The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes - Fifth Season

'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.'

'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.

'All 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?

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

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.

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.

'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?

Good afternoon.

Then I wouldn't be told what to do.

- You know I loathe it. - 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.

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 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. 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?

Groom!

Groom! Where the devil are you?

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.

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!

'My cab awaits you downstairs.'

Read!

- Mr Holmes... - Read!

"Grave danger, Lady Frances, stop.

"Never let from sight, stop.

"On my way, Holmes."