Who did know of the existence of that letter? [SPEAKER_00]: No one in the house. [SPEAKER_00]: Surely your wife knew. [SPEAKER_00]: No sir, I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the paper this morning. [SPEAKER_00]: The premiere nodded approvingly. [SPEAKER_00]: I have long known sir how high is your sense of public duty, said he. [SPEAKER_00]: I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this importance it would rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties. [SPEAKER_00]: the European Secretary Boud. [SPEAKER_00]: You do me no more than justice, sir. [SPEAKER_00]: Until this morning I have never breathed one word to my wife upon this matter. [SPEAKER_00]: Could she have guessed? [SPEAKER_00]: No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed nor could anyone have guessed. [SPEAKER_00]: Have you lost any documents before? [SPEAKER_00]: Nosa, who is there in England who did know of the existence of this letter? [SPEAKER_00]: Each member of the cabinet was informed of it yesterday, but the pledge of secrecy which attends every cabinet meeting was increased by the solemn warning, which was given by the Prime Minister. [SPEAKER_00]: Good heavens. [SPEAKER_00]: To think that within a few hours I should myself have lost it. [SPEAKER_00]: his handsome face was distorted with a spasm of despair and his hands tore at his hair. [SPEAKER_00]: For a moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man, impulsive, ardent, keenly sensitive. [SPEAKER_00]: The next the aristocratic mask was replaced and the gentle voice had returned. [SPEAKER_00]: Besides the members of the cabinet, there are two, or possibly three, departmental officials who know of the letter. [SPEAKER_00]: No one else in England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you. [SPEAKER_00]: But abroad... [SPEAKER_00]: I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it. [SPEAKER_00]: I am well convinced [SPEAKER_00]: homes considered for some little time. [SPEAKER_00]: Now sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is, and why its disappearance should have such momentous consequences. [SPEAKER_00]: The two statesman exchanged a quick glance in the premier's shaggy eyebrows gathered in a frown. [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long thin one of pale blue colour. [SPEAKER_00]: There is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion. [SPEAKER_00]: It is addressed in large, bold handwriting, too. [SPEAKER_00]: I fear, sir, said Holmes, that interesting and indeed essential as these details are, my inquiries must go more to the root of things. [SPEAKER_00]: What was the letter? [SPEAKER_00]: that is a state secret of the utmost importance and I fear that I cannot tell you nor do I see that it is necessary. [SPEAKER_00]: If by the aid of the powers which you are said to possess, you can find such an envelope as I describe with its enclosure, you will have deserved well of your country and earned any reward which it lies in our power to bestow. [SPEAKER_00]: Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile. [SPEAKER_00]: You are two of the most busy men in the country," said he. [SPEAKER_00]: And in my own small way, I have also a good many calls upon me. [SPEAKER_00]: I regret exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter, and any continuation of this interview would be a waste of time. [SPEAKER_00]: The premier sprang to his feet with that quick fierce gleam of his deep set eyes, before which a cabinet has cowered. [SPEAKER_00]: I am not accustomed, sir. [SPEAKER_00]: He began, but master his anger and resumed his seat. [SPEAKER_00]: For a minute or more we all sat in silence. [SPEAKER_00]: Then the old statesman shrugged his shoulders. [SPEAKER_00]: We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes. [SPEAKER_00]: No doubt you are right and it is unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we give you our entire confidence. [SPEAKER_00]: I agree with you, said the youngest statesman. [SPEAKER_00]: Then I will tell you relying entirely upon your honor and that of your colleague Dr. Watson. [SPEAKER_00]: I may appeal to your patriotism also, for I could not imagine a greater misfortune for the country than that this affair should come out. [SPEAKER_00]: You may safely trust us. [SPEAKER_00]: The letter then is from a certain foreign potentate who has been ruffled by some recent colonial developments of this country. [SPEAKER_00]: It has been written hurriedly and upon his own responsibility entirely. [SPEAKER_00]: Inquiries have shown that his ministers know nothing of the matter. [SPEAKER_00]: At the same time it is couched in so unfortunate a manner and certain phrases in it are of so provocative a character that its publication would undoubtedly lead to a most dangerous [SPEAKER_00]: There would be such a firm answer that I do not hesitate to say that within a week of the publication of that letter, this country would be involved in a great war. [SPEAKER_00]: Homes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the Premier. [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly, it was he, and it is this letter. [SPEAKER_00]: This letter which may well mean the expenditure of 1,000 millions and the lives of 100,000 men, which has become lost in this unaccountable fashion. [SPEAKER_00]: Have you informed the sender? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes sir, a cipher telegram has been dispatched. [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter. [SPEAKER_00]: No sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already understands that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed manner. [SPEAKER_00]: It would be a greater blow to him and to his country than to us if this letter were to come out. [SPEAKER_00]: If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should come out? [SPEAKER_00]: Why should anyone desire to steal it, or to publish it? [SPEAKER_00]: But there, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high international politics, but if you consider the European situation, you will have no difficulty in perceiving the motive. [SPEAKER_00]: The whole of Europe is an armed camp. [SPEAKER_00]: There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military power. [SPEAKER_00]: Great Britain holds the scales. [SPEAKER_00]: If Britain were driven into war with one confederation, it would assure the supremacy of [SPEAKER_00]: very clearly. [SPEAKER_00]: It is then the interest of the enemies of this potentate to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a breach between his country and ours. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes sir. [SPEAKER_00]: And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the hands of an enemy? [SPEAKER_00]: It is probably speeding on its way thither at the present instant as fast as steam can take it. [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Triloni hoped dropped his head on his chest and groaned aloud. [SPEAKER_00]: The premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder. [SPEAKER_00]: It is your misfortune, my dear fellow. [SPEAKER_00]: No one can blame you. [SPEAKER_00]: There is no precaution which you have neglected. [SPEAKER_00]: Now Mr. Holmes, you are in full possession of the facts. [SPEAKER_00]: What cost do you recommend? [SPEAKER_00]: Holmes shook his head mournfully. [SPEAKER_00]: You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered, there will be war. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it is very probable. [SPEAKER_00]: Then, sir, prepare for war. [SPEAKER_00]: But that is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes. [SPEAKER_00]: Consider the facts, sir. [SPEAKER_00]: It is inconceivable that it was taken after 1130 at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope and his wife were both in the room from that hour until the loss was found out. [SPEAKER_00]: It was taken then yesterday evening between 730 and 1130. [SPEAKER_00]: Probably near the earlier hour since whoever took it evidently knew that it was there and would naturally secure it as early as possible. [SPEAKER_00]: If a document of this importance were taken at that hour, where can it be now? [SPEAKER_00]: No one has any reason to retain it. [SPEAKER_00]: It has been passed rapidly onto those who needed. [SPEAKER_00]: What chance have we now to overtake or even to trace it? [SPEAKER_00]: It is beyond our reach. [SPEAKER_00]: The Prime Minister rose from the city. [SPEAKER_00]: What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes, I feel that the matter is indeed out of [SPEAKER_00]: Let us presume for arguments sake that the document was taken by the maid or by the valet. [SPEAKER_00]: They are both old and tried servants. [SPEAKER_00]: I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor, that there is no entrance from without, and that from within no one could go up unobserved. [SPEAKER_00]: It must then be somebody in the house who has taken it. [SPEAKER_00]: To whom would the thief take it? [SPEAKER_00]: to one of several international spies and secret agents whose names are tolerably familiar to me. [SPEAKER_00]: There are three who may be said to be the heads of their profession. [SPEAKER_00]: I will begin my research by going round and finding a feature of them is at his post. [SPEAKER_00]: If one is missing, especially if he has disappeared since last night, we will have some indication as to where the document has gone. [SPEAKER_00]: Why should he be missing, us the European Secretary? [SPEAKER_00]: He would take the letter to an embassy in London as likely as not. [SPEAKER_00]: I fancy not. [SPEAKER_00]: These agents work independently and their relations with the embassies are often strained. [SPEAKER_00]: The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence. [SPEAKER_00]: I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes. [SPEAKER_00]: He would take so valuable a prize to head quarters with his own hands. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that your course of action is an excellent one. [SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, hope, we cannot neglect all our other duties on account of this one misfortune. [SPEAKER_00]: Should there be any fresh developments during the day we shall communicate with you, and you will no doubt let us know the results of your own inquiries. [SPEAKER_00]: When our illustrious visitors had departed homes lit his pipe in silence, and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought. [SPEAKER_00]: I had opened the morning paper and was immersed in a sensational crime, which had occurred in London the night before when my friend gave an exclamation, sprang to his feet, and laid his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, said he, there is no better way of approaching it. [SPEAKER_00]: situation is desperate, but not hopeless. [SPEAKER_00]: Even now, if we could be sure which of them has taken it, it is just possible that it has not yet passed out of his hands after all. [SPEAKER_00]: It is a question of money with these fellows and I have the British Treasury behind me. [SPEAKER_00]: If it's on the market, I'll buy it. [SPEAKER_00]: If it means another penny on the income tax. [SPEAKER_00]: It is conceivable that the fellow might hold it back to see what bids come from this side before he tries his luck [SPEAKER_00]: There are only those three capable of playing so bold a game. [SPEAKER_00]: There are Obestine, La Rothia, and Eduardo Lucas. [SPEAKER_00]: I will see each of them. [SPEAKER_00]: I glanced at my morning paper. [SPEAKER_00]: Is that Eduardo Lucas of Goodolphin Street? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: You will not see him. [SPEAKER_00]: why not. [SPEAKER_00]: He was murdered in his house last night. [SPEAKER_00]: My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our adventures that it was with a sense of exaltation that I realized how completely I had astonished him. [SPEAKER_00]: He stared in amazement and then snatched the paper from my hands. [SPEAKER_00]: This was the paragraph which I had been engaged in reading when he rose from his chair. [SPEAKER_00]: Murder in Westminster. [SPEAKER_00]: A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16 Gaudolfin Street, one of the old fashioned and secluded rows of 18th century houses, which lie between the river and the Abbey, almost in the shadow of the great tower of the houses of Parliament. [SPEAKER_00]: This small but select mansion has been inhabited for some years by Mr. Eduardo Lucas. [SPEAKER_00]: Well-known in society circles both on account of his charming personality, and because he has the well-deserved reputation of being one of the best amateur tenors in the country. [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Lucas is an unmarried man 34 years of age, and his establishment consists of Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper, and of Mitten, his valet. [SPEAKER_00]: The former retire's early and sleeps at the top of the house. [SPEAKER_00]: The valet was out for the evening visiting a friend at Hammersmith. [SPEAKER_00]: From ten o'clock onward, Mr Lucas had the house to himself. [SPEAKER_00]: What occurred during that time has not yet transpired, but at a quarter to twelve police constable Barrett passing along Gadolphin Street, observed that the door of number 16 was a jar. [SPEAKER_00]: He knocked, but received no answer. [SPEAKER_00]: perceiving a light in the front room, he advanced into the passage and again knocked but without reply. [SPEAKER_00]: He then pushed open the door and entered. [SPEAKER_00]: The room was in a state of wild disorder. [SPEAKER_00]: The furniture being all swept to one side, and one chair lying on its back in the center. [SPEAKER_00]: beside this chair, and still grasping one of its legs, lay the unfortunate tenant of the house. [SPEAKER_00]: He had been stabbed to the heart and must have died instantly. [SPEAKER_00]: The knife with which the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger, plucked down from a trophy of oriental arms which adorned one of the walls. [SPEAKER_00]: Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the crime for there had been no attempt to remove the valuable contents [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well-known and popular that his violent and mysterious fate will arouse painful interest and intense sympathy in a widespread circle of friends. [SPEAKER_00]: Well Watson, what do you make of this? [SPEAKER_00]: Asked homes, after a long pause. [SPEAKER_00]: It is an amazing coincidence. [SPEAKER_00]: A coincidence. [SPEAKER_00]: Here is one of the three men whom we had named as possible actors in this drama. [SPEAKER_00]: And he meets a violent death during the very hours when we know that that drama was being enacted. [SPEAKER_00]: The odds are enormous against its being coincidence. [SPEAKER_00]: No figures could express them. [SPEAKER_00]: No my dear Watson, the two events are connected. [SPEAKER_00]: Must be connected. [SPEAKER_00]: It is [SPEAKER_00]: Not at all. [SPEAKER_00]: They know all they see at Goodolphin Street. [SPEAKER_00]: They know, and shall know, nothing of Whitehall Terrace. [SPEAKER_00]: Only we know of both events, and can trace the relation between them. [SPEAKER_00]: There is one obvious point which would in any case have turned my suspicions against Lucas. [SPEAKER_00]: Goodolphin Street Westminster is only a few minutes walk from Whitehall Terrace. [SPEAKER_00]: The [SPEAKER_00]: It was easier therefore for Lucas than for the others to establish a connection, or receive a message from the European Secretaries household, a small thing, and yet where events are compressed into a few hours, it may prove essential, hello, what have we here? [SPEAKER_00]: Mrs Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver. [SPEAKER_00]: Ask Lady Hilder Triloni hope if she will be kind enough to step up, said he. [SPEAKER_00]: A moment later our modest apartment already so distinguished that morning was further honoured by the entrance of the most lovely woman in London. [SPEAKER_00]: I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster, but no description of it and no contemplation of colourless photographs had prepared me for the subtle delicate charm and the beautiful colouring of that exquisite head. [SPEAKER_00]: And yet as we saw it that autumn morning it was not its beauty which would be the first thing to impress the observer. [SPEAKER_00]: The sensitive mouth was tight and drawn in an effort after self-command. [SPEAKER_00]: Terror, not beauty, was what sprang first to the eyes our fair visitors stood framed for an instant in the open door. [SPEAKER_00]: Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, Madam, he has been here. [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here. [SPEAKER_00]: Holmes bowed coldly and motioned the lady to a chair. [SPEAKER_00]: Your lady ship places me in a very delicate position. [SPEAKER_00]: I beg that you will sit down and tell me what you desire, but I fear that I cannot make any unconditional promise. [SPEAKER_00]: It was a queenly presence, tall, graceful, and intensely womanly. [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Holmes, she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and unclasped as she spoke. [SPEAKER_00]: I will speak frankly to you in the hopes that it may induce you to speak frankly in return. [SPEAKER_00]: There is complete confidence between my husband and me on all matters, save one. [SPEAKER_00]: That one is politics. [SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm aware that there was a most deplorable occurrence in our house last night. [SPEAKER_00]: I know that a paper has disappeared, but because the matter is political, my husband refuses to take me into his complete confidence. [SPEAKER_00]: Now it is essential, essential, I say, that I should thoroughly understand it. [SPEAKER_00]: You are the only other person, say, only these politicians who knows the true facts. [SPEAKER_00]: I beg you then, Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has happened and what it will lead to. [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me all, Mr. Holmes. [SPEAKER_00]: Let no regard for your client's interests keep you silent. [SPEAKER_00]: For I assure you that his interests, if he would only see it, would be best served by taking me into his complete confidence what was this paper which was stolen. [SPEAKER_00]: She groaned and sank her face in her hands. [SPEAKER_00]: You must see that this is so maddening. [SPEAKER_00]: If your husband thinks fit to keep you in the dark over this matter, is it for me who has only learned the true facts under the pledge of professional secrecy to tell what he has withheld? [SPEAKER_00]: It is not fair to ask it. [SPEAKER_00]: It is him whom you must ask. [SPEAKER_00]: I have asked him. [SPEAKER_00]: I come to you as a last resource. [SPEAKER_00]: But without your telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great service if you would enlighten me on one point. [SPEAKER_00]: What is it, Madam? [SPEAKER_00]: Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through this incident? [SPEAKER_00]: Well, Madam Unless it is set right, it may certainly have a very unfortunate effect. [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, she drew in her breath sharply as one who's doubts are resolved. [SPEAKER_00]: One more question, Mr. Holmes, from an expression which my husband dropped in the first shock of this disaster, I understood that terrible public consequences might arise from the loss of this document. [SPEAKER_00]: If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it. [SPEAKER_00]: name Adam. [SPEAKER_00]: There again you ask me more than I can possibly answer. [SPEAKER_00]: Then I will take up no more of your time. [SPEAKER_00]: I cannot blame you Mr. Holmes for having refused to speak more freely. [SPEAKER_00]: And you on your side will not, I am sure, think the worse of me because I desire, even against his will to share my husband's anxieties. [SPEAKER_00]: Once more I beg [SPEAKER_00]: She looked back at us from the door and I had a last impression of that beautiful haunted face, the startled eyes and the drawn mouth. [SPEAKER_00]: Then she was gone. [SPEAKER_00]: Now what's in the fair sexes your department, said Holmes with a smile, when the dwindling through through of skirts had ended in the slam of the front door. [SPEAKER_00]: What was the fair lady's game? [SPEAKER_00]: What did she really want? [SPEAKER_00]: Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural. [SPEAKER_00]: Think of her appearance Watson, her manner, her suppressed excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity in asking questions. [SPEAKER_00]: Remember that she comes of a cast who do not lightly show emotion. [SPEAKER_00]: She was certainly much moved. [SPEAKER_00]: Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured us that it was best for her husband that she should know all. [SPEAKER_00]: What did she mean by that? [SPEAKER_00]: And you must have observed what's and how she maneuvered to have the lighter to her back. [SPEAKER_00]: She did not wish us to read her expression. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes she chose the one chair in the room. [SPEAKER_00]: And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable. [SPEAKER_00]: You remember the woman at Margate who my suspected for the same reason. [SPEAKER_00]: No powder on her nose. [SPEAKER_00]: That proved to be the correct solution. [SPEAKER_00]: How can you build on such a quicksand? [SPEAKER_00]: Their most trivial action may mean volumes or their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a curling tongs. [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning Watson. [SPEAKER_00]: You are off. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I will, while away the morning at Gadolfin Street with our friends of the regular establishment, with Eduardo Lucas lies the solution of our problem, though I must admit that I have not an inkling as to what form it may take. [SPEAKER_00]: It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you stay on guard, my good Watson, and receive any fresh visitors? [SPEAKER_00]: I'll join you at lunch if I am able. [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. [UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching. [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. [UNKNOWN]: you [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much. [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.