sort."

"No smell?"

"Well, we never thought of that."

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

"I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if there had
been any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of any kind. The
only tangible fact was that the commissionnaire's wife--Mrs. Tangey was
the name--had hurried out of the place. He could give no explanation
save that it was about the time when the woman always went home. 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.

"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. We hired a hansom, and in half an hour we were at the address
which had been given to us. A young woman opened the door, who proved to
be Mrs. Tangey's eldest daughter. Her mother had not come back yet, and
we were shown into the front room to wait.

"About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here we made the
one serious mistake for which I blame myself. Instead of opening the
door ourselves, we allowed the girl to do so. We heard her say, 'Mother,
there are two men in the house waiting to see you,' and an instant
afterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down the passage. Forbes
flung open the door, and we both ran into the back room or kitchen, but
the woman had got there before us. She stared at us with defiant
eyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, an expression of absolute
astonishment came over her face.

"'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.

"'I thought you were the brokers,' said she, 'we have had some trouble
with a tradesman.'

"'That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. '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. You must come back
with us to Scotland Yard to be searched.'

"It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A four-wheeler was
brought, and we all three drove back in it. 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. There were no signs, however, o