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00:00The Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Dr. John Watson.
00:05One week earlier.
00:15You don't need to say it.
00:17I wasn't going to say anything.
00:19There's a glottal noise you make when you are displeased.
00:22Is there?
00:23Imperceptible to most, I'd imagine.
00:26Loud as a Gatling gun to me.
00:28Out with it.
00:30It's nothing, I just...
00:34Well, which is it today?
00:36Morphine or cocaine?
00:38Cocaine.
00:39A 7% solution.
00:41Would you care to try some?
00:44As you wish.
00:45I'm aware of its secondary action.
00:48I simply find it so transcendentally stimulating.
00:52Besides, I'm bored.
00:55It had long been the fashion of Sherlock Holmes to reach for the needle,
00:58on occasion when there was nothing to otherwise occupy his mind.
01:02I abhor the dull routine of existence.
01:04You would say?
01:05I crave mental exaltation.
01:08Oh, and you get that, do you?
01:09From the needle.
01:11Partly.
01:11My unique profession provides the bulk of it.
01:14I'm not sure you can claim to be the only detective in the world.
01:18The only unofficial consulting detective.
01:21When Gregson, or Lestrade, or that buffoon Athelny Jones are out of their depths,
01:28which, by the way, is their usual state,
01:30the matter is laid before me.
01:32And you solve it for them?
01:33They ask for my help.
01:35I pronounce a specialist's opinion.
01:38And that invariably brings the matter to an end.
01:41With the inspector's own deductive reasoning not figuring at all?
01:44Rarely.
01:46This isn't ego, Watson.
01:49The work itself is my highest reward.
01:52My name figures in no newspapers.
01:54I claim no credit.
01:55This was true to a certain extent,
01:58though he rather disliked the brochures I'd had published describing his endeavours.
02:02Not, however, because he preferred his name to remain out of the limelight.
02:07I glanced over this, by the way.
02:08Oh?
02:09I cannot congratulate you upon it.
02:11Ah.
02:12Deduction is, or ought to be, an exact science.
02:17It should be treated in the same manner.
02:19Your romantic embellishments are entirely unnecessary.
02:23In other words, every one of my pamphlets should be devoted solely to your own special doings.
02:28Yes.
02:28And that isn't ego.
02:29No.
02:30Facts are facts.
02:31Anything else is irrelevant.
02:32The readers would disagree.
02:33The readers are wrong.
02:34As would I.
02:35Then you're wrong, too.
02:36I see.
02:37I'm not sure you do.
02:40Here, for instance.
02:43You seem to suggest that observation and deduction are the same thing.
02:47No, merely that one implies the other.
02:50Not in the slightest.
02:51If you'd like, I shall prove it to you.
02:55No, no.
02:56What I would like is for you to sort your appearance out.
02:59It is 11.30 in the morning, for heaven's sakes, and we are gentlemen of London, not savages.
03:06Observation shows me that you have been to the Wigmore Street Post Office this morning.
03:11Deduction lets me know that, while you were there, you dispatched a telegram.
03:18Right on both counts, but...
03:20You have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep.
03:23Opposite the Wigmore Street Office, they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth of a particular tint found nowhere else in the neighbourhood.
03:32If one is intending to use the Post Office, it is nigh-on impossible to avoid.
03:39So much is observation.
03:41The rest is deduction.
03:44Go on.
03:45Well, I knew you hadn't written a letter since I sat opposite you all morning.
03:50I noted in your open desk that you had a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of postcards.
03:56So, what else could you go into the Post Office for, if not to send a wire?
04:00Eliminate all other factors, and the one that remains...
04:03Must be the truth.
04:05There.
04:05See?
04:06Done.
04:07Bored again.
04:08As fine a friend as Holmes could be, his dogmatic tone did rather great on occasions.
04:15And so, to his lesson on deduction and observation, I decided to add one of my own.
04:22In humility.
04:23I wonder, I said, if I might put your theories to a more severe test.
04:30By all means.
04:31Holmes replied.
04:32It will take me, prevent me from taking a second dose.
04:34You say it's impossible to have any object in daily use without leaving your individuality upon it?
04:41I did.
04:42Well, I have here a watch that has recently come into my possession.
04:46And you wish for me to tell you about the late owner?
04:48If you can.
04:57There are hardly any data.
05:00The watch has recently been cleaned.
05:02That's right.
05:02Before it was sent to me.
05:04It robs me of my most suggestive facts.
05:08But I'll do you a deal.
05:09I will tell you about the watch if you stay for the inquiry of our new client.
05:14But we don't have a new client.
05:15There is a young woman approaching our door.
05:18No doubt seeking my assistance.
05:22Confound you, Holmes?
05:23All right.
05:24But only if she agrees.
05:26To begin with, I'd say the watch belonged to your eldest brother, who inherited it from your father.
05:34From the monogram on the back?
05:36Partly.
05:37The watch is nearly 50 years old.
05:39And the initials are as old as the watch.
05:41So it was made for the last generation.
05:43Jewelry usually descends to the eldest son, and he is more likely to have the same name as your father.
05:49But what of him?
05:57He was a careless man, left with good prospects, but threw them away.
06:02He lived for some time in poverty, with occasional short intervals of prosperity, before finally taking to drink and dying.
06:15That's all I can gather.
06:21How could you?
06:23You just saw how I could, and I did.
06:25No, no.
06:26You did not get all of that from a watch.
06:29Somehow you've found out about my brother, and you've stored the facts in that head of yours.
06:37To what end?
06:37Well, to...
06:39Well, I don't know.
06:42But it's bad form, Holmes.
06:44It's charlatanism.
06:46Not in the slightest.
06:48I swear I didn't even know you had a brother, until mere moments ago.
06:54Still, I viewed it as an abstract problem.
06:57Quite forgetting how personal and painful it might be.
07:02My apologies.
07:07It's quite alright.
07:10But how could you have been so accurate?
07:13Look at the watch, and you'll see.
07:14I stated your brother was a careless man.
07:20Now look at the lower part of the watch case.
07:23Dinted in two places, and cut and scratched all over, from the habit of keeping keys or coins in the same pocket.
07:34Anyone who treats a fifty-guinea watch in such a way must be a careless man.
07:39I see.
07:39Porn brokers in England, when they take a watch, they scratch the number of the ticket with a pin upon the inside of the case.
07:46I see four such numbers upon the inside of this case, which tells us, one, that your brother was often at low water, and two, he had occasional bursts of prosperity.
07:57When he bought the watch back, of course.
07:59Finally, look at the keyhole.
08:02See the thousands of scratches around the hole.
08:06You'll never see a drunkard's watch without them.
08:12I should have had more faith, Holmes.
08:16You were correct in every aspect.
08:18Well, that was just luck.
08:22I could only say what was the balance of probability.
08:24None of it guesswork.
08:26No.
08:28No, I never guess.
08:29Shocking habit.
08:30Destructive to the logical faculty.
08:33Would you do the honors?
08:35I'm sorry?
08:36Our new client.
08:38Oh, yes.
08:42Mrs. Hudson?
08:45And you imagine this to be a professional inquiry?
08:48We can, but hope.
08:49My cache of narcotics have been severely depleted of late.
08:53I cannot live without brain work.
08:55You can live without apparel, though.
08:57What is the use of having powers without a field upon which to exercise them?
09:02What else is there to live for?
09:05Love.
09:06At best, fleeting.
09:08At worst, dangerous.
09:11Fortunately, we are far removed from such untidiness here.
09:16I rather fear we are, Holmes.
09:17Thank you, sir.
09:18Thank you, sir.
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