The Adventure of the Three Students, Part 1

[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]: the adventure of the three students.
[SPEAKER_00]: Part 1 It was in the year 95 that a combination of events, into which I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in one of our great university towns, and it was during this time that the small but instructive adventure which I am about to relate befellus.
[SPEAKER_00]: It will be obvious that any details which would help the reader exactly to identify the college or the criminal would be in judicious and offensive.
[SPEAKER_00]: So painful a scandal may well be allowed to die out.
[SPEAKER_00]: With due discretion the incident itself may however be described, since it serves to illustrate some of those qualities for which my friend was remarkable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will endeavour in my statement to avoid such terms as would serve to limit the events to any particular place, or give a clue as to the people concerned.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a library, where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious researches in early English charters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Researchers which led to results so striking that they may be the subject of one of my future narratives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here it was that one evening we received a visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton's somes, tutor and lecturer at the College of St. Luke's.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. somes was a tall spare man of a nervous and excitable temperament.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had always known him to be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he was in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear something very unusual
[SPEAKER_00]: I trust Mr. Holmes that you can spare me a few hours of your valuable time.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's, and really, but for the happy chance of your being in town, I should have been at a loss what to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am very busy just now and I desire no distractions, my friend answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should much prefer that you called in the aid of the police.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, my dear sir, such a course is utterly impossible.
[SPEAKER_00]: When once the law is evoked, it cannot be stayed again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is just one of those cases where for the credit of the college, it is most essential to avoid scandal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your discretion is as well known as your powers, and you are the one man in the world who can help me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I beg you, Mr. Holmes, to do what you can.
[SPEAKER_00]: My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived of the congenial surroundings of Baker Street.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without his scrapbooks, his chemicals and his homely untidiness, he was an uncomfortable man.
[SPEAKER_00]: He shrugged his shoulders in ungracious acquiescence while our visitor in hurried words and with much excitable gesticulation poured forth his story.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must explain to you Mr. Holmes that tomorrow is the first day of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am one of the examiners.
[SPEAKER_00]: My subject is Greek, and the first of the papers consists of a large passage of Greek translation, which the candidate has not seen.
[SPEAKER_00]: This passage is printed on the examination paper, and it would naturally be an immense advantage if the candidate could prepare it in advance.
[SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, great care is taken to keep the paper secret.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, about 3 o'clock, the proofs of this paper arrived from the printers.
[SPEAKER_00]: The exercise consists of half a chapter of through CDs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to read it over carefully as the text must be absolutely correct.
[SPEAKER_00]: At 430 my task was not yet completed, I had however promised to take tea in a friend's rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was absent rather than an hour.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are aware Mr. Holmes that our college doors are double, a green-base one within and a heavy oak one without.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I approached my outer door I was amazed to see a key in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: but on feeling in my pocket I found that it was all right.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only duplicate which existed so far as I knew was that which belonged to my servant Bannister, a man who has looked after my room for 10 years and whose honesty is absolutely above suspicion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I found that the key was indeed his that he had entered my room to know if I wanted tea and that he had very carelessly left the key in the door when he came out.
[SPEAKER_00]: His forgetfulness about the key would have mastered little upon any other occasion, but on this one day, it has produced the most deplorable consequences.
[SPEAKER_00]: The moment I looked at my table, I was aware that someone had rummaged among my papers.
[SPEAKER_00]: The proof was in three long slips.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had left them all together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I found that one of them was lying on the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: One was on the side table near the window, and the third was where I had left it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Home stirred for the first time.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first page on the floor, the second in the window, the third where you left it, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly, Mr. Holmes, you amaze me.
[SPEAKER_00]: How could you possibly know that?
[SPEAKER_00]: to break continue your very interesting statement.
[SPEAKER_00]: For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the unpartnable liberty of examining my papers, he denied it however with the utmost earnestness, and I am convinced that he was speaking the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: The alternative was that someone passing had observed the key in the door, had known that I was out, and had entered to look at the papers.
[SPEAKER_00]: A large sum of money is at stake for the scholarship is a very valuable one, and an unscrupulous man might very well run a risk in order to gain an advantage over his fellows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Banners to was very much upset by the incident he had nearly fainted when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been tampered with.
[SPEAKER_00]: I gave him a little brandy and left him collapsed in a chair, while I made a most careful examination of the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: I soon saw that the intruder had left other traces of his presence besides the rumpled papers.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the table in the window were several shreds from a pencil which had been sharpened.
[SPEAKER_00]: A broken tip of lead was lying there also.
[SPEAKER_00]: Evidently, the rascal had copied the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil and had been compelled to put a fresh point to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: excellent," said Holmes, who was recovering his good humor, as his attention became more engrossed by the case.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fortune has been your friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was not all.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a new writing table with a fine surface of red leather.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am prepared to swear and so is Bannister, that it was smooth and unstained.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I found a clean cut in it about three inches long.
[SPEAKER_00]: not a mere scratch, but a positive cut.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only this, but on the table, I found a small ball of black dough or clay, with specks of something which looks like sword usd in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm convinced that these marks were left by the man who rifled the papers.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were no foot marks or no other evidence as to his identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was at my wit's end.
[SPEAKER_00]: When suddenly the happy thought occurred to me that you were in the town, and I came straight round to put the
[SPEAKER_00]: do help me Mr. Holmes, you see my dilemma.
[SPEAKER_00]: Either I must find the man, or else the examination must be postponed until fresh papers are prepared.
[SPEAKER_00]: And since this cannot be done without explanation, there will ensue a hideous scandal which will throw a cloud not only on the college but on the university.
[SPEAKER_00]: Above all things, I desire to settle the matter quietly and discreetly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice as I can," said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat.
[SPEAKER_00]: The case is not entirely devoid of interest.
[SPEAKER_00]: At anyone visited you in your room after the papers came to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, young Dalat Ras and Indian student who lives on the same stare came into ask me some particulars about the examination.
[SPEAKER_00]: yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the papers were on your table.
[SPEAKER_00]: To the best of my belief they were rolled up.
[SPEAKER_00]: But might be recognized as proofs?
[SPEAKER_00]: Possibly.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one else in your room?
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: did anyone know that these proofs would be there?
[SPEAKER_00]: No one saved the printer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did this man banister know?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, certainly not.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one knew.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where is banister now?
[SPEAKER_00]: He was very ill, poor fellow.
[SPEAKER_00]: I left him collapsed in the chair, I was in such a hurry to come to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You left your door open?
[SPEAKER_00]: I locked up the papers first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it amounts to this Mr. Somes that unless the Indian student recognized the role as being proofs, the man who tampered with them came upon them accidentally without knowing that they were there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it seems to me, Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, said he, let us go round.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not one of your cases Watson, mental, not physical.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, come if you want to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Mr. Holmes, at your disposal.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sitting room of our client opened by a long, low, lattice window onto the ancient light-contented court of the old college.
[SPEAKER_00]: A Gothic arched door led to a warm stone staircase.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the ground floor was the tutors room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Above were three students, one on each story.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was already twilight when we reached the scene of our problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes halted and looked earnestly at the window.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he approached it, and standing on tiptoe with his neck cramed, he looked into the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: He must have entered through the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no opening except the one pain, said our learned guide.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dear me, said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he glanced at our companion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if there is nothing to be learned here, we had best go inside.
[SPEAKER_00]: The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his room.
[SPEAKER_00]: We stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination of the carpet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm afraid there are no signs here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: One could hardly hope for any uponso drier day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your servant seems to have quite recovered.
[SPEAKER_00]: by the window there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Near this little table, you can come in now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have finished with the carpet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let us take the little table first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, what has happened is very clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: The man entered and took the papers sheet by sheet from the central table.
[SPEAKER_00]: He carried them over to the window table, because from there he could see if you came across the courtyard and
[SPEAKER_00]: As a matter of fact, he could not, said SOMES, for I entered by the side door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, that's good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well anyhow, that was in his mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me see the three strips.
[SPEAKER_00]: No finger impressions, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he carried over this one first and he copied it.
[SPEAKER_00]: How long would it take him to do that, using every possible contraction, a quarter of an hour not less?
[SPEAKER_00]: then he tossed it down and seized the next.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was in the midst of that when your return caused him to make a very hurried retreat, very hurried since he had not time to replace the papers which would tell you that he had been there.
[SPEAKER_00]: You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as you entered the outer door?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I can't say I was.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil and had as you observed to sharpen it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is of interest Watson.
[SPEAKER_00]: The pencil was not an ordinary one.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was above the usual size, with a soft lead, the outer color was dark blue.
[SPEAKER_00]: The maker's name was printed in silver lettering, and the piece remaining is only about an inch and a half long.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look for such a pencil Mr. Somes and you have got your man.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I had that he possesses a large and very blunt knife, you have an additional aid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Somes was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can follow the other points, said he, but really, in this matter of the length.
[SPEAKER_00]: Homes held out a small chip with the letters NN, and a space of clear wood after them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, no, I fear that even now, what's in I have always done you an injustice, there are others.
[SPEAKER_00]: What could this NNB, it is at the end of a word?
[SPEAKER_00]: You are aware that Johann Faber is the most common maker's name.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it not clear that there is just as much of the pencil left as usually follows the Johann?
[SPEAKER_00]: he held the small table sideways to the electric light.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was hoping that if the paper on which he wrote was thin, some trace of it might come through upon this polished surface.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I see nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there is anything more to be learned here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now for the central table, this small pellet is I presume the black doughy mass you spoke of.
[SPEAKER_00]: Roughly pyramidal in shape and hollowed out I perceive, as you say there appear to be grains of sawdust in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dear me, this is very interesting, and the cut, a positive tear I see.
[SPEAKER_00]: It began with a thin scratch and ended in a jagged hole.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am much indebted to you for directing my attention to this case, Mr. Somes, where does
[SPEAKER_00]: to my bedroom.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you been in it since your adventure?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I came straight away for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should like to have a glance around what a charming old-fashioned room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until I have examined the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I see nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: What about this curtain?
[SPEAKER_00]: You hang your clothes behind it if anyone were forced to conceal himself in this room he must do it there since the bed is too low in the wardrobe too shallow.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one there I suppose.
[SPEAKER_00]: As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware from some little rigidity and alertness of his attitude that he was prepared for an emergency.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a matter of fact, the drawn curtain disclosed nothing but three or four suits of clothes
[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes turned away and stooped suddenly to the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, what's this, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the one upon the table of the study.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes held it out on his open palm in the glare of the electric light.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well as in your sitting room, Mr. Somes.
[SPEAKER_00]: What could he have wanted there?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it is clear enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: You came back by an unexpected way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he had no warning until you were at the very door.
[SPEAKER_00]: What could he do?
[SPEAKER_00]: He caught up everything which would betray him and he rushed into your bedroom to conceal himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the time I was talking to Bannister in this room we had the man prisoner if we had only known it?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I read it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know whether you observed my bedroom window.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly, and it looks out on an angle of the courtyard so as to be partly invisible.
[SPEAKER_00]: The man might have affected his entrance there, left traces as he passed through the bedroom and finally, finding the door open, have escaped that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes shook his head impatiently.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let us be practical, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand you to say that there are three students who use this stare and are in the habit of passing your door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they are all in for this examination.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than the others?
[SPEAKER_00]: Somes hesitated.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a very delicate question, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: One hardly likes to throw suspicion where there are no proofs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let us hear the suspicions I will look after the proofs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will tell you then in a few words the character of the three men who inhabit these rooms.
[SPEAKER_00]: The lower of the three is Gilchrist, a fine scholar and athlete, plays in the rugby team and the cricket team for the college and got his blue for the hurdles and the long jump.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a fine manly fellow.
[SPEAKER_00]: His father was the notorious Sojabes Gilchrist who ruined himself on the turf.
[SPEAKER_00]: My scholar has been left very poor, but he is hardworking and industrious he will do well.
[SPEAKER_00]: The second floor is inhabited by Dala Tras, the Indian.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a quiet, inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is well-up in his work, though his Greek is his weak subject.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is steady and methodical.
[SPEAKER_00]: The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a brilliant fellow when he chooses to work, one of the brightest interleks of the university.
[SPEAKER_00]: but he is wayward, dissipated, and un-principled.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was nearly expelled over a card scandal in his first year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has been idling all this term, and he must look forward with dread to the examination.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it is he whom you suspect.
[SPEAKER_00]: I dare not go so far as that, but of the three, he is perhaps the least unlikely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Mr. Somes let us have a look at your servant, Bannister.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a little white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired fellow of 50.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was still suffering from this sudden disturbance of the quiet routine of his life.
[SPEAKER_00]: His plump face was twitching with his nervousness and his fingers could not keep still.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are investigating this unhappy business, Balista.
[SPEAKER_00]: Said his master.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand, said Holmes, that you left your key in the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the very day when there were these papers inside?
[SPEAKER_00]: It was most unfortunate, sir, but I have occasionally done the same thing at other times.
[SPEAKER_00]: When did you enter the room?
[SPEAKER_00]: It was about half past four, that is Mr. Somes' tea time.
[SPEAKER_00]: How long did you stay?
[SPEAKER_00]: When I saw that he was absent, I withdrew at once.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you look at these papers on the table?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, sir, certainly not.
[SPEAKER_00]: How came you to leave the key in the door?
[SPEAKER_00]: I had the tea tray in my hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought I would come back for the key, then I forgot.
[SPEAKER_00]: Has the outer door a spring lock?
[SPEAKER_00]: no sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it was open all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone in the room could get out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Mr. Somes returned and called for you you were very much disturbed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir, such a thing has never happened during the many years that I have been here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I nearly fainted, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I understand where were you when you began to feel bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where was I, sir?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why here near the door?
[SPEAKER_00]: That is singular because you sat down in that chair over yonder near the corner.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why did you pass these other chairs?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, sir, it didn't matter to me where I sat.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was looking very bad, quite ghastly.
[SPEAKER_00]: You stayed here when your master left.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only for a minute or so, then I locked the door and went to my room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I would not venture to say, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't believe there is any gentleman in this university who is capable of profiting by such an action.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, sir, I'll not believe it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, that will do, said Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, one more word.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have not mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you attend that anything is a miss.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, sir, not a word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you haven't seen any of them?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Mr. Somes, we will take a walk in the quadrangle, if you please.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering gloom.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your three birds are all in their nests, said Holmes looking up.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of them seems restless enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the Indian whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly upon his blind.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should like to have a peepe at each of them, said Holmes, is it possible?
[SPEAKER_00]: No difficulty in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Somes answered, this set of rooms is quite the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual for visitors to go over them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come along and I will personally conduct you.
[SPEAKER_00]: No names, please, said homes as we knocked at Gilkrist's door.
[SPEAKER_00]: A tall, flacks and haired, slim young fellow opened it, and made us welcome when he understood our errand.
[SPEAKER_00]: there were some really curious pieces of media-able domestic architecture within.
[SPEAKER_00]: Homes were so charmed with one of them that he insisted on drawing it in his notebook, broke his pencil, had to borrow one from our host and finally borrowed a knife to sharpen his own.
[SPEAKER_00]: The same curious accident happened to him in the rooms of the Indian, a silent little hook-nosed fellow who eyed us as scans, and was obviously glad when Homes' architectural studies had come to an end.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could not see that in either case homes had come up on the clue for which he was searching.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only at the third did our visit prove abortive.
[SPEAKER_00]: The outer door would not open to our knock, and nothing more substantial than a torrent of bad language came from behind it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care who you are, you can go to blazes, roar the angry voice, tomorrow's the exam, and I won't be drawn by anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: A rude fellow said our guide, flushing with anger as we withdrew down the stair.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, he did not realise that it was I who was knocking, but nonetheless his conduct was very uncurtious, and indeed under the circumstances rather suspicious.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes' response was a curious one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say, he is taller than the Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist.
[SPEAKER_00]: I suppose five foot six would be about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is very important, said Holmes, and now Mr. Holmes, I wish you good night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay.
[SPEAKER_00]: good gracious, Mr. Holmes, who are surely not going to leave me in this abrupt fashion, you don't seem to realise the position.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tomorrow is the examination.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must take some definite action tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot allow the examination to be held if one of the papers has been tampered with.
[SPEAKER_00]: The situation must be faced.
[SPEAKER_00]: You must leave it as it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I shall drop round early tomorrow morning and chat the matter
[SPEAKER_00]: It is possible that I may be in a position then to indicate some course of action.
[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile you change nothing, nothing at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very good Mr. Holmes You can be perfectly easy in your mind, we shall certainly find some way out of your difficulties.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will take the black clay with me, also the pencil cuttings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Goodbye.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle, we again looked up at the windows.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Indian still paced his room.
[SPEAKER_00]: The others were invisible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well what son, what do you think of it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Homes asked as we came out into the main street.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quite a little parlor game.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sort of three card trick is it not?
[SPEAKER_00]: There are your three men.
[SPEAKER_00]: It must be one of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: the foul mouth fellow at the top.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is the one with the worst record, and yet that Indian was the Sly fellow also.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why should he be pacing his room all the time?
[SPEAKER_00]: There is nothing in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many men do it when they are trying to learn anything by heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: He looked at us in a queer way.
[SPEAKER_00]: So would you, if a flock of strangers came in on you when you were preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was a value?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I see nothing in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pencils two and knives all were satisfactory, but that fellow does puzzle me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why Balista the servant?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's his game in the matter?
[SPEAKER_00]: He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he did me, that's the puzzling part, why should a perfectly honest man, well well here's a large stationers, we shall begin our researchers here.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were only four stationers of any consequences in the town and at each home's produced
[SPEAKER_00]: All were agreed that one could be ordered, but that it was not a usual size of pencil and that it was seldom kept in stock.
[SPEAKER_00]: My friend did not appear to be depressed by his failure, but shrugged his shoulders in half humorous resignation.
[SPEAKER_00]: No good, my dear Watson.
[SPEAKER_00]: This, the best and only final clue, has run to nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But indeed, I have little doubt that we can build up a sufficient case without it.
[SPEAKER_00]: By jove my dear fellow, it is nearly 9 and the landlady babbled of green peas at 730.
[SPEAKER_00]: What with your eternal tobacco Watson and your irregularity at meals, I expect that you will get noticed a quit, and that I shall share your downfall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not however before we have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the careless servant and the three enterprising students.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[UNKNOWN]: you
[UNKNOWN]: you
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.