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Speed is of vital importance, and when one is in a hurry,
it is sometimes necessary to take a shortcut,
which was the case this particular evening.
There are men in London who, out of shyness or sireness,
have no wish for the company of others.
Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs
and the latest reading material.
For their convenience, a club was started
which forbade its members from taking any notice of each other.
If a member talked, it was a black mark against him,
and three such marks rendered him liable to expulsion.
Sherlock Holmes was neither shy nor sour,
but he joined the St. Denis Club
because he found the atmosphere...soothing.
True, I'd always been diligent about not disturbing him here,
but tonight I had come on a matter of the greatest urgency.
Mr. Bromby.
I beg your pardon?
Who, I...excuse me.
I thought you were Sherlock Holmes.
That's not the point.
You talked.
Well, I only went...
You went, pst, and that's the same thing.
Mr. Bromby, take this gentleman's name.
Your name, sir?
Watson, Dr. John Watson.
But you made a mistake. I'm not a member of your club.
Not a member?
How did you get in?
Well, I...
Bromby, you'll accompany me out, sir.
I'm here on very urgent business.
Our Constitution forbids talk of any kind.
Follow me, sir.
And I'd like you to understand I'm not the sort of man
who enters a club like this uninvited
if the circumstances happen to be extraordinary.
Holmes!
I must ask you, sir, not to attempt to...
I don't believe such an incident has ever occurred before.
Well, really.
I...Holmes!
I've never been so humiliated in my life.
Why didn't you speak up in there?
Because it's against the rules of the club, old chap.
Oh, hang the club!
This desire for privacy can go too far.
What if an emergency arose?
Yes, and perhaps to prevent that happening again,
we'd better move down the hall a bit.
Now, you were saying?
What if an emergency arose?
Speak up now, Watson.
What I'm trying to say is, what if an emergency arose
and your presence is urgently requested,
then we can put a hand on you.
I'm here, my dear chap. You've just disproved that.
Oh, really?
I'm only isolated here from triviality.
Well, there's nothing trivial about this.
There's a man waiting for you back at the flat,
a man by the name of Dubec, Claude Dubec.
He's had an experience that'll make your blood run cold.
What sort of an experience, Watson?
He watched a man being tortured.
Tortured?
We'll find a cab outside. Come along, then.
Once outside, we immediately hailed a cab,
and I began to tell Holmes what I knew of the case.
Holmes sat in silence as we rode,
and I knew that my explanations
had done nothing more than rouse his interest
in talking to Mr. Dubec.
Perhaps it was a nightmare.
I'm no longer sure.
But I saw a man being tortured, starved to death.
I was powerless to help.
Here, drink this. It'll do you good.
Thank you.
Any true Frenchman will tell you
that this brandy has to be sipped and savored.
But if you'll excuse me, Watson,
I'm afraid I'll have to go.
If you'll excuse me, Watson.
Poor devil.
Maybe he's still alive.
Mr. Holmes, you must find him before it's too late.
Mr. Dubec, we'll do our best to help you,
but first of all, you must tell us who this man was
and how you came to meet him.
His name was Charon.
Paul Charon.
And how I came to meet him.
What day is it today?
Wednesday.
Wednesday, then it was last Friday that it happened.
You know, Mr. Holmes, I'm an interpreter.
And I interpret nearly all languages.
Now, since I'm French by birth,
it is with this tongue that I'm principally associated.
Now, I'm very well known in hotels,
and it occurs frequently that I'm called for at the strangest hours
by travelers who get into difficulties.
Now, I was not surprised, therefore, when I heard shortly before 11 o'clock at night
someone knock at my door.
Mr. Dubec?
I'm he.
My name is Latimer. Harold Latimer.
Forgive me for calling at such a late hour,
but the man at the hotel said it would be all right.
Oh, you need an interpreter?
Yes.
You do speak French, don't you?
With the greatest of pleasure.
What's your problem?
Well, you see, someone from France came to see me on business.
As it turned out, he speaks only French.
I, of course, can't even read the label on a bottle of wine.
Oh, that's a pity.
He's leaving tomorrow, and it's imperative that we settle our business tonight.
I realize this is an imposition at this late hour.
An interpreter and a doctor are the same in this respect.
The hours are whenever it is required. Now, just a moment. I'll get my hat.
Go.
Mr. Latimer had a cap waiting outside.
I didn't think to give it more than a passing glance.
However, there was a strange atmosphere as I entered.
One can sense such things.
I must ask you not to.
I beg your pardon?
I prefer the shades drawn, Mr. Dupec.
But they cut out the view.
That's exactly their purpose.
You'll forgive me, but I have no intention of permitting you to see the place to which we are being driven.
What is the meaning of this?
We shall find out.
Soon.
For nearly two hours we drove without my having the least idea where we were going.
All the time I sat in silence,
wondering what on earth could be this man's reason for kidnapping me.
Whatever it might be, there was no possible use in my resisting.
We've arrived, Mr. Dubec.
You're aware this is kidnapping, Mr. Latimer?
It is somewhat of a liberty, I admit.
We'll make it up to you.
You may get out.
Is this Mr. Dubec, Harold?
Yes.
Well done, well done.
No ill feelings, Mr. Dubec, I hope, but we couldn't get on without you.
What do you want of me?
Only to ask a few questions of a French gentleman.
Let us have the answers.
If you deal fair with us, you'll not regret it.
But if you try any tricks, you'll wish you hadn't been born.
You follow me?
We put him in one of these, sirs, to move him about easily.
What have you been doing to this poor man?
That is no concern of yours.
Feel better?
Cochon! Salopandie!
You don't have to understand French to know that is not a compliment.
But no matter.
Ask him if he's prepared to sign the papers.
For your own good, be quick about it.
Do you agree to sign the papers?
Never.
Never?
Tell him he is doing her no service.
You are not helping him at all.
Let me hear him say.
He says, let me hear her say so.
Tell him he'll go free if he signs.
Sign and you'll be free.
He says, then he will never go free.
Then he knows what awaits him.
Translate that.
He says he doesn't care.
Stop it!
It is only the beginning if he persists in being stubborn.
Now let us try again and see if we can get better results.
I was horrified at having to be a part of an affair like this.
And even though I was only the interpreter, I felt guilty at not being able to give him any help.
What could I do with let him on one side and jut on the other?
Giggling with each question.
Again and again I asked him in different ways whether he would give in and sign the document.
Again and again I got the same reply.
But soon the thought came to me.
I took to adding little sentences of my own to each question.
Innocent ones at first to see if I could get away with it.
When our companion showed no sign of catching on, I played a more dangerous game.
I asked him all about himself and learned that his name was Paul Charon.
He was a stranger in London.
That he didn't know what house we were in.
That he was being starved to death.
In another minute I might have burned the whole story out from under their noses but for the interruption.
Who is it?
Oh, it's Miss Lee.
The door is locked.
Get rid of her.
Give me the gun.
Micheline dear, I thought you went to bed hours ago.
I couldn't sleep at all.
I can't think of nothing but Paul.
Now Micheline, there's nothing to worry about.
But he should have been here two days ago.
It isn't like Paul to do something like that.
Something must have happened to him.
Nonsense.
I'll wager anything that he was delayed somewhere on business.
Then he would have written to me.
If I don't hear from him by tomorrow, I will go to the police.
Micheline.
Paul.
He's in there.
Micheline, what's the matter with you?
Have you taken leave of your senses?
But it was Paul's fault.
It was nothing of the kind.
But I did, I heard.
Would I lie to you?
If Paul were in there, wouldn't I tell you?
Judd is in there.
Judd.
That's all.
Oh, wow.
I don't know what's happening to me.
Now, now, darling.
It's only a case of nerves.
You'll be all right after a good night's rest.
But it never happened like that before.
You've probably never been under such a stress.
But it's foolish.
If something happened to Paul, you would have heard about it by now.
The fact that you haven't is proof enough that all is well.
You're probably right.
Of course I am.
I'll take you back upstairs.
You perceive we have taken you into our confidence over some very private business.
Shameful business.
Necessary business.
But it would not be to our interest if you spoke to anybody about it.
Therefore, I am paying you a fee such as you have never before received in your life.
There will be more the next time you come here.
Thank you.
However, I don't place all my faith in money.
Therefore, I must warn you that if you speak to a single soul about this,
we shall know about it and you will pay for it with your life.
And now we return to the case of the French interpreter.
This man, this evil man, escorted me back to the carriage and took his place opposite me.
We drove for about half an hour and the shades were drawn as before.
Then we came to a stop and he ordered me out.
I walked for a mile or so and then I found myself at Wadsworth Common
and there I took a train to Victoria Station.
I see.
And there I presume your adventure ended.
Yes.
Now I should have gone to the police right away, but I feared for a man's life.
Now, Mr. Holmes, I'm afraid I have to go.
I feared for a man's life.
Now, Mr. Holmes, someone told me that you, you work with a complete discretion.
Oh, you can be assured of that.
Mr. Holmes, would you please try to find him?
I'll try, but you must realize that my success depends almost entirely on your memory.
I've told you everything.
Only everything you were able to see.
I've told you everything.
I repeat, Monsieur Dubéck, only everything you were able to see.
I don't understand.
Well, on the way to the house you saw nothing because the blinds were drawn in the carriage.
But you could still feel and hear, couldn't you?
Now, as you were going along, could you tell whether it was a rough or smooth road?
Oh, yes, now I know where you're getting at.
Well, during the first part of the trip, the road was smooth.
And then we seemed to turn off on a country road.
A country road.
Yes.
Now, when you were going along that part of the road, did you hear anything like cattle or poultry or sheep?
Yes, that's what I heard.
Now, think hard. Was there anything else?
Well, I remember.
I remember a horn, a foghorn, something like a coal barge passing by.
I see. Now, what part of the journey would that be exactly?
Toward the end, I'm certain.
Was there anything else that you can remember?
No.
No?
Oh, yes, something about the house.
Yes, we left the house and then we seemed to pass through a huge storage room.
And under the floor, I heard something like rushing water.
Water?
Yes, a stream.
It couldn't be, but that's what it seemed like.
Thank you, Monsieur Dubec.
I think I have all the information I require for the present.
Have you already found out where he is?
No, but I have all the facts at my disposal. It's now only a question of time.
Please, Mr. Holmes, you don't give my name because if they ever found out that I've been here...
You can depend upon my keeping your confidence, Monsieur Dubec.
However, I would urge you still to be on guard.
I'll be careful, Mr. Holmes.
Good. Thank you.
Good night, Mr. Watson.
Good night.
Good night, sir.
Well now, Watson, you were listening to what Dubec had to say.
Have you any theories?
In a vague sort of way, yes.
Well, let's hear it then.
Well, it seemed to me that this young French girl had been carried off by this English chap, Blattymer.
Oh, but carried off from where?
From Paris, I suppose.
Well, the young girl could speak English fairly well, but the young man couldn't speak a word of French.
Inference, the young girl had been in England some time, but the young man hadn't been in France.
Well, then we can presume she came over on a visit to England and this man, Haddle, persuaded her to run away with him.
More than likely, Watson.
Then this Charon, the prisoner, brother or guardian, decides to come over on a visit from France.
He meets Blattymer and his associate, and then for some reason decides against signing away the girl's fortune,
of which he is presumably the guardian.
The men then resort to force.
Excellent, Watson. I'm quite certain that you're not far from the truth now.
Well, it's only simple logic.
Yes, and with simple logic we'll find the house.
It must be here somewhere.
And when we finish translating the facts that Dubec has given us, an X will mark the spot.
Now, let's see.
Doctor, I'm sorry to disturb you, Doctor, but would you mind getting your coat?
We'll pick up a straid on the way.
You found it?
I believe so.
Oh, do you think we should find Dubec in case we didn't interpret her?
That's an excellent idea.
And from what I've heard, I believe these may come in handy.
Dubec had his lodgings just across the river, and we decided to walk there.
If you're looking for Mr. Dubec, he left about an hour ago.
Can you tell us where?
I don't know. I only know he drove away with a gentleman in a carriage.
Well, did the gentleman leave his name?
No, sir.
Was he by any chance a rather tall, handsome-looking man?
Oh, no, sir. It was a little gentleman with glasses.
Did nothing but giggle all the time.
Thank you, madam.
Even the weather seemed to be against us, and as we found our cab and started on our way, it began to rain.
According to Holmes' calculations, we had a considerable way to go, and we had to go fast if we were to be in time.
London streets in the rain are a handicap to any carriage, so there's nothing for us to do but hope and wait.
Come, let's eat.
Does he still say no?
He asked for food.
Have mercy on the poor man.
He will be fed the moment he's signed the papers. Tell him that.
Sign, my old man, and a meal will be served.
I can't take it anymore. I'll sign everything we want, like a meal.
He'll sign. At last.
Now feed this man.
It would be foolish to spare him, only to have to kill him again.
Kill him?
And you broke your promise.
You spoke to Sherlock Holmes.
That's not...
That's true.
There's no point in lying, but you couldn't tell him where we are, and even the famous Mr. Holmes could never deduce that.
The men are coming. Hurry, open the trap.
You two, go down there.
Who are you? What do you want?
That's not your question.
The property was rightfully mine. I'm her husband. It belonged to me.
But he controlled it and wouldn't sign it over to me.
He found out you were a thief.
You can't take me to jail. I only tried to get what was coming to me.
I'll see that you do.
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