It is my nature. I thought of my uncle and of his colleagues inthe Cabinet, of the shame which I had brought upon him, uponmyself, upon every one connected with me. What though I wasthe victim of an extraordinary accident? No allowance is made foraccidents where diplomatic interests are at stake. I was ruined,shamefully, hopelessly ruined. I don’t know what I did. I fancy Imust have made a scene. I have a dim recollection of a group ofofficials who crowded round me, endeavoring to soothe me. Oneof them drove down with me to Waterloo, and saw me into theWoking train. I believe that he would have come all the way hadit not been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was going down bythat very train. The doctor most kindly took charge of me, andit was well he did so, for I had a fit in the station, and before wereached home I was practically a raving maniac.
“You can imagine the state of things here when they were rousedfrom their beds by the doctor’s ringing and found me in thiscondition. Poor Annie here and my mother were broken-hearted.
Dr. Ferrier had just heard enough from the detective at the stationto be able to give an idea of what had happened, and his story didnot mend matters. It was evident to all that I was in for a longillness, so Joseph was bundled out of this cheery bedroom, and itwas turned into a sick-room for me. Here I have lain, Mr. Holmes,for over nine weeks, unconscious, and raving with brain-fever. Ifit had not been for Miss Harrison here and for the doctor’s care Ishould not be speaking to you now. She has nursed me by day anda hired nurse has looked after me by night, for in my mad fits I wascapable 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 it never had. The first thing that I did wasto wire to Mr. Forbes, who had the case in hand. He came out,and assures me that, though everything has been done, no traceof a clue has been discovered. The commissionnaire and his wifehave been examined in every way without any light being thrownupon the matter. The suspicions of the police then rested uponyoung Gorot, who, as you may remember, stayed over-time in theoffice that night. His remaining behind and his French name werereally the only two points which could suggest suspicion; but, asa matter of fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and hispeople are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathyand tradition as you and I are. Nothing was found to implicatehim in any way, and there the matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr.
Holmes, as absolutely my last hope. If you fail me, then my honoras well as my position are forever forfeited.”
The invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by this longrecital, while his nurse poured him out a glass of some stimulatingmedicine. Holmes sat silently, with his head thrown back and hiseyes closed, in an attitude which might seem listless to a stranger,but which I knew betokened the most intense self-absorption.
“You statement has been so explicit,” said he at last, “that youhave really left me very few questions to ask. There is one of thevery utmost importance, however. Did you tell any one that youhad this special task to perform?”
“No one.”
“Not Miss Harrison here, for example?”
“No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the orderand executing the commission.”
“And none of your people had by chance been to see you?”
“None.”
“Did any of them know their way about in the office?”
“Oh, yes, all of them had been shown over it.”
“Still, of course, if you said nothing to any one about the treatythese inquiries are irrelevant.”
“I said nothing.”
“Do you know anything of the commissionnaire?”
“Nothing except that he is an old soldier.”
“What regiment?”
“Oh, I have heard—Coldstream Guards.”
“Thank you. I have no doubt I can get details from Forbes. Theauthorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do notalways use them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!”
He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up thedrooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend ofcrimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for Ihad never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
“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.
“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 isa very 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.