:24:03
Trouble at the Exchequer?
:24:05
Well, to be honest...
:24:06
Wait... how did you know?
:24:10
The same way that I can tell
you've recently recovered
:24:12
from an illness, smoke a pipe...
probably rosewood...
:24:16
- and have spent some time in...
- China.
:24:18
Amazing!
:24:21
Thank you.
:24:25
Before we start,
perhaps a little sherry?
:24:28
I wish we could,
:24:30
but the matter which brings me here
:24:32
involves the fate
of the entire Empire.
:24:36
I see. Perhaps a whiskey, then?
:24:39
Perhaps later.
:24:40
Tell me the details,
and omit nothing.
:24:42
- Watson, pay close attention.
- Do you know what these are?
:24:46
- I do.
- So do I.
:24:47
Plates for the Bank of England's
five pound note.
:24:50
- Undoubtedly.
- Or very good imitations.
:24:52
- Precisely.
- Exactly.
:24:54
Indeed.
:24:55
That's cleared that up.
How about that whiskey?
:24:58
- May I?
- I suppose so.
:25:05
Just two nights ago,
these clever forgeries
:25:07
were exchanged
for the genuine plates.
:25:10
If the real plates are in the hands
of some foreign power...
:25:13
Or someone even
more treacherous,
:25:15
the kingdom could find itself
awash in counterfeit notes.
:25:18
And I don't have to tell you
what that would mean.
:25:24
Yes, you do.
:25:27
It would mean, quite simply,
economic ruin for England.
:25:31
Nobody would know
which five pound notes were real
:25:34
and which weren't.
:25:37
Gentlemen, I accept this case.
:25:42
My fee will be five hundred pounds...
:25:45
payable in ten pound notes.
:25:48
Good evening.
:25:54
We can all rest
a little easier now, Inspector.
:25:57
Drive on, my good man.
:25:59
I don't suppose it would
make any difference