"Has no one else passed?"
　　' "No one."
　　' "Then it must be the other way that the thief took," cried the fellow, tugging at mysleeve.
　　'But I was not satisfied, and the attempts which he made to draw me awayincreased 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 for watching 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 of importance,"cried the commissionaire. "Take my word for it that my old woman has nothing to dowith it, and come down to the other end of the street. Well, if you won't, I will," andwith that he rushed off in the other direction.
　　'But I was after him in an instant and caught him by the sleeve.
　　' "Where do you live?" said I.
　　' "No. 16 Ivy Lane, Brixton," he answered; "but don't let yourself be drawn awayupon a false scent, Mr. Phelps. Come to the other end of the street, and let us see if wecan hear of anything."
　　'Nothing was to be lost by following his advice. With the policeman we bothhurried down, but only to find the street full of traffic, many people coming and going,but all only too eager to get to a place of safety upon so wet a night. There was nolounger who could tell us who had passed.
　　'Then we returned to the office, and searched the stairs and the passage withoutresult. The corridor which led to the room was laid down with a kind of creamylinoleum, which shows an impression very easily. We examined it very carefully, butfound no outline of any footmark.'
　　'Had it been raining all the evening?'
　　'Since about seven.'
　　'How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine left no traceswith her muddy boots?'
　　'I am glad you raise the point. It occurred to me at the time. The charwomen are inthe habit of taking off their boots at the commissionaire's office, and putting on listslippers.'
　　'That is very clear. There were no marks, then, though the night was a wet one?The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary interest. What did you do next?'
　　'We examined the room also. There was no possibility of a secret door, and thewindows are quite thirty feet from the ground. Both of them were fastened on theinside. The carpet prevents any possibility of a trap-door, and the ceiling is of theordinary white-washed kind. I will pledge my life that whoever stole my papers couldonly have come through the door.'
　　'How about the fireplace?'
　　'They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the wire just to the rightof my desk. Whoever rang it must have come right up to the desk to do it. But whyshould any criminal wish to ring the bell? It is a most insoluble mystery.'
　　Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps? You examined theroom, I presume, to see if the intruder had left any traces—any cigar-end, or droppedglove, or hairpin, or other trifle?'
　　'There was of 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 such aninvestigation.'
　　'I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if there had been anysmell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of any kind. The only tangible factwas that the commissionaire's wife—Mrs. Tangey was the name—had hurried out ofthe place. He could give no explanation save that it was about the time when thewoman always went home. The policeman and I agreed that our best plan would be toseize the woman before she could get rid of the papers, presuming that she had them.
　　'The alarm had reached Scotland Yard by this time, and Mr. Forbes, the detective,came round at once and took up the case with a great deal of energy. We hired ahansom, and in half an hour we were at the address which had been given to us. Ayoung woman opened the door, who proved to be Mrs. Tangey's eldest daughter. Hermother had to come back yet, and we were shown into the front room to wait.
　　'About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here we made the oneserious mistake for which 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 instant afterwards weheard the patter of feet rushing down the passage. Forbes flung open the door, and weboth ran into the back room or kitchen, but the woman had got there before us. Shestared at us with defiant eyes, and then suddenly recognizing me, an expression ofabsolute astonishment came over her face.
　　' "Why, if it isn't Mr. Phelps, of the office!" she cried.
　　Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran away from us?" asked mycompanion.
　　I thought you were the brokers," said she. "We've had some trouble with atradesman."
　　That's not quite good enough," answered Forbes. "We have reason to believe thatyou have taken a paper of importance from the Foreign Office, and that you ran in herto dispose of it. You must come back with us to Scotland Yard to be searched."
　　'It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A four-wheeler was brought, and weall three drove back in it. We had first made an examination of the kitchen, andespecially of the kitchen fire, to see whether she might have made away with thepapers during the instant that she was alone. There were no signs. However, of anyashes or scraps. When we reached Scotland Yard she was handed over at once to thefemale searcher. I waited in an agony of suspense until she came back with her report.There were no signs of the papers.
　　'Then, for the first time, the horror of my situation came in its full force upon me.Hitherto I had been so confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had not dared tothink of what would be the consequence if I failed to do so. But now there wasnothing more to be done, and I had leisure to realize my position. It was horrible!Watson there would tell you that I was a nervous, sensitive boy at school. It is mynature.