Welcome to Sherlock Holmes short stories. I'm Hugh Bonneville, and from the Noiser podcast network, this is The Naval Treaty, Part 2.

Last time, Dr Watson received a desperate letter from his old school friend, Percy Phelps.

Once, a promising young diplomat at the Foreign Office, his career had recently been

destroyed when a top-secret naval treaty vanished from his desk in the dead of night.

The shock of its loss caused him to suffer a mental breakdown, which lasted nine weeks. Holmes and Watson

travelled to Woking to meet their client where they were greeted by Joseph Harrison, the brother

of Phelps's fiancée, Annie. Harrison led them to Phelps's room, where the great detective

began his questioning. Phelps described a confounding series of events.

While copying the treaty, he had ordered a cup of coffee from the commissioner.

When it didn't arrive, he went to investigate, only to find the guard asleep at his post.

Suddenly, a bell rang from his office, but when Phelps rushed back, the treaty had disappeared

from his desk. The commissioner's wife was seen hurrying from the scene, but was quickly cleared

of suspicion by Scotland Yard. Another clerk, Charles Goro, was briefly suspected, but proved

his innocence.

The police were left baffled.

Now, having finished his tale, Phelps turns to Holmes as his last hope for recovering the treaty and salvaging his career. The Invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by this long recital, while his nurse poured him out a glass of some stimulating medicine.

Holmes sat silently, with his head thrown back and his eyes closed,

in an attitude which might seem listless to a stranger,

but which I knew betokened the most intense self-absorption.

Your statement has been so explicit, said he at last, that you have really left me very few questions to ask.

There is one of the very utmost importance, however.

Did you tell anyone that you had this special task to perform?'

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