given to us. ayoung woman opened the door, who proved to be mrs. tangey's eldest daughter. hermother had to 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 oneserious mistake for which 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 weheard the patter of feet rushing down the passage. forbes flung open the door, and weboth ran into the back room or kitchen, but the woman had got there before us. shestared at us with defiant eyes, and then suddenly recognizing me, an expression ofabsolute 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 mycompanion.

i thought you were the brokers," said she. "we've had some trouble with atradesman."

that's not quite good enough," answered forbes. "we have reason to believe thatyou have taken a paper of importance from the foreign office, and that you ran in herto 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 weall three drove back in it. we had first made an examination of the kitchen, andespecially of the kitchen fire, to see whether she might have made away with thepapers during the instant that she was alone. there were no signs. however, of anyashes or scraps. when we reached scotland yard she was handed over at once to thefemale searcher. i waited in an agony of suspense until she came back with her report.there were no signs of the papers.

'then, for the first time, the horror of my situation came in its full force upon me.hitherto i had been so confident of regaining the treaty at once that i had not dared tothink of what would be the consequence if i failed to do so. but now there wasnothing more to be done, and i had leisure to realize my position. it was horrible!watson there would tell you that i was a nervous, sensitive boy at school. it is mynature. i thought of my uncle and of his colleagues in the cabinet, of the shame whichi had brought upon him, upon myself, upon everyone connected with me. whatthought i was the victim of an extraordinary accident? no allowance is made foraccidents where diplomatic interests are at stake. i was ruined; shamefully, hopelesslyruined. i don't know what i did. i fancy i must have made a scene. i have a dimrecollection of a group of officials who crowded round me endeavouring to soothe me.one of them drove down with me to waterloo and saw me into the woking train. ibelieve that he would have come all the way had it not been that dr. ferrier, who livesnear me, was going down by that very train. the doctor most kindly took charge ofme, and it was well he did so, for i had a fit in the station, and before we reachedhome i was practically a raving maniac.

'you can imagine the state of things here when they were roused from their beds bythe doctor's ringing, and found me in this condition. poor annie here and my motherwere broken-hearted. dr. ferrier had just heard enough from the detective at thestation to be able to give an idea of what had happened, and his story did not mendmatters. it was evident to all that i was in for a long illness, so joseph was bundled outof this cheery bedroom, and it was turned into a sickroom for me. here i have lain, mr.holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious, and raving with brain fever. if it had notbeen for miss harrison here and for the doctor's care i should not be speaking to younow. she has nursed me by day, and a hired nurse has looked after me by night, for inmy mad fits i was capable of anything. slowly my reason has cleared, but it is onlyduring the last three days that my memory has quite returned. sometimes i wish that itnever had. the first thing i did was to wire to mr. forbes, who had the case in hand.he came out and assured me that, though everything has been done, no trace of a cluehas been discovered. the commissionaire and his wife have been examined in everyway without any light being thrown upon the matter. the suspicions of the police thenrested upon young gorot, who, as you may remember, stayed overtime in the officethat night. his remaining behind and his french name were really the only two pointswhich could suggest suspicion; but as a matter of fact, i did not begin work until hehad gone, and his people are of huguenot extraction, but as english in sympathy andtradition as you and i are. nothing was found to implicate him in any way, and therethe matter dropped. i turn to you, mr. holmes, as absolutely my last hope. if you failme, then my honour as well as my position are for ever forfeited.'

the invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by this long recital, while hisnurse poured him out a glass of some stimulating medicine. holmes sat silently