"Hurry up, lads." "Drink up." "Five minutes to closing time." "Come on now." "Drink your beers." "My that's a pity." "Five minutes closing time?" "Five minutes to closing time." "Hello sweetheart." "Here's for the tune, eh." "Here, you're rotten luck, that's what you are." "Hey, you hurt bad, mate?" "Let's have a look at it." " Blimey." " Ah, what can I get you, lad?" " Mother's Ruin." " Make mine the same." "It'll cost you two bob for the broken glass, matey?" "What's the idea anyway letting a beast like that fly around loose in a public house?" "You didn't ought to let him smell the blood." "He's very fond of blood, Charlie is." "Hmm." "Comes by his taste natural if you ask me." " Nobody's asking you, Miss." " Oh." "Where's he from?" "Musgrave Manor." "What is this Musgrave Manor, a blinking prison?" "That ain't the worst it's been called not that I want to go about spreading stories but we knows what we knows, don't we Charlie?" "Blimey." "Where is this Musgrave Manor?" "Down the road apiece." "You'll see it when you past the old iron gates." "Only don't loiter, you won't be welcome not by the Musgraves." "Been sitting there." "Lords of the manor ever since time was." "If those old walls could speak they'd tell you things that raise the hair on your head." "There's folks hereabouts swear they seen corpse lights round the old greenhouse and heard 'em wailing like lost souls in the lime rock." "Yeah, you want no part of it." "Nor the Musgraves neither, hard men, like them as was before them, cruel men." "God pity 'em for the day is coming when they'll need pity." "I don't think you're being quite fair, Geoffrey" "I assure you I have no wish to be fair." "Hmm." "An excellent specimen of the Copris Carolina." "You are a sweet old soul, aren't you?" "I have no wish to be a sweet old soul, no wish to be anything but what I am a disagreeable person who does not intend to let his sister run off with the first cock-sure Yankee who makes her posies jump." "And I suppose Philip feels the same way about it?" "Well, Philip has no choice in the matter." "As my younger brother," "Phillip feels precisely as I tell him to." "Eaves dropping again, Brunton?" "Oh, no, Mr. Phillip." "I assure you" "But I didn't wish to disturb them." "What did you hear, Brunton?" "Your brother and Miss Sally were going at it hammer and tongues about Captain Vickery, I mean." "Really?" "Mr. Geoffrey and Captain Vickery had an horrible row this afternoon over Miss Sally." "I thought they were coming to blows." "Indeed I did." "Quiet." "That will do now, Brunton." "If I catch you snooping again" " I shall ask my brother to give you notice." " Yes, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Your not above a bit of snooping yourself are you Phillip?" "Not in the least, old boy." "Brunton." "Oh, there you are." "I've been ringing for you." "Sorry, Dr. Watson." "I was in the upper regions." "The library's in a filthy mess." "The wind came swishing down the chimney and scattered the ashes everywhere." "Very well." "I'll tidy it up at once, doctor." "Room full of smoke, papers all over the floor." "Foul night, Brunton." "It's customary in Hurlstone, sir" "Just the sort of night I'd fancy for the ghost of Lady Torinda." "Oh no, Dr. Watson." "Lady Torinda only walks in the west wing." "No one ever met a ghost in this part of the house." "Oh really?" "Isn't there some story" "Oh, there was a housemaid claimed that she saw Sir Gervis Musgrave with his head on backwards in this very room." "Good gracious me." "Well, she was just a flighty girl, sir." "It sounds like it..." "very flighty." "Most." "Head on backwards, what a bunch of rubbish." "I say, Brunton, does the wind always carry on like this here?" "Frequently sir." "It's a great pity." "It makes the gentlemen restless more than usual I mean." "Well, our patients are all tucked up for the night now, hey Brunton?" " Are they?" " Of course, of course." "Well, aren't they?" "Captain Vickery isn't in his room, sir, and it looked like Major Langford I saw going toward the pool." "And I can't account for Lieutenant Clavering." "Oh, really?" "That's very odd." "Very odd, sir." "Anything else, sir." "No, thank you." "Oh, yes, yes." "You might tell Dr. Sexton that I'd like to see him for a minute, will you?" "Very good, sir." " Good night, sir." " Good night, Brunton." "Doctor!" "Get him up and let's get him in this chair over here." "Sorry." "I'm awfully sorry." " Get my bag, Brunton." " Yes, sir." "Now, let's have a look." "Yes, near thing just missed the carotid artery." "Looks like a knife wound." "Here you are, sir." "It's like a nightmare." "Give me some of that cotton and bottle, will you." " Awful nuisance." " Oh, now, old fellow, we'll have you patched up in no time." "You'll be as good as new." "What happened?" "I..." "I don't know." "It was in Lime Walk just now." "I was coming up from the village." "I remember distinctly" "I was approaching the greenhouse." "The wind was terrific." "I had to fight my way." "I hadn't the slightest warning." "All I know is that he struck and then I went down." "He must have thought that I was done for." " Any idea who it was?" " No." " Well, that is I" " Yes, yes." "Really I..." "I haven't any right." "You have every right, Dr. Sexton." "As head of this house," "I shall arrange for an immediate investigation." "I'd rather not if you don't mind, sir." "Dr. Sexton, the fact that my brother and sister and I have opened our home to convalescent patients doesn't relieve us of all responsibility for what occurs in it." "I mean, under the peculiar circumstances." "Oh, come along, Bob." "There's no need to shield anyone." "Thirteen." "Thirteen, that's curious." "What's got into the old clock?" "Nothing, nothing at all." "Oh, sir." "Don't you remember the last time it did that your father was killed the next day?" "Mr. Holmes." "Mr. Holmes." "Mr. Holmes." "Oh, Mr. Holmes, I..." "Oh I...oh" "A purely scientific experiment, Mrs. Hudson." "Oh, frightening the wits out of honest people." "Permit me, ma'am." "Oh dear, so now it's bullet holes in me plaster." "Oh, Mr. Holmes, this is the last straw." "The last straw, Mrs. Hudson, the one which breaks the back of the case against Jacob Dillery." "It proves beyond a shadow of doubt that even bound as he claims he was he could still have fired the shot in his own defense that killed his wife's lover." "But shooting holes in my beautiful plaster." "Shh." "Come in, Watson." "My dear fellow, I'm glad to find you in." "I didn't even knock." "How did you know it was me..." "I?" "Me is acceptable, Watson, unless, of course, you're a purist, which I doubt, and may I add that your step is like no other in London." "You're just in time for breakfast." "Good, I rather counted on that." "Mrs. Hudson, dear, how are you?" "Oh, it's good to see you again, sir." "I think they'll be enough there for two." "Splendid." "You're a sight for sore eyes, Watson." "Thanks, old boy, and so are you." " Sit down." " Good, thank you." "All right let's have it." "What brings you from Northumberland at this early hour?" "Bad business, Holmes, very bad business." "How did you know that I came from Northumberland?" "Elementary, my dear Watson." "You're overnight bag carried the fresh Houston label." "The only train arriving at Houston Station at this hour is the New Castle Express from Northumberland." "Ergo this night, thou cometh from Northumberland." " Of course." "Obvious, isn't it?" " Quite." "Now tell me, what dark deed was done at Hurlstone Towers last night?" "Well, that's what I came to see you about, Holmes." "About ten o'clock last night I was sitting in the lib" "How did you know that I came from Hurlstone?" "You wrote me that you volunteered for medical service within the realm." "With your experience what post could have been offered to you other than to put you in charge of a home of convalescent officers?" "Only one such home has been opened in Northumberland in the last month and that's Musgrave Manor at Hurlstone." "Simple reasoning, a child could do it." " Not your child, Watson." " No, of course" "What?" "I never had a child." "I very nearly did though." "Did I ever tell you about that widow at Twickenham?" "A very narrow escape." "I just found out in time that she had the most horrible little squirt about three and a half." "Yes, Watson." "I think we better stick to Hurlstone." "Oh, sorry, old boy?" "Oh Hurlstone." "It's a grim old pile, very spooky." "Don't tell me that you met a ghost." "Well, not so spooky as that." "Ghosts don't stab people in the neck do they?" "Or do they?" "Not well-bred ghosts, Watson." "Who was stabbed in the neck?" "My young assistant, Dr. Sexton." " When?" " Last night." "Any idea who did it?" "I have no idea." " You reported it?" " Well, no, no I didn't." "Why not?" "Well you see is it" "My dear fellow, what you're trying to say is the officers in your care are all fine fellows, wonderful war records and so on." "Is that it?" "Precisely." " So you thought perhaps a private investigation." " Exactly." "Very right and proper thinking, Watson." "We're just in time to catch the nine thirty train for Hurlstone." " But my dear fellow, there's no immediate hurry." " Isn't there?" "Your patients are all victims of combat fatigue." "Any one of them might go over the edge at any moment and from what you've told me there's a killer loose at Hurlstone." "Great Scott, you may be right." "Come along, Watson." "We haven't a moment to lose." "I only hope we shan't be too late." "You were right, Watson, about Musgrave Manor." "Houses like people have definite personalities and this place is positively ghoulish." "It certainly is." "Hello." "What's that?" " Just the old greenhouse." " No, no, that pile of leaves." "Just an ordinary pile of leaves." "Why?" "Doesn't it strike you as odd, Watson, that a pile of leaves should be raked up in front of a greenhouse door?" "No gardener in the world would do that." "Geoffrey Musgrave." "That's all very interesting, Inspector Lestrade, but what, may I ask, does it prove?" "What I'm trying to prove is this," " that Dr. Sexton here went down..." " That's twice now, inspector." " He was stunned." " Naturally." "He went out longer than you thought." " That's the point." " What point?" "Just this." "The man who attacked him had time to get back in the house" " before Dr. Sexton here came to." " Yes?" "Yes." "And this here glove" "Oh, and this here glove what I picked up at the scene of the crime, belongs to a certain party right here in this house." "I say." " Well that glove belongs to my brother." " Huh?" "Do you suggest that he intended to murder Dr. Sexton?" "Who knows?" "The man whose hand fits this here glove will bear a talking to." "Very well." "My brother's down at the stables." " I'll take you to him myself." " Thank you." "It's the quickest way to put a stop to this blithering nonsense." "Come on." " Oh, Mr. Phillip," " Yes." "better not go out in the night air without a coat." " Here, take mine." " Thanks." "Well, I won't need this." "No, oh, nor this." "Well, shall we go?" "Why if it ain't Mr. Holmes?" "Good evening, Lestrade." "Come to give us a hand, have you?" "Always happy to help, inspector." "Thanks but I don't think I shall be needing any." "Why if it isn't Dr. Watson." "Gentlemen, this is my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes." "Mr. Phillip Musgrave and Dr. Sexton." " How do you do?" " How do you do." "I'll just put him up to spend a few days with us." "That's very good of you but as you see Scotland Yard's already taken charge." "Oh really?" "That's most unfortunate." "If you don't mind, Dr. Watson," "I'd like to have a little talk with your brother, sir." " I'm afraid you can't have that pleasure, inspector." " Oh no?" "I've got bad news for you, Mr. Musgrave." "We've just found your brother in the lime walk." "He's dead." "You can't mean it." "No." "Look here, Holmes, if this is one of your little jokes." "Murder's no joke, inspector." "That's right, Mr. Holmes." "Nobody's saying it ain't." "Murder?" "Well let's get going." " I'll take charge now." " What?" "But it's quite within my rights as a local justice of the peace." "I'll come with you." "Wait a minute, you fool." "Don't go barging in like that." "Don't maul me." "Surgical instruments." "You know Watson, the instruments that save life are hardly more pleasant to look at than those that take it." "Hmm." "Grisly thought, Holmes." "You rang, Dr. Watson?" "Yes, Brunton." "I want you to take some men and go down to the lime walk." "Me, sir, well I can't sir." "I'm sorry but I simply can't." "My stomach, you know." "I really couldn't look at a corpse." " Corpse?" " Well I" "How did you know that there was a corpse?" "Obviously, he was listening at the door." "I'll take care of the matter, doctor." "I was listening too." "Come along, Brunton." "Remarkable woman." "Housekeeper, I suppose." "She's very efficient." "Same type as Marianne Carpenter, the trunk murderess." "Extraordinary house." "Yes, it's is indeed." "Now Watson, if you don't mind" "I'd like to have a word with your extraordinary patients." "Let me remind you, Holmes, that my patients are just patients." "Quite so." "All normal men, sound in mind and body" " and no sign of psychoneurosis." " I quite understand." "Then Holmes even normal people are sometimes a little" "Precisely." "Hello, Mack." "Oh, I must have taken a wee nap." "Mack, I want you to meet a very old friend of mine," "Mr. Sherlock Holmes." "Captain Mackintosh." "How do you do?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes." " Sorry to have wakened you." " Oh, that's quite all right." " See you later." " Yes." "Sit down Mack and go on with your sleep." "Poor chap." "He lay wounded in a trench on Josher Hill." "The German tanks went over him." " Watson?" " Huh?" "Have you any idea how Jeffery Musgrave met his death?" "Yes, a depressed skull fracture." "Wait, hang on a minute Holmes, it isn't." "Isn't it?" "Why not?" " No edema, no bleeding, no contraction of tissue." " Precisely." "The blow on the head was delivered after death." "Musgrave was killed by a sharp instrument thrusted between the base of the skull and the top vertebra." "Great Scott." "Should we go up now?" " Hello, Langford." " Oh, hello there." "Been away, haven't you, haven't you?" "Yes, I just been down to London." "I brought my friend back." "This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes." "Major Langford." "Well, see you at dinner." "What...what?" "I hope so." "I hope so." "I hope so." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "Poor chap was at Singapore, escaped from a Japanese prison camp, ghastly experience." " He's suffering from" " Escape complex obviously." "Yes." "He's a very nice chap, though." "The next fellow I want you to meet is young Clavering, Lieutenant Royal Engineers." "Saw a lot of men blown to bits by Nazi booby traps." " He's a bit on edge." " Not unnaturally." "Coming." "Well, Dr. Watson." "Come in, won't you?" "Sorry to keep you so long." "You see I, uh," "I was lying down, resting." "This is my friend, Mr. Holmes, who's here for a few days." "Mr. Clavering." " Glad to meet you." " How do you do?" " Sorry to disturb you." " Not at all." "I say, you don't happen to have some cigarettes about you, do you?" "That's one of the reasons I came." "I brought you some of those" "American cigarettes that you're so fond of." "It's all right, open it up." "No hurry, no hurry at all." "No, no, no." "Of course there isn't." "Shall we go?" "Yes, well we must be off." "We've got a lot to do." " See you later." " Yes, I'll be back." "Good night." "He seems afraid there might be a bomb in that package." "Well he'd find them in less likely places than that the poor chap." "The man in this room is an American Flying officer." "Captain Vickery, nothing really much matter with him." "What's he here for then?" "On a rest, had a pretty long go and he's worn out." "He needs all the rest he can get." "Vickery, Vickery." "He doesn't seem to be in." "No one at home." "Hmm." "Apparently not." "Not since teatime at any rate." "Hello, what's this?" ""Captain Vickery, here's your tea." "If it's cold don't blame me."" "That sounds like Brunton's work." "The butler?" "He fancies himself a poet but only when he's drinking." "I see." "Wasn't there an American killer given to verse?" " Holmes, you don't think that Brunton " " Excuse me." "I merely stated there's an American killer given to verse." "Dr. Watson, oh where are you?" "Oh, there you are." "Steady my dear, steady." "Please make me wake up, won't you?" "It's just a bad dream, I know," " Geoff and Pat" " Now, now, now, my dear." "You got to get a grip on yourself." "Come on, come on, come sit down." "My brother, Geoff, murdered." "Poor old Geoff." "And I hadn't spoken to him since we had the fight yesterday on Pat," "I mean, Captain Vickery's account and now he's dead." "Now, now my dear you must pull yourself together." "But you don't understand." "They're trying to say that Pat-- they're trying to prove that Pat killed Geoff." " No, no, no." " Yes." "Funny isn't it." "Awfully funny." " Awfully funny, awfully funny!" " Stop it!" " Who are you?" " My name is Holmes." " Sherlock Holmes?" " Yes." "Then you'll help us, won't you Mr. Holmes, Pat and me." "I'll try to." "Now tell me, wasn't there bad blood between your brother, Geoffrey and Captain Vickery?" "That's got nothing to do with it." "It may have everything to do with it." "If you think Captain Vickery ever murdered anyone you're no more of a detective than," " than Dr. Watson." " Oh, my dear." "Oh, I'm sorry." "You're very much in love, aren't you?" "I'm out of my mind, Mr. Holmes." "I'm out of my mind." "Oh, please forgive me and please, please help me." "Of course, of course I understand." "But you don't understand, that appalling man from Scotland Yard is questioning Pat at this very moment." "Now this here rake, it's the identical one you got from the garden this afternoon, now ain't it?" "It smells like it." "Hey what is this?" "Are you trying to prove that Geoffrey Musgrave was killed with a rake?" "No, I'm try-- never mind what I'm trying to prove." "Just incriminate yourself, Captain Vickery." "That's all Lestrade wants." "I'll thank you to keep out of this, Mr. Holmes." "This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes." " How do you do?" " How do you do?" "He's promised to help you, dear." "There's nothing to worry about now." "Only his neck, miss." "Let me see your rake." "What do you say you were using it for?" "I told you." "I got it to fish my cap out of the pond." "It blew in." "Oh, so you were using it down at the pond, were you?" "For the tenth time, yes." "And how did it happen to turn up alongside Musgrave's body, eh?" " I don't know." " Uh-huh, Well that's that." "Oh, Mr. Holmes." "Any fingerprints on the rake, inspector?" "No, Mr. Holmes." "That's the point." "If Vickery here was only using it to fish his hat out well now he wouldn't bother to wipe his fingerprints off now would he?" "It's beyond imagination, I suppose, that somebody else could have used the rake and wiped off both sets of fingerprints." "Highly interesting but very unlikely." "Now you admit that you had a regular set to with Jeffrey Musgrave yesterday, didn't you?" "You threatened to bash his head in." "I merely made the offer." "He didn't accept it." " Who told you so?" " He did." "Oh, no, he did." "I only stated what I heard." "Captain Vickery did threaten my brother." "That's right, Mr. Holmes and it's no good saying it ain't." "This Yankee lad had motive and opportunity and the rake ties him right up tight to the corpse." "All right." "Come along." "Do you really think he killed old Musgrave?" "You know very well he didn't." "Stop clicking those needles." " Oh, Pat." " Take it easy, Sally." "Now look, don't worry a bit." "I'll tell you everything's gonna be all right." "Let's go, inspector." "Mr. Holmes." "Steady." "Steady." " Aren't you on our side?" " Yes, Sally." "Then why don't you do something." "Because Captain Vickery will be much safer in the local police station tonight than he would be in this house." "Oh, Mr. Holmes, what am I going to do?" "Watson, get your sedative." "I'll get it at once." "Come along, Sally." "She's a bit upset but she'll get over it." "You think so?" "She'll have to." "She's got an ordeal ahead of her." "She has to go through that tiresome ritual tomorrow." "Ritual?" "This is an old family ceremony, Mr. Holmes." "Sally's next in line now that I'm head of the household." "Blast this thing." "Does this help?" "Oh yes, thanks." "Knitting needle, isn't it?" "Yes." "Handy little things." "As my heir." "Sally has to recite a sort of formula over Geoff's body in front of the fireplace and the library in the presence of the entire household." "There, that's better." "Just what sort of formula?" "Oh, it's some meaningless words," "Musgrave ritual, they call it." "It's an old family custom been handed down for generations." " Can you remember the words?" " No, no, not at all." "But you had to speak them when you're brother Geoffrey took over." "Yes, that's right, I did." "Let me see now." ""Who first shall find it were better dead" "Who next shall find it perils his head." "The last to find it defies dark powers."" ""Who first shall find it were better dead." "Who next shall find it perils his head." "The last to find it defies dark powers and brings good fortune to Hurlstone Towers." "Where was the light on the face of the messenger?" "Where did he speed?" "To guard the queen's page." "Walked home in advanced the bishop's page brashly and who to repel, the king's cautious page." "What then the" "disaster queen slaughter's page."" "No, no." "Sorry, Miss Sally." ""Page slaughters Page."" "Thank you, Brunton." ""Who came then to slay him?" "The bloodthirsty bishop." "Where shall he go?" "Deep down below." "Away from the thunder, let him dig under."" "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more." "Happy day." "You drunken sot." "The master's been ringing you for the past ten minutes." "Why don't you answer it?" "Fly away, little gremlin." "You're the one that'll fly away if he ever catches you in this state." "My sir, it's him." "Hurry, hurry." "Coming, sir." "Coming." "One moment, sir." "Mr. Holmes, come in, sir, come in." "This is indeed an honor." "I don't often have visitors." "What can I do for you, sir?" "You might stop that squeaking to begin with." "Yes, sir." "And perhaps you can tell me how you come to know the Musgrave ritual by heart." " Me, sir?" " Yes, you." "When Miss Sally forgot the lines today you were the one who prompted her." "Well, sir I memorized it." "Obviously but why?" "Because it has no meaning." "I love things that have no meaning." "Thank you, Brunton." "But supposing it did have a meaning and suppose that meaning were tied up with a murder of Geoffrey Musgrave." "Oh, what a lovely idea if I may say so." "You may, Brunton." "You may also sit down." "Thank you, sir." "Oh stop it, and look at me." "No, here." "You know the meaning of the Musgrave ritual." " Do I?" " Well, don't you?" "You'd be surprised at all the things I know." "What things?" " No you don't." " About the Musgraves?" "That would be telling." "But here's to them anyway all the Musgraves past and present, some of 'em were murderers and some of 'em worse but they all knew how to keep a secret and so do I." "Brunton." "I've been ringing for you for the past ten minutes." "Sorry, sir but the buzzer doesn't buzz." "That'll do, Brunton." "You have your notice." "Do you understand?" "Yes, sir." "Is that advisable, Mr. Musgrave?" "Let me be the judge of that." " He leaves Hurlstone in the morning." " The morning's a long way off." "Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness." "You've done it now, Al Brunton." "After all we've been through." "How could I of managed to do it all alone?" "What are you going to do?" "What am I going to do?" "Thirteen again." "Yes." "Howells whole attitude confuses me, Watson." "She swears that she hasn't set eyes on Brunton since night and yet she seems completely unwilling to help us find him." "Quite so, she knows where he is as well as we do," " I mean as well as we don't." " I wonder." "You said that he was drinking last night." "Wouldn't it be a good idea to try the pub?" "Exactly where we're headed for, Watson." "I'm glad we thought of it even if we don't find Brunton." "I was afraid we couldn't find him here." "Don't worry, old boy." "I could do with a drink." "For your information so could I." " Gentlemen." " Well hello, doctor." "Not looking for us are you, are you?" "Well no." "As a matter of fact we're looking for" "Brunton." "You haven't seen him, have you?" "Have we Clavering, have we?" "Why should we?" " Morning, Gracie." " Morning, doctor." "What do you have?" "A bottle of Bass and what's yours?" " A pint of bitter, please." " And a pint of bitter." "I'm a devil." "I'm a devil." "Oh really?" "Hello." "A tame raven." "You're a devil are you, a kettle are you?" "I'm a devil." "I'm a devil." "Birds of prey, aren't they?" "Yes, in a way, scavengers rather." "They can smell a carcass a half a mile off." "Yeah, that they can and all." "You should see Charlie here when there's a tasty bit outside in the street." "Shall we go sit down?" "Gracie, have you seen Dr. Watson?" " He's over there, lass." " Thank you." "May I speak to you a moment, Mr. Holmes?" " What's wrong, Sally?" " We can't find my brother Phillip." "Did you look in his room?" "That's the trouble, we had to force the door." " It was locked on the inside." " Really?" " Yes." "Oh, you must come, Mr. Holmes." " Certainly, Sally, at once." "Do be quick something ghastly has happened." "I know it." "And that dreadful bird, please swat it away." "Watson, take her away." "Away, where to?" "Anywhere." "Into the pub." "Just take her away." "Phillip Musgrave." "What are they doing now, doing now?" "I don't know." "They stopped talking." "Somebody's walking about in the upper hall, heavy footsteps." "There's no doubt about it, Watson." "Phillip Musgrave had a visitor here last night." "These footprints were made either by a very heavy man or a man carrying a very heavy burden." "That's right, Mr. Holmes." "It's no good saying it ain't." "The burden was Phillip Musgrave's body and these here footprints were made by Alfred Brunton." " It doesn't necessarily follow." " Oh, don't it." "Here, try that on your footprint." "And that's Alfred Brunton's shoe." " Fits perfectly, inspector." " Uh-huh." "But the fact that these prints were made by Brunton's shoes doesn't prove that Brunton's feet were in them." "Why not?" "Where should Brunton's feet be if not in his own shoe?" "Well they're not in them now, are they?" " Look here, Holmes." "Let's use our intellect." " Your what?" "What's wrong with that." "Let's stick to motive." "That's my strong point." "Now this here Brunton had motive." "Phillip Musgrave gave him the sack, didn't he?" "Did Geoffrey Musgrave also gave him the sack?" " What's that got to do with it?" " Everything." "The similarity of method in both murders shows they were the work of one man." "Well that leaves Vickery out." " He was in jail at the time of this murder." " All right, Watson." "All right." "Alfred Brunton's our man, just what I said." "What possible motive could Brunton have had for the murder of Geoffrey Musgrave?" "Motive." "Oh, bother motive." "Who cares about motive." " This case is as simple as A, B, C." " Is it?" "Then perhaps you can explain to us why these footprints lead up to a blank wall and never return." "What?" "You didn't think of that, did you inspector?" " There's just one possible explanation." " I've got it." "Brunton murdered Musgrave right up against the wall." "He hoisted the body over his shoulder like this you see, walks backwards clean out of the room" "That's a very undignified position, Lestrade." "Upsy daisy." "In a house as old as this it's not unusual to find secret passageways that lead down through the walls." "Hello, here we are." "No you don't, Come out of there." "What are you doing in there?" " None of your business." " Answer me." "Obviously, she was looking for Brunton." "That's right." "He hasn't left Musgrave Manor." "I'm certain of that, sir." "His clothes are still hanging in the wardrobe." "Don't you lie to me, woman." "You've got him hidden in there somewhere." "Don't go in there?" "Why not?" "You'll get lost." "Me lost?" "Oh, I like that." " He will get lost, sir." " Let him." "Now listen to me." "Where did you enter that passageway?" " Through the old greenhouse in lime walk, sir." " Did Brunton know that?" " No, he didn't." " Mrs. Brunton, then why were you looking for him in there?" "We..." "I" "Yes, we've known all along that you were married to Brunton." " You know Phillip Musgrave was murdered, don't you?" " No." " Yes, you do and you think Brunton did it." " No." " You think he carried him down through the greenhouse" " No, no." " Over to the garage" " No, he never." "And crammed his body into the rumble seat of that roadster." "Don't you try and put the blame on Alfr" "I'll put the blame on both of you." "You're in this together." "You were in his room last night, I saw you there." "Only to talk about the ritual, sir." "He...we, he thought that he'd got it all worked out." " Did he leave any notes, any record?" " No, that is" "Oh come on, come on, out with it." "Only this, sir." "I found it this morning under the soap dish on his washstand." "Hmm." "Hastily written." " Another jingle?" " Yes." "Obviously in some agitation." ""If any harm should come to me fleshly or spiritual seek and you will find the key in the Musgrave ritual."" "The old ritual, there it is again." "Watson, we've got to find that ritual." "It's the key to the whole business." " Just a minute, you can't talk to Sally." " Why not?" " She's in such a state and I had to give a hypo." " All right, come along." "Draw the curtains, Watson." "There must be a copy of that ritual somewhere in this room." "She had to learn it, you know." "Yes, you're right." "Here it is." "I doubt it." " Empty." " Quite." "There's only one thing to do, search the room." "Not the room, Watson." "Her mind." "We must search her mind." "Obviously, she took great pains to hide that paper." "But why should she hide it?" "Put yourself in her place." "Her brother Geoffrey was murdered." "The man she loves is accused of that murder and thrown into jail." "On top of that she finds her brother, Phillip, murdered." "What would your reactions be?" " Well, naturally I should be terribly upset." " Obviously." "Excuse me." "She's brought back to this house in a state bordering on hysteria." "She comes through that door, goes to that desk, throws on her gloves." "The first thing her eye lights on is the Musgrave ritual." "In her mind it's tied up with all the disasters that have befallen Hurlstone." "She herself may be the next victim." "She must hide that paper." "You're quite right, but where?" "Excuse me, sir." "Was she alone in this room at any time before you gave her the hypo?" "Certainly not." "Nora was here." " She helped her into bed while I went for my bag." " Good." " Nora?" " Yes, sir." "When you were alone with Miss Sally what was the first thing she did?" "Well sir, she asked me to turn down her bed" " and lay out her nightdress." " And what was she doing in the meantime?" "Let me think, sir." "Oh yes, she went over to her desk." "Uh-huh." "That was when she took the ritual from this envelope." "What then Nora?" "Then she asked me to step over and draw the curtains." "Why someone's pulled them open." "Yes, I know." "When you drew the curtains you turned your back on her?" "Sure." "And it wasn't more than two shakes of a lamb's tail." "Long enough." "When you were at the window where was she?" "She was sitting over here, sitting right here taking off her stockings." "Oh, but she never left the chair." "I'll kiss the book on it." "I've got it." "She must have packed that paper under this cushion." "Oh." "She must have changed her mind." "Obviously." "Well she could have hidden it anywhere here." "What time was it when you brought her in here, Watson?" "I haven't the faintest idea." "The clock was striking the quarter hour when I came in, sir." " I definitely heard it." " This clock?" " The same, sir." " Thank you, Nora, you may go." "Obviously this clock was running at twelve fifteen," " just as obviously it stopped at twelve twenty." " Huh?" "When Nora turned her back Sally reached across, opened the clock and hid the ritual in here." " Amazing, Holmes." " Elementary my dear, Watson." ""Where fell the light on the face of the messenger."" ""Where did he speed?" "To guard the queen's Page."" "Gibberish, that's what it is." "Hokey pokey, penny a lump." "A thing like this, Watson, that's been handed down for centuries can't be mere gibberish." ""Who had entered the lists?" "The king's pale knight."" "Pale poppycock." "I say, Watson." "King, queen, knight, bishop." " Sounds like a game of chess to me." " Precisely." ""Where fell the light."" "The light, Watson." ""Follow the light on the face of a messenger."" "Look at it, Watson." "Look at it, like a giant chessboard." "This is no gibberish." "These are chess terms and that's the chessboard." "The secret of the Musgrave murders is locked up in that floor and by Jove, we've got the key to it." ""Who had entered the lists." "The king's pale knight."" "White king's knight to white king's bishop three." "Your move, Dr. Sexton." "I really know nothing about the game." "Come on, Bob." "It's great fun." "You start from over here." "Over here." "I'll show you." "I'll show you." "One, two, three, one." "Page to the black king three." "Your move Clavering to back king three, please." "Over there." "There's not to reason why." ""Page slaughters page."" "Your move, Watson." "I take you, my dear." "It's a good game, isn't it?" "Stop it, stop it." "You mustn't giggle." "You must be serious." "You're move, Clavering." "You take Dr. Watson." "Too bad, doctor." ""Who came then to slay him, the bloodthirsty bishop."" "White queen's bishop, to white king's knight five." "That's my move." "One, two" "I say, doctor, you moved, didn't you?" "Did I?" "I don't think so." "Yes, I'm afraid you did." " Oh, where was I on king bishop three?" " That's right." "Oh yes, of course." "So sorry." "Three, four, five." "Captain it looks bad for you." "Aye, but where shall I go?" ""Where shall he go?" "Deep down below."" "Mrs. Howells, what's underneath this floor?" "Well, it's only an old cellar, sir." "The entrance goes down behind that stair but it's been locked up for centuries." "One of the old Musgraves murdered his own brother down there." "Shh, listen." "Hello, what's that?" "It's Brunton." "Alf, Alf?" "He's in that passageway over the fireplace." "Are you there, Brunton?" "Get me out!" "It's me, Lestrade." "I'm lost." "I'm all turned around." "You have been for years." "Get him out there, will you, Mrs. Howells and give him a saucer of milk." "Come here, Jenny." "Stand on this square for me and stamp on it, keep stamping." "Clavering, get your sound detector." "Gentlemen, deep down below." "Look, there's not been a soul here in a couple of hundred years." "Someone's been here and in the last twenty-four hours." " Yeah, it's clean as a new pin." " Precisely." "Dust of two hundred years is on the walls." "The floor's been swept clean obviously in an attempt to remove footprints." "Shh, listen." "That's Jenny in the hall upstairs." "Clavering, let me have your sound detector." "So sorry." "I must find the exact spot under that square I marked in the hall." "Don't move, anyone." "Someone's moving about interfering with what I'm trying to do." "Stand perfectly still everybody." "This is the spot." "Lend me a hand." "Of course." " Here, I'll take that." " Oh, thanks, old fellow." " Hello." " Good gracious me." ""Here lies the body of Ralph Musgrave, knight, the lord of the manors of Hurlstone."" "This place used to be known as Hurlstone Towers." ""Neverfield and King's Hargrave Anno Domini 1539."" "What we're looking for is underneath here that's what the ritual meant by deep down low." "It's a burial crypt." "Up with it." "I say, there's somebody down there." "Who is it?" "Is it Brunton?" "Is it Brunton?" "I don't know." "Stay where you are." "Who is it, Holmes?" "It's Brunton all right." "Is he dead?" "Yes." "He's been dead for hours." "Murdered." "Hello, what's this?" ""Henry by the grace of god, King of Great Britain," "France and Ireland, defender of the faith..."" " What have you found?" " Any clue, any clue?" "Uh, no, um..." "Just an old document." "Hello." "What's this?" "Looks like some sort of writing." "Watson." "Coming." "Hold this for me, will you?" "Steady." "They're on the floor by his right hand." "See those marks in the dust like pin scratches made with his fingernail?" "Yes." "Yes." "See that stuff under his nail?" "He was trying to write something." "By Jove!" "He did write something." "What is it?" "Aye, tell us man." "What did he write?" "I can't make it out." "It's too faint." "Here." "I've got good eyes, let me, let me." "Stay where you are, all of you." "These marks must not be erased." "What are you going to do, Holmes?" "I'm going to leave this just as it is until I can get the proper chemicals to bring out the words." "Have you no notion of what he tried to write?" "Yes, I have." "I think that Brunton with his last strength wrote the name of his murderer on that floor in his own blood." "Oh, there you are, Lestrade." "Huh." "Twelve o'clock." "I was just saying, Lestrade, that I should get into New Castle, pick up my chemicals and be back here not later than noon tomorrow." " Why yes, Mr. Holmes." " Meanwhile, you all have your work cut out for you." " Watson." " Yes?" "You'll guard this door with your life." "Of course I'll will." "With my what?" "I said with your life." "Anything you say, Holmes." "There's no entrance to this cellar except through that doorway." "But, Holmes what I feel-- Oh." "Brunton's murderer's in this house and he's bound to make one last effort to get down there" " to erase those marks." " Naturally." "Lestrade's men are posted outside and they'll see to it that nobody leaves this house." "Concentration camp." "My men have orders to shoot if necessary." " I'll be outside myself keeping watch." " Good." "Sexton your post will be at Miss Sally's door and remember she's in more danger than anyone here." " Don't worry I'll look after her, Mr. Holmes." " Good night." " Good night, Holmes." " Good nigh." "Oh, Dr. Watson, if you want any help, sing out." "I don't mind saying I feel a lot safer if I had a gun on me." "Huh, I always keep mine ready." "Well, good night, Bob." "Keep awake, old man." "I will." "That's funny." "It's striking twelve again." "Let me out of here, you hear?" "Let me out of here." "Someone locked this door." "What on earth's all this monkey business." "I didn't lock you in." "Well doors don't lock themselves." "They do in this house." "What are you doing down here anyway?" " I'm worried about Langford." " Langford?" "Yes, he's got into his head that this is a Jap prison camp." "He's got that filthy rope and he's bound and determined to go out the window." "He can't do that." "Lestrade's men will shoot him." "He may be out already." "I'll head him off." "Then again he may not be." "Perhaps you're right." "Let me go." "No, no." "You'll be shot." "I'll go." "No, you'll be shot." "Oh really?" "Let's both go." "I can't leave here." "You stay where you are." "I'll go and call Lestrade." "Remember Clavering, stay where you are." "Here." "Look here, Constable." "I'm Dr. Watson." "Are you now?" "Well, I'm Mrs. Minivar." " Come along to the inspector." " Gross impertinence." "Useless." "Quite useless, I assure you." "There's nothing written on the floor." "It was just a rouse of mine to bring Brunton's murderer here." "Permit me." "As the most ruthless killer in England you deserve some of the light." "Killer, I?" "Oh I say, you seem to forget that my life was also attempted." "And a very neat trick it was to divert suspicion from yourself but it struck me as odd that the man who murdered both Musgraves with such a sure hand should have missed so badly in your case unless of course, um, you yourself were the murderer." "Ah, that's ridiculous." "Then too it seemed curious that you a doctor examining both bodies and failed to report the real cause of death." "And that was?" "A cisternal needle thrust up into the brain between the base of the skull and the cervical vertebrae." "I had the unpleasant duty of removing this piece of a needle from Phillip Musgrave's head." "It couldn't be yours by any chance, could it?" "I never owned one." "Oh yes, you did." "I saw it in your case the night I came into this house just after Geoffrey Musgrave was found murdered." "It wasn't broken then." "It was only when you killed Phillip Musgrave that you lost a piece of it." "Nonsense." "Why should I go around sticking needles into people?" "A fair enough question, doctor." "Among nice people murder like matrimony generally has a motive and in this case the motive was matrimony." "Oh, you mean Miss Sally?" "I do." "Oh, I see," " so you think it's a case of murder for profit, do you." " Precisely." "My dear, Holmes." "That won't do." "The Musgraves are land poor." "Everybody knows that." "Exactly." "But everybody didn't know what you knew." "You worked out the meaning of the Musgrave ritual." "I have?" "Oh." "Yes." "You have." "You claimed you knew nothing about the game of chess." "When I suggested you'd moved off your proper square you promptly named king's bishop three and what's more moved back onto it." "Oh, nonsense." "Why shouldn't I have stepped out of my square in the first" "Break up my moves, spoil my game and protect me from finding what you had already found." "And that was?" "The old land grant I took from this box which would have made Sally Musgrave upon the death of her brothers, the richest woman in England." "Now what's that?" "Don't tell me you found another needle?" "No, no." "It's just a button." "It wouldn't be yours, would it?" "Mine?" "Give it to me." "Thank you." "Would you mind telling me why you think I was down here with Brunton?" "No, not at all." "As I see it you killed Phillip Musgrave in his own room, carried his body down through the secret passageway, out through the greenhouse into the garage where you crammed it into the rumble seat of that roadster but unfortunately for you," "you had a witness." "Brunton was there, sleeping off his drunk." "Nursing a grudge against Phillip Musgrave." "Brunton became your accessory." "But you didn't want an accessory so you lured him down here with a promise to share the Musgrave treasure with him and exit Brunton." "Very ingenious, Mr. Holmes." "You seem to have everything except perhaps the negligible item of proof." "Suppose we leave that to the jury." "Suppose we do." "Shall we go?" "After you." "Oh, by the way, don't forget your torch." "Oh, thanks." "I don't suppose it occurred to you that you were taking a bit of a chance coming down here all alone with a suspected murderer." "One has to take chances in my profession, doctor." "You see, I couldn't possibly risk sharing my little plot with anybody." "Not even with Dr. Watson?" "Particularly not with Dr. Watson." "If he'd known what was up tonight he could have been so elaborate and mysterious he'd a given the whole show away." "As a matter of fact I had a devil's own time luring him away from that door upstairs so that we could be alone." "That's all I wanted to know." "Stay where you are." "I'm afraid I have no choice, Dr. Sexton." "Look here." "You're not really gonna kill me, are you?" " They'll hear you." " Who will?" "That was a bad slip you made letting me know you were so completely alone." "And you're really gonna kill me?" "I'm afraid I have no choice, Mr. Holmes." "As you said," "I have no evidence against you." "No proof." "No proof at all." "You forget the needle and the button." "Bring them here, please." "Not too close." "Now put them in my pocket." "Thank you." "Curious about that button." "It is off my coat, of course." "I can't think how I ever missed it." "Poor old Brunton." "He didn't struggle much." "Now Phillip Musgrave was different." "The needle broke off and I didn't have time to probe for it." "But you have both of them now, the button and the needle, why kill me?" "Now step back just a bit." "Against the wall." "Now if you stand perfectly still" "I think I can manage this with one shot." "Put 'em up." "Did you hear his confession, Watson." "Every word, Holmes." "And I heard all the rest, sir." "Good." "Let me congratulate you on an extraordinary catch." "That's right, Mr. Holmes." "It's no good saying it ain't." "I'm afraid I underestimated you, Holmes." "Pity." "Yes." "Those blank cartridges were a cheap sort of trick." "I grant you." "But it wasn't easy to let you take my gun away from me without seeming to hand it to you." "That's why I let you take the torch first." "I knew you'd snap it off." "Yes." "We told you, you were taking an awful risk." "Well we had to have a confession and these egomaniacs are always so much more chatty when they feel they have the upper hand." "Shall we go?" "I can't make head nor tail of it." "Can you Pat?" "It looks like an old land grant." "It's really a crown grant." "What I don't understand is why the Musgraves didn't claim the land ages ago." "Obviously Watson, one of 'em died before passing on the meaning of the ritual to his heir." "The words remain but the sense was lost." "I wonder why he left the grant down there where he found it." "What good would it have done him so long as your brothers lived." "Once they were out of the way and you came into the property he expected to marry you." "I like that." " Whatever made him think that" " He thought himself irresistible." "Precisely." "It's not unheard of in cases of egomania." "I suppose then he meant to rediscover the crown grant." "At the proper time, yes and then enjoy his wife's millions." " Did you say millions?" " I did." "Look here." "About eighty thousand acres of the richest soil in England." "But aren't there people on it?" "Yes, farms, villages, even a factory town with hundreds of workman's cottages." " Is this thing legal?" " Perfectly." "Of course it'll drag on through the courts." "Just a moment." "The people on this land, they put their money into it, their life work." " It's their homes I'll be taking." " Yes." "Do you think I'm going to kick these people out?" "Just the same, Holmes you let poor little Sally throw away a fortune." "My dear fellow, I had nothing to do with it." "The girl, more power to her, acted on her own." "It was a grand gesture one she may regret." "I don't think so, Watson." "There's a new spirit abroad in the land." "The old days of grab and greed are on their way out." "We're beginning to think of what we owe the other fellow not just what we're compelled to give him." "The time is coming, Watson, when we shan't be able to fill our bellies in comfort while other folk go hungry or sleep in warm beds while others shiver in the cold and we shan't be able to kneel" "and thank God for blessing us before our shining alters while men anywhere are kneeling in either physical or a spiritual subjection." "You may be right, Holmes." "I hope you are." "And god willing we'll live to see that day, Watson."