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[Assistant] I'd never heard of the institution, and my face must have proclaimed as much, for Sherlock Holmes pulled out his watch.


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[Assistant] The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men.


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[Assistant] He's always there from quarter to five to twenty to eight. It's six now, so if you care for a stroll this beautiful evening, I shall be very happy to introduce you to two curiosities.


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[Assistant] Five minutes later we were in the street, walking towards Regent Circus.


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[Assistant] You wonder," said my companion, why it is that Mycroft does not use his powers for detective work. He is incapable of it. But I thought you said—


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[Assistant] I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction.


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[Assistant] If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived.


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[Assistant] But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.


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[Assistant] Again and again I have taken a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one.


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[Assistant] And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into before a case could be laid before a judge or jury. It is not his profession, then. By no means.


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[Assistant] What is to me a means of livelihood is to him the merest hobby of a dilettante.


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[Assistant] He has an extraordinary faculty for figures and audits the books in some of the government departments.


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[Assistant] Mycroft lodges in Pall Mall, and he walks round the corner into Whitehall every morning and back every evening.


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[Assistant] From year's end to year's end he takes no other exercise and is seen nowhere else, except only in the Diogenes club, which is just opposite his rooms. I cannot recall the name. Very likely not.


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[Assistant] There are many men in London, you know, who some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows, yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals.


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[Assistant] It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one.


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[Assistant] Save in the stranger's room, no talking is under any circumstances allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion.


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[Assistant] My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere.


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[Assistant] We had reached Palmale as we talked, and were walking down it from the St. James's End. Sherlock Holmes stopped at a door some little distance from the Carlton, and, cautioning me not to speak, he led the way into the hall.


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[Assistant] Through the glass panelling I caught a glimpse of a large and luxurious room.


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[Assistant] Holmes showed me into a small chamber which looked out into Pall Mall, and then, leaving me for a minute, he came back with a companion whom I knew could only be his brother.


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[Assistant] Mycroft Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock. His body was absolutely corpulent, but his face, though massive, had preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was so remarkable in that of his brother.


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[Assistant] His eyes, which were of a peculiarly light watery grey, seemed to have always retained that far-away introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock's when he was exerting his full powers.


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[Assistant] I am glad to meet you, sir," said he, putting out a broad, fat hand like the flipper of a seal.


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[Assistant] I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler. By the way, Sherlock, I expected to see you round last week to consult me over that manor-house case. I thought you might be a little out of your depth." No, I solved it," said my friend, smiling. It was Adams, of course. Yes, it was Adams. I was sure of it from the first. The two sat down together in the bow-window of the club.


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[Assistant] To anyone who wishes to study mankind, this is the spot, said Mycroft.


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[Assistant] Look at the magnificent types. Look at those two men who are coming towards us, for example. The billiard marker and the other? Precisely. What do you make of the other?


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[Assistant] The two men had stopped opposite the window. Some chalk marks over the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of billiards which I could see in one of them.


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[Assistant] The other was a very small, dark fellow, with his hat pushed back and several packages under his arm.


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[Assistant] An old soldier, I perceive," said Sherlock.


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[Assistant] "'And very recently discharged,' remarked the brother. "'Served in India, I see. And a non-commissioned officer.'


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[Assistant] Come, said I, laughing, this is a little too much.


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[Assistant] Surely," answered Holmes, it is not hard to say that a man with that bearing, expression of authority, and sun-baked skin is a soldier, is more than a private, and is not long from India.


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[Assistant] That he has not left the service long is shown by his still wearing his ammunition boots, as they are called, observed Mycroft.


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[Assistant] He had not the cavalry stride, yet he wore his hat on one side, as is shown by the lighter skin of that side of his brow. His weight is against his being a sapper. He is in the artillery.


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[Assistant] Then of course his complete mourning shows that he has lost someone very dear.


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[Assistant] The fact that he is doing his own shopping looks as though it were his wife.


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[Assistant] The wife probably died in child-bed. The fact that he has a picture book under his arm shows that there is another child to be thought of.


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[Assistant] I began to understand what my friend meant when he said that his brother possessed even keener faculties than he did himself. He glanced across at me and smiled. Mycroft took snuff from a tortoise-shell box, and brushed away the wandering grains from his coat-front with a large red-silk handkerchief.


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[Assistant] By the way, Sherlock," said he, I have had something quite after your own heart. A most singular problem. Submit it to my judgment.


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[Assistant] I really had not the energy to follow it up, save in a very incomplete fashion, but it gave me a basis for some pleasing speculation. If you would care to hear the facts. My dear Mycroft, I should be delighted.


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[Assistant] The brother scribbled a note upon a leaf of his pocket-book, and ringing the bell he handed it to the waiter.


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[Assistant] Which led him to come to me in his perplexity.


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[Assistant] Mr. Maylas is a Greek by extraction, as I understand, and he is a remarkable linguist.


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[Assistant] He earns his living partly as interpreter in the law courts, and partly by acting as guide to any wealthy Orientals who may visit the Northumberland Avenue hotels.


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[Assistant] I think I will leave him to tell his very remarkable experience in his own fashion.


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[Assistant] A few minutes later we were joined by a short stout man whose olive face and cold black hair proclaimed his southern origin, though his speech was that of an educated Englishman.


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[Assistant] He shook hands eagerly with Sherlock Holmes, and his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure when he understood that the specialist was anxious to hear his story.


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[Assistant] I do not believe that the police credit me. On my word I do not," said he in a wailing voice.


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[Assistant] Just because they have never heard of it before, they think that such a thing cannot be. But I know that I shall never be easy in my mind until I know what has become of my poor man with the sticking plaster upon his face."


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[Assistant] This is Wednesday evening," said Mr. Mayless. Well, then, it was Monday night, only two days ago. You understand that all this happened. I am an interpreter, as perhaps my neighbour there has told you.


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[Assistant] I interpret all languages or nearly all, but as I am a Greek by birth and with a Grecian name, it is with that particular tongue that I am principally associated


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[Assistant] For many years I have been the chief Greek interpreter in London, and my name is very well known in the hotels.


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[Assistant] It happens not unfrequently that I am sent for at strange hours by foreigners who get into difficulties, or by travellers who arrive late and wish my services.


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[Assistant] I was not surprised, therefore, on Monday night, when a Mr. Latimer, a very fashionably dressed young man, came up to my rooms and asked me to accompany him in a cab which was waiting at the door.


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[Assistant] A Greek friend had come to see him upon business, he said, and as he could speak nothing but his own tongue, the services of an interpreter were indispensable.


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[Assistant] He gave me to understand that his house was some little distance off in Kensington.


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[Assistant] And he seemed to be in great hurry, bustling me rapidly into the cab when we had descended to the street.


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[Assistant] I say into the cab, but I soon became doubtful as to whether it was not a carriage in which I found myself.


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[Assistant] It was certainly more roomy than the ordinary four-wheeled disgrace to London, and the fittings, though frayed, were of rich quality.


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[Assistant] Mr. Latimer seated himself opposite to me, and we started off through Charing Cross and up the Shaftesbury Avenue.


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[Assistant] We had come out upon Oxford Street, and I had ventured some remark as to this being a roundabout way to Kensington, when my words were arrested by the extraordinary conduct of my companion.


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[Assistant] He began by drawing a most formidable-looking bludgeon loaded with lead from his pocket, and switching it backward and forward several times, as if to test its weight and strength.


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[Assistant] Then he placed it without a word upon the seat beside him.


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[Assistant] Having done this, he drew up the windows on each side, and I found to my astonishment that they were covered with paper so as to prevent my seeing through them.


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[Assistant] I am sorry to cut off your view, Mr. Malus," said he.


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[Assistant] The fact is that I have no intention that you should see what the place is to which we are driving. It might possibly be inconvenient to me if you could find your way there again.


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[Assistant] As you can imagine, I was utterly taken aback by such an address.


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[Assistant] My companion was a powerful, broad-shouldered young fellow, and apart from the weapon I should not have had the slightest chance in a struggle with him.


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[Assistant] This is a very extraordinary conduct, Mr. Latimer," I stammered. You must be aware that what you are doing is quite illegal.


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[Assistant] It is something of a liberty, no doubt, said he.


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[Assistant] But we'll make it up to you, I must warn you, however, Mr. Mellus, that if at any time tonight you attempt to raise an alarm, or do anything which is against my interests, you will find it a very serious thing.


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[Assistant] I beg you to remember that no one knows where you are, and that whether you are in this carriage or in my house, you are equally in my power.


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[Assistant] His words were quiet, but he had a rasping way of saying them, which was very menacing.


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[Assistant] I sat in silence wondering what on earth could be his reason for kidnapping me in this extraordinary fashion.


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[Assistant] Whatever it might be, it was perfectly clear that there was no possible use in my resisting, and that I could only wait to see what might befall.


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[Assistant] For nearly two hours we drove without my having the least clue as to where we were going.


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[Assistant] Sometimes the rattle of the stones told of a paved causeway, and at others our smooth, silent course suggested asphalt.


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[Assistant] But save by this variation in sound, there was nothing at all which could in the remotest way help me to form a guess as to where we were.


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[Assistant] The paper over each window was impenetrable to light, and a blue curtain was drawn across the glasswork in front.


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[Assistant] It was a quarter past seven when we left Palmol, and my watch showed me that it was ten minutes to nine when we at last came to a standstill. My companion let down the window,


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[Assistant] And I caught a glimpse of a low arched doorway with a lamp burning above it.


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[Assistant] As I was hurried from the carriage it swung open, and I found myself inside the house, with a vague impression of a lawn and trees on each side of me as I entered.


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[Assistant] Whether these were private grounds, however, or bona fide a country, was more than I could possibly venture to say.


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[Assistant] There was a coloured gas lamp inside which was turned so low that I could see little, say that the hall was of some size and hung with pictures.


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[Assistant] In the dim light I could make out that the person who had opened the door was a small, mean-looking, middle-aged man with rounded shoulders.


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[Assistant] As he turned towards us, the glint of the light showed me that he was wearing glasses.


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[Assistant] Well done, well done. No ill-will, Mr Maylis, I hope, but we could not get on without you.


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[Assistant] If you deal fair with us, you'll not regret it. But if you try any tricks, God help you.


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[Assistant] He spoke in a nervous, jerky fashion, and with little giggling laughs in between, but somehow he impressed me with fear more than the other.


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[Assistant] Only to ask a few questions of a Greek gentleman who is visiting us, and to let us have the answers. But say no more than you are told to say, or here came the nervous giggle again. You had better never have been born.


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[Assistant] As he spoke, he opened a door and showed the way into a room which appeared to be very richly furnished, but again the only light was afforded by a single lamp half turned down.


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[Assistant] The chamber was certainly large, and the way which my feet sank into the carpet as I stepped across it told me of its richness.


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[Assistant] I caught glimpses of velvet chairs, a high white marble mantelpiece, and what seemed to be a suit of Japanese armour at one side of it.


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[Assistant] There was a chair just under the lamp, and the elderly man motioned that I should sit in it.


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[Assistant] The younger had left us, but he suddenly returned through another door, leading with him a gentleman clad in some sort of loose dressing-gown, who moved slowly towards us.


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[Assistant] As he came into the circle of dim light, which enables me to see him more clearly, I was thrilled with horror at his appearance.


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[Assistant] He was deadly pale and terribly emaciated, with the protruding brilliant eyes of a man whose spirit was greater than his strength.


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[Assistant] But what shocked me more than any signs of physical weakness was that his face was grotesquely criss-crossed with sticking plaster, and that one large pad of it was fastened over his mouth.


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[Assistant] Have you the slate, Harold?" cried the older man, as this strange being fell rather than sat down into a chair.


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[Assistant] Are his hands loose? Now then, give him the pencil.


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[Assistant] You are to ask the questions, Mr. Mayless, and he will write the answers. Ask him first of all whether he is prepared to sign the papers." The man's eyes flashed fire. Never, he wrote in Greek upon the slate.


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[Assistant] On no condition? I asked at the bidding of our tyrant.


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[Assistant] Only if I see her married in my presence by a Greek priest whom I know. The man giggled in his venomous way. You know what awaits you then? I care nothing for myself.


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[Assistant] These are samples of the questions and answers which made up our strange half-spoken, half-written conversation.


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[Assistant] Again and again I had to ask him whether he would give in and sign the documents. Again and again I had the same indignant reply. But soon a happy thought came to me.


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[Assistant] To test whether either of our companions knew anything of the matter.


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[Assistant] And then, as I found that they showed no signs, I played a more dangerous game. Our conversation ran something like this.


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[Assistant] You can do no good by this obstinacy. Who are you? I care not. I am a stranger in London.


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[Assistant] Your fate will be upon your own head. How long have you been here? Let it be so. Three weeks. The property can never be yours. What ails you?


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[Assistant] It shall not go to villains. They are starving me. You shall go free if you sign. What house is this? I will never sign. I do not know.


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[Assistant] Another five minutes, Mr Holmes, and I should have wormed out the whole story under their very noses.


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[Assistant] My very next question might have cleared the matter up.


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[Assistant] But at that instant the door opened and a woman stepped into the room.


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[Assistant] I could not see her clearly enough to know more than that she was tall and graceful, with black hair and clad in some sort of loose white gown.


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[Assistant] Harold, said she, speaking English with a broken accent, I could not stay away longer.


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[Assistant] It is so lonely up there with only, oh my God, it is Paul. These last words were in Greek.


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[Assistant] And at the same instant the man with a convulsive effort tore the plaster from his lips and, screaming out, Sophie, Sophie! rushed into the woman's arms.


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[Assistant] Their embrace was but for an instant, however, for the younger man seized the woman and pushed her out of the room, while the elder easily overpowered his emaciated victim and dragged him away through the other door.


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[Assistant] For a moment I was left alone in the room, and I sprang to my feet with some vague idea that I might in some way get a clue to what this house was in which I found myself.


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[Assistant] Fortunately, however, I took no steps, for looking up I saw that the older man was standing in the doorway with his eyes fixed upon me.


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[Assistant] That will do, Mr. Maylis," said he. You perceive that we have taken you into our confidence, though as some very private business. We should not have troubled you, only that our friend who speaks Greek and who began these negotiations has been forced to return to the East.


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[Assistant] It was quite necessary for us to find someone to take his place, and we were fortunate in hearing of your powers. I bowed.


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[Assistant] There are five sovereigns here," said he, walking up to me, which will, I hope, be a sufficient fee. But remember


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[Assistant] He added, tapping me lightly on the chest and giggling, if you speak to a human soul about this, one human soul, mind, well may God have mercy upon your soul.


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[Assistant] I cannot tell you the loathing and horror with which this insignificant looking man inspired me.


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[Assistant] I could see him better now as the lamplight shone upon him.


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[Assistant] His features were peaky and sallow, and his little pointed beard was thready and ill-nourished.


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[Assistant] He pushed his face forward as he spoke, and his lips and eyelids were continually twitching like a man with St Vitus's dance.


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[Assistant] I could not help thinking that his strange, catchy little laugh was also a symptom of some nervous malady.


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[Assistant] The terror of his face lay in his eyes, however, steel grey and glistening coldly with a malignant inexorable cruelty in their depths.


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[Assistant] We shall know if you speak of this, said he. We have our own means of information.


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[Assistant] Now you'll find the carriage waiting, and my friend will see you on your way.


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[Assistant] I was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle, again obtaining that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden.


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[Assistant] Mr. Latimer followed closely at my heels and took his place opposite to me without a word.


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[Assistant] In silence we again drove for an interminable distance, with the windows raised, until at last, just after midnight, the carriage pulled up.


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[Assistant] You will get down here, Mr. Melas," said my companion. I am sorry to leave you so far from your house, but there is no alternative. Any attempt upon your part to follow the carriage can only end in injury to yourself." He opened the door as he spoke.


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[Assistant] And I had hardly time to spring out when the coachman lashed the horse and the carriage rattled away. I looked around me in astonishment.


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[Assistant] I was on some sort of heathy common, mottled over with dark clumps of firs bushes.


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[Assistant] Far away stretched a line of houses with a light here and there in the upper windows. On the other side I saw the red signal lamps of a railway.


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[Assistant] The carriage which had brought me was already out of sight. I stood gazing round and wondering where on earth I might be.


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[Assistant] When I saw someone coming towards me in the darkness.


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[Assistant] So that was the end of my adventure, Mr. Holmes. I do not know where I was, nor whom I spoke with, nor anything save what I have told you.


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[Assistant] But I know that there is foul play going on and I want to help that unhappy man if I can.


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[Assistant] I told the whole story to Mr Mycroft Holmes next morning, and subsequently to the police.


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[Assistant] We all sat in silence for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock looked across at his brother.


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[Assistant] Mycroft picked up the daily news which was lying on the side table.


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[Assistant] Anybody supplying any information to the whereabouts of a Greek gentleman named Paul Krataides from Athens, who is unable to speak English, will be rewarded—a similar reward paid to anyone giving information about a Greek lady whose first name is Sophie X2473. That was in all the dailies. No answer. How about the Greek legation? I have inquired. They know nothing.


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[Assistant] Sherlock has all the energy of the family, said Mycroft, turning to me.


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[Assistant] Well, you take the case up by all means, and let me know if you do any good.


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[Assistant] Certainly, answered my friend rising from his chair.


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[Assistant] In the meantime, Mr Melas, I should certainly be on my guard if I were you, for of course they must know through these advertisements that you have betrayed them.


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[Assistant] As we walked home together, Holmes stopped at a telegraph office and sent off several wires.


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[Assistant] You see, Watson?" he remarked. Our evening has been by no means wasted.


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[Assistant] Some of my most interesting cases have come to me in this way through my croft.


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[Assistant] The problem which we have just listened to, although it can admit of but one explanation, has still some distinguishing features. You have hopes of solving it?


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[Assistant] Well, knowing as much as we do, it will be singular indeed if we fail to discover the rest. You must yourself have formed some theory which will explain the facts to which we have listened. In a vague way, yes. What was your idea, then?


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[Assistant] It seemed to me to be obvious that this Greek girl had been carried off by the young Englishman named Harold Latimer. Carried off from where?


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[Assistant] Athens, perhaps." Sherlock Holmes shook his head. This young man could not talk a word of Greek. The lady could talk English fairly well. Inference, that she had been in England some little time, but he had not been in Greece.


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[Assistant] Well, then, we will presume that she had come on a visit to England, and that this herald had persuaded her to fly with him. That is more probable.


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[Assistant] Then the brother, for that I fancy must be the relationship, comes over from Greece to interfere. He imprudently puts himself into the power of the young man and his older associate.


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[Assistant] They seize him and use violence towards him in order to make him sign some papers to make over the girl's fortune, of which he may be trustee, to them.


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[Assistant] This he refuses to do. In order to negotiate with him they have to get an interpreter, and they pitch upon this Mr. Malus, having used some other one before. The girl is not told of the arrival of her brother, and finds it out by the merest accident.


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[Assistant] Excellent, Watson!" cried Holmes. I really fancy that you are not far from the truth. You see that we hold all the cards, and we have only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part. If they give us time we must have them. How can we find where this house lies?


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[Assistant] Well, if our conjecture is correct, and the girl's name is or was Sophie Catrides, we should have no difficulty in tracing her.


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[Assistant] That must be our main hope, for the brother is, of course, a complete stranger.


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[Assistant] It is clear that some time has elapsed since this herald established these relations with the girl—some weeks, at any rate, since the brother in Greece has had time to hear of it and come across. If they have been living in the same place during this time, it is probable that we shall have some answer to Mycroft's advertisement.


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[Assistant] We had reached our house in Baker Street while we had been talking. Holmes ascended the stair first, and as he opened the door of our room he gave a start of surprise.


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[Assistant] Looking over his shoulder I was equally astonished.


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[Assistant] His brother Mycroft was sitting smoking in the armchair.


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[Assistant] Come in, Sherlock. Come in, sir," said he blandly, smiling at our surprised faces. You don't expect such energy from me, do you, Sherlock? But somehow this case attracts me. How did you get here? I passed you in a hansom. There has been some new development? I had an answer to my advertisement. Ah! Yes, it came within a few minutes of your leaving. And to what effect?


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[Assistant] Here it is," said he, written with a J-pen on royal cream paper by a middle-aged man with a weak constitution. "'Sir,' he says, "'in answer to your advertisement of today's date, I beg to inform you that I know the young lady in question very well.'


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[Assistant] If you should care to call upon me I could give you some particulars as to her painful history.


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[Assistant] She is living at present at the Myrtle's Beckenham. Yours faithfully, J. Davenport.


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[Assistant] He writes from lower Brixton," said Mycroft Holmes. Do you not think that we might drive to him now, Sherlock, and learn these particulars?


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[Assistant] My dear Mycroft, the brother's life is more valuable than the sister's story. I think we should call at Scotland Yard for Inspector Gregson, and go straight out to Beckenham. We know that a man is being done to death, and every hour may be vital.


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[Assistant] Better pick up Mr Mayless on our way, I suggested. We may need an interpreter.


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[Assistant] Excellent, said Sherlock Holmes. Send the boy for a four-wheeler, and we shall be off at once.


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[Assistant] He opened the table drawer as he spoke, and I noticed that he slipped his revolver into his pocket.


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[Assistant] Yes," said he in answer to my glance, I should say from what we have heard that we are dealing with a particularly dangerous gang.


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[Assistant] It was almost dark before we found ourselves in Pall Mall at the rooms of Mr. Malus. A gentleman had just called for him, and he was gone.


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[Assistant] I don't know, sir, answered the woman who had opened the door.


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[Assistant] I only know that he drove away with a gentleman in a carriage. Did the gentleman give a name?


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[Assistant] He wasn't at all handsome, dark young man.


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[Assistant] Oh no, sir, he was a little gentleman with glasses, thin in the face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing all the time that he was talking.


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[Assistant] Come along!" cried Sherlock Holmes abruptly. This grows serious, he observed, as we drove to Scotland Yard. These men have got hold of Mayluss again.


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[Assistant] He is a man of no physical courage, as they are well aware from their experience the other night. This villain was able to terrorise him the instant that he got into his presence.


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[Assistant] No doubt they want his professional services, but having used him, they may be inclined to punish him for what they regard as his treachery.


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[Assistant] Our hope was that by taking the train we might get to Bickenham as soon or sooner than the carriage.


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[Assistant] On reaching Scotland Yard, however, it was more than an hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and comply with the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the house.


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[Assistant] It was a quarter to ten before we reached London Bridge, and half past before the four of us alighted on the Beckenham platform.


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[Assistant] A drive of half a mile brought us to the Myrtles, a large dark house standing back from the road in its own grounds.


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[Assistant] Here we dismissed our cab and made our way up the drive together.


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[Assistant] The windows are all dark, remarked the inspector. The house seems deserted.


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[Assistant] Our birds are flown and the nest empty, said Holmes. Why do you say so?


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[Assistant] A carriage heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during the last hour.


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[Assistant] The inspector laughed. I saw the wheel tracks in the light of the gate lamp. But where does the luggage come in?


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[Assistant] You may have observed the same wheel tracks going the other way, but the outward bound ones were very much deeper, so much so that we can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable weight on the carriage.


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[Assistant] You get a trifle beyond me there," said the inspector, shrugging his shoulder.


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[Assistant] It will not be an easy door to force, but we will try if we cannot make someone hear us.


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[Assistant] He hammered loudly at the knocker and pulled at the bell, but without any success. Holmes had slipped away, but he came back in a few minutes.


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[Assistant] It is a mercy that you're on the side of the Force and not against it, Mr. Holmes," remarked the inspector, as he noted the clever way in which my friend had forced back the catch.


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[Assistant] Well, I think that under the circumstances we may enter without an invitation.


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[Assistant] One after the other we made our way into a large apartment, which was evidently that in which Mr. Malus had found himself.


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[Assistant] The inspector had lit his lantern, and by its light we could see the two doors, the curtain, the lamp, and the suit of Japanese mail, as he had described them. On the table lay two glasses, an empty brandy-bottle, and the remains of a meal. What is that? asked Holmes suddenly. We all stood still and listened.


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[Assistant] A low moaning sound was coming from somewhere over our heads. Holmes rushed to the door and out into the hall.


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[Assistant] The dismal noise came from upstairs. He dashed up, the inspector and I at his heels, while his brother Mycroft followed as quickly as his great bulk would permit.


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[Assistant] Three doors faced up upon the second floor, and it was from the centre of these that the sinister sounds were issuing, sinking sometimes into a dull mumble and rising again into a shrill whine.


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[Assistant] It was locked, but the key had been left on the outside.


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[Assistant] Holmes flung open the door and rushed in, but he was out again in an instant with his hand to his throat.


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[Assistant] It's charcoal, he cried. Give it time, it'll clear.


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[Assistant] Peering in, we could see that the only light in the room came from a dull blue flame which flickered from a small brass tripod in the centre.


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[Assistant] It threw a livid unnatural circle upon the floor.


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[Assistant] While in the shadows beyond we saw the vague loom of two figures which crouched against a wall.


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[Assistant] From the open door there reeked a horrible poisonous exhalation, which set us gasping and coughing.


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[Assistant] Holmes rushed to the top of the stairs to draw in the fresh air, and then, dashing into the room, he threw up the window and hurled the brazen tripod out into the garden.


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[Assistant] We can enter in a minute, he gasped, darting out again. Where is a candle?


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[Assistant] I doubt if we could strike a match in that atmosphere. Hold the light at the door, and we shall get them out, Mycroft, now.


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[Assistant] With a rush we got to the poisoned men and dragged them out into the well-lit hall. Both of them were blue-lipped and insensible, with swollen, congested faces and protruding eyes.


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[Assistant] Indeed, so distorted were their features, that save for his black beard and stout figure, we might have failed to recognise in one of them the Greek interpreter who had parted from us only a few hours before at the Diogenes club.


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[Assistant] His hands and feet were securely strapped together, and he bore over one eye the marks of a violent blow.


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[Assistant] The other, who was secured in a similar fashion, was a tall man in the last stage of emaciation, with several strips of sticking-plaster arranged in a grotesque pattern over his face. He had ceased to moan as we laid him down, and a glance showed me that for him at least our aid had come too late.


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[Assistant] Mr. Malus, however, still lived, and in less than an hour, with the aid of Ammonia and Brandy, I had the satisfaction of seeing him open his eyes, and of knowing that my hand had drawn him back from that dark valley in which all paths meet.


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[Assistant] It was a simple story which we had to tell, and one which did not but confirm our own deductions. His visitor, on entering his rooms, had drawn a life preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him for the second time.


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[Assistant] Indeed, it was almost mesmeric, the effect which this giggling ruffian had produced upon the unfortunate linguist, for he could not speak of him save with trembling hands and a blanched cheek.


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[Assistant] He had been taken swiftly to Beckenham, and had acted as interpreter in a second interview, even more dramatic than the first, in which the two Englishmen had menaced their prisoner with instant death if he did not comply with their demands.


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[Assistant] Finally, finding him proof against every threat, they had hurled him back into his prison, and after reproaching Melas with his treachery, which appeared from the newspaper advertisement, they had stunned him with a blow from a stick, and he remembered nothing more until he found us bending over him.


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[Assistant] And this was a singular case of the Grecian interpreter.


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[Assistant] the explanation of which is still involved in some mystery


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[Assistant] We were able to find out by communicating with the gentleman who had answered the advertisement that the unfortunate young lady came of a wealthy Grecian family, and that she had been on a visit to some friends in England.


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[Assistant] While there, she had met a young man named Harold Latimer, who had acquired an ascendancy over her and had eventually persuaded her to fly with him.


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[Assistant] Her friends, shocked at the event, had contented themselves with informing her brother at Athens, and had then washed their hands of the matter.


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[Assistant] The brother on his arrival in England had imprudently placed himself in the power of Latimer and of his associate, whose name was Wilson Kemp.


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[Assistant] A man of the foulest antecedents. These two, finding that through his ignorance of the language he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and had endeavoured by cruelty and starvation to make him sign away his own and his sister's property.


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[Assistant] They had kept him in the house without the girl's knowledge, and the plaster over the face had been for the purpose of making recognition difficult in case she should ever catch a glimpse of him.


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[Assistant] Her feminine perception, however, had instantly seen through the disguise when, on the occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen him for the first time.


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[Assistant] The poor girl, however, was herself a prisoner.


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[Assistant] For there was no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman and his wife, both of whom were tools of the conspirators.


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[Assistant] Finding that their secret was out, and that their prisoner was not to be coerced, the two villains, with the girl, had fled away at a few hours' notice from the furnished house which they had hired, having first, as they thought, taken vengeance upon both the man who had defied and the one who had betrayed them.


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[Assistant] Months afterwards a curious newspaper cutting reached us from Budapest.


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[Assistant] It told how two Englishmen, who had been travelling with a woman, had met with a tragic end.


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[Assistant] They had each been stabbed, it seems, and the Hungarian police were of opinion that they had quarrelled and had inflicted mortal injuries upon each other.


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[Assistant] Holmes, however, is I fancy of a different way of thinking, and holds to this day that if one could find the Grecian girl, one might learn how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to be avenged.


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[Assistant] Here comes the mysterious Max, disguised as a pixie hipster.


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[Assistant] Well, Max? Put a real dent in that front bumper. Goodbye, cruel bumper.


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[Assistant] They were kidnapped by a man. They were kidnapped by me.


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[Assistant] It's nice of you to visit. I'm not here to visit.


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[Assistant] The true scriptures. You should be happy to do all this work.


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[Assistant] I think Master will win this contest.


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[Assistant] I wonder what's wrong. Maybe he has a headache.


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[Assistant] This isn't good. If the monk moves at all, he will lose the contest.


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[Assistant] I plan to eat you. Doesn't that sound terrible?


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[Assistant] Why is it so cold and, and here? Where did my blanket go?


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[Assistant] Ms. Caulfield, please, tell us everything. Hey, it's Thelma and Louise.


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[Assistant] Cried Lausa. Wukong ran out of Lausa's palace.


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[Assistant] Gods and spirits bled as Wukong smashed everything in his path. Lausa ran into the Cloud Palace.


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[Assistant] Flying as fast as he could, the messenger headed toward the western paradise.


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[Assistant] Said Buddha, he held out his hand.


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[Assistant] Wukong stepped up onto Buddha's palm. You're a fool!


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[Assistant] After a long time, he saw five enormous pillars. He landed in front of them.


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[Assistant] Near the bottom of Buddha's middle finger was the note. Sun Wukong was here. Wukong stomped his foot.


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[Assistant] His hand turned into a mountain, which he placed on top of the monkey.


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[Assistant] Buddha pulled a small sheet of magic paper from his sleeve. He laid the paper on top of the mountain. The mountain dropped back down. Buddha turned to the Jade Emperor.


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[Assistant] Journey to the West, Chapter 13, The True Scriptures.


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[Assistant] Five hundred years passed. Wukong stayed trapped under the mountain. A thick layer of moss covered the monkey.


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[Assistant] One day, Buddha sat in the thunderclap monastery in the western paradise. He was talking to his students.


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[Assistant] Why are you reading those old texts? Don't you know about the true scriptures?


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[Assistant] Ask the monk. No, said the woman.


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[Assistant] Someone cried. The emperor and everyone else in the room bowed. Guan Yin rose higher and then disappeared.


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[Assistant] He traveled for over a month when he came to a big mountain. Slowly his horse walked up a steep trail.


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[Assistant] Said the Tang Monk. He looked around uneasily.


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[Assistant] Chapter 14, a promise to protect.


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[Assistant] The Tang monk trembled with fear. The angry voice spoke again.


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[Assistant] at the bottom he saw a crack between the rocks the monk looked in


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[Assistant] The paper floated up and then disappeared among the clouds. The monk hurried back down the mountain.


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[Assistant] Said Wukong. The monk took another step back.


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[Assistant] Journey to the West, Chapter 15, Tea with a Dragon.


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[Assistant] Wukong approached the men. They all laughed.


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[Assistant] The Tang monk sighed, and then continued his journey.


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[Assistant] Cried the Tang Monk. He got down from his horse and bowed.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile, Wukong sat in the palace of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. He and the Dragon King were drinking tea.


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[Assistant] Wukong folded his arms and looked at the ground. The Dragon King continued.


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[Assistant] Journey to the West Chapter 16 Wukong Gets Tricked


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[Assistant] Chapter 17, The Dragon in the River.


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[Assistant] Ask the Tang monk. I have no horse. Wukong nodded.


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[Assistant] Ask the Tang Monk. Wukong thought for a moment.


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[Assistant] Journey to the West, Chapter 18. The Robe.


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[Assistant] From the sky, Guan Yin called. Dragon! Come out of the river at once! The Tang Monk is here!


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[Assistant] The dragon stopped talking when he saw Wukong next to Guan Yin.


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[Assistant] Said Wukong. Guanyin looked back at the dragon.


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[Assistant] You will carry the Tang Monk to the Western Paradise.


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[Assistant] A Tang monk fell to his knees and bowed. Wukong laughed.


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[Assistant] The Tang monk handed the robe to the priest. The priest admired it for a moment.


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[Assistant] Journey to the west, chapter 19, an evil plan.


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[Assistant] The head priest called for two other priests, who quickly ran into the room.


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[Assistant] Meditating on a rooftop, when he heard footsteps.


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[Assistant] Wukong glared at the two priests for a moment. Then he relaxed. Stand up, he said.


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[Assistant] Journey to the West Chapter 20 The Black Bear Spirit


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[Assistant] Wukong glared at the two scared priests. The robe is gone? He cried. Where did it go?


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[Assistant] And put the iron bar back in his ear. The Tang monk looked at the two priests.


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[Assistant] Wukong leaped into the air and landed up in the mountains.


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[Assistant] He cried. He pulled out his iron bar.


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[Assistant] Wukong chased the bear until they reached a cave entrance. The bear ran inside and slammed the door shut.


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[Assistant] I don't think your hiding log is smaller and the stepping stones are closer and your spy hole has been moved down. I think you have grown bigger. See?


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[Assistant] Return the robe at once, said Kuan Yin.


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[Assistant] No, said the Black Wind King.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, you shouldn't be yelling at students or bullying-


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[Assistant] You're in the wrong time, Warren. But then, so am I.


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[Assistant] Hardcore. So we must use a computer to draw.


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[Assistant] Or a week, I did browse through all the titles, Drama Queen.


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[Assistant] No, I was impressed you had faster pussycat kill kill.


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[Assistant] Hopefully nothing after today. So, how do you know Nathan?


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[Assistant] Of course, it's one of the best photography programs in the country. And my favorite teacher, Mark Jefferson.


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[Assistant] I wanted to. I was just so tripped out over leaving Arcadia.


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[Assistant] Broken. Man, are you serial? Wow, haven't heard that one in a while. Not everything changes.


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[Assistant] Chloe was always taller than me. We made her dad keep track of her height.


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[Assistant] You've been resurrected, birdie. Fly, be free.


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[Assistant] Aww. Joyce has a little shrine to William. Her new husband may not be such a douche.


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[Assistant] You must be special. He doesn't tell everyone those formulas. What did he teach you?


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[Assistant] These peaches take thousands of years to become ripe. Anybody who takes a bite of one will live forever.


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[Assistant] I hope Nathan enjoys his last party. Chloe, we can go right to the cops. We have proof. Fuck the police. Rachel wanted us to find her. So we could get real justice. And revenge.


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[Assistant] The Prescotts have had this coming for a hundred years, and nobody is gonna get in my way. Especially with your help.


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[Assistant] We'll never get the true scriptures from Buddha if you steal.


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[Assistant] Travis and I want to have a baby. We want it so badly because we want to make something together.


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[Assistant] We are doing our first days of our Chromo photo shoots at Saturday Night Live.


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[Assistant] Oh my god. That's amazing. I know Kanye did this for me, but he also did this for my kids. I want to shield them from as much as I can. And if I had the power to, or if Kanye has the power to,


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[Assistant] Just footage of us at a restaurant, at a nightclub, nothing sexual, nothing weird. And so now I can take a deep breath and not worry about this right before SNL.


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[Assistant] Right before the bar, right before like everything.


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[Assistant] I keep on having to pee like a million times before the show starts. That's just like who I am.


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[Assistant] But the one thing I'm really proud of is that no one could ever call me a gold digger. Honestly, I'm not even sure how you become one. So I asked my mom's boyfriend, Corey.


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[Assistant] I'm honestly so surprised at how much fun I had because this just isn't me. Like this kind of stuff usually makes me nervous. But then I just did it.


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[Assistant] There's just so many people like everywhere and it's this rush and I'm just so excited that it's over and I didn't mess up one time and I just had fun.


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[Assistant] The fact that people that I respect are saying that it was good, that just makes me so happy.


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[Assistant] I want to make sure you got what he said. I was funny. Oh my god, like Chris Rock made my life, like I'm not funny. So the fact that he gave me this crazy compliment, I think he's like one of the all time funniest people on the planet. So I'm just like dying inside.


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[Assistant] I'm so thankful for Amy giving me the best advice ever. She's just such a girl's girl that like wanted to cheer me on and wanted me to win and when you have friends like that in your corner that just want you to win, it makes it so amazing when you do a good job and they're proud of you.


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[Assistant] We should have thought this out a little bit better and planned to like not be in our cars and just be a little bit more discreet. Someone's gonna see someone. Kendall and Kylie are gonna get there at the same exact time as Courtney and Travis are gonna get there and that cannot happen.


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[Assistant] All we need is one good egg, and now it's just in God's hands.


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[Assistant] They were upset. They didn't understand why they weren't there. Hopefully they're invited to the wedding.


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[Assistant] The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of being associated with Sherlock Holmes and of studying his methods.


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[Assistant] I find them recorded in my notes under the headings of The Adventure of the Second Stain, The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, and The Adventure of the Tired Captain.


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[Assistant] The first of these, however, deals with interest of such importance and implicates so many of the first families in the kingdom that for many years it will be impossible to make it public.


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[Assistant] No case, however, in which Holmes was engaged, has ever illustrated the value of his analytical methods so clearly, or has impressed those who were associated with him so deeply.


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[Assistant] I still retain an almost verbatim report of the interview in which he demonstrated the true facts of the case to Monsieur de Bugue of the Paris police, and Fritz von Waltbaum, the well-known specialist of Danzig, both of whom had wasted their energies upon what proved to be side-issues.


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[Assistant] The new century will have come however, before the story can be safely told.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile I pass on to the second on my list, which promised also at one time to be of national importance, and was marked by several incidents which give it a quite unique character.


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[Assistant] During my school days I had been intimately associated with a lad named Percy Phelps.


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[Assistant] Who was of much the same age as myself, though he was two 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 scholarship which sent him on to continue his triumphant career at Cambridge.


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[Assistant] He was, I remember, extremely well connected, and even when we were all little boys together we knew that his mother's brother was Lord Holthurst, the great Conservative politician.


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[Assistant] This gaudy relationship did him little good at school. On the contrary, it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket, but it was another thing when he came out into the world.


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[Assistant] I heard vaguely that his abilities and the influences which he commanded had won him a good position at the Foreign Office, and then he passed completely out of my mind until the following letter recalled his existence.


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[Assistant] My dear Watson, I have no doubt that you can remember Tadpole Phelps, who was in the fifth form when you were in the third.


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[Assistant] It is possible even that you may have heard that through my uncle's influence I obtained a good appointment at the Foreign Office, and that I was in a situation of trust and honour until a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast my career.


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[Assistant] There is no use writing of the details of that dreadful event. In the event of your exceeding to my request, it is probable that I shall have to narrate them to you.


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[Assistant] I have only just recovered from nine weeks of brain fever, and I'm still exceedingly weak.


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[Assistant] Do you think that you could bring your friend Mr. Holmes down to see me?


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[Assistant] I should like to have his opinion of the case, though the authorities assure me that nothing more can be done.


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[Assistant] do try to bring him down and as soon as possible


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[Assistant] Every minute seems an hour while I live in this state of horrible suspense.


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[Assistant] 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 my head ever since the blow fell.


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[Assistant] Now I am clear again, though I dare not think of it too much for fear of a relapse.


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[Assistant] I am still so weak that I have to write as you see by dictating. Do try to bring him. Your old school fellow, Percy Phelps. There was something that touched me as I read this letter.


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[Assistant] Something pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring homes


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[Assistant] So moved was I that even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it. But of course I knew well that Holmes loved his art, so that he was ever as ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it.


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[Assistant] My wife agreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the matter before him, and so within an hour of breakfast time I found myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street.


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[Assistant] Holmes was seated at his side table, clad in his dressing gown, and working hard over a chemical investigation.


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[Assistant] A large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two litre measure.


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[Assistant] My friend hardly glanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation must be of importance, seated myself in an armchair and waited.


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[Assistant] 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.


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[Assistant] 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 crimson.


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[Assistant] Hmm, I thought as much," he cried. I will be at your service in an instant, Watson. You will find tobacco in the Persian slipper.


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[Assistant] He turned to his desk and scribbled off several telegrams, which were handed over to the page-boy.


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[Assistant] Then he threw himself down into the chair opposite and drew up his knees until his fingers clasped round his long thin shins. A very commonplace little murder, said he.


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[Assistant] You've got something better, I fancy. You are the stormy petrol of crime, Watson. What is it?


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[Assistant] I handed him the letter which he read with the most concentrated attention.


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[Assistant] You see, at the commencement of an investigation it is something to know that your client is in close contact with someone who, for good or evil, has an exceptional nature. My interest is already awakened in the case. If you are ready, we will start at once for woking.


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[Assistant] We were fortunate enough to catch an early train at Waterloo, and in a little under an hour we found ourselves among the fir woods and the heather of Woking.


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[Assistant] Briarbray proved to be a large, detached house standing in extensive grounds within a few minutes walk of the station.


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[Assistant] On sending in our cards we were shown into an elegantly appointed drawing-room, where we were joined in a few minutes by a rather stout man who received us with much hospitality.


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[Assistant] His age may have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the impression of a plump and mischievous boy.


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[Assistant] I am so glad that you have come," said he, shaking our hands with effusion. Percy has been inquiring for you all morning.


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[Assistant] Ah, poor old chap! He clings to any straw. His father and his mother ask me to see you, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful to them.


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[Assistant] We have no details yet, observed Holmes. I perceive that you are not yourself a member of the family.


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[Assistant] Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began to laugh. Of course you saw the J. H. monogram on my locket, said he. For a moment I thought you had done something clever.


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[Assistant] Joseph Harrison is my name, and as Percy is to marry my sister Annie, I shall at least be a relation by marriage. You will find my sister in his room, for she has nursed him hand and foot this two months back. Perhaps we'd better go in at once, for I know how impatient he is.


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[Assistant] The chamber in which we were shown was on the same floor as the drawing room.


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[Assistant] It was furnished partly as a sitting and partly as a bedroom.


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[Assistant] With flowers arranged daintily in every nook and corner.


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[Assistant] A young man, very pale and worn, was lying upon a sofa near the open window, through which came the rich scent of the garden and the balmy summer air.


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[Assistant] A woman was sitting 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.


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[Assistant] I should never have known you under that moustache, and I dare say you would not be prepared to swear to me.


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[Assistant] This, I presume, is your celebrated friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes.


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[Assistant] I introduced him in a few words and we both sat down.


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[Assistant] The stout young man had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in that of the invalid.


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[Assistant] She was a striking-looking woman, a little short and thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large, dark Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair.


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[Assistant] Her rich tints made the white face of her companion the more worn and haggard by the contrast.


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[Assistant] I won't waste your time," said he, raising himself upon the sofa.


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[Assistant] I'll plunge into the matter without further preamble.


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[Assistant] I was a happy and successful man, Mr. Holmes, and on the eve of being married, when a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life,


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[Assistant] I was, as Watson may have told you, in the Foreign Office, and through the influences of my uncle, Lord Holthurst, I rose rapidly to a responsible position.


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[Assistant] When my uncle became Foreign Minister in this administration, he gave me several missions of trust.


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[Assistant] And as I always brought them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to have the utmost confidence in my ability and tact.


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[Assistant] Nearly ten weeks ago, to be more accurate, on the 23rd of May, he called me into his private room.


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[Assistant] And after complimenting me on the good work which I had done,


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[Assistant] He informed me that he had a new commission of trust for me to execute.


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[Assistant] This, said he, taking a grey roll of paper from his bureau,


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[Assistant] Is the original of that secret treaty between England and Italy, of which I regret to say some rumours have already got into the public press. It is of enormous importance that nothing further should leak out.


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[Assistant] The French or the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to learn the contents of these papers.


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[Assistant] I 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.


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[Assistant] Then take the treaty and lock it up there. I shall give directions that you may remain behind when the others go, so that you may copy it at your leisure, without fear of being overlooked.


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[Assistant] When you have finished, re-lock both the original and the draft in the desk.


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[Assistant] I did exactly what he indicated and waited until the other clerks had departed.


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[Assistant] One of them in my room, Charles Gorrow, had some areas of work to make up, so I left him there and went out to dine. When I returned he was gone.


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[Assistant] I was anxious to hurry my work, for I knew that Joseph, the Mr. Harrison whom you saw just now, was 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 re-examine the treaty


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[Assistant] I saw at once that it was of such importance that my uncle had been guilty of no exaggeration in what he had said.


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[Assistant] Without going into details, I may say that it defined the position of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and foreshadowed the policy which this country would pursue in the event of a French fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy in the Mediterranean. The questions treated in it were purely naval.


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[Assistant] At the end were the signatures of the high dignitaries who had signed it.


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[Assistant] I glanced my eyes over it, and then settled down to make my task of copying.


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[Assistant] It was a long document, written in the French language and containing twenty-six separate articles. I copied as quickly as I could.


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[Assistant] But at nine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it seemed hopeless for me to attempt to catch my train.


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[Assistant] A commissioner remains all night in a little lodge at the foot of the stairs, and is in the habit of making coffee at his spirit lamp for any of the officials who may be working overtime. I rang the bell, therefore, to summon him.


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[Assistant] To my surprise, it was a woman who answered the summons, a large, coarse-faced elderly woman in an apron.


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[Assistant] She explained that she was the commissioner's wife who did the charring, and I gave her the order for the coffee.


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[Assistant] I wrote two more articles, and then, feeling more drowsy than ever, I rose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs. My coffee had not yet come.


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[Assistant] And I wondered what the cause of the delay could be.


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[Assistant] Opening the door, I started down the corridor to find out.


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[Assistant] There was a straight passage, dimly lighted, which led from the room in which I had been working, and was the only exit from it.


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[Assistant] It ended in a curving staircase with the commissioners lodge in the passage at the bottom.


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[Assistant] Halfway down the staircase is a small landing with another passage running into it at right angles.


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[Assistant] This second one leads by means of a second small stair to a side door used by servants and also as a short cut by clerks when coming from Charles Street. Here is a rough chart of the place.


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[Assistant] Thank you, I think that I quite follow you, said Sherlock Holmes.


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[Assistant] It is of the utmost importance that you should notice this point.


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[Assistant] I went down the stairs and into the hall, where I found the commissioner, fast asleep in his box, with the kettle boiling furiously upon the spirit lamp.


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[Assistant] I took off the kettle and blew out the lamp, for the water was spurting over the floor.


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[Assistant] Then I put out my hand and was about to shake the man who was still sleeping soundly when a bell over his head rang loudly and he woke with a start.


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[Assistant] Mr. Felp, sir," said he, looking at me in bewilderment. I came down to see if my coffee was ready. I was boiling the kettle when I fell asleep, sir.


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[Assistant] He looked at me, and then up at the still quivering bell with an ever-growing astonishment upon his face. If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell? he asked. The bell, I cried. What bell is it? It's the bell of the room you were working in. A cold hand seemed to close round my heart.


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[Assistant] Someone, then, was in that room where my precious treaty lay upon the table.


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[Assistant] I ran frantically up the stair and along the passage.


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[Assistant] There was no one in the corridors, Mr. Holmes. There was no one in the room. All was exactly as I left it.


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[Assistant] Save only that the papers which had been committed to my care had been taken from the desk on which they lay. The copy was there, and the original was gone. Holmes sat up in his chair and rubbed his hands. I could see that the problem was entirely to his heart.


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[Assistant] I recognised in an instant that the thief must have come up the stairs from the side door.


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[Assistant] Of course. I must have met him if he had come the other way.


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[Assistant] You were satisfied that he could not have been concealed in the room all the time, or in the corridor which you have just described as dimly lighted?


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[Assistant] It is absolutely impossible. A rat could not concede himself either in the room or the corridor. There is no cover at all. Thank you. Pray, proceed.


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[Assistant] The commissioner, seeing by my pale face that something was to be feared, had followed me upstairs.


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[Assistant] Now we both rushed along the corridor and down the steep steps which led to Charles Street. The door at the bottom was closed, but unlocked. We flung it open and rushed out.


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[Assistant] I can distinctly remember that as we did so there came three chimes from a neighboring clock. It was quarter to ten.


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[Assistant] That is of enormous importance," said Holmes, making a note upon his shirt-cuff.


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[Assistant] The night was very dark, and a thin warm rain was falling.


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[Assistant] There was no one in Charles Street, but a great traffic was going on, as usual in Whitehall at the extremity.


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[Assistant] We rushed along the pavement, bareheaded as we were, and at the far corner we found a policeman standing.


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[Assistant] A robbery has been committed! I gasped. A document of immense value has been stolen from the Foreign Office. Has anyone passed this way?


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[Assistant] I've been standing here for a quarter of an hour, sir," said he.


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[Assistant] Only one person has passed during that time. A woman. Tall and elderly with a paisley shawl.


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[Assistant] Oh, that is only my wife," cried the Commissioner. As no one else passed, no one.


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[Assistant] Then it must be the other way that the thief took, cried the fellow, tugging at my sleeve.


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[Assistant] 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? Well, not very many minutes. Within the last five? Well, it could not be more than five.


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[Assistant] You're only wasting your time, sir, and every minute now is of importance," cried the commissioner.


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[Assistant] Take my word for it, that my old woman has nothing to do with it, and come down to the other end of the street. Well, if you won't, I will." And with that he rushed off in the other direction.


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[Assistant] Sixteen ivy-lying Brixton, he answered, but don't let yourself be drawn away upon a false scent, Mr. Phelps. Come to the other end of the street, and let us see if we can hear of anything. Nothing was to be lost by following his advice, with the policeman we both hurried down.


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[Assistant] 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 no lounger who could tell us who had passed.


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[Assistant] Then we return to the office and search the stairs and the passage without result.


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[Assistant] The corridor which led to the room was laid down with a kind of creamy linoleum, which shows an impression very easily.


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[Assistant] We examined it very carefully, but found no outline of any footmark. Had it been raining all evening? Since about seven.


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[Assistant] How is it then that the woman who came into the room about nine left no traces with her muddy boots?


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[Assistant] I'm glad you raised that point. It occurred to me at the time.


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[Assistant] The char women are in the habit of taking off their boots at the commissioner's office and putting on list slippers.


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[Assistant] That is very clear. There were no marks then, though the night was a wet one.


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[Assistant] The carpet prevents any possibility of a trap door, and the ceiling is of the ordinary whitewashed kind.


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[Assistant] There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the wire just to the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have come right up to the desk to do it. But why should any criminal wish to ring the bell? It is a most insoluble mystery." Certainly the incident was unusual.


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[Assistant] What were your next steps? You examined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had left any traces—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.


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[Assistant] Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to us in such an investigation.


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[Assistant] I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed if there had been any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of any kind.


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[Assistant] The only tangible fact was that the commissioner's wife, Mrs Tanguy was the name, had hurried out of the place.


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[Assistant] He could give no explanation, say that it was about the time when the woman always went home.


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[Assistant] The policeman and I agreed that our best plan would be to seize the woman before she could get rid of the papers, presuming that she had them.


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[Assistant] 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.


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[Assistant] We hired a handsome, and in half an hour we were at the address which had been given to us.


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[Assistant] A young woman opened the door, who proved to be Mrs. Tangy's eldest daughter. Her mother had not come back yet, and we were shown into the front room to wait.


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[Assistant] About ten minutes later a knock came at the door.


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[Assistant] And here we made the one serious mistake for which I blame myself.


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[Assistant] Mother, there are two men in the house waiting to see you.


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[Assistant] And an instant afterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down the passage.


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[Assistant] Forbes flung open the door, and we both ran into the back room or kitchen.


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[Assistant] 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.


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[Assistant] That's not quite good enough," answered Forbes.


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[Assistant] We have reason to believe that you have taken a paper of importance from the Foreign Office, and that you ran in here to dispose of it. He must come back with us to Scotland Yard to be searched." It was in vain that she protested and resisted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A four wheeler was brought, and we all three drove back in it.


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[Assistant] We had first made an examination of the kitchen, and especially of the kitchen fire, to see whether she might have made away with the papers during the instant that she was alone.


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[Assistant] There were no signs however of any ashes or scraps.


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[Assistant] When we reached Scotland Yard she was handed over at once to the female searcher.


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[Assistant] I waited in agony of suspense until she came back with her report. There were no signs of the papers.


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[Assistant] Then for the first time the horror of my situation came in its full force.


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[Assistant] Hitherto I had been acting and action had numb thought.


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[Assistant] I had been so confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had not dared to think of what would be the consequence if I failed to do so. But now there was nothing more to be done, and I had leisure to realize my position. It was horrible.


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[Assistant] Watson there would tell you that I was a nervous, sensitive boy at school. It is my nature.


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[Assistant] I thought of my uncle and of his colleagues in the cabinet.


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[Assistant] What though I was the victim of an extraordinary accident?


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[Assistant] No allowance is made for accidents where diplomatic interests are at stake. I was ruined, shamefully, hopelessly ruined. I don't know what I did. I fancy I must have made a scene.


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[Assistant] I have a dim recollection of a group of officials who crowded round me, endeavouring to soothe me.


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[Assistant] One of them drove down with me to Waterloo and saw me into the Woking Train.


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[Assistant] I believe that he would have come all the way had it not been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was going down by that ferry train. The doctor most kindly took charge of me


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[Assistant] 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.


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[Assistant] You can imagine the state of things here when they were roused from their beds by the doctor's rigging, and found me in this condition.


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[Assistant] Poor Annie here, and my mother were broken hearted.


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[Assistant] Dr. Ferrier had just heard enough from the detective at the station to be able to give an idea of what had happened, and his story did not mend matters.


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[Assistant] It was evident to all that I was in for a long illness. So Joseph was bundled out of this cheery bedroom, and it was turned into a sick room for me.


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[Assistant] Here I have lain, Mr. Holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious and raving with brain fever.


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[Assistant] If it had not been for Mrs. Harrison here, and for the doctor's care, I should not be speaking to you now.


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[Assistant] She has nursed me by day, and a hired nurse has looked after me by night, for in my mad fits I was capable of anything. Slowly my reason has cleared.


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[Assistant] But it is only during the last three days that my memory has quite returned. Sometimes I wish that it never had.


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[Assistant] The first thing that I did was to wire to Mr. Forbes, who had the case in hand.


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[Assistant] He came out and assures me that, though everything has been done, no trace of a clue has been discovered.


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[Assistant] The commissioner and his wife have been examined in every way without any light being thrown upon the matter.


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[Assistant] The suspicions of the police then rested upon young Goro.


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[Assistant] He's remaining behind, and his French name were really the only two points which could suggest suspicion.


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[Assistant] But as a matter of fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and his people are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you and I are. Nothing was found to implicate him in any way, and there the matter dropped.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I turn to you Mr. Holmes, as absolutely my last hope.


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[Assistant] If you fail me, then my honour, as well as my position, are forever forfeited.


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[Assistant] 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.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Home sat silently with his head thrown back and his eyes closed in an attitude which might seem listless to a stranger, but which I knew betokened the most intense self-absorption.


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[Assistant] Your statement has been so explicit, said he at last, that you have really left me very few questions to ask. There is one of the very utmost importance, however,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you tell anyone that you had this special task to perform? No one. Not Miss Harrison here, for example?


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[Assistant] No, I have not been back to working between getting the order and executing the commission.


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[Assistant] 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.


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[Assistant] Still, of course, if you said nothing to anyone about the treaty, these inquiries are irrelevant. I said nothing. Do you know anything of the Commissioner? Nothing except that he is an old soldier. What regiment? Oh, I have heard Coldstream Guards. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have no doubt I can get details from Forbes. The authorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not always use them to advantage. What a lovely thing


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[Assistant] He walked past the couch to the open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green.


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[Assistant] It was a new phase of his character to me for I'd never seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.


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[Assistant] There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters.


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[Assistant] It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner.


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[Assistant] Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things—our powers, our desires, our food—are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance.


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[Assistant] But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it.


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[Assistant] It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.


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[Assistant] Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their faces.


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[Assistant] He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss rose between his fingers.


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[Assistant] It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in upon it.


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[Assistant] Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes? she asked with a touch of asperity in her voice.


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[Assistant] Oh, the mystery, he answered, coming back with a start to the realities of life.


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[Assistant] Well, it would be absurd to deny that the case is a very abstruse and complicated one.


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[Assistant] Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison," said Holmes, rising. I think, Watson, we cannot do better.


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[Assistant] Do not allow yourself to indulge in false hopes, Mr. Phelps. The affair is a very tangled one.


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[Assistant] I shall be in a fever until I see you again," cried the diplomatist.


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[Assistant] Well, I'll come out by the same train tomorrow, though it's more than likely that my report will be a negative one.


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[Assistant] God bless you for promising to come, cried our client.


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[Assistant] It gives me fresh life to know that something is being done.


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[Assistant] I dare say my severe illness prevented him from being that.


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[Assistant] He repeated that the matter was of the utmost importance, and added that no steps would be taken about my future, by which he means, of course, my dismissal, until my health was restored and I had an opportunity of repairing my misfortune.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said Holmes. Come, Watson, for we have a good day's work before us in town.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train. Holmes was sunk in profound thought, and hardly opened his mouth until we had passed Clapham Junction.


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[Assistant] It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any of these lines which run high and allow you to look down upon the houses like this.


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[Assistant] I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon explained himself.


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[Assistant] Look at those big isolated clumps of building rising up above the slates, like brick islands in a lead-coloured sea. The board-schools!


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[Assistant] Lighthouses, my boy, beacons of the future, capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise, better England of the future. I suppose that man Phelps does not drink? I should not think so.


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[Assistant] Nor should I, but we are bound to take every possibility into account.


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[Assistant] The poor devil has certainly got himself into very deep water, and it's a question whether we shall ever be able to get him ashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison? A girl of strong character.


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[Assistant] Yes, but she is a good sort, or I mistaken. She and her brother are the only children of an ironmaster somewhere up north Thumberland way. He got engaged to her when travelling last winter, and she came down to be introduced to his people with her brother as escort.


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[Assistant] Then came the smash, and she stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother Joseph, finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too.


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[Assistant] I've been making a few independent inquiries, you see, but today must be a day of inquiries. My practice, I began.


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[Assistant] Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine," said Holmes with some asperity.


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[Assistant] 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.


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[Assistant] Excellent, said he, recovering his good humour.


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[Assistant] Then we'll look into this matter together. I think we should begin by seeing Forbes.


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[Assistant] He can probably tell us all the details we want until we know from what side the case is to be approached.


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[Assistant] Well, we have several, but we can only test their value by further inquiry.


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[Assistant] The most difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless. Now this is not purposeless. Who is it who profits by it?


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[Assistant] There is the French ambassador, there is the Russian, there is whoever might sell it to either of these, and there is Lord Holthurst. Lord Holthurst?


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[Assistant] Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himself in a position where he was not sorry to have such a document accidentally destroyed.


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[Assistant] Not a statesman with the honorable record of Lord Holthurst.


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[Assistant] It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard it.


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[Assistant] We shall see the noble lord today, and find out if he can tell us anything.


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[Assistant] Yes, I sent wires from Woking Station to every evening paper in London. This advertisement will appear in each of them. He handed over a sheet torn from a notebook. On it was scribbled in pencil,