"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.