Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 120 The Return (31)
"In other words, no one looked at the file box for four hours."

"Except for my personal servant and my wife's maid who can enter this room in the morning, absolutely no one is allowed to enter the room at any other time. These two people are very reliable, and they have been working here for some time. And, at that time , it is impossible for them both to know that there are extraordinary official documents in my file box."

"Who would know the existence of this letter?"

"No one in the family knows."

"Your wife should know about this?"

"No, sir. I didn't tell her the truth until the morning the letter was lost."

The Prime Minister nodded approvingly.

He said: "Sir, I have heard that you have a strong sense of responsibility at work. I am sure that for you, the confidentiality of such important letters is much higher than the closest family relationship."

The European Affairs Minister nodded.

"You are quite fair. I had not mentioned a word of this letter before this morning."

"Is it possible for her to guess?"

"It's absolutely impossible, no one can guess."

"Has anything like a lost file ever happened before?"

"No, sir."

"Does anyone in England know of this letter?"

"I just notified the cabinet ministers of this letter yesterday. Every day in the cabinet meeting, the matter of secrecy should be emphasized. At the meeting yesterday, the Prime Minister solemnly reminded everyone that we must keep this secret. My God, it has not been a few hours, and I myself Lost that letter!" He ran his hands through his hair, and looked so frustrated that his handsome features were contorted.We all saw that he was warm, impulsive and sensitive.Immediately afterwards, the noble expression on his face returned, and his tone was extremely gentle.

"There may be two or three officials, apart from the cabinet ministers, who have knowledge of the letter. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that no one in England has knowledge of the matter except those mentioned above."

"What about abroad?"

"I'm sure no one else has read this letter but the one who wrote it. I'm pretty sure that the writer never informed his ministers that it wasn't in the usual official channels. done."

Holmes thought for a while, and said after a while: "Sir, I must ask you, what is the content of this letter, and what are the serious consequences of losing it?"

The two men exchanged glances quickly, and the Prime Minister frowned and said, "The envelope is thin and long, light blue, with red wax on it, stamped with the imprint of a crouching lion, and the recipient's name is written in Big and bold…”

Holmes said: "What you said is very important and should be taken seriously, but in order to investigate clearly, I must clarify the content of the letter."

"That is a very important state secret. I don't want to tell you, because I don't think it is necessary. If you can find the envelope and letter I mentioned, you will be rewarded. We will give you the largest remuneration."

Sherlock Holmes rose, smiling.

He said: "You two are the busiest people in England, but I have a lot to do as a little detective. I'm sorry I can't help you, and it would be a waste of time to go on."

The Prime Minister stood up suddenly, and a fierce look of panic and fear shot out from the two deep-set eyes.He said, "How dare you talk to me like that..." But he suppressed his anger and returned to his seat again.For about a minute or two, we sat there quietly, neither talking.The politician shrugged his shoulders and said: "Mr. Holmes, I accept your opinion. You are absolutely right. I think that only when you have complete confidence in you can any good result be achieved."

"I agree with you!" said the young cabinet minister.

"I trust the reputation of you and your colleague Dr. Watson, so I will tell you the whole truth. I am sure that you must have very strong patriotism. If this matter were leaked, it would bring unimaginable harm to our country. losses and disasters.”

"You can trust me with confidence."

"A foreign sovereign, resentful of our fast-growing colony, has written this letter. It has been hastily written, and entirely of his own opinion. Investigations have shown that his ministers were completely ignorant of it. I It can be seen that his writing is not very decent, and some of the questions in it are provocative. If this letter is published, it will definitely anger all the British people. This letter will cause a war."

Holmes wrote his name on a slip of paper and handed it to the Prime Minister.

"Yes, it is he. The letter has been lost somehow, and it will probably cost hundreds of millions of pounds and kill hundreds of thousands of people."

"Have you notified the person who wrote this letter?"

"Notified, sir. Just sent him a coded telegram."

"Perhaps he wished to publish the letter."

"That's not the case. We believe that the writer of the letter has already felt that he was incautious and too impatient. If this letter is to be made public, the blow to his country will be several times more severe than the blow to our country. "

"If so, whose interest is it in publishing the letter? Why would anyone steal it and publish it?"

"Mr. Holmes, this involves international political relations. If you think about the current situation in Europe, you will be able to see the mystery here. The entire European continent is heavily armed, and there are two military alliances that are evenly matched. Great Britain Neutrality maintains the balance between them. If Britain has no choice but to go to war with either alliance, it will definitely benefit the other alliance, whether they participate in the war or not. Do you understand?"

"You speak very plainly. It is quite clear that the enemies of the sovereign wished to obtain it, and to publish it, in order to turn the two nations against each other."

"Yes."

"If this document falls into the hands of the enemy, to whom will he give this letter?"

"It doesn't matter if you hand it over to the minister of any country in Europe. Maybe this person is on his way to his destination."

Mr. Trelawney Hope bowed his head, and sighed.The Prime Minister put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him, and said: "My dear friend, you cannot be blamed for this unfortunate incident. You have not been negligent. Mr. Holmes, you have fully understood what happened. You think that now What to do?"

Holmes shook his head resignedly.

"Gentlemen, do you think that if this letter is not found, there must be war?"

"I think there's a certain possibility."

"Okay, gentlemen, get ready for war then."

"Mr. Holmes, but the letter may not be lost."

"Please think about it carefully. Before 11:30 at night, the documents must have been taken away, because the Hopes have not left the bedroom since then. That is to say, between 07:30 and 11:30. Stolen, probably a little after 07:30. Because the thief knew that the document was in the lockbox and must have wanted to get it as soon as possible. Now, where is the letter? It is impossible for anyone to take this letter It is detained, and he must give it to the person who needs it as quickly as possible. Now what chance do we have to retrieve this letter or trace where it is? There is nothing we can do."

The Prime Minister stood up suddenly from the divan.

"Mr. Holmes, there is a certain logic in what you say. I realize that there is nothing we can do anymore."

"For the sake of this case, we assume that the letter was taken by the maid or valet..."

"They are all old and tried servants."

"I heard from you that your bedroom is on the second floor, and there is no door leading to the outside of the building. It is impossible for a stranger to enter from the outside without being noticed. So I believe it must have been taken away by someone at home. So who will he send the letter to? We are very familiar with international spies or international agents. There are three people who are likely to be their leaders. I will investigate one by one to see if they are there. If one of them is missing, especially last night. , then don’t we know who the files are in?”

The European Minister asked: "But why did he leave? He could also send the letter to the embassies of various countries in London."

"I don't think it's possible, these people are definitely working independently, they don't have a good relationship with the embassy."

The prime minister nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Holmes, I think you are quite right in saying that he must personally send this precious thing back to the headquarters. The steps you have taken are entirely feasible. Hope, we must not let this matter ignore other matters. If there is any new situation today, we will tell you quickly, and please tell us the results of your investigation."

After saying goodbye, the two politicians left our residence with serious expressions.

After the two had left, Holmes silently lit his cigarette and sat down to meditate for a long time.I opened the morning paper, and carefully read a horrific murder that happened last night.At this moment my friend rose with a deep sigh, and laid his pipe on the mantel-piece.

He said: "This is the only way to do it. There is no other better way. The situation is extremely serious. Fortunately, we are not completely desperate. The only thing we need to do now is to find out who took it. Maybe this letter is still here For them, they just want more money. We have the British Treasury, and we are not afraid of him raising the price. As long as he is willing to sell, I will buy it no matter how much it is. Yes. It is conceivable that he holds this letter to see which side pays more money. The only people who dare to do this are Oberstein, La Rochester and Eduardo Lucas. I have to go find them separately."

I glanced at the newspaper in my hand.

"Is it Iardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?"

"Yes."

"You'll never see him again."

"why?"

"He was killed last night."

In the process of our investigation, he always surprised me, but this time, on the contrary, I surprised him, and I couldn't help feeling a little happy in my heart.He stared at the paper in amazement, then snatched it from my hand.Standing up from the chair again, he read a paragraph carefully.

Westminster Abbey Murders
A mysterious murder took place at No. 16 Godolphin Street last night.The street, halfway between the Thames and Westminster Abbey, is almost hidden by the shadow of the Houses of Parliament, with old eighteenth-century dwellings on either side of the quiet street. NO.16 is a small and unique house, where Mr. Eduardo Lucas, a famous socialite in London, has lived here for many years.He is affable and friendly, and enjoys the reputation of "Britain's best amateur tenor".Mr. Lucas, 34 years old, unmarried, has a housekeeper, Mrs. Bollinger, and a servant, Milton.The housekeeper lived in the attic and went to bed early.The valet was away visiting a friend who lived in Hammersmith.After about ten o'clock Mr. Lucas was alone in the house.At 45:16, policeman Barrett passed by here on patrol, and saw that the door of No. [-] was ajar, but no one answered when he knocked on the door.Seeing a light in the room ahead, he went into the passage and knocked on the door, but nothing happened.Then he opened the door and entered the room. At that time, the room was in a mess, almost all the furniture on one side had fallen down, and a chair was upside down in the center of the room.The deceased was lying next to the chair, holding on to the leg of the chair with one hand. He must have been stabbed in the heart by a knife and died on the spot.The murderer used a curved Indian dagger, an oriental weapon that had originally hung as an ornament on the wall.The motive for the murder was not robbery, as no valuables were lost from the home.Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so famous and so popular that his tragic and mysterious death must have aroused the deep sympathy and concern of many friends.

It took Holmes a while to ask, "Watson, what do you think about this matter?"

"Maybe it's just a random coincidence."

"Coincidence! He was the one most likely to have got the papers out of the three I just mentioned, and he was murdered just as the scene was about to be performed. There are indications that this is no coincidence. Maybe that's not quite right, my dear." My Watson, there should be a certain relationship between the occurrence of these two events, and they are also related to each other, and I am trying to find out the relationship between the two."

"The police must be very aware of that now!"

"No, what they know is what they saw in Godolphin Street. They certainly don't know, and never will know, what happened in Whitehall Row. And the only one who knows about these two things is There are two of us, and we can figure out the relationship between the two. Anyway, there is one thing that makes me doubt him, and this is that walking from Godolphine Street in Westminster Abbey to Whitehall Street is only [-] minutes away. It takes a few minutes, and the other two agents I'm talking about live at the end of London's West End. So Lucas is the only person who can establish a friendly relationship with the European Secretary's family and get information, which in itself is a small thing , but considering the time of committing the crime, it is very important to be able to get the things within a few hours. See who is here?"

Mrs. Hudson came in with a tray containing a lady's card.Holmes looked at the business card, and handed it to me as if he saw hope.He said to Mrs. Hudson: "Come on, please come in, Mrs. Hilda Trelawney Hope."

In this humble house, after our two famous guests that morning, came one of the loveliest women in London.I have often heard that the Duke of Belminster's daughter is very beautiful, but neither the admiration of her nor the photographs of her own cause me to think that she is so beautiful, so graceful and charming.However, the first impression of such a beautiful woman on that autumn morning was not beauty.Her cheeks were beautiful, but they were pale with excitement; her eyes, though very bright, were too restless; perhaps in an effort to restrain herself, her thin lips were tightly shut.When she stood straight at the door, the first thing she felt was not her beauty but her fearful expression.

"Mr. Holmes, has my husband been here just now?"

"Yes, ma'am, he has been here."

"I beg you, Mr. Holmes, not to tell him that I have been here."

Holmes nodded grimly, and pointed to the chair for her to sit down.

"Madame, you are giving me a hard time. Please sit down and tell me what you want, but I'm afraid I can't promise everything unconditionally."

She walked to the other side of the room and sat down with her back against the window.The demeanor is like a noble princess, with a slender figure, elegant and noble posture, and full of feminine charm.

She wears white gloves on both hands, which are sometimes held together and sometimes separated.She said: "Mr. Holmes, I am willing to tell you everything, and I hope you will be frank with me. Our husband and wife trust each other in everything except one thing, and that is in politics. He never said anything to me about it. Now I just learned that a very unfortunate incident happened at our house last night and a document was lost. Since it was political, he didn't Make it clear to me. The matter must be of great importance, and I have fully understood it. Besides the statesmen, you are the only one who understands it best. Mr. Holmes, I beg you Tell me what happened that night, and the consequences of it. Please don't feel that you are hiding something from me because it would be injurious to my husband. I think you have only been very kind to me. Trust, his interests can be protected, he will understand this sooner or later, please tell me what kind of documents my husband lost."

"Ma'am, I really can't say."

She sighed and covered her face with her hands.

"You must understand, madam, that I must do this. Your husband thinks it is better for you not to know about it. It is a profession to me, and I promise not to reveal anything, and I must never You'd better ask him what he won't let me say."

"I asked him. I came to you out of desperation, Mr. Holmes. Now that you are unwilling to tell me the incident clearly, can you give me a little enlightenment? In that case, it may be helpful. I've been of great help."

"Ma'am, what does this enlightenment refer to?"

"Will my husband's political career be threatened by this?"

"Only by correcting mistakes can it be possible to avoid bad consequences."

"Ah?" She sighed for a long time, as if the mystery had been solved at once.

"Mr. Holmes, I have another question. My husband's expression was really shocked when this happened. I understood everything at that time. The loss of this thing must have terrible consequences throughout the country. .”

"If he said that, of course I wouldn't object."

"After losing it, what are the possible consequences?"

"No, ma'am, I can never answer that."

"Well, I will not waste your time. Mr. Holmes, I will never reproach you for your careful speech, and I am very sure that you will not talk too much about me. Because I want to help him and relieve his problems. even if he doesn't want me to. I beg you not to tell him I've been here."

She walked towards the door and looked back at us again. Her beautiful and anxious face, together with her frightened eyes and tight lips, left a deep impression on me.She walked out the door.

The sound of skirts rubbing against the floor faded away.At this time, Holmes smiled and said to me: "Watson, you should have studied women! What kind of tricks is this beautiful lady doing? What is her real purpose?"

"She made her intentions very clear, and the anxiety she displayed was perfectly natural."

"Hmph! Watson, look at her expression, her attitude, her suppressed anxiety, and her repeated questioning expression. You should know her background, and she shouldn't be able to show her expression so easily."

(End of this chapter)