The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 16 (1/2)
Adventure X
The Naval Treaty
The July which ie was made memorable by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of being associated with Sherlock Hol his s of ”The Adventure of the Second Stain,” ”The Adventure of the Naval Treaty,” and ”The Adventure of the Tired Captain” The first of these, however, deals with interest of such importance and idom that for many years it will be impossible to ed has ever illustrated the value of his analytical methods so clearly or has impressed those ere associated with him so deeply I still retain an almost verbatim report of the interviehich he deue of the Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbau, both of whoies upon what proved to be side-issues The new century will have come, however, before the story can be safely told Meanwhile I pass on to the second on my list, which promised also at one time to be of national iive it a quite unique character
During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad nae as h he o classes ahead of me He was a very brilliant boy, and carried away every prize which the school had to offer, finished his exploits by winning a scholarshi+p which sent hie He was, I remember, extreether we knew that his reat conservative politician This gaudy relationshi+p did hiood at school On the contrary, it seeround and hit hi when he cauely that his abilities and the influences which he con Office, and then he passed co letter recalled his existence: Briarbrae, Woking My dear Watson,--I have no doubt that you can remember ”Tadpole” Phelps, as in the fifth form when you were in the third It is possible even that you h ood appointn Office, and that I was in a situation of trust and honor until a horrible misfortune ca of the details of that dreadful event In the event of your acceding to my request it is probably that I shall have to narrate them to you I have only just recovered froly weak Do you think that you could bring your friend Mr Holmes down to see h the authorities assurehim down, and as soon as possible Every minute 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 because I did not appreciate his talents, but because I have been off h I dare not think of it too much for fear of a relapse I a Do try to bring him
Your old school-fellow, Percy Phelps
There was so pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes So moved was I that even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it, but of course I kneell that Hol his aid as his client could be to receive it My wife agreed withthe matter before him, and so within an hour of breakfast-time I found myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street
Holown, and working hard over a che furiously in the bluish fla into a two-litre lanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation must be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited He dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solution over 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 into the test-tube and it flushed at once into a dull, dirty criht 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 his desk and scribbled off several telegrae-boy Then he threw himself down into the chair opposite, and drew up his knees until his fingers clasped round his long, thin shi+ns
”A very co better, I fancy You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson What is it?”
I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated attention
”It does not tell us very much, does it?” he re”
”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 the co to know that your client is in close contact with soood or evil, has an exceptional nature My interest is already awakened in the case If you are ready ill start at once for Woking, and see this diplomatist who is in such evil case, and the lady to whoh to catch an early train at Waterloo, and in a little under an hour we found ourselves a Briarbrae proved to be a large detached house standing in extensive grounds within a fewin our cards ere shown into an elegantly appointed drawing-room, where ere joined in a few minutes by a rather stout e may have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the ilad that you have co our hands with effusion ”Percy has been inquiring for you all s to any straw! His father and his mother asked me to see you, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful to them”
”We have had no details yet,” observed Holmes ”I perceive that you are not yourself a member of the falancing down, he began to laugh
”Of course you saw the J H ht you had done so clever Joseph Harrison is my name, and as Percy is to marry e You will find my sister in his room, for she has nursed hio in at once, for I kno impatient he is”
The chamber in which ere shoas on the sa-roo and partly as a bedrooed daintily in every nook and corner A youngupon a sofa near the open , through which caarden and the bal 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 I dare say you would not be prepared to swear to me This I presume is your celebrated friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes?”
I introduced hi man had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in that of the invalid She was a striking-looking woman, a little short and thick for sye, dark, Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair Her rich tints ard by the contrast
”I won't waste your tie into the matter without further preamble I was a happy and successfulmarried, when a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life
”I was, as Watson h the influences of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst, I rose rapidly to a responsible position When ave ht them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to have the utmost confidence in o--to be more accurate, on the 23d of May--he called ood hich I had done, he informed me that he had a new commission of trust for ray roll of paper froinal of that secret treaty between England and Italy of which, I regret to say, soot into the public press It is of enor further should leak out The French or the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to learn the contents of these papers They should not leave my bureau were it not that it is absolutely necessary to have them copied You have a desk in your office?”
”'Yes, sir'
”'Then take the treaty and lock it up there I shall give directions that you o, so that youoverlooked When you have finished, relock both the original and the draft in the desk, and hand the'
”I took the papers and--”
”Excusethis conversation?”
”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 Holo on”
”I did exactly what he indicated, and waited until the other clerks had departed One of them in my room, Charles Gorot, had some arrears of work to make up, so I left hione I was anxious to hurry my work, for I knew that Joseph--the Mr Harrison whom you saw just noas in town, and that he would travel down to Woking by the eleven-o'clock train, and I wanted if possible to catch it
”When I came to examine the treaty I saw at once that it was of such ieration in what he had said Without going into details, I may say that it defined the position of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and fore-shadowed the policy which this country would pursue in the event of the French fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy in the Mediterranean The questions treated in it were purely naval At the end were the signatures of the high dignitaries who had signed it I glanced
”It was a long docu twenty-six separate articles I copied as quickly as I could, but at nine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it seemed hopeless fordrowsy and stupid, partly fro day's work A cup of coffee would clear e at the foot of the stairs, and is in the habit ofcoffee at his spirit-la over ti the bell, therefore, to summon him
”To e, coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron She explained that she was the coave her the order for the coffee