“Well, he has rather more viciousness than I gave him creditfor, has Master Joseph. He flew at me with his knife, and I had tograsp him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had theupper hand of him. He looked murder out of the only eye he couldsee with when we had finished, but he listened to reason and gaveup the papers. Having got them I let my man go, but I wired fullparticulars to Forbes this morning. If he is quick enough to catchhis bird, well and good. But if, as I shrewdly suspect, he findsthe nest empty before he gets there, why, all the better for thegovernment. I fancy that Lord Holdhurst for one, and Mr. PercyPhelps for another, would very much rather that the affair nevergot as far as a police-court.
“My God!” gasped our client. “Do you tell me that during theselong ten weeks of agony the stolen papers were within the veryroom with me all the time?”
“So it was.”
“And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!”
“Hum! I am afraid Joseph’s character is a rather deeper andmore dangerous one than one might judge from his appearance.
From what I have heard from him this morning, I gather that hehas lost heavily in dabbling with stocks, and that he is ready todo anything on earth to better his fortunes. Being an absolutelyselfish man, when a chance presented itself he did not allow eitherhis sister’s happiness or your reputation to hold his hand.”
Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. “My head whirls,” said he.
Your words have dazed me.”
“The principal difficulty in your case,” remarked Holmes in hisdidactic fashion, “lay in the fact of there being too much evidence.
What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant. Ofall the facts which were presented to us we had to pick just thosewhich we deemed to be essential, and then piece them togetherin their order, so as to reconstruct this very remarkable chain ofevents. I had already begun to suspect Joseph, from the fact thatyou had intended to travel home with him that night, and thatMemoirs of Sherlock Holmes 833
therefore it was a likely enough thing that he should call for you,knowing the Foreign Office well, upon his way. When I heardthat some one had been so anxious to get into the bedroom, inwhich no one but Joseph could have concealed anything—youtold us in your narrative how you had turned Joseph out when youarrived with the doctor—my suspicions all changed to certainties,especially as the attempt was made on the first night uponwhich the nurse was absent, showing that the intruder was wellacquainted with the ways of the house.”
“How blind I have been!”
“The facts of the case, as far as I have worked them out, arethese: This Joseph Harrison entered the office through theCharles Street door, and knowing his way he walked straightinto your room the instant after you left it. Finding no one therehe promptly rang the bell, and at the instant that he did so hiseyes caught the paper upon the table. A glance showed him thatchance had put in his way a State document of immense value,and in an instant he had thrust it into his pocket and was gone.
A few minutes elapsed, as you remember, before the sleepycommissionnaire drew your attention to the bell; and those werejust enough to give the thief time to make his escape.
“He made his way to Woking by the first train, and, havingexamined his booty and assured himself that it really was ofimmense value, he had concealed it in what he thought was a verysafe place, with the intention of taking it out again in a day or two,and carrying it to the French embassy, or wherever he thought thata long price was to be had. Then came your sudden return. He,without a moment’s warning, was bundled out of his room, andfrom that time onward there were always at least two of you thereto prevent him from regaining his treasure. The situation to himmust have been a maddening one. But at last he thought he saw hischance. He tried to steal in, but was baffled by your wakefulness.
You remember that you did not take your usual draught that night.”
“I remember.”
“I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious,and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious. Of course,I understood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it couldbe done with safety. Your leaving the room gave him the chancehe wanted. I kept Miss Harrison in it all day so that he might notanticipate us. Then, having given him the idea that the coast wasclear, I kept guard as I have described. I already knew that thepapers were probably in the room, but I had no desire to rip up allthe planking and skirting in search of them. I let him take them,therefore, from the hiding-place, and so saved myself an infinity oftrouble. Is there any other point which I can make clear?”
834 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
“Why did he try the window on the first occasion,” I asked,when he might have entered by the door?”
“In reaching the door he would have to pass seven bedrooms.
On the other hand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease.
Anything else?”
“You do not think,” asked Phelps, “that he had any murderousintention? The knife was only meant as a tool.”
“It may be so,” answered Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. “Ican only say for certain that Mr. Joseph Harrison is a gentleman towhose mercy I should be extremely unwilling to trust.”
