o, and carrying it to the
French embassy, or wherever he thought that a long price was to be
had. Then came your sudden return. He, without a moment's warning, was
bundled out of his room, and from that time onward there were always at
least two of you there to prevent him from regaining his treasure. The
situation to him must have been a maddening one. But at last he thought
he saw his chance. He tried to steal in, but was baffled by your
wakefulness. You remember that you did not take your usual draught that
night."

"I remember."

"I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious,
and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious. Of course, I
understood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it could be done
with safety. Your leaving the room gave him the chance he wanted. I kept
Miss Harrison in it all day so that he might not anticipate us. Then,
having given him the idea that the coast was clear, I kept guard as
I have described. I already knew that the papers were probably in the
room, but I had no desire to rip up all the planking and skirting in
search of them. I let him take them, therefore, from the hiding-place,
and so saved myself an infinity of trouble. Is there any other point
which I can make clear?"

"Why did he try the window on the first occasion," I asked, "when he
might have entered by the door?"

"In reaching the door he would have to pass seven bedrooms. On the other
hand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease. Anything else?"

"You do not think," asked Phelps, "that he had any murderous intention?
The knife was only meant as a tool."

"It may be so," answered Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. "I can only
say for certain that Mr. Joseph Harrison is a gentleman to whose mercy I
should be extremely unwilling to trust."

Adventure XI. The Final Problem

It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last
words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend
Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an incoherent and, as I deeply
feel, an entirely inadequate fashion, I have endeavored to give some
account of my strange experiences in his company from the chance which
first brought us together at the period of the "Study in Scarlet," up
to the time of his interference in the matter of the "Naval Treaty"--an
interference which had the unquestionable effect of preventing a serious
international complication. It was my inten