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 FOUR - The Beginning |
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based on Sign of the Four
by Joe Gombarcik and Claudia Rülke |
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Watson:
Holmes! Stay thy hand. Thy curs'd
appliance
can no longer be condoned.
Forsake thy chemistry.
What matter of Man of Science
Doth blaspheme that which bore him scientific
adventure?
This syringe is witchcraft. So, desist, varlet!
Yea, despite constancy of friendship,
sharing of rent
monies and homage to thrilling adventure,
"varlet" thou must now be!
A strong sense of will should be our common bootstrap.
Holmes:
Spoken like a true man of Oath.
Verily, thou art sagacious. And spirited --
no doubt brought upon by thy glass of Beaune.
Indeed, thou art welcome to tend my fears;
but
there are forces that travail beyond logic.
Stagnation bequeaths this ill-formed habit upon me.
Treat my wounds with mental sport
And this fox shall turn upon his new prey.
T'is therefore, my dear friend, that I devised
this occupation I alone pursue,
The highest court to which all those appeal
to whom sweet justice long has been denied.
Watson:
Ay, t'is the truth thou calmly doth express
and which I often have extolled in verse.
Holmes:
Alas, but in such questionable shape,
that I will speak to thee: cut the Romance
and restitute to science its proper place.
Or else try to devise a tale of love
and weave into its fabric, if thou canst,
a proposition of the great Euclid!
Watson:
Now Holmes, dear man, methinks this is
unjust!
The truth stands as it does: Romance there was,
and never did I tamper with the facts...
Holmes:
Faith, no, but wisdom will suppress such
acts!
Watson:
Thy fancy is as chimerical as mine, dear
sir.
For ye need channel thy own pursuits
in less precarious wanderings.
Ay, less tongue and less needle
and the day may yet be saved.
Holmes:
Very well, gentle foe.
Then afford me suitable game.
If my resolve sees test, my pursuits will be better
spent.
Watson:
I am prepared! This feverish challenge may
ease a restless mind.
Holmes:
In what manner? Where might I turn my eye?
Watson:
Watch this!
Holmes:
Indeed! There is merit in this revealed
form.
This object is truly calculating in my hand.
A timeless countenance, turning back the past.
I see it was thus possessed by a man near destitution,
though Fate hath played with its shape many times.
He was a hapless warrior making sport of luck
until it turned upon him like a raging tiger.
Thereby, he was rebounding yet never recovering.
T'is a sad tale.
Watson:
Holmes! I am cut to the quick!
Surely my playful interference doth spurned this
spiteful act.
Surreptitious guise of investigation
could only reveal thus, about my brother.
Thy bloody execution is unbecoming and hath been
swiftly brandish'd --
tho' I must begrudgingly admit to its accuracy.
As the sun rises at day's beckon,
my brother unfairly hath been charged hence.
Holmes:
Drain thy ill humours, good friend Watson!
There is no collusion, no evil.
Just logic, pure and elemental.
I pray thee, chide me not, dear friend!
I'll tell thee all, ere thou may ask again.
My logic faculties demand
that I shall never guess. Behold:
It all can be deduced from the mere facts
that this device of time-keeping reveals.
Observe, my train of thought and see
then for yourself: no magic was involved!
This watch was handled by some careless hands.
The nether part of it reveals as much
if thou dost cast your eyes upon it here:
So dinted, battered, marked and cut it is
by coins and keys and objects numerous.
What else save careless habits would do thus
to such an object of acknowledged worth?
But once Fortuna must have smiled on him.
Watson:
Aye, it is true!
I pray thee, please proceed!
Holmes:
Direct thine eyes towards the inner case.
Now, dost behold thou tiny scratches there?
Four of those signs present themselves to view.
Pawnbroker's marks: the watch hath sure been pledged.
The silent witnesses of ebb and flow
in fortune are those marks. Methinks t'is clear.
Watson:
Clear as the light of day!
But tarry not, speak on!
Holmes:
Other scratches reveal uncomely windings
which, in kind, reveal unwound sobriety.
Yea, it is simplicity itself. Verily so!
Watson:
Holmes, ne'er did one feel
such remorse and shame as I dost now!
Farewell to doubts grown foolish
with evident wild abandon.
Holmes:
Just part of the Game, sir; consider it
not.
But soft! Do ye but hear?
What tread on yonder stair perceived?
T'is a summons on the seventeenth step.
Please allow our Mrs. Hudson entry, Watson.
Her knock will be forthcoming.
Watson:
Indeed, Holmes!
[Enter Mrs. Hudson]
Astonishment shadows me like a
constant companion. Truly there appears,
like a spectre, the form you expected,
bearing a salver with simple calling card:
fair witness of a client in need.
Holmes:
Pray, make a long arm, friend Watson,
and read the name hence it bears:
"Miss Mary Morstan," is it?
Please, show her up, my good woman.
With valiant and hardy, undue haste.
[Exit Mrs. Hudson]
Watson:
I daresay, Holmes, this seems to bear
earmarks of
a most palpable, most exciting adventure!
O, what unholy acts of cruel Fate and man
could possibly transport such a needful person
to seek thy services?
Rank injustice? Indiscretion? Usury?
Ah, perhaps, Murder most foul?
What doth thou think?
Holmes:
Hold thy thoughts of fancy and romance, Watson,
for, verily, it is egregious error to speculate
without all facts that bear fond witness to a case.
Now hark the footfalls on the stairs, Watson.
And, if you please, show our lady in.
[Enter Miss Mary Morstan]
Watson [to himself]:
How firm of step, how outwardly
composed
this lovely lady seems. Ay, there is a blush
like roses I see blooming in her cheeks!
Holmes:
Pray, dear lady,
take a seat and ease a heavy burden.
What troubles thee?
Morstan:
I came to seek thy council, Mister Holmes,
hearing your praise from Mrs. Forrester,
whom once thou did assist when in distress.
She highly praised thy kindness and thy skills.
Holmes:
Tut, tut, it was but a trifle, be assured.
Morstan:
I wish then thou wouldst say the same about
my situation, which seems strange and dark.
I feel I am a ship that is tossed about
upon high stormy seas in darkest night,
without beacon or a star to guide.
Holmes [to himself]:
Methinks the gracious lady has
a taste
quite similar to that of dear friend Watson.
Too much romance by far speaks through her words.
[to Mary Morstan]:
Pray thee, Lady Morstan, state your curious case!
Morstan:
I shall be most anxious to tend my story,
gentle sir.
But, first, if your friend
would be good enough to remain,
he might be of estimable service to me.
Watson [to himself]:
Service? Indeed! What is this
afoot?
To this fair and delicate one shall I be most happy
to grant console and sage advice,
such as my tutor and roommate dispenses similar
eruditions.
Morstan:
Briefly, the facts are these:
Gentlemen, you see before you bedlam’s daughter.
Born to an officer of an Indian regiment,
fortune sought to sequester me in an English boarding
establishment
where I was forced to be content as brave deeds filled
my dreams.
Dreams inherited thus from the man who gave me life.
In anxious reward to patient vigil,
I discovered a reunion with my captain father was
imminent.
Alas, it was that one fateful day in 1878!
For, although his telegram offered fond endearments
and a bidding for my presence
at the Langham Hotel where he would be staying thus,
I found no one reaching me with outstretched arms.
Despite prodigious inquires, and to this day,
I find the ground has swallowed him whole.
Ay, ten years have been brushed asunder!
No one has heard his tread since –
e’en nearby Major Sholto
who had served proudly in his regiment,
can tell me naught. I am vexed, gentlemen.
Holmes:
A singular case.
Morstan:
But hold! There is more.
Watson [to himself]:
What? More deviltry bestirs
these lovely features
and wrinkles this glowing countenance? Fie on this
corruption!
Morstan:
T'was but six years ago, that I received
notice,
through innocent advertisement,
of a desire for my address.
Sending it forthwith, there was returned the most
remarkable gift.
A gift like no other: for there was the largest pearl
that ev’r did arrive before wonder’s eye.
Wonder multiplied itself joyfully through a yearly
renewal,
as the ritual of other pearl arrivals was but repeated
until this moment of time.
Holmes:
This tale grows curious. What sayest you
now?
Morstan:
Indeed, it is why I sit before you now,
desperate in confusion and need.
I received this missive with the heralding of the
breaking sun
yet this very day.
Holmes: [opening letter]:
"To the Lyceum summons
this decree.
If thou shalt be disposed, you'll hence be brought
where now the muses dwell; in history
there once near Athens Aristotle taught.
“At the third pillar when the clock doth strike
the seventh hour, shall be our meeting place.
Two trusty comrades bring, if thou doth like.
But do not fear: no perils thou shall face.
“Thou have been wronged and justice shall receive
by my own hands, if I can so contrive.
And to atone for past and present grief
let this now be the aim t'wards which we strive.
“Whate'er thy thoughts or thy heart's workings be,
bring no police, or naught revealed you'll see!"
Faith, t'is a very pretty mystery.
I pray thee, speak thy thought and thy intent.
Morstan:
The same I ask of you.
In such bewilderment, the smallest twine may lead me.
For, I seek indulgence to guide my trembling hand.
Wouldst that strength be found thus within thy
resolve.
Holmes:
Then take consolation in resolve firmly
met.
And, since “two comrades’ are bidden forth,
perhaps another shoulder can bolster our own
by this very man who before you stands.
Morstan:
If he would deem to come, then multiply
thy resolve with that of thy good doctor.
Watson [to himself]:
Heavens parting! She doth do me
proud
in good nature to name me "good."
For I shall be "good."
"Good" in guidance. And "good" in honor bound.
This situation, though conceived replete of matters
ill,
I swear, will soon be wont to find "good"
in resolutions destined for her good.
Morstan:
Good doctor, wouldst you come?
Watson:
Of service to be, I should be proud and
happy.
Holmes:
Then our quest is carved in biding passage.
We will strike out as valour’s minion
In search of truth and mystery’s end.
Hold, dear woman, before you leave,
I have but one question which smokes with curious
abandon:
Did the pearl-box display handwriting to match our
look?
Morstan:
My correspondence is folded thus for your
inquiry.
Holmes:
Ah, dear lady, you are a model client.
Alas, though matching in detail amongst the others,
Clearly your father bears not the hand of author.
Watson:
But, Holmes, but how..?
Holmes:
There is vacillation in his k’s, Watson.
Now, Miss Morstan,
Return to us by six, if you would please;
so results this night we wouldst eventually seize.
Morstan:
‘Til then, gentlemen, au revoir.
[Exit Miss Mary Morstan]
Watson:
Holmes...
Holmes:
Hold thy tongue, fount of emotion!
I prefer no words be uttered.
Verily, none need be uttered.
Thy thoughts hang like ivy, apparent on thy facade.
So, no further ado: I take my leave for the nonce.
Though we have gone as far as can be within these
walls,
there is solace in exploration;
for, an outside world provides
the necessary nourishment for our mental hunger.
Watson:
Alas, how can solace be found anywhere now?
My heart races wildly.
And, whence the sun 'gins his silhouettes,
I predict surprise and complication will race it more.
Finally, I pray there reins hope in a happy solution.
Holmes:
Be assured, friend Watson, we shall have
more of all!
Now rest, though it will be difficult.
Yet be prepared. For action will abound
with adventure amply abundant by tale’s end.
To be continued...
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