The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Page 11

by Arthur Conan Doyle

  Adventure X. The Naval Treaty

  The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorableby three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of beingassociated with Sherlock Holmes and of studying his methods. I find themrecorded in my notes under the headings of "The Adventure of the SecondStain," "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty," and "The Adventure of theTired Captain." The first of these, however, deals with interest of suchimportance and implicates so many of the first families in the kingdomthat for many years it will be impossible to make it public. No case,however, in which Holmes was engaged has ever illustrated the valueof his analytical methods so clearly or has impressed those who wereassociated with him so deeply. I still retain an almost verbatim reportof the interview in which he demonstrated the true facts of the caseto Monsieur Dubugue of the Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbaum, thewell-known specialist of Dantzig, both of whom had wasted their energiesupon what proved to be side-issues. The new century will have come,however, before the story can be safely told. Meanwhile I pass on tothe second on my list, which promised also at one time to be of nationalimportance, and was marked by several incidents which give it a quiteunique character.

  During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad namedPercy Phelps, who was of much the same age as myself, though he was twoclasses ahead of me. He was a very brilliant boy, and carried away everyprize which the school had to offer, finished his exploits by winninga scholarship which sent him on to continue his triumphant career atCambridge. He was, I remember, extremely well connected, and even whenwe were all little boys together we knew that his mother's brotherwas Lord Holdhurst, the great conservative politician. This gaudyrelationship did him little good at school. On the contrary, it seemedrather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground and hithim over the shins with a wicket. But it was another thing when hecame out into the world. I heard vaguely that his abilities and theinfluences which he commanded had won him a good position at the ForeignOffice, and then he passed completely out of my mind until the followingletter recalled his existence:

  Briarbrae, Woking. My dear Watson,--I have no doubt that you canremember "Tadpole" Phelps, who was in the fifth form when you were inthe third. It is possible even that you may have heard that through myuncle's influence I obtained a good appointment at the Foreign Office,and that I was in a situation of trust and honor until a horriblemisfortune came suddenly to blast my career.

  There is no use writing of the details of that dreadful event. In theevent of your acceding to my request it is probable that I shall haveto narrate them to you. I have only just recovered from nine weeks ofbrain-fever, and am still exceedingly weak. Do you think that you couldbring your friend Mr. Holmes down to see me? I should like to have hisopinion of the case, though the authorities assure me that nothing morecan be done. Do try to bring him down, and as soon as possible. Everyminute seems an hour while I live in this state of horrible suspense.Assure him that if I have not asked his advice sooner it was not becauseI did not appreciate his talents, but because I have been off my headever since the blow fell. Now I am clear again, though I dare not thinkof it too much for fear of a relapse. I am still so weak that I have towrite, as you see, by dictating. Do try to bring him.

  Your old school-fellow,

  Percy Phelps.

  There was something that touched me as I read this letter, somethingpitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes. So moved was Ithat even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it, butof course I knew well that Holmes loved his art, so that he was everas ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it. My wifeagreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the matterbefore him, and so within an hour of breakfast-time I found myself backonce more in the old rooms in Baker Street.

  Holmes was seated at his side-table clad in his dressing-gown, andworking hard over a chemical investigation. A large curved retortwas boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and thedistilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. My friendhardly glanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigationmust be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited. Hedipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each withhis glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solutionover to the table. In his right hand he held a slip of litmus-paper.

  "You come at a crisis, Watson," said he. "If this paper remains blue,all is well. If it turns red, it means a man's life." He dipped it intothe test-tube and it flushed at once into a dull, dirty crimson. "Hum!I thought as much!" he cried. "I will be at your service in an instant,Watson. You will find tobacco in the Persian slipper." He turned to hisdesk and scribbled off several telegrams, which were handed over to thepage-boy. Then he threw himself down into the chair opposite, and drewup his knees until his fingers clasped round his long, thin shins.

  "A very commonplace little murder," said he. "You've got somethingbetter, I fancy. You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson. What isit?"

  I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentratedattention.

  "It does not tell us very much, does it?" he remarked, as he handed itback to me.

  "Hardly anything."

  "And yet the writing is of interest."

  "But the writing is not his own."

  "Precisely. It is a woman's."

  "A man's surely," I cried.

  "No, a woman's, and a woman of rare character. You see, at thecommencement of an investigation it is something to know that yourclient is in close contact with some one who, for good or evil, has anexceptional nature. My interest is already awakened in the case. If youare ready we will start at once for Woking, and see this diplomatist whois in such evil case, and the lady to whom he dictates his letters."

  We were fortunate enough to catch an early train at Waterloo, and ina little under an hour we found ourselves among the fir-woods andthe heather of Woking. Briarbrae proved to be a large detached housestanding in extensive grounds within a few minutes' walk of the station.On sending in our cards we were shown into an elegantly appointeddrawing-room, where we were joined in a few minutes by a rather stoutman who received us with much hospitality. His age may have been nearerforty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merrythat he still conveyed the impression of a plump and mischievous boy.

  "I am so glad that you have come," said he, shaking our hands witheffusion. "Percy has been inquiring for you all morning. Ah, poor oldchap, he clings to any straw! His father and his mother asked me to seeyou, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful to them."

  "We have had no details yet," observed Holmes. "I perceive that you arenot yourself a member of the family."

  Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began tolaugh.

  "Of course you saw the J H monogram on my locket," said he. "For amoment I thought you had done something clever. Joseph Harrison is myname, and as Percy is to marry my sister Annie I shall at least be arelation by marriage. You will find my sister in his room, for she hasnursed him hand-and-foot this two months back. Perhaps we'd better go inat once, for I know how impatient he is."

  The chamber in which we were shown was on the same floor as thedrawing-room. It was furnished partly as a sitting and partly as abedroom, with flowers arranged daintily in every nook and corner. Ayoung man, very pale and worn, was lying upon a sofa near the openwindow, through which came the rich scent of the garden and the balmysummer air. A woman was sitting beside him, who rose as we entered.

  "Shall I leave, Percy?" she asked.

  He clutched her hand to detain her. "How are you, Watson?" said he,cordially. "I should never have known you under that moustache, and Idare say you would not be prepared to swear to me. This I presume isyour celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"

  I introduced him in a few words, and we both sat down. The stout youngman had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in that ofthe invalid. She w
as a striking-looking woman, a little short andthick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large, dark,Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair. Her rich tints made thewhite face of her companion the more worn and haggard by the contrast.

  "I won't waste your time," said he, raising himself upon the sofa."I'll plunge into the matter without further preamble. I was a happyand successful man, Mr. Holmes, and on the eve of being married, when asudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life.

  "I was, as Watson may have told you, in the Foreign Office, andthrough the influences of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst, I rose rapidly toa responsible position. When my uncle became foreign minister in thisadministration he gave me several missions of trust, and as I alwaysbrought them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to have theutmost confidence in my ability and tact.

  "Nearly ten weeks ago--to be more accurate, on the 23d of May--he calledme into his private room, and, after complimenting me on the good workwhich I had done, he informed me that he had a new commission of trustfor me to execute.

  "'This,' said he, taking a gray roll of paper from his bureau, 'is theoriginal of that secret treaty between England and Italy of which, Iregret to say, some rumors have already got into the public press. It isof enormous importance that nothing further should leak out. The Frenchor the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to learn the contentsof these papers. They should not leave my bureau were it not that itis absolutely necessary to have them copied. You have a desk in youroffice?"

  "'Yes, sir.'

  "'Then take the treaty and lock it up there. I shall give directionsthat you may remain behind when the others go, so that you may copyit at your leisure without fear of being overlooked. When you havefinished, relock both the original and the draft in the desk, and handthem over to me personally to-morrow morning.'

  "I took the papers and--"

  "Excuse me an instant," said Holmes. "Were you alone during thisconversation?"

  "Absolutely."

  "In a large room?"

  "Thirty feet each way."

  "In the centre?"

  "Yes, about it."

  "And speaking low?"

  "My uncle's voice is always remarkably low. I hardly spoke at all."

  "Thank you," said Holmes, shutting his eyes; "pray go on."

  "I did exactly what he indicated, and waited until the other clerks haddeparted. One of them in my room, Charles Gorot, had some arrearsof work to make up, so I left him there and went out to dine. When Ireturned he was gone. I was anxious to hurry my work, for I knew thatJoseph--the Mr. Harrison whom you saw just now--was in town, and that hewould travel down to Woking by the eleven-o'clock train, and I wanted ifpossible to catch it.

  "When I came to examine the treaty I saw at once that it was of suchimportance that my uncle had been guilty of no exaggeration in whathe had said. Without going into details, I may say that it defined theposition of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and fore-shadowedthe policy which this country would pursue in the event of theFrench fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy in theMediterranean. The questions treated in it were purely naval. At the endwere the signatures of the high dignitaries who had signed it. I glancedmy eyes over it, and then settled down to my task of copying.

  "It was a long document, written in the French language, and containingtwenty-six separate articles. I copied as quickly as I could, but atnine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it seemed hopeless forme to attempt to catch my train. I was feeling drowsy and stupid, partlyfrom my dinner and also from the effects of a long day's work. A cup ofcoffee would clear my brain. A commissionnaire remains all night in alittle lodge at the foot of the stairs, and is in the habit of makingcoffee at his spirit-lamp for any of the officials who may be workingover time. I rang the bell, therefore, to summon him.

  "To my surprise, it was a woman who answered the summons, a large,coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron. She explained that she was thecommissionnaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the orderfor the coffee.

  "I wrote two more articles and then, feeling more drowsy than ever, Irose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs. My coffee hadnot yet come, and I wondered what the cause of the delay could be.Opening the door, I started down the corridor to find out. There was astraight passage, dimly lighted, which led from the room in which Ihad been working, and was the only exit from it. It ended in a curvingstaircase, with the commissionnaire's lodge in the passage at thebottom. Half way down this staircase is a small landing, with anotherpassage running into it at right angles. This second one leads by meansof a second small stair to a side door, used by servants, and also asa short cut by clerks when coming from Charles Street. Here is a roughchart of the place."

  "Thank you. I think that I quite follow you," said Sherlock Holmes.

  "It is of the utmost importance that you should notice this point.I went down the stairs and into the hall, where I found thecommissionnaire fast asleep in his box, with the kettle boilingfuriously upon the spirit-lamp. I took off the kettle and blew out thelamp, for the water was spurting over the floor. Then I put out my handand was about to shake the man, who was still sleeping soundly, when abell over his head rang loudly, and he woke with a start.

  "'Mr. Phelps, sir!' said he, looking at me in bewilderment.

  "'I came down to see if my coffee was ready.'

  "'I was boiling the kettle when I fell asleep, sir.' He looked at me andthen up at the still quivering bell with an ever-growing astonishmentupon his face.

  "'If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell?' he asked.

  "'The bell!' I cried. 'What bell is it?'

  "'It's the bell of the room you were working in.'

  "A cold hand seemed to close round my heart. Some one, then, was in thatroom where my precious treaty lay upon the table. I ran frantically upthe stair and along the passage. There was no one in the corridors, Mr.Holmes. There was no one in the room. All was exactly as I left it, saveonly that the papers which had been committed to my care had been takenfrom the desk on which they lay. The copy was there, and the originalwas gone."

  Holmes sat up in his chair and rubbed his hands. I could see that theproblem was entirely to his heart. "Pray, what did you do then?" hemurmured.

  "I recognized in an instant that the thief must have come up the stairsfrom the side door. Of course I must have met him if he had come theother way."

  "You were satisfied that he could not have been concealed in the roomall the time, or in the corridor which you have just described as dimlylighted?"

  "It is absolutely impossible. A rat could not conceal himself either inthe room or the corridor. There is no cover at all."

  "Thank you. Pray proceed."

  "The commissionnaire, seeing by my pale face that something was to befeared, had followed me upstairs. Now we both rushed along the corridorand down the steep steps which led to Charles Street. The door at thebottom was closed, but unlocked. We flung it open and rushed out. I candistinctly remember that as we did so there came three chimes from aneighboring clock. It was quarter to ten."

  "That is of enormous importance," said Holmes, making a note upon hisshirt-cuff.

  "The night was very dark, and a thin, warm rain was falling. There wasno one in Charles Street, but a great traffic was going on, as usual, inWhitehall, at the extremity. We rushed along the pavement, bare-headedas we were, and at the far corner we found a policeman standing.

  "'A robbery has been committed,' I gasped. 'A document of immense valuehas been stolen from the Foreign Office. Has any one passed this way?'

  "'I have been standing here for a quarter of an hour, sir,' said he;'only one person has passed during that time--a woman, tall and elderly,with a Paisley shawl.'

  "'Ah, that is only my wife,' cried the commissionnaire; 'has no one elsepassed?'

  "'No one.'

  "'Then it must be the other way that the thief took,' cried the fellow,tugging at my sleeve.<
br />
  "'But I was not satisfied, and the attempts which he made to draw meaway increased my suspicions.

  "'Which way did the woman go?' I cried.

  "'I don't know, sir. I noticed her pass, but I had no special reason forwatching her. She seemed to be in a hurry.'

  "'How long ago was it?'

  "'Oh, not very many minutes.'

  "'Within the last five?'

  "'Well, it could not be more than five.'

  "'You're only wasting your time, sir, and every minute now is ofimportance,' cried the commissionnaire; 'take my word for it that my oldwoman has nothing to do with it, and come down to the other end of thestreet. Well, if you won't, I will.' And with that he rushed off in theother direction.

  "But I was after him in an instant and caught him by the sleeve.

  "'Where do you live?' said I.

  "'16 Ivy Lane, Brixton,' he answered. 'But don't let yourself be drawnaway upon a false scent, Mr. Phelps. Come to the other end of the streetand let us see if we can hear of anything.'

  "Nothing was to be lost by following his advice. With the policeman weboth hurried down, but only to find the street full of traffic, manypeople coming and going, but all only too eager to get to a place ofsafety upon so wet a night. There was no lounger who could tell us whohad passed.

  "Then we returned to the office, and searched the stairs and the passagewithout result. The corridor which led to the room was laid down witha kind of creamy linoleum which shows an impression very easily. Weexamined it very carefully, but found no outline of any footmark."

  "Had it been raining all evening?"

  "Since about seven."

  "How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine leftno traces with her muddy boots?"

  "I am glad you raised the point. It occurred to me at the time.The charwomen are in the habit of taking off their boots at thecommissionnaire's office, and putting on list slippers."

  "That is very clear. There were no marks, then, though the night was awet one? The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary interest.What did you do next?

  "We examined the room also. There is no possibility of a secret door,and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground. Both of themwere fastened on the inside. The carpet prevents any possibility of atrap-door, and the ceiling is of the ordinary whitewashed kind. I willpledge my life that whoever stole my papers could only have come throughthe door."

  "How about the fireplace?"

  "They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the wire justto the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have come right up to thedesk to do it. But why should any criminal wish to ring the bell? It isa most insoluble mystery."

  "Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps? Youexamined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had left anytraces--any cigar-end or dropped glove or hairpin or other trifle?"

  "There was nothing of the sort."

  "No smell?"

  "Well, we never thought of that."

  "Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to us in suchan investigation."

  "I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if there hadbeen any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of any kind. Theonly tangible fact was that the commissionnaire's wife--Mrs. Tangey wasthe name--had hurried out of the place. He could give no explanationsave that it was about the time when the woman always went home. Thepoliceman and I agreed that our best plan would be to seize the womanbefore she could get rid of the papers, presuming that she had them.

  "The alarm had reached Scotland Yard by this time, and Mr. Forbes, thedetective, came round at once and took up the case with a great deal ofenergy. We hired a hansom, and in half an hour we were at the addresswhich had been given to us. A young woman opened the door, who proved tobe Mrs. Tangey's eldest daughter. Her mother had not come back yet, andwe were shown into the front room to wait.

  "About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here we made theone serious mistake for which I blame myself. Instead of opening thedoor ourselves, we allowed the girl to do so. We heard her say, 'Mother,there are two men in the house waiting to see you,' and an instantafterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down the passage. Forbesflung open the door, and we both ran into the back room or kitchen, butthe woman had got there before us. She stared at us with defianteyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, an expression of absoluteastonishment 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 troublewith a tradesman.'

  "'That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. 'We have reason tobelieve that you have taken a paper of importance from the ForeignOffice, and that you ran in here to dispose of it. You must come backwith us to Scotland Yard to be searched.'

  "It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A four-wheeler wasbrought, and we all three drove back in it. We had first made anexamination of the kitchen, and especially of the kitchen fire, to seewhether she might have made away with the papers during the instant thatshe 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 femalesearcher. I waited in an agony of suspense until she came back with herreport. There were no signs of the papers.

  "Then for the first time the horror of my situation came in its fullforce. Hitherto I had been acting, and action had numbed thought. I hadbeen so confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had not daredto think of what would be the consequence if I failed to do so. Butnow there was nothing more to be done, and I had leisure to realizemy position. It was horrible. Watson there would tell you that I was anervous, sensitive boy at school. It is my nature. I thought of my uncleand of his colleagues in the Cabinet, of the shame which I had broughtupon him, upon myself, upon every one connected with me. What though Iwas the victim of an extraordinary accident? No allowance is madefor accidents where diplomatic interests are at stake. I was ruined,shamefully, hopelessly ruined. I don't know what I did. I fancy I musthave made a scene. I have a dim recollection of a group of officials whocrowded round me, endeavoring to soothe me. One of them drove down withme to Waterloo, and saw me into the Woking train. I believe that hewould have come all the way had it not been that Dr. Ferrier, who livesnear me, was going down by that very train. The doctor most kindly tookcharge 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 fromtheir beds by the doctor's ringing and found me in this condition. PoorAnnie here and my mother were broken-hearted. Dr. Ferrier had just heardenough from the detective at the station to be able to give an idea ofwhat had happened, and his story did not mend matters. It was evident toall that I was in for a long illness, so Joseph was bundled out of thischeery bedroom, and it was turned into a sick-room for me. Here I havelain, Mr. Holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious, and raving withbrain-fever. If it had not been for Miss Harrison here and for thedoctor's care I should not be speaking to you now. She has nursed me byday and a hired nurse has looked after me by night, for in my mad fitsI was capable of anything. Slowly my reason has cleared, but it is onlyduring the last three days that my memory has quite returned. SometimesI wish that it never had. The first thing that I did was to wire toMr. 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 withoutany light being thrown upon the matter. The suspicions of the policethen rested upon young Gorot, who, as you may remember, stayed over timein the office that night. His remaining behind and his French name werereally the only two points which could suggest suspicion; but, as amatter of fact, I did not begin work until he
had gone, and his peopleare of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition asyou and I are. Nothing was found to implicate him in any way, and therethe matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr. Holmes, as absolutely my lasthope. If you fail me, then my honor as well as my position are foreverforfeited."

  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, inan attitude which might seem listless to a stranger, but which I knewbetokened the most intense self-absorption.

  "You statement has been so explicit," said he at last, "that you havereally left me very few questions to ask. There is one of the veryutmost importance, however. Did you tell any one that you had thisspecial task to perform?"

  "No one."

  "Not Miss Harrison here, for example?"

  "No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the order andexecuting 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 theseinquiries 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. Theauthorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not alwaysuse them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!"

  He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the droopingstalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson andgreen. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never beforeseen 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 builtup as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of thegoodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All otherthings, our powers our desires, our food, are all really necessary forour existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Itssmell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it.It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we havemuch to hope from the flowers."

  Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstrationwith surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon theirfaces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between hisfingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in uponit.

  "Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?" sheasked, with a touch of asperity in her voice.

  "Oh, the mystery!" he answered, coming back with a start to therealities of life. "Well, it would be absurd to deny that the case isa very abstruse and complicated one, but I can promise you that I willlook 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 thembefore I can pronounce upon their value."

  "You suspect some one?"

  "I suspect myself."

  "What!"

  "Of coming to conclusions too rapidly."

  "Then go to London and test your conclusions."

  "Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison," said Holmes, rising. "Ithink, Watson, we cannot do better. Do not allow yourself to indulge infalse 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 by the same train to-morrow, though it's more thanlikely that my report will be a negative one."

  "God bless you for promising to come," cried our client. "It gives mefresh life to know that something is being done. By the way, I have hada letter from Lord Holdhurst."

  "Ha! What did he say?"

  "He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe illness preventedhim from being that. He repeated that the matter was of the utmostimportance, and added that no steps would be taken about my future--bywhich he means, of course, my dismissal--until my health was restoredand I had an opportunity of repairing my misfortune."

  "Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said Holmes. "Come, Watson,for we have a good day's work before us in town."

  Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soonwhirling 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 lineswhich 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 soonexplained himself.

  "Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up above theslates, like brick islands in a lead-colored sea."

  "The board-schools."

  "Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds ofbright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise, betterEngland 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'sa question whether we shall ever be able to get him ashore. What did youthink of Miss Harrison?"

  "A girl of strong character."

  "Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She and her brother arethe only children of an iron-master somewhere up Northumberland way. Hegot engaged to her when traveling last winter, and she came down tobe introduced to his people, with her brother as escort. Then camethe smash, and she stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother Joseph,finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been making a fewindependent 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--" saidHolmes, with some asperity.

  "I was going to say that my practice could get along very well for a dayor two, since it is the slackest time in the year."

  "Excellent," said he, recovering his good-humor. "Then we'll look intothis matter together. I think that we should begin by seeing Forbes.He can probably tell us all the details we want until we know from whatside the case is to be approached."

  "You said you had a clue?"

  "Well, we have several, but we can only test their value by furtherinquiry. The most difficult crime to track is the one which ispurposeless. Now this is not purposeless. Who is it who profits by it?There is the French ambassador, there is the Russian, there is whoevermight sell it to either of these, and there is Lord Holdhurst."

  "Lord Holdhurst!"

  "Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himself ina position where he was not sorry to have such a document accidentallydestroyed."

  "Not a statesman with the honorable record of Lord Holdhurst?"

  "It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard it. We shall seethe noble lord to-day and find out if he can tell us anything. MeanwhileI 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 inpencil: "L10 reward. The number of the cab which dropped a fare at orabout the door of the Foreign Office in Charles Street at quarter to tenin 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 statingthat there is no hiding-place either in the room or the corridors, thenthe person must have co
me from outside. If he came from outside on sowet a night, and yet left no trace of damp upon the linoleum, whichwas examined within a few minutes of his passing, then it is exceedingprobable that he came in a cab. Yes, I think that we may safely deduce acab."

  "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 distinctivefeature of the case. Why should the bell ring? Was it the thief who didit out of bravado? Or was it some one who was with the thief who did itin order to prevent the crime? Or was it an accident? Or was it--?" Hesank back into the state of intense and silent thought from which hehad 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 hastyluncheon at the buffet we pushed on at once to Scotland Yard. Holmeshad already wired to Forbes, and we found him waiting to receive us--asmall, foxy man with a sharp but by no means amiable expression. Hewas decidedly frigid in his manner to us, especially when he heard theerrand 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 layat your disposal, and then you try to finish the case yourself and bringdiscredit on them."

  "On the contrary," said Holmes, "out of my last fifty-three cases myname has only appeared in four, and the police have had all the creditin forty-nine. I don't blame you for not knowing this, for you are youngand inexperienced, but if you wish to get on in your new duties you willwork with me and not against me."

  "I'd be very glad of a hint or two," said the detective, changing hismanner. "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 witha good character and we can find nothing against him. His wife is a badlot, 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 ourwoman has been with her twice when she was well on, but she could getnothing 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 signof being in funds."

  "What explanation did she give of having answered the bell when Mr.Phelps rang for the coffee?"

  "She said that her husband was very tired and she wished to relieve him."

  "Well, certainly that would agree with his being found a little laterasleep in his chair. There is nothing against them then but the woman'scharacter. Did you ask her why she hurried away that night? Her hasteattracted 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 leasttwenty minutes after her, 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 backkitchen?"

  "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 inleaving 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 elsehave you done?"

  "The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine weeks, but withoutresult. 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 itwas, to go and give the alarm like that."

  "Yes, it was a queer thing to do. Many thanks to you for what you havetold 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 andfuture premier of England."

  We were fortunate in finding that Lord Holdhurst was still in hischambers in Downing Street, and on Holmes sending in his card we wereinstantly shown up. The statesman received us with that old-fashionedcourtesy for which he is remarkable, and seated us on the two luxuriantlounges on either side of the fireplace. Standing on the rug between us,with his slight, tall figure, his sharp features, thoughtful face, andcurling hair prematurely tinged with gray, he seemed to represent thatnot too common type, a nobleman who is in truth noble.

  "Your name is very familiar to me, Mr. Holmes," said he, smiling. "And,of course, I cannot pretend to be ignorant of the object of your visit.There has only been one occurrence in these offices which could call foryour attention. In whose interest are you acting, may I ask?"

  "In that of Mr. Percy Phelps," answered Holmes.

  "Ah, my unfortunate nephew! You can understand that our kinship makesit the more impossible for me to screen him in any way. I fear that theincident must have a very prejudicial effect upon his career."

  "But if the document is found?"

  "Ah, that, of course, would be different."

  "I had one or two questions which I wished to ask you, Lord Holdhurst."

  "I shall be happy to give you any information in my power."

  "Was it in this room that you gave your instructions as to the copyingof the document?"

  "It was."

  "Then you could hardly have been overheard?"

  "It is out of the question."

  "Did you ever mention to any one that it was your intention to give anyone the treaty to be copied?"

  "Never."

  "You are certain of that?"

  "Absolutely."

  "Well, since you never said so, and Mr. Phelps never said so, and nobodyelse knew anything of the matter, then the thief's presence in the roomwas purely accidental. He saw his chance and he took it."

  The statesman smiled. "You take me out of my province there," said he.

  Holmes considered for a moment. "There is another very importantpoint which I wish to discuss with you," said he. "You feared, as Iunderstand, that very grave results might follow from the details ofthis treaty becoming known."

  A shadow passed over the expressive face of the statesman. "Very graveresults indeed."

  "And have they occurred?"

  "Not yet."

  "If the treaty had reached, let us say, the French or Russian ForeignOffice, you would expect to hear of it?"

  "I should," said Lord Holdhurst, with a wry face.

  "Since nearly ten weeks have elapsed, then, and nothing has been heard,it is not unfair to suppose that for some reason the treaty has notreached them."

  Lord Holdhurst shrugged his shoulders.

  "We can hardly suppose, Mr. Holmes, that the thief took the treaty inorder to frame it and hang it up."

  "Perhaps he is waiting for a better price."

  "If he waits a little longer he will get no price at all. The treatywill cease to be secret in a few months."

  "That is most important," said Holmes. "Of course, it is a possiblesupposition that the thief has had a sudden illness--"

  "An attack of brain-fever, for example?" asked the statesman, flashing aswift glance at him.

  "I did not say so," said Holmes, imperturbably. "And now, LordHoldhurst, we have already taken up too much of your valuable time, andwe shall wish you good-day."

  "Every success to your investigation, be the criminal who it may,"answered the nobleman, as he bowed us out the door.

  "He's a fine fellow," said Holmes, as we came out into Whitehall. "Buthe has a struggle to keep up his position. He is far
from rich and hasmany calls. You noticed, of course, that his boots had been resoled.Now, Watson, I won't detain you from your legitimate work any longer.I shall do nothing more to-day, unless I have an answer to my cabadvertisement. But I should be extremely obliged to you if you wouldcome down with me to Woking to-morrow, by the same train which we tookyesterday."

  I met him accordingly next morning and we traveled down to Wokingtogether. He had had no answer to his advertisement, he said, and nofresh light had been thrown upon the case. He had, when he so willedit, the utter immobility of countenance of a red Indian, and I couldnot gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not withthe position of the case. His conversation, I remember, was about theBertillon system of measurements, and he expressed his enthusiasticadmiration of the French savant.

  We found our client still under the charge of his devoted nurse, butlooking considerably better than before. He rose from the sofa andgreeted us without difficulty when we entered.

  "Any news?" he asked, eagerly.

  "My report, as I expected, is a negative one," said Holmes. "I have seenForbes, and I have seen your uncle, and I have set one or two trains ofinquiry upon foot which may lead to something."

  "You have not lost heart, then?"

  "By no means."

  "God bless you for saying that!" cried Miss Harrison. "If we keep ourcourage and our patience the truth must come out."

  "We have more to tell you than you have for us," said Phelps, reseatinghimself upon the couch.

  "I hoped you might have something."

  "Yes, we have had an adventure during the night, and one which mighthave proved to be a serious one." His expression grew very grave as hespoke, and a look of something akin to fear sprang up in his eyes. "Doyou know," said he, "that I begin to believe that I am the unconsciouscentre of some monstrous conspiracy, and that my life is aimed at aswell as my honor?"

  "Ah!" cried Holmes.

  "It sounds incredible, for I have not, as far as I know, an enemy inthe world. Yet from last night's experience I can come to no otherconclusion."

  "Pray let me hear it."

  "You must know that last night was the very first night that I have everslept without a nurse in the room. I was so much better that I thoughtI could dispense with one. I had a night-light burning, however. Well,about two in the morning I had sunk into a light sleep when I wassuddenly aroused by a slight noise. It was like the sound which a mousemakes when it is gnawing a plank, and I lay listening to it for sometime under the impression that it must come from that cause. Then itgrew louder, and suddenly there came from the window a sharp metallicsnick. I sat up in amazement. There could be no doubt what the soundswere now. The first ones had been caused by some one forcing aninstrument through the slit between the sashes, and the second by thecatch being pressed back.

  "There was a pause then for about ten minutes, as if the person werewaiting to see whether the noise had awakened me. Then I heard a gentlecreaking as the window was very slowly opened. I could stand it nolonger, for my nerves are not what they used to be. I sprang out of bedand flung open the shutters. A man was crouching at the window. I couldsee little of him, for he was gone like a flash. He was wrapped in somesort of cloak which came across the lower part of his face. One thingonly I am sure of, and that is that he had some weapon in his hand. Itlooked to me like a long knife. I distinctly saw the gleam of it as heturned to run."

  "This is most interesting," said Holmes. "Pray what did you do then?"

  "I should have followed him through the open window if I had beenstronger. As it was, I rang the bell and roused the house. It took mesome little time, for the bell rings in the kitchen and the servants allsleep upstairs. I shouted, however, and that brought Joseph down, and heroused the others. Joseph and the groom found marks on the bed outsidethe window, but the weather has been so dry lately that they found ithopeless to follow the trail across the grass. There's a place, however,on the wooden fence which skirts the road which shows signs, they tellme, as if some one had got over, and had snapped the top of the rail indoing so. I have said nothing to the local police yet, for I thought Ihad best have your opinion first."

  This tale of our client's appeared to have an extraordinary effect uponSherlock Holmes. He rose from his chair and paced about the room inuncontrollable excitement.

  "Misfortunes never come single," said Phelps, smiling, though it wasevident that his adventure had somewhat shaken him.

  "You have certainly had your share," said Holmes. "Do you think youcould walk round the house with me?"

  "Oh, yes, I should like a little sunshine. Joseph will come, too."

  "And I also," said Miss Harrison.

  "I am afraid not," said Holmes, shaking his head. "I think I must askyou to remain sitting exactly where you are."

  The young lady resumed her seat with an air of displeasure. Her brother,however, had joined us and we set off all four together. We passed roundthe lawn to the outside of the young diplomatist's window. There were,as he had said, marks upon the bed, but they were hopelessly blurred andvague. Holmes stopped over them for an instant, and then rose shrugginghis shoulders.

  "I don't think any one could make much of this," said he. "Let us goround the house and see why this particular room was chosen by theburglar. I should have thought those larger windows of the drawing-roomand dining-room would have had more attractions for him."

  "They are more visible from the road," suggested Mr. Joseph Harrison.

  "Ah, yes, of course. There is a door here which he might have attempted.What is it for?"

  "It is the side entrance for trades-people. Of course it is locked atnight."

  "Have you ever had an alarm like this before?"

  "Never," said our client.

  "Do you keep plate in the house, or anything to attract burglars?"

  "Nothing of value."

  Holmes strolled round the house with his hands in his pockets and anegligent air which was unusual with him.

  "By the way," said he to Joseph Harrison, "you found some place, Iunderstand, where the fellow scaled the fence. Let us have a look atthat!"

  The plump young man led us to a spot where the top of one of the woodenrails had been cracked. A small fragment of the wood was hanging down.Holmes pulled it off and examined it critically.

  "Do you think that was done last night? It looks rather old, does itnot?"

  "Well, possibly so."

  "There are no marks of any one jumping down upon the other side. No, Ifancy we shall get no help here. Let us go back to the bedroom and talkthe matter over."

  Percy Phelps was walking very slowly, leaning upon the arm of his futurebrother-in-law. Holmes walked swiftly across the lawn, and we were atthe open window of the bedroom long before the others came up.

  "Miss Harrison," said Holmes, speaking with the utmost intensity ofmanner, "you must stay where you are all day. Let nothing prevent youfrom staying where you are all day. It is of the utmost importance."

  "Certainly, if you wish it, Mr. Holmes," said the girl in astonishment.

  "When you go to bed lock the door of this room on the outside and keepthe key. Promise to do this."

  "But Percy?"

  "He will come to London with us."

  "And am I to remain here?"

  "It is for his sake. You can serve him. Quick! Promise!"

  She gave a quick nod of assent just as the other two came up.

  "Why do you sit moping there, Annie?" cried her brother. "Come out intothe sunshine!"

  "No, thank you, Joseph. I have a slight headache and this room isdeliciously cool and soothing."

  "What do you propose now, Mr. Holmes?" asked our client.

  "Well, in investigating this minor affair we must not lose sight of ourmain inquiry. It would be a very great help to me if you would come upto London with us."

  "At once?"

  "Well, as soon as you conveniently can. Say in an hour."

  "I feel quite strong enough, if I can real
ly be of any help."

  "The greatest possible."

  "Perhaps you would like me to stay there to-night?"

  "I was just going to propose it."

  "Then, if my friend of the night comes to revisit me, he will find thebird flown. We are all in your hands, Mr. Holmes, and you must tell usexactly what you would like done. Perhaps you would prefer that Josephcame with us so as to look after me?"

  "Oh, no; my friend Watson is a medical man, you know, and he'll lookafter you. We'll have our lunch here, if you will permit us, and then weshall all three set off for town together."

  It was arranged as he suggested, though Miss Harrison excused herselffrom leaving the bedroom, in accordance with Holmes's suggestion. Whatthe object of my friend's manoeuvres was I could not conceive, unless itwere to keep the lady away from Phelps, who, rejoiced by hisreturning health and by the prospect of action, lunched with us in thedining-room. Holmes had a still more startling surprise for us, however,for, after accompanying us down to the station and seeing us intoour carriage, he calmly announced that he had no intention of leavingWoking.

  "There are one or two small points which I should desire to clear upbefore I go," said he. "Your absence, Mr. Phelps, will in some waysrather assist me. Watson, when you reach London you would oblige me bydriving at once to Baker Street with our friend here, and remainingwith him until I see you again. It is fortunate that you are oldschool-fellows, as you must have much to talk over. Mr. Phelps canhave the spare bedroom to-night, and I will be with you in time forbreakfast, for there is a train which will take me into Waterloo ateight."

  "But how about our investigation in London?" asked Phelps, ruefully.

  "We can do that to-morrow. I think that just at present I can be of moreimmediate use here."

  "You might tell them at Briarbrae that I hope to be back to-morrownight," cried Phelps, as we began to move from the platform.

  "I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae," answered Holmes, and wavedhis hand to us cheerily as we shot out from the station.

  Phelps and I talked it over on our journey, but neither of us coulddevise a satisfactory reason for this new development.

  "I suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the burglary last night,if a burglar it was. For myself, I don't believe it was an ordinarythief."

  "What is your own idea, then?"

  "Upon my word, you may put it down to my weak nerves or not, but Ibelieve there is some deep political intrigue going on around me, andthat for some reason that passes my understanding my life is aimed atby the conspirators. It sounds high-flown and absurd, but consider thefacts! Why should a thief try to break in at a bedroom window, wherethere could be no hope of any plunder, and why should he come with along knife in his hand?"

  "You are sure it was not a house-breaker's jimmy?"

  "Oh, no, it was a knife. I saw the flash of the blade quite distinctly."

  "But why on earth should you be pursued with such animosity?"

  "Ah, that is the question."

  "Well, if Holmes takes the same view, that would account for his action,would it not? Presuming that your theory is correct, if he can lay hishands upon the man who threatened you last night he will have gone along way towards finding who took the naval treaty. It is absurd tosuppose that you have two enemies, one of whom robs you, while the otherthreatens your life."

  "But Holmes said that he was not going to Briarbrae."

  "I have known him for some time," said I, "but I never knew him doanything yet without a very good reason," and with that our conversationdrifted off on to other topics.

  But it was a weary day for me. Phelps was still weak after his longillness, and his misfortune made him querulous and nervous. In vainI endeavored to interest him in Afghanistan, in India, in socialquestions, in anything which might take his mind out of the groove.He would always come back to his lost treaty, wondering, guessing,speculating, as to what Holmes was doing, what steps Lord Holdhurst wastaking, what news we should have in the morning. As the evening wore onhis excitement became quite painful.

  "You have implicit faith in Holmes?" he asked.

  "I have seen him do some remarkable things."

  "But he never brought light into anything quite so dark as this?"

  "Oh, yes; I have known him solve questions which presented fewer cluesthan yours."

  "But not where such large interests are at stake?"

  "I don't know that. To my certain knowledge he has acted on behalf ofthree of the reigning houses of Europe in very vital matters."

  "But you know him well, Watson. He is such an inscrutable fellow that Inever quite know what to make of him. Do you think he is hopeful? Do youthink he expects to make a success of it?"

  "He has said nothing."

  "That is a bad sign."

  "On the contrary, I have noticed that when he is off the trail hegenerally says so. It is when he is on a scent and is not quiteabsolutely sure yet that it is the right one that he is most taciturn.Now, my dear fellow, we can't help matters by making ourselves nervousabout them, so let me implore you to go to bed and so be fresh forwhatever may await us to-morrow."

  I was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice, though Iknew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep forhim. Indeed, his mood was infectious, for I lay tossing half the nightmyself, brooding over this strange problem, and inventing a hundredtheories, each of which was more impossible than the last. Why hadHolmes remained at Woking? Why had he asked Miss Harrison to remainin the sick-room all day? Why had he been so careful not to inform thepeople at Briarbrae that he intended to remain near them? I cudgelledmy brains until I fell asleep in the endeavor to find some explanationwhich would cover all these facts.

  It was seven o'clock when I awoke, and I set off at once for Phelps'sroom, to find him haggard and spent after a sleepless night. His firstquestion was whether Holmes had arrived yet.

  "He'll be here when he promised," said I, "and not an instant sooner orlater."

  And my words were true, for shortly after eight a hansom dashed up tothe door and our friend got out of it. Standing in the window we sawthat his left hand was swathed in a bandage and that his face was verygrim and pale. He entered the house, but it was some little time beforehe came upstairs.

  "He looks like a beaten man," cried Phelps.

  I was forced to confess that he was right. "After all," said I, "theclue of the matter lies probably here in town."

  Phelps gave a groan.

  "I don't know how it is," said he, "but I had hoped for so much from hisreturn. But surely his hand was not tied up like that yesterday. Whatcan be the matter?"

  "You are not wounded, Holmes?" I asked, as my friend entered the room.

  "Tut, it is only a scratch through my own clumsiness," he answered,nodding his good-mornings to us. "This case of yours, Mr. Phelps, iscertainly one of the darkest which I have ever investigated."

  "I feared that you would find it beyond you."

  "It has been a most remarkable experience."

  "That bandage tells of adventures," said I. "Won't you tell us what hashappened?"

  "After breakfast, my dear Watson. Remember that I have breathed thirtymiles of Surrey air this morning. I suppose that there has been noanswer from my cabman advertisement? Well, well, we cannot expect toscore every time."

  The table was all laid, and just as I was about to ring Mrs. Hudsonentered with the tea and coffee. A few minutes later she brought inthree covers, and we all drew up to the table, Holmes ravenous, Icurious, and Phelps in the gloomiest state of depression.

  "Mrs. Hudson has risen to the occasion," said Holmes, uncovering a dishof curried chicken. "Her cuisine is a little limited, but she hasas good an idea of breakfast as a Scotch-woman. What have you here,Watson?"

  "Ham and eggs," I answered.

  "Good! What are you going to take, Mr. Phelps--curried fowl or eggs, orwill you help yourself?"

  "Thank you. I can eat nothing," said Phelps.r />
  "Oh, come! Try the dish before you."

  "Thank you, I would really rather not."

  "Well, then," said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle, "I suppose thatyou have no objection to helping me?"

  Phelps raised the cover, and as he did so he uttered a scream, and satthere staring with a face as white as the plate upon which he looked.Across the centre of it was lying a little cylinder of blue-gray paper.He caught it up, devoured it with his eyes, and then danced madly aboutthe room, pressing it to his bosom and shrieking out in his delight.Then he fell back into an arm-chair so limp and exhausted with his ownemotions that we had to pour brandy down his throat to keep him fromfainting.

  "There! there!" said Holmes, soothing, patting him upon the shoulder."It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but Watson here will tellyou that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic."

  Phelps seized his hand and kissed it. "God bless you!" he cried. "Youhave saved my honor."

  "Well, my own was at stake, you know," said Holmes. "I assure you it isjust as hateful to me to fail in a case as it can be to you to blunderover a commission."

  Phelps thrust away the precious document into the innermost pocket ofhis coat.

  "I have not the heart to interrupt your breakfast any further, and yet Iam dying to know how you got it and where it was."

  Sherlock Holmes swallowed a cup of coffee, and turned his attention tothe ham and eggs. Then he rose, lit his pipe, and settled himself downinto his chair.

  "I'll tell you what I did first, and how I came to do it afterwards,"said he. "After leaving you at the station I went for a charming walkthrough some admirable Surrey scenery to a pretty little village calledRipley, where I had my tea at an inn, and took the precaution of fillingmy flask and of putting a paper of sandwiches in my pocket. There Iremained until evening, when I set off for Woking again, and foundmyself in the high-road outside Briarbrae just after sunset.

  "Well, I waited until the road was clear--it is never a very frequentedone at any time, I fancy--and then I clambered over the fence into thegrounds."

  "Surely the gate was open!" ejaculated Phelps.

  "Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose the placewhere the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I got overwithout the least chance of any one in the house being able to see me.I crouched down among the bushes on the other side, and crawled from oneto the other--witness the disreputable state of my trouser knees--untilI had reached the clump of rhododendrons just opposite to your bedroomwindow. There I squatted down and awaited developments.

  "The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrisonsitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past ten when sheclosed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired.

  "I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned thekey in the lock."

  "The key!" ejaculated Phelps.

  "Yes; I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door on theoutside and take the key with her when she went to bed. She carried outevery one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly without hercooperation you would not have that paper in your coat-pocket. Shedeparted then and the lights went out, and I was left squatting in therhododendron-bush.

  "The night was fine, but still it was a very weary vigil. Of course ithas the sort of excitement about it that the sportsman feels when helies beside the water-course and waits for the big game. It was verylong, though--almost as long, Watson, as when you and I waited in thatdeadly room when we looked into the little problem of the Speckled Band.There was a church-clock down at Woking which struck the quarters, and Ithought more than once that it had stopped. At last however about twoin the morning, I suddenly heard the gentle sound of a bolt being pushedback and the creaking of a key. A moment later the servants' door wasopened, and Mr. Joseph Harrison stepped out into the moonlight."

  "Joseph!" ejaculated Phelps.

  "He was bare-headed, but he had a black coat thrown over his shoulder sothat he could conceal his face in an instant if there were any alarm. Hewalked on tiptoe under the shadow of the wall, and when he reached thewindow he worked a long-bladed knife through the sash and pushed backthe catch. Then he flung open the window, and putting his knife throughthe crack in the shutters, he thrust the bar up and swung them open.

  "From where I lay I had a perfect view of the inside of the room and ofevery one of his movements. He lit the two candles which stood upon themantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner of the carpetin the neighborhood of the door. Presently he stopped and picked out asquare piece of board, such as is usually left to enable plumbers to getat the joints of the gas-pipes. This one covered, as a matter offact, the T joint which gives off the pipe which supplies the kitchenunderneath. Out of this hiding-place he drew that little cylinderof paper, pushed down the board, rearranged the carpet, blew out thecandles, and walked straight into my arms as I stood waiting for himoutside the window.

  "Well, he has rather more viciousness than I gave him credit for, hasMaster Joseph. He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grasp himtwice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand ofhim. He looked murder out of the only eye he could see with when we hadfinished, but he listened to reason and gave up the papers. Havinggot them I let my man go, but I wired full particulars to Forbes thismorning. If he is quick enough to catch his bird, well and good. Butif, as I shrewdly suspect, he finds the nest empty before he gets there,why, all the better for the government. I fancy that Lord Holdhurst forone, and Mr. Percy Phelps for another, would very much rather that theaffair never got as far as a police-court.

  "My God!" gasped our client. "Do you tell me that during these long tenweeks of agony the stolen papers were within the very room with me allthe time?"

  "So it was."

  "And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!"

  "Hum! I am afraid Joseph's character is a rather deeper and moredangerous one than one might judge from his appearance. From what Ihave heard from him this morning, I gather that he has lost heavily indabbling with stocks, and that he is ready to do anything on earth tobetter his fortunes. Being an absolutely selfish man, when a chancepresented itself he did not allow either his sister's happiness or yourreputation to hold his hand."

  Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. "My head whirls," said he. "Yourwords have dazed me."

  "The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in hisdidactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence.What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant. Of allthe facts which were presented to us we had to pick just those which wedeemed to be essential, and then piece them together in their order, soas to reconstruct this very remarkable chain of events. I had alreadybegun to suspect Joseph, from the fact that you had intended to travelhome with him that night, and that therefore it was a likely enoughthing that he should call for you, knowing the Foreign Office well, uponhis way. When I heard that some one had been so anxious to get into thebedroom, in which no one but Joseph could have concealed anything--youtold us in your narrative how you had turned Joseph out when you arrivedwith the doctor--my suspicions all changed to certainties, especially asthe attempt was made on the first night upon which the nurse was absent,showing that the intruder was well acquainted with the ways of thehouse."

  "How blind I have been!"

  "The facts of the case, as far as I have worked them out, are these:this Joseph Harrison entered the office through the Charles Street door,and knowing his way he walked straight into your room the instant afteryou left it. Finding no one there he promptly rang the bell, and atthe instant that he did so his eyes caught the paper upon the table.A glance showed him that chance had put in his way a State document ofimmense value, and in an instant he had thrust it into his pocket andwas gone. A few minutes elapsed, as you remember, before the sleepycommissionnaire drew your attention to the bell, and those were justenough to give the thief time to make his escape.

  "He made hi
s way to Woking by the first train, and having examined hisbooty and assured himself that it really was of immense value, hehad concealed it in what he thought was a very safe place, with theintention of taking it out again in a day or two, and carrying it to theFrench embassy, or wherever he thought that a long price was to behad. Then came your sudden return. He, without a moment's warning, wasbundled out of his room, and from that time onward there were always atleast two of you there to prevent him from regaining his treasure. Thesituation to him must have been a maddening one. But at last he thoughthe saw his chance. He tried to steal in, but was baffled by yourwakefulness. You remember that you did not take your usual draught thatnight."

  "I remember."

  "I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious,and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious. Of course, Iunderstood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it could be donewith safety. Your leaving the room gave him the chance he wanted. I keptMiss Harrison in it all day so that he might not anticipate us. Then,having given him the idea that the coast was clear, I kept guard asI have described. I already knew that the papers were probably in theroom, but I had no desire to rip up all the planking and skirting insearch of them. I let him take them, therefore, from the hiding-place,and so saved myself an infinity of trouble. Is there any other pointwhich I can make clear?"

  "Why did he try the window on the first occasion," I asked, "when hemight have entered by the door?"

  "In reaching the door he would have to pass seven bedrooms. On the otherhand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease. Anything else?"

  "You do not think," asked Phelps, "that he had any murderous intention?The knife was only meant as a tool."

  "It may be so," answered Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. "I can onlysay for certain that Mr. Joseph Harrison is a gentleman to whose mercy Ishould be extremely unwilling to trust."

  Adventure XI. The Final Problem

  It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the lastwords in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friendMr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an incoherent and, as I deeplyfeel, an entirely inadequate fashion, I have endeavored to give someaccount of my strange experiences in his company from the chance whichfirst brought us together at the period of the "Study in Scarlet," upto the time of his interference in the matter of the "Naval Treaty"--aninterference which had the unquestionable effect of preventing a seriousinternational complication. It was my intention to have stopped there,and to have said nothing of that event which has created a void in mylife which the lapse of two years has done little to fill. My handhas been forced, however, by the recent letters in which Colonel JamesMoriarty defends the memory of his brother, and I have no choice but tolay the facts before the public exactly as they occurred. I alone knowthe absolute truth of the matter, and I am satisfied that the time hascome when no good purpose is to be served by its suppression. As far asI know, there have been only three accounts in the public press: thatin the Journal de Geneve on May 6th, 1891, the Reuter's despatch in theEnglish papers on May 7th, and finally the recent letter to which I havealluded. Of these the first and second were extremely condensed, whilethe last is, as I shall now show, an absolute perversion of the facts.It lies with me to tell for the first time what really took placebetween Professor Moriarty and Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

  It may be remembered that after my marriage, and my subsequent start inprivate practice, the very intimate relations which had existed betweenHolmes and myself became to some extent modified. He still came to mefrom time to time when he desired a companion in his investigation, butthese occasions grew more and more seldom, until I find that in the year1890 there were only three cases of which I retain any record. Duringthe winter of that year and the early spring of 1891, I saw in thepapers that he had been engaged by the French government upon a matterof supreme importance, and I received two notes from Holmes, dated fromNarbonne and from Nimes, from which I gathered that his stay in Francewas likely to be a long one. It was with some surprise, therefore, thatI saw him walk into my consulting-room upon the evening of April 24th.It struck me that he was looking even paler and thinner than usual.

  "Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely," he remarked, inanswer to my look rather than to my words; "I have been a little pressedof late. Have you any objection to my closing your shutters?"

  The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which Ihad been reading. Holmes edged his way round the wall and flinging theshutters together, he bolted them securely.

  "You are afraid of something?" I asked.

  "Well, I am."

  "Of what?"

  "Of air-guns."

  "My dear Holmes, what do you mean?"

  "I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I amby no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather thancourage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you. MightI trouble you for a match?" He drew in the smoke of his cigarette as ifthe soothing influence was grateful to him.

  "I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further begyou to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presentlyby scrambling over your back garden wall."

  "But what does it all mean?" I asked.

  He held out his hand, and I saw in the light of the lamp that two of hisknuckles were burst and bleeding.

  "It is not an airy nothing, you see," said he, smiling. "On thecontrary, it is solid enough for a man to break his hand over. Is Mrs.Watson in?"

  "She is away upon a visit."

  "Indeed! You are alone?"

  "Quite."

  "Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that you should come awaywith me for a week to the Continent."

  "Where?"

  "Oh, anywhere. It's all the same to me."

  There was something very strange in all this. It was not Holmes's natureto take an aimless holiday, and something about his pale, worn face toldme that his nerves were at their highest tension. He saw the question inmy eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and his elbows upon hisknees, he explained the situation.

  "You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" said he.

  "Never."

  "Aye, there's the genius and the wonder of the thing!" he cried. "Theman pervades London, and no one has heard of him. That's what putshim on a pinnacle in the records of crime. I tell you, Watson, in allseriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could free societyof him, I should feel that my own career had reached its summit, andI should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in life. Betweenourselves, the recent cases in which I have been of assistance to theroyal family of Scandinavia, and to the French republic, have left me insuch a position that I could continue to live in the quiet fashionwhich is most congenial to me, and to concentrate my attention upon mychemical researches. But I could not rest, Watson, I could not sit quietin my chair, if I thought that such a man as Professor Moriarty werewalking the streets of London unchallenged."

  "What has he done, then?"

  "His career has been an extraordinary one. He is a man of good birth andexcellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematicalfaculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise upon the BinomialTheorem, which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it he wonthe Mathematical Chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, toall appearances, a most brilliant career before him. But the man hadhereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strainran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased andrendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers.Dark rumors gathered round him in the university town, and eventually hewas compelled to resign his chair and to come down to London, where heset up as an army coach. So much is known to the world, but what I amtelling you now is what I have myself discovered.

  "As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher criminalworld of London so well as I do. For ye
ars past I have continually beenconscious of some power behind the malefactor, some deep organizingpower which forever stands in the way of the law, and throws its shieldover the wrong-doer. Again and again in cases of the most varyingsorts--forgery cases, robberies, murders--I have felt the presence ofthis force, and I have deduced its action in many of those undiscoveredcrimes in which I have not been personally consulted. For years I haveendeavored to break through the veil which shrouded it, and at lastthe time came when I seized my thread and followed it, until it ledme, after a thousand cunning windings, to ex-Professor Moriarty ofmathematical celebrity.

  "He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half thatis evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is agenius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the firstorder. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, butthat web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver ofeach of them. He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents arenumerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, apaper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to beremoved--the word is passed to the Professor, the matter is organizedand carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case money is foundfor his bail or his defence. But the central power which uses the agentis never caught--never so much as suspected. This was the organizationwhich I deduced, Watson, and which I devoted my whole energy to exposingand breaking up.

  "But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so cunningly devisedthat, do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence which wouldconvict in a court of law. You know my powers, my dear Watson, and yetat the end of three months I was forced to confess that I had at lastmet an antagonist who was my intellectual equal. My horror at his crimeswas lost in my admiration at his skill. But at last he made a trip--onlya little, little trip--but it was more than he could afford when I wasso close upon him. I had my chance, and, starting from that point, Ihave woven my net round him until now it is all ready to close. In threedays--that is to say, on Monday next--matters will be ripe, and theProfessor, with all the principal members of his gang, will be in thehands of the police. Then will come the greatest criminal trial of thecentury, the clearing up of over forty mysteries, and the rope for allof them; but if we move at all prematurely, you understand, they mayslip out of our hands even at the last moment.

  "Now, if I could have done this without the knowledge of ProfessorMoriarty, all would have been well. But he was too wily for that. He sawevery step which I took to draw my toils round him. Again and againhe strove to break away, but I as often headed him off. I tell you,my friend, that if a detailed account of that silent contest couldbe written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit ofthrust-and-parry work in the history of detection. Never have I risen tosuch a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an opponent. Hecut deep, and yet I just undercut him. This morning the last steps weretaken, and three days only were wanted to complete the business. I wassitting in my room thinking the matter over, when the door opened andProfessor Moriarty stood before me.

  "My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but I must confess to a start whenI saw the very man who had been so much in my thoughts standing there onmy threshhold. His appearance was quite familiar to me. He is extremelytall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his twoeyes are deeply sunken in his head. He is clean-shaven, pale, andascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his features.His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudesforward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in acuriously reptilian fashion. He peered at me with great curiosity in hispuckered eyes.

  "'You have less frontal development than I should have expected,' saidhe, at last. 'It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in thepocket of one's dressing-gown.'

  "The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognized theextreme personal danger in which I lay. The only conceivable escape forhim lay in silencing my tongue. In an instant I had slipped the revolverfrom the drawer into my pocket, and was covering him through the cloth.At his remark I drew the weapon out and laid it cocked upon the table.He still smiled and blinked, but there was something about his eyeswhich made me feel very glad that I had it there.

  "'You evidently don't know me,' said he.

  "'On the contrary,' I answered, 'I think it is fairly evident that I do.Pray take a chair. I can spare you five minutes if you have anything tosay.'

  "'All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,' said he.

  "'Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,' I replied.

  "'You stand fast?'

  "'Absolutely.'

  "He clapped his hand into his pocket, and I raised the pistol fromthe table. But he merely drew out a memorandum-book in which he hadscribbled some dates.

  "'You crossed my path on the 4th of January,' said he. 'On the 23d youincommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconveniencedby you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans; andnow, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a positionthrough your continual persecution that I am in positive danger oflosing my liberty. The situation is becoming an impossible one.'

  "'Have you any suggestion to make?' I asked.

  "'You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,' said he, swaying his face about. 'Youreally must, you know.'

  "'After Monday,' said I.

  "'Tut, tut,' said he. 'I am quite sure that a man of your intelligencewill see that there can be but one outcome to this affair. It isnecessary that you should withdraw. You have worked things in such afashion that we have only one resource left. It has been an intellectualtreat to me to see the way in which you have grappled with this affair,and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be forcedto take any extreme measure. You smile, sir, but I assure you that itreally would.'

  "'Danger is part of my trade,' I remarked.

  "'That is not danger,' said he. 'It is inevitable destruction. You standin the way not merely of an individual, but of a mighty organization,the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have been unableto realize. You must stand clear, Mr. Holmes, or be trodden under foot.'

  "'I am afraid,' said I, rising, 'that in the pleasure of thisconversation I am neglecting business of importance which awaits meelsewhere.'

  "He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his head sadly.

  "'Well, well,' said he, at last. 'It seems a pity, but I have donewhat I could. I know every move of your game. You can do nothing beforeMonday. It has been a duel between you and me, Mr. Holmes. You hope toplace me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand in the dock.You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat me. If you areclever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall doas much to you.'

  "'You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty,' said I. 'Let mepay you one in return when I say that if I were assured of the formereventuality I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully acceptthe latter.'

  "'I can promise you the one, but not the other,' he snarled, and soturned his rounded back upon me, and went peering and blinking out ofthe room.

  "That was my singular interview with Professor Moriarty. I confess thatit left an unpleasant effect upon my mind. His soft, precise fashionof speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully couldnot produce. Of course, you will say: 'Why not take police precautionsagainst him?' the reason is that I am well convinced that it is from hisagents the blow will fall. I have the best proofs that it would be so."

  "You have already been assaulted?"

  "My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass growunder his feet. I went out about mid-day to transact some business inOxford Street. As I passed the corner which leads from Bentinck Streeton to the Welbeck Street crossing a two-horse van furiously drivenwhizzed round and was on me like a flash. I sprang for the foot-pathand saved myself by the fraction of a second. The van dashed round byMa
rylebone Lane and was gone in an instant. I kept to the pavement afterthat, Watson, but as I walked down Vere Street a brick came down fromthe roof of one of the houses, and was shattered to fragments at myfeet. I called the police and had the place examined. There were slatesand bricks piled up on the roof preparatory to some repairs, and theywould have me believe that the wind had toppled over one of these. Ofcourse I knew better, but I could prove nothing. I took a cab after thatand reached my brother's rooms in Pall Mall, where I spent the day. NowI have come round to you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with abludgeon. I knocked him down, and the police have him in custody; butI can tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possibleconnection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose frontteeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach, whois, I dare say, working out problems upon a black-board ten miles away.You will not wonder, Watson, that my first act on entering your roomswas to close your shutters, and that I have been compelled to ask yourpermission to leave the house by some less conspicuous exit than thefront door."

  I had often admired my friend's courage, but never more than now, as hesat quietly checking off a series of incidents which must have combinedto make up a day of horror.

  "You will spend the night here?" I said.

  "No, my friend, you might find me a dangerous guest. I have my planslaid, and all will be well. Matters have gone so far now that they canmove without my help as far as the arrest goes, though my presence isnecessary for a conviction. It is obvious, therefore, that I cannot dobetter than get away for the few days which remain before the police areat liberty to act. It would be a great pleasure to me, therefore, if youcould come on to the Continent with me."

  "The practice is quiet," said I, "and I have an accommodating neighbor.I should be glad to come."

  "And to start to-morrow morning?"

  "If necessary."

  "Oh yes, it is most necessary. Then these are your instructions, and Ibeg, my dear Watson, that you will obey them to the letter, for you arenow playing a double-handed game with me against the cleverest rogue andthe most powerful syndicate of criminals in Europe. Now listen! Youwill dispatch whatever luggage you intend to take by a trusty messengerunaddressed to Victoria to-night. In the morning you will send for ahansom, desiring your man to take neither the first nor the second whichmay present itself. Into this hansom you will jump, and you will driveto the Strand end of the Lowther Arcade, handing the address to thecabman upon a slip of paper, with a request that he will not throw itaway. Have your fare ready, and the instant that your cab stops,dash through the Arcade, timing yourself to reach the other side at aquarter-past nine. You will find a small brougham waiting close to thecurb, driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak tipped at the collarwith red. Into this you will step, and you will reach Victoria in timefor the Continental express."

  "Where shall I meet you?"

  "At the station. The second first-class carriage from the front will bereserved for us."

  "The carriage is our rendezvous, then?"

  "Yes."

  It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening. It wasevident to me that he thought he might bring trouble to the roof he wasunder, and that that was the motive which impelled him to go. With a fewhurried words as to our plans for the morrow he rose and came out withme into the garden, clambering over the wall which leads into MortimerStreet, and immediately whistling for a hansom, in which I heard himdrive away.

  In the morning I obeyed Holmes's injunctions to the letter. A hansom wasprocured with such precaution as would prevent its being one which wasplaced ready for us, and I drove immediately after breakfast to theLowther Arcade, through which I hurried at the top of my speed. Abrougham was waiting with a very massive driver wrapped in a dark cloak,who, the instant that I had stepped in, whipped up the horse and rattledoff to Victoria Station. On my alighting there he turned the carriage,and dashed away again without so much as a look in my direction.

  So far all had gone admirably. My luggage was waiting for me, and I hadno difficulty in finding the carriage which Holmes had indicated, theless so as it was the only one in the train which was marked "Engaged."My only source of anxiety now was the non-appearance of Holmes. Thestation clock marked only seven minutes from the time when we weredue to start. In vain I searched among the groups of travellers andleave-takers for the lithe figure of my friend. There was no sign ofhim. I spent a few minutes in assisting a venerable Italian priest, whowas endeavoring to make a porter understand, in his broken English,that his luggage was to be booked through to Paris. Then, having takenanother look round, I returned to my carriage, where I found that theporter, in spite of the ticket, had given me my decrepit Italian friendas a traveling companion. It was useless for me to explain to him thathis presence was an intrusion, for my Italian was even more limited thanhis English, so I shrugged my shoulders resignedly, and continued tolook out anxiously for my friend. A chill of fear had come over me, as Ithought that his absence might mean that some blow had fallen during thenight. Already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blown, when--

  "My dear Watson," said a voice, "you have not even condescended to saygood-morning."

  I turned in uncontrollable astonishment. The aged ecclesiastic hadturned his face towards me. For an instant the wrinkles were smoothedaway, the nose drew away from the chin, the lower lip ceased to protrudeand the mouth to mumble, the dull eyes regained their fire, the droopingfigure expanded. The next the whole frame collapsed again, and Holmeshad gone as quickly as he had come.

  "Good heavens!" I cried; "how you startled me!"

  "Every precaution is still necessary," he whispered. "I have reason tothink that they are hot upon our trail. Ah, there is Moriarty himself."

  The train had already begun to move as Holmes spoke. Glancing back, Isaw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd, and wavinghis hand as if he desired to have the train stopped. It was too late,however, for we were rapidly gathering momentum, and an instant laterhad shot clear of the station.

  "With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather fine,"said Holmes, laughing. He rose, and throwing off the black cassock andhat which had formed his disguise, he packed them away in a hand-bag.

  "Have you seen the morning paper, Watson?"

  "No."

  "You haven't' seen about Baker Street, then?"

  "Baker Street?"

  "They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done."

  "Good heavens, Holmes! this is intolerable."

  "They must have lost my track completely after their bludgeon-man wasarrested. Otherwise they could not have imagined that I had returnedto my rooms. They have evidently taken the precaution of watching you,however, and that is what has brought Moriarty to Victoria. You couldnot have made any slip in coming?"

  "I did exactly what you advised."

  "Did you find your brougham?"

  "Yes, it was waiting."

  "Did you recognize your coachman?"

  "No."

  "It was my brother Mycroft. It is an advantage to get about in such acase without taking a mercenary into your confidence. But we must planwhat we are to do about Moriarty now."

  "As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, Ishould think we have shaken him off very effectively."

  "My dear Watson, you evidently did not realize my meaning when I saidthat this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual planeas myself. You do not imagine that if I were the pursuer I should allowmyself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle. Why, then, should youthink so meanly of him?"

  "What will he do?"

  "What I should do?"

  "What would you do, then?"

  "Engage a special."

  "But it must be late."

  "By no means. This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always atleast a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat. He will catch us there."

  "One would think that w
e were the criminals. Let us have him arrested onhis arrival."

  "It would be to ruin the work of three months. We should get the bigfish, but the smaller would dart right and left out of the net. OnMonday we should have them all. No, an arrest is inadmissible."

  "What then?"

  "We shall get out at Canterbury."

  "And then?"

  "Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven, and soover to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do what I should do. He will get onto Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days at the depot.In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple of carpet-bags,encourage the manufactures of the countries through which we travel, andmake our way at our leisure into Switzerland, via Luxembourg and Basle."

  At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should haveto wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven.

  I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearingluggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeveand pointed up the line.

  "Already, you see," said he.

  Far away, from among the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of smoke.A minute later a carriage and engine could be seen flying along the opencurve which leads to the station. We had hardly time to take our placebehind a pile of luggage when it passed with a rattle and a roar,beating a blast of hot air into our faces.

  "There he goes," said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing androck over the points. "There are limits, you see, to our friend'sintelligence. It would have been a coup-de-maitre had he deduced what Iwould deduce and acted accordingly."

  "And what would he have done had he overtaken us?"

  "There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderousattack upon me. It is, however, a game at which two may play. Thequestion now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or runour chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven."

  We made our way to Brussels that night and spent two days there, movingon upon the third day as far as Strasburg. On the Monday morning Holmeshad telegraphed to the London police, and in the evening we found areply waiting for us at our hotel. Holmes tore it open, and then with abitter curse hurled it into the grate.

  "I might have known it!" he groaned. "He has escaped!"

  "Moriarty?"

  "They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He hasgiven them the slip. Of course, when I had left the country there was noone to cope with him. But I did think that I had put the game in theirhands. I think that you had better return to England, Watson."

  "Why?"

  "Because you will find me a dangerous companion now. This man'soccupation is gone. He is lost if he returns to London. If I read hischaracter right he will devote his whole energies to revenging himselfupon me. He said as much in our short interview, and I fancy that hemeant it. I should certainly recommend you to return to your practice."

  It was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was anold campaigner as well as an old friend. We sat in the Strasburgsalle-a-manger arguing the question for half an hour, but the same nightwe had resumed our journey and were well on our way to Geneva.

  For a charming week we wandered up the Valley of the Rhone, and then,branching off at Leuk, we made our way over the Gemmi Pass, still deepin snow, and so, by way of Interlaken, to Meiringen. It was a lovelytrip, the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white of thewinter above; but it was clear to me that never for one instant didHolmes forget the shadow which lay across him. In the homely Alpinevillages or in the lonely mountain passes, I could tell by his quickglancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that passed us,that he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we could not walkourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our footsteps.

  Once, I remember, as we passed over the Gemmi, and walked alongthe border of the melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had beendislodged from the ridge upon our right clattered down and roared intothe lake behind us. In an instant Holmes had raced up on to the ridge,and, standing upon a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every direction.It was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of stones was acommon chance in the spring-time at that spot. He said nothing, buthe smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the fulfillment of thatwhich he had expected.

  And yet for all his watchfulness he was never depressed. On thecontrary, I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberantspirits. Again and again he recurred to the fact that if he couldbe assured that society was freed from Professor Moriarty he wouldcheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion.

  "I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not livedwholly in vain," he remarked. "If my record were closed to-night I couldstill survey it with equanimity. The air of London is the sweeter for mypresence. In over a thousand cases I am not aware that I have ever usedmy powers upon the wrong side. Of late I have been tempted to look intothe problems furnished by nature rather than those more superficial onesfor which our artificial state of society is responsible. Your memoirswill draw to an end, Watson, upon the day that I crown my career bythe capture or extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal inEurope."

  I shall be brief, and yet exact, in the little which remains for me totell. It is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell, and yet I amconscious that a duty devolves upon me to omit no detail.

  It was on the 3d of May that we reached the little village of Meiringen,where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter Steiler theelder. Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke excellent English,having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel inLondon. At his advice, on the afternoon of the 4th we set off together,with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the night at thehamlet of Rosenlaui. We had strict injunctions, however, on no accountto pass the falls of Reichenbach, which are about half-way up the hill,without making a small detour to see them.

  It is indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting snow,plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like thesmoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river hurls itselfis an immense chasm, lined by glistening coal-black rock, and narrowinginto a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over andshoots the stream onward over its jagged lip. The long sweep of greenwater roaring forever down, and the thick flickering curtain of sprayhissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl andclamor. We stood near the edge peering down at the gleam of the breakingwater far below us against the black rocks, and listening to thehalf-human shout which came booming up with the spray out of the abyss.

  The path has been cut half-way round the fall to afford a complete view,but it ends abruptly, and the traveler has to return as he came. We hadturned to do so, when we saw a Swiss lad come running along it witha letter in his hand. It bore the mark of the hotel which we had justleft, and was addressed to me by the landlord. It appeared that within avery few minutes of our leaving, an English lady had arrived who was inthe last stage of consumption. She had wintered at Davos Platz, and wasjourneying now to join her friends at Lucerne, when a sudden hemorrhagehad overtaken her. It was thought that she could hardly live a fewhours, but it would be a great consolation to her to see an Englishdoctor, and, if I would only return, etc. The good Steiler assured mein a postscript that he would himself look upon my compliance as a verygreat favor, since the lady absolutely refused to see a Swiss physician,and he could not but feel that he was incurring a great responsibility.

  The appeal was one which could not be ignored. It was impossible torefuse the request of a fellow-countrywoman dying in a strange land. YetI had my scruples about leaving Holmes. It was finally agreed, however,that he should retain the young Swiss messenger with him as guide andcompanion while I returned to Meiringen. My friend would stay somelittle time at the fall, he said, and would then walk slowly over thehill to Rosenlaui, where I was to rejoin him in the evening. As I turnedaway I saw Holmes, with
his back against a rock and his arms folded,gazing down at the rush of the waters. It was the last that I was everdestined to see of him in this world.

  When I was near the bottom of the descent I looked back. It wasimpossible, from that position, to see the fall, but I could see thecurving path which winds over the shoulder of the hill and leads to it.Along this a man was, I remember, walking very rapidly.

  I could see his black figure clearly outlined against the green behindhim. I noted him, and the energy with which he walked but he passed frommy mind again as I hurried on upon my errand.

  It may have been a little over an hour before I reached Meiringen. OldSteiler was standing at the porch of his hotel.

  "Well," said I, as I came hurrying up, "I trust that she is no worse?"

  A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of hiseyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast.

  "You did not write this?" I said, pulling the letter from my pocket."There is no sick Englishwoman in the hotel?"

  "Certainly not!" he cried. "But it has the hotel mark upon it! Ha, itmust have been written by that tall Englishman who came in after you hadgone. He said--"

  But I waited for none of the landlord's explanations. In a tingle offear I was already running down the village street, and making for thepath which I had so lately descended. It had taken me an hour to comedown. For all my efforts two more had passed before I found myself atthe fall of Reichenbach once more. There was Holmes's Alpine-stock stillleaning against the rock by which I had left him. But there was no signof him, and it was in vain that I shouted. My only answer was my ownvoice reverberating in a rolling echo from the cliffs around me.

  It was the sight of that Alpine-stock which turned me cold and sick.He had not gone to Rosenlaui, then. He had remained on that three-footpath, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the other, until hisenemy had overtaken him. The young Swiss had gone too. He had probablybeen in the pay of Moriarty, and had left the two men together. And thenwhat had happened? Who was to tell us what had happened then?

  I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with thehorror of the thing. Then I began to think of Holmes's own methods andto try to practise them in reading this tragedy. It was, alas, only tooeasy to do. During our conversation we had not gone to the end of thepath, and the Alpine-stock marked the place where we had stood. Theblackish soil is kept forever soft by the incessant drift of spray,and a bird would leave its tread upon it. Two lines of footmarks wereclearly marked along the farther end of the path, both leading away fromme. There were none returning. A few yards from the end the soil wasall ploughed up into a patch of mud, and the branches and ferns whichfringed the chasm were torn and bedraggled. I lay upon my face andpeered over with the spray spouting up all around me. It had darkenedsince I left, and now I could only see here and there the glistening ofmoisture upon the black walls, and far away down at the end of the shaftthe gleam of the broken water. I shouted; but only the same half-humancry of the fall was borne back to my ears.

  But it was destined that I should after all have a last word of greetingfrom my friend and comrade. I have said that his Alpine-stock had beenleft leaning against a rock which jutted on to the path. From the top ofthis bowlder the gleam of something bright caught my eye, and, raisingmy hand, I found that it came from the silver cigarette-case which heused to carry. As I took it up a small square of paper upon which ithad lain fluttered down on to the ground. Unfolding it, I found that itconsisted of three pages torn from his note-book and addressed to me. Itwas characteristic of the man that the direction was a precise, and thewriting as firm and clear, as though it had been written in his study.

  My dear Watson [it said], I write these few lines through the courtesyof Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion ofthose questions which lie between us. He has been giving me a sketchof the methods by which he avoided the English police and kept himselfinformed of our movements. They certainly confirm the very high opinionwhich I had formed of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I shallbe able to free society from any further effects of his presence, thoughI fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, andespecially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to you,however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and thatno possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this.Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite convincedthat the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed you to departon that errand under the persuasion that some development of this sortwould follow. Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needsto convict the gang are in pigeonhole M., done up in a blue envelopeand inscribed "Moriarty." I made every disposition of my property beforeleaving England, and handed it to my brother Mycroft. Pray give mygreetings to Mrs. Watson, and believe me to be, my dear fellow,

  Very sincerely yours,

  Sherlock Holmes

  A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains. An examinationby experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest between the twomen ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a situation, in theirreeling over, locked in each other's arms. Any attempt at recovering thebodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down in that dreadfulcaldron of swirling water and seething foam, will lie for all time themost dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of theirgeneration. The Swiss youth was never found again, and there can be nodoubt that he was one of the numerous agents whom Moriarty kept in hisemploy. As to the gang, it will be within the memory of the publichow completely the evidence which Holmes had accumulated exposed theirorganization, and how heavily the hand of the dead man weighedupon them. Of their terrible chief few details came out during theproceedings, and if I have now been compelled to make a clear statementof his career it is due to those injudicious champions who haveendeavored to clear his memory by attacks upon him whom I shall everregard as the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known.

 

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