Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 148 The Last Greeting (10)
"I can assure you that it is a complete mystery to him, and to us all, a complete mystery. He has told the police all he knows. He thinks Cadogan West is the culprit. But otherwise it's just incredible."

"Do you have anything new to offer?"

"I've only read or heard it in the papers, and know almost nothing. I don't mean to be rude, but you can understand, Mr. Holmes, that we are in such a mess at the moment that we have to ask you to end the interview as soon as possible. .”

"There are unexpected incidents," said my friend, returning to the carriage. "I suspect unnatural death, or the poor old man's suicide! If the latter, is it self-reproach for negligence? That question is to be discussed later. Now we go to Cadogan West's."

In a small and exquisite house on the outskirts of the city, a mother who lost her son is at home.The old lady was so delirious with grief that there was little she could do to help.A pale young woman next to her claimed to be the deceased's fiancée, Miss Violet Westbury, who was also the last person to see the deceased on the night of the incident.

"I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes," she said. "I haven't closed my eyes since it happened. My mind goes on day and night, and I don't know why. He is definitely the most simple, chivalrous and patriotic man in the world." People. He would never betray the state secrets that he kept, and he would never betray his right hand. Everyone who knows him believes that it is simply absurd, impossible, and abnormal."

"But what are the facts, Miss Westbury?"

"This, this, I admit it, I can't explain it."

"Is he short of money?"

"No, his living requirements are very simple, his salary is high, and he has hundreds of pounds in savings. We are ready to get married in the new year."

"No signs of insanity? Miss Westbury, please tell the truth."

My companion's piercing eyes noticed the change in her demeanor.She blushed and hesitated.

"Yes," she said at last, "I have a feeling he has something on his mind."

"how long it has been?"

"Last week, maybe. He was brooding and irritable. Once I pressed him, he admitted that there might be something that would affect his future. 'It's too serious to talk about, and I can't tell you.' He said Say. I won't be able to ask any more questions."

Holmes' face darkened.

"Please go on, Miss Westbury. Speak even if there is something against him, regardless of the consequences."

"Really, I have nothing more to say. Once or twice, he hesitated as if he was about to say something. One night, I remember him saying that foreign spies must pay a lot of money to keep secrets."

My friend's face became more serious.

"What else?"

"He says we're sloppy about things like this—it's easy for traitors to get their hands on the plans."

"Did you say that recently?"

"Yes, recently."

"Tell us what happened that night."

"We went to the theater together. The fog was so thick that we couldn't drive the carriage. We walked and came to his office building, and he suddenly disappeared into the thick fog."

"Didn't speak?"

"He let out a cry of surprise. That's all. I waited for him, but he never came back, so I had to walk home. The next morning, just after the office hours, everyone came to ask me. About twelve o'clock Chung, we have heard terrible news. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you are the only one who can clear him! He must not be wronged! That's all about him."

"Well, Watson," said he, "we must go elsewhere. Next stop, survey the office, where the papers were lost."

"The situation is not good for this young man, and it is even more bad now," he said as the carriage rumbled forward. "He wants to prepare for a marriage, maybe because of a crime. The wedding needs money. Since we talked about the plan If you want to do something, then you have this heart. You almost want to talk to the girl about the plan, but that will implicate the girl as an accomplice in treason. That would be bad."

"But it's all right, Holmes. Character plays a role, doesn't it? Besides, why did he leave the girl in the street and commit a felony?"

"Well said! It must be illogical and contradictory. It must be a sticky situation for them."

We were met in the office by Mr. Sidney Johnson, Senior Clerk.His reception was very respectful, which is usually the effect of my companion's business card.He was thin, rough-looking, wearing glasses, a middle-aged man with a haggard face, and his hands were writhing involuntarily, perhaps because of the nervousness of the accident.

"Too bad, Mr. Holmes, too bad! The director is dead, have you heard?"

"We just came from his house."

"This place is a mess. The director is dead, Cadogan West is dead, our papers have been stolen. When we closed on Monday night, our office was as efficient and secure as the rest of the government. Oh God , Thinking about it makes people afraid! This West, so many people, but he has a problem and does this kind of thing!"

"Are you sure he's guilty?"

"Who else is not him? I have always trusted him, just like I trust myself."

"What time does Xing Siyi's office close?"

"Five o'clock."

"You locked the door?"

"I was always the last to go."

"Where is the plan?"

"Just that safe, I put it away myself."

"Is the building unguarded?"

"Yes, but he has other departments to watch. He is a veteran, absolutely faithful and reliable. He didn't see much that night. Of course the fog has something to do with it."

"If Cadogan West came into the building after get off work, he'd need three keys to get the papers, wouldn't he?"

"Yes, there must be three keys: the door key, the office key, and the safe key."

"Only Sir James Walter and you have the key?"

"I don't have a key to the door or to the office—only the key to the safe."

"Has Sir James always been orderly in his work?"

"That is, I think it should be. I know he has three keys on the same ring. I see it often."

"Take the key with you to London?"

"He said so."

"You never leave your keys?"

"of course."

"Then, if West is a suspect, he must have a privately assigned key, but it was not found on him. There is another point: if the staff in this office intends to sell the plan, they can make a copy, which is better than taking the original. Isn't it much easier to go? Why take the original?"

"Copying requires considerable skill."

"But I think James, you and West, you all have such skills."

"Indeed. But please don't draw me on this matter, Mr. Holmes. The original plan has been found on West. What's the point of us guessing?"

"Well, if he copied it, he would still be able to achieve his goal, but it is really simple and complicated to take the risk of stealing the original."

"The odd is the odd--but he did it."

"The investigation of this case is deepening step by step, and there are more and more problems. Now the three documents are still missing and have not been recovered. It is reported that they are the three extremely critical ones."

"Yes, that's right."

"Do you mean to say that with these three copies, the Bruce-Partington submarine can be made without the seven copies?"

"I have already reported this to the Admiralty. But I looked through the drawings again today, and I think it may not be possible. The drawing of the double-valve automatic adjustment hole was brought back, so unless the foreigner invented this technology himself .Of course they may be able to overcome this difficulty soon.”

"However, the three missing blueprints are very important after all!"

"That is."

"I thought, with permission, I'd like to see the room. There are some questions I wanted to ask, but I can't think of them at the moment."

Holmes checked the lock of the safe, the office door, and finally the iron shutters.It was only when we were out on the grass that he became seriously interested.There was a laurel bush outside the window, and some branches seemed to be bent. He examined it carefully with a magnifying glass, and found that there were faint marks on the ground under the tree.Finally he asked the senior clerk to close the iron shutters, and then pointed out to me that the middle of the window did not close, leaving a gap through which the outside could see into the office.

"Three days' delay, and the print is ruined. The print may or may not be of use. Well, Watson, I don't think Woolwich is of much use to us, just a small gain. We shall see." Can London be better?"

However, just as we were leaving Woolwich Station, we got a little more information.The station conductor said with certainty that he had seen Cadogan West—whom he knew well—Sings West took the eight-fifteen train for London Bridge to London one night.Only West bought a one-way third-class ticket.The conductor was surprised to see his nervous and excited appearance.He was so trembling that he couldn't even pick up the change, but the conductor helped him pick it up.Check the timetable, 07:30 is the earliest train he can catch after leaving the girl around [-]:[-].

"Let us re-analyze, Watson," said Holmes, after a half-hour's silence. "I do not remember a case which we have jointly investigated, which was more difficult to deal with. It has twists and turns. However, We've still made a little progress.

"Ulwich's investigation is generally unfavorable to the young Cadogan West. But all the signs through the window can give us a more favorable hypothesis. For example, it may be assumed that he is being watched by some foreign agent. I have had contact with him before. But maybe he had an appointment first, which prevented him from leaking it. This matter has a great influence on his thinking, so it is inevitable that he has revealed it in front of his fiancée. What he said shows this. Okay. Well, let's assume that when he went to the theater with the young lady, he caught a glimpse of this agent walking towards the office building in the fog. When the man got to the window and saw him taking the document, he went after the thief. In this way, it makes sense why he stole the original instead of copying the document. It is a foreign thief, so he stole the original. So far, it is still reasonable Pass."

"what's next?"

"Then there was difficulty again. It is conceivable that the young man Cadogan West's first act in such circumstances should have been to catch the thief, and cry out for the thief. Why did he not do that? Would he not?" Could it be a boss who is taking the documents? This can explain West's behavior. Could it be this boss who threw West away in the fog, but West immediately followed him to London to intercept him at his residence? Assuming that he knew where he lived, it was urgent to catch up with him, so he left the girl standing in the fog, and had no time to tell her. The clue was broken again. Because of this assumption, the same as West There is a huge gulf between the fact that the dead body was placed on the roof of the subway car with seven documents. I have a hunch that we have to start from the other end now. If Mycroft gives us the list, we may be able to find out The people we are tracking go hand in hand from two lines and cannot work on a single line.”

Sure enough, a letter was already waiting for us in Baker Street.There was an urgent dispatch by the government courier. Holmes glanced at it and threw it to me.

There are many unknown soldiers, and such a heavy responsibility is not something such people can take on.Noteworthy persons are: Adolphe Meyer, 13 George Street, Westminster; Louise LaRose, Notting Hill, Campton House; Hugo Oberstein, Kensington , 13 Caulfield Gardens.The latter person is understood to have been in the city on Monday and has now been reported to have left.Glad to hear you've got a clue.The cabinet is anxious and eager to hear your final victory.An urgent order from the highest authority has been issued.The national police force is mobilized to be your backing, ready to call at any time.

"I'm afraid," said Holmes with a smile, "that all the Queen's troops will be of no avail." Pushing aside the whole map of London, he leaned over to look it up eagerly. "Well, well," he cried in a moment of satisfaction, "things are turning a little bit. Oh, Watson, I'm sure we're going to get it all out of here." He suddenly became excited, and patted me dancing. Shoulder: "I'm going out now, and I'll do a reconnaissance first. I won't do anything very risky without you, a comrade and a writer of nonfiction, by my side. You stay home, and I'll be back in an hour or two. If If you find it hard to pass the time, get out your pen and paper, and start writing about how we can save our country."

I was influenced by him, and I was very excited.I know very well that he will not easily get rid of his usual serious attitude. It must be a special happy event to make him so happy.All this long November night I had been waiting, anxiously hoping for his return.Finally, just after nine o'clock, a letter arrived by special post:

I am eating at the Goldoni Hotel, Gloucester Road, Kensington.Come and meet me here immediately, with crowbar, blackout lantern, chisel, pistol, etc.

It is strange and wonderful for a decent citizen to carry these things through dark, foggy streets.I carefully hid the things in my coat and drove straight to the designated place.It was a luxurious Italian restaurant, and my friend was sitting at a round table near the door.

"Ever? Come have some coffee and a citrus bar with me. Try a restaurateur's cigar. It's not as poisonous as people say it is. Bring everything?"

"Take them all, in the coat."

"Very well, what I did, give you a general account, and how we are going to do it. Now you must understand, Watson, that the young man's body was put on the roof of the car. I was the only one who concluded that fact." , he must have fallen from the roof and not from the compartment, that is already clear."

"Could it have fallen from some bridge?"

"I don't think it's possible. You look at the roof, it's slightly arched, and there's no fence around it. So we're sure that young Cadogan West was put on it."

"Why put it there?"

"That's the question we're trying to answer. There's only one possibility. You know that the subway doesn't have tunnels in certain places on the West End. I seem to remember, once I was on the subway, and I happened to see the outside window just over my head. Suppose there was a A train stops under such a window, so would it be difficult to put a person on top of the train?"

"It seems unlikely."

"We're left to believe the old adage that when all else has collapsed, what remains must be true, however improbable. Here, all else has collapsed. The man who just left London I was overjoyed when I found out that the chief international agent of the United States lives in a house close to the subway. Are you even surprised at my sudden frivolity?"

"Ah, is that so?"

"Yes, that's it. Mr. Hugo Oberstein, who lives at 13 Caulfield Gardens, has become my target. I started work at Gloucester Road station. There was a civil servant on the station who helped me a lot. Busy. He walked me a long way along the tracks, and made it clear to me that the back windows of Caulfield Gardens looked on to the railway, and, what was more important, as it was a junction of one of the main lines, Subway trains often stop at that location for a few minutes."

"Excellent, Holmes! Well done!"

"Only so far—so far, Watson. There is something to be said, but it is still a long way off. Looking behind Caulfield Gardens, I looked ahead, and found that the fellow had slipped away. It's gone. It's a fairly large house, unfurnished, and, as far as I can judge, he lived in a room on the upper floor. Oberstein lived with only one entourage, who may have been his confidant. We must remember that Oberstein had gone to the Continent to hand over his booty, and had no intention of fleeing, since he had no reason to fear arrest, and would never have imagined that his house would be searched as an amateur. It's what we're going to do."

"Can't we have a summons and go through the formalities?"

"Based on the available evidence, not yet."

"so what should I do now?"

"I don't know if he has anything that can be used as evidence. I'm going to check in his house."

"Is that all right, Holmes?"

"My man, you keep sentry in the street. I'm the one to do the crime, and this is not the time to think about trifles. Think of Mycroft, think of the Admiralty, think of the Cabinet, think of those who Honorable people awaiting news. We must go."

"In answer, Holmes, we must go."

He jumped up and took my hand.

"I knew you wouldn't back down," he said.At this moment, I saw an almost gentle look in his eyes.After a while, he was back to normal, sophisticated and serious again.

"Nearly half a mile, but there's no hurry. Let's walk," he said, "and don't let the tools fall out. If you're caught as a suspect, you'll be in trouble."

The row of flat columns and porches in Caulfield Gardens in London's West End is a remarkable example of mid-Victorian architecture.The family next door looked like children were having a party. In the night, the children's happy shouts and the sound of the ding-dong piano could be heard.A thick fog all around hid us in its friendly shadow.Holmes lit his lantern, and let its light fall upon the massive great door.

"It's a tough place," he said. "The door is not only locked, it's barred. Let's go down to the lightwell in the basement and we'll see what we can do. The archway over there is a good spot in case something happens. A policeman who is devoted to his duty can also hide. I hold my hand, Watson, and I hold you too."

We quickly touched the basement light well together.No sooner had we ducked into the shadows than the sound of policemen's footsteps passed through the fog above us.Hearing the rhythmic steps slowly going away, Holmes started to open the basement door.I saw him bend down and exert all his strength, and with a click, the door was pried open.We entered the dark corridor and closed the cellar door behind us.Holmes led the way up the uncarpeted turning stairs.A small fan-shaped yellow light from the lantern illuminated a low window.

(End of this chapter)