and kept his evening clear. Instead of that, he took two tickets for the theatre, escorted his fiancée half- way there, and then suddenly disappeared.
‘A blind,’ said Lestrade, who had sat listening with some impatience to the conversation.
‘A very singular one. That is objection No. 1. Objection No. 2: We will suppose that he reaches London and sees the foreign agent. He must bring back the papers before morning or the loss will be discovered. He took away ten. Only seven were in his pocket. What had become of the other three? He certainly would not leave them of his own free will. Then, again, where is the price of his treason? One would have expected to find a large sum of money in his pocket.’
‘It seems to me perfectly clear,’ said Lestrade. ‘I have no doubt at all as to what occurred. He took the papers to sell them. He saw the agent. They could not agree as to price. He started home again, but the agent went with him. In the train the agent murdered him, took the more essential papers, and threw his body from the carriage. That would account for everything, would it not?’
‘Why had he no ticket?’
‘The ticket would have shown which station was nearest the agent’s house. Therefore he took it from the murdered man’s pocket.’
‘Good, Lestrade, very good,’ said Holmes. ‘Your theory holds together. But if this is true, then the case is at an end. On the one hand the traitor is dead. On the other the plans of the Bruce-Partington submarine are presumably already on the Continent. What is there for us to do?’
‘To act, Sherlock—to act!’ cried Mycroft, springing to his feet. ‘All my instincts are against this explanation. Use your powers! Go to the scene of the crime! See the people concerned! Leave no stone unturned! In all your career you have never had so great a chance of serving your country.’
‘Well, well!’ said Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. ‘Come, Watson! And you, Lestrade, could you favour us with your company for an hour or two? We will begin our investigation by a visit to Aldgate Station. Good-bye, Mycroft. I shall let you have a report before evening, but I warn you in advance that you have little to expect.’
An hour later, Holmes, Lestrade, and I, stood upon the Underground railroad at the point where it emerges from the tunnel immediately before Aldgate Station. A courteous, red-faced old gentleman represented the railway company.
‘This is where the young man’s body lay,’ said he, indicating a spot about three feet from the metals. ‘It could not have fallen from above, for these, as you see, are all blank walls. Therefore, it could only have come from a train, and that train, so far as we can trace it, must have passed about midnight on Monday.’
‘Have the carriages been examined for any sign of violence?’
‘There are no such signs, and no ticket has been found.’
‘No record of a door being found open?’
‘None.’
‘We have had some fresh evidence this morning,’ said Lestrade. ‘A passenger who passed Aldgate in an ordinary Metropolitan train about 11.40 on Monday night declares that he heard a heavy thud, as of a body striking the line, just before the train reached the station. There was dense fog, however, and nothing could be seen. He made no report of it at the time. Why, whatever is the matter with Mr Holmes?’