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Capital, my dear Watson, let us return to our humble abode.
uh... uh... two two one b baker street please gary from london we present the naval treaty a sherlock holmes story by sir arthur conan doyle dramatized for radio by michael hardwicke the naval treaty may i come in holmes oh watson
On my word, I thought you were too busy to come and see me anymore.Well, I have been rather busy, I confess.Oh, if you find your own case is more interesting than mine.
I was going to say that my practice could get along very well without me ever a dare to.Oh, capital.Capital, Watson.I perceive you're fiddling with a piece of paper.You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson.What is it?
Well, it's a letter I reached for this morning.And you have come to read it? Well, I thought that... Pray proceed.It's an old school drum of mine.Brilliant boy.Carried off every prize the blessed school had to offer.
Went on to Cambridge, then the Foreign Office.Plenty of influence, you know.His uncle is Lord Holdhurst.Politicians in the family, eh?Always a good beginning.But the letter, Watson.Oh, yes.He writes from Brarbray, Woking.
My dear Watson, he says, I've no doubt you'll remember Tadpole.Tadpole Phelps, who was in the fifth form when you were in the third.
It's possible even that you may have heard that I obtained a good position in the Foreign Office, where I was in a situation of trust and honour, until a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast my career.There's no use writing the details here.
I have only just recovered from nine weeks of brain fever, and I'm still exceedingly weak, and have to write by dictating.Do you think you could bring your imminent friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, down to see me?
I should like to have his opinion, and every minute seems an hour while I live in this suspense.Do try and bring him your old school fellow, Percy Phelps.Yeah, it doesn't tell us much, does it?Oh, hardly anything.
And yet, let's see... Yes, the writing is not without interest.Yes, it's not his own.Precisely.It's a woman.Oh, no, no, Holmes, a man, surely.A woman of rare character, moreover.
It's something, at the beginning of an investigation, to know that your client is in close contact with someone who has an exceptional nature for good or evil.Then you'll go?My interest is already awakened.Ah, splendid fellow.
So, if you're ready, we'll start at once for working and see this diplomatist who is in such an unhappy state.
I'm so very glad you've come, gentlemen.
but he's been inquiring all morning and i don't know or i'll tell you things to any strong i hear we have little comfort for him yet i was afraid of that but i perceive so that you are not yourself a member of the family but how did you of course you know that the monogram on my pocket jay joseph harrison i shall at least be a relation by a marriage to uh... the yes that is that in my sister you'll find in the room here with him just in hand and put these two months
Perhaps we'd better go in at once.Here they are, Percy.Dr. Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes.Ah, come in, come in, do.I'm overjoyed to see you both.
Shall I leave, Percy?No, no, Annie, my dear.Ah, Watson, how are you?I'd never have known you under that moustache.Oh, pretty well, in no time.Um, ah, ah, ah, Phelps.And this is your celebrated friend, I presume.At your service, sir.
Delighted to meet you, Mr. Holmes.But, ah, sit you down, please.Thank you. You'll forgive my impatience, I'm sure, if I plunge into this unhappy matter without further preamble.By all means.
Well then, Mr. Holmes, no doubt our friend Watson's already told you how I entered the Foreign Office.Very much, I confess, through the influence of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst.But he came to have the utmost confidence in me.Quite so.
Nearly ten weeks ago, he called me into his private room one day.It was the 23rd of May, to be precise.
There you are, Percy, my boy.
Very well, thank you, uncle.Sir?
Splendid.Well, now, the point is, in view of the good work you've been doing here recently, I've decided to entrust you with a mission of the greatest importance.
This roll of paper here. The original of the secret naval treaty between England and Italy.I dare say you've heard something of it.There's been some regrettable rumors in the press already.Yes, I've seen them.
Then you'll realize how important it is for nothing more to leak out.
The French and the Russians would pay a fortune to learn the contents of these papers.As a matter of fact, they should never leave my office.But I must have them copied at once.I understand, sir.I want you to do the copying.Very good, sir.
Take the treaty now and guard it with your life. I'll give directions that you may remain in the building when the others go, so that you can copy it at your leisure.
When you're finished, lock both the original and the draft in a place of absolute safety, and hand them to me personally tomorrow.Understand?You need have no fear, sir.I have every confidence in you, my dear Percy.Every confidence.
I did exactly as he indicated, Mr. Holmes.When the others had gone, I examined the treaty. I could see my uncle hadn't been exaggerating its importance.
It was also very long, and I confess I was hoping to catch the eleven o'clock train back to Woking.Joseph, er, Mr. Harrison here, was travelling back on that, I knew, and I rather hoped to go down with him.Why so?
Well, I copied as quickly as I could, but the treaty was written in French, and by nine o'clock I'd only done about a third of it.
I knew it would be hopeless to think of catching that train, so I thought I'd have a cup of coffee and work on at my leisure. There's a commissioner on all night, so I rang the bell to call him up.To my surprise, a woman came up to answer the bell.
Oh?An elderly woman, rather coarse-looking.She said she was the commissioner's wife, so I gave her the order for the coffee and went on with my writing.Yes?
Well, after a while, the coffee hadn't come and I felt like stretching my legs, so I opened the door and went down the corridor to find out what the delay was.
It's a long, straight passage leading to the stairs, with the commissioner's lodge at the bottom.Mr. Pope? Is that passage the only way of getting into the office you were working in?Yes, it is.The office is at the end of it.
But halfway down the staircase, there's a little landing with another passage coming in at right angles.It leads to a side door into Charles Street.I see.Very contingent.Well, I went down the stairs and into the hall.
I found the commissioner fast asleep in his box. Thank you.Oh, big pardon, sir.I'm sure I must have dropped off for a minute.More than a minute.What about my coffee?That's all right, sir.We'll take a jiff now.Can I get mine for you, Mr. Phelps?Here.
What's the matter now?That's funny, that is.Oh, really, thank you.I'm in the middle of important work.I can't stand waiting.The bell, sir.Well, what about the confounded bell?If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell?The bell?
Well, what bell is it?It's the bell of the room you was working in, sir.Great heavens.Are you sure?Certain.Then come on.Quick.
No one here.The treaty!It's gone!What treaty?Look from my desk.The copy's still there.The original's gone.Quick, the side door, Tangi.They must have used the side door.Officer!Officer!Yes, sir?A robbery!The Foreign Office!
A most important document has just been stolen from the Foreign Office.Has anyone passed this way?Oh, I've been standing here a quarter of an hour, sir.Only one passed here.Old woman with a shawl.My old woman going home.
No one else, Constable?Not a soul.Must have took the other way, then, sir.Come on, sir.No, no, just a minute.Which way did the woman go, officer?You're wasting your time, sir, if you think my old woman's in it.
I tell you, they took the other way, sir.Well, come on, then.Come on, officer.We've got to get that paper back at all costs.
Then we returned to the office and searched the stairs and passage.Of course, without a result.No traces, then?No, Watson.The corridor leading to my room was laid down with a kind of creamy linoleum.It shows an impression very easily.
But we didn't find a mark.Had it rained that evening?Yes, yes, it had.Since quite early, I remember.And yet there were no marks on the linoleum?No.And what did you do next?
The constable and I agreed our best plan would be to find the woman before she could get rid of the papers, assuming that she had them.He notified Scotland Yard and Mr. Forbes, the detective, came round once.Ah, I know him.
We hired a handsome and went straight round to Tangi's address in Bristol. That's right, Mrs. Tangy.
And this gentleman is from Scotland Yard.We have reason to believe that you've taken an important paper from the Foreign Office.And that you ran back here to dispose of it.
Well, I never heard a like.Never in all me days, did you, Ada?Now, Mark.My poor old Mark, what a virtue.
Be that as it may, Mrs. Tangy, I'm afraid I must insist that you accompany me to Scotland Yard, where a lady officer will search you thoroughly.
What?You mean I'll have to be searched? Oh, just think I should come to this!
But the female searcher at Scotland Yard found nothing, Mr. Holmes.And then for the first time, the horror of my situation came upon me in full force.I don't know what I did after that realization came to me.
I have a dim recollection of making some sort of scene.
Hardly blame you.Officials were crowding round me.Someone drove me to Waterloo, where we were lucky enough to meet Dr. Ferrier, who lives near here.By the time he got me home, I was practically a raving maniac.
There, there, dear.Do keep calm.
Well, you can imagine the state of things here, when they were roused from their beds and found me in that condition.Poor Joseph was bundled straight out of this cheery bedroom in his nightclothes.And here I've lain for over nine weeks.
And now, Mr. Holmes, I turn to you.You are my last hope, sir.Your statement has been so explicit that you've really left me very few questions to ask.There is one, though.
Did you tell anyone that you had this special task to perform?No one.Not Miss Harrison here, for example?Why, no.I had not been back to working in between times.And no one from here had chance to call to see you?No, sir.
Did any of them know their way about your office?Well, I suppose... Well, yes, they had all been shown over it at some time, but... I can't quite see what your... Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?
But of course I must test them before I can pronounce upon their value.
I suspect... Yes?I suspect myself of coming to conclusions too rapidly.
Then go to London and test your conclusions.
Your advice is excellent, Miss Harrison.So, my dear Watson, I think we cannot do better than return to London and put our clues to the test one by one.It's very good of you to see us at such short notice, Lord Holdhurst.
Your name is very familiar to me, Mr. Holmes.And yours, Dr. Watson.
And of course, I can't pretend to be ignorant of the object of your visit. In whose interest are you acting, may I ask?In that of Mr. Percy Phelps.Ah, my unfortunate nephew.I fear that the incident must have a very prejudicial effect on his career.
Lord Heldhurst, did you ever mention to anyone that it was your intention to give out the treaty to be copied?Never.Then the thief's presence in the room must have been entirely accidental.He saw the treaty and took it.
Ah, there you take me out of my province.
There is another important point.Yes?You feared, I understand, that very grave results might follow from the details of this treaty becoming known.Very grave, indeed.And have they occurred?Not yet.
If the treaty had reached, let us say, the French or Russian foreign office, you would expect to hear of it.Only too quickly, I fear.
And since nearly ten weeks have elapsed and nothing has happened, it is not unfair to suppose that for some reason the treaty has not reached them.As you say.
We can hardly suppose, though, can we, that the thief took the treaty in order to frame it on his wall?Perhaps he is waiting for a better price.If he waits much longer, he'll get no price at all.
In a little while, the treaty will be a secret no longer.Then... I can say no more about that, I'm afraid.But if the thief has had a sudden attack of illness... An attack of brain fever, for example?I did not say so.
And now, Lord Holthurst, we have taken up too much of your valuable time.Not at all.Good day to you, gentlemen.And every success in your investigation.Be the criminal who he may.Oh, Mr. Phelps, my report, as I expected, is so far a negative one.
Then we have more to tell you than you have for us.We had an adventure down here during the night.Indeed?They left me here. Last night was the first time I've slept without a nurse on duty in the room.Your visit made me feel so much better.
About two in the morning I woke up suddenly.I heard someone gently forcing the window up.I sprang out of bed and flung open the shutters.There was a man crouching outside.Ah, he was off in a flash.
The lower part of his face was covered with something, so I got no real sight of him.But one thing I am sure of, though.He had some weapon in his hand. It looked like a long knife.I saw it gleam.
I rang the bell and shouted, and after a while it brought Joseph down, and then he roused the others.Joseph and the groom went out and found marks on the flower bed outside the window.
But it's been very dry lately, and it was hopeless to follow any trail across the lawn.Quite.They said, though, there's a place on the wooden fence by the road which looks as if someone had got over and snapped the top of the rail.I must see that.
Well, Mr. Holmes, misfortunes never come singly, they say.You've certainly had your share, Mr. Felton.Do you think you're strong enough to walk around the house with me?Outside, you mean?Yes.Oh, yes, I could do with a little sunshine.
Joseph will give me his arm.
Yes, of course.I'll come, too.
I'm afraid not, Miss Harrison.
I shall be obliged if you will remain sitting exactly where you are. I don't see why... Please, Miss Harrison.
Come along, good gentlemen.
What a perfect day.And this is where the fence is broken.
Here's the piece hanging down.Looks rather like an old break, doesn't it?Well, possibly.No, I fancy we shall get no help here. Oh, Mr. Phelps, do you keep any plate or anything like that in the house?Anything to attract burglars?
Oh, nothing of any value.We might as well go back, then.Watson, we'll go on ahead and take another look at that flowerbed under the window.Go take your time, Mr. Phelps.Oh, very well.We'll take the path, Joseph, if you please.
Quickly, Watson.Don't appear to be hurrying, but I want a word with Miss Harrison through the window before they come up. Here we are.Miss Harrison, quickly, please.
Yes, Mr. Holmes?What is it?
It's most vitally important that you do exactly as I ask you.Very well.You must stay where you are all day, in that room.Let nothing persuade you to leave it.Lock the door on the outside when you go to bed and take the key with you.
Kevin, they're coming home.Promise, Miss Harrison.
All right, sir.I promise.
Captain.Ah, Mr. Phelps.I think it would be a great help to me if you could come up to London with me. Luncheon?At once?Well, when you've had a good rest.Perhaps we could take an early luncheon here and then go up at our leisure.
I'm in your hands, Mr. Holmes.Perhaps Joseph should come as well to look after me.Oh, that won't be necessary.Remember, our friend Watson is a medical man.Oh, of course, I'd forgotten.
And now, we'll take our ease and then presently we can all three of us go up together. Nice to be inside.Now in with you.Have a comfortable journey.Mr. Holmes, aren't you... You mean you're not coming with us?
I think just at present I can be of more use here.There are one or two small points I should like to clear up.Watson will take you to my rooms at Baker Street and will remain with you there.It's fortunate that you're old school fellows.
You have plenty to talk about.When do you expect to come up then?There's a train into Waterloo at eight in the morning.I shall be with you in time for breakfast. Good morning, gentlemen.Well, I'm here, as promised.What's the bandage on your hand?
Holmes, are you wounded?Oh, no, no, no.Only a scratch through my own clumsiness.Aha!I see the table is laid.I met Mrs. Hudson on my way upstairs, so we shall be having our breakfast in just a moment.I have no news for me first.
Oh, after breakfast, my dear sir.Remember, I've breathed 30 miles of fresh, sunny air this morning. Ah, here comes our good Mrs. Hudson.
Morning, Mrs. Hudson.We have a ravenous Mr. Holmes again, it seems.
You've only to ring for more, sir.There's plenty downstairs.
Mrs. Hudson can rise to any occasion, my dear Phelps.Her cuisine is somewhat limited.
But she has as good an idea of breakfast as any Scot.
There'll be more coffee up present, sir.
Careful. Now then, Watson, what have you under that cover of yours?Ham and eggs, as usual, I suppose?Yes.And this one?Ah, curried fowl for me.Splendid.And you, Mr. Peltz?
If you'll excuse me, Mr. Holmes, I can't eat anything.
It would do you good.No, a little coffee, perhaps.Oh, come, you haven't even raised the cover of your dish.It may tempt you.I'd rather not, if you please.Well, as you wish. But I trust you won't mind my lifting the cover for you?There!Great heavens!
Now, is that a dish to your liking, sir?Oh, the naval treaty!But Mr. Holmes, how on earth did you find it?Oh, I do apologize.It was too bad of me to spring it on you like that.Watson will tell you I can never resist the touch of the brumette.
Well, we've had our drama, Holmes.Now, don't you think a few facts would be in order now?Yes, right.Well, to begin with, after leaving you at the station, I went for a charming walk, and then made my way back to Briarbrae.
I climbed over the fence into the ground, and surely the gate was open.Oh, I have a peculiar taste in these matters.
I crawled behind trees and bushes, witnessed the deplorable state of my trousers and knees, until I reached the road at the entrance, just opposite your sick room. The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrison sitting, reading.
Yes.At a quarter past ten, she closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired.I heard her shut the door and turn the key in the lock.After that, I had a very long vigil, indeed.
But at last, about two in the morning, I heard a bolt being pushed back on the sound of a key.Then the servant's door opened, and into the moonlight
He had a black cloak over his shoulder and covering part of his face.He walked on tiptoe under the shadow of the wall and when he reached your window he worked a long bladed knife through the sash and pulled back the catch.
Then he flung up the window, opened the shutters and climbed in.But this is fantastic!He lit the candles on the mantelpiece and then he turned back the corner of the carpet near the door. Then he picked out a square piece of board.
You know, the sort of thing they need for plumbers to be able to get at the gas pipe.And out of this hiding place, he drew that little cylinder of paper.Great heavens!
He blew out the candle and walked straight into my arms as he came out of the window.He's more vicious than I gave him credit for, your Master Joseph.He flew at me with his knife and cut me across the knuckles.
In fact, I was forced to grasp him twice before I had the upper hand of him.
He looked murder out of the only eye he could see with after that.But he listened to reason and gave up the paper.So I let him go.You let him go, Holmes?Oh, I wired full particulars to our friend at Scotland Yard.
If, as I suspect, he finds only an empty nest, I fancy that Lord Holdhurst, for one, and Mr. Phelps here, for another, will be quite relieved.This is not exactly an affair for a public police Holmes, how can I believe such a thing?
I'm afraid Joseph's character is rather deeper and blacker than one might judge from his appearance.From what I heard from him during our interview, he is up to his ears in debt from gambling with stocks and ready to do anything to help himself.
When the chance presented itself, he didn't allow his sister's happiness or your reputation to hold him back.But how did he do it?How did he get the treaty?Yes, what about that?
You had hoped to travel back to working with him that night, which meant that he was up and down. Well, it was conceivable to me that, knowing your office, he might decide to call for you.Yes.
And when I heard that someone had been so anxious to get into your bedroom by way of the window, my suspicions were deepened.Why?My dear Watsons, who else could have concealed something there and be so anxious to get it back?
You told us how Joseph had been turned out of the room, which had been his without the A moment's notice when you and the doctor got back after your seizure.I'd been blind, it seems.Well, as I see it, this is what happened.
Joseph Harrison entered the Foreign Office through the Charles Street side door where his cab set him down.His cab, Mr. Phelps.There were no damp marks on the linoleum in your passage because he never got his feet wet.I see.
He was merely calling to see if you were in.He walked straight into your room an instant after you had left it. But I saw nothing of him on the stairs.He chanced to emerge from the side passage halfway down the stairs, just as you had gone past.
He went on to your room.You were not in.And so, Mr. Phelps, he rang the bell.Oh, yes, the bell.I don't understand about the bell, Holmes.What intending thief would ring?No, my dear Watson, Harrison was an innocent caller.
He rang for the commissioner to ask if Mr. Phelps had gone. But at that instant, his eyes fell upon the treaty on your desk.He recognized a state document of great importance in a flash.
He thrust it into his pocket and was off by the side door again just before you and Tangi came up.Yes, that could be so.Tangi was slow explaining about the bill.That was just long enough for Harrison to get clear.
Then he got the first train to Woking.He hid the treaty under the floor till he could decide where to sell it for the best price.Then came your sudden return. He had to leave his room without it.
And ever since, he'd been wondering how he could get at it again.You knew he would soon try again.He had to.As soon as you were out of that room, there would be nothing to prevent him.
And you asked Miss Harrison to stay in it all day to delay him still further.Until I could be ready for him at night.But surely, though, you could have searched beforehand and had the papers in your own hands.What?
And rip out all the paddling and the floorboards, and perhaps still not find the treaty?Oh, no, Watson. I let him take them from the hiding place and so saved myself an infinity of trouble.Is there any other points which I can make clear?
Why did he try the window on the first occasion 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 onto the lawn with ease.Anything else?
You do not think he had any murderous intentions?The knife was only meant as a tool.It may be so. I can only say for certain that Mr. Joseph Harrison is a gentleman to whose mercy I should be extremely unwilling to trust.
In The Naval Treaty you heard Carlton Hobbs as Sherlock Holmes and Norman Shelley as Dr. Watson.The radio play was dramatised by Michael Hardwick from the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the production for the BBC was by Martin C. Webster.
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