"Dartmoor prison." "Isolated from the outside world by walls of granite." "They say you could get out of here by merely telling what you know." "You may or may not be another Scotland Yard bloke but I'll give you the same answer I gave the others." "I still have two years, eight months and six days left in which to make musical boxes that will be sold at auction for the benefit of this delightful sanctuary." "And I intend to sell them." "Move along." "And now we come to the next object on our list, or I should say objects because there are three of them." "Now ladies and gentlemen these can be bought together or separately." "Now these beautiful little musical boxes only arrived this morning and I didn't intend to put them on the auction block until later but I'm going to sell them now." "So good friends, as our old pal Mark Anthony used to say," ""lend me your ears and what do you hear?"" "♪♪Right, the beautiful tinkle, tinkle of a musical box." "What a lovely trinket." "What a beautiful gift, created and made by loving hands." "A thing of beauty and utility." "I was going to start with five pounds." "It's a bargain for five pounds." "Do I see any hands?" "Is there a connoisseur in the house who'll go three pounds for it?" "Two pounds?" "One pound?" "Ten shillings?" "Ten?" "Thank you, sir." "Ladies and gentlemen, ten shillings is offered for a musical box you couldn't buy anywhere in London for less than five pounds." "It's a bit of a stealing to let it go for ten shillings, like taking milk from a baby." "All right, we start with ten shillings." "Ten shillings, ten shillings is offered." "Ten shillings is offered." "Ten shillings is offered." "Does anybody want to give me one pound?" "Anybody one pound?" "Won't somebody give me a pound?" "A pound, one pound is offered, one pound." "Ladies and gentlemen one pound." "The offer is against you, sir." "Will you go to two pounds?" "Will you go to two pounds, sir?" "Two pounds." "Two pounds is offered." "Two pounds offered going once, twice, third and the last call." "Sold to the gentlemen for two pounds." "Sorry, my dear." "Now ladies and gentlemen comes the opportunity to purchase an exact duplicate of the beautiful little musical box just bought by this gentleman for the ridiculous low price of two pounds." "Now, it's exactly the same." "Exactly the same." "Made by the same hands." "You hear that?" "Isn't that lovely." "That tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle." "Sounds like bow bells to me." "You know, with little angels pulling on the ropes." "Who will give me two pounds for it?" "Who will start me with two pounds?" "Will anybody start me with two pounds?" "Oh come, come ladies and gentlemen, if you offer more enthusiasm we might all be Scotland instead of London." "Please buy it for me, Daddy." "Two pounds?" "Certainly not." "We all might be in Scotland." "Besides I don't like his manner." "One pound, ten shillings." "One pound." "One pound is asked." "One pound?" "One pound is offered." "One pound is offered." "Going, one pound." "In advance." "Going once, going twice, the third and the last call." "Sold to the lady for one pound." "Smart bidding, my dear." "Thank you." "We come to the third and last of these beautiful little musical boxes." "Exactly the same tinkle, tinkle." "Isn't that lovely?" "Ladies and gentlemen I don't bring you here to gull you and swindle you, this is the exact replica of those two I just sold before." "We're closed." "But this is extremely important." "Come in, sir." "Come in." "I'm sorry to disturb you but I was unfortunately delayed from arriving in time to bid on certain articles, which I was rather anxious to obtain." "Well, perhaps they weren't sold, sir." "We are carrying several things over." "What might the articles be, sir?" "Three identical musical boxes about so large." "Oh, I'm sorry, sir, but they were sold." "Pitty you weren't here to bid on them." "They didn't bring anything like their real value." "I'm most anxious to obtain them." "I wonder if your records would show who the purchases were?" "Oh, we don't usually give out that information, sir." "For certain, shall we say, sentimental reasons" "I'm most anxious to get in touch with the purchasers." "I'd be willing to pay, shall we say, five pounds." "Well for certain sentimental reasons, sir, we'd be very happy to oblige." "Alfred, today's sales, the three musical boxes." "The musical boxes, oh." "Ah, here we are." "The first purchased for two pounds by Mr. Julian Emery, 52 Portland Square." " Write these addresses down, Alfred." " Yes, sir." "Second, didn't leave any name." "Well, how unfortunate." "I think she's a dealer." "You see, they don't like us to know where the things are going." "On account of the profits." "You say the second purchaser, there was a woman, can you give me a description of her?" "Oh, she was a young woman, fairly tall, slender, a light complexion and dark hair," " and she was wearing a..." " A gray suit, don't you remember?" " That's right." " She probably runs a gift shop." "She paid one pound." "You say she comes here fairly frequently?" "No, I didn't say so but she does, sir." "Likely, she'll come in on Thursday." "We have sales on Monday's and Thursday's." "Ah." "And the third box?" "The third, oh, a Mr. William Kilgour, 143B Hampton Way." "For ten shillings." "Quite a drop from two pounds." "Mr. Kilgour was a Scotchman." "Well, thank you." "You've been most helpful." "Thank you, sir and anytime your passing drop in." "We always have lovely things for sale." " Our card, sir." " Thank you." "I'll be back Thursday." "Her message reached us too late." "The musical boxes have been sold." "Well, let's get out of here." "Some day you'll go too far." "Reaching for a star, you fool." "Yet a fool may touch a star, Colonel Cavanaugh if he reaches high enough." "But not possess it as you would." "The musical boxes they've been sold?" "What a pity for you, my dear Colonel." "Is it my fault that the message reached us only an hour ago?" "Is it my fault that they were sold?" "She can't hold me responsible for that." "Hope for your sake you're right." ""They will call upon you tonight at a quarter till eight,"" "a gentleman it is asked to consult you" ""upon a matter of the very deepest moment."" "Remember that letter, Holmes?" "It was written over two years ago." "Very interesting case." "Devilishly interesting." "Humph, Irene Adler, what a striking looking woman from the brief glance I had of her." "Seems only yesterday." "What charm." "What poise." "And what a mind." "Sharp enough and brilliant enough to outwit the great Sherlock Holmes himself." "I take it that the new issue of the Strand Magazine is out, containing another of your slightly lurid tales." "It is indeed." "And what do you call this one?" "I call it "A Scandal in Bohemia"." "Not a bad title, huh?" "Hmm." "If you must record my exploits" "I do wish you would put less emphasis on the melodramatic and more on the intellectual issues involved." "More on the inte... what do you mean by that?" "Well, I do hope you've given The Woman a soul, she had one you know?" "By The Woman," "I suppose you mean Irene Adler?" "Yes," "I shall always remember her as The woman." "Come in." "Stinky." "Fatso, old boy, how are you?" "How are you, old boy?" "I haven't seen you for years." "I want you to meet my old friend Sherlock Holmes." "Holmes, this is Stinky." "In other words Julian Emery." "How do you do, Mr. Emery?" "Watson's often spoken of you." "Oh, has he?" "Yes, we were at school together." "Yes, more years ago than I care to remember but you didn't come in here just to remind me of that." "No, I just happened to be in the neighborhood and saw your lights burning so I took the liberty of looking you up." "Still writing the old mystery stuff?" "Yes." "There's a new one out this week." " Good, I never miss them." " Oh good." "Thanks." "I say that bandage makes you look very interesting." "Still poking your nose into other people's business as usual?" " Who hit you?" " I haven't the foggiest notion." "Somebody knocked me on the head in my own living room then proceeded to commit the most idiotic burglary you ever heard of." "Fellow must have been barney as a coot." "Barney, why?" "Come sit down, old boy." " Would you like a cup of tea?" " Huh?" "Oh, all right." "I'll go and tell Mrs. Hudson about it." "Why did you say the robbery was idiotic, Mr. Emery?" "Oh, simply from the fact that with about five thousand pounds worth of musical boxes in my living room the thief, who I caught in the act, made off with one that isn't even worth five pounds." "I gather you are a collector of musical boxes?" "Yes, I am indeed." "Some of them are very beautiful but not the one that was stolen." "This thief evidently grabbed the first thing that came to his hand when he heard me coming into the room." "Still it's rather odd, isn't it, that having disposed of you he didn't pick up something more valuable." "Well, is there anything unusual about the stolen box?" "No, nothing at all." "I picked it up in the south of France several years ago." "You say you have many valuable music boxes and yet the thief made off with one that's isn't worth five pounds." "Sounds like a rather intriguing little problem." "Yes, well I take it that he was just an ordinary petty thief and didn't know the value." "That is a possible explanation, yet I adventure to say that the average petty thief has a more extensive knowledge of the value of the objet d'art than the average collector." "Well anyway, that's Scotland Yards theory they didn't get very excited about it." "That's consistent anyway." "I wonder if I might see your collection, Mr. Emery?" "Why of course you can." "Yes." "Nothing that a collector likes more than showing off his trophies." " When would it suit you?" " No time like the present." "Good." "My place is just around in Pullman Square." " Shall we?" " Yes, right." "Hello." "Where you going?" " Stinky hasn't had his tea yet." " Oh, I'm sorry." "We're going round to my place where I'm going to give you something better than tea." "Now this one was made for Louis the XV and is one of the very few still in the existence from that period and a particularly fine specimen at that." "Charming isn't it?" "Quite." "They all sound to me like a lot of mice running about on a tin roof." "I'm afraid you have no ear for music, Watson." "Give me a good old band playing a rousing march, you have all your silly little tweet tweets." "Oh, that's another one of them." "Good gracious me." "Stupid thing, singing rabbit, huh." "What would you say offhand is the value of a box like that, Mr. Emery?" "Well, it's hard to say offhand but I think it would bring about five or six hundred pounds today." "It's the gem of my collection." "Yet a thief, who steals an oddity like a musical box, passes up one worth five hundred pounds for one of almost no value at all." "Odd, very odd." "What was the stolen box like, Mr. Emery?" "Oh, just plain wooden box about so big." "As a matter fact, I have one over here almost exactly like it." "I picked this up yesterday at an auction room in Knightsbridge, paid only two pounds for it." "Of course, I wouldn't have ordinarily add one like this to my collection but the tune intrigued me." "I'd never heard it before." "You have a remarkable ear for music, Holmes." " Rather an unusual melody." " Sit down, will you." "Thanks." "You say you bought that box at an auction hall yesterday?" "Yes." "The Gaylord Auction Rooms in Knightsbridge, run by old..." "What's his name?" "Crabtree." "That's the man." "At what time was the robbery committed?" "Oh, about three o'clock this morning." "You know, Mr. Emery that box and the robbery might well be cause and effect, especially since you say that the stolen box outwardly resembles this one a great deal and Scotland Yard was not particularly interested, eh?" "Oh yes, but I wouldn't blame them for that, especially as I told them I was quite unable to describe the thief, except, of course, for the fact that it was definitely a man." "All you remember is that who came in here and someone struck you on the head." "Yes and the next thing I knew my man was trying to revive me." "It might be wise for you to put that box away somewhere and lock it up." "Oh, I don't think that's necessary." "Besides, everything's insured." "Well, at least of any further attempts at robbery are made" "I'd suggest that you call the police rather than running into any personal danger." "Oh come, Holmes aren't you being a bit of an alarmist?" "Possibly." "I must agree with old Stinky." "Seems to me you are making rather a mountain out of a mole skin." "Molehill is the word, old boy and it's time you were in bed." "Thanks so much for letting us see your collection." "It's been grand meeting you." "Holmes, I can't understand why you were so mysterious." "Seems to me the petty thief explanation was the only sensible one." " Really?" " Yes, I can't see how you can believe it was anything else." "I didn't say I believed it to be anything else." "The petty thief theory is the obvious one I grant you." "However, it's often a mistaken to accept something that's true merely because it's obvious." "The truth is only arrived at by the pain staking process of eliminating the untrue." "We are not able to do that in this case without further data." "Rubbish." "You're pulling my leg." "You're trying to turn a cut on the head and a robbery into an international plot." "No I'm not." "I just hope that your friend Stinky is a little more cautious in the future, just in case." "Hello." "Yeah." "Julian Emery here." "Who?" "Why of course I remember you, Mrs. Courtney." "Yes." "Yes, you are the one bright spot at that appallingly dull affair of Lady Sanfords." "Huh?" "Of course it isn't to late to come around." "Yes, I shall be delighted to give you a drink." "I tell you what come straight up and I'll leave the door unlatched." "All right." "Fifteen minutes?" "Good." "I shall be counting each moment." "No." "No." "No, I mean that, really." "Right." "Goodbye." "Boo!" "Oh, you startled me." " Did I?" " Yes." "Must be the pixie in me." "I know I shouldn't have called you so late but I was at a party just around the corner and I remembered your invitation to see your collection of musical boxes." "My dear, Mrs. Courtney, pleasure is all the greater for being so unexpected." " My friends call me Hilda." " Thanks." "Mine call me Stinky." "Stinky?" "How quaint." "Oh, what a perfectly wonderful collection of musical boxes." "You know, when you told me you had a collection" " I had no idea that it was so attractive." " Yes." "They appeal to the ear as well as to the eye." "Oh, what a plain little one." "Why it looks just like a country cousin Amid all this grandeur." "Now, now, now you mustn't underestimate the country cousin." "Only last night a burglar broke in here and with all these to chose from" " went off with one very much like it." " Really?" "Yes, I don't mind the loss the box so much but I do resent this crack on the skull." "But it makes you look so interesting." " Do you think so?" " Uh-huh." " That's funny, that's what old fatso said." " Fatso?" "I mean Doctor Watson." "He was here this evening with a friend, a Mr. Holmes." "He's interested in my collection too." "Sherlock Holmes?" "Yes." "Do you know him?" "I've heard of him." "Yes, he seems to think I'm in some sort of danger." "What a haunting tune." "It takes me right back to my childhood." "Really?" "You know it's odd that you should be interested in that particular musical box." " Odd, why?" " Cause Mr. Holmes is also interested in it." "He may have been more interested in the tune than in the box." "My dear, yes, that's right." "I remember now." "He whistled it note for note having heard it only once." "Really?" "He must be a remarkable man." "Bit of an alarmist if you ask me." "Don't you believe in warnings?" "Of course not." "Who'd want a box like that?" "I would." "You're not serious?" "Oh, but I am." "Well, you put me at a very awkward position." "I'm a collector you know and a collector buys but never sells." "But if the price were high enough." "The price has nothing to do with it." "It's the principle of the thing." "Yes, well we haven't had our drink." "No thanks, I must be getting along." " Must you really?" " I'm afraid so." "You're not walking out on me are you?" "My reputation, Stinky." "I say, you know you are an attractive woman." "Thanks." "You fool." "I told you to wait outside." "What did you have to kill him for?" "All I had to do was walk out with this." " He held you in his arms." " Don't touch him." "Don't touch anything." "Now get out!" " I'm sorry." " You're sorry?" "What about me?" "This is murder." "What about Scotland Yard?" "What about Sherlock Holmes?" "Now get out!" "Did you get it?" "Good." "Did you have any trouble with him?" "Just a matter of murder." " Ah, Mr. Holmes." " Hopkins." "Thanks for coming so promptly." "Inspector Lestrade suggested that I call through to you." " Mr. Emery was a client of Mr. Holmes, Inspector." " Indeed." "You didn't mention that when I telephoned you, Mr. Holmes." "Well not exactly a client, Inspector." " Sergeant Thompson?" " He was killed between the hours of eleven and two o'clock this morning, Mr. Holmes." "Must have been someone he knew." "Someone of whom he had no suspicion." "Poor old Stinky." "It's all my fault." "I should have prevented this." "Well, it's no time to start talking about that now, Doctor." "Apparently, it's gone." "That's the second attempt on the musical box that Emery bought at the auction sale and this time it was successful." "But that box is only worth two pounds." "It's worth a man's life, Watson." "I think we'd better pay a visit to Gaylord's Auction Room and that fellow Crabtree." "Inspector may I suggest that you make a complete search of this flat for a small plain musical box about that size." "Thank you." "Come on, Watson." "You say the first box went to Mr. Julian Emery, the second, Mr. Kilgour, 143B Hampton Way, and the third to the unidentified young lady who presumably has a shop and lives near Golders Green?" "That's right Mr. Holmes." "Isn't it rather strange, Mr. Crabtree, that you've had three identical musical boxes, all playing the same tune?" " Where did they come from?" " Dartmoor Prison." " Dartmoor?" " We get a regular shipment from there every month." "The inmates manufacture them." "Well, they make all kinds of things you know?" "Pipe racks, wastepaper baskets," " musical boxes." " Did you happen to notice if anyone showed any particular interest during the auction in the purchases of these three boxes?" "Oh, come now, Mr. Crabtree, this is very literally a matter of life and death." "Well, since you put it that way, Mr. Holmes, there was a gentleman came in here about an hour after closing time." "And he was in an awful state, he was, he gave me five pounds to tell him where the boxes had gone." "He said they had sentimental value for him, sir." "Expensive sentiment." "Can you describe him?" "Well he was tall, distinguished looking and he had gray hair and a mustache." "He was quite a gentleman, sir." "And what was his reaction when you were unable to supply him with the address of the young lady who owned the shop?" "I told him that the young lady usually come back on Thursday." "He said he'd come back on Thursday and that's tomorrow." "Thank you Mr. Crabtree, you've been very helpful." "Thank you." "Come along, Watson." " Where we going now, Holmes?" " The home of Mr. Kilgour, the man who bought the third box." "But hang it all, Holmes, how do you know those other two musical boxes are of any importance?" "I don't, but I certainly have no intention of waiting till the owners are murdered to find out." "No one at home." "I hope that's the explanation." "Well, have a look through this window." "Doesn't seem to be anyone there." "Whole place seems deserted as far as I can see." " Yes?" " Mr. and Mrs. Kilgour at home?" " No." " When do you expect them?" "Oh, in an hour or so." "There's no use you're hanging about." "They don't buy nothing from peddlers." "Peddlers?" "My good woman this is Mr. Sherlock Holmes." "Sherlock Holmes?" "Oh, go on." "Do you mind if we come in and wait?" "My business is rather urgent." "Well, I've got to go out to do my shopping and I don't know if Mrs. Kilgour would like any strangers nosing about." "Quite all right, I assure you." "Well, I've got to be off." "You two wait in the parlor and no smoking either." "Mrs. Kilgour says it smells up the house." " Funny old girl, Holmes." " Hmm." " Park Lane." " Park Lane?" "And what would the likes of you be doing in Park Lane?" "Now don't worry about the fare, ducky." "If ya knows how to get to Park Lane, now off it." "You know, Holmes, I've been thinking." "There must have been something hidden in that box of old Stinky's." "Stolen jewelry possibly." " What's up Holmes?" " Listen." "Well, it's just the steam in the water pipes." "Watson!" "Great Scott!" "Come along, Holmes, get her on the chair here." "Shh." "It's all right, my dear." "There, there, there." "Now don't worry." "It's all over." "There you are, dear." "Don't cry anymore." "She tied me up and shut me in the cupboard." "I know, I know." "She won't come back." "Did you show her your new musical box?" "Yes." "She said she wanted to hear it play" " and as soon as I showed it to her she grabbed a hold..." " I know." "I know now." "Now don't worry, we'll buy you a new musical box." "Yes, my dear, the best one in London." "Watson." "Oh, what a fool, what a fool I've been." "What do you mean, Holmes?" "She took the musical box out of this house in that market basket right under our very noses." "Why would the Kilgour charwoman want to take the music box?" "She isn't the Kilgour charwoman she's a consummate actress." "An extremely clever, unscrupulous woman who will stop at nothing." "Take care of the child, will you, old fellow, till her parents get back." " Explain everything to them." " Of course I will." "But Holmes, where are you going?" "Somewhere, somehow" "I must get to the young lady who bought that third musical box before our opponents find her." "I only hope that I won't be too late." "Now, now, now, darling you mustn't cry anymore." "Cheer up." "Would you... would you like to hear old uncle make a noise like a duck?" "Oh, sorry." "Huh." "Now, ladies and gentlemen how much am I offered for this beautiful laced Dresden china figurine?" "A lady of the French court." "Now this is the genuine article." "What a beautiful ornament for your mantelpiece as a centerpiece on the dining room table." "Now will somebody start me for ten pounds?" "Will somebody start me for ten pounds?" "Eight pounds?" "Seven pounds?" "All right five." "Five pounds is offered." "Five pounds is offered." "Five pounds is offered." "Five pounds ten." "Five pounds fifteen, five pounds fifteen." "Six pounds is offered." "Six pounds, six pounds, going once, going twice, the third and the last call we're all done." "Sold to the lady from Trikland for six pounds." "Next we have a real museum piece ladies and gentlemen." "A fine nineteenth century doll." "The costume, an exact replica of the holiday clothes worn by the Hungarian peasant women." "Now ladies and gentlemen, an article like this would cost him fifteen to twenty pounds in a west end shop." "I'm not going to ask for anything like that." "Who will give me two pounds for it?" "Two pounds, anybody offer me two pounds?" "Two pounds, for the Hungarian, two..." "One pound?" "Will anybody give me one pound?" "Anybody offer me one pound for the doll?" "One pound is offered, ladies and gentlemen." "One pound is offered." "Now I'm not going to waste your valuable time or mine in trying to get one half of what this beautiful doll is worth." "If the young lady can steal it for one pound that's her good fortune." "So, it's going once, it's going twice, the third and last call, anymore?" "Sold to the young lady for one pound." "Now, ladies and gentlemen may I draw your attention to something, which may be, a great surprise to you, worthy of any collection." "The only other one like it is in the British museum." "It's a Ming vase of the seventh dynasty." "This vase lay in a large collection somewhere outside Rome for over two centuries I understand." "It was just discovered there by the noted antiquarian Sir Andrew Copperstone." "Now, some of you may remember Sir Andrew Copperstone." "Besides being a world traveled antiquarian he's also a gentleman writer." "The girl with the parcel in her hands, that's her." "Are you sure that's the girl?" "She fits perfectly the auctioneer's description." "Follow her, Hamid." "It's lovely, dear." "And only one pound." "We can get at least three for it." "Easily." "I'll go make some tea." " I could do with a cup." " Right." " Good afternoon." " Good afternoon." "I'm looking for a birthday gift for a seven-year-old girl." "What would you suggest?" "We have some lovely dolls." " Now this Hungarian..." " I think she has enough dolls already." "Books are always welcome." "Well, I'm looking for something a little different." "Well, that's rather cute, what is it?" "Oh, that's a musical box." "Children always love them and this is an exceptionally nice one." "It plays many tunes." " Have you any others?" " Yes." "If you'll just step this way." "I have only two left." "How nice." "Are you sure this is all you have?" "I'm sorry they're rather hard to find, you know." "That's our entire allotment." "I did have one other but I sold it earlier this afternoon." "But it was only a plain wooden one." "It wouldn't have been a very nice gift for a child." "Really?" "Do you happen to know who the purchaser was?" "Why yes, he left his card just in case anyone should inquire for him." "How interesting." "I'm sorry but I'm afraid I'll have to look a bit further." "Thank you anyway." "Good afternoon." "Thank you." "Cabbie." " Follow that cab." " Here now, what?" " Scotland Yard." " Hop in." "Sherlock Holmes, I might have known." "We thought we were the hunters instead of which we're the hunted." "We've been fooled." "We played right into his hands." "Of course, he's had us followed." "Don't look." "The man in front of the toyshop." "Hamid, turn sharp right at the next corner and again at the next." "No photograph of her, commissioner, as I expected." "She's not a known criminal." "But how are you expect to know her if you do find her?" "After all she was disguised as a charwoman." "Don't worry, old fellow" "If I ever see her again I'll recognize her." "Well, it won't be long till we know who they are and from where they operate." "Who's covering them?" "Sergeant Thompson is following them, sir." "They won't get away from him, he's a good man." "He could have arrested them at Kibbutz's Toy Shop if we had any proof." "But we know that they killed Emery." "Proof, my dear fellow, we must have proof." "We have x-rayed it, sir." "There's nothing whatever concealed in the box." "We'll have a look at the plates." "There must be some clue and it's probably so obvious that we've all overlooked it." "Seems to me were up against a bunch of lunatics." "Not lunatics, my dear fellow, extremely astute, cold-blooded murderers." "Well, what can these little musical boxes have in them that's so important?" "Don't forget they were made in Dartmoor Prison." "Why you can smuggle stuff into prison but not out." "Do you want us to break the box apart, sir, to see if there's anything the x-ray hasn't caught?" "No, not yet." "Do you mind if I take it?" " Certainly." " Thanks." "The governor of Dartmoor Prison informed us, sir, in answer to Mr. Holmes' question that all three musical boxes were made by the same convict," "John Davidson, serving a 7-year term, sir." " Davidson?" " The Bank of England plates." " That will be all." " Yes, sir." "Now were getting somewhere." "Wait a minute how did you know about the plates, Mr. Holmes?" "I'm a student of crime, Inspector." "I make my business to know about such things and when the name of Davidson was mentioned." "Well, who is this fellow Davidson?" "As long as Mr. Holmes seems to know all about it already" "I suppose there's no harm in telling you." "Two years ago in London there occurred a robbery of such tremendous importance, although the stolen articles themselves have no intrinsic value whatsoever, but the home secretary was instrumental in seeing that not word of it appeared in any newspaper." "But you never told me anything about this, Holmes." "You were away at the time." "Articles of no intrinsic value and yet of such importance." "I don't understand." "When Davidson was apprehended within fifteen minutes of committing the theft but by that time he'd hidden the articles in question and they've yet to be found." "Before going further, Doctor Watson," "I must inform you that this matter is not to be mentioned outside of this room." "Of course not." "Do I look like a man who'd gossip?" "Let's not go into that now, old fellow, shall we?" "Davidson had been employed for years in a position of extreme trust by the engravings department of the Bank of England." "The articles he stole were nothing less than a complete duplicate set of plates" " for printing five-pound notes." " What?" " The Bank of England's own plates?" " Precisely." "And with those plates a gang of crooks could flood England with five-pound notes, not forged in the usual sense of the word but notes undetectable from genuine Bank of England notes" " in any way whatsoever." " Good heavens." "Any whisper at all might have resulted in enormous damage in shaking public confidence in the treasury." "We tried everything after we arrested Davidson." "Offered him a shorter sentence if he'd tell us where he'd hidden the plates." "Why we even put in Scotland Yard men with him as cell mates but no results." "Obviously, Davidson is a man of strong character and infinite patience." "Yet suddenly he feels impelled to smuggle out the secret of the hiding place of the plates to his confederates." "Why?" "I don't understand, Mr. Holmes." "Well, for example, has the Bank of England made any plans to radically change the design of the five pound note so that, say uh, seven years from now notes made from the stolen plates would be worthless?" "Confidentially, Mr. Holmes, such a move was discussed but replacing all the five pound notes in circulation would be such a herculean task that nothing's been done about it as yet." "I see." "Of course there is another possible explanation." "Davidson didn't have much time to find a hiding place before he was captured." "He may be afraid that the plates will be accidentally discovered before he's released, hence his anxiety to communicate their whereabouts to his confederates as soon as possible." "I believe you hit it, Mr. Holmes." "I'm sure that the message is contained in this musical box, or rather in all three musical boxes since possession of all three seems to be essential." "Our opponents have two thirds of the puzzle, only we have one third." "Well, what are you going to do, Holmes?" "Try to deduce the message from the one third that we have." "It's the same tune as the one played by Emery's musical box." "And yet it's different." "Sounds the same to me." "The tune." "Somehow the tune is the key to the mystery." "It must be the tune." "Otherwise, why use three musical boxes to convey the message?" "Why not collar boxes or shoe boxes?" "Yes?" " Oh, it's for you, Inspector." " Oh, thank you, sir." "Inspector Hopkins speaking." "What?" "Where?" "Goldess Green Station reports they've just found Sergeant Thompson's body." "From the tire marks on his clothes he was apparently run over by a taxi." "What an unfortunate accident." "Not an accident, my dear fellow." "I'm afraid it's murder." "♪ You never know just who you're going to meet when you're walking down that busy London street." "Mrs. Orbit and Mrs. Brown,  any subject of the crown,  oh you never know just who you're going to meet." "Sooo, you better hold your topper than your hand just in case you meet a lady on the strand." "Girls will think you're kind of sweet and your day will be complete though you never know just who you're going to meet." "Now a gentleman is judged by his appearance." "Yes a gentleman is judged by how he talks." "Now he's much better off when he's acting like a toff especially if he's taken in a walk." "What on earth is this outlandish place?" "A rendezvous for actors." "Actors?" "Buskers, old boy." "You've seen them a thousand times." "Actors who entertain with tunes, waiting outside theaters." "♪ Oh you never know just who you're going to meet when you're walking down that busy London street." "So you better wear vest,  always try to look your best cause you never know just who you're going to meet." "Soooo,  you better keep your manners right in view just in case a lady gives a 'how'd you do.'" "Keep your trousers in a pleat,  shine your shoes and keep them neat cause you never know just who you're going to meet." "Blimey." "Mr. Holmes." "How are you, Joe?" "Never better." "And yourself?" "Fine, thank you." "I want you to meet a friend of mine, Doctor Watson." "Joe Cisto." " Oh well, any friend of Mr. Holmes is a friend of mine." " How are you, Joe?" "He did me a good turn once that I'll never forget." "Yes, I cleared Joe of a most unpleasant charge." " Murder no less." " Oh really?" "By proving to the satisfaction of the police that he was busy at the time blowing open someone's safe." " That's right, governor." " Good gracious me." "Now Joe, now you can help me." "Come on, buzz off, buzz off." "Come on off it. off it!" "Can't a gentleman have some peace and quiet around here?" "And you too." "There you are, Mr. Holmes, now we can have some peace and quiet around here." "Thank you, Joe." "There's five pounds in this for you." "Well, I wouldn't want to take it on myself, sir, but I'd get somebody to do it for you far for that." "You don't know what the job is yet." "For five pounds?" "Murder ain't it?" "What?" "No Joe, not murder just music." "I want you to identify a song for me." "Oh, there ain't a song that's been written that I don't know." "That's why I came to you." "Of course, the violin is more my instrument but, oh well, here we go." "Now listen to this Joe." "Wait a minute, you're playing that wrong." "That should be 'E' natural not 'E' flat." " You know the song?" " Oh yes, it's an old Australian song called..." "'The Swag Man' but you're playing it all wrong." "That's what I'd hoped you say." "Now listen again, Joe." "That's the same tune all right but you're making different mistakes than you did the first time." "No, not mistakes, Joe." "Call them variations." "Here, play the song for me, will you, the way it's written." " There you are." " Thank you, Joe." "What's it mean, Holmes?" "You on to something?" "Perhaps." "I don't know yet." "It's probably a code of some sort." "Joe?" "Could you write the song down for me the way it was originally written?" "Oh sure, Mr. Holmes but it'll take a few minutes." "Here, Mabel." "Pale ale." "Come on, hop to it, on with it." "Well, obviously it isn't the lyrics." "No combination of those words made any sense at all." "The variations in the way" "Emery's musical box played the tune are different from the variations of the one we have." " You sure?" " Quite." "You see, I took the trouble to memorize the tune as played by Emery's box that night we were with him in his flat." "Holmes, you amaze me." "Elementary, my dear fellow, one of the first principles in solving crime is never to disregard anything no matter how trivial." "But why the three boxes?" "Why not one?" "Because the message was obviously too long to be conveyed by any one variation." "Then there's the third box, the one that woman took from the Kilgours, that contains yet another set of variations." "Yes, though it's all beyond me." "Well, all we have to do now is to find the secret of the variations, not a very easy problem to solve, my dear fellow." "Hello." "What's up?" "We've had company." "I say this is outrageous." "Ask Mrs. Hudson to come in here will you?" "Right." "Mrs. Hudson?" "Yes." "Oh, there you are." "Will you come up here at once please?" "Oh, coming, sir." "Mercy me, Mr. Holmes, what has happened?" "Who called while we were out, Mrs. Hudson?" "Just a young lady, the one who said you wanted her to wait for you." "And a nice little old gentlemen with her." " Our friends again, Watson." " Friends?" "What did the young lady look like?" "Oh, I couldn't see her face she had a heavy black veil on but she had such a nice way with her." "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes if I've done anything wrong but you did say I should always let clients come in and wait for you." "Don't worry, Mrs. Hudson, don't worry." "You had no way of knowing." "It's quite all right." "Quite all right." "Now don't worry, Mrs. Hudson." "Don't worry?" "Well where on earth is the musical box?" "They didn't get it." "Didn't get it?" "Where is it?" " It's in your hand." " Huh?" "In that biscuit jar." "Take the biscuits off the top." "Now put your hand inside and you'll find the music box." "Well done, Holmes." "Well done." "Amazing." "Nice fresh smell." "Like a pub after closing time." "I say, Holmes?" "What?" "It's morning." "Allow me to congratulate you on a brilliant bit of deduction." "It's not a transposition, not a polygraph transposition, not a trigraph, nor any known form of decoding." "How about the Morse code have you tried that?" "Yes, at about three o'clock this morning." "I'm sorry, old man." "I was only trying to help." "Oh, do me a favor, not again." "I must have heard that thing a thousand times." "Kept me awake all night." "Not a very distinguished composition I grant you." "You know perfectly well I don't know one tune from the other." "When I was a kid my people tried to have me taught the piano." "I always felt sorry for that old teacher of mine." "The poor old girl finally reached the point of numbering the keys for me." "One-two-three-four." "Even then I never progressed beyond..." "Numbering the keys, Watson!" "The nineteenth key of the keyboard is the nineteenth letter of the alphabet." "'S'." "Here." "Mark this down while I give it to you, old fellow, will you?" "The first altered note, write 'S' first." "Now the eighth key is 'H', the fifth key 'E', the twelfth key 'L', the sixth key 'F'." "S-H-E-L-F, shelf." "Your piano lessons were not in vain, old fellow." "You've solved it." "Thank you." "Thanks, old bean." "We now have two thirds of a message." "Behind books, third shelf, secretary," "Doctor 'S'." "Presumably, these are the first and second portions of the message." "And this gang has the first and third parts of it." " Precisely." " Then it's a stalemate?" "Yes commissioner but we can't leave it like that." "There's no doubt in my mind that they'll try to secure our third of the message that's missing." "Well, I assume you've taken every precaution to guard the Clifford music box." "Oh yes, it's carefully hidden at Baker Street with Doctor Watson on guard." "However, I'm reasonably certain that, difficult as it may be, we can find the plates even without the missing part of the message." ""Behind books, third shelf, secretary, Doctor 'S'."" "Well, outside of the fact that Davidson hid the Bank of England plates somewhere in London, Mr. Holmes," "I don't see that we've progressed at all." "Allow me to point out to you, sir, the key words Doctor 'S'." "It looks as if the plates were hidden in the house of a doctor." "Whether the 'S' stands for his first or last initial remains to be determined by a process of elimination." "Well, there must be ten thousand doctors in London with 'S' for a first or last initial." "Precisely and every one of them will have to be questioned in person." "That's why I say this is a task for Scotland Yard." "It's a task all right but Scotland Yard has searched worse haystacks and found a needle." "Well, for the time being" "I'll leave the matter in your hands, gentlemen." "We'll call you if and when we get a lead on our mysterious Doctor S." "Thank you." "In the meantime, I intend to follow up a little clue concerning a cigarette." "You are certain of the identification of the tobacco?" "Absolutely." "I have made up this special blend for only three customers." "It is almost pure Egyptian with a mixture of Latakia for added body and a pinch of Perique, merely a whisper as one might say" " for elusive fragrance." " Yes Yes, and the three customers?" "Major Wilson in Bombay, India." "Mrs. Catherine Lemington Smith in Ireland." "Yes and the third?" "Mrs. Hilda Courtney of Park Mansions, Briarstone Square." "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "You've been most helpful." "It is a pleasure to of been service, Mr. Holmes." "Yes?" "Mrs. Courtney?" "Yes." "My name is Sherlock Holmes." " Do come in." " Thank you." "I've heard of you, of course, Mr. Holmes." "I believe we have a mutual friend in Sir Edward Brookdale." "He's spoken to me of you quite often." "Indeed." "And to what good fortune am I indebted for this visit?" "I think you know, Mrs. Courtney." "Well, I did get a summons for speeding last week but outside of that I don't think I'm of any interest to the police." "Oh, come now, Mrs. Courtney, you seemed to forget that you and I have met before." "I'm sorry," "I'm sure I would have remembered meeting the great Sherlock Holmes." " Please sit down." " Thank you." "You say we met before?" "Yes." "At the home of Mr.  Mrs. Kilgour, 143 B Hampton Road." "Kilgour?" "I don't think I know anyone of that name." "Well, I didn't say you knew them, as a matter of fact, you called on them when they were out." "Why I don't understand, Mr. Holmes." "Really?" "You were dressed rather differently." "Indeed." "Cigarette?" "Thank you." "You know Mrs. Courtney, people generally forget, you know assuming your disguise, that the shape of the ear is almost an infallible means of recognition and identification to the trained eye." "Evidently you've mistaken me for someone else." "Oh no, not at all, though naturally I expected your denial but when you paid your visit to my rooms at Baker Street you carelessly left behind an another identification." "They're identical aren't they?" "Yes, I must admit they are." "You see Mr. Holmes to catch one as clever as you" "I had to use a very special lure." "I knew you'd be unable to resist the bait of my cigarette having read with great interest your monograph on the ashes of a hundred and forty different varieties of tobacco." "I should advise you not to move, Mr. Holmes." "I must congratulate you on your ingenuity, Mrs. Courtney." "It was indeed a brilliantly designed trap." "Thank you, Mr. Holmes." "Praise from a master is indeed gratifying." "I shall always cherish the memory of your flatter and words." "Memory?" "Precisely." "I'm afraid these gentlemen have a most regrettable task to perform." "Unless, of course, you care to turn over the missing musical box with your pledge to take no action against us in the future." "I'm afraid that will be impossible." "I thought that would be your answer." "Hamid!" "Careful!" "Careful, there's no need to be unnecessarily rough with our distinguished guest." "You realize, Mr. Holmes, that your demise will not take place here, the Corpus Delicti you know?" "Well, naturally." "Shall we go?" "So fearfully awkward having a dead body lying about." "Don't you agree, Mr. Holmes?" "Another dead body shouldn't weigh too heavily on your conscious, Mrs. Courtney." "Do you mind if I have a cigarette?" "Why I don't see why not." "Be careful, Hamid." "It's the brakes, they bind." "Thank you Colonel Cavanaugh, it's very considerate of you." "You'll be happy to know, Mr. Holmes, that your death will be a painless one." "Hamid, attach this to the motor of the taxi." "That little attachment, my dear Mr. Holmes, contains the deadly fluid known as, monosulfide, the Germans use it with gratifying results in removing their undesirables." "Start the motor." "Tape his mouth." "Now, up with him, Hamid." "You find yourself like Muhammad's coffin, Mr. Holmes, suspended between heaven and Earth." "Plenty of fuel in the tank?" "Good." "It would be too bad to have anything go wrong through so simple an oversight." "Good afternoon." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes?" "No, I'm Doctor Watson." "Oh, of course, Doctor Watson." "How stupid of me." "Not at all, it's stupid of me." "Won't you come in?" "Well, I really came to see Mr. Holmes." "Oh I'm afraid he's out." "I don't know when he'll be back." "Perhaps there's something I can do." "Won't you sit down?" "Thank you." "You know Sherlock Holmes and I have been engaged on a great many cases." " Oh, really?" " Yes indeed." "As a matter of fact, at this very moment we're involved in one of the most baffling..." "Well, won't you tell me your trouble." "I may be able to help you." "That's very kind of you, Doctor Watson, perhaps if I wouldn't be imposing too much..." "Imposing?" "Oh, it's no imposition, no imposition at all." "A pleasure I assure you now." " Tell me all about it Miss..." " Miss Williams." "Mrs. Williams." "I live in Surrey, Doctor Watson, and I've come to London on sheer desperation." "My only sister has disappeared and the local police seem utterly unable to find her." "Well, Holmes and I solved a case exactly like that once." "Very interesting as far as I remember." "I called it" ""The Adventure Of The Solitary Cyclist."" "Oh, sorry." "Now I come to think of it, it wasn't so very similar, entirely different now." "I can't figure what I was saying." "Where were we?" "She's only seventeen, Doctor Watson and until she disappeared last Thursday she seemed to be in the best of spirits." "Well, possibly a romantic entanglement." "Oh no, no, nothing of the sort." "She left no note, didn't even pack a bag, no explanation, she just started to walk to the village from our house in broad daylight and simply vanished from the face of the Earth." "Oh there, there, there, there." "Might I have a glass of water?" "Glass of water, yes of course." "Glass of..." "I'll have one in one minute." "There you are, my dear." "Thank you, Doctor Watson." "Now, now you're not to cry anymore." "You must pull yourself together." "I feel much better already knowing that you're going to help me." "Oh, Doctor Watson, look!" "Good heavens!" "Get through, get through the fire brigade, quickly." "Haven't you a fire extinguisher?" "By Jove, we have one, in the kitchen." "Don't you worry, Miss Williams we'll have this thing out in no time." "Now, that's got it." "Let's get some air." "Well, you see there was no need for the fire brigade after all." "I hope you weren't too frightened, Miss Williams." "Oh, gone." "That's the trouble with women, they always lose their heads in an emergency." "Hello." "The musical box." "Great Scott!" "Miss Williams!" "Well?" "Good." "And Holmes?" "By now Mr. Holmes has no doubt exchanged his violin for a harp." "Oh, well assuming that heaven is his destination." "And now that we have the missing musical box." " Nineteenth note," " Nineteenth note," " nineteenth letter." " Nineteenth letter." ""S"." "He hasn't been there you say?" "Holmes, where on earth where have you been?" "I've been trying to get you at the club, at Scotland Yard, all over London." "You were looking for me in the wrong places." "Holmes, a terrible thing's happened." "I've been duped." "That woman," " she made a complete fool of me." " Well, what do you mean?" "Well, she came here and let off a smoke bomb." "I thought the whole place was on fire and my first thought was to save the musical box." "No need to say anymore." "She has the box." "Yes." "Don't blame yourself too much, old fellow." "She is an extremely clever antagonist." "Smoke bomb you said?" "Well, you can console yourself with the thought that your charming friend is at least a reader of yours." "What do you mean?" "If I remember correctly, you wrote about my little experiment with the smoke and the cry of fire in the story you entitled "A Scandal in Bohemia", which has just appeared in the Strand Magazine." "All right, all right, old boy, don't rub it in." "It may cheer you up to know that she made a fool of me too." "With that cigarette stub." "It was planted here for one express purpose." "Do we have any bandaging around this place?" "Bandaging?" "What's the matter, Holmes?" "You hurt?" "Explanations will have to wait until later, at the moment we're faced with a problem, which I fear, is insurmountable." " Come over here, old boy, will ya?" " Right." "Now the opponents are in possession of all three parts of the code and here are we while the Bank of England plates pass into their possession." "Cheer up, old fellow, cheer up." "As Doctor Samuel Johnson once said" ""There's no problem the mind of man can set that the mind of man cannot solve."" " What's that, old fellow?" " I was quoting Doctor Samuel Johnson," " he said there is no..." " Thank you, Watson, thank you." "Leaving the front reception room we come into the main hall where Doctor Johnson was in the habit of passing through to have his meager meals in the dining room opposite." "In company with his friend and biographer," "James Bosvo." "We will now pass up the stairway, which remains in it's natural wood finish." "Just as it was when the good doctor was here." "The framed etching on the wall is believed to have been presented to Doctor Johnson by the distinguished painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds." "I've been told here that that picture was given to him by Mrs. Tarrel and its definitely not a Reynolds." "Is that important, my dear?" "Oh, I'm sorry." "This way ladies and gentlemen please, this way." "Move along children, move along." "The secretary's not on this floor." "Patience, Hamid." " I have a feeling..." " My dear Colonel with Sherlock Holmes out of the way what could go wrong?" "And here we have the gallant library in which Doctor Johnson wrote his famous dictionary and in which you will see also many of the great man's books and other items of interest." "Step forward ladies and gentlemen, please step forward." "Standing in the corner is the secretary, which contains many of the original works by the literary genius." "On this table Doctor Johnson's cat Hodge used to sleep while his master worked." "But the strange thing about this cat, ladies and gentlemen, was its love of oysters." "They do say that the dear Doctor often went hungry to find the cat that delicacy." "What a pity." "Now we will visit the bedroom, which is immediately below us in which you will see the very bed in which Doctor Johnson died." "What did he die of?" "Gout." "Just gout." "This way ladies and gentlemen, mind the steps please." "The keys." "Third shelf up." "The knife." "Gentlemen, the Bank of England plates." "Well, Mrs. Courtney, so we meet again." "Now, I shouldn't do that if I were you, Colonel Cavanaugh." "I must congratulate you, Mr. Holmes." "You're far more clever than I thought." "Thank you, Mrs. Courtney." "Praise from you is indeed gratifying." "I shall always cherish the memory of your flattering words." "Memory?" "Oh, thank you." "And now I have a most regrettable task to perform." "Holmes!" "Coming Holmes!" "Holmes!" "You all right?" "Perfectly, thank you, old fellow but I think this gentleman on the floor requires some medical attention." "We must see that he looks his best, you know, when he's hanged." "Take them in charge." "A brilliant antagonist." "It's a pity her talents were so misdirected." "Will you see that these plates are returned to the Bank of England, Inspector?" "I still don't understand how you solved it, Mr. Holmes." "It's entirely due to Doctor Watson." "He gave me the clue when he mentioned Doctor Samuel Johnson." "Well, congratulations, Doctor." "Oh, thank you, Inspector." "I don't think I could have done it entirely without Mr. Holmes' help you know?"