[2] Percy Phelps, a young Foreign Office employee from Woking, sends a letter to Dr. Watson, a former schoolfellow of his.

Phelps indicates something has caused him a nine-week attack of brain fever; now that he has recovered, he begs Watson to bring Holmes to his aid.

Two months earlier, his uncle and superior in the Foreign Office, Lord Holdhurst, had ordered him to copy an important naval treaty between England and Italy.

Holmes starts the investigation at the Foreign Office, interviewing both Lord Holdhurst and Inspector Forbes.

Unbeknownst to Phelps or Joseph, Holmes orders Annie to stay in the sickroom until bedtime, and to lock the door behind her when she leaves.

As Joseph had some stock exchange debts to pay, he stole the treaty, intending to sell it, and hid it under the floorboards of his bedroom.

Percy wonders if Joseph meant to kill him with the knife; Holmes does not know, but says he would not trust such a selfish man to show mercy.

This is the longest of the short stories published in The Strand Magazine before Sherlock Holmes's "death" in "The Final Problem".

[8] It was included in the short story collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes,[7] which was published in December 1893 in the UK and February 1894 in the US.

"The Adventure of the One Hundred Tadpoles", a 2015 episode of the NHK puppetry television series Sherlock Holmes, is based on the story.

In the episode, Holmes and Watson try to take back a stolen picture which was entered in an art competition.

[13] Another episode adapted from the story aired in August 1936 (with Gordon as Holmes and Harry West as Watson).

[15] The story was also adapted as an episode titled "The Case of the Stolen Naval Treaty" that aired in 1947 (with John Stanley as Holmes and Alfred Shirley as Watson).

[17] Another dramatisation, which was also adapted by Felton and starred Hobbs and Shelley with a different supporting cast, aired in 1957 on the Home Service.

[18] A different radio version of "The Naval Treaty" adapted by Michael Hardwick aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1960, with Hobbs and Shelley again playing Holmes and Watson respectively.

[19] An adaptation of the story aired on BBC radio in 1978, starring Barry Foster as Holmes and David Buck as Watson.

The episode, which featured Gordon Gould as Sherlock Holmes and Bernard Grant as Dr. Watson, first aired in April 1982.