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Page 130
"But how about our investigation in London?" asked
Phelps, ruefully.
"We can do that to-morrow. I think that just at
present I can be of more immediate use here."
"You might tell them at Briarbrae that I hope to be
back to-morrow night," cried Phelps, as we began to
move from the platform.
"I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae," answered
Holmes, and waved his hand to us cheerily as we shot
out from the station.
Phelps and I talked it over on our journey, but
neither of us could devise a satisfactory reason for
this new development.
"I suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the
burglary last night, if a burglar it was. For myself,
I don't believe it was an ordinary thief."
"What is your own idea, then?"
"Upon my word, you may put it down to my weak nerves
or not, but I believe there is some deep political
intrigue going on around me, and that for some reason
that passes my understanding my life is aimed at by
the conspirators. It sounds high-flown and absurd,
but consider the facts! Why should a thief try to
break in at a bedroom window, where there could be no
hope of any plunder, and why should he come with a
long knife in his hand?"
"You are sure it was not a house-breaker's jimmy?"
"Oh, no, it was a knife. I saw the flash of the blade
quite distinctly."
"But why on earth should you be pursued with such
animosity?"
"Ah, that is the question."
"Well, if Holmes takes the same view, that would
account for his action, would it not? Presuming that
your theory is correct, if he can lay his hands upon
the man who threatened you last night he will have
gone a long way towards finding who took the naval
treaty. It is absurd to suppose that you have two
enemies, one of whom robs you, while the other
threatens your life."
"But Holmes said that he was not going to Briarbrae."
"I have known him for some time," said I, "but I never
knew him do anything yet without a very good reason,"
and with that our conversation drifted off on to other
topics.
But it was a weary day for me. Phelps was still weak
after his long illness, and his misfortune made him
querulous and nervous. In vain I endeavored to
interest him in Afghanistan, in India, in social
questions, in anything which might take his mind out
of the groove. He would always come back to his lost
treaty, wondering, guessing, speculating, as to what
Holmes was doing, what steps Lord Holdhurst was
taking, what news we should have in the morning. As
the evening wore on his excitement became quite
painful.
"You have implicit faith in Holmes?" he asked.
"I have seen him do some remarkable things."
"But he never brought light into anything quite so
dark as this?"
"Oh, yes; I have known him solve questions which
presented fewer clues than yours."
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