Do
more 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'll be sold at auction for the benefit of this delightful sanctuary.
I intend to serve 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 drop until later,
but I'm going to sell them now.
So good friends as our hotel Mark Antony 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 unmade by loving hands. A thing of beauty
and utility.
I was going to start with five pounds.
It's a bargain of five pounds.
Was
he
hands
if the connoisseur in the house will go three pounds for it.
Dua
one pound
denials.
Th
thank you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen,
tensions is offered for a musical box.
You couldn't buy anywhere in London for less than five pounds.
It would be stealing to let you go for 10 Shillings
like taking milk from a baby.
Well, I was telling me 10
Shillings
10 Shillings 10 Shillings is offer. 10 Shillings is off. Tens was offered.
Did anybody give him one pound
for
one pound
and one son gonna give me a pound,
a
pound? One pound is of it? One pound is of it.
Ladies and gentlemen, one pounds obviously against you sir.
Have you got a two pounds?
You got a two pound, sir.
Two pounds, two pounds is up, two pounds up. It going once twice.
Third, the last call
sold to the gentleman 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 £2.
I said exactly the same.
Exactly the same. Maybe the same hands
you hear that.
Isn't that lovely?
A tinkle tinkle, tinkle tinkle
sounds like bo bells to me. You know, with the angels pulling on the rope, right?
We'll give me two pounds for you.
Who's starting with two pounds? Will anybody starting with two pounds.
Oh, come, come, ladies and gentlemen,
you know, from your enthusiasm, we might all be in 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. 10 Shillings,
one pound,
one pound is ours.
One pound, one pound is offered, but one pound is offered going one pound
in advance. Well, once going twice the third and the last call
I 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 Gully 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 or perhaps it was so sir,
we are carrying several things over.
What might the articles be sir? At three identical musical
is about so
large. Oh,
I'm sorry, sir. But they were sold.
Pity. You weren't here to bid on them.
They didn't bring anything like the real value. I'm most anxious to obtain them.
I wonder if your records would show who the purchasers 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, musical boxes.
Ah, here we are
the first purchase for two pounds for Mr Julian Emery 52 Portman Square. Right.
This addresses down Alfred.
Yes.
Second, didn't leave any name.
Oh, 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 uh second purchaser was a woman. Can you uh give me a description of her?
Oh, she was a young woman,
fairly tall sender.
Uh She had a light complexion and dark hair and,
and she was wearing a gray suit, don't you remember?
She probably runs a gift shop. Uh She paid £1.
You say she comes here fairly frequently? No, I didn't say so,
but she does so
like as not. Should come in on Thursday.
We have sales on Mondays and Thursdays.
Uh
and the uh third box. The third. Oh
Mr William Kilgore 143 B Hampton Way
for 10 Shillings. Hm. Quite a drop from two pounds. Mr Kilgore was a scotchman.
Uh
Thank you, you've uh you're most helpful.
Thank you, sir.
And any time you're passing dropping,
we always have lovely things for sale. I got you. Uh, thank you.
I'll, uh, be back Thursday.
A message reached us too late.
Musical boxes are being sold.
Let's get out of here
someday. You'll go too far
reaching for a star. You fool
yet a fool may touch a star. Colonel Kavanaugh.
If he could retire enough,
he
does 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.
I hope for your sake. You're right.
They will call upon you tonight at a quarter to eight.
A gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment.
Do you
remember that letter Holmes?
It was written over two years ago.
An interesting case, Devilishly interesting.
Hm,
Irene Adler,
but a striking looking woman from the brief glance I had of her seems only yesterday.
But, um,
hm,
but boy, he didn't, what a mind
sharp enough and brilliant enough to outwit the,
the Great Sherlock Holmes himself.
I take it,
the new issue of the Strand magazine is
out containing another of your slightly lurid tales.
Indeed.
What do you call this one?
I call it a scandal in bohemia. Not a bad title. Eh? Hm.
If you must record my exploits,
I do wish you'd put less emphasis on the melodramatic
and more on the intellectual issues involved.
More on the,
what do you mean by that?
Well, I do hope you've given, uh
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.
Oh,
yeah,
I think
that's an 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 is the stinky.
In other words, uh
uh Julian Emery, how
you do, Mr Emery Watson has often spoken of you. Has he?
Yes, we were at school together. It's more years ago than I can't 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 your mystery stuff here.
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 have to follow
his nation. Somebody knocked me on the head of my own living room
and then proceeded to commit the most idiotic burglar. You've ever heard of?
The fellow? Must have been
Bary as a coot. Bary.
Why
come sit down? Oh, boy.
Would you,
you like a cup of tea? Huh?
Oh, all right.
I'll go and tell Mrs Hudson about it,
huh?
Why do you say the robbery was idiotic? Mr Emery?
Oh, simply from the fact that, uh,
with about 5000 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 £5.
I gather you're a collector of musical boxes. Yes, I am. Indeed.
Some of them are very beautiful but not the one that was stolen.
The thief, uh,
evidently grabbed the first thing that came to his
hand when he heard me coming into the room.
It's rather odd, isn't it that having disposed of you?
He didn't pick up something more valuable.
Was there anything unusual about the stolen box?
No,
nothing at all.
I, I pitched up in the south of France. Oh, several years ago,
you say you have many valuable music boxes
yet the thief made off one that isn't worth £5.
Sounds like rather an intriguing little problem as well. I take it that
he was just an ordinary petty thief and didn't know the value.
That is a possible explanation. And yet I venture to say
that the average petty thief has a more extensive knowledge of the value of JD
than the average collector.
Well, anyway, that's got in the odds theory.
They didn't get very excited about
it. That's consistent. Anyway,
I wonder if I might see your collection, Mr Emery?
Of course, you could. Yes. Uh,
nothing of collector likes more than showing off his trophies.
When would it suit you? No time like the present
good.
My place is just round in Portman Square, shall we? Yes. Right.
Hello. Where are you going? Sty hasn't had his tea yet.
Oh, I'm sorry, we're going round to my place,
but I'm going to give you something better than tea.
Now, this one was made the early 15th
and it is one of the very few still in existence from that period.
And the particularly fine specimen is dead.
Hm.
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 Arousing march.
You have all your silly little tweet tweets.
Ok.
Hm.
No.
Is this me
stupid thing? Singing rabbit?
What would you say offhand is the value of a box like that?
It's hard to say offhand. I think we bring
about five or 600 pounds a day.
It's the gem of my collection.
A thief who steals an oddity like a musical box prices up
one worth 500 pounds for one of almost no value at all.
Odd.
Very odd.
What was the stolen box like Mr Emery?
Oh, just a plain wooden box about, um,
so big as a matter of 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 the ordinary way. Add one like this to my collection.
But the, um,
the tune intrigued me.
I'd never heard it before.
You have a remarkable ear for music. He
rather an unusual melody. Sit down.
Thanks.
You. Uh, so you bought that box at an auction sale yesterday?
Yes. The gaylord auction rooms in, uh Knight
Bridge run by old uh, what's his name?
Crabtree?
That's a man.
At
what time is the robbery committed
about, uh, 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 uh,
Scotland Yard were not particularly interested, eh?
Oh,
yes. What I had,
I wouldn't blame him for that.
Especially as I told him, I was quite unable to describe the thief except of course,
for the fact that, uh, it was definitely a man.
All you remember is that you came in here and someone struck you on the head. Yes.
The next thing I knew my man was trying to revive me,
it might be wise for you to put that box away somewhere, lock it up.
No, I don't think that's necessary
besides everything's insured.
Well, at least to many 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
Mr
Gray old stinky. It seems to me you are making rather a mountain out of
a mosque.
Molehill is the word old boy and it's time you were in bed.
Thanks so much for letting us see your place.
It's been great meeting you.
I can't understand why he was so mysterious. It
seems to me the petty thief explanation was the only sensible one. Really.
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 mistake to accept something that's true merely because it's obvious
the truth has only arrived at
by the painstaking 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 ath 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.
Yeah.
Julian Emery here.
Who?
Right.
Of course, I remember you, Mrs Courtney.
Yes. You are the one bright spot there. Affording the dull affair of Lady Sans.
Huh?
Oh God. It isn't too late to come around.
Yes, I should be
delighted to give you a drink.
I tell you what, come straight up and I'll leave the door unlit.
Right. Well, 15 minutes
good.
I should be counting each one.
No, I mean that really
right. Goodbye.
The,
the,
but
you startled me. Did you die?
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 called me Hilda.
Thanks.
Mine called me stinky. Thank you. How quaint.
What a perfectly wonderful collection of musical boxes.
You know, when you told me you had a collection I had no, I did was so attractive. It is,
they appeal to the ear
as well as to the uh eye.
Oh, what a plain little one.
It looks just like a country cousin amid all this grandeur. No, no, no, no.
You must not underestimate the country cousin
only last night,
a burger broke in here and with all these to
choose from went off with one very much like it.
Yes, I don't mind the lots of the buck so much,
but I do resent this crack on the skull, but it makes you look so interesting.
Don't you think so?
That's funny. That's what little fatso said. Fatso.
I mean, uh Doctor Watson,
he was here this evening with a friend,
Mr Holmes.
He's interested in my collection too. Sherlock Holmes.
Yes. Do you know him?
I've heard of him.
Yes. He, he seems to think I'm in some sort of, uh,
danger.
What a haunting tune it takes me right back to my childhood. Really?
Do you know it's hard that you should be interested in that particular musical box.
Why? Because Mr Holmes is also interested in it.
He may have been more interested in the tune than in the box.
I did
you. 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
that
who'd want a box like that?
I would,
you're not serious.
Oh, but I am.
You, you put me in a very awkward position.
I'm a collector, you know,
and the 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.
That's 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, uh, trouble with him?
Just a matter of murder.
Ah,
Mr Holmes Hopkins.
Thanks for coming. So promptly, inspector Mra
suggested that I call through to you.
Mr Emery was the cloud of Mr Holmes inspector. Indeed.
You didn't mention that when I telephoned you, Mr Holmes.
Well, not exactly a cloud inspector,
Sergeant Thompson,
he was killed between the hours of 11 and two o'clock this morning. Mr Holmes
must have been someone, he knew someone of whom he had no suspicion,
poor 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 Emily bought at the auction sale.
And this time it was successful
was that box was only worth £2. It was 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
second, Mr Kilgore
143 B. Hampton Way
and the third to the unidentified young lady who presumably
has a shop and lives near gold is green.
That's right, Mr Holmes, isn't it rather strange? Mr Crabtree
that used to have had three identical musical boxes all
playing the same tune where they come from Dartmoor Prison.
Dartmoor.
Here 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 box. Did you happen to notice
if anyone showed any particular interest during the auction
in the purchases of these three boxes?
Oh, come on, 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 box had gone to.
He said they had a sentimental value for him, sir.
Expensive sentiment.
Can you describe him? He was tall, distinguished looking and he had
gray hair and a mustache who was quite a gentleman, sir.
Now, what was his reaction when you were unable to supply him
with the address of the young lady who won the shop?
I told him the young lady usually come back on Thursday.
He said he'd come back on Thursday. Now, that's tomorrow.
Thank you Mr Crare.
You've been very helpful. Thank you. Come on Watson.
Where are we going now? Home?
The home of Mr Kilgore and then
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.
I'll have a look through this window.
Doesn't seem to be anyone there.
The place seems deserted as far as I can see.
Yes,
Mr Mrs Kilgore at home. Now, when do you expect them?
I, in an hour or so,
there's no use you're ranging about, they don't buy nothing from Pedler
peddlers.
My good woman. This is Mr Sherlock Holmes Sherlock
Arms. Go on. Do you mind if we come in and wait?
My business is rather urgent. Well, I've got to go out and do my shopping
and I don't know, is Mrs Kilgore like any stranger's nose in a bath? Quite all right.
I assure you. Well, I've got to be off
you to light in the parlor and no smoking either.
Mrs Kilgore said it smells up the house.
Funny old girl
Park Lane,
Park Line. And
what would the likes of you be doing in Park Lane?
Now, don't worry about the fed ducky if you knows how to get the park line up,
you know, homes. I've been thinking
there must have been something hidden in that box of those stinkers.
Stolen jewelry. Possibly.
What's up Holmes?
Listen,
which is the steam in the water pipes?
What it
great Scott.
How
does it
get on the chair here?
All right, my dear.
Yeah. There, there
now, don't worry.
It's all over
there. You are.
You 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,
he
grabbed her.
I know. I
don't bother nobody. We'll buy you a new musical box. Yes, my dear.
The best one in London.
What?
Oh, what a fool. What a fool. I've been. What do you mean hose?
She took the musical box out of this house and that monkey basket
right under our very noses.
Why could do the Kilgore
child
woman want to take the music box? She isn't the Kilgore
charwoman. She's a consummate actress,
an extremely clever unscrupulous woman who will stop at nothing.
Take care of the child. Will you w her until her parents get back?
Explain everything to them. Of course,
a
homes. Where are you going somewhere? Somehow.
I must get to the young lady who bought
that third musical box before our opponents find out.
I only hope that I won't be too late.
Oh,
no, no,
no, no, darling. You, you mustn't cry any more.
Cheer up.
Would you, would you like to hear old uncle? Make a noise like a duck.
Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait,
what,
wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Oh,
sorry.
Hm.
And now ladies and gentlemen,
how much am I offered for this beautiful lace Dresden China figurine a
lady of the French court.
Now this is the genuine article.
What a beautiful ornament for your mantelpiece. Or you could use it as a,
a piece on the dining room table now and somebody start me for 10 pounds
and somebody start me for 10 pounds.
Eight pounds,
seven pounds.
All right, 55 pounds is off at five pounds off it. Five pounds is up at five pounds.
10, 5 pounds, 15, 5 pounds, 15,
six pounds is off at six pounds.
Six pounds going once going twice the third and the last call will be all done.
Sold to the lady from Twickenham for six pounds.
Next, we have a real museum piece. Ladies and gentlemen,
a fine 19th century doll,
the costume and exact replica of the holiday
clothes worn by the Hungarian peasant women.
Now,
ladies and gentlemen,
an article like this would cost him 15 to 20 pounds in a west end shop.
I'm not going to ask him anything like that.
Who give me two pounds for it?
Two pounds. Anybody offer me two pounds, two pounds for the
h the
two pound
one pound. What did anybody give me one pound.
Anybody offer me one pound for the doll. 11 pound is off.
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.
And 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 discovered there by the noted antiquarian,
Sir Andrew Cobblestone.
Now, some of you may remember sir Andrew Cobblestone
besides being a noted travel and antiquarian, he's also a gentleman rider,
a girl with a pasta 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.
Uh, what is it? Well,
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 get this way,
I have only two left.
Oh, 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.
Uh, good afternoon. Thank you.
Heavy.
Follow that cat here. Now, what Scotland Yard
pop in
Sherlock Holmes? I might have known
we thought we were the hunters
instead of which were they hunted? We've been fools. We played right into his hands.
Of course,
he's had us followed. Don't look
the man in front of the toy shop.
Honey.
Turn sharp right at the next corner and again, at the next
no photograph of a commissioner.
As I expected, she's not a noncriminal,
but I expect to know if you do find her after all. She was disguised as a char woman.
Don't worry, a 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.
Uh, Sergeant Thompson's following. So they won't get away from him. He's a good man.
We could have arrested them at Clifford's toy shop if we had any proof,
but we know that they killed Emra
proof. My dear fo we must have proof.
We have X rated, sir. There's nothing whatever concealed in the box.
We'll have a look at the place.
Yeah.
Mm.
There must be some clue.
And it's probably been so obvious that we've all overlooked. It
seems to me we're up against a bunch of lunatics,
not lunatics, my dear fellow,
extremely astute cold-blooded murderers.
What can these little musical boxes having them so important?
Don't forget they were made in Dartmoor prison.
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 seven year term,
sir.
Davidson, the bank of England plates. That would be all. Yes, sir.
Now we're getting somewhere if, wait a minute.
How did you know about the plates, Mr Holmes?
I'm a student of crime inspector. I make it my business to know about such things.
And when the name of Davidson was mentioned, well, who is this full of Davidson?
As long as Mr Holmes seems to know all about it already?
I suppose there's no harm in telling you
uh,
two years ago in London
that occurred a robbery of such tremendous importance.
Although the stolen articles themselves have no intrinsic value whatsoever
that the home secretary was instrumental in seeing that
not a word of it appeared in any newspaper,
but you never told me anything about this home.
You were away at the time,
articles of no intrinsic value and yet of such importance.
I don't understand
Davidson was apprehended within 15 minutes 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 the 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
evidence 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 cellmates. 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 in 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've 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, but we have one third.
Well, what are you gonna do? Huh.
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 color boxes or shoe boxes?
Yes.
Oh,
it's for you, inspector. Oh, thank you, sir.
Inspector Hopkins speaking.
What,
where
Golders Green station reports? They've just found Sergeant Thompson's body
from the tire marks on his clothes. He was
apparently run over that
exit.
What an unfortunate accident.
Not an accident. My dear fellow,
I'm afraid it's murder.
Oh, you never
know just you, you're going to meet
when you're walking down a busy London street,
Mrs Hawkins and Mrs Brown. Any subject of the crowd?
Oh, you never know just who you're going to meet.
Oh,
you better
your topper
in your land
just in case you meet a lady on the strand.
Girls will think you're kind and sweet and your day will be complete.
Oh, 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 taking him a walk.
What on earth is this outlandish place?
A rendezvous for actors. Actors,
Busker's old boy.
You've seen them 1000 times.
Actors who entertain the queues,
waiting outside theaters.
You
come
to me
when you're walking down a busy London street.
So you better wear your
best
advice
to look your
best
because you never know
until you
gonna be
and to keep your manners right with you
just in case a lie gives
out to you.
Keep your trousers in your flee, shine your shoes and keep the neat.
How you never know. Just do you guys
Blimey
Mr S,
how are you, Joe?
Never pet him
and yourself? Fine. Thank you.
I want you to meet a friend of mine, Dr Watson, Joe Sisto.
Oh, well, any friend of Mr Elms is a friend of mine, Joe.
He did me a good turn once that I'll never forget.
Yes, I clear Joe of a most unpleasant charge, murder no less
by proving to the satisfaction of the police that he was busy at the time.
Blowing open someone's safe. That's right. G
good gracious me,
Joe.
Now you can help me.
Come on, buzz off, buzz off. Come on up here up.
It. Can a gentleman have some peace and quiet around here
and
to
there you are Mr Towns
now. We can have some peace and quiet around here. Thank you, Joe.
There's five pounds of this for you.
Well, I wouldn't want to take it on myself, sir,
but I can get somebody to do it for you for half of that.
You don't know what the job is yet for five pounds.
Murder, ain't it?
What?
No,
you're not murder. Just uh, 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 Joe.
Of course, the violin is more my instrument. But, um,
oh, well, here we go. And now listen to this, Joe,
wait a minute.
You're playing it wrong.
That should be e natural, not e flat.
You know the song? Oh, he is. It's an old Australian song called, uh,
The Swagman.
But you're playing it all wrong.
That's what I hoped you'd 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. Yeah. Play the song for me.
We'll hear the way it's written.
Yeah.
Thank you, Joe.
What does it mean? Holmes?
Are 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, I miss downs, but it'll take a few minutes
here. Mabel.
Hey,
Lee,
come on up to it. Come along with it.
Ok.
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 play,
the tune are different from the variations in the one we have.
Are you sure quite.
You see,
I took the trouble to memorize the tune as played by
Emory's Box that night we were with him in his flat.
Oh, you amaze me. Let my dear fellow.
One of the first principles in solving crime is never to disregard anything,
no matter how trivial.
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
Karz
that contains yet another set of variations.
So 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
fellow.
Hello,
what's up?
We've had company
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
come in, 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 looking old gentleman
friends again. Watson. Friends.
What did the young lady look like? Oh, I, I couldn't see her face.
She had a heavy black veil on
but she had such a nice way with her.
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.
Where are the musical books?
They didn't get it,
didn't get it.
Where is it?
It's in your hand, in
that biscuit jar.
Make the biscuits off the top.
Now, put your hand inside and you'll find the music box.
Well done. Holmes. Well done. Amazing.
Go.
Oh,
nice fresh smell
like a pub for closing time.
I said Holmes
come
on.
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 tri graph
nor any known form of decoding
about the Morse code. Have you tried that?
Yes, at about three o'clock this morning. I'm sorry,
I was gonna try to help
uh do me a favor. Not again,
must have heard that thing 1000 times
could be awake all night.
Not a very distinguished conversation. 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've always felt sorry for that old teacher of mine.
The poor old girl finally reached the point of numbering of the keys for me. 1234.
Even then I, I never progressed beyond numbering the keys. Watson,
the 19th key of the keyboard
is the 19th letter of the alphabet.
S Yeah,
I
do.
I give it to my
fellow. Will you
the first altered note,
write
first.
Now the eighth key
is
H
the fifth key
E the 12th key
L
the sixth key, fshelf
shelf,
your piano lessons were not in vain, old fellow. You've solved it. Thank you.
Thanks for being
old.
We now have two thirds of the message behind books.
Third shelf secretary, doctor
presume, I blame.
These are the 1st and 2nd portions of the message
and this gang has the 1st and 3rd parts of it precisely. And it's a stalemate.
Yes, Commissioner. But we can't leave it like that.
There's no doubt in my mind that they are trying
to secure our third of the message that's missing.
Well, I assume you've taken every precaution to guard the Clifford music.
Yes. It's carefully hid at Baker Street with Doctor Watson on guard.
However, I'm reasonably certain that uh difficult as it may be.
We can find the plates
even without the missing part of the message
behind books. Third shelf secretary, doctor,
and outside of the fact that Davidson hid.
The Bank of England played somewhere in London. Mr Holmes.
I don't see that we've progressed at all. Allow me to point out to you, sir.
The keywords
doctor S
it looks as if the plates were hidden in the house of the doctor
where s stands for his first or last initial
remains to be determined by a process of elimination
for. There must be 10,000 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.
Thank you.
In the meantime, I intend to follow up a little clue concerning a cigarette.
Mm.
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 um, the three customers
major Wilson in Bombay, India,
Mrs Catherine Leamington Smith in Ireland.
Yes. I'm the third Mrs Hilda Courtney
of Park Mansions Bryanston Square. Thank you. Thank you. Very much.
You've been most helpful. It is a pleasure to have been of service. Mr Holmes.
Yes.
Mrs Cockney.
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,
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 seem 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 and Mrs Kilgore 143 B Hampton Road,
Kilgore.
I don't think I know anyone of that name.
I didn't say you knew them.
As a matter of fact, you called on them when they were out.
I don't understand Mr Holmes.
Really?
And you were dressed rather differently.
Indeed.
Cigarette.
Thank you.
You know, Mrs Cockney, people generally forget in assuming a disguise
that the shape of the ear is an almost 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
another identification
now,
um
identical out there.
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 100 and 40 different varieties of tobacco.
I should advise you not to move Mr Holmes.
I must congratulate you on your ingenuity. Mrs
Coney. 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 flattering 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 guests.
You realize Mr Holmes that your demise will not take place here, the uh
Corpus Delta,
you know, naturally
shall we go?
It's 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 conscience.
Mrs Courtney,
do you mind if I have a cigarette?
I don't see why not
be careful, Hamid.
It's the bras
they bind.
Thank you, Colonel Kavanaugh.
It's very considerate of you.
You'll be happy to know Mr Holmes that your death will be a painless one.
I made
attach this to the motor of the taxi.
That little attachment. My dear Mr Holmes contains the deadly fluid known as mono
sued
the Germans use it with gratifying results in removing their
undesirable.
Stop the motor,
tape his mouth.
I,
no
up with him. Hamid.
You find yourself like Mohammed'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.
Yeah,
let me
see
there.
Good afternoon, Mr Sherlock Holmes. No, I'm Dr
Watson. Of course, Dr
Watson. How stupid of me.
So stupid of me.
Would you come in? Well, I, I really came to see Mr Holmes. 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, uh Sherlock Holmes and I have been engaged on a, on a great many cases.
Oh, really? Yes, indeed.
As a matter of fact, 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 Dr
Watson.
Perhaps
if I wouldn't be imposing too much imposing,
there's no imposition, no imposition. At all. A pleasure. I assure you.
Now, tell me all about it, Miss
Miss Williams. Mr Williams.
I live in Surrey, Dr
Watson and I've come up to London in sheer desperation.
My only sister has disappeared. The local police seem utterly unable to find her.
Well, Holmes and I have solved a case exactly like that once.
Very interesting as far as I remember, uh,
I call it the,
the adventure of the, the solitary cyclist. Oh, sorry. Now
I come to think of it. It wasn't so very similar, entirely different.
Think what I was saying.
Where
were we?
She's only 17. Doctor Watson. And
until she disappeared last Thursday, she seemed to be in the best of spirits.
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.
I want to vomit it.
Well, my dear,
thank you Dr
Watson.
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
what
he
get through. Get through the fire brigade quickly.
Thank
you.
Haven't you a fire extinguisher?
I, we have,
don't you worry, Miss Williams. We'll have this thing out in. No. Time.
Oh, I just got it.
It's the mayor.
Well, you see there was,
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.
They always lose their heads in an emergency.
Well,
a
musical box.
Great Scott
Miss Williams.
Well,
good.
And Holmes by now, Mr Holmes has no doubt exchanged his violin for a harp.
Always assuming that heaven is his destination.
And now that we have the missing musical box,
19th note
19th letter
s
he hasn't been there. You see
homes. Where on earth 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.
Home of terrible things 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,
to save a musical box.
I don't need to say anymore.
She has the box.
Don't blame yourself too much old fella.
She is an extremely clever antagonist,
smoke on his head.
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 smoke and the crying fire in the story,
you entitled
a scandal in Bohemia which has just appeared in the Strand magazine.
All right. All right. Oh, boy. Don't rub it in.
It may turn you up to know that you made a fool of me too.
Bye.
That cigarette stub.
It was planted here for one express purpose.
We've got a bandaging around this place. Bandaging. What's the matter Holmes?
Good and explanations. We'll have to wait until later at the moment.
We're faced with a problem
which I fear is insurmountable. Come over here,
will you right?
Our 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,
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.
I said
over
I was just quoting Doctor Samuel Johnson.
He said there is no Watson. Thank you all
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 Boswell.
We will now pass up the stairway which remains in its natural wood finish
just as it was when the good doctor was here.
The framed itching 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 in by Mrs Thre
and it's 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.
Humid.
I have a feeling my dear Colonel with Sherlock Holmes out of the way,
what could go wrong.
And here we have the Garrett library in
which Doctor Johnson wrote his famous dictionary
and in which you will see also
many of the great men's books and other items of interest.
Step forward, ladies and gentle, 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.
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 gray room 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, line the steps, please.
No keys.
Third shelf up
the knife.
Mhm.
Gentlemen,
the bank of England plates.
Well, Mrs
Coney.
So we meet again.
No, I shouldn't do that if I were you Colonel
Kavanaugh,
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.
You are flattering, words,
memory.
Oh,
thank you.
And now I have a most regrettable task to perform.
Coming home
Holmes
you. All right,
perfectly. Thank you old fellow.
But I think this gentleman on the floor requires some medical attention.
We will 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 Howard, it's entirely due to Doctor Watson.
He gave me the clue when he mentioned doctor Samuel Johnson.
Well, congratulations, doctor. Oh, thank you. Sweet.
I don't think I'd have done it entirely
that Mr Holmes has helped, you know.