(Watson) 'My dear Holmes,
'today I walked 14 miles across rough terrain,
'and hardly a twinge from either my leg or my shoulder.
'The landscape is as handsome as it is reported.
'I still entertain the hope that I can prevail upon you to join me.
'I appreciate, of course, that the beauties of nature mean little to you,
'but I believe you would find some of the guests at my hotel most intriguing.
'Moral splendour is on display
'in the person of the striking Major Shlessinger, a hero of the Boer War,
'crippled in the defence of Ladysmith and now engaged in charitable work.
'His nurse is a Miss Calder,
'whose attentiveness suggests not only that she is his disciple,
'but also that tenderer feelings may be involved.
'Most fascinating of all, however, is an extraordinary woman,
'one who would stand out in any society.
'The Lady Frances Carfax.
'I suppose one would call her modern,
'except that she seems to come from an ancient line of English eccentrics.
'Yesterday, as if to confirm the general opinion of her oddity,
'she declared that she would sail herself to church across the lake.
'There was much speculation in the hotel carriage,
'as we travelled towards the charming little lakeside chapel,
'about whether Lady Frances would be as good as her word.
'Those foolish enough to doubt her
'were soon rebuked by the sight of the skiff moored in the shallows
'and by the stern gaze of its captain when she greeted us within.'
Surprisingly jolly sermon, Vicar. I laughed like a cat.
'She appears to care not a jot what her fellow guests make of her,
'and seems quite insensible to the vivid impression
'she creates wherever she goes.'
(Laughter)
'We were all amused at the sight of her trying to board the skiff,
'but since she had accomplished the outward journey with such skill,
'we had no reason to suppose that her return voyage
'would present her with any greater difficulty,
'or that it would end in the way that it did.
'I had decided to walk back across the fells,
'so I was not amongst those who waited to cheer Lady Frances on her return.
'I arrived a little later, at exactly the moment
'when tragedy threatened to strike.'
Help!
Help! Here!
Help!
'I was helpless, my dear Holmes. Helpless.'
Help!
'I have never felt so powerless in my life.
'As powerless, so I thought, as the old soldier in his wheelchair,
'who had only been able to shout, it seemed, for help.
'As with many men, I have noticed a weakness in one part of the body
'is compensated by great strength elsewhere.
'Unable to walk,
'Shlessinger was yet able to swim powerfully with his arms alone.
'Reinforcements arrived in due course from the hotel
'and tragedy was happily averted.
'Now all parties are recovered,
'it is reported that the Lady Frances is resentful of her rescue,
'as if her suffragette principles had been somehow compromised.
'AII agree, at any rate, that Major Shlessinger is hero of the hour.
'Miss Calder's attentions are now translated into patent adoration.
'No doubt further praise will be in order
'when he lectures on his missionary activities at the hotel tomorrow.
'He is, by the way, the British representative
'of the Mission Church of Christ the Healer,
'whose theatre of works is the High Andes of Peru... '
Good morning.
Major Shlessinger is avoiding me.
The poor man is embarrassed by his own heroism.
Perhaps he now thinks I'm obliged to contribute to his work.
Men have such extraordinary weaknesses. Don't you think?
Hm? Oh, yes, certainly.
We do, of course, I agree.
Would you care to take a turn by the lake, Doctor?
(Frances) Major Shlessinger works tirelessly for his church, does he not?
(Watson) I understand the need for funds is considerable.
He's lecturing on his cause tomorrow in the hotel, hoping to raise money.
He'll do well.
The local matronage will part with half a guinea each
for the company of such a man, albeit in public.
(Laughs) Do I shock you?
- Not at all. - I shock my brother.
As the Earl of Rufton, I think he feels it is his duty to be shocked.
It's very beautiful here, isn't it?
I spent every summer of my childhood here, by this lake.
- It's very beautiful. - It is indeed.
He's to visit me tomorrow.
- Who? - My brother.
That is duty too, of course.
Damn him. Damn him!
Ah, Lady Frances. What a pleasant surprise.
(Watson) 'I must confess that her behaviour continues to fascinate me.
'I grant that her reaction to this unknown horseman was extreme,
'but many of her reactions are.
'Had she known him, I wonder?
'What lies in her past to prompt this fear of him?
'In looking for an explanation, I am placing some hopes
'in the visit we expect this afternoon from her brother, the Earl of Rufton.
'By all accounts, his oddities
'are of an entirely different order from those of his sister.
'Where she flouts convention,
'he has raised the conventions of a former era to the status of a faith.
'As for myself, I notice an increasing indifference
'to the natural beauty which lies about me.
'My thoughts return constantly to the Lady Frances.
'Something about her life prompts my sympathy,
'some unhappiness I can sense which I would dearly like to dispel.
'It is to be hoped her spirits will be lifted by her brother's visit,
'for she remains subdued from yesterday's strange encounter.
'Who is he, Holmes?
'Why does he not wish to make himself known? '
Why indeed?
Watson, you're a brick.
I came here, Fanny, to see how you were, not to be lectured.
- It's a request. - Sounds like a lecture.
It's quite simple. I need some money.
Just like that? You've been overdoing it again, haven't you?
I do not overdo it, John.
If I have ever overspent the wretched allowance you give me,
it's because someone has been in need.
Oh, yes! Your famous heart of gold!
Except that it's my money. And there isn't any.
You know perfectly well there isn't. The Hall's falling to bits.
There's a family of owls in the east wing. And you think...
What is it this time? Helping penniless poets in Islington?
You only know how to be cruel.
When have you ever cared for what I want?
The last 15 years of my life have been wretched.
Now at last I have a chance to make something of it.
Doesn't that have any meaning for you?
(Receptionist) Good afternoon.
(Frances) Then I wouldn't be told what to do.
- You know I loathe it. - (John) You won't take advice!
You were offered everything, turned it down.
- What have I been offered? - Marriage. Good marriages.
To be the unpaid slave of a titled yokel who hasn't even read a book!
Who thinks Bach is something terriers do!
All right. All right.
What have you got against me doing this? What?
I want to get out of this miserable mess my life is in.
To be my own woman, for God's sake.
To fulfil just a... portion of my life.
Why do you always hold me back?
Think of it, John! Think of it!
Just one payment. One.
You could see the back of me forever.
(Shlessinger) The mule express, as we call it,
brings the mail once a month.
Letters, of course, and food for the mind from the Library of Christ,
and medicines for the wellbeing of my flock,
whom you may see here,
posing outside the mission below a temporary belfry.
When I show you the next picture of a leading member of my congregation,
you will understand how the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep
has become transmuted into that of the Ilama herd and the lost Ilama.
(Laughter)
And finally, our church.
Humble as it is, rough and poor indeed,
I'm proud to tell you that the word of God is preached
as fervently within its walls,
and is as joyously received there,
as in any great cathedral here at home.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. As inspiring as I predicted.
I regret to say that the rigours of his itinerary
press hard upon Major Shlessinger,
who will shortly be departing for Whitehaven.
We shall be taking up a collection on behalf of his estimable mission.
What do you mean?
I mean that the remedy lies in your own hands.
- How? - You know how!
If you're really serious you know what to do, damn it.
I'm sick of you coming to me with these crackpot notions.
You know my responsibilities.
If you hadn't wasted your chances, you wouldn't be in this position. Enough!
You know what you have to do. Grow up and do it.
My last resort. My very last resort! How can you suggest it?
(John) Groom!
Groom! Where the devil are you?
(Laughter)
In which room is Mr Shlessinger's meeting?
The meeting finished half an hour ago, madam.
Mr Shlessinger has left for Whitehaven.
Oh, yes. Yes, I'd forgotten. Thank you.
(Watson) Lady Frances...
Leave me alone!
Excuse me...
You, sir!
'I've no doubt you will tell me my fears are unfounded, Holmes,
'but the repeated appearance of this man has cast a shadow over her life
'which, try as she might, she cannot lift.'
Evening paper, Mr Holmes.
Mrs Hudson! Fetch me a cab!
Mrs Hudson, as soon as the telegraph office is open!
To Dr John Watson, Lake Hotel, Fellmere, Cumberland.
- But, Mr Holmes... - I shall not be here, Mrs Hudson.
Dr Watson!
I shall be on the 8:17 out of Euston.
Dr Watson!
(Holmes) 'My cab awaits you downstairs.'
Read!
- Mr Holmes... - Read!
"Grave danger, Lady Frances, stop.
"Never let from sight, stop.
"On my way, Holmes."
- How long has this been here? - I...
Holmes!
Disappeared, Watson.
Disappeared.
- (Watson) Did Lady Frances pay her bill? - No, sir.
- Did she order any transport? - No, sir.
- She took none of her luggage? - We think not, sir.
Where is Mr Holmes?
Nothing yet, Holmes.
I'm beginning to fear the worst.
I blame myself. I should have pursued that man.
- It is a possibility. - What is?
Do you not see? It is most conspicuous.
- What? - The skiff, Watson. The sailing skiff.
- It's not here. - Precisely.
It is possible that there lies the Lady Frances Carfax' silent road to Arranside.
It is the nearest railhead.
You don't mean that this fellow abducted her by boat?
Silk.
It is one of the three more likely possibilities.
Best French silk. Dove grey.
- She had a grey silk shawl. - That tells us nothing more.
What other three possibilities?
- With what did she wear it? - Outside clothes.
The three possibilities!
She may have run away with her abductor.
He may have abducted her by boat or by some other means.
She may, given her emotional condition, have been deceived into going with him.
I can't believe it. He terrified her, believe me.
I believe you.
Yes. A stray chicken in a world of foxes.
Once she is gobbled up, she is hardly missed.
Come, Watson.
- Our horses should be saddled by now. - Horses?
I have been extravagant in my choice of mounts,
but delay must be dangerous in this matter.
We should be at Rufton Hall at dusk.
I don't see what interest it could have for you.
Considerable interest.
One of the most dangerous classes
is the drifting and friendless woman with no one to protect and guide her.
She is the inevitable inciter of crime in others.
I treat the disappearance of your sister with utmost seriousness.
Do you think I do not?
I am merely suggesting that it is frivolous
to keep from me the substance of your quarrel.
It was this quarrel which immediately preceded her disappearance.
Huh. Might it have something to do with a drunken poet she once knew?
What?
I understand from my colleague that she may have seen him recently.
Green?
Thought I'd seen the last of him.
I sent him packing. 15 years ago.
What is his connection with your sister?
He used to court her. Great brute of a fellow.
She wouldn't have anything to do with him.
The Honourable Philip Green.
Never was a title so abused.
He went to the dogs completely. Drink, gambling.
Ended up destitute in Islington, pretending to write poetry.
Frances became interested in him as soon as he'd lost everything.
How did you send him packing?
He was a violent fellow and he drank.
I'd heard talk of prosecution, debt, assault.
I gave him 100 pounds and bought him a ticket to Australia.
Show his face here, I'll set the dogs on him.
Now, your quarrel with your sister.
- Money. She wanted money. - She has none of her own?
She has an allowance out of the estate. It's modest, but you've seen the place.
She has no assets herself?
Yes.
She has.
I told her if she wanted money she could sell this.
It's a priceless collection.
It was designed for the French royal family by Fragonard.
We acquired it all at the Revolution. And now it's hers.
What I have is owls. Owls in the east wing. Want to see the owls?
Where does she keep them? Does she travel with them?
- No. - Then where are they kept?
My lord, your sister has vanished.
How and why we do not know,
but I have reason to believe that she is in the gravest danger.
If we knew the whereabouts of the jewellery, we might be able to save her.
The Oxford and Lombard Maritime Bank in Pall Mall.
Thank you.
The Oxford and Lombard Bank opens its doors in 12 hours.
She may already have come and gone.
The bank's been open for 20 minutes.
I have been quite blind, Holmes.
I had the evidence in the palm of my hand.
- If anything's happened... - Calm yourself, my dear friend.
Holmes, look.
May I help you, sir?
Yes, please. I wish to see the manager, Sir Paulo McNeil.
It is a private matter about a family deposit.
My colleague...
Watson!
- You, sir! - I, sir?
You, sir. What have you done with the Lady Frances Carfax?
I insist upon an answer.
(Whistle blasts)
Mr Green, please excuse my friend.
He spent the night on the Carlisle express.
Watson! Please!
Frances!
- I blame myself. - No. You need not.
Nevertheless, I do.
We all bear equal blame.
She has disappeared again, and that is that.
It is pointless to dwell on it.
Our task now is to find her.
Mr Green, let us go back to that moment by the lake yesterday morning.
I was out riding in the dawn
and I saw the skiff sailing across the lake toward Arranside.
- You realised it was the Lady Frances? - Yes.
- Was she alone? - Yes.
Please continue.
I managed to board the same train.
I begged her to speak to me.
I told her how I'd travelled the world and had become a very rich man.
I told her that I'd never stopped loving her
and that she could have whatever she wanted.
I can see her now.
She sat saying nothing, smiling like a sphinx.
"No," she said.
She wanted to go her own way.
When we got to London, I followed her as best I could,
but she seemed determined to be rid of me.
I lost her somewhere near Southwark Bridge.
Southwark? That is most interesting.
Why?
I am reliably informed that his usual haunts are west of Westminster.
Whose haunts?
How did you come to be at the bank?
I reasoned that she would be needing money in London,
and I know the address of the family bank well enough.
I had the wild idea of enlisting the manager's help.
Do you know where she is, Mr Holmes?
No, I do not.
Where do you think she is?
I believe that through our efforts to save her,
we have driven her into the hands of her worst enemy.
But we saw her free.
A person may walk over the edge of a cliff
because they have been invited to gaze at the moon.
Her eyes may be open but she is, I believe, at this moment
walking into mortal danger.
Shlessinger.
Mr Shlessinger?
(Holmes) 'I have sought to acquaint myself
'with the world of apostolic missions.'
I have also made a search of the records at Scotland Yard.
Shlessinger is also known as the Reverend Joseph Cubbington,
Amos Callow, the Dean of Maseru,
and Edmund, the Bishop of Lima.
His real name, in fact, is Peters.
He's a confidence trickster,
known at Scotland Yard, with the uninspired logic of that place,
as Holy Peters.
What is not yet suspected, but incontrovertible nonetheless,
is that he is a murderer.
'Peters' speciality is the beguiling of single women with private means
'by playing on their religious and charitable feelings.
'Helena Rosenbloom had been engaged in charitable work for ten years
'when she met Shlessinger.
'He inspired her to devote her energies to a new mission in the Andes.
'Miss Rosenbloom changed her will,
'said goodbye to her former life
'and boarded the SS Almeria at Glasgow, bound for South America.
'She was lost overboard the first night at sea.'
The SS Almeria docked at Liverpool for the family to retrieve her effects.
Shlessinger also disembarked.
He went to ground in the Lake District,
where he met his next intended victim,
the Lady Frances Carfax.
(Gasps)
At last, gentlemen!
At last.
- Where was it pawned? - Riley's of Stockwell.
It was, by my calculation, the 27th shop I tried.
Riley has received two sentences for the receipt of stolen goods.
- He will cooperate with us. - What does this mean?
- What does it mean? - This is pointless.
- Don't torture yourself. - You think the torture is self-induced?
The thought of Frances in the hands of criminals?
Such thoughts come unbidden, Mr Holmes.
They break through the strongest defences the mind can raise.
Calm yourself, Mr Green. Calm yourself.
If she is still innocent of Shlessinger's true identity, she may be safe for a time.
And if not?
Then it is clear that he cannot let her loose without his own destruction.
We must continue to hope that she remains ignorant of who he is.
15 years.
I couldn't come back until I had made something of myself.
Perhaps I was foolish to think she would look kindly on me after all these years.
I was ridiculously encouraged by the fact that she was not married.
And now my stupidity has driven her into the arms of a murderer.
What can I do?
Is there nothing I can do?
Does Shlessinger know you by sight?
No.
Ah! Well, then, there is something you can do.
But it will demand great patience.
I have waited for 15 years, Mr Holmes.
Shlessinger had a fair price for the jewellery and no questions.
He will probably return to Riley's shop.
The Rosenblooms challenged the will.
Now, give this note to Riley. He will let you wait at the shop.
It may be a long wait. But you must possess your soul in patience.
And above all, no violence.
(Shop bell)
(Miss Calder) It's late. (Woman) It should have been there.
I daresay it took longer, being out of the ordinary.
The address, dear. Remind me.
Yes, sir? Can I help?
Argyll Street. I am looking for Argyll Street.
There's a post office round the corner. Try there.
Mr Green, we can do nothing without a warrant.
This is intolerable!
Until we have some wretched signature, we can do nothing.
Meanwhile these fiends can do with her what they will.
- You told me every detail? - Every detail. I promise.
Then take this note to Scotland Yard.
They will understand the urgency of it.
- And I am to wait there for the warrant? - You will not get it today.
- What? - Some delay is inevitable.
A magistrate must be found.
The process of the law can be encouraged but not goaded.
Tomorrow may be too late, for God's sake.
Mr Green, everything that can be done will be done.
Go!
- Tomorrow may indeed be too late. - I am well aware of it.
Arm yourself, Watson.
We are, as usual, the irregulars,
and must take our luck together,
as we have occasionally done in the past.
Eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Brixton Cemetery.
Come on! Come on!
I fancy that you have been misdirected, sir.
Possibly if you tried further down the street...
That will do. We have no time to waste.
You are Henry Peters, late Major Albert Shlessinger, veteran of the Boer War.
Your further aliases I will not bore you by repeating.
And what is your name?
Sherlock Holmes. My friend and companion, I think you know.
The house will shortly be under police observation
until a warrant is prepared, authorising a search.
Your name does not frighten me. I have nothing to hide. What is your business?
I am looking for the Lady Frances Carfax.
I am delighted to hear it. If anyone can find her, I imagine you can.
Perhaps you would tell me when you do.
I've a note against her for nearly 100 pounds
and nothing to show for it but some pendants the dealer wouldn't look at.
- The woman is a leech. - How dare you, sir!
You imposed upon us as a man crippled in a military action. You are a fraud.
It may not have been a military action to satisfy your standards of slaughter,
but it was enough for me.
Hm! I salute your powers of improvisation, sir,
and your effrontery, but it will not do.
I am perfectly serious. You find her and I'm your debtor.
I mean to go through this house until I do.
- You have a warrant? - This will serve until a better one comes.
- You're a common burglar! - And my friend is a dangerous ruffian.
- We will go through your house. - I'm in no position to stop you.
Search where you will. I have nothing to hide.
Where is the coffin that you had brought into this house?
- That is none of your business. - I repeat. Where?
Is it not enough that you force your way into my home?
That you threaten me at gunpoint?
Must you also now invade the peace of the dead?
Where?
I shall not tell you.
Hold him here, Watson.
I don't believe you'd use that on an unarmed man, Doctor,
and in my condition.
I was a soldier in India, sir. I've shot nobler creatures than you.
(Holmes) Lights, Watson! Lights.
I thought I smelt formaldehyde and astringent.
Thank God. It is not her.
Get them out.
You have violated the peace of the dead. You will now leave.
- Who is she? - Get them out.
- Her name is Rose Spender. - Get them out!
She is my wife's old nurse. She has been with the family for half a century.
She died two days ago. We are to bury her tomorrow morning.
Now get out, before I ask the police you have summoned to my home
to come in and throw you out.
I've been considering the problem, Holmes.
It does seem to me that they could not have murdered Lady Frances
and thought to have disposed of her body in that coffin.
But they would then be faced with burying the old lady.
It may be that this burial has no connection
with Lady Frances's disappearance.
She was, as you know, the most unpredictable creature.
It may be that she had second thoughts about Shlessinger.
She may even have had some inkling of the kind of man we believe him to be,
and removed herself from the house.
He was after all, happy to let us search it.
What do you think?
- What is your theory, then? - I have none.
There are insufficient facts to construct a theory.
(Door slams)
You think there's something you've overlooked?
(Miss Calder) 'It's late.'
(Woman) 'It should have been there before now.'
'I daresay it took longer, being out of the ordinary.'
What has happened to any brains that God has given me?
Watson!
Quick, man. It's life or death.
100 chances on death and one on life.
(Priest) O God most mighty, holy and merciful saviour,
our most worthy judge eternal,
suffer us not at our last hour, for any pains of death...
...and never continueth in one state.
In the midst of life we are in death.
Of whom may we seek for succour but of Thee, O Lord,
who for our sins art justly displeased.
Yet, O Lord God most holy...
For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God in His great mercy
to take unto Himself the soul of our dear sister here departed,
we therefore commit her body to the ground.
Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
in sure and certain hope...
Stop!
Raise that coffin!
What the devil do you mean by this sacrilege?
Murder, sir.
Murder is what I mean.
Why such a deep coffin for such a small old lady?
A sovereign to each of you if you can lift the lid off that coffin in one minute.
Watson!
Stop, or I'll shoot!
(Watson) It's chloroform.
She has known literally the terrors of the grave.
God knows what this will have done to her.
I have failed.
(Green) 'I have brought her back here to the country of her childhood,
'which is one of the most beautiful on this planet.
'There has been a great improvement as a result.
'A landscape so familiar and so intimate to her
'will prompt, in time, a full response, I feel sure,
'as will the company of friends and family,
'who have all been most kind and dutiful.
'Her poor brother, the Earl, is beside himself with anger at the criminals,
'and with mortification at his having quarrelled with Frances
'before all this happened.
'Finally, please accept the enclosed
'as a token of my gratitude for your saving of my dear Frances, Mr Holmes.
'I look forward to our entertainment of you and Dr Watson in a happier future.'
I cannot accept it.
I refuse to be rewarded for fostering a tragedy.
I have never suffered such a complete eclipse of my faculties.
But like any eclipse, Holmes, it's only temporary.
There's every hope of a full recovery.
I wonder.
Frances?