'
　　'God bless you for promising to come,' cried our client. 'It gives me fresh life toknow that something is being done. By the way, I have had a letter from LordHoldhurst.'
　　'Ha! What did he say?'
　　'He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe illness prevented him from beingthat. He repeated that the matter was of the utmost importance, and added that nosteps would be taken about my future—by which he means, of course, mydismissal—until my health was restored and I had an opportunity of repairing mymisfortune.'
　　'Well, that was reasonable and considerate,' said Holmes. 'Come, Watson, for wehave a good day's work before us in town.'
　　Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon whirling up ina Portsmouth train. Holmes was sunk in profound thought, and hardly opened hismouth until we had passed Clapham Junction.
　　'It's a very cheering thing to come into London by any of these lines which runhigh and allow you to look down upon the houses like this.'
　　I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon explainedhimself.
　　'Look at those big, isolated clumps of buildings rising up above the slates, likebrick islands in a lead-coloured sea.'
　　'The Board schools.'
　　'Lighthouses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules, with hundreds of brightlittle seeds in each, out of which will spring the wiser, better England of the future. Isuppose 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 poordevil has certainly got himself into very deep water, and it's a question whether weshall ever be able to get him ashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison?'
　　'A girl of strong character.'
　　'Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She and her brother are the onlychildren of an iron-master somewhere up Northumberland way. Phelps got engaged toher when travelling last winter, and she came down to be introduced to his people,with her brother as escort. Then came the smash, and she stayed on to nurse her lover,while brother Joseph, finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been making afew independent inquiries, you see. But today must be a day of inquiries.'
　　'My practice—'I began.
　　'Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine—'said Holmes, withsome asperity.
　　'I was going to say that my practice could get along very well for a day or two,since it is the slackest time in the year.'
　　'Excellent,' said he, recovering his good humour. 'Then we'll look into this mattertogether. I think that we should begin by seeing Forbes. He can probably tell us all thedetails we want, until we know from what side the case is to be approached.'
　　'You said you had a clue.'
　　'Well, we have several, but we can only test their value by further inquiry. Themost difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless. Now, this is notpurposeless. Who is it that profits by it? There is the French Ambassador, there is theRussian, there is whoever might sell it to either of these, and there is Lord Holdhurst.'
　　'Lord Holdhurst!'
　　'Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himself in a position wherehe was not sorry to have such a document accidentally destroyed.'
　　'Not a statesman with the honourable record of Lord Holdhurst.'
　　'It is a possibility, and we cannot afford to disregard it. We shall see the noble lordto-day, and find out if he can tell us anything. Meanwhile, I have already set inquiriesupon foot.'
　　'Already?'
　　'Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every evening paper in London. Thisadvertisement will appear in each of them.'
　　He handed over a sheet torn from the notebook. On it was scribbled in pencil:
　　'￡10 Reward.—The number of the cab which dropped a fare at or about the doorof the Foreign Office in Charles Street, at a quarter to ten in the evening of May 23rd.Apply 221B 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 stating that there is nohiding-place either in the room or the corridors, then the person must have come fromoutside. If he came from outside on so wet a night, and yet left no trace of damp uponthe linoleum, which was examined within a few minutes of his passing, then it isexceedingly probable 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 distinctive feature of the case. Whyshould the bell ring? Was it the thief that did it out of bravado? Or was it someonewho was with the thief who did it in order to prevent the crime? Or was it an accident?Or was it—?' He sank 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 somenew possibility had dawned suddenly upon him.
　　It was twenty-past three when we reached our terminus, and after a hasty luncheonat the buffer we pushed on at once to Scotland Yard. Holmes had already wired toForbes, and we found him waiting to receive us: a small, foxy man, with a sharp butby no means amiable expression. He was decidedly frigid in his manner to us,especially when he heard the errand upon which we had come.
　　'I've heard of your methods before now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, tartly. 'You areready enough to use all the information that the police can lay at your disposal, andthen you try to finish the case yourself and bring discredit upon them.'
　　'On the contrary,' said Holmes; 'out of my last fifty-three cases my name has onlyappeared in four, and the police have had all the credit in forty-nine. I don't blame youfor not knowing this; for you are young and inexperienced; but if you wished to get onin your new duties you will work with me, and not against me.'
　　'I'd be very glad of a hint or two,' said the detective, changing his manner. 'I'vecertainly had no credit from the case so far.'
　　'What steps have you taken?