s appearance. From what I
have heard from him this morning, I gather that he has lost heavily in
dabbling with stocks, and that he is ready to do anything on earth to
better his fortunes. Being an absolutely selfish man, when a chance
presented itself he did not allow either his sister's happiness or your
reputation to hold his hand."

Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. "My head whirls," said he. "Your
words have dazed me."

"The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in his
didactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence.
What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant. Of all
the facts which were presented to us we had to pick just those which we
deemed to be essential, and then piece them together in their order, so
as to reconstruct this very remarkable chain of events. I had already
begun to suspect Joseph, from the fact that you had intended to travel
home with him that night, and that therefore it was a likely enough
thing that he should call for you, knowing the Foreign Office well, upon
his way. When I heard that some one had been so anxious to get into the
bedroom, in which no one but Joseph could have concealed anything--you
told us in your narrative how you had turned Joseph out when you arrived
with the doctor--my suspicions all changed to certainties, especially as
the attempt was made on the first night upon which the nurse was absent,
showing that the intruder was well acquainted with the ways of the
house."

"How blind I have been!"

"The facts of the case, as far as I have worked them out, are these:
this Joseph Harrison entered the office through the Charles Street door,
and knowing his way he walked straight into your room the instant after
you left it. Finding no one there he promptly rang the bell, and at
the instant that he did so his eyes caught the paper upon the table.
A glance showed him that chance had put in his way a State document of
immense value, and in an instant he had thrust it into his pocket and
was gone. A few minutes elapsed, as you remember, before the sleepy
commissionnaire drew your attention to the bell, and those were just
enough to give the thief time to make his escape.

"He made his way to Woking by the first train, and having examined his
booty and assured himself that it really was of immense value, he
had concealed it in what he thought was a very safe place, with the
intention of taking it out again in a day or tw