“There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as inreligion,” said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. “Itcan be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highestassurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest inthe flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, areall really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But thisrose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life,not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and soI say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”
Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during thisdemonstration with surprise and a good deal of disappointmentwritten upon their faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with themoss-rose between his fingers. It had lasted some minutes beforethe young lady broke in upon it.
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“Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?”
she asked with a touch of asperity in her voice.
“Oh, the mystery!” he answered, coming back with a start to therealities of life. “Well, it would be absurd to deny that the case isvery abstruse and complicated one, but I can promise you that Iwill look into the matter and let you know any points which maystrike me.”
“Do you see any clue?”
“You have furnished me with seven, but of course I must testthem before I can pronounce upon their value.”
“You suspect some one?”
“I suspect myself.”
“What!”
“Of coming to conclusions too rapidly.”
“Then go to London and test your conclusions.”
“Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison,” said Holmes,rising. “I think, Watson, we cannot do better. Do not allowyourself to indulge in false hopes, Mr. Phelps. The affair is a verytangled one.”
“I shall be in a fever until I see you again,” cried the diplomatist.
“Well, I’ll come out by the same train to-morrow, though it’smore than likely that my report will be a negative one.”
“God bless you for promising to come,” cried our client. “Itgives me fresh life to know that something is being done. By theway, I have had a letter from Lord Holdhurst.”
“Ha! What did he say?”
“He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe illnessprevented him from being that. He repeated that the matter wasof the utmost importance, and added that no steps would be takenabout my future—by which he means, of course, my dismissal—until my health was restored and I had an opportunity of repairingmy misfortune.”
“Well, that was reasonable and considerate,” said Holmes.
Come, Watson, for we have a good day’s work before us in town.”
Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and wewere soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train. Holmes was sunkin profound thought, and hardly opened his mouth until we hadpassed Clapham Junction.
“It’s a very cheery thing to come into London by any of theselines which run high, and allow you to look down upon the houseslike this.”
I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but hesoon explained himself.
“Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up abovethe slates, like brick islands in a lead-colored sea.”
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“The board-schools.”
“Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules withhundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of which will springthe wise, better England of the future. I suppose that man Phelpsdoes not drink?”
“I should not think so.”
“Nor should I, but we are bound to take every possibility intoaccount. The poor devil has certainly got himself into very deepwater, and it’s a question whether we shall ever be able to get himashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison?”
“A girl of strong character.”
“Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She and herbrother are the only children of an iron-master somewhere upNorthumberland way. He got engaged to her when traveling lastwinter, and she came down to be introduced to his people, withher brother as escort. Then came the smash, and she stayed on tonurse her lover, while brother Joseph, finding himself pretty snug,stayed on too. I’ve been making a few independent inquiries, yousee. But to-day must be a day of inquiries.”
“My practice——” I began.
“Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine——”
said Holmes, with some asperity.
“I was going to say that my practice could get along very well fora day or two, since it is the slackest time in the year.”
“Excellent,” said he, recovering his good-humor. “Then we’lllook into this matter together. I think that we should begin byseeing Forbes. He can probably tell us all the details we want untilwe know from what side the case is to be approached.”
“You said you had a clue?”
“Well, we have several, but we can only test their value byfurther inquiry. The most difficult crime to track is the one whichis purposeless. Now this is not purposeless. Who is it who profitsby it? There is the French ambassador, there is the Russian, thereis whoever might sell it to either of these, and there is LordHoldhurst.”
“Lord Holdhurst!”
“Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himselfin a position where he was not sorry to have such a documentaccidentally destroyed.”
“Not a statesman with the honorable record of Lord Holdhurst?”
“It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard it. We shallsee the noble lord to-day and find out if he can tell us anything.
Meanwhile I have already set inquiries on foot.”
“Already?”
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“Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every evening paperin London. This advertisement will appear in each of them.”
He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. On it wasscribbled in pencil:
“￡10 reward. The number of the cab which dropped a fare at orabout the door of the Foreign Office in Charles Street at quarter toten in the evening of May 23d. Apply 221 B, Baker Street.”
“You are confident that the thief came in a cab?”