The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 168 The Last Greeting (11)
"It never occurred to me," said my friend, as we got into the carriage, "that I wondered, did the unfortunate old man die of natural causes, or did he commit suicide? If so, did he feel guilty for his negligence?" We'll discuss that later. Now let's go to Cadogan West's."

The victim's mother lived in an exquisite house in the suburbs.The old lady was somewhat delirious with grief, which did not help our investigation.But beside her was a fair-skinned young lady who claimed to be the deceased's fiancée, Miss Violet Westbury, who was the last person to see the deceased that night.

"It is difficult for me to comprehend the events of that evening, Mr. Holmes," said she. "I have not closed my eyes since the tragedy, and I have spent days and nights wondering what it was all about. Arthur was the greatest man in the world." Simple, righteous, and patriotic. If he were to sell the state secrets entrusted to him, he would rather cut off his right hand. Everyone who knows him thinks this is absurd, impossible, and abnormal .”

"But what are the facts, Miss Westbury?"

"Yes, I admit I can't explain it."

"Is he short of money?"

"No, his needs are simple, his salary is high, and he has several hundred pounds in savings. We plan to get married in the new year."

"Have you noticed any signs of mental agitation in him? Oh, Miss Westbury, tell us all about it."

My companion's keen eyes detected the strangeness in her face.Her face changed, and she hesitated for a moment.

"Yes," she said at last, "I sense something is on his mind."

"When did you find out?"

"It was around this week. He was preoccupied and restless. Once I pressed him, he admitted that he had something on his mind, and it was work-related. 'It's serious, I can't say it, not even to you.' He Said. I didn't ask anything else."

Holmes' face suddenly darkened.

"Go on, Miss Westbury. Even if what you say next may be against him, please go on. We don't know which way things will go."

"As a matter of fact, I have nothing else to say. Once or twice, he seemed to want to tell me something. One night, he repeated the importance of this matter. I remember him saying that foreign spies must pay a high price. .”

My friend's face darkened even more.

"Anything else?"

"He said that our management is very lax, and traitors can easily get the blueprints."

"Is this what he said recently?"

"Yes, recently."

"Now tell me about the night you last saw him."

"We're going to the theatre. The fog was too thick for a carriage. We walked, and when we came near the office he disappeared suddenly in the fog."

"Didn't he say anything then?"

"He yelled, that's all. I waited for him, but didn't get him. Then I went home. The next morning, after the office opened, they came to ask. I heard the bad news around twelve o'clock. Ah, Mr. Holmes, if only you could restore his reputation! It means a lot to him."

Holmes shook his head gravely.

"Come on, Watson," said he, "and look elsewhere. We shall next go to the office from which the plans were stolen."

"The previous situation was already very unfavorable to this young man, and the situation we have investigated now is even more unfavorable to him." When the carriage started, he said, "The upcoming marriage has made him have evil thoughts. He must need money After he had this idea, he told her his plan and almost made her an accomplice in treason, which is just too bad."

"But, Holmes, his fiancée says he is faithful to his country. And why should he leave her fiancée alone in the street to commit the crime?"

"That's true! It's a bit far-fetched to say that, but the situation they encountered was difficult to deal with."

We were received in the office by Mr. Sidney Johnson, Senior Clerk.Seeing my companion's business card, he was very respectful.The middle-aged man in front of him was thin, with spots on his face, and looked a little haggard.His hands were twitching incessantly from tension.

"The situation is very bad, Mr. Holmes, it is really very bad! The director is dead, have you heard?"

"We just left from his house."

"It's a mess here. The superintendent is dead, Cadogan West is dead, blueprints have been stolen. And yet, when we closed on Monday night, our office was as efficient as any office in the government department. Old God! It's terrible. Who would have thought that West would do such a thing!"

"So you're sure he's guilty?"

"I don't think there's any other way to clear him. I trust him as much as I trust myself."

"What time does the office close on Monday?"

"Five o'clock."

"You closed the door?"

"I'm usually the last to leave."

"Where are the blueprints?"

"In the safe, I put it myself."

"Is this house guarded?"

"Yes. But he also guards several other departments. The man is a loyal old soldier. It was very foggy that night, and he didn't find anything."

"Maybe Cadogan West is trying to sneak in after get off work. To get the blueprints, he has to get three keys, right?"

"Yes, three are needed. One is for the outhouse, one is for the office, and one is for the safe."

"Do you and Sir James Walter alone have the key?"

"I only have the key to the safe, but I don't have the key to the door."

"Is Sir James an orderly man?"

"Yes, I think so. As far as I know, he has all three keys on the same ring. I often see keys on rings."

"Did he take the ring to London?"

"He said so."

"Did your keys never leave you?"

"No."

"If West stole the blueprint, he should have a counterfeit key, but we didn't find it on him. Moreover, if there is an employee in this office who wants to secretly sell the blueprint, then, compared to Wouldn't it be easier to copy the blueprint after taking the blueprint away?"

"Accurate reproduction of blueprints requires considerable technical knowledge."

"However, I suppose whether it's you or Sir James or West, you all have this kind of technical knowledge?"

"Of course, we all know this technical knowledge. But, Mr. Holmes, please don't involve me in this matter. In fact, the original blueprint has been found on West, so what is the use of our wild guesses?" "

"Well, he can copy the blueprint, so that he can still achieve his goal, and it is much safer, but he wants to take the risk of stealing the blueprint, which is really incomprehensible."

"It's incomprehensible, but there's no question that he did."

"Every step of the investigation, the case is always somewhat difficult to explain. Now, according to what I know, there are three most important blueprints that have not been found."

"Yes, that's right."

"Is it possible to build a Bruce-Partington submarine as long as you master these three blueprints, even if you don't need the other seven blueprints? Can I understand what you mean?"

"I've reported this to the Admiralty. But I went through the drawings again today. I'm not sure if that's the case. They haven't taken the pattern of the double-valve self-adjusting holes. They can't make such a boat. , unless they invent it. Of course, they have a good chance of cracking the puzzle quickly."

"Are the three design drawings that were taken away the most important?"

"of course."

"I can't remember any of the questions I wanted to ask. I want to take a walk in this room, if you allow me."

He checked the lock of the safe, the door, and finally the iron shutters on the windows.When we got to the grass outside the house, he became very interested in the grass.On a cluster of laurel trees outside the window, several branches seemed to have been climbed and broken.He examined the branches with a magnifying glass, and then a few faint marks on the ground beneath the tree.Finally, he asked Mr. Johnson to close the iron shutters.He pointed to the window and asked me to see that the blinds were not closed tightly in the middle, and the indoor situation could be seen clearly from the window.

"After three days' delay, the traces have been destroyed. They may or may not indicate anything. Well, Watson, I think Woolwich can do us only so much. We Not much to gain, see if we can do better in London."

Before leaving Woolwich station, however, we had something to gain.The conductor said with absolute certainty that he had seen Cadogan West, that he remembered him, and that he had been bound for London on the eight-fifteen to London Bridge on Monday night.He was alone and bought a third-class one-way ticket.His flustered look made the conductor feel very strange.His hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't hold the change that was given to him, but the conductor took it for him.Calculated from the time, after West left his fiancée at around 07:30 in the evening, the [-]:[-] train was the earliest train he could take.

"Let us recall, Watson," said Holmes, after a half-hour's silence, "that I cannot recall a more difficult case in our joint investigation. Every step forward brings new obstacles. Still, we've clearly made welcome progress.

"Most of the circumstances we investigated in Woolwich were against young Cadogan West. But the traces under the window provided us with a more favorable hypothesis. For example, we assumed that he had a relationship with some foreign country. The spy contacted. There may have been an agreement on the matter that he was not allowed to speak out, but what he said to his fiancée showed that his mind was still shaken. Well, let's say, when he and his fiancée went to the theater , he suddenly found the spy walking in the direction of the office in the fog. He was impatient and immediately made a decision. In order to fulfill his responsibility, he ignored everything. He followed the spy to the office window and saw someone stealing the design drawing, and immediately stepped forward to stop it. In this way, it can explain why the blueprint was stolen when the blueprint could be copied. This outsider stole the blueprint, so far, everything is still Works."

"what's next?"

"Now we have a problem. In this case, it stands to reason that young Cadogan West should have reported the police while going to catch the thief. But why didn't he do that? Would the thief Is it a superior official? That would explain West's actions. Could it be that West lost the supervisor in the thick fog, so West immediately went to London and rushed to the place where the supervisor lived Stop him. Assuming that West knows the address of this executive, the situation must be urgent, so he didn't say a word, leaving his fiancée alone in the fog. The thread is broken here. The hypothetical situation and There is still a lot of distance between West's body on top of a subway train with seven blueprints in his pocket. Now my gut tells me to start on the other side of things. If Mike Ro Foote gave us the list, so together we might be able to find a clue."

Sure enough, there was an urgent letter from a government correspondent in Baker Street.Holmes glanced at it, then handed it to me.

There are many unknown people, but there are not many people who can do this kind of case.Only Adolph Meyer, of Westminster, 13 George Street; Louise LaRose, of Notting Hill, Camptown House; Hugo Oberstein, of 13 Caulfield Gardens, Kensington.The latter is said to have been in town on Monday and has since departed.I'm glad you've found a lead, and the Cabinet is anxious to receive your final report.The urgent inquiry from the highest authority has arrived.Police across the country will support you if needed.

Mycroft

"I am afraid," said Holmes, smiling, "that the whole Queen's army is of no help." He spread out a large map of London, and stooped to search it eagerly. "Well, well," he exclaimed in a moment, joyfully, "things are at last tilted in our favor. Oh, Watson, I am sure we shall succeed in the end." He suddenly cheered up, and clapped Pat me on the shoulder. "I'm going out now, but just to scout. I'm not going to venture without my faithful companion and biographer. You stay here. We'll be here in an hour or two." Then we can meet again. If there is a delay, you can take paper and pen and record how we saved the country."

His happy mood infected me, because I knew that his mood would not change so much under normal circumstances, unless there was really a reason for him to be happy.I had been waiting, desperately, for his return through the long evening of November.At last, just after nine o'clock in the evening, the messenger delivered a letter:

I dined at the Goldoni Hotel, Gloucester Road, Kensington.Come quickly, and bring your shovel, lantern, chisel, pistol, etc.

SH
Carrying these things through dimly lit, fog-shrouded streets feels truly wondrous for a decent citizen.I carefully wrapped myself in my coat, walked through the streets, and drove to the appointed place.My friend is sitting at a small round table in this luxurious Italian restaurant.

"Have you eaten yet? Have coffee and citrus wine with me and smoke a restaurateur's cigar. It's not as poisonous as people think. Bring tools?"

"Here, under my coat."

"Very well. I will tell you briefly what I have done and what we are about to do. It must be clear to you by now, Watson, that the young man's body was placed on the roof of the car. At the point when I was sure someone threw the body from the roof of the car and not the young man from the car, it was clear."

"Is it possible that it fell off the bridge?"

"I don't think it is possible. If you look at the roof of the car, you will find that the roof is slightly protruding and there is no fence around it. Therefore, it can be inferred that someone put Cadogan West's body on the roof."

"How was the body put there?"

"That's the question we're trying to answer. There's only one possibility. The subway doesn't have tunnels in certain parts of the West End, you know that. I vaguely remember riding the subway once with the outside window just above my head. Suppose There should be no difficulty in putting a person on the roof of a train under such a window."

"It shouldn't be possible."

"We can only choose to believe the old adage that when all else has been ruled out, what remains must be true, no matter how improbable. Now that all else has been ruled out, I Pleased to find that the leading international spy who has just left London is living in a house near the Tube, and you are a little surprised by what I say?"

"Ah, is that so?"

"That's right, that's right. My target was Mr. Hugo Oberstein, who lived at 13 Caulfield Gardens. I started my investigations at Gloucester Road Station. One of the civil servants on the station gave me a lot of advice Great help. I walked along the tracks with him, and found out that the windows of the back building of Caulfield Gardens opened towards the railway, and what's more, there is a junction of one of the main lines, and the tube trains often go to There are a few minutes of stops at that location."

"You are wonderful, Holmes! You have done the right thing!"

"Watson, I can only say that so far, we are one step closer to our goal, but we are still a long way from the end. I have checked the front and back of Caulfield Gardens, and the fellow has run away. It was a large house with little decorations in it, and as far as I can tell he lived in the room above. Only one entourage named Oberstein lived with him, and this person may be his confidant We must remember that Oberstein did not run away but went to the Continent to hand over the stolen goods, since no one would search his home as an amateur worker, so he didn't have to worry about being caught arrest. But that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

"Can't we just ask for a subpoena and follow the formalities?"

"Based on the evidence we have now, not yet."

"What else are we going to do?"

"There should be some letters in his room, I want to have a look."

"I don't like it, Holmes."

"My man, you're out in the street. I'll do the illegal thing. Now's not the time to think about such petty matters. Mycroft, the Admiralty, the Cabinet, and all those dignified people who are waiting for news, think of them, We have to go."

In response, I stood up.

"You are right, Holmes. We must go."

He also stood up and took my hand.

"I knew you wouldn't back down," he said.At this moment, I saw a gentle look in his eyes.After a while, he returned to his usual serious and steady look.

"Don't worry, there is nearly half a mile to go, let's walk." He said, "Don't let the tool fall out, and you will be arrested as a suspect, and it will be troublesome."

This row of houses in Caulfield Gardens in London's West End is mid-Victorian with its flat columns and porches.The children next door were having a party, and in the twilight came the joyful cheers of the children and the sound of the piano.A dense fog surrounded us.Holmes lighted his lantern, and the light fell on the massive door.

"It's a very serious business," he said. "The door is locked and bolted. It's relatively easy to get to the basement clearing. There's an archway at the end to keep out any eager policemen." Come. Let's help each other out."

(End of this chapter)