Original subtitles

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,

believe you would have found some of the guests at my hotel most intriguing.

Moral splendour is on display in the person of the striking Major

hero of the Boer War, sadly crippled in the defence of Ladysmith, now engaged in

charitable work.

His nurse is a Miss Calder, whose attentiveness suggests... not only that

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 Carsacks.

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.

And those of us 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 -maker. 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.

We were all amused, certainly, at the sight of her trying to board the skip.

But since she had accomplished the outward journey with such skill, we had

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 fell, 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.

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, Fletcher 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 principle had been somehow

compromised.

All agree, at any rate, that Major Schlesinger is the 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

the Healer, whose theatre of work is the High Andes of Peru.

Morning.

Major Schlesinger is avoiding me.

The poor man is embarrassed by his own heroism.

Perhaps he now thinks I'm obliged to contribute to his work.

And have such extraordinary weaknesses.

Don't you think?

Oh, yes, certainly.

You do, of course, I agree.

Would you care to take a turn by the lake?

Major Schlesinger works tirelessly for his church, does he not?

I understand the need for funds is considerable.

He's lecturing on his cause tomorrow here in the hotel, hoping to raise some

money. He'll do well.

The local matronate will happily part with half a guinea each for the company

such a man, albeit in public.

Do I shock you?

Not at all.

I shock my brother.

As the Earl of Rufton, I think he feels that it is his duty to be shocked.

Oh, 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 it.

Ah, Lady Frances.

What a pleasant surprise.

I must confess that her behaviour continues to fascinate me.

I grant that her reaction to this unknown horseman was extreme, but many

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

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's.

Where she flouts convention, he has raised the conventions of a former era

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.

There is something about her life which prompts my sympathy, some unhappiness I

can sense which I would dearly like to dispel.

It is to be hoped that her spirits will be lifted by her brother's visit, but

she remains subdued from yesterday's strange encounter.

Who is he, Holmes?

Why did he not wish to make himself known?

Watson, you're a brick.

I came here, Fanny, to see how you were, not to be lectured. It's not a lecture,

it's a request.

Sounds like a lecture. It's quite simple. I need some money.

Just like that.

I suppose you've been overdoing it again, haven't you? I do not overdo it,

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, don't you?

What have you ever cared for what I want?

The last 15 years of my life have been wretched, and now at last I have the

chance to make something of it. Doesn't that have any meaning for you?

The trouble is you won't even take advice, will you?

You've been offered everything. You've turned it all 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

bark 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...

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.

The Mule Express, as we have dubbed it, brings the mail once a month.

Letters, of course, and food for the mind from the Library of Christ, and

medicine for the well -being 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 in our teaching into that of the llama herd and the lost llama.

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, as inspiring as I predict.

I regret to say that the rigours of his itinerary press hard upon Major

Schlesinger, who will shortly be departing for Whitehaven.

We could be taking up a collection on behalf of his estimable mission, of

course.

What do you mean? I mean that the remedy lies in your own hands. Oh.

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 thrown away all your chances, you wouldn't be in this

now. Well, I've had enough!

You know what you have to do.

Grow up and do it!

My last resort.

In which room is Mr. Schlesinger's meeting taking place?

I'm afraid the meeting finished half an hour ago, madam.

Mr. Schlesinger left for Whitehaven by now.

Oh, yes.

Yes, I've forgotten.

Lady Francis?

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.

Fence me a cab!

John Watson, Lake Hotel, Fellmere, Cumberland.

But, but, but, Mr. Holmes.

I shall not be here, Mrs. Hudson.

Dr. Watson!

I shall be on the 817 out of Euston.

Dr. Watson!

My cab awaits you down there.

Read. Mr. Holmes.

Read.

Grave danger Lady Frances stop.

Never let from sight stop.

On my way.

Boom.

How does it feel here?

I, um...

Disappeared what?

Disappeared.

Did Lady Frances pay her bill?

No, sir. Did she?

Is she all in it? No, sir.

She took none of her luggage?

We think not, sir.

Where's Mr. Holmes?

Nothing yet, Holmes.

I'm beginning to fear the worst.

I blame myself. I knew I should have pursued that fellow. It is a

What is?

Do you not see it is most conspicuous?

What? The scare, Watson, the sailing scare.

It's not here.

Precisely. It is possible that there lies the Lady Frances Carfax silent road

Adam's side. It is the nearest railhead, as you know. You don't mean that this

fellow abducted her by boat?

Soon.

Which of the three more likely possibilities?

Best French single.

Dove Grey.

She had a grey silk shawl.

Oh, that will tell us nothing more. What other three possibilities, Holmes?

What did she usually wear this for? Oh, her outside clothes. The three

possibilities.

She may have run away with an intended abductor. He may have abducted her by

boat, as you suggest, or by some other means.

She may, considering an emotional condition...

They've been deceived into going with him. I can hardly believe that. She was

terrified of him. Believe me. I believe you.

Yes.

A stray chicken in the world of foxes.

Once she's gobbled up, she's hardly missed.

Come, Watson.

Now, horses should be saddled by now. Horses?

I have been someone extravagant in my choice of mind.

But delay must be dangerous in this matter. We should be at Rafton Hall at

I don't see what possible interest it could have for you, sir.

Considerable interest, I assure you. One of the most dangerous classes in the

world is the drifting and friendless woman.

With no one to protect and guide her, she's the inevitable inciter of crime in

others.

I treat the disappearance of your sister with utmost seriousness.

Do you think I do not?

I'm merely suggesting that it is frivolous to keep from me the substance

quarrel.

It was after all this quarrel which immediately preceded her disappearance.

Might have something to do with the drunken poet she once knew.

What? I understand from my colleagues that she may have seen him recently.

Green.

I 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.

Of course, Francis became interested in him as soon as he 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 and bought him a ticket to Australia.

Show his face round here, I'll set the dogs on him.

Now, you're quarrelled with your sister.

Money.

She wanted money.

She has none of her own.

I make her an allowance out of the estate.

It's modest, but you've seen the place.

She has no affidavit, though.

Yes. She has.

I told her if she wanted money, she could sell this.

It's a priceless collection.

That 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.

I 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 reason to believe that she is in the gravest danger.

If we were to know whereabouts of the jewellery, we might have some chance of

saving her.

The Oxford and Lombard Maritime Bank in Pall Mall.

Thank you.

The Oxford and Lombard Bank opens its doors in 12 hours.

You may already have come and gone.

The bank's been open for 20 minutes.

be quite blind, Holmes.

I have the evidence in the palm of my hand.

If anything happens... Come, come, my dear friend.

Holmes, look.

May I help you, sir?

Yes, please. I wish to see the matter.

The Parliament deal. It's a private matter. I'm just having a family deposit

the bank.

My colleague...

Aye, sir. You, sir.

What have you done with the Lady Frances' car, thanks?

I insist upon an answer.

Please, sir. Please, it's just my friend. The other people down in the

a male express.

No, Watson. Sir. Please.

Please.

You need not.

Nevertheless, I do.

We all bear equal blame.

She's disappeared again, and that is that.

It is pointless to dwell on it.

It's hard now to find her.

Mr. Green, let us come back to that moment by the lake every morning.

I was out riding in the dawn, and I saw the skiff.

sailing across the lake toward Ironside.

And you realized that 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 traveled 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? Oh, that is much interesting.

Why? I'm allowed to inform 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 while she was in London, and I

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?

I do not.

Where do you think she is?

I believe that to our efforts to save her, we have driven her into the hands

her worst enemy.

But we saw her free.

My dear Watson, a person may walk over the edge of a cliff because they've been

invited to gaze at the moon.

Her eyes may be open, but she is, I believe, at this moment, walking into

danger.

This last week I sought to acquaint myself with the world of apostolic

I have also made a search of the records of Scotland Yard.

Schlesinger is also known as the Reverend Joseph Covington.

Amos Callow, the Dean of Massero, and Edmund, the Bishop of Lima.

His real name, in fact, is Peters.

He's a confident strictster.

Known at Scotland Yard by the uninspired logic of that place as Holy Peter's.

What is not yet suspected, but incontrovertible nonetheless, is that he

murderer.

Peter's speciality is the beguiling of single women with private means by

playing on their religious and charitable feelings.

Eleanor Rosenblum had been engaged in charitable work for ten years when she

Cessna.

He inspired her to devote her energies to a new mission in the Andes.

Miss Rosenblum changed her will, said goodbye to her former life, and boarded

the SS Almeria at Glasgow, and South America.

She was lost overboard the first night at sea.

SS Almeria docked at Liverpool.

for the family to retrieve her effects.

Schlesinger also had disembarked. He went aground to the Lake District, where

met his next intended victim,

the Lady Frances.

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, to my knowledge, for the receipt of stolen

goods. He will cooperate with us.

What does this mean?

What does it mean?

Please, Mr. Green, this is pointless. Don't torture yourself.

You think the torture is self -induced?

The thought of Francis in the hands of criminals?

Such thoughts come unbidden, Mr. Holmes. They break through the strongest

defenses the mind can raise against them. Calm yourself, Mr. Green.

Calm yourself.

If she is still innocent of Sissinger's identity, she may well be safe for the

time.

And if not?

Then it is clear that he cannot let her loose without his own destruction.

Now we must continue to hope.

which remains ignorant of who he is.

Fifteen years.

I knew I could never come back until I'd made something of myself.

Perhaps it was foolish of me to think that she would look kindly on me after

these years, but I was ridiculously encouraged by the fact that she was not

married.

Now my stupidity has driven her into the arms of a murderer.

Is there nothing I can do?

Doesn't she know you're by sight?

No.

Ah, well, then there's something that you can do. But it'll demand great

patience. I have waited for 15 years, Mr. Holmes.

She's had a fair price for the jewellery and no questions asked.

She will most certainly return to Riley's shop.

Rosenthal is a challenge of the will. I 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.

It's late.

It should have been there before now.

I dare say it took longer being out of the ordinary.

The address, dear, reminds me.

Yes, sir, can I help?

Argyle Street.

I'm looking for Argyle Street.

There's a post office round the corner. Try there.

We can do nothing without a warrant.

This is intolerable.

Until we have some wretched signature on a piece of paper, we can do nothing.

Meanwhile, these fiends can do with her what they will.

Are you certain that you've 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'm 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.

I

fancy

that you've been misdirected, sir.

Possibly if you tried further down the street.

That will do. We have no time to waste.

You are Elie Peters, late Major Albert Schlesinger, veteran of the Boer War.

You're further alienated. 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 of the premises.

Your name does not frighten me, Mr Holmes. I have nothing to hide.

What is your business?

I'm looking for the Lady Frances Carfax.

I'm delighted to hear it.

If anyone can find her, I imagine you can.

Perhaps you'd be so good as to tell me when you do.

I have a note against her for nearly a hundred pounds, and nothing to show for

it but a couple of trumpery pendants that the dealer would hardly look at.

The woman's a leech. How dare you, sir?

You imposed upon us as a man crippled in a military action.

You are a fraud.

Oh, it may not have been a military action to satisfy your standards of

slaughter, Doctor, but it was enough for me.

I salute your powers of improvisation, sir.

And you're a frontery, but it will not do.

Oh, I'm perfectly serious.

You find her, and I'm your debtor.

I need to go through this house until I do.

You have a warrant?

This will serve until a better one comes.

Why, you're a common burglar. And my friend is a dangerous ruffian. Together

need to 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 to 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.

Lights, what's up? Lights!

I thought I smelled formaldehyde in the streets.

It's 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's 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

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'

after all. She was, as you know, the most...

Unpredictable creature.

It may be that she had second thoughts about Flettinger.

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 him.

What do you think?

What is your theory, then? I have none.

This sufficient facts to construct a theory.

Do you think that's something you've overlooked?

It's late.

Well, it should have been there before now.

They say it took longer being out of the ordinary.

What has happened to any brains that God has given me?

Watson!

Life or death, a hundred charges on death and one on life.

O God most mighty, O holy, O merciful Savior, Thou most

worthy judge eternal, Suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death.

and never continueth in wants, in the midst of life we are in death.

Of whom may we seek succor, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly

displeased. Yet, O Lord God, most holy,

forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of

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.

Sure as... Stop!

Raise that coffin!

What the devil do you mean by this sacrilege?

Murder, sir!

Murder, this must be.

Why such a deep coffin for such a small old lady?

The sovereign to each of you. If you can lift the lid of that coffin in one

minute!

Shoot!

She's known literally the terrors of the grave.

God knows what this will have done to her.

I failed.

I have brought her back here to the country of her childhood, which is one

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

been most kind and dutiful.

Her poor brother, the Earl, is beside himself with anger at the criminals and

with mortification at his having quarreled with Francis before all this

happened.

Finally, please accept the enclosed as a token of my gratitude for your saving

of my dear Francis, Mr. Holmes.

And 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've never suffered such a complete eclipse of my faculties.

Like any eclipse, Holmes, it's only temporary.

There's every hope of a full recovery.

I wonder...

Francis.