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foycroft, the chain is complete, But
here he comes, if I am not mistaken,
to speak for himself.''
A moment later the tall and portly
form of Mycroft Holmes was ushered
into the room.
At his heels came our old friend
Lestrade of Scotland Yard thin and
austere.
"A most annoying business, Sher
lock," said he. "HaYe you read up
the case?"
"We have just done so. What were
the technical papers?"
"Ah, there's the point! Fortunately
it has not come out. The press would
be furious if it did. The papers which
this wretched youth had in his pocket
were the plans of the Bruce-Parting-ton
subamarine.
"Its importance can hardly be "ex
aggerated. It has been the most jeal
ously guarded of all government se
crets. The plans, which are exceed
ingly intricate, comprising some thir
ty separate patents, each essential to
the working of the whole, are kept In
an elaborate safe in a confidential of
fice adjoining the arsenal, with burglar-proof
doors and windows."
"But you have recovered them?"
"No, Sherlock, no! That's the
Scinch. t We have not. Ten papers were
taken from Woolwich. There were
seven in the pockets of Cadogan
West. The three most essential are
gone stolen, vanished. You must
drop everything, Sherlock."
"The problem certainly presents
some points of interest, and I shall be
very pleased to look into it. Some
more facts, please."
"I have jotted down the more es
sential ones upon this sheet of paper,
together with a few addresses, which
you will find of service. The actual
official guardian of the j)ap"ers is the
famous government expert, Sir James
Walter, -whose decorations anfa sub
titles fill two lines of a book of refer
ence. He has grown gray in the serv
ice, he Js a gentleman, a ' favored
guest in the most exalted houses, and,
above all, a man whose patriotism is
above proof. He is. one of two who
nave a key of the safe. . v
"Who was the other "man with a
key?"
"The senior clerk and draftsman,
Mr. Sidney Johnson. According to
his own account, corroborated only
by the word of his wife, he was "at
home the whole of Monday evening
after office hours; and his key has
never left the watch-chain upon
which it hangs."
"Who locked the plans lip tkat
night?"
"Mr. Sidney Johnson, the senior
clerk.-"
An hour later Holmes', Lestrade
and I stood on the Underground Rail-1
road at the point where it emerges
from the tunnel immediately before
Aldgate Station. A courteous red
faced old gentleman represented the
railway company.
"This is where the young man's
body lay," said he, indicating a 'spot
about three feet from the metals. ""It
could not have fallen from abOvet for
these, as you see, are all blank walls.
Therefore it could only have come
from a train, and that train,. so far
as we can trace it, must have passed
about midnight on Monday."
"Watson, we have done all we can
here. We need hot trouble you ariy
further, Mr. Lestrade. I think our in
vestigation must now carry us .to
Woolwich."
At London Bridge Holmes wrote a
telegram to his brother, which he
handed to me before dispatching. It
ran thus:
"See some light in the darkness,
but it may possibly nicker out.' Mean
while please send by messenger--to
await return at Baker street a com
plete list of all foreign spies or inter
national agents known to be in Eng
land, with full address. Sherlock."
"That should be helpful, Watson,"
he remarked, as we took our seats
in the Woolwich train. The end is
dark to me, but I have hold of one
ideawhich may lead us far. The man
mej. his death elsewhere, and hiab'daj;
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