The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-19

tied down TO my task OF eopy1ng
1T was a long document. written in
the French language, and contained
twenty-six separate articles. / copied as
quickly as I could. but at 0 o'clock l had
only done nine articles, and it seemed
hopeless for me to attempt to catch
my train. / was feeling drowsy and
stupid, partly from my dinner and also
from the effects of a long days work.
a cup Of coffee would clear my brain.
A eommissionnaire remains all night in
a little lodge at the foot of the stairs,
and is in the habit of making coffee
at his s~pirit-lamp for any of the Off
Gals who may be working overtime.
l rang the bell, therefore, to summon
him.
ITO my surprise it was a woman
who answered the summons. a large,
coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an
apron. She explained that she was the
commissionnaire's wife, who did tho
charing, and 1 gave her the order for
the coffee.
II wrote W more articles, and then,
feeling more drowsy han ever, / rose
and walked up and down the room to
stretch my legs. My coffee had not
yet come, and I wondered what the
cause of the delay could be. Opening
the door, 1 started down the corridor
to find out. There was a straight pass
age, dimly lighted, which led from the
room in which 1 had been working.
and was the only exit from 1t. 1t
ended in a curviug staircase, with the
commisslonnaire's lodge in the passage
at the bottom. Half way down this
staircase is a small landing, with an
other passage running into it at right
=, IL NIT 49, - 1~-1. -
of a second small stair to a side door,
used by servants, and also as a short
cut by clerks when coming from
Charles street. Here is a rough chart
of the place"
THANK you. I think that I quite fol-
low you," said Sherlock Holmes.
at is of the utmost Importance that
you should notice this point. I went
down the stairs il INTO the hall.
where / found the commissionnaire fast
asleep in his box, with the kettle boil
ing furiously upon the spirit-lamp. I
took off the kettle and blew out the
lamp. for the water was squirting over
the floor. Then 1 put out my hand
and was about to shake the man, who
was still sleeping soundly, when a bell
over his head rang loudly, and he
awoke with a start.
Mr.. Phelps, siri' said he, looking
at me in bewilderrnent.
Il came down to see il my coffee
was ready
81 was boiling the kettle when / fell
asleep. sir He loked at me and then
up at the still quiyering bell with an
eyer-growing establishment upon his
face.
IF you was here, sir, then who ran
the bell?' he asked.
"'The belli' l cried. What bell is it2'
cts the bell of the room you were
working in
"A cold hand seemed to close round
my heart. Some one, then. was in that
room where my precious treaty lay
upon the table. I ran franticaIly up
the stair and along the passage. There
was no one in the corridors, Nj.
Holmes. There was no one in the room.
All was exactly as 1 left it, save only
that the papers which had been COM
mitted to my care had been taken from
the desk on which they lay. The cops
was there, and the original was gone
Holmes sat up in his chair and
rubbed his hands. / could see that the
problem was entirely to his heart.
Pray, what did you do them" he
murmured.
Il recognized in an instant that the
thief must have come up the stairs
from the side door. OF course I must
have met him If he had come the other
way
"You were satisfied that he could
not have been concealed in the room all
the time. or in the corridor which you
have just described as dimly lighted2,
1T is absolutely impossible. A rat
could not conceal himself either in the
room or the corridor. There is no cover
at all
THANK YOU. Pray proceed"
The commissionnaire, seeing by m
pale face that something was to be
feared. had followed me upstairs. Now
we both rushed along the corridor n
down the steep steps which led to
Charles street. The door at the bottom
was closed. but unlocked. We dung il
open and rushed out. I can distinctly
remember that as we did SO there
came three chimes from a neighboring
clock. IL was a quarter to TO-"
THAT is Of Importance
said Holmes, making a note Upon his
shirt cuff.
THE night was very dark. and a thin.
warm rain was falling. There was no
one in Charles street, but a great
traffic was going on. as usual. in Whites
hall, at the extremity. We rushed
along the pavement. b%are-headed as we
were, and at the far corner we found a
policeman standing.
"A robbery has been committed l
gasped. A document Of immense value
has been stolen from the Foreign Office,
Has any one passed this way?'
u have been standing here for 9
quarter Of an hour. sir said he; only
one person has passed during that time
"a woman, tall and elderly, with a
Paisley shawl
aAh. that is only my wife cried
the conmissionnaire; has no one else
passed.
No one
"'Then it must be the other way that
the thief took, cried the fellow, tug
ging at my sleeve.
But 1 was not satisfied, and the
attempts which he made to draw me
away Increased my suspicious.
(Which way did the woman go2
I cried.
az don't know, sir. I noticed her
pass. but [ had no special reason for