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00:27To be continued...
01:14Inspector Jowell, sir.
01:16Ah, Grip.
01:18Constable Thackeray, your first visit to the Academy, I'd say.
01:21Quite correct, sir.
01:23I'll get to see the portraits of the convict office, though.
01:25Yes.
01:26Well, the reason I arranged for the convict was, um, was this picture here.
01:31Expecting someone to steal it, sir?
01:32Oh, no, the stealing's already been done.
01:34I want you to recover it.
01:35You've lost me now, sir.
01:37Not this painting, of course.
01:39Now, I should explain.
01:40Now, this is an Etty, and he painted two versions, nearly identical.
01:45The only difference is that the other one...
01:48The one that was stolen.
01:49Exactly.
01:50That was different in that, um, that piece of material there over the thigh, sir, now, that
01:58piece of material was absent.
02:00I see, sir.
02:01And the stolen painting belonged to a friend of mine, a man of cultivated taste, a member
02:05of the Royal Society, of Dr. Probit.
02:07Oh, Dr. Probit and Dr. Probit's picked me up.
02:10Well, certainly not.
02:11Dr. Probit of the University of London, a very distinguished physiologist, and I was
02:15with him socially only yesterday evening, and he asked me personally to ensure the recovery
02:19of his painting, and that's the reason why I've asked you anything, not the local contemporary.
02:26Anything else taken apart from the painting, sir?
02:28That is one of the strange features.
02:31Dr. Probit had a number of other, more valuable paintings, all of classical subjects.
02:38Alma, Tadima, Leighton.
02:40Most of the young ladies in the state of nature, sir.
02:42That is neither here nor there.
02:44Dr. Probit went to Chowter House.
02:46He has a schooling in the classics.
02:48Any other information to go on, sir?
02:49Only a rather strange coincidence.
02:51The picture was stolen last Friday evening.
02:55Dr. Probit was giving a lantern lecture at the University College Hospital, and his wife
03:00and his daughter were in the audience.
03:02The previous Saturday, the Probit's given a dinner party, and one of their guests, a Miss
03:07Crush, returned to find that her home had been burled.
03:12Could be a coincidence.
03:13Could be connected.
03:18What was stolen, sir?
03:21You think I'm going to say a picture, don't you?
03:23Not necessarily, sir.
03:25In fact, there was a Royal Worcester vase in the Japanese time.
03:28Valuable, sir?
03:29Well, about 30 pounds.
03:31Nothing else taken?
03:32No.
03:33At the same sideboard, there was a Minton vase by Sollum, valued at over 1,000 guineas.
03:41This Miss Crush, sir, obviously a rich woman.
03:43Is she a close friend of Dr. Probit's?
03:46They only met three weeks ago, but they share a common interest.
03:49What's that, sir?
03:51They're both spiritualists.
03:54A matter on which a scientific mind like his has all too rarely been directed.
04:01Who's that?
04:02Detective Sergeant Griff.
04:04Great spot on guard.
04:09You may enter, policeman.
04:12In case your deductive powers are not equal to the task, I should tell you my name's Probit.
04:20Well, sit yourself down.
04:22I'm not too proud to share my seat with the public servant, but I'm damned if I want him staring
04:25me in the face.
04:28Well, what's your first impression?
04:30Mostly of a great many sets of velvet curtains, sir.
04:33Get up and pull the drawstring of one of them.
04:35Doesn't matter which.
04:42Close the curtain again, please.
04:44I can't be too discreet when there are ladies in the house.
04:46My wife and daughter understand that they're forbidden to set foot in this room, but women are perverse sex.
04:52I won't beat about the bush with you, policeman.
04:53My wife's incapable of understanding me.
04:56Sir?
04:56Oh, it's my own fault.
04:57I married her for her father's money.
04:59She gave me that and a handsome daughter and 21 years of boredom.
05:02So to keep my sanity, I found distractions in art.
05:06I'd like to see where the stolen picture was hanging, if I may, sir.
05:09The 82nd pair of curtains on the right.
05:13My right or yours, sir?
05:18Your right, policeman.
05:22The scoundrel removed the picture from the frame.
05:24Just hope he didn't damage the surface, the texture of that young woman's skin.
05:29He cut it from the frame.
05:32Rough work for an art thief.
05:34He'll have a job disposing of it.
05:36Was it anything to do with the subject of the painting, do you think?
05:39I believe there are men who look at pictures like mine for the wrong reason.
05:43Whatever the reason, sir, I knew a lot about the workings of your household.
05:46I knew you were out, where to break in, and how to locate this picture gallery.
05:50Well, don't say my collection to every Tom, Dick and Harry, you know.
05:52Inspector Jowett mentioned you're having guests.
05:54Do a séance.
05:56A scientific experiment, yes.
05:58Saturday before last.
05:59Like the names of me, sir.
06:01Certainly not.
06:02Not having my friend subjected to an inquisition blasted, I'd rather forget the whole thing.
06:06One was a Miss Crush.
06:08I must be seeing her this afternoon.
06:09I expect she'll give me the names, but I do dislike having to press a lady for information.
06:12You mean you propose...
06:13I find putting the screws on a lady almost as distasteful as bribing domestic, sir.
06:17Bribing?
06:18Jowett promised to send me somebody discreetly.
06:20You just told me who was out of the séance, sir.
06:21There'll be no need.
06:24Very well, policeman, but don't you push me too far.
06:27Well, there were five people here that evening, apart from myself, my daughter Alice, two friends, a Miss Crush.
06:34And your wife, sir?
06:36Now, Winifred, she's terrified of the supernatural.
06:39Spent the evening locked in the bathroom with bad numbers of the tackler.
06:42Said that's where a ghost was least likely to manifest itself.
06:46Not like my daughter Alice.
06:47Now, she's inherited her brains from my side of the family.
06:50She'd make a first-rate scientist if she was a man.
06:52She has some other occupation then, sir?
06:54Good God, no.
06:54She's not in employment, if that's what you mean.
06:57She does charity work around the parish.
07:00Well, if you're finishing here, we'll retire to the drawing room.
07:02I want to smoke a cigar.
07:04My latest acquisition.
07:06The rape of the Sabine women.
07:08It's magnificent.
07:10Want to see it?
07:11Not just now, sir.
07:12We policemen come across quite enough with that sort of thing.
07:15Any more questions, policeman?
07:16Before I have his shown up?
07:18Just the names of the other guests, sir.
07:20I have his, sis.
07:21Captain William Nye, Alice's fiancée.
07:23Bought himself a commission in the East Surrey's.
07:26He said there were five people present, sir.
07:28Strathmore, a fellow scientist.
07:30Highly respected figure in the world of psychical investigation.
07:33One of the lads.
07:34The fast, sir.
07:35L-A-D-S.
07:37The Life After Death Society.
07:40I see, sir.
07:41And that's all.
07:43Brand.
07:47Peter Brand, the medium.
07:49Mrs. Probert?
07:50Yes.
07:51I do apologise, ma'am.
07:52I quite fail to notice you.
07:53I couldn't frequently do.
07:54There's no need to apologise.
07:56My husband hasn't noticed me for years.
07:59Then there was Peter Brand, the medium.
08:01Really hadn't made Alice.
08:02She's out on a charitable excursion, I dare say.
08:05Meeting people.
08:06You see young Alice striding down the hill
08:08in search of a destitute family
08:10with a marrow under her arm?
08:11It's a stirring sight, I promise you.
08:13Must be taxing.
08:14I'd have thought it'd be quite a problem
08:15finding a family of that sort
08:16here in Richmond.
08:17Quite right, but she's inexhaustible.
08:20Have you reached any conclusion yet?
08:22Just an assumption, sir.
08:24At present, I'm assuming a connection
08:25between the thefts of a painting and a vase
08:27and the fact that both burglaries
08:28occurred shortly after seances.
08:30Yours and Miss Crush's.
08:32You are a sensitive.
08:35No, ma'am.
08:35A detective sergeant from Scotland Yard.
08:38Oh, a sensitive sergeant.
08:40Do sit down.
08:41I'm inquiring into the theft of your vase, ma'am.
08:44Oh, don't bother about it.
08:46It wasn't one of my better ones.
08:48I have all the details about how entry was affected
08:50and so on.
08:51The servants didn't hear anything, apparently.
08:53My maid noticed a broken window
08:55when she was locking up.
08:56Ah, yes, indeed.
08:57Oh, but I was in such a state of perturbation.
09:00It had been such an exciting seance.
09:02Not just table tapping,
09:03but voices.
09:05Quite distinct.
09:07Remarkable.
09:09The vase, ma'am.
09:10Was it on display
09:11when you had the seance here
09:12the week before?
09:12Yes, but it wasn't noticeable.
09:16And you had similar psychical phenomena then,
09:18table tapping and so on.
09:20A hand materialised
09:22and the table moved.
09:24We all felt it move.
09:26Well, it looks a fairly solid piece of furniture.
09:29God help us, ma'am.
09:30There's a man under here.
09:31I know.
09:33You may come out now, Mr. Strathmore.
09:35I thought of telling you
09:36when you first came in,
09:37but I thought you might have
09:38put the wrong construction on it.
09:42I was checking, Sergeant.
09:44Sir?
09:45Checking.
09:46Loose floorboards,
09:47hidden springs,
09:48hollow legs.
09:50As Honorary Secretary
09:51of the Life After Death Society,
09:53I have devoted 12 years
09:55to investigating mediums
09:56and testing them scientifically.
09:58And in 12 years,
09:59I have yet to find a medium
10:00who is not a fraud or a charlatan.
10:02Sir?
10:02Because only by eliminating the fraudulent
10:04can we find someone
10:05who genuinely has the power
10:07and through him
10:08or her
10:10conclusively establish
10:10the existence of the hereafter.
10:13Mr. Brand, sir?
10:14All I can say is that so far
10:15I have found no evidence of trickery.
10:18And that, I should add,
10:19is in itself remarkable.
10:21He may be another Daniel Hume!
10:23Do you mind my asking, ma'am,
10:25how much did you pay Brand
10:26for his services as a medium?
10:28His fee is 10 guineas.
10:30But I gave him a little extra.
10:32It was such a productive seance.
10:34I'm very much looking forward
10:35to questioning him.
10:36You're going to meet him,
10:37but you mustn't.
10:38Don't worry, ma'am.
10:38He doesn't frighten me.
10:39No, but you might frighten him.
10:41He's such a delicate young man.
10:43I'll handle him gentle,
10:44I promise you.
10:46I'm afraid I'm going to insist
10:47that you forget about my vase.
10:49Drop the investigation, you mean?
10:50Call off the hound, so to speak.
10:52Can't do that, sir.
10:53This is a criminal matter.
10:54Surely not going to...
10:55Interrogate him?
10:55No, ma'am.
10:56Just arrange to bump into him,
10:59as it were.
11:00I beg leave to introduce
11:01a young medium
11:02whose seances in the past few weeks
11:05have been so exceptional
11:06that he is rapidly becoming
11:08the talk of the metropolis.
11:10What do you say
11:12to the writing of a message
11:14from the late Duke of Wellington
11:16in a private house
11:18in a private house
11:19in Camberwell?
11:24Writing, I may say,
11:26which has been verified
11:27as authentic
11:28by the foremost graphologist
11:30in London.
11:32Broken window of this crush
11:33is broken with a brick.
11:35Yeah, there was a window
11:36with a broken sash cord
11:37not ten yards away.
11:38Uncommon crude.
11:40Unprofessional.
11:42Did you get the details
11:43from Richmond?
11:44A fellow made quite a business
11:45of it getting into
11:46the Broberts' house.
11:48He knocked over a tin
11:50of batholivers
11:51in the pantry
11:51and he scattered
11:53a packet of pearl barley
11:54all over the floor.
11:55It was on a shelf
11:56over his head.
11:58He was a pretty poor hand
11:59as a burglar.
12:01Inspector Jowett.
12:03What?
12:03But I heard him
12:04as clearly
12:05as you hear me now.
12:08March on, children,
12:09he cried.
12:11You do not need
12:12their hands
12:12to further your source.
12:14Truth is more powerful
12:15than the army's cannon
12:18until young Brandt appeared.
12:20He was the most
12:20sought-after medium
12:21in London.
12:25Decent of him
12:26to include
12:26the boy in his lecture.
12:30I see that
12:31both Dr. Probert
12:33and Miss Crush
12:33are here.
12:34Sir?
12:36No doubt
12:36she was gratified
12:37to learn
12:37the great Scotton Yard
12:39is on the track
12:39of her bars.
12:41Wasn't the impression
12:41I got, sir.
12:44She says she doesn't
12:45mind about the bars.
12:46Rather,
12:47we dropped the investigation.
12:48I told her we couldn't.
12:49I trust you
12:50couldn't threaten the lady.
12:52Dr. Probert
12:53repeatedly made a remark
12:54that you were
12:54threatening to put
12:55the screws on Miss Crush.
12:57She's a person
12:57of refinement, you know.
12:59Slip of the tongue, sir.
13:00Nothing more.
13:01I can vouch for that.
13:03Oh, good God,
13:04I hope you want this.
13:06But the returns
13:07of the young medium
13:08who is with us here
13:09tonight.
13:10This young man
13:11only employs his powers
13:13out of humility
13:14and respect
13:15to those
13:16who have gone
13:16on the great journey,
13:17but care to offer comfort
13:19to people who follow.
13:21There are,
13:22passing among you,
13:23helpers with envelopes.
13:24If you would care
13:25to place some small
13:26personal article
13:27inside one of them,
13:28signing your name
13:29on the outside,
13:30the medium
13:31will attempt
13:32to establish contact
13:33with any spirit
13:35who wishes
13:36to manifest itself
13:37here amongst us tonight.
13:39Ladies and gentlemen,
13:41it gives me great pleasure
13:42to introduce
13:43Mr. Peter Brown.
13:51Thank you to the time.
14:02Oh, look,
14:03Miss Crush,
14:03she's handed in an envelope.
14:05It'll all be people
14:06he knows.
14:07Needn't be.
14:08What you got in your pocket?
14:10I need my diabetes.
14:12They'll do.
14:21This is from a Miss Crush.
14:24Miss Crush?
14:31You have a residence in Belgravia?
14:35Yes.
14:37I told you, sir.
14:40Yes, I feel an old person, a male, an uncle.
14:50The name begins with a W.
14:56Walter!
14:58Yes. Yes, Uncle Walter.
15:08I took you to the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace many years ago.
15:19Yes.
15:21The Great Exhibition where I am now is even more magnificent.
15:38Did that make any sense to you?
15:41Oh, yes. Yes. Thank you.
15:53The next envelope is from a Mr. Thackeray.
15:59Could Mr. Thackeray show himself?
16:02On your feet.
16:13If this is some kind of practical joke, I find it an arrant bad taste.
16:18It was the only thing I got in my pocket.
16:21You are a police officer.
16:23That's right, sir.
16:24A police officer in plain clothes.
16:27Right again, sir.
16:29I'm afraid this is not a personal article.
16:32The ones above would not consider handcuffs as personal.
16:36Well, there's some in the other places, might, sir.
16:41I think it's time we moved on to other matters,
16:44if the attendants would kindly turn down the gas.
16:49The first photographic plate I'm going to show you
16:52is of the medium, Miss Georgina Houghton.
16:57Now, observe this plate, taken a few minutes later.
17:10Stop it, thank you.
17:15But no, violence.
17:19Sorry to detain you, sir,
17:20but I'm sure you wouldn't want to go out without your coat and hat.
17:23Perishing cold night.
17:24Forgotten them, have you?
17:25Upset by Thackeray's derbies,
17:27I expect shabby tree to play on a sensitive man.
17:30Positively stopped you in the middle of your act, didn't he?
17:32It ain't an act.
17:33My mistake, sir.
17:35Unfortunate word.
17:36Look, I didn't want all that.
17:39I didn't want all that, you know.
17:41Quayle put me up with it,
17:42says I've got to get my name before the public.
17:45Professor Quayle?
17:46Friend of yours?
17:47Well, he took me in, didn't he?
17:49Got a room in his house.
17:51He's the one who taught me how to get in touch.
17:53It's a gift, but you've got to learn how to handle it.
17:55What made him take you in, do you think?
17:57Well, he's almost lost the power, hasn't he?
17:59He wanted to find someone who could pass his knowledge on to.
18:01And his engagement book?
18:03No, I found a few of me own clients, you know.
18:06Including Miss Crush?
18:07Must have been quite impressive to the audience,
18:09all that stuff about Uncle Walter.
18:12Especially if they didn't know you'd learned all about her earlier.
18:14Well, it gives a chance, Governor.
18:15It's just a bit of luck.
18:16She was pleased enough, anyway.
18:18Yeah, quite surprising there,
18:19considering her loss the night you had the séance of Dr Proberts.
18:22Loss?
18:23The vase that was stolen from her house.
18:27Well, no one told me.
18:28Anyone tell you about the Etty?
18:31What's an Etty?
18:32The picture that was taken from Dr Proberts.
18:36Two of your clients.
18:38Oh, and you lot suspect me, do you?
18:41Come on, look, I'm booked for three more séances at Dr Proberts.
18:44Now, it's more than my career's worth pinching clients properly.
18:49Tell me, Mr. Brand.
18:51These things that happen in séances,
18:54spirit hands and so forth,
18:57do you actually believe in them yourself?
19:00Try to trap me, copper.
19:02No, I ain't obtaining money by false pretenses,
19:05because I don't guarantee nothing.
19:06I can't.
19:07Not without the cooperation of the spirits.
19:10Things do happen which none of us can account for.
19:14Have you ever heard of objects being spirited away?
19:17Yes, quite often.
19:19They usually get the blighters in the end.
19:21Number 92.
19:23Oh, yes, Sarge.
19:24When Miss Crush comes out, make sure she doesn't see you.
19:28Want me to follow her?
19:29Certainly not.
19:30I'm not interested in anybody leaving the house.
19:32I'm interested in anybody entering.
19:33I know where Miss Crush will be.
19:35She'll be communing with the spirits in the dark.
19:41Is there someone who wishes to get in touch?
19:46Are you prepared to answer questions?
19:49Three raps for yes, one for...
19:54Hi, Uncle Walter.
19:56We have two scientific gentlemen with us.
20:00Are you prepared to assist us in our experiments?
20:08Look.
20:10Oh, it's a hand.
20:12You see it, Strathmore?
20:13It's a materialization.
20:15I never thought I should live to see anything so convincing.
20:17It's a common enough manifestation.
20:19Oh, it touched my cheek.
20:22Now it's tugging at my dress.
20:24Is it by Jove?
20:24I'm not having that.
20:26It's all right.
20:26It's stopped.
20:26I'm not allowing Mike Chauncey to be interfered with.
20:29Uncle Walter could never resist a critical.
20:31I'm not prepared to tolerate a hand at liberty under the table doing unspeakable...
20:35Ow!
20:37I'm being pelted with fruit.
20:38As the spirit thinks you're hostile, Captain Nye, try to reassure it.
20:45The spirit has left us.
20:47Dr. Prover, could someone switch on the electric light?
20:49Oh, Nye, you've ruined everything.
20:51I've waited for 12 years.
20:53I'm not allowing Mike Chauncey's clothing to be...
20:54It's like a mess right off of the curls left.
20:57We had the eternal secret within our grasp and you ruined it.
21:00But this is what you call a scientific experiment when young ladies are molested.
21:03But these things happen.
21:05I'll repair the small amount of damage our visitor has inflicted.
21:10Now, Dr. Prover, I see no reason why our second experiment cannot proceed.
21:18Now, for this next experiment, Mr. Brandt has agreed to use a piece of equipment that I myself have devised.
21:24This house is one of the few in Richmond with the electric light.
21:27And in my cellar, a storage battery is giving a total of somewhat over 400 volts.
21:32The light we are now enjoying is from that power.
21:35I sincerely believe that this evening we may find the answer to the last great unsolved question.
21:47Now, this is the resistor.
21:49And it will ensure that only a mild and even current passes along these wires to the handles.
21:55When the handles are linked by a conducting agent, a circuit is formed.
21:59Yes, in this case, the conducting agent will be Mr. Brandt.
22:02He will sit in the chair.
22:04But should he take his hands off the handles, even so much as a fraction of a second,
22:08the circuit will be broken and experiment.
22:10Null envoy.
22:13Now, here we have a galvanometer.
22:16And I suggest that Mr. Strathmore and Mr. Jart undertake to record the exact flow of the current passing through
22:21the apparatus.
22:22And Mr. Jart, Mr. Brandt has agreed that we can withdraw the screen from the fire.
22:26Yes, that of course is to provide us with enough light to make these records.
22:29Is it safe?
22:31Oh, it's perfectly safe, my dear.
22:34Now, these are simply pieces of lint soaked in a saline solution to ensure a good contact.
22:40Thank you, Mr. Crash.
22:43Now, Strathmore observe the galvanometer closely.
22:54The electrical current is now passing through my body.
22:57It's registering 205.
23:02Now.
23:05Oh, it's most convincing.
23:08So, William, if you go down to the cellar, switch off the light, leaving the current going to the chair.
23:15You're doing all this to make sure the fellow keeps his hands on the chair.
23:18Indeed.
23:19It seems to me it'd be a lot simpler if a couple of us stood behind the curtain watching him.
23:25Would it be simpler, William?
23:26It would destroy the experiment.
23:28Mr. Brandt is going to a state of total trance.
23:30For that, he needs complete physical isolation.
23:32We should be grateful that he's prepared to submit to the intrusion of the electrical wires, William.
23:36What's the object of the experiment, then, for heaven's sake?
23:39Object is to produce in scientifically controlled conditions the ultimate proof of life hereafter.
23:45The total manifestation of a spirit.
23:49Yeah.
23:59I think.
24:01I think I feel a spirit presence.
24:04It's taking its time.
24:07I...
24:08Please don't be alarmed.
24:10A hand is stroking my hair.
24:12Look here, whatever you are.
24:14I knew it means no harm.
24:16It just wants to come among us.
24:17There's a movement here.
24:18The current's dropping.
24:20It's steady now.
24:231-8-8.
24:2510-23 p.m.
24:271-8-8.
24:31Oh, God help us!
24:32What a bloody gang!
24:35It's a spirit.
24:36It's a spirit talking.
24:37Current's up to 196.
24:39Should somebody look behind the curtain?
24:40I think we'll be justified.
24:43Is everything in order, Mr. Brown?
24:45Believe it isn't.
24:46What are you trying to do to me, for Christ's sake?
24:48That's just going into my trance.
24:50Somebody comes creeping in their spine.
24:53William, take a candle to the cellar.
24:55Switch off the electricity to the chair.
24:56Dr. Provert, when an honest medium cannot trust his sitters...
25:00Mr. Brown, nobody left the room.
25:01Listen, I don't imagine these things.
25:05Your visitor was not of our world.
25:08It must have been a spillage visitor.
25:11Please, please.
25:12There were footsteps.
25:13Somebody came in through the door.
25:14They walked halfway across the room.
25:16And then they walked out again.
25:18You have just given a classic description of a haunting.
25:22That was a phantom.
25:25And we all heard it.
25:29You think so?
25:31There's no other explanation.
25:36Ah.
25:37Well, uh...
25:39It's in that case.
25:44Switched off the electricity, dear.
25:46Would you be good enough to go and switch it on again?
25:48Only Mr. Brown has very generously agreed to continue with the experiment.
25:5710.43.
26:01201.
26:07Something's there.
26:11The door.
26:12The handle's turning.
26:15Nobody must move.
26:16It comes in peace.
26:21Sergeant Crip, what the devil do you think you're doing?
26:24The galvanometer.
26:25The current's broken.
26:26Small wonder in this bear garden.
26:28When I asked you here, Jard, I didn't expect you to bring the rest of Great Scotland Yard with you.
26:34Might a candle, Strathmore.
26:36I think we can safely assume that Mr. Brown will have nothing to do with our researches after this.
26:42William, switch off the current.
26:44Hurry, man, for God's sake.
26:46Now, keep back.
26:47Don't fetch him.
26:47What's happened?
26:48Electric shock.
26:51Keep hold of her.
26:52This is doctor's work.
26:54Look after her, miss.
27:02Wait, you men, I want every room, sir.
27:04Sergeant, sir, start in that room there.
27:06Very good, sir.
27:08Brown, bring the reinforcements in.
27:09Act the double.
27:10Avoid violence if possible.
27:11Yes, sir.
27:26Sergeant, what the devil do you think you're playing at now?
27:29Pursuing a suspect, sir.
27:31Which way?
27:45He's dead, I'm afraid.
27:48Yes.
27:48Well, I propose to take over inquiry into these events, and I'm sure I shall enjoy your fullest cooperation.
27:54Now, Sergeant, what have you done with Quayle?
27:55He's in the gallery, sir.
27:56Fastened to a luff chair within the Derby's.
27:57I hope Dr. Probert has no objections.
28:00He's not liable to be troublesome, though.
28:01That's as neat a knockdown as I've seen, ma'am.
28:03Pure fright.
28:04I heard this noise like an army outside, and I struck the first man who burst in with notable British
28:09sermons.
28:11The book I was reading.
28:12Unfortunately, it was poor Professor Quayle.
28:15Yes, but I don't propose to concern myself with Quayle at this juncture.
28:17Mr. Brandseth is far more important, and Quayle's incursor was only a coincidence.
28:22Coincidence?
28:23What exactly are you implying, sir?
28:25I am asking myself if Quayle were not here as an accomplice of a fraudulent medium.
28:29He was not a fraudulent medium.
28:33If we were to empty Brands pockets, and we find, say, a pair of white gloves, or a hand-made
28:37across to Paris, then we'd know.
28:39Yes, yes, yes.
28:40That's exactly what I was going to suggest.
28:42Sergeant, will you please search?
28:43Sergeant.
28:44Yes.
28:44Well, I can't begin to understand is how such an accident could have occurred.
28:48The resistor was a complete safeguard.
28:50Well, Sergeant.
28:52Box of matches, sir.
28:54Three half-sovereigns, two shillings, seven pence.
28:59Keys on a ring.
29:02Wallet containing two stamps, railway ticket.
29:05No indication of fraud here, sir.
29:08I hope certain people feel suitably ashamed of themselves.
29:13One item you might not expect, sir.
29:17On the back, sir.
29:19Four six nine.
29:20Nine two eight one.
29:23Not significant.
29:25I would suggest a similar search of Quayle.
29:27Down, sir.
29:28He had a railway ticket, twelve shillings and seven pence, and a hit flask of gin.
29:31What I don't understand is what Professor Quayle was doing in the house in the first place.
29:37Brand said somebody came into the study while he was in a trance.
29:40Could have been Quayle.
29:41You're a raw beginner.
29:43Took a piece of common royal worcester when you could have taken a priceless minton.
29:47Don't even know how to cut a canvas from a frame properly.
29:50You know, at first I suspected, Brand.
29:52Well, that seems a perfectly reasonable assumption.
29:54A person of that class.
29:56His father was a common cabman, you know.
29:58And the boy was quite illiterate.
29:59He could scarcely even write his numbers.
30:02Suddenly admitted into well-to-do residencies.
30:05I don't know.
30:05Oh, I hate Sargent.
30:06Exactly.
30:07Why should he queer his home pitch by robbing his clients?
30:09After all, he was on the way up, just as you were on the way down.
30:13Wouldn't be much good to expose him as a fraud, either.
30:15People would have started having doubts about mediums in general.
30:18Much better to scotch him by having him arrested as a thief.
30:21Then you get back all the clients he was taking from you.
30:24I shall deny it all.
30:25You have no proof.
30:26You see what's in the bottom of that glass?
30:28That little white object that's swelling nicely?
30:32You knocked a jar of it over when you broke into Dr. Probert's pantry.
30:35I found some of it in your top pocket.
30:37Pearl barley, Professor.
30:39Pearl barley.
30:44Pearl barley.
30:47Pearl barley.
30:48Pearl barley.
30:49Pearl barley.
30:49Pearl barley.
30:50Pearl barley.
30:51Pearl barley.
30:52Pearl barley.
30:53Pearl barley.
30:55Pearl barley.
31:07Pearl barley.
31:07Wales House. Here's the key with the address.
31:10You'll find Dr Probert's Etty in the umbrella stand.
31:13Miss Crusher's vase will be in a cabinet in the bathroom.
31:15Then make an inventory of Brand's personal effects.
31:18He's dead. It's an ugly business.
31:22Now, Inspector Jow wants a conference. I need some sleep before that.
31:25So do I.
31:25So report back to be here at two o'clock.
31:27Sharp mind.
31:30Now, Dr Benchman, you carried out the post-mortem examination.
31:34The deceased Brand was electrocuted.
31:38By a massive electric shock.
31:40Massive? Impossible. I checked the apparatus myself.
31:43Then, you are wrong.
31:45I have subjected the circuit to a series of tests in my own laboratory.
31:48There's no fault in its construction.
31:50I shall tell the coroner so on oath.
31:52I have science on my side.
31:54And I have an electrocuted corpse on mine.
31:59I was present at the sounds.
32:01And as a senior police officer, I am a trained observer.
32:04And I saw a spirit hand.
32:08I have no doubt about it at all.
32:11A spirit hand that hovered and moved.
32:14And I submit.
32:16And I am fully aware of the significance of what I am saying.
32:20We must look for a supernatural explanation.
32:23Brand's death.
32:25A hostile spirit.
32:26It is.
32:26Poppycock.
32:27What?
32:28Brand was a charlatan.
32:30Have you never heard of Blue John?
32:33No.
32:34Not known to me.
32:35It's a substance, not a person.
32:37Calcium fluoride.
32:39When heated gently, it glows in the dark.
32:41Brand's hand was covered with it.
32:42The hand you saw was his.
32:44What is more, he was wearing a night shirt.
32:46In a pocket of which was a small bag of talcum powder.
32:50You obviously have a closer acquaintance with the spirits than I.
32:53But I gather they manifest themselves with white faces and long, flowing garments.
32:58I'll be out.
33:01We're deeply in your debt.
33:02I can't claim much credit.
33:04It was only because we got this note to ask us to check for Blue John from one of your
33:08chaps,
33:08the Sergeant Cribb.
33:11I happen to notice, sir, when Dr. Prober was attempting to apply resuscitation,
33:15Mr. Brand's shirt appeared unusually loose.
33:17So I, uh, I ventured to request, um...
33:20Any other theories, Sergeant?
33:22No, sir.
33:23But permission to ask, sir, assuming the chair was safe when this gentleman tested it...
33:27Yes, it was.
33:28Is there any way it could have been made lethal?
33:30By having the current bypass the resistor?
33:32Yes, by disconnecting it and fastening the mains cable directly to the chair.
33:35Oh, certainly do, dear.
33:37Oh, by attaching something.
33:38Say, another wire.
33:39To the positive terminal on the main side and joining it to one of the wires leading
33:43to the chair.
33:54There's no sign of any such connection, sir.
33:56No, sir.
33:57So I presume, sir, you'll be treating this as a case of murder, sir?
34:02Well, you see, ma'am, if Brand was waving his right hand in the air to give the impression
34:06he was a spirit, it would mean whoever was on that side of him would have to have let
34:10go of that hand.
34:12The person on his right was you, wasn't he, ma'am?
34:15Yes.
34:17Now, I wonder if you'd be so kind as to look at this.
34:20It was on Brand's body.
34:22I won't bother you with the reverse side, ma'am.
34:25Just those numbers.
34:26Four, six, nine, nine, two, eight, one.
34:28Followed by a square.
34:30Does that mean anything to you?
34:32No.
34:33You see, I think they were the most important things in Brand's life, those numbers.
34:37I've checked with the Hackney Carriage Licensing Department.
34:41Four, six, nine is the license number of a cabman called Charles Brand.
34:47But the other number, nine, two, eight, one, then a square.
34:53What do you think that means, Sergeant?
34:55Brand wasn't illiterate, ma'am.
34:58I think that was his way of writing an address.
35:00If you read it with his accent, you read it, Thackeray?
35:06Three, nine, two, eight, and then the square.
35:09Ninety-two, eight, and square.
35:13Your address, ma'am.
35:14I said you were a sensitive, Sergeant.
35:17You can look into a woman's eyes and bear the secrets of her life, can't you?
35:22It was a process of deduction.
35:24Seduction?
35:25Oh, no, it wasn't that.
35:27I was not so ill-bred as to allow myself to be seduced by a common cabman.
35:33I seduced him.
35:36I was one of the new women.
35:39In 1865, I heard a speech by Mr. John Stuart Mill on the emancipation of women.
35:45It had changed my life.
35:47I vowed then I would never be the slave of man.
35:51But I had to know what I was fighting against.
35:53So I resolved to make one foray into the enemy camp.
35:57I wanted to know the contents of his armoury, so he could never take me by stealth.
36:02It was sound strategy.
36:03Very sound, ma'am.
36:04Obviously, I had to choose a man of suitable age and physical attributes.
36:08But, of course, quite outside my social circle.
36:11I found such a man.
36:14Unfortunately, there was a consequence.
36:16Peter Brand?
36:18Yes.
36:19I provided money for his upkeep.
36:22But in the true emancipating spirit, I made quite sure it was his father who raised him.
36:27You lost touch with him?
36:29Oh, goodness, yes.
36:30It would have been most imprudent for me to have had anything to do with the boy.
36:35And one day last year, apparently his father told Peter the whole story.
36:41One can only assume he had drunk too much.
36:44It took Peter months to trace me.
36:48But he did.
36:50He seemed so charming at first.
36:54Of course, it was a terrible shock to me.
36:58But he seemed so interested in my life.
37:02And in the life hereafter.
37:05You do understand.
37:07I can see it in your eyes.
37:09I've no doubt, ma'am, that your interest in these matters is perfectly genuine.
37:14Then why did you assist him in fraud?
37:18Oh, Sergeant.
37:20Isn't it obvious?
37:23I had no choice.
37:26If I hadn't helped him in his deceptions,
37:29he would have told the world what had happened to a very rash disciple of Mr. John Stuart Mill.
37:37Brand never saw the chair before the night of the experiment.
37:41Certainly not.
37:41That would have invalidated the whole thing.
37:44It doesn't look as though he could have reached the resistor without leaving the chair.
37:48I should have thought that would have been immediately apparent to a cretin.
37:53When you finish crawling about, policemen.
37:59Flower petals.
38:12You can relax now, constable.
38:21I assume there's nothing else you want?
38:23If it's possible, sir, I'd just like to have a word with the other members of the family.
38:27Well, my daughter is clearly about to go out on a charitable mission.
38:33And ascertain if she can see you.
38:47It is only a gesture.
38:48I am sorry, ma'am.
38:50I didn't...
38:50They don't need the food.
38:52It would be much more sensible to keep the five shillings a week
38:55than to have a bottle of champagne on Saturday.
38:58Her real motives are her own affair.
39:01Possibly it is to escape for a few hours at least
39:04the constant surveillance of her fiancé.
39:06His concern for her safety must be extremely wearing.
39:10But in this family, we are not in the habit of communicating with one another.
39:15Have you any questions for me?
39:18For the moment, ma'am, only to ask if it might be possible
39:20to re-enact the events leading up to Brand's death.
39:23Probably Saturday night.
39:24My house is at your disposal, sergeant.
39:26It would be no imposition.
39:28I shall not be there.
39:30Scissors sharpened.
39:52Noise sharpened.
40:12Noise sharpened.
40:15Only Moses.
40:20Oh, God, you...
40:24I've had my eye on you for some time.
40:27Unlucky, weren't you?
40:28You'll find nothing in there to gratify your filthy tastes.
40:32It's the headquarters of the Philanthorpe at Glades of Richmond.
40:34Know what?
40:35Just to teach you, you peeping tongue.
40:39She was as naked as the day she was born.
40:44Like it...
40:45Thank you, Constable. You've told me that twice already.
40:48Now show the lady's mother in.
40:52Remember what I told you. Another word about how you got your disfigurement.
40:55Sarge?
40:56No need to upset anybody unnecessarily.
40:58After all, she's probably never seen the inside of a police station before.
41:04Good morning, ma'am. I'm glad you could come.
41:07Thackeray, help Mrs. Probert into a chair.
41:09You said in your note that I might be able to speak with...
41:12All the range, ma'am.
41:14Before I bring in the party who is held in custody in this building,
41:16I'd like to explain procedure.
41:18I charged Professor Quayle under the Larceny Act of 1861.
41:21He's also admitted two other offences.
41:23Over Miss Crush's vase and your husband's painting.
41:25But so far, I haven't charged him with these.
41:27It's not necessary to bring more than one charge at a time.
41:30Oh.
41:30Now, Miss Crush isn't anxious to press the charge.
41:32I'm sure my husband isn't either.
41:34He's rather anti-social about his paintings.
41:37Mind you if I thought Professor Quayle was a danger to the public.
41:40He's a completely harmless man.
41:43He...
41:43He's no more wicked than you are.
41:46Or your assistant.
41:47You might argue that he didn't carry any house-breaking tools with him.
41:51Nothing more incriminating than a bottle of gin.
41:54On the other hand, he did enter your house.
41:57Now, society takes a strong view about Larceny.
41:59There's a minimum sentence of three years.
42:02Seven years maximum.
42:04Mind you, it's the company they keep in jail that breaks a sensitive man.
42:07That and the skilly they feed him.
42:09It's a great leveler, a skilly.
42:11However, if I could be persuaded that Professor Quayle entered your house for a reason that couldn't possibly be described
42:16as a felony, then I'd drop the charge.
42:20He came at my invitation to visit me in my room.
42:23It had occurred to me that might be the case, ma'am.
42:25We had occasional evenings together.
42:29They were innocent of everything but the sharing of a small bottle of gin.
42:35I know you have every right to disbelieve me, as my husband unquestionably will.
42:39I can't imagine any way in which your husband would hear about it.
42:42Can you, Thackeray?
42:43No, Sergeant.
42:44So, I think we might have the Professor in.
42:45He's just next door.
42:53Winifred!
42:54Eustace!
42:56Mrs. Prover has explained why you entered her house, sir.
42:59You're free to leave the station.
43:01But I'd appreciate it if you both obliged me by clarifying one small point.
43:05Naturally, if we can.
43:06Your daughter, Miss Alice, ma'am.
43:08Whenever she set off with a marrow under her arm, she said she was engaged in good works.
43:13Who was it who discovered what she was really doing?
43:18One of the servants saw her entering a house and reported it to me.
43:23And you mentioned it to Professor Quayle?
43:25After I had faced Alice with it, when I had discovered what the secret was.
43:30It was, after all, quite amusing.
43:35For my husband's daughter to be embroiled in a woman's suffrage movement.
43:40Suffrage movement?
43:40And you, sir, mentioned it to Peter Brand as a joke.
43:43I must confess I did.
43:45The idea, Dr. Prover, of all men, having a daughter who was campaigning for the rights of women.
43:50Campaigning.
43:50You see, on the evening before the seance, Brand visited your husband.
43:54He'd followed Alice to that house.
43:56He'd seen her enter and emerge sometime later.
43:59The deduction he made was, if you'll forgive me, ma'am, that what your daughter was really doing was visiting
44:03a lover.
44:04A monster.
44:05By threatening to expose your daughter's supposed immorality, he secured Dr. Prover's cooperation in producing fraudulent effects, like throwing oranges
44:13around.
44:14Brand was a sharp man, very clever sharp.
44:17To think I tried to help him.
44:18What is more, he used the same threat to blackmail Alice that he would tell Captain Nye.
44:22That's why she said the spirits were stroking her hair and so forth.
44:25Well, I can only assume that you're right, Sergeant.
44:29After Brand's death, my husband finally brought the matter up, and she admitted that she had been going to these
44:35meetings regularly.
44:37My husband was deeply shocked at the idea of a woman having a mind of her own.
44:42But as her activities were clearly so much less questionable than he had supposed, he seemed prepared to take the
44:49matter no further.
44:52If we may go now?
44:55Of course, ma'am.
45:02I shall not be at your seance.
45:04But perhaps we may meet again on Saturday.
45:09Well, I propose to make the arrest.
45:12Roe.
45:14And I have a reading of 200 divisions.
45:17Two hundreds.
45:19That man behind the curtain is a sensitive. I know it.
45:26Ah!
45:28Oh!
45:30The reading is the same. 200 divisions.
45:33The room is getting colder.
45:38Ah!
45:39It's that man grip on his way to purgatory!
45:42No, no, no, no. Not so, Miss Cross. Now, that is enough of that, Sergeant.
45:45Oh, it's still at base commands. It still isn't free.
45:47Can't escape the force as easily as that, ma'am. Just a night shirt and some talcum powder.
45:51Right now. Now, Captain, now, if you'll be good enough to go and turn on the electricity.
45:56Oh, my God. Oh, well. I will go and turn on the lights.
45:59But this confounded thing is still reading 196.
46:03There must be someone else in the chair.
46:06No, Miss.
46:07Now, then. Now, to explain.
46:15The handkerchief is conducting the electricity.
46:18The handkerchief isn't a conductor.
46:20A wet one is, sir. I mopped up the water with it.
46:23Yes. Well, that was Bran's idea, not the Sergeant's.
46:25Well, how could he put it there without breaking the circuit?
46:27May I demonstrate, sir?
46:28Well, I'll pay for something.
46:58I'll pay for something.
47:08It's still reading 196.
47:10That's how Bran intended to produce a manifestation.
47:13That still doesn't explain how the poor beggar was killed.
47:15Quite right, sir.
47:16Now, if I may take the liberty of asking you to go downstairs to turn off the current of the
47:19chair just one more time.
47:20You are forgetting your position.
47:23Only as you understand how it all works.
47:26You do it.
47:27Thackery!
47:31Have I seen you somewhere before?
47:33I don't think so, sir.
47:36Yes, now, Constable Thackery will play the part of a corpse.
47:38Now, come along now.
47:40Come on.
47:41Left arm dangling, Constable.
47:45There's no current.
47:47Now, you can all go to where we were.
47:52No need to switch the lights off.
47:54Ready, sir.
47:56You see?
47:59Brand needed the handkerchief for his own purpose.
48:01But in the near darkness, he saw it as a white object behind him.
48:04But as he reached down to pick it up...
48:06If it were touching that terminal, he'd die immediately.
48:10But are you really asking us to believe that it fell onto the terminal three feet behind the chair?
48:15It was placed there as a deliberate act.
48:18But that would be murder.
48:20It was.
48:21But the handkerchief wasn't there when we found poor Mr. Brand.
48:25No, it wasn't.
48:27No.
48:29Then one of you...
48:32One of you must have picked it up.
48:34It's an engaging theory, Inspector, but you're not a shred of evidence.
48:38Nobody saw a handkerchief tied to the resistor.
48:40You can't even produce the confounded thing.
48:42Evidence, sir.
48:43I found these on the floor behind the chair.
48:45And what the devil are they?
48:47Chrysanthemum petals picked up on Brand's handkerchief when he mopped up the spilt water with it.
48:52The handkerchief was one item missing from Brand's possession.
48:56I don't suppose, Doctor, you notice these when you remove the handkerchief and put it in your pocket?
49:01Does a subordinate of yours have your permission to make this kind of accusation in my house?
49:05In front of my daughter and guests?
49:06Immediately after Brand's death, before the electric current to the chair had been switched off, you were standing by the
49:12door.
49:12That is correct.
49:13Captain Nye, sir. You were in the cellar, I believe.
49:15Mr. Strathmore, you were by the fire lighting a candle.
49:18Miss Crush had fainted somewhere about here.
49:20Miss Alice was looking after her. Would you mind, Miss?
49:23Now, obviously, nobody could remove the handkerchief until the current was off.
49:26Similarly, when Mr. Strathmore brought in his candle, nobody could remove the handkerchief without being seen.
49:31It had to be taken in those few seconds when it was safe and also dark in the study.
49:35And the only person in the study apart from the deceased at that time, sir?
49:40Very well, policeman. If you want a full confession, you shall have it.
49:43But I prefer not to give it here in front of my family and friends.
49:47Before you do that, sir, I'd like to have a word with your daughter.
49:50Would you tell your father in your own words, Miss, that you are not the murderer of Peter Brand?
49:55Are you being serious?
49:56Never more serious, Miss.
49:58Your father believed that you arranged to murder Brand to silence him over certain matters.
50:01I know that you've since explained these events, but that was after Brand's death.
50:05When your father saw Brand and saw the handkerchief, he understood what had happened and assumed you had done it.
50:11Unless you can dissuade him, he's about to make a false confession to save you from the hangman's rope.
50:14Of course I didn't kill him.
50:17I only did what he asked me to do at the séances to protect you from any embarrassment.
50:23You do see how silly you're being, don't you, Papa?
50:27I'd better sit down.
50:33Somebody must have put the handkerchief there.
50:36Would you like to explain, sir?
50:40If you insist, sir.
50:41Now, it wasn't a premeditated crime.
50:44For Brand to have been electrocuted required a number of events nobody could have predicted.
50:47It required, for example, not only a handkerchief, but a wet handkerchief.
50:51Then if nobody came here wanting to kill Mr. Brand...
50:53Something happened that provoked it, yes, Miss.
50:55Somebody believed until halfway through that evening that here at last was a true materialising medium.
51:01It was the betrayal of years of hope that provoked the murder.
51:05What betrayal?
51:06The sight of Brand sitting there with the handkerchief stretched between the handles.
51:09Damn it, man! Who are you saying did it?
51:12The first person to look through the curtains that evening.
51:18You're not denying it, are you, sir?
51:21If he'd been a genuine medium, he wouldn't have needed to touch the handkerchief.
51:25All I did was put him to the test. I wouldn't call that murder.
51:29It's a question a court of law might argue over, sir.
51:31But it's my duty to charge you with murder.
51:34I'm sure of that.
51:38Either way, son, the probords still don't seem to know the real reason why Alice visited that house.
51:43Better they never find out.
51:45Why, if you think of it, you probably imagined it.
51:48I don't imagine things, son.
51:50Thackeray, I must tell you about an item of police equipment that you may not know you have.
51:55So?
51:55It's your blind eye, Thackeray.
51:57And it's as important as your bullseye lamp or your truncheon.
52:01There's something I noticed this evening, but I didn't report it to you.
52:05I was using my blind eye.
52:07Oh?
52:08When I was waiting outside the library, I saw Professor Quayle tiptoe into the study and come out again.
52:15He had a bottle of gin in his pocket.
52:17He made his way up to Mrs. Probert's room.
52:19That wasn't necessary to the investigation.
52:23Well, instead of throwing her book of sermons at him, Mrs. Probert opened her door and pulled him in.
52:30I shouldn't think there'll be much of that gin left by now.
52:33I wouldn't lose any sleep over that, Thackeray.
52:35The last I saw of Dr. Probert, he was inviting Miss Crush to take a look at his Etty.
52:40Well, Sarge, I hope she knows how to turn a blind eye.
52:49...
52:51...
52:51...
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