- Mr. Victor Hatherley? - Yes.
- Hydraulic engineer? - Yes.
Colonel Lysander Stark.
Thank you for your quick responding.
You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley,
as being a man who is discreet and capable of preserving a secret.
May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?
Perhaps it's better that I should not tell you thatjust at this moment.
I have a professional commission for you.
But absolute secrecy is quite essential - absolute secrecy.
Do you promise?
If I promise to keep a secret,
you may absolutely depend upon my doing so.
How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?
Most admirably.
I say a night's work,
but an hour's would be nearer the mark.
I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine
which has got out of gear.
If you show us what is wrong
we shall soon set it right ourselves.
Our little place is quite out in the country.
It is a good seven miles from Eyford Station.
I suppose there would be no chance of a train back.
I should be compelled to stop the night.
Yes.
It is to recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you,
a young and unknown man,
a fee which would buy an opinion from the very heads of your profession.
It's much, of course.
I should like, however, to understand a little more clearly
what it is that you wish me to do.
You are probably aware
that fuller's-earth is a valuable product,
and that it is only found in one or two places in England.
I have heard so.
Some little time ago I bought a small place
There was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my fields.
It formed a link
between two very much larger ones upon the right and left,
both of them, however, in the grounds of my neighbours.
A few of my friends suggested that we should quietly and secretly work
own little deposit and that in this way we should earn the money
which would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields.
We guard our secret very jealously.
if it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our house,
it would soon rouse inquiry,
and then, it would be good-bye to any chance of carrying out our plans.
I hope that I make it all plain?
The only point which I could not quite und52,396 my inquiries must go more to the root of things.
What was the letter?
That is a State secret of the utmost importance.
If by the aid of the powers which you are said to possess
you can find such an envelope as I describe
with its enclosure,
you will have deserved well of your country,
and earned any reward
which it lies in our power to bestow.
I regret exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter,
and any continuation of this interview
would be a waste of time.
I am not accustomed, sir--
I agree with you.
Then I will tell you,
relying entirely upon your honour
and that of your colleague, Dr. Watson.
I may appeal to your patriotism also.
You may safely trust us.
The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate
who has been ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this country.
It has been written hurriedly and upon his own responsibility entirely.
Inquiries have shown
that his Ministers know nothing of the matter.
At the same time it is couched in so unfortunate a manner,
and certain phrases in it are of so provocative a character,
that its publication would lead to a dangerous state of feeling in the country.
There would be such a ferment, sir, that I do not hesitate to say
that within a week of the publication of that letter
this country would be involved in a great war.
Yes. It was he.
Exactly.
And it is this letter which may well mean
the expenditure of a thousand millions and the lives of a hundred thousand men
which has become lost in this unaccountable fashion.
It is probably speeding on its way
thither at the present instant
as fast as steam can take it.
Now, Mr. Holmes, what course do you recommend?
Consider the facts, sir.
It was taken, then, yesterday evening between seven-thirty
and eleven-thirty,
Since nobody saw the dispatch-box.
Now, sir, if a document of this importance were taken at that hour,
where can it be now?
It is, probably, beyond our reach.
You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered
there will be war?
I think it is very probable.
Then, sir, prepare for war.
That is a hard saying.
Sho