The Sign of Four Page #2

not to allow your

judgment to be biased

by personal qualities.

A client to me

is a mere unit,

a factor in of

the problem.

Holmes, you are

a automaton

and a calculating

machine.

There's something positively

inhuman in you at times.

I assure you

the most winning

woman I ever knew

was hanged for poisoning

3 little children

for their

insurance money,

and the most repellent

man of my acquaintance

is a philanthropist

who has spent nearly

a quarter of a million

upon the London poor.

However, in this case,

I never make exceptions.

An exception

disproves the rule.

I'm going out. I'll

see you in an hour.

Had he any

friends in town?

Only one that

we know of,

Major Sholto of

his own regiment.

There is no great

mystery in this matter

the facts appear to admit

of only one explanation.

Oh so you've

solved it already?

I have found,

on consulting the back

files of the Times,

that Major Sholto,

of Upper Norwood,

late of the 34th

Bombay Infantry,

died just 6 years ago.

Mrs. Hudson you're

dreadfully under foot.

I may be very

obtuse, Holmes,

but I fail to see

what this suggests.

Really?

You surprise me.

Now look at it

this way, then.

Captain Morstan

disappears.

The only person in London

whom he could have

visited is Major Sholto.

Major Sholto denies

having heard

that he was

even in London.

4 years later Sholto dies.

Within a week of his death

Captain Morstan's daughter

receives a

valuable present,

which is repeated

from year to year

and now culminates

in a letter,

which describes her

as a wronged woman.

Now what wrong can

it possibly refer to

except this deprivation

of her father?

Tape measure,

gun.

And why should

these presents

begin immediately

after Sholto's death

unless it is that

Sholto's heir

knows something

of the mystery

and desires to

make compensation?

Are you ready Watson?

And waiting.

Have you any

alternative theory

that will meet the facts?

But what a strange

compensation!

And how strangely made!

What time is it?

It's a quarter

past the hour.

Evening Ellis.

Evening sir.

Why should somebody

write her a letter now,

rather than 6 years ago?

Again, the letter speaks

of giving her justice.

What justice can she have?

It is too much to suppose

that her father

is still alive

and there's no

other injustice

in her case that

you know of.

There are difficulties

but there are

always difficulties.

Good evening Mr Holmes.

I do hope I'm not...

Good evening.

By the way,

a curious paper was

found in Papa's desk,

which nobody

could understand.

I don't suppose it is of

the slightest importance,

but I thought you

might like to see it,

so I brought it with me.

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