"There's a gentlemen downstairs..." "Ask him to wait a moment, Mrs. Hudson." "He's most insistent." "Easy now." "Easy." "I must apologize." "I have been a little overwrought." "I'm a doctor, sir, and I must insist that you relax yourself and say nothing until you have eaten." "Thank you." "If I might have a biscuit and a glass of milk" "I have no doubt I should soon be better." "Mrs. Hudson is preparing something at this moment." "Please, please, please forgive this weakness." "I really must..." "Mr. Holmes." "At your service." "Master of arts." "Doctor of Philosophy." "Principal of the Priory School." "Is it not everyday, Doctor Huxtable, that so distinguished a castaway as yourself is beached upon on the hearthrug." "In speculating what storm had blown you here," "I took the liberty of searching your person," "I hope you will forgive me." "Oh yes, yes of course." "Please sit down." "Your watch." "Unblemished for at least thirty years, suddenly this morning scratched." "When you thrust those coins, unthinkingly into your waistcoat pocket." "The stern habit of a lifetime trampled under foot." "A small occurrence perhaps but own small think in a way that a vibrating needle may signal an earthquake." "The state of your beard demonstrates a considerable disruption to your routine." "Three days ago?" "Yes sir." "Yes sir." "Mr. Holmes, I beg you to accompany me north to Mackleton immediately." "A matter of the utmost importance." "Awe, I regret." "Doctor Watson and I are extremely pressed just at the moment." "I'm retained in the case of the Ferrers Documents, and Doctor Watson tells me that he's run off his feet by this recent epidemic of this Scarlet Fever." "And then of course, there's Abergavenny murder..." "Now, only a very important issue could call us away at the present." "Important, sir?" "Lmportant?" "I dare say you've heard of the Duke of Holdernesse?" "The former cabinet minister?" "More than that, Watson." "The letters after his name, huh, almost half the alphabet." "One of the greatest subjects of the crown, hey Doctor Huxtable?" "One of the greatest and probably one of the wealthiest." "He is also, I'm proud to say, in my neighbor." "Holdernesse Hall, his countryseat, is across from the valley from the Priory School." "Duke is an intensely solitary man." "He appalls the prospect of public scrutiny but such is his anxiety in this matter that his grace is prepared to write a check for five thousand pounds to see the business off and another thousand pounds to see justice visited upon the villains." "That is how important it is." "A princely offer, Doctor Huxtable." "You have failed in describing villainy." "Forgive me." "Lord Saltire, the Duke's son, his only child, has been abducted." "From the Priory School?" "Yes." "When he was in your care?" "Quite." "And this abduction happened three days ago?" "Last Saturday night." "Why have you waited so long before consulting me?" "His Grace has a deep horror of his family unhappiness being dragged before the world." "The police have been requested by the Duke to proceed with such caution that they..." "I see." "This affair has been deplorably handled." "I feel it and admit it." "What form of the demand for ransom take?" "There has been none." "No demand for ransom?" "None." "It is one of the most perplexing aspects of the business for the boy was not alone in his flight." "Herr Heidegger, the German master, is also missing, as indeed, by the way, is his bicycle." "If he has abducted the boy why has no demand for money been received?" "Heidegger came to me from Switzerland with the very best references." "Was any other bicycle missing?" "Oh no." "You're certain?" "Quite Mr. Aveling checked all the bicycles." "Doctor Huxtable do you really mean to suggest that this German master rode off upon his bicycle in the dead of night bearing the boy in his arms?" "No." "Then what is this theory in your mind?" "The bicycle may have been a blind." "He may have hidden it somewhere, and the pair gone off on foot." "Surely he would have hidden a couple of bicycles if he desired to give that impression." "Yes I suppose he would." "Of course he would." "Doctor Huxtable, this blind theory of yours will not do." "It is an admirable starting point for an investigation." "Watson, would you send for the cab immediately?" "Now Holmes?" "Set, and pack." "We got just enough time to catch the overnight train." "Doctor Huxtable I shall do a little work at your doors." "Perhaps the train is not so cold but the two old hounds like Watson and myself make get a sniff on it." "I imagine the arrival of Lord Saltire at your school must have been quite a feather in your cap." "My proudest moment, Mr. Holmes." "Ever since Blackwell's published" "Huxtable's Sidelights on Horace, a notable little success in his day." "You may have heard of it." "No." "How old is the boy?" "Nine." "And he's been with you how long?" "Oh since the beginning of the winter term." "An unusual boy, he seemed to be fitting in well." "He um..." "Yes?" "I was about to say he was not entirely happy at home." "The Duke's marriage has not been a peaceful one." "It ended in separation by mutual consent last year." "The Duchess has returned to her father's palatso in Venice." "This picture, of the Duke's marriage, how did you come by it?" "Is it common knowledge?" "I've had some confidential talks with Mr. Wilder, the Duke's secretary." "He's been most helpful." "And I suppose it has been established that the boy has not returned to his mother in Italy?" "Oh yes." "Yes it has." "I cannot tell you, Mr. Holmes, what a relief it is to me..." "Watson?" "Coming!" "Your picnic, sir." "Mrs. Hudson, how did you guess?" "Experience, Mr. Holmes." "Well that means the two doctors can picnic away to their hearts content on the train." "Even I may find my appetite is keener for a few days in the bracing atmosphere of the peat country." "I think I will do myself no injustice when I say that the Priory School is the most select preparatory school in England." "Lord Leverstoke, the Earl of Blackwater," "Sir Cathcart Soames, they all have entrusted their sons to me." "You can't see Holdernesse Hall from here but there's a very fine view from the chapel tower." "I will begin with the boy's room." "From his father?" "It arrived on the morning of his disappearance." "Had he received one from Italy?" "Not recently." "Where is the letter now?" "It cannot be found." "It must have been on the boy's person when he was abducted." "Who sleeps in the adjoining room?" "I know this sort of chap I dare say." "He could sleep through a thunderstorm." "I don't think he would sir." "Really and why is that do you suppose?" "There's a mouse sir." "In the wainscot, sir." "And it wakes us both up sir." "Sometimes sir." "Mouse?" "So any noise from Lord Saltire's room..." "Well the door creaks sir." "You always hear the door." "On the night of the disappearance, did you hear anything then?" "No sir." "You couldn't even hear the crying." "Crying?" "Yes sir." "He sometimes cries sir." "Sometimes sir." "Thank you boys." "You have found nothing in the grounds?" "There's no knowing what I have found." "The trail is cold." "Headmaster!" "Headmaster!" "The Duke of Holdernesse is here headmaster." "Thank you, Mr. Aveling." "With Mr. Wilder." "Mr. Holmes?" "Yes." "The Duke is waiting, Mr. Holmes." "That will never do." "Your Grace," "Mr. Wilder." "I called yesterday, Doctor Huxtable, but I was too late to prevent your starting for London." "His Grace is surprised, Doctor Huxtable, that you should of invited Mr. Holmes to undertake an investigation without consulting him first." "Well I thought that the police had failed." "It is by no means certain that the police have failed." "Yes, but surely, Mr. Wilder..." "You're well aware, Doctor Huxtable, how anxious his Grace is to avoid all public scandal." "He prefers to take as few people as possible into his confidence." "I'm sorry, Mr. Wilder." "The matter is easily remedied." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train." "Hardly that." "Hardly that." "I enjoy your invigorating northern air." "I shall spend, at any rate, a few days upon your moors." "Who knows I may at least find" "Herr Heidegger's bicycle, if nothing else." "This is not a trivial matter, Mr. Holmes." "I am gratified that you think not, your Grace." "If there was meaning in that remark, Mr. Holmes," "I'm afraid it escaped me." "Your only child has disappeared." "Your hopes, your future, your noble family itself is threatened with disillusion." "Your point, sir?" "I ask your Grace, what is modesty to this, to your child's life?" "Or his reputation?" "Not then it might be replied what is continuance without honor?" "However, I believe you are largely in the right," "Mr. Holmes." "If you refer to the constraints" "I have placed upon the activities of the police then perhaps I have imposed too much." "I have a morbid fear of the public gaze." "It would be foolish not to avail ourselves of Mr. Holmes' services, James, now that he is here." "Mr. Holmes?" "Your Grace?" "Perhaps you would like to come and stay with us at Holdernesse Hall." "I thank your Grace, but I think for the purposes of my investigation it would be wiser for me to remain here at the scene of the mystery." "As you wish." "Mr. Wilder or myself will be available to provide you with any assistance that you might require." "Might I ask whether you have formed any explanation as to the mysterious disappearance of your son?" "No sir, I have not." "He is a fine boy, Mr. Holmes." "And how long has he been in your class?" "Since his arrival here." "Did he speak much of his family?" "Not much." "It's my belief that he missed his mother this is something of his father's doing." "The separation between the Duke and the Duchess, did he talk about that?" "Not really." "It's a little mysterious." "The boy insisted that they loved each other very much." "You don't think that he'd be" "No he is a very realistic child." "Awe, but not a very realistic family." "I was told that they were once members of the Hellfire Club." "You wouldn't know, I suppose, what time Herr Heidegger retired to his room on the night of the disappearance?" "Not really but quite late." "After eleven." "He was duty round master that night." "And a cyclists I believe?" "Yes, oh yes." "Did Lord Saltire ever accompany him." "No he is not yet able to retain his balance." "You wouldn't, I suppose, happen to know the make of tires on Herr Heidegger's bicycle?" "Certainly." "A lovely bicycle by the way made in Bramen." "The tires were Palmer, you know the ones with longitudinal tread." "I know the ones." "Thank you." "Doubly helpful." "Pleasure, Mr. Holmes." "Dinner will be at eight." "I beg your pardon." "Holmes?" "This case grows upon me, Watson." "There are decidedly points of interest in connection with it." "Here look at this map." "There are certain geographical features, which may have a good deal to do with our investigation." "This dark square is the Priory School." "This, the main road with no side turning for a mile either way." "To the north of the school the land rises slowly." "To the south, a large district of arable land, with high walls and hedgerows, impossible territory for a bicycle." "Oh what did you discover at Oakborn?" "Well the police had reports from all over the place on a man and a boy seen together." "They completed their investigation on the site early this morning." "What result?" "Useless." "None bore the slightest resemblance of the boy or the German master." "Excellent." "This mass of mistaken sightings, Watson, it confirms my suspicion." "I don't believe they used the road." "That path of curiosity of quiet places will surely find the light." "I don't think they used the road at all." "But the bicycle?" "A good cyclist does not need a road, Watson." "The moor is intersected with paths." "I remember the moons that were full." "Now it is to the north that our quest must lie." "You have done well, Watson." "Dinner's soon, you'll be happy to hear but I have do just have one point on which I need to be satisfied." "Herr Heidegger's room." "Ten minutes." "Doctor Holmes is being delving into the origins of the Holdernesse family." "Like many ancient lines it sprang from a very muddy source." "Muddy Doctor?" "Well not to be too delicate about it, they were cattle thieves." "A worrier class, ingenious, daring but the basis of their wealth was running off with other people's cows." "Holmes even tells me that Holdenesse has furnished one of the madder members of the Hell Fire Club." "What is the matter Doctor Huxtable?" "It is nothing." "But it's clearly something." "I expect too much I'm sure." "It is a part-time job." "Tell us your expectations?" "I do not expect miracles." "I think I am not a man who demands the miraculous but you have discovered nothing." "We haven't found, not a jot since the moment we left London." "Although indeed that is not true." "You have discovered two things, both falsums." "One, a squalid piece of gossip and the other an epocriful and insulting fancy about the origins of my great patron." "I did not employ you to come here to blacken the name of the Holdernesses'," "Mr. Holmes." "Calm yourself, Doctor Huxtable." "We have in fact, found some way," "I can describe to you in some detail what took place in this school on that fateful night." "Also the behavior of your excellent and faithful German master." "Faithful, Heidegger?" "What sir?" "Herr Heidegger retired to his room soon after eleven o'clock." "He was the duty master that night." "Now my friend and colleague, Doctor Watson, will impersonate." "Heidegger has still two hours work ahead of him and it's been a long day." "He allows himself the comfort of removing his jacket." "He moves across to the chest by the door and pours himself a glass of sherry." "Badly needed fortification of the task that lies ahead." "He collects the candle and moves to his desk to correct twenty-two exercise books, which contain not only Grammatik exercises but also a lengthy composition." "You see my point, Doctor Huxtable, it would have been well after midnight if he had done nothing else, when his candle fails him." "The candles are kept in the chest by the door." "He arises from the desk to fetch another one but he cannot see to find them, so he turns to the windows to draw the curtains to see better by the moonlight." "Across the rooftops on the gate tower the boy has been waiting for darkness, knowing that his flight must not be observed." "Herr Heidegger watches as the boy hurries across the ledge to keep his prearranged meeting by the river." "Sensing the enormity of what was taking place," "Heidegger runs to the door, knocking over what remains of his glass sherry as he goes." "I see." "Thank you." "It seems I misjudged you." "The wisdom of his choice to pursue the boy is questionable." "I believe his fate may be sealed." "You'll allow me, Mr. Holmes?" "Do you mean?" "I hope not but if my reasoning is correct then I do fear for him." "And the boy?" "The key to that, Doctor Huxtable, remains out there." "Beyond the Drover's Bridge." "Poor beast." "Carrying crows." "They ruin their name." "So were assuming the boy was taken away on horseback are we not?" "Certainly." "Otherwise Heidegger would not have needed a bicycle to pursue them." "But the only tracks we've found are cattle, Holmes." "Holmes?" "Holmes?" "A track, Watson!" "A track." "A bicycle?" "Certainly a bicycle but not the bicycle." "I'm familiar with forty-two different impressions left by tires." "This is a Dunlop with a patch upon the outer cover." "Heidegger's tires were Palmers, this is not Heidegger's track." "Who's then?" "Who's indeed?" "Watson!" "These are Palmer tracks," "Heidegger has been this way." "Absolutely extraordinary." "Dunlop tracks for a hundred fifty yards, they vanish and Palmer tracks quite clear leading to these rocks, they vanish too." "Not a sign of a horse anywhere." "Watson, you have a blazing talent for observing the obvious." "I should have brought some luncheon." "Anyway what was Herr Heidegger cycling after, cows?" "Presumably they didn't abduct the child on the back of a cow." "All traces of horses obliterated." "In much evidence the two bicycles have vanished into thin air." "Impossible." "Precisely." "It is impossible as we have mistaken it, therefore, in some respect, we must have mistaken it wrong." "There's a hostelry mark on the further edge of the moor." "Holmes, there's a hostelry on the Chesterfield Road." "Yes if he we keep on this line we should come up to it." "Well that's where I'm going to try my luck." "I'm hungry." "Holmes?" "Lunch." "Of course my dear fellow you must be starving." "Now observe that map." "You will see that there's a hostelry about three miles in this direction." "We'll need some food if we're going to face the Duke of Holdernesse later." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "I must tell his Grace." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "It's locked." "Primitive but forceful as sporting portraits go." "Mr. Reuben Hayes?" "How do you know my name?" "It's printed over the door." "We were looking for some refreshment." "Were ya?" "And would be obliged if you could furnish it." "Would ya?" "We would." "You must ask the woman." "Insufferable lout." "If were going all the way to Holdernesse Hall this afternoon let us try to hire those unpreconditioned beasts." "What do you say?" "How far are you taking them?" "Just to the Hall and back." "You know the way, I dare say?" "I worked there for fifteen years." "Yeah, you can take them." "My word, Mr. Hayes, you have injured yourself." "It's nothin'." "I am a Doctor sir, and assure you it is." "You should have it attended." "How did you come by it?" "One of my dogs did it." "Those scratches." "What about them?" "Well at a gentler glance they were that far apart." "What animal would make such a scratch?" "Probably a descendent of the champion jack." "Cockfighting is forbidden by law and has been for fifty years." "Many things are forbidden by law." "What law is there in such places as these?" "Awe excellent, Mrs. Hayes, thank you." "What have you cooked?" "Blood pudding, sweets and [unintelligible]." "How is it, Watson?" "It is disgusting, Holmes." "That woman, she's frightened of something and more than that husband of hers." "Deception upon deception." "What was it intended to hide?" "Deception?" "Oh, Watson, my horse is lame." "That's odd." "Old shoes, new nails." "Gentlemen." "His Grace will see you now." "Awe, Mr. Wilder." "Mr. Holmes, Doctor Watson, welcome to Holdernesse Hall." "His Grace will be joining us shortly." "We are placing high hopes on your skills Mr. Holmes." "Did you bring news?" "There is just one point in which I need to be satisfied." "Yes Mr. Holmes?" "It concerns the Duke's private concerns." "As his Grace's private secretary perhaps I can be of some assistance." "I believe his Grace wrote to his son upon the day this incident occurred." "No I believe he wrote on the day before." "Yes but he would have received it upon that day." "Yes, quite probably." "Might there have been anything in that letter which would have prompted the boy to run away?" "Oh, I hardly think so." "Anyway he would have run here if anywhere." "Or to his mother in Italy?" "No sir." "Lord Saltire would realize the impossibility of achieving such a goal." "Even if abetted by this German, he is an intelligent and practical child." "And yet he cries in his sleep." "Did his Grace post the letter himself?" "His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters." "The letter was laid with others upon the study table and I, myself, put them there." "The only other person who would handle them would be Rivers, who delivers the Daily Post to the lodge." "And you're sure this letter was among them?" "Oh yes." "I observed it." "And what have you observed, Mr. Holmes?" "How does your investigation progress?" "Are you to disappoint me?" "I hope still to render your greater happier and myself a richer man." "And what have you discovered?" "It is mostly a matter of clarification." "My belief is that the boy was tempted out of the school by a prearrangement and I suspect that his mother may have been the bait." "The German master observed his departure and set off in pursuit." "We tracked the passage of his bicycle across the moors with much difficulty." "It is almost as if the tracks were deliberately sponged by someone..." "Mr. Holmes?" "Someone driving cattle." "You don't happen to know if the cattle on the moor..." "What about them?" "I hope you have seen none." "We cannot winter cattle outside in our upland climate." "They will not be out of the yard for, oh at least another two weeks." "Then I've been as blind as the beetle." "I thank you, Grace." "Old shoes and new nails!" "Old shoes and new nails!" "Holmes there's something you should see!" "It is a remarkable." "Do you see those horseshoes?" "I saw them." "Whoever took Lord Holdernesse" "Shoed their horses with different horseshoes." "To escape detection." "Reuben Hayes took advantage of a piece of local history?" "It's bad Watson, bad." "Those vultures of the north mark the spot." "German master." "What's left of him?" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello, hello!" "Skin and blood." "Only a microscope would tell if it's human." "A consistent no doubt to the scratch on Hayes' neck." "Oh yes." "Cause of death?" "Strangulation." "The larynx is quite crushed." "That shepherd can be our messenger to the priory school with the news of this tragedy." "We must proceed on foot, Watson." "I was warm!" "At that Inn, warm as the children say." "The trail grows colder every step I take away from it." "How was I supposed to know where to put the body." "It's all over now, Arthur." "Reuben Hayes." "Let's hope we're not too late." "A Dunlop with a patch on the outer cover." "What happened here Mrs. Hayes?" "I'm satisfied that you have no liking for this business and that you acted under coercion." "Someone came for the boy." "The Duke's secretary, Mr. Wilder?" "Which way did they go?" "Across the moor?" "Aboard the Chesterfield Road where [unintelligible]." "Excellent Mrs. Hayes." "I must alert the Duke's household, Watson." "You are now the boy's guardian angel." "I fancy I see your Grace's checkbook upon your desk." "I would be glad if you would make me out a check for six thousand pounds." "Perhaps it would be best if you were to cross it." "The Capital and Counties Bank," "Oxford Street branch, are my agents." "I do not possess a temperament," "Mr. Holmes that appreciates the kind of acidulous pleasantry that clearly amuses you." "I am sorry, but I do not see how" "James, Mr. Wilder could possibly be implicated in this business and you average not proof of it." "But I possess the proof." "It is beyond debate." "The mud is scarcely dry on the cloven horseshoes in your casements." "Why do you doubt my word?" "You seem to suffer from a blindness." "Your own interest, which borders on madness." "Your Grace, those portraits in the hall of you and your father as young men, there your family liniments are very clear." "How long has Mr. Wilder been in your service?" "What is your meaning?" "How dare you sir!" "You do not understand!" "You are a barbarian!" "You will never... please leave me immediately." "I won't..." "I..." "Then it is as I suspected." "Mr. James Wilder is your son." "When I was a very young man, Mr. Holmes," "I loved, with such a love that comes only once in a lifetime." "I offered the lady marriage but she refused it on the grounds that such a match might mar my career." "Had she lived," "I would certainly never had married anyone else but she died and left with one child," "James, whom for her sake" "I have tended and cared for." "I could not acknowledge paternity to the world but in all other ways" "I have treated him like my son." "He has required, but not warranted, a father's forgiveness many times and I have forgiven." "I have forgiven." "I have forgiven much." "Awe your Grace you have done all you can for Mr. Wilder." "You must realize that he is lost to you." "He's conspired to abduct Lord Saltire." "He's an accessory to a murder, however unwittingly." "He must be found before he's attempted to a crime even more terrible." "He must be found before you loose the son that is left to you." "Rivers?" "You are to organize a search of the moor." "West Woods in a line from the temple to the pavilion." "You are to employ the entire staff without exception." "You are looking for my son," "Lord Saltire." "If you find Mr. Wilder, please see that he is detained and brought to me." "Wilder intercepted your letter and substituted a note, which deceived your son into believing that he was to see his mother." "The murderous Hayes was his paid accomplice but the police have been alerted." "Hayes will not escape." "Watson?" "I tracked them over to the moor but they disappeared." "I searched the area but it's as if the earth just swallowed them up." "With my research into your family history" "I've seemed to recall mention of a huge limestone cavern where the stolen cattle were penned." "The cathedral." "Come on." "Come on!" "Hand him over?" "No!" "You shall not have him!" "Father!" "Come Father!" "Father!" "Father!" "James!" "I was disposed to love Francesca and not with a boy's passion but with a man's love." "My marriage to her founded on James' jealousy." "As long as I could see his mother's face and manner in him" "James knew he could keep me from the love I owed my wife." "Even his cruelty to Arthur" "I could not send him away even for that." "So I sent Arthur away instead." "What did he hope to achieve by kidnapping his brother?" "Money?" "Legitimacy?" "And power." "Power over me." "He delighted in exercising power over me, for me and you were to have denied him power." "But you suspected that he was behind the abduction?" "In my darkest moments, yes." "Yet somehow I hoped to save him." "Well, a long penance it had seemed." "I can only hope that" "Francesca will forgive me." "Thank you, Mr. Holmes." "Your Grace?" "This is a king's ransom." "You have given me back my future."