almost verbatim report of the interview in which he demonstrated thetrue facts of the case to monsieur dubuque, of the paris police, and fritz vonwaldbaum, the well-known specialist of dantzig, both of whom had wasted theirenergies upon what proved to be side-issues. the new century will have come,however, before the story can be safely told. meanwhile, i pass on to the second uponmy list, which promised also, at one time, to be of national importance, and wasmarked by several incidents which give it a quite unique character.during my school-days i had been intimately associated with a lad named percyphelps, who was of much the same age as myself, though he was two classes ahead ofme. he was a very brilliant boy, and carried away every prize which the school had tooffer, finishing his exploits by winning a scholarship, which sent him on to continuehis triumphant career at cambridge. he was, i remember, extremely well connectedand ever when we were all little boys together, we knew that his mother's brother waslord holdhurst, the great conservative politician. this gaudy relationship did himlittle good at school; on the contrary, it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevyhim about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket. but it was anotherthing when he came out into the world. i heard vaguely that his abilities and theinfluence which he commanded had won him a good position at the foreign office,and then he passed completely out of my mind until the following letter recalled hisexistence:

'briarbrae, woking

'my dear watson, ----- i have no doubt that you can remember "tadpole" phelps,who was in the fifth form when you were in the third. it is possible even that you mayhave heard that, through my uncle's influence, i obtained a good appointment at theforeign office, and that i was in situation of trust and honour until a horriblemisfortune came suddenly to blast my career.

'there is no use writing the details of that dreadful event. in the event of youracceding to my request, it is probable that i shall have narrated them to you. i haveonly just recovered from nine weeks of brain fever, and am still exceedingly weak. doyou think that you could bring your friend, mr. holmes, down to see me? i should liketo have his opinion of the case, though the authorities assure me that nothing more canbe dong. do try to bring him down, and as soon as possible. every minute seems anhour while i live in this horrible suspense. assure him that, if i have not asked hisadvice sooner, it was not because i did not appreciate his talents, but because i havebeen off my head ver since the blow fell. now i am clear again, though i dare notthink of it too much for fear of a relapse. i am still so weak that i have to write, as yousee, by dictating. do try and bring him.'your old schoolfellow,percy phelps

there was something that touched me as i read this letter, something pitiable in thereiterated appeals to bring holmes. so moved was i that, even if it had been a difficultmatter, i should have tried it; but, of course, i knew well that holmes loved his art so,that he was ever as ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it. my wifeagreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the matter before him, andso, within an hour of breakfast-time, i found myself back once more in the old roomsin baker street.

holmes was seated at his side-table clad in his dressing-gown and working hardover a chemical investigation. a large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluishflame of a bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litremeasure. my friend hardly glanced up as i entered, and i, seeing that his investigationmust be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited. he dipped into thisbottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finallybrought a test-tube containing a solution over to the table. in his right hand he had aslip of litmus-paper.

'you come at a crisis, watson,' said he. 'if this paper remains blue, all is well. if itturns red, it means a man's life.' he dipped it into the test-tube, and it flushed at onceinto a dull, dirty crimson. 'hum! i thought as much!' he cried. 'i shall be at yourservice in one instant, watson. you will find tobacco in the persian slipper.' he turnedto his desk and scribbled off several telegrams, which were handed over to thepage-boy. then he threw himself down in the chair opposite, and drew up his kneesuntil his fingers clasped round his long, thin shins.

'a very commonplace little murder,' said he. 'you've got something better, i fancy.you are the stormy petrel of crime, watson. what is it?'

i handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated attention.

'it does not tell us very much, does it?' he remarked, as he handed it back to me.

'hardly anything.'

'and yet the writing is not his own.'

'precisely. it