- Mrs. Murphy: Then you've had to take me, Mr. Holmes?
- Sherlock Holmes: I'll, ahh, take up your case.
- Mrs. Murphy: Mind you, it'll have to be for love.
- Sherlock Holmes: Love?
- Mrs. Murphy: For nix. I've noticed how you like workin' for nothin'.
- Sherlock Holmes: My interest is to bring the criminal to justice.
- Mrs. Murphy: Well, never mind about justice, never mind about the crime. All I want is my husband's lawful money. And I want you to slap that thievin' lawyers face right across, between his greasy fat chops. Good night, Mr. Holmes. I'll be seeing you and thank you kindly.
- Sherlock Holmes: You came to see me professionally.
- Inspector Lestrade: Well, er, unofficially.
- Sherlock Holmes: I see. Heads you win, tails I lose.
- Mrs. Murphy: I gave up everything, Mr. Holmes. You ask the proprietor of the Black Sow, he'll tell you. It was me that made that pub what it was.
- Sherlock Holmes: An angry woman is hard to pacify, so I thought an amicable discussion with you would put me in possession of certain facts with which I could prove to my client the absurdity of her claim.
- Inspector Lestrade: There's been a bad business during the night. An old gentleman. You'll find it a bit of a puzzler.
- Sherlock Holmes: You mean, you found it a bit of a puzzler?
- Dr. Watson: I'm amazed at your wasting your energies on such a morbid trifle. Who is this Merrydew?
- Sherlock Holmes: London's most dangerous crook. The king of blackmailers. A gliding, slidy, venomous snake. Once in his power, he'll squeeze and squeeze until he's drained his victims dry. More than once I've had my net around him, but so far he's managed to wriggle his way out. The time has come, Watson. The time has come for Mr. Thaddeus Merrydew.
- Mrs. Murphy: Mr. Holmes, I'm in such a mess. Such a mess! My husband up and died without leaving me as much as a threepenny bit. It's a crying shame, Mr. Holmes, that's what it is.
- Sherlock Holmes: Sit down and try to compose yourself.
- Mrs. Murphy: Cut off without a farthing by an ungrateful good-for-nothing. Me! And my kind of life! No dirty dog had a better wife. I've waited on him hand to mouth, stood by his side morning, noon, and night, and what does the stinker do? He ups and kills himself and - and leaves his money to a trust. And Mr. Merrydew. Yes. And there's another stinker if I never saw another. Won't even let me have a sixpence. He won't even let me have a ha'penny, Mr. Holmes.
- Mrs. Murphy: Jim comes into my room. I was in bed with a piece of cucumber rind round me head, trying to cure a headache. He had a letter in his hand. "See, here, pig," he said. That was his pet name for me when he was drunk. "I'm going up to London."
- Sherlock Holmes: What's the matter? You look worried.
- Inspector Lestrade: Worried? I'm up to my neck.
- Sherlock Holmes: Again?
- Inspector Lestrade: Before I can begin to finish one case, I'm plunged into another.
- Sherlock Holmes: That's the penalty of being smart.
- Thaddeus Merrydew: Mr. Holmes, this is the bigger pleasure. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but I had to digest my lunch.
- Thompson - Innkeeper: Ah, these is getting worser and worser.
- Will Swallow: All you do is hope they don't get more worser before they'll get less worser.
- Thompson - Innkeeper: Same as I say.
- Thaddeus Merrydew: This is a very wicked world we're living in, Miss Forrester. Now, this will necessitate another meeting. That's why I came myself to tell you. Safer. Too many eavesdroppers, busybodies concerning themselves with other people's business. The same time, the same place. Tomorrow night.
- Dr. Watson: Holmes, what did you write on that sheet of paper?
- Sherlock Holmes: A long shot in the dark, Watson. But it hit a bullseye.
- Sherlock Holmes: Is that all you observed?
- Dr. Watson: Was there anything else?
- Sherlock Holmes: A hundred things.
- Sherlock Holmes: How far is the Grange from here?
- Will Swallow: Some will tell you four miles and some will tell you five. But I say it's more than four and less than five.
- Daffy Dolly: That's the mistress. Such a good looker. Such eyes. She walks like a cat. Such a figure. Such a fine bit of good.
- Mrs. Pyke: Knowing my late husband as intimately as you did, I felt I could turn to no better person to help me through this trying time.
- Will Swallow: Dolly ran all the way to fetch Dr. Smallwood, and she and Smallwood nigh burst a blood vessel trying to get to him. And when they found him, he wasn't there.
- Jabez Wilson: I know there's a place in the country. Very secluded. Miles away from any place. It belongs to the widow of an acquaintance of mine. The lady is an Oriental, an Asiatic. As a matter of fact, she's Chinese.
- Will Swallow: An old gentleman? Wearing a cape? Stoops a bit? Big in the belly?
- Sherlock Holmes: You've seen him?
- Will Swallow: Have I seen him? Yes, sir. And Dolly at the Grange seen him and Dr. Smallwood ought to have seen him but he never set eyes on him.
- Mrs. Pyke: Good night, my dear. My bedroom is just across the corridor. If you should want me for anything, don't hesitate to call me.
- John Stanford: A maid told me that she left in the early afternoon with a strange woman... .
- Sherlock Holmes: A Chinese woman?
- John Stanford: Yes.