The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

defiant eyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, an

  expression of absolute astonishment came over her

  face.

  "'Why, if it isn't Mr. Phelps, of the office!' she

  cried.

  "'Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran

  away from us?' asked my companion.

  "'I thought you were the brokers,' said she, 'we have

  had some trouble with a tradesman.'

  "'That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. 'We

  have reason to believe that you have taken a paper of

  importance fro the Foreign Office, and that you ran in

  here to dispose of it. You must come back with us to

  Scotland Yard to be searched.'

  "It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A

  four-wheeler was brought, and we all three drove back

  in it. We had first made an examination of the

  kitchen, and especially of the kitchen fire, to see

  whether she might have made away with the papers

  during the instant that she was alone. There were no

  signs, however, of any ashes or scraps. When we

  reached Scotland Yard she was handed over at once to

  the female searcher. I waited in an agony of suspense

  until she came back with her report. There were no

  signs of the papers.

  "Then for the first time the horror of my situation

  came in its full force. Hitherto I had been acting,

  and action had numbed thought. I had been so

  confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had

  not dared to think of what would be the consequence if

  I failed to do so. But now there was nothing more to

  be done, and I had leisure to realize my position. It

  was horrible. Watson there would tell you that I was

  a nervous, sensitive boy at school. It is my nature.

  I thought of my uncle and of his colleagues in the

  Cabinet, of the shame which I had brought upon him,

  upon myself, upon every one connected with me. What

  though I was the victim of an extraordinary accident?

  No allowance is made for accidents where diplomatic

  interests are at stake. I was ruined, shamefully,

  hopelessly ruined. I don't know what I did. I fancy

  I must have made a scene. I have a dim recollection

  of a group of officials who crowded round me,

  endeavoring to soothe me. One of them drove down with

  me to Waterloo, and saw me into the Woking train. I

  believe that he would have come all the way had it not

  been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was going

  down by that very train. The doctor most kindly took

  charge of me, and it was well he did so, for I had a

  fit in the station, and before we reached home I was

  practically a raving maniac.

  "You can imagine the state of things here when they

  were roused from their beds by the doctor's ringing

  and found me in this condition. Poor Annie here and

  my mother were broken-hearted. Dr. Ferrier had just

  heard enough from the detective at the station to be

  able to give an idea of what had happened, and his

  story did not mend matters. It was evident to all

  that I was in for a long illness, so Joseph was

  bundled out of this cheery bedroom, and it was turned

  into a sick-room for me. Here I have lain, Mr.

  Holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious, and raving

  with brain-fever. If it had not been for Miss

  Harrison here and for the doctor's care I should not

  be speaking to you now. She has nursed me by day and

  a hired nurse has looked after me by night, for in my

  mad fits I was capable of anything. Slowly my reason

  has cleared, but it is only during the last three days

  that my memory has quite returned. Sometimes I wish

  that it never had. The first thing that I did was to

  wire to Mr. Forbes, who had the case in hand. He came

  out, and assures me that, though everything has been

  done, no trace of a clue has been discovered. The

  commissionnaire and his wife have been examined in

  every way without any light being thrown upon the

  matter. The suspicions of the police then rested upon

  young Gorot, who, as you may remember, stayed over

  time in the office that night. His remaining behind

  and is French name were really the only two points

  which could suggest suspicion; but, as a matter of

  fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and his

  people are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in

  sympathy and tradition as you and I are. Nothing was

  found to implicate him in any way, and there the

  matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr. Holmes, as

  absolutely my last hope. If you fail me, then my

  honor as well as my position are forever forfeited."

  The invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by

  this long recital, while his nurse poured him out a

  glass of some stimulating medicine. Holmes sat

  silently, with his head thrown back and his eyes

  closed, in an attitude which might seem listless to a

  stranger, but which I knew betokened the most intense

  self-absorption.

  "You statement has been so explicit," said he at last,

  "that you have really left me very few questions to

  ask. There is one of the very utmost importance,

  however. Did you tell any one that you had this

  special task to perform?"

  "No one."

  "Not Miss Harrison here, for example?"

  "No. I had not been back to Woking between getting

  the order and executing the commission."

  "And none of your people had by chance been to see

  you?"

  "None."

  "Did any of them know their way about in the office?"

  "Oh, yes, all of them had been shown over it."

  "Still, of course, if you said nothing to any one

  about the treaty these inquiries are irrelevant."

  "I said nothing."

  "Do you know anything of the commissionnaire?"

  "Nothing except that he is an old soldier."

  "What regiment?"

  "Oh, I have heard--Coldstream Guards."

  "Thank you. I have no doubt I can get details from

  Forbes. The authorities are excellent at amassing

  facts, though they do not always use them to

  advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!"

  He walked past the couch to the open window, and held

  up the drooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at

  the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new

  phase of his character to me, for I had never before

  seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.

  "There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary

  as in religion," said he, leaning with his back

  against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact

  science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the

  goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the

  flowers. All other things, our powers our desires,

  our food, are all really necessary for our existence

  in the first instance. But this rose is an extra.

  Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life,

  not a condition of it. It is only goodness which
r />   gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to

  hope from the flowers.

  Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during

  this demonstration with surprise and a good deal of

  disappointment written upon their faces. He had

  fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between his

  fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young

  lady broke in upon it.

  "Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr.

  Holmes?" she asked, with a touch of asperity in her

  voice.

  "Oh, the mystery!" he answered, coming back with a

  start to the realities of life. "Well, it would be

  absurd to deny that the case is a very abstruse and

  complicated one, but I can promise you that I will

  look into the matter and let you know any points which

  may strike me."

  "Do you see any clue?"

  "You have furnished me with seven, but, of course, I

  must test them before I can pronounce upon their

  value."

  "You suspect some one?"

  "I suspect myself."

  "What!"

  "Of coming to conclusions to rapidly."

  "Then go to London and test your conclusions."

  "Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison," said

  Holmes, rising. "I think, Watson, we cannot do

  better. Do not allow yourself to indulge in false

  hopes, Mr. Phelps. The affair is a very tangled one."

  "I shall be in a fever until I see you again," cried

  the diplomatist.

  "Well, I'll come out be the same train to-morrow,

  though it's more than likely that my report will be a

  negative one."

  "God bless you for promising to come," cried our

  client. "It gives me fresh life to know that

  something is being done. By the way, I have had a

  letter from Lord Holdhurst."

  "Ha! What did he say?"

  "He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe

  illness prevented him from being that. He repeated

  that the matter was of the utmost importance, and

  added that no steps would be taken about my future--by

  which he means, of course, my dismissal--until my

  health was restored and I had an opportunity of

  repairing my misfortune."

  "Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said

  Holmes. "Come, Watson, for we have a goody day's work

  before us in town."

  Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and

  we were soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train.

  Holmes was sunk in profound thought, and hardly opened

  his mouth until we had passed Clapham Junction.

  "It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any

  of these lines which run high, and allow you to look

  down upon the houses like this."

  I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid

  enough, but he soon explained himself.

  "Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising

  up above the slates, like brick islands in a

  lead-colored sea."

  "The board-schools."

  "Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future!

  Capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each,

  out of which will spring the wise, better England of

  the future. I suppose that man Phelps does not

  drink?"

  "I should not think so."

  "Nor should I, but we are bound to take every

  possibility into account. The poor devil has

  certainly got himself into very deep water, and it's a

  question whether we shall ever be able to get him

  ashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison?"

  "A girl of strong character."

  "Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She

  and her brother are the only children of an

  iron-master somewhere up Northumberland way. He got

  engaged to her when traveling last winter, and she

  came down to be introduced to his people, with her

  brother as escort. Then came the smash, and she

  stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother Joseph,

  finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been

  making a few independent inquiries, you see. But

  to-day must be a day of inquiries."

  "My practice--" I began.

  "Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than

  mine--" said Holmes, with some asperity.

  "I was going to say that my practice could get along

  very well for a day or two, since it is the slackest

  time in the year."

  "Excellent," said he, recovering his good-humor.

  "Then we'll look into this matter together. I think

  that we should begin be seeing Forbes. He can

  probably tell us all the details we want until we know

  from what side the case is to be approached.

  "You said you had a clue?"

  "Well, we have several, but we can only test their

  value by further inquiry. The most difficult crime to

  track is the one which is purposeless. Now this is

  not purposeless. Who is it who profits by it? There

  is the French ambassador, there is the Russian, there

  is who-ever might sell it to either of these, and

  there is Lord Holdhurst."

  "Lord Holdhurst!"

  "Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might

  find himself in a position where he was not sorry to

  have such a document accidentally destroyed."

  "Not a statesman wit the honorable record of Lord

  Holdhurst?"

  "It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard

  it. We shall see the noble lord to-day and find out

  if he can tell us anything. Meanwhile I have already

  set inquiries on foot."

  "Already?"

  "Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every

  evening paper in London. This advertisement will

  appear in each of them."

  He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. On it

  was scribbled in pencil: "L10 reward. The number of

  the cab which dropped a fare at or about the door of

  the Foreign Office in Charles Street at quarter to ten

  in the evening of May 23d. Apply 221 B, Baker

  Street."

  "You are confident that the thief came in a cab?"

  "If not, there is no harm done. But if Mr. Phelps is

  correct in stating that there is no hiding-place

  either in the room or the corridors, then the person

  must have come from outside. If he came from outside

  on so wet a night, and yet left no trace of damp upon

  the linoleum, which was examined within a few minutes

  of his passing, then it is exceeding probably that he

  came in a cab. Yes, I think that we may safely deduce

  a cab."

  "It sounds plausible."

  "That is one of the clues of which I spoke. It may

  lead us to something. And then, of course, there is

  the bell--which is the most distinctive feature of the

  case. Why should the bell ring? Was it the thief who

  did it out of bravado? Or was it some one who was

  with the thief who did it in order to prevent the

  crime? Or was it an accident? Or was it--?" He sank

  back into the state of intense and silent thought from

 
which he had emerged; but it seemed to me, accustomed

  as I was to his every mood, that some new possibility

  had dawned suddenly upon him.

  It was twenty past three when we reached our terminus,

  and after a hasty luncheon at the buffet we pushed on

  at once to Scotland Yard. Holmes had already wired to

  Forbes, and we found him waiting to receive us--a

  small, foxy man with a sharp but by no means amiable

  expression. He was decidedly frigid in his manner to

  us, especially when he heard the errand upon which we

  had come.

  "I've heard of your methods before now, Mr. Holmes,"

  said he, tartly. "You are ready enough to use all the

  information that the police can lay at your disposal,

  and then you try to finish the case yourself and bring

  discredit on them."

  "On the contrary," said Holmes, "out of my last

  fifty-three cases my name has only appeared in four,

  and the police have had all the credit in forty-nine.

  I don't blame you for not knowing this, for you are

  young and inexperienced, but if you wish to get on in

  your new duties you will work with me and not against

  me."

  "I'd be very glad of a hint or two," said the

  detective, changing his manner. "I've certainly had

  no credit from the case so far."

  "What steps have you taken?"

  "Tangey, the commissionnaire, has been shadowed. He

  left the Guards with a good character and we can find

  nothing against him. His wife is a bad lot, though.

  I fancy she knows more about this than appears."

  "Have you shadowed her?"

  "We have set one of our women on to her. Mrs. Tangey

  drinks, and our woman has been with her twice when she

  was well on, but she could get nothing out of her."

  "I understand that they have had brokers in the

  house?"

  "Yes, but they were paid off."

  "Where did the money come from?"

  "That was all right. His pension was due. They have

  not shown any sign of being in funds."

  "What explanation did she give of having answered the

  bell when Mr. Phelps rang for the coffee?"

  "She said that he husband was very tired and she

  wished to relieve him."

  "Well, certainly that would agree with his being found

  a little later asleep in his chair. There is nothing

  against them then but the woman's character. Did you

  ask her why she hurried away that night? Her haste

  attracted the attention of the police constable."

  "She was later than usual and wanted to get home."

  "Did you point out to her that you and Mr. Phelps, who

  started at least twenty minutes after he, got home

  before her?"

  "She explains that by the difference between a 'bus

  and a hansom."

  "Did she make it clear why, on reaching her house, she

  ran into the back kitchen?"

  "Because she had the money there with which to pay off

  the brokers."

  "She has at least an answer for everything. Did you

  ask her whether in leaving she met any one or saw any

  one loitering about Charles Street?"

  "She saw no one but the constable."

  "Well, you seem to have cross-examined her pretty

  thoroughly. What else have you done?"

  "The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine

  weeks, but without result. We can show nothing

  against him."

  "Anything else?"

  "Well, we have nothing else to go upon--no evidence of

  any kind."

  "Have you formed a theory about how that bell rang?"

  "Well, I must confess that it beats me. It was a cool

  hand, whoever it was, to go and give the alarm like

  that."

  "Yes, it was queer thing to do. Many thanks to you

  for what you have told me. If I can put the man into

  your hands you shall hear from me. Come along,

  Watson."

  "Where are we going to now?" I asked, as we left the

  office.

  "We are now going to interview Lord Holdhurst, the

  cabinet minister and future premier of England."

  We were fortunate in finding that Lord Holdhurst was

  still in his chambers in Downing Street, and on Holmes

  sending in his card we were instantly shown up. The

  statesman received us with that old-fashioned courtesy

  for which he is remarkable, and seated us on the two