- There's a gentleman downstairs... - Shh!
- (Ask him to wait, Mrs Hudson.) - But he's most insistent.
(CIock ticking)
(Clattering)
I...
(Boys' choir sings softly)
(Coughing)
(Watson) Easy now, easy.
I must apologise. I have been a little overwrought...
I am a doctor, sir, and I insist that you say nothing until you have eaten.
Thank you. If I might have a biscuit and a glass of milk, I shall be better.
Mrs Hudson is preparing something.
Oh... Please forgive this weakness. I really must...
- Mr Holmes. - At your service.
Master of Arts.
Doctor of Philosophy. Principal of the Priory School.
It is not every day, Dr Huxtable, that so distinguished a castaway
is beached upon my hearth rug.
In speculating what had blown you here,
I took the liberty of searching you. Forgive me.
- Yes, of course. - Please.
Sit down.
Your watch, unblemished for 30 years,
suddenly this morning, scratched
when you thrust those coins into your waistcoat pocket.
The stern habit of a lifetime trampled underfoot.
A small occurrence, perhaps,
but only small in the way that a vibrating needle
may signal an earthquake.
The state of your beard demonstrates a disruption to your routine.
- Three days ago? - Just so, just so.
Mr Holmes, I beg you to accompany me north to Mackleton immediately.
- A matter of the utmost importance... - Ah. I regret...
Dr Watson and I are extremely pressed just at the moment.
I am retained in the case of the Ferrers Documents.
Dr Watson is run off his feet by this recent epidemic of scarlet fever.
And the Abergavenny murder.
Only a very important issue could call us away.
Important, sir? Important?
I daresay you've heard of the Duke of Holdernesse.
The former cabinet minister?
(Holmes) More than that, Watson.
The letters after his name - ha! - almost half the alphabet.
One of the greatest subjects of the crown, eh, Dr Huxtable?
One of the greatest and probably one of the wealthiest.
He is also, I am proud to say, my neighbour.
'Holdernesse Hall is across the valley from the Priory School.
'The Duke is an intensely solitary man.
'He abhors the prospect of public scrutiny.
'But such is his anxiety in this matter
'that His Grace is prepared to write a cheque for £5,000
'to see the business solved
'and another £1,000 to see justice visited upon the villains.
'That is how important it is.'
A princely offer, Dr Huxtable.
You have failed only in describing the villainy.
Forgive me.
Lord Saltire, the Duke's son, his only child, has been abducted.
- From the Priory School? - Yes.
Where he was in your care?
Quite.
And this abduction happened three days ago?
- Last Saturday night. - Why have you waited so long?
His Grace has a horror
of his unhappiness being dragged before the world.
The police have been requested to proceed with such caution that...
I see.
This affair has been deplorably handled.
I feel it and admit it.
What form did the demand for ransom take?
- There has been none. - No demand for ransom?
None. It is one of the most perplexing aspects of the business.
For the boy was not alone in his flight.
Herr Heidegger, the German master, is also missing.
As indeed, by the way, is his bicycle.
If he has abducted the boy, why has no demand been received?
Heidegger came to me with the very best references.
Was any other bicycle missing?
- Er... no. - You're certain?
Quite. Mr Aveling checked.
Do you really mean to suggest that this German master
rode off upon his bicycle, bearing the boy in his arms?
No.
Then what is this theory in your mind?
The bicycle may have been a blind.
He may have hidden it and the pair gone off on foot.
Surely he would have hidden a couple of bicycles to give that impression.
- Yes, I suppose he would. - Of course he would!
This blind theory of yours will not do.
However... it is an admirable starting point for an investigation.
Watson, would you send for a cab immediately?
- Now, Holmes? - Certainly.
And pack. We have just time to catch the overnight train from St Pancras.
I will do a little work at your doors.
Perhaps the trail is not so cold that two old hounds may get a sniff of it.
The arrival of Lord Saltire must have been quite a feather in your cap.
My proudest moment, Mr Holmes,
since Blackwoods published Huxtable's Sidelights on Horace.
- You may have heard of it. - No. How old is the boy?
- Nine. - And he's been with you how long?
Since the beginning of the winter term.
An unusual boy. He seemed to be fitting in well. He, erm...
Yes?
I was about to say he was not entirely happy at home.
The Duke's marriage had not been a peaceful one.
It ended in separation by mutual consent last year.
The Duchess has gone to her father's palazzo in Venice.
This picture of the Duke's marriage - how did you come by it?
Is it common knowledge?
I've had some talks with Mr Wilder, the Duke's secretary.
He has been most helpful.
It has been established that the boy has not returned to his mother in Italy?
Yes, it has.
- I cannot tell you what a relief it is... - Watson!
- Coming! - Your picnic, sir.
Mrs Hudson! How did you guess?
Experience, Mr Holmes.
The two doctors can picnic away to their heart's content on the train.
Even I may find my appetite is keener
for a few days in the bracing atmosphere of the Peak country.
I will do myself no injustice
when I say that the Priory is the most select preparatory school in England.
Lord Leverstoke, the Earl of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames -
they've all entrusted their sons to me.
You can see Holdernesse Hall from here.
There's a fine view from the chapel tower. "Salvete discipuli".
(Holmes) I will begin with the boy's room.
From his father.
It arrived on the morning of his disappearance.
- Any from Italy? - Not recently.
- Where is the letter now? - It cannot be found.
It must have been on the boy when he was abducted.
Who sleeps in the adjoining room?
Salvete discipuli.
You're the sort of chap, I daresay, who'd sleep through a thunderstorm.
- I don't think he would, sir. - Really? And why is that?
There's a mouse in the wainscot, sir, and it wakes us both up, sir.
- Sometimes, sir. - A mouse?
So any noise from Lord Saltire's room?
The door creaks, sir. We always hear it.
On the night of the disappearance, did you hear anything then?
No, sir. We couldn't even hear the crying.
- Crying? - Yes, sir. He sometimes cries, sir.
Sometimes, sir.
Thank you, boys.
(Horse whinnying)
(Huxtable) You have found nothing in the grounds?
There's no knowing what I have found. The trail is cold.
(Man) Headmaster!
The Duke of Holdernesse is here, Headmaster.
- Thank you, Mr Aveling. - With Mr Wilder.
Mr Holmes?
- Yes? - The Duke is waiting, Mr Holmes.
That will never do.
Your Grace.
- Mr Wilder. - I called yesterday, Dr Huxtable.
But I was too late to prevent your starting for London.
His Grace is surprised that you should have invited Mr Holmes
to undertake an investigation without consulting him.
When the police failed...
- It is not certain that they have. - But surely...
You are well aware how anxious His Grace is to avoid all public scandal
and take as few people as possible into his confidence.
I'm sorry. The matter is easily remedied.
Mr Holmes can return to London in the morning.
Hardly that. Hardly that.
I enjoy your invigorating northern air.
I shall spend a few days upon your moors.
I may at least find Herr Heidegger's bicycle.
This is not a trivial matter, Mr Holmes.
I am gratified that you think not, Your Grace.
If there was meaning in that remark, Mr Holmes,
I'm afraid it escaped me.
Your only child has disappeared.
Your hopes, your future, your family itself is threatened with dissolution.
Your point, sir?
I ask Your Grace... what is modesty to this?
To your child's life?
What is reputation?
But then it might be replied, what is continuance without honour?
However, I believe you are largely right, Mr Holmes.
If you refer to the constraints I have placed upon the activities of the police,
then perhaps I have imposed too much.
I have a morbid fear of the public gaze.
It would be foolish not to avail ourselves of Mr Holmes' services
now that he is here.
- Mr Holmes. - Your Grace.
Perhaps you will stay with us at Holdernesse Hall?
I thank you, but I think for the purposes of my investigation,
it would be wiser for me to remain here at the scene of the mystery.
As you wish.
Mr Wilder or myself will be available to provide you with any assistance.
Might I ask whether you have formed any explanation
as to the disappearance of your son?
No, sir. I have not.
He is a fine boy, Mr Holmes.
How long has he been in your class?
- Since his arrival. - Did he speak much of his family?
Not much. It's my belief that he missed his mother.
He has something of his father's reticence.
The separation - did he talk about that?
Not really. The boy insisted that they loved each other.
Whistling in the wind to cheer himself up?
- No. He's a realistic child. - But not a very realistic family.
They once provided a member of the Hellfire Club.
You wouldn't know what time Herr Heidegger retired to his room?
Not really, but quite late. After 11. He was duty round master that night.
You're a cyclist, I believe.
Yes. Oh, yes.
Did Lord Saltire ever accompany you?
No. He's not yet able to retain his balance.
You wouldn't, I suppose,
happen to know the make of tyres on Herr Heidegger's bicycle?
Certainly. A lovely bicycle, by the way, made in Bremen.
The tyres were Palmer - ones with longitudinal tread.
I know them well. Thank you.
- Doubly helpful. - Pleasure, Mr Holmes.
Dinner will be at eight.
(Choir singing softly)
Oh. I beg your pardon.
Holmes?
This case grows upon me, Watson.
There are decidedly points of interest in connection with it. Look at this map.
Certain geographical features may have a link with our investigation.
This dark square is the Priory School.
This the main road with no side turning for a mile either way.
To the north of the school, the land rises slowly.
To the south, a district of arable land with high walls and hedgerows -
impossible for a bicycle.
What did you discover at Oakbourne?
The police have reports from all over the place
on a man and a boy seen together.
- They completed their investigation. - What result?
Useless. None bore any resemblance to the boy or the master.
Excellent!
This mass of mistaken sightings, Watson, confirms my suspicion.
I don't believe they used the road.
That powerful curiosity of quiet places would surely have found them out.
- I don't think they used the road at all. - But the bicycle...
A good cyclist does not need a road.
The moor is intersected with paths and remember the moon was full.
It is to the north that our quest must lie. You have done well, Watson.
Dinner's soon, you'll be happy to hear.
But I do have just one point on which I need to be satisfied.
Herr Heidegger's room. Ten minutes.
'(Laughter)'
(Watson) Mr Holmes has been looking at the origins
of the Holdernesse family.
Like many ancient lines, it had a muddy source.
Muddy, Doctor?
Well, not to be too delicate, they were cattle thieves.
(Chuckling)
A warrior class, ingenious,
but the basis of their wealth was running off with other people's cows.
They furnished one of the madder members of the Hellfire Club.
What is the matter, Dr Huxtable?
- It is nothing. - (Holmes) It is clearly something.
- I expect too much, I'm sure. - Tell us your expectations.
I do not expect miracles.
I think I am not a man who demands the miraculous.
But you have discovered nothing.
We have advanced not a jot since the moment we left London.
Indeed, that is not true.
You have discovered two things, both false.
One a squalid piece of gossip
and the other an apocryphal and insulting fancy
about the origins of my great patron.
I did not employ you to blacken the name of the Holdernesses!
Calm yourself, Dr Huxtable.
We have, in fact, advanced some way.
I can, for example, describe in some detail
what took place here on that fateful night.
Also the behaviour of your excellent and faithful German master.
Faithful? Heidegger? What, sir?
Herr Heidegger retired to his room soon after 11 o'clock.
He was the duty master that night.
My friend and colleague Dr Watson will impersonate.
Heidegger has still two hours' work ahead of him and it's been a long day.
He allows himself the comfort of removing his jacket.
He moves across to the chest by the door...
and pours himself a glass of sherry.
Badly needed fortification for the task that lies ahead.
He collects the candle and moves to his desk
to correct 22 exercise books.
Which contain not only grammatical exercises,
but also a lengthy composition.
You see my point, Dr Huxtable?
It would have been after midnight, if he had done nothing else,
when his candle fails him.
The candles are kept in the chest by the door.
He rises from the desk to fetch another one,
but he cannot see to find them,
so he draws the curtains to see by the moonlight.
'Across the roof-tops in the gate tower, the boy has been waiting for darkness,
'knowing that his flight must not be observed.
'Herr Heidegger watches as the boy hurries across the leads
'to keep his prearranged meeting by the river.'
Sensing the enormity of what was taking place,
Heidegger runs to the door...
knocking over what remains of his glass of sherry as he goes.
I see.
Thank you.
I misjudged him.
His wisdom in pursuing the boy is questionable.
I believe his fate may be sealed.
You alarm me, Mr Holmes. You mean?
I hope not, but if my reasoning is correct, then I do fear for him.
And the boy?
The key to that, Dr Huxtable, remains out there.
Beyond the drovers' bridge.
Poor beast.
(Cawing)
(Watson) Carrion crows. (Holmes) They have earned their name.
So we're assuming the boy was taken away on horseback?
Certainly. Or Heidegger would not have needed a bicycle.
But the only tracks we've found are cattle, Holmes.
Holmes?
A track, Watson!
A track.
A bicycle?
Certainly a bicycle, but not the bicycle.
I'm familiar with 42 different impressions left by tyres.
This is a Dunlop with a patch upon the outer cover.
Heidegger's tyres were Palmers.
- This is not Heidegger's track. - Oh. Whose then?
Whose indeed?
Watson! These are Palmer tracks. Heidegger has been this way.
Absolutely extraordinary.
Dunlop tracks for 150 yards... they vanish.
And Palmer tracks quite clear leading to these rocks...
they vanish too.
Not a sign of a horse.
Watson, you have a blazing talent for observing the obvious.
Should have brought some luncheon.
Anyway, what was Herr Heidegger cycling after? Cows?
Presumably they didn't abduct the child on the back of a cow.
All traces of horses obliterated
and much evidence the two bicycles have vanished into thin air.
- Impossible. - Precisely.
Impossible as we have stated it, therefore we must have stated it wrong.
(Watson) Ah...
there's a hostelry marked on the further edge of the moor.
Holmes?
There's a hostelry on the Chesterfield Road.
Yes. If we keep on this line we should come up to it.
Well, that's where I'm going to try my luck. I'm hungry.
- Holmes? - What?
Lunch? Of course. My dear fellow, you must be starving.
Observe that map.
You will see there is a hostelry about three miles in this direction.
We'll need some food if we are to face the Duke of Holdernesse later.
(Cawing)
Nothing?
Nothing. I must tell His Grace.
Nothing?
Nothing. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
(Knocking)
It's locked.
Primitive, but forceful, as sporting portraits go.
- Mr Reuben Hayes? - How d'you know my name?
It's printed over the door.
We were looking for some refreshment.
- Were ya? - We'd be obliged if you can furnish it.
- Would ya? - We would.
You'd best ask t'woman.
Insufferable lout.
If we're going to Holdernesse Hall,
let us hire those unprepossessing beasts. What do you say?
- How far are you taking 'em? - To the hall and back.
- You know the way, I daresay. - I worked there for 15 year.
You can take 'em.
My word, Mr Hayes, you have injured yourself.
It's nowt.
I am a doctor, sir, and you should have it attended.
- How did you come by it? - One of me dogs did it.
- Those scratches... - What about them?
To judge at a glance, they were that far apart.
What animal would make such a scratch?
Probably a descendant of Champion Jack.
Cock-fighting is forbidden by law and has been for 50 years.
Many things are forbidden by law. What law is there in these places?
Ah, excellent, Mrs Hayes.
Thank you. What have you cooked for me?
White pudding, swedes and nips.
How is it?
It is disgusting, Holmes.
That woman... She's frightened of something,
and more than that husband of hers.
Deception upon deception.
What is it intended to hide?
Deception?
Oh, Watson. My horse is lame.
There's a boy.
That's odd.
Old shoes, new nails.
Gentlemen... His Grace will see you now.
Ah, Mr Wilder.
Mr Holmes, Dr Watson.
Welcome to Holdernesse Hall. His Grace will be joining us soon.
We're placing high hopes on your skills. Do you bring news?
There is a point on which I need to be satisfied.
Yes, Mr Holmes?
It concerns the duke's private correspondence.
As His Grace's private secretary, perhaps I can assist.
I believe His Grace wrote to his son upon the day this incident occurred.
- No, he wrote on the day before. - But he received it upon that day.
Quite probably.
Was there anything in that letter which prompted the boy to run away?
I hardly think so.
Anyway, he would have run here if anywhere.
- Or to his mother in Italy. - (Duke) No, sir!
Lord Saltire would realise the impossibility of achieving such a goal.
Even if abetted by this German.
He is an intelligent and practical child.
(Holmes) Yet he cries in his sleep.
Did His Grace post the letter himself?
His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters.
The letter was laid with others upon the study table. I put them there.
The only other person to handle them would be Rivers,
who delivers the post to the lodge.
- This letter was among them? - Yes. I observed it.
And what have you observed, Mr Holmes?
How does your investigation progress?
Are you to disappoint me?
I hope still to render Your Grace a happier and myself a richer man.
But what have you discovered?
It is mostly a matter of clarification.
My belief is that the boy was tempted by a prearrangement
and I suspect that his mother may have been the bait.
The German master observed his departure and set off in pursuit.
We tracked the passage of his bicycle across the moors with much difficulty.
It is almost as if the tracks were deliberately expunged by someone...
(Duke) Mr Holmes?
Someone driving cattle. Do the cattle on the moor?
What about them? I hope you have seen none.
We cannot winter cattle outside in our upland climate.
They will not be out of the yard for at least another two weeks.
I have been as blind as a beetle.
I thank Your Grace.
Old shoes and new nails! Old shoes and new nails!
- Holmes, you should see this. - It's a remarkable cow that gallops.
- Did you see those horseshoes? - Yes!
The marauding barons shod their horses with cloven horseshoes
to escape detection.
Reuben Hayes took advantage of a piece of local history.
It's bad, Watson. Bad.
(Cawing)
Those vultures of the north mark the spot.
The German master?
What's left of him.
(Echoing) Hello!
Hello!
- (Bleating) - Hello! Hello!
Skin and blood. Only a microscope will tell if it's human.
But consistent with the scratches on Hayes. Cause of death?
Strangulation. The larynx is quite crushed.
That shepherd can be our messenger to the Priory School with the news.
We must proceed on foot, Watson. I was warm at that inn.
Warm, as the children say.
The trail grows colder every step I take away from it.
(Pounding on door and angry voices)
It's all over now, Arthur.
Reuben Hayes. Let's hope we're not too late.
A Dunlop with a patch on the outer cover.
(Muffled wailing)
Have no fear, Mrs Hayes.
I am satisfied that you had no liking for this and acted under coercion.
Someone came for the boy?
Mr Wilder?
Which way did they go?
- Across the moor? - Towards the Chesterfield Road.
- Will Bewick's cottage. - Excellent, Mrs Hayes.
I must alert the duke's household, Watson.
You are now the boy's guardian angel.
(Glass shatters)
Come on.
I see Your Grace's chequebook upon your desk.
You can write me out a cheque for £6,000.
Perhaps you should cross it.
Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street are my agents.
I do not possess a temperament
that appreciates the acidulous pleasantry that clearly amuses you.
I am sorry, but I do not see how James - Mr Wilder -
could be implicated, and you have no proof.
But I possess the proofs. It is beyond debate.
The mud is scarcely dry upon your cloven horseshoes.
Why do you doubt my word?
You suffer from a blindness to your own interests
which borders on madness.
Your Grace...
Those portraits in the hall...
of you and your father as young men.
There your family lineaments are very clear.
How long has Mr Wilder been in your service?
What is your meaning? How dare you, sir!
You do not understand! You are a barbarian!
You will never! Please leave me immediately! I won't...
I...
Then it is as I suspected.
Mr James Wilder is your son.
When I was a very young man, Mr Holmes...
I loved...
with such a love as comes only once in a lifetime.
I offered the lady marriage...
but she refused it on the grounds
that such a match might... mar my career.
Had she lived, I would certainly never have married anyone else, but...
she died and left this one child.
James.
Whom, for her sake, I have tended and cared for.
I could not acknowledge paternity to the world,
but in all other ways, I have treated him like my son.
He has required, but not warranted,
a father's forgiveness many times...
and I have forgiven.
I have forgiven.
I have forgiven much.
Your Grace, you have done all you can for Mr Wilder.
You must realise that he is lost to you.
He's conspired to abduct Lord Saltire,
he's an accessory to a murder, however unwittingly.
He must be found... before he's tempted to a crime even more terrible.
He must be found before you lose the son
that is left to you.
(Bell rings)
Rivers, you are to organise a search of the moor -
westwards in a line from the temple to the pavilion.
You are to employ the entire staff without exception.
You are looking for my son, Lord Saltire.
If you find Mr Wilder...
please see that he is detained...
and brought to me.
Wilder intercepted your letter and substituted a note
so that your son believed he was to see his mother.
Murderous Hayes was his accomplice. The police have been alerted.
Watson!
I tracked them on the moor, but they disappeared.
I searched, but it's as if the earth just swallowed them up.
With my research into your family, I seem to recall mention
of a huge limestone cavern where the stolen cattle where penned.
The cathedral.
Come on!
(Echoing cry)
Ah!
(Duke) Steady, Arthur!
No! You shall not have him!
Father!
- You shan't have him! - Father!
Father!
Oh... aaagh!
(Duke) 'I was disposed to love Francesca
'not with a boy's passion, but with a man's love.
'My marriage to her foundered on James's jealousy.
'As long as I could see his mother's face and manner in him,
'James knew he could keep me from the love I owed my wife.'
Even his cruelty to Arthur...
I could not send him away even for that.
So I sent Arthur away instead.
What did he hope to achieve by kidnapping his brother? Money?
- Legitimacy? - And power.
Power over me.
He delighted in exercising power over me...
whom he knew to have denied him power.
You suspected that he was behind the abduction.
In my darkest moments, yes.
Yet somehow I hoped to...
save him.
Well...
a long penance it has seemed.
I can only hope that Francesca will... forgive me.
Thank you, Mr Holmes.
Your Grace.
This is a king's ransom.
You have given me back my future.