(Footsteps)
Almost there.
What does a Harley Street specialist know about my health?
Listen, Holmes.
Dr Moore Agar insists you have a complete rest
if you wish to avoid an absolute breakdown.
The sea air will do you the world of good.
You should have travelled alone, Watson.
Nonsense. You're on holiday.
(Seagulls calling)
Why, it's wonderful, Holmes!
The views are spectacular.
We're overlooking the most dangerous piece of coastline in the country.
Your friend is a natural historian, I presume?
An old acquaintance from my college days.
- I'll see to the luggage. - Thank you.
(Door closes)
(Knocking)
Good day to you, sir.
Oh!
I thought as we were going to be neighbours for the next few weeks,
I ought to say a few words of welcome.
How very kind.
And, of course, I've long wanted to meet Mr Sherlock Holmes.
It is indeed a pleasure, sir.
Thank you, but I am Dr John Watson.
Oh!
- (Knocking) - Come in.
This is my good friend Sherlock Holmes.
I apologise. I should have realised.
- Do come in, Mr Roundhay. - Very stupid of me...
How did you know my name?
You have an interest in archaeology?
- Why, yes... - Deduce, Watson. Come, deduce.
Erm... you've got mud on the points of your shoes
and beneath your knees and on the fingers of your right hand,
indicating you've knelt on the ground for a length of time.
You're coming along marvellously.
You're a left-handed gardener, a student of archaeology.
You've published a paper on Neolithic burial rites.
You are the Reverend Francis Roundhay, vicar of the parish of Tredannick Wollas.
Astonishing, sir!
- Please sit down. - Thank you.
But... left-handed?
The hand with which you hold the trowel.
Exactly right! Precise in every detail, but how, sir, how?
Vicar, vicar, vicar. The parish magazine! It's all...
(AII laugh)
That's outrageous.
(Watson) The village is nearby?
Yes, just along the coastal path.
It's secluded but it caters for all our needs.
Is that the nearest habitation?
No, the Tregennis estate is about a mile inland.
Very nice people. I'm sure they'll extend to you some fine Cornish hospitality.
However, I've imposed enough upon you for one day.
Perhaps you'd come and dine with me one evening at the vicarage?
Then we should impose upon you and your family.
Oh, no, alas, I have no family.
I live alone except for Mr Tregennis, who has a suite of rooms.
- But does he not live on the estate? - A family dispute.
His sister and two brothers live there, but he chooses to live apart.
Do you know, dinner... at the vicarage
is a splendid idea.
- (Holmes singing) - We must arrange a date and a time.
Yes... Well, of course, gentlemen. Good day to you.
Good morning!
Cornish hospitality. Hm!
(Holmes) Weather-pitted slabs of granite.
Ancient tombs, scattered throughout the length and breadth of this peninsula.
Like the sea.
I suppose death is always with us.
Quite so.
(Watson) 'Quite often during those days in Cornwall,
'Holmes would strike out alone.
'The mystery and glamour of the place,
'with its sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations,
'appealed to the imagination of my friend.
'He spent much of his time in long walks and solitary meditations.
'One morning, however,
'my friend's convalescence was violently interrupted.'
Gentlemen, I urge you to consult the police. Holmes is a sick man.
Yes, but getting better all the time, Watson.
This is a matter of some emergency.
Mr Holmes. Mr Holmes.
We can only regard it as a special providence
that you should chance to be here at this time.
For in all England, you are the one man we truly need.
I've explained to Mr Tregennis and Mr Roundhay that you're in convalescence.
I'm sure they'll be very sympathetic. Please sit down.
The fact is, as I've explained to Dr Watson,
the most extraordinary and tragic affair has occurred here during the night.
You have my full attention.
Perhaps I'd better say a few words first.
This is Mr Tregennis, of whom I spoke.
Now, Mr Tregennis spent last night
in the company of his brothers George and Owen and his sister Brenda
at their house at Tredannick Wartha.
He left them playing cards around the dining table
in excellent health and spirits.
But on his return this morning,
he discovered a truly bizarre state of affairs.
'AII three, both alive and dead,
'retained upon their faces an expression of utmost horror.'
Dead?
A convulsion of terror...
which was dreadful to look upon.
Was there a sign of anyone else in the house?
Only Mrs Porter, the cook and housekeeper.
But she had slept deeply and heard no sound in the night.
Is anything missing, disarranged?
Nothing, Mr Holmes.
What could frighten a young woman to death and two men out of their senses?
What indeed?
I'm sure, Holmes, that the local police will have reached some conclusions.
- However erroneous they may be. - Holmes.
Think. Tell me about last night, Mr Tregennis.
Well, Mr Holmes,
I supped there, as the vicar has said,
and my elder brother George proposed a game of whist afterwards.
'It were a quarter past ten when I moved to go.'
(Holmes) 'Who let you out? '
'Mrs Porter had gone to bed, so I let myself out.
'The window of the room in which they sat was closed,
'but the blind was not drawn down.
'There was no change in door or window this morning,
'nor any reason to think that any stranger had been to the house.'
Yet there they sat, driven clean mad with terror.
I'll never get the sight of that room out of my mind as long as I live!
Yes. The facts are most remarkable.
Mr Tregennis, do you have a theory which might account for them?
It is devilish! Devilish, Mr Holmes.
It is not of this world.
If the matter is beyond humanity, it is certainly beyond me.
I trust so, Holmes.
Hm.
Now, think.
Think very carefully, Mr Tregennis,
about the evening that you spent together.
Does anything stand out in your memory
which might throw some light upon this tragedy?
There is nothing, Mr Holmes.
Were they nervous people?
Did they show any sign of apprehension?
Not to my knowledge, Mr Holmes.
Then there's nothing in which you can assist me?
There is one thing occurs to me.
As I sat at the table my back was to the window,
and my brother George, he being my partner at cards, was facing it.
'I saw him once look hard over my shoulder,
'so I turned round and looked also.'
The blind was up and the window was shut,
but I could just make out the bushes on the lawn,
and it seemed to me for a moment that I saw something moving among 'em.
I couldn't even say if it were man or animal,
but I just thought I saw something there.
Did you not investigate?
The matter passed as unimportant.
- Did you have any premonition of evil? - None that I was aware of.
How did you hear the news so early this morning?
'I'm an early riser, and generally take a walk before breakfast.
'This morning I had hardly started when Dr Richards overtook me in his carriage.'
Mr Tregennis!
I've just had an urgent message from your sister's house!
- What's happened? - I'm not quite sure, sir.
But you'd better come with me.
She's been dead at least six hours.
No sign of violence.
But... how?
I've never seen the like, Mr Tregennis.
Not in all my years as a...
Are you all right? I've got you.
Over here. That's it.
Down we go.
We nearly had him on our hands as well.
- Where are you going? - Tredannick Wartha.
Mr Holmes, I'll go on ahead.
- Quickly, or we'll be there before you. - I must protest.
Save your protestations for later, Watson. Much later!
I gather you were divided in some way from your family.
That is so, Mr Holmes, though the matter is past and done with.
All was forgiven and forgotten and we were great friends.
We were tin miners at Redruth,
but sold out our venture to a company,
and so retired with enough to keep us.
I won't deny there was some bad feeling over the division of the money,
and it stood between us for several years.
Nevertheless...
you decided not to leave Cornwall.
I suppose I entertained some hopes of returning home one day.
Holmes!
Holmes, stand back!
My brothers. They're taking them to Helston.
It's a lovely house, Mr Tregennis.
It's a very sad house.
This is the window through which you saw the shadowy form.
What distance was it from the glass?
I should say not less than ten feet.
At a guess... about here.
There's no sign of a forced entry.
The window would have remained locked?
My sister made sure of that. Even in Cornwall...
I'm so dreadfully sorry.
That's quite all right, Mr Holmes. An accident.
(Knocking at door)
Thank you.
Could you let Mrs Porter know I'm back?
- I should like to meet the housekeeper. - Of course.
Oh, but please try to avoid causing further distress.
Death is always distressing, Mr Tregennis.
Ah. The chairs.
They must have been moved after the police left the house.
That one here, Mr Holmes.
One over there. One here.
And this one... over here.
Has anything else been moved?
All is as I remember it.
You see, there was a great deal of fuss and confusion
when I arrived this morning.
Things may have been moved without thought of a criminal investigation.
Criminal. That is a very interesting word.
So you no longer subscribe to the theory of a supernatural explanation?
I don't know.
Where were people sitting?
I sat here facing Georgie... my brother George.
Brenda sat next to me, Owen across from her.
- That's curious. - What?
From this position,
the figure outside the window must have been well over six feet.
I can only tell you what I saw, Mr Holmes.
Ah, this is my housekeeper, Mrs Porter.
I'd like you to meet these gentlemen, my dear.
She was so beautiful.
(Sobbing) So beautiful.
She is still very upset.
We're all very upset, Mr Roundhay.
Come and sit down.
I'll not stay in this house one moment longer than I have to, sir.
I shall rejoin my family in St Ives.
But you're part of our family.
The family Tregennis is dead, sir.
Dead, or as good as.
I'm still alive.
Mrs Porter.
Excuse me, now, Mrs Porter.
My name is Sherlock Holmes and I'd like you to tell me all that you know.
Mr Holmes is a detective.
He's going to try and find out what happened to Brenda. Don't you worry.
(Holmes) Please... leave nothing out.
(Mrs Porter) 'I can tell you very little, Mr Holmes.'
(George) Oh, you be cheating!
I am not cheating!
Owen, will you tell your dear sister to play by the rules?
She's your sister too. You tell her.
Ah, but she's on your side.
It's rather late and I do have to get back to the vicarage.
(Thunder crashes)
Mortimer, you must stay here for the night.
- Oh, please say you will. - Well...
Don't force him to stay if he doesn't want to, Brenda.
Oh, really!
I thought we'd put an end to our squabbling.
Mortimer is just as much my brother as you and Georgie!
(Owen grunts)
Don't worry, dear brother. I know where I'm not welcome.
Then why visit us at all? You disowned us. Or have you forgotten?
We'll be all right, Beth, if you wish to retire.
Is Mr Tregennis staying with us tonight?
Why? Do you also object to my presence, Mrs Porter?
Mortimer!
I want to know should I air your room, sir.
I'm sorry.
Thank you, Beth. That'll be quite all right. Mr Tregennis will not be staying.
Very good, Miss Brenda.
Is it customary to have a fire in the room this time of year?
(Mortimer) It was a cold and damp night, Mr Holmes.
Well, I must say I thought it was rather humid.
I suffer with a mild blood disorder. Feel the cold on even warm nights.
I know how you feel.
(Holmes) 'Mrs Porter, was this door closed when you entered this morning? '
'Certainly sir.'
...nightingale as she sings...
(Muttering and shouting)
Nightingale... as they sing in the valley below...
As they sing in...
(Muttering and shouting continues)
When I recovered I threw wide the window to let in the morning air.
Then I ran down to the lane and sent a farm lad for the doctor.
And the rest I think you know, sir.
Mrs Porter's right. She's very beautiful.
Yes, but something's missing.
Tregennis is lying about a mild blood disorder. I'll stake my reputation on that.
We'll see.
Watson. Watson.
Look at this.
That's very unusual.
(Holmes) It won't do! It won't do!
Three people grievously stricken
by some conscious or unconscious human agency.
Now, when exactly did this event occur?
They had finished playing cards.
It was past their usual hour for bed.
The chairs had not been pulled back from the table.
It must have been only moments after Tregennis left the house.
Exactly.
You were conscious of how I managed to obtain a clearer impress of his foot?
Yes, I guessed something of the sort.
Having got a sample print,
I could pick out his tracks among the others and follow his movements.
From the length of his stride, he returned swiftly to the vicarage.
So if Tregennis disappeared,
then almost instantly some other person affected the card-players.
Now, how can we reconstruct that person?
But is there any evidence, really, Watson,
that anyone did creep up to that window?
The only suggestion comes from Tregennis,
who says that his brother reacted to some movement in the garden.
And how was this impression of horror conveyed?
You're Mr Sherlock Holmes, the detective.
And you are Dr Leon Sterndale,
the great lion hunter and famous African explorer.
- Have you made any progress? - Some.
The county police are utterly at fault.
Tell me what you know about the fate of the Tregennis family.
What is your interest, Dr Sterndale?
My claim to be taken into your confidence
is that during my many residencies here,
I have come to know the Tregennis family well.
Indeed, upon my Cornish mother's side I may call them cousins,
so their strange fate has naturally been a great shock to me.
Do you know of anything that could help us in our inquiry?
Nothing at all.
I had got as far as Plymouth, on my way to Africa, when news reached me.
I came straight back here to help in any way I can.
Did you lose your boat?
I will take the next.
Dear me, that is friendship indeed.
I tell you, they were relatives.
Did your baggage go on with the boat?
Some of it. Most of it remained in the hotel.
Surely this event could not have got into the Plymouth morning papers?
No, sir. I received a telegram.
From whom?
You are very inquisitive, Mr Holmes.
It is my business.
The vicar, Mr Roundhay, sent it, recalling me to Tredannick Wollas.
I see.
May I ask if your suspicions point in any particular direction?
Well, I can hardly answer that.
Then I'm wasting my time.
(Holmes gasps)
I'm all right.
(Coughs) To work the brain without sufficient material
is like racing an engine - it cracks itself to pieces.
- Wait for me at the cottage. - Where are you going?
Cheer up, Watson.
Sea air, sunshine, patience!
All will be revealed!
(Birds calling)
(Man outside) Whoa!
(Horse neighs)
Mr Holmes! Mr Holmes!
- We are devil-ridden! - Watson!
My poor parish is devil-ridden!
(Shouting incoherently)
What has happened?
Dead about three hours, I'd say. Same symptoms as Brenda Tregennis.
Limbs convulsed, fingers contorted.
As though he died in a very paroxysm of fear.
That it should happen under my roof!
- Has his bed been slept in? - Oh, yes, most definitely.
Who opened this window?
My housekeeper. She was the first into the room this morning.
Where is she now?
She has taken to her bed with a severe headache.
No doubt greatly affected by the shock.
I am terribly sorry to inconvenience you in this way.
I know you both came to these parts to rest.
(Watson) It isn't easy with Holmes around.
He likes nothing better than to sink his teeth into a problem of this sort.
Two deaths, Dr Watson. In the space of two days.
This is the work of the devil. Make no mistake.
Put your faith in the known and tangible, Mr Roundhay.
(Horse snorting, cart approaching)
(Gasps)
- I trust nothing has been touched, sir. - No, everything's exactly as it was.
Right, then, I'll need a statement from you and your housekeeper.
Must you? I'm afraid she's still rather ill.
(Inspector) Check upstairs.
Oh. Excuse me.
Who are these gentlemen?
Oh, Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, from London.
I've heard of you, Mr Holmes.
I'd appreciate it if you would leave this inquiry to the official police.
- As you wish. - I do, sir.
Mr Roundhay.
Direct the inspector towards the window upstairs and the lamp on the table.
Each is suggestive. Together they are almost conclusive.
Watson.
(Holmes) Good afternoon.
Good luck.
What on earth are you doing?
An experiment.
To test a theory.
Isn't that the lamp in Tregennis's room?
Yes and no.
Oh, I see. You've bought an identical one.
I purchased it from a delightful shop in the village.
That's where you've been all afternoon.
There is a single point of resemblance in the reports that we've heard.
Now, this concerns the effect
on the atmosphere of the room
upon those who first entered it.
First Dr Richards, then Mrs Porter.
And Roundhay's housekeeper was taken ill this morning.
In each case there is a combustion going on in the room.
In the first case a fire, in the second a lamp.
The fire, perhaps, was necessary,
but the lamp was lit when it was already broad daylight.
A comparison of the oil consumed in this and Tregennis's lamp proves that point.
But why?
Something was burned producing an atmosphere
causing a strange toxic effect.
'In the first instance, of the Tregennis family,
'a substance was placed in the fire,
'and the fire would carry the fumes to some extent up the chimney.'
Only Brenda Tregennis, who was closest to the fire, was killed.
Her brothers were exhibiting that lunacy
which is evidently the first effect of the drug.
In the other case, of course, the result was complete.
So it's a poison which works by combustion.
Yes.
'The obvious place to look
'was the smoke guard of the lamp in Tregennis's room.
'There, sure enough, I perceived a number of flaky ashes,
'and round the edges a fringe of brownish powder
'which had not yet been consumed.
'Half of this I took, the other half I left for the police.'
We will see if we can reproduce the same effect with our own lamp.
Oh, no, Holmes. That's insane.
I cannot force you to stay, but I mean to have the answer.
Of course I shall stay.
I thought I knew my Watson.
Would you open the door, please?
Now, would you like to just sit there?
Are you ready?
(Indistinct male voice)
(Watson) Holmes! Holmes!
- Holmes! - (Screams)
- Holmes! Holmes! - (Screams)
For God's sake, can you hear me?
John!
Thank God you're all right!
That was stupid and dangerous. We could have been killed!
Oh... It was an unjustifiable experiment even for myself.
Doubly so for a friend.
I really am extremely sorry.
(Splintering glass)
All the evidence points to Tregennis being the criminal in the first tragedy
and victim in the second.
Had anyone else come in, the family would have risen from the table.
Then Tregennis's own death was suicide.
That will be Dr Leon Sterndale. Would you let him in, Watson?
Please come in, Dr Sterndale. It seems you are expected.
I had your note about an hour ago,
but let me state directly,
I don't take kindly to being summoned by anybody!
I thought it better to discuss the matter here. No risk of eavesdropping.
I fail to see, sir, what you can have to speak about
which "affects me personally in the most intimate fashion."
(Holmes) The killing of Mortimer Tregennis.
I've lived so long among savages and beyond the law
that I've got into the way of being a law unto myself.
You will do well to remember that,
for I have no desire to do you an injury.
Nor I you, Dr Sterndale.
But the clearest proof of it is that, knowing what I know,
I have sent for you and not for the police.
If this is a bluff, you have the wrong man for your experiment!
No, the bluff is upon your side, not upon mine.
Now, I will tell you the facts upon which my conclusions are based.
Of your return from Plymouth and letting much of your property go on to Africa,
I shall say nothing except that it informed me
that you were one of the factors
which had to be taken into account in the reconstructing of this drama.
This telegram from the hotel confirms what you told me.
Now, when we last met you asked me whom I suspected
and I refused to answer you.
Then you departed, but you didn't go home.
Oh, no, Dr Sterndale,
you went to the vicarage
and you waited there for some time.
- How do you know that? - I followed you.
I saw no one.
That is what you may expect to see when I follow you.
You spent a restless night.
'You made certain plans
'and then in the early hours you proceeded to put them into action.
'You returned to the vicarage,
'collected some distinctive red gravel from the cliff path.
'The house, by now, was in daylight,
'but the inhabitants were not stirring.
'You threw some of that gravel up at the window of the lodger, Tregennis.'
(Gravel clattering on window)
Sterndale?!
I must speak with you urgently.
At this hour?
The doors are locked and the housekeeper has the keys.
It is of the utmost importance.
'You entered through the sitting room window,
'had an interview, a short one,
'and you walked up and down the room.
'You withdrew as you had come.
'You were wearing the same pair of studded walking shoes
'which at the present moment are upon your feet.'
And Mortimer Tregennis was dead.
(Growls)
The ring you gave Brenda Tregennis.
Yes.
Brenda Tregennis.
For years I loved her.
For years she loved me.
There is the secret of the Cornish seclusion which people so marvelled at.
It brought me close to the one person on this earth who was dear to me.
I couldn't marry her, for I had a wife who left me,
but whom, by the deplorable laws of England, I could not divorce.
For years Brenda waited.
For years I waited.
And this was what we waited for.
Roundhay knew, he was in our confidence,
hence his telegram to me at Plymouth.
What was my baggage or Africa to me
when I learned that such a fate had befallen my darling?
There you have the missing clue to my actions, Mr Holmes.
I understand that you, sir, are a doctor of medicine.
Have you ever heard of radix pedis diaboli?
Devil's foot root? No, I can't say that I have.
Oh. Well, it is no reflection upon your professional knowledge,
for I believe that, save for a sample in a Buda laboratory,
there is no specimen in Europe.
It is used as an ordeal poison
by the medicine men in certain districts of West Africa,
and it is kept as a secret by them.
You already know so much, Mr Holmes.
It is clearly to my interest that you should know all.
I have already explained the relationship in which I stood to the Tregennis family.
There had been a quarrel about money which estranged this man Mortimer,
a sly, subtle, scheming man,
but for Brenda's sake I was friendly with her brother.
One day a few weeks ago he came to my cottage
and I showed him some of my African curiosities.
Among other things, I exhibited the devil's foot.
(Mortimer) A poison, you say? Fascinating.
(Sterndale) You wouldn't think so if you were to try it.
The smallest amount could be fatal.
In this powder form it reacts instantaneously when burned.
It stimulates those brain centres which control the emotion of fear.
Madness or death is the fate of the unfortunate native
who is subjected to the ordeal by the priest of his tribe.
Can it be detected?
Not by European science.
A few days later, my cottage was broken into,
but since nothing seemed to have been taken, I gave the matter no heed
until Mr Roundhay's telegram arrived at Plymouth.
This villain, Mortimer, had thought that I would be at sea before news reached me
and that I should be lost for years in Africa.
But of course I returned immediately
and I could not hear the details without being assured
that it was my poison which had been used
and that Mortimer Tregennis himself was the murderer.
My soul cried out for revenge.
You murdered her!
For money, you murdered your own sister!
You can't prove that! No jury in the land would believe you!
I am my own jury, Mr Tregennis.
Judge, jury and executioner.
No! No!
'I lit the lamp, I put the powder above it.
'In five minutes he died.'
My God, how he died!
But my heart was flint,
for he endured nothing which my innocent darling had not suffered.
You can take what steps you like, Mr Holmes,
for there can be no man living
who fears death less than I do now.
What were your plans?
I was intending to bury myself in Central Africa.
My work there is but half done.
Go and do the other half.
I for one am not prepared to stop you.
God bless you! Both of you.
Not for the first time, Holmes,
you presume to take the law into your own hands.
I have never loved.
But if I did, and if the woman I had loved had met with such an end,
I might act even as our lawless lion hunter has done.
Wouldn't you?
Yes, I suppose so. But that's not the point.
The point is, why should I do the work of the official police?
And as you're very fond of telling me, I'm on holiday.