"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."