Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 87 Memoirs (21)
We walked across the lawn to Phelps' window.As he said, there were indeed footprints in the flowerbed, but they were too blurred to make out.Holmes stooped for a moment, then rose with a shrug.

He said: "I can't see anything useful from these traces. Look elsewhere and see why the thieves chose your room. I think the living room and dining room have large windows, which is supposed to be more attractive. "

"But those windows have a good view from the road," Joseph said.

"True. But there's a door here, and he can get in and out of it perfectly. What's the door for?"

"It is for traders to enter and exit, but it is locked at night."

"Have you ever encountered such a thing before?"

Our client said, "No."

"Is there anything valuable in your room that would attract thieves?"

"Nothing precious."

With his hands in his pockets, Holmes walked up and down the room with an air of carelessness which he had never known before.

"By the way," Holmes said to Joseph, "just now you said that someone escaped over the fence. Let us go and see that place."

Joseph led us there, and there was a piece of the railing with a broken tip, and a little piece of wood still hanging from it.Holmes folded it off and examined it carefully.

"It doesn't seem to be broken last night. Its traces look a little old. What do you think?"

"Oh, it's also possible."

"And there are no footprints here. I think it's just a waste of time here. Let's go back."

Percy walked slowly, supported by his fiancée's brother.Holmes quickly crossed the lawn to the bedroom window, leaving them far behind.

"Miss Harrison," said Holmes gravely, "it is very important that you stay here all day, and that no matter what happens, you must not leave."

The girl was very surprised and said, "Yes, sir."

"When you leave here to sleep at night, lock the door from the outside and take the key with you. Promise me."

"And what about Percy?"

"We're going to London together."

"Then I'm staying here?"

"Yes, it's all for his sake. You'll be doing him a great favor by doing this. Come on! There you go!"

She nodded and said yes.At this time, those two people just walked in.

Her brother cried out, "Why do you sit here and worry, Anne? Go and get some sunshine."

"No, thank you for your concern, Joseph, my head hurts a little, and the room is cooler, which is just what I want."

"What are your plans now, Mr. Holmes?" asked Percy.

"Ah, we can't give up our main investigator for such a trivial matter. If you would come to London with us, it would be a great help to us."

"Are you going now?"

"Yes, the sooner the better, leave within an hour, what do you think?"

"I feel my body is already very strong, can I really help you?"

"Very likely."

"Will you let me live in London tonight?"

"I thought so."

"Then the friend who visited me late at night will be in vain. Mr. Holmes, I will follow your arrangements. If you have any needs, please feel free to tell me. Would you like to ask Joseph to go with me so that he can take care of me?"

"Oh, no. Watson is a doctor, you know, and he will take care of you. If you agree, then we'll go into town after lunch here."

He had it all sorted out.Miss Harrison found an excuse and remained in the room.I really can't figure out what medicine Holmes sells in the gourd. Does he want to separate the girl from Phelps?

Phelps seemed delighted as he had just recovered and wanted to be part of our operation.However, just after we had lunch together, another even more surprising thing happened-Holmes went to the railway station with us, but when Phelps and I got on the train, he said he would stay in the train station. Woking.

He said: "I still have a few little things to do. Mr. Phelps, your departure from here will in some way facilitate my work. You promise me, Watson, that you will meet with our party as soon as you arrive in London." My friends drove back to Baker Street until we met again. Fortunately, you are old classmates, and you must have a lot to talk about together. Tonight, let Mr. Phelps sleep in my bedroom. I will sit down tomorrow morning The eight o'clock train will go back, so I can have breakfast with you."

Disappointed, Phelps said: "And what about what we're going to do in London?"

"We'll do those things tomorrow, it's more important for me to stay now."

As the train moved, Phelps said loudly, "You tell them when you get back, and I'll be back tomorrow night."

"I may not necessarily see them," replied Holmes.He waved us goodbye vigorously as the train pulled out.

We talked about it all the way, but no one could explain why he did it.

"I think he may be looking for clues to the robbery last night. Personally, I don't believe it's an ordinary thief at all."

"So, what do you think it is?"

"Honestly, though you might think it was my nervous breakdown, I am sure that some sort of secret political conspiracy is going on around me, and that for some reason I can't think of, the conspirators are going to murder me. It sounds absurd, but think about the actual situation, why would the thief choose a bedroom with no valuables? Why does he have a long knife in his hand?"

"Are you sure that's not a crowbar?"

"Sure, that is indeed a long knife, I clearly saw the light of the knife."

"But why did he kill you?"

"Ah, that's the crux of the matter."

"Well, if Holmes thinks the same way, that will explain his actions. Assuming you are right and he can catch the man who wanted to kill you, then move forward to the goal of finding the man who stole the papers." That's a big step. Because you can never have two enemies at the same time, one who wants to steal from you, and the other who wants to kill you, that's absolutely impossible."

"But Holmes says he doesn't have to go to Brillbrae."

I said, "We've been together a long time, and I know he's not going to do something without a good reason."

Having said that, our topic turned elsewhere.

I was exhausted from the day's travel, and Phelps was still weak, and the events of last night had made him even more agitated and tense.So I managed to keep him entertained by talking about my life in the army camps in Afghanistan, India, and a lot of social issues and anecdotes.But it didn't help, he couldn't forget that document, he couldn't stop guessing what Holmes was doing, what his uncle was doing, what news we could get in the morning... In the middle of the night, he became abnormal due to nervousness pain.

"Do you trust Holmes very much?"

"I have seen him solve many bizarre cases with my own eyes."

"But you haven't encountered such a complicated and important case?"

"Not sure. But I know he has solved very important cases for three European royal families."

"You know him well, Watson. He is indeed very capable. I cannot fathom him. Do you think he will succeed? Is he confident of solving the case?"

"He didn't say anything."

"That's not a good sign."

"On the contrary. As far as I know, when he has no clues, he is always very honest and says no. But when he has clues and is not sure, he often talks very little. Dear friend, don't worry that this hasn't happened yet. It's not good for you to worry about it. You should go to bed first and think about it tomorrow morning."

My companion was finally persuaded by me to go to bed.But judging from his tense expression, he had no hope of falling asleep peacefully.

Indeed, his mood also affected me, and I tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. I couldn't help thinking about this strange thing, and I even made many speculations, but none of them proved to be true.

Why did Holmes stay in Woking?Why let Miss Harrison stay in the house all day?Why didn't he let the people at Brillbrae know he wasn't leaving?I kept thinking about these questions and fell asleep unconsciously.

It was seven o'clock in the morning when I woke up, and I went to Phelps as soon as I got out of bed.He was pale and obviously hadn't slept all night.Seeing me, he asked if Holmes had returned.

I said, "Since he said it, he will definitely come back on time."

My words came true immediately.Just at eight o'clock, a carriage pulled up in front of the door, and my friend jumped out.We saw him through the window.His left hand was wrapped in a bandage, and his face was pale. After entering the room, he stopped downstairs for a while before coming upstairs.

"It didn't look good, he seemed very tired," Phelps said.

I have to admit his statement: "It seems that clues still have to be found in the city."

Phelps sighed, and said, "I don't know what happened. I had high hopes for his return. But his hand was fine yesterday. What's going on?"

When Holmes walked in, I hurriedly asked, "Holmes, are you injured?"

He nodded good morning to us, and said: "Nothing, I just scratched the skin, Mr. Phelps, your case is a lot more difficult than I've ever done before."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to do what you want."

"It's a rare lesson learned."

I said, "The bandage on your hand means you're in danger, can you tell us what happened?"

"Let's talk after breakfast, my dear Watson, and don't forget that I came back thirty miles away. Oh, and I haven't heard back from my notice? Well, we can't expect everything to go right. That went well."

The table was set, and I was about to ring the bell, for Mrs Hudson had brought tea and coffee.A few minutes later, she brought three more breakfasts.We sat around the table, and Holmes ate big mouthfuls, and I looked at him curiously, while Phelps looked very unhappy and listless.

Holmes opened the lid of the chicken curry dish and said, "Mrs. Hudson is very quick-witted. Although she can only cook a few dishes, like other Scottish women, she always prepares her breakfast carefully. Watson, what is your dish?" ?”

I replied: "One serving of ham and eggs."

"Great! Mr. Phelps, do you like chicken curry or ham and eggs? Do what you like."

"Thank you, but I don't want to eat anything," Phelps said.

"Ah, please eat whatever you want."

"Thank you, but I really can't eat it."

Holmes winked mischievously and said, "Well, I don't think you will refuse my offer."

Phelps had to open his share.As soon as he lifted the lid, he screamed, turned very pale, and sat staring at the plate.It turned out that there was a blue-gray scroll on the plate.

He grabbed it up and stared at it for a long time, then he clutched the scroll to his chest and cried out with joy.He danced and slumped in an armchair, exhausted from overexcitement.

I had to give him a little brandy to keep him from fainting.

Holmes patted Phelps and comforted him, "Okay! Okay! It's really a prank to give you something so suddenly, but Mr. Watson knows that I always like dramatic things."

Phelps took Holmes' hand and kissed it repeatedly.

He exclaimed, "God bless you, sir! You have not only saved my reputation, but my life as well."

Holmes said: "Yes, you know, my reputation is also at stake. But please believe that my failure in handling the case is the same pain as your loss of documents."

Phelps put this important agreement carefully into the inside pocket of his jacket.Then said: "Although I don't want to interrupt your meal, I'm really anxious to know how you got it."

My friend finished his breakfast and drank another cup of coffee, then rose to light his pipe, and sat down easily in his chair.

"Let me tell you what I did and how I did it," he said slowly. "After I saw you off at the station, I started walking the streets. First I passed through the beautiful Surrey area, and then came to a small village called Libuli, and had dinner in a small restaurant there. After the meal, I filled the kettle with water, and packed a piece of sandwich bread in my pocket, and everything was ready, Just waiting for the evening departure. I returned to Woking in the evening and arrived at the road next to Brierbrae at about dusk.

"I waited until there were no more pedestrians on the road, then I climbed over the fence and came to the house behind the house."

Phelps couldn't help interjecting: "That door is never closed!"

"Yes, but I like to do it this way. I chose three fir trees, and under the cover of the firs I approached the house slowly. At this time, no one in the house could see me. I lay down on the adjacent bushes. Here, crawling from one tree to another - that's why my trouser knees are ripped like this, all the way to the rhododendrons in front of your bedroom. I squatted down there and waited for the show to happen .

"Miss Harrison was reading in your room with the curtains drawn. At last she put down her book, closed the window and left, about fifteen past eleven.

"I heard her close the door and lock it with the key."

Phelps hurriedly asked, "What key?"

"Oh, I arranged this in advance. I told Miss Harrison to lock the door of your house from the outside when you go to bed, and then take the key with you. She carefully completed the tasks I gave. You can That said, you wouldn't be seeing that agreement now without her help. After she left, the lights went out, and I'm still squatting there.

"Although the starry sky is bright, waiting is really boring. Of course, the mood is very exciting, just like the feeling of a fisherman waiting for a school of fish by the river. Waiting for a long time, Watson, like investigating the case of 'ruthless stepfather' We spent as much time in that gloomy room as we had when we had been. Woking church bells kept ringing, and I wondered several times that nothing was going to happen. But at two o'clock in the morning, I finally Hearing the click of the bolt and the turn of the key, the door through which the servants came and went was opened, and Joseph appeared in the moonlight."

Phelps called, "Joseph?"

"He was not wearing a hat, and was wearing a black cloak, which he might have used in case of an emergency, so that he could cover his face immediately. He crept along the wall to the window, inserted a long knife into the crack, and pulled it open. The window latch opened the window. Then he inserted the knife into the shutter and opened the shutter.

"I could see him quite clearly from there. First he lit two sticks of wax on the fireplace, and then he pulled up the rug near the door. After a while, he stooped to remove a rug from the floor. A small wooden board, which is used by repairmen to connect gas pipes. Under the wooden board is a T-shaped gas pipe connection, and there is a pipe for gas supply to the kitchen, so it leads to the kitchen below. Joseph took out a paper roll from here, The boards were re-planned, the carpet was leveled, the candles were blown out, and as I was standing there waiting for him, he bumped right into me.

"Ah, he was much more vicious than I thought. He came at me with a knife, and I caught him at once, but before I had the upper hand, he cut my knuckles with the knife. The fight was over, He was still looking at me with one murderous side eye. But at last he listened to my persuasion and handed over the agreement. I got the agreement and let him go. In the morning I telegraphed Wuppers, He should have the details by now. If he moves fast, he can catch the person he wants to catch. But I guess, when he arrives, the person may have fled. Of course, this is also suitable The Government. I think that neither Lord Holdhurst nor Percy would like to take the case to court."

Percy whispered, "My God! I can't believe this agreement has stayed with me for more than three painful months."

"Indeed it is."

"Then Joseph! Joseph is a shameless man!"

"I believe that Joseph's heart is far more vicious and dangerous than his appearance shows. He told me that he lost his money in stocks and would do anything bad to change his luck. As such a selfish person, Once an opportunity arises, he simply doesn't care about his sister's happiness or his brother-in-law's future."

Percy slumped back in his chair and said, "I'm in a daze, and what you're saying makes me even more confused."

Holmes continued: "The biggest problem with this case is that there are so many clues, so the key clues are covered by various illusions. There are always many facts around us, but what we should choose must be the most important part, and then press The primary and secondary are connected in series, and only then can it be possible to reproduce the truth of the facts."

"My earliest basis for suspecting Joseph was that you were going to take the train home with him on the night of the theft. This means that he may have gone to you, and he is familiar with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, even if he appeared there Nor will anyone be suspicious.

"Later, I heard that someone wanted to break into your bedroom. I contacted you and said that when the doctor sent you home on the night of the accident, it was Joseph who gave up his room to you, so I think he probably stole something. You hid in this room. Especially when there was no nurse to take care of you for the first time, someone tried to break in at night, which shows that this person knows your situation very well."

"I'm really blind!"

"I deduce that the general course of the case is as follows: that night, Joseph got out of the car in Charles Street and entered the Foreign Office through the side door-because he knew the way well. It happened that when you went to the porter, he went directly into the office and saw No one in the room rang the bell, but at the same time he rang the bell, he saw the documents on the table.

"The first feeling told him that this was a good opportunity, and it was really rare to get a precious national document easily. So he put the document in his pocket and left in a hurry.

"You didn't notice the bell until a few minutes later, when the guard alerted you, and that was long enough for him to escape.

"He returned to Woking by the first train, and having examined the document carefully, he was convinced that it must be something of great value, and hastily and carefully hid it in his bedroom, intending to wait for the right moment to retrieve it. , to the French embassy or someone else willing to pay a high price.

"But you were sent back home so suddenly that he was caught off guard and forced to move out. There have been at least two people in the house since then. This prevented him from getting the papers again and he was almost in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)