"How about the fireplace?"

　　"They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from thewire just to the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have comeright up to the desk to do it. But why should any criminal wish toring the bell? It is a most insoluble mystery."

　　"Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps?You examined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had leftany traces-any cigar-end or dropped glove or hairpin or other trifle?""There was nothing of the sort."

　　"No smell?"

　　"Well, we never thought of that."

　　"Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to usin such an investigation."

　　"I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if therehad been any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of anykind. The only tangible fact was that the commissionaire's wife-Mrs.Tangey was the name-had hurried out of the place. He could give noexplanation save that it was about the time when the woman always wenthome. The policeman and I agreed that our best plan would be toseize the woman before she could get rid of the papers, presuming thatshe had them.

　　"The alarm had reached Scotland Yard by this time, and Mr. Forbes,the detective, came round at once and took up the case with a greatdeal of energy. We hired a hansom, and in half an hour we were atthe address which had been given to us. A young woman opened the door,who proved to be Mrs. Tangey's eldest daughter. Her mother had notcome back yet, and we were shown into the front room to wait."About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here wemade the one serious mistake for which I blame myself. Instead ofopening the door ourselves, we allowed the girl to do so. We heard hersay, 'Mother, there are two men in the house waiting to see you,'and an instant afterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down thepassage. Forbes flung open the door, and we both ran into the backroom or kitchen, but the woman had got there before us. She staredat us with defiant eyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, anexpression of absolute astonishment came over her face."'Why, if it isn't Mr. Phelps, of the office!' she cried."'Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran away fromus?' asked my companion.

　　"'I thought you were the brokers,' said she, 'we have had sometrouble with a tradesman.'

　　"'That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. 'We have reason tobelieve that you have taken a paper of importance from the ForeignOffice, and that you ran in here to dispose of it. You must comeback with us to Scotland Yard to be searched.'