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Adventure III.
The Stock-Broker's Clerk
Shortly after my marriage I had bought a
connection in the Paddington district.
Old Mr. Farquhar, from whom I purchased it,
had at one time an excellent general
practice; but his age, and an affliction of
the nature of St. Vitus's dance from which
he suffered, had very much thinned it.
The public not unnaturally goes on the
principle that he who would heal others
must himself be whole, and looks askance at
the curative powers of the man whose own
case is beyond the reach of his drugs.
Thus as my predecessor weakened his
practice declined, until when I purchased
it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred
to little more than three hundred a year.
I had confidence, however, in my own youth
and energy, and was convinced that in a
very few years the concern would be as
flourishing as ever.
For three months after taking over the
practice I was kept very closely at work,
and saw little of my friend Sherlock
Holmes, for I was too busy to visit Baker
Street, and he seldom went anywhere himself
save upon professional business.
I was surprised, therefore, when, one
morning in June, as I sat reading the
British Medical Journal after breakfast, I
heard a ring at the bell, followed by the
high, somewhat strident tones of my old
companion's voice.
"Ah, my dear Watson," said he, striding
into the room, "I am very delighted to see
you!
I trust that Mrs. Watson has entirely
recovered from all the little excitements
connected with our adventure of the Sign of
Four."
"Thank you, we are both very well," said I,
shaking him warmly by the hand.
"And I hope, also," he continued, sitting
down in the rocking-chair, "that the cares
of medical practice have not entirely
obliterated the interest which you used to
take in our little deductive problems."
"On the contrary," I answered, "it was only
last night that I was looking over my old
notes, and classifying some of our past
results."
"I trust that you don't consider your
collection closed."
"Not at all.
I should wish nothing better than to have
some more of such experiences."
"To-day, for example?"
"Yes, to-day, if you like."
"And as far off as Birmingham?"
"Certainly, if you wish it."
"And the practice?"
"I do my neighbor's when he goes.
He is always ready to work off the debt."
"Ha! Nothing could be better," said Holmes,
leaning back in his chair and looking
keenly at me from under his half closed
lids.
"I perceive that you have been unwell
lately.
Summer colds are always a little trying."
"I was confined to the house by a severe
chill for three days last week.
I thought, however, that I had cast off
every trace of it."
"So you have.
You look remarkably robust."
"How, then, did you know of it?"
"My dear fellow, you know my methods."
"You deduced it, then?"
"Certainly."
"And from what?"
"From your slippers."
I glanced down at the new patent leathers
which I was wearing.
"How on earth--" I began, but Holmes
answered my question before it was asked.
"Your slippers are new," he said.
"You could not have had them more than a
few weeks.
The soles which you are at this moment
presenting to me are slightly scorched.
For a moment I thought they might have got
wet and been burned in the drying.
But near the instep there is a small
circular wafer of paper with the shopman's
hieroglyphics upon it.
Damp would of course have removed this.
You had, then, been sitting with your feet
outstretched to the fire, which a man would
hardly do even in so wet a June as this if
he were in his full health."
Like all Holmes's reasoning the thing
seemed simplicity itself when it was once
explained.
He read the thought upon my features, and
his smile had a tinge of bitterness.
"I am afraid that I rather give myself away
when I explain," said he.
"Results without causes are much more
impressive.
You are ready to come to Birmingham, then?"
"Certainly.
What is the case?"
"You shall hear it all in the train.
My client is outside in a four-wheeler.
Can you come at once?"
"In an instant."
I scribbled a note to my neighbor, rushed
upstairs to explain the matter to my wife,
and joined Holmes upon the door-step.
"Your neighbor is a doctor," said he,
nodding at the brass plate.
"Yes; he bought a practice as I did."
"An old-established one?"
"Just the same as mine.
Both have been ever since the houses were
built."
"Ah! Then you got hold of the best of the
two."
"I think I did.
But how do you know?"
"By the steps, my boy.
Yours are worn three inches deeper than
his.
But this gentleman in the cab is my client,
Mr. Hall Pycroft.
Allow me to introduce you to him.
Whip your horse up, cabby, for we have only
just time to catch our train."
The man whom I found myself facing was a
well built, fresh-complexioned young
fellow, with a frank, honest face and a
slight, crisp, yellow mustache.
He wore a very shiny top hat and a neat
suit of sober black, which made him look
what he was--a smart young City man, of the
class who have been labeled cockneys, but
who give us our crack volunteer regiments,
and who turn out more fine athletes and
sportsmen than any body of men in these
islands.
His round, ruddy face was naturally full of
cheeriness, but the corners of his mouth
seemed to me to be pulled down in a half-
comical distress.
It was not, however, until we were all in a
first-class carriage and well started upon
our journey to Birmingham that I was able
to learn what the trouble was which had
driven him to Sherlock Holmes.
"We have a clear run here of seventy
minutes," Holmes remarked.
"I want you, Mr. Hall Pycroft, to tell my
friend your very interesting experience
exactly as you have told it to me, or with
more detail if possible.
It will be of use to me to hear the
succession of events again.
It is a case, Watson, which may prove to
have something in it, or may prove to have
nothing, but which, at least, presents
those unusual and outré features which are
as dear to you as they are to me.
Now, Mr. Pycroft, I shall not interrupt you
again."
Our young companion looked at me with a
twinkle in his eye.
"The worst of the story is," said he, "that
I show myself up as such a confounded fool.
Of course it may work out all right, and I
don't see that I could have done otherwise;
but if I have lost my crib and get nothing
in exchange I shall feel what a soft
Johnnie I have been.
I'm not very good at telling a story, Dr.
Watson, but it is like this with me:
"I used to have a billet at Coxon &
Woodhouse's, of Draper's Gardens, but they
were let in early in the spring through the
Venezuelan loan, as no doubt you remember,
and came a nasty cropper.
I had been with them five years, and old
Coxon gave me a ripping good testimonial
when the smash came, but of course we
clerks were all turned adrift, the twenty-
seven of us.
I tried here and tried there, but there
were lots of other chaps on the same lay as
myself, and it was a perfect frost for a
long time.
I had been taking three pounds a week at
Coxon's, and I had saved about seventy of
them, but I soon worked my way through that
and out at the other end.
I was fairly at the end of my tether at
last, and could hardly find the stamps to
answer the advertisements or the envelopes
to stick them to.
I had worn out my boots paddling up office
stairs, and I seemed just as far from
getting a billet as ever.
"At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson &
Williams's, the great stock-broking firm in
Lombard Street.
I dare say E. C. Is not much in your line,
but I can tell you that this is about the
richest house in London.
The advertisement was to be answered by
letter only.
I sent in my testimonial and application,
but without the least hope of getting it.
Back came an answer by return, saying that
if I would appear next Monday I might take
over my new duties at once, provided that
my appearance was satisfactory.
No one knows how these things are worked.
Some people say that the manager just
plunges his hand into the heap and takes
the first that comes.
Anyhow it was my innings that time, and I
don't ever wish to feel better pleased.
The screw was a pound a week rise, and the
duties just about the same as at Coxon's.
"And now I come to the *** part of the
business.
I was in diggings out Hampstead way, 17
Potter's Terrace.
Well, I was sitting doing a smoke that very
evening after I had been promised the
appointment, when up came my landlady with
a card which had 'Arthur Pinner, Financial
Agent,' printed upon it.
I had never heard the name before and could
not imagine what he wanted with me; but, of
course, I asked her to show him up.
In he walked, a middle-sized, dark-haired,
dark-eyed, black-bearded man, with a touch
of the Sheeny about his nose.
He had a brisk kind of way with him and
spoke sharply, like a man who knew the
value of time."
"'Mr. Hall Pycroft, I believe?'" said he.
"'Yes, sir,' I answered, pushing a chair
towards him.
"'Lately engaged at Coxon & Woodhouse's?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"'And now on the staff of Mawson's.'
"'Quite so.'
"'Well,' said he, 'the fact is that I have
heard some really extraordinary stories
about your financial ability.
You remember Parker, who used to be Coxon's
manager?
He can never say enough about it.'
"Of course I was pleased to hear this.
I had always been pretty sharp in the
office, but I had never dreamed that I was
talked about in the City in this fashion.
"'You have a good memory?' said he.
"'Pretty fair,' I answered, modestly.
"'Have you kept in touch with the market
while you have been out of work?' he asked.
"'Yes. I read the stock exchange list every
morning.'
"'Now that shows real application!' he
cried.
'That is the way to prosper!
You won't mind my testing you, will you?
Let me see.
How are Ayrshires?'
"'A hundred and six and a quarter to a
hundred and five and seven-eighths.'
"'And New Zealand consolidated?'
"'A hundred and four.
"'And British Broken Hills?'
"'Seven to seven-and-six.'
"'Wonderful!' he cried, with his hands up.
'This quite fits in with all that I had
heard.
My boy, my boy, you are very much too good
to be a clerk at Mawson's!'
"This outburst rather astonished me, as you
can think.
'Well,' said I, 'other people don't think
quite so much of me as you seem to do, Mr.
Pinner.
I had a hard enough fight to get this
berth, and I am very glad to have it.'
"'Pooh, man; you should soar above it.
You are not in your true sphere.
Now, I'll tell you how it stands with me.
What I have to offer is little enough when
measured by your ability, but when compared
with Mawson's, it's light to dark.
Let me see.
When do you go to Mawson's?'
"'On Monday.'
"'Ha, ha!
I think I would risk a little sporting
flutter that you don't go there at all.'
"'Not go to Mawson's?'
"'No, sir.
By that day you will be the business
manager of the Franco-Midland Hardware
Company, Limited, with a hundred and
thirty-four branches in the towns and
villages of France, not counting one in
Brussels and one in San Remo.'
"This took my breath away.
'I never heard of it,' said I.
"'Very likely not.
It has been kept very quiet, for the
capital was all privately subscribed, and
it's too good a thing to let the public
into.
My brother, Harry Pinner, is promoter, and
joins the board after allotment as managing
director.
He knew I was in the swim down here, and
asked me to pick up a good man cheap.
A young, pushing man with plenty of snap
about him.
Parker spoke of you, and that brought me
here to-night.
We can only offer you a beggarly five
hundred to start with.'
"'Five hundred a year!'
I shouted.
"'Only that at the beginning; but you are
to have an overriding commission of one per
cent on all business done by your agents,
and you may take my word for it that this
will come to more than your salary.'
"'But I know nothing about hardware.'
"'Tut, my boy; you know about figures.'
"My head buzzed, and I could hardly sit
still in my chair.
But suddenly a little chill of doubt came
upon me.
"'I must be frank with you,' said I.
'Mawson only gives me two hundred, but
Mawson is safe.
Now, really, I know so little about your
company that--'
"'Ah, smart, smart!' he cried, in a kind of
ecstasy of delight.
'You are the very man for us.
You are not to be talked over, and quite
right, too.
Now, here's a note for a hundred pounds,
and if you think that we can do business
you may just slip it into your pocket as an
advance upon your salary.'
"'That is very handsome,' said I.
'When should I take over my new duties?'
"'Be in Birmingham to-morrow at one,' said
he.
'I have a note in my pocket here which you
will take to my brother.
You will find him at 126b Corporation
Street, where the temporary offices of the
company are situated.
Of course he must confirm your engagement,
but between ourselves it will be all
right.'
"'Really, I hardly know how to express my
gratitude, Mr. Pinner,' said I.
"'Not at all, my boy.
You have only got your deserts.
There are one or two small things--mere
formalities--which I must arrange with you.
You have a bit of paper beside you there.
Kindly write upon it "I am perfectly
willing to act as business manager to the
Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited,
at a minimum salary of L500."'
"I did as he asked, and he put the paper in
his pocket.
"'There is one other detail,' said he.
'What do you intend to do about Mawson's?'
"I had forgotten all about Mawson's in my
joy.
'I'll write and resign,' said I.
"'Precisely what I don't want you to do.
I had a row over you with Mawson's manager.
I had gone up to ask him about you, and he
was very offensive; accused me of coaxing
you away from the service of the firm, and
that sort of thing.
At last I fairly lost my temper.
"If you want good men you should pay them a
good price," said I.'
"'He would rather have our small price than
your big one,' said he.
"'I'll lay you a fiver,' said I, 'that when
he has my offer you'll never so much as
hear from him again.'
"'Done!' said he.
'We picked him out of the gutter, and he
won't leave us so easily.'
Those were his very words."
"'The impudent scoundrel!'
I cried.
'I've never so much as seen him in my life.
Why should I consider him in any way?
I shall certainly not write if you would
rather I didn't.'
"'Good!
That's a promise,' said he, rising from his
chair.
'Well, I'm delighted to have got so good a
man for my brother.
Here's your advance of a hundred pounds,
and here is the letter.
Make a note of the address, 126b
Corporation Street, and remember that one
o'clock to-morrow is your appointment.
Good-night; and may you have all the
fortune that you deserve!'
"That's just about all that passed between
us, as near as I can remember.
You can imagine, Dr. Watson, how pleased I
was at such an extraordinary bit of good
fortune.
I sat up half the night hugging myself over
it, and next day I was off to Birmingham in
a train that would take me in plenty time
for my appointment.
I took my things to a hotel in New Street,
and then I made my way to the address which
had been given me.
"It was a quarter of an hour before my
time, but I thought that would make no
difference.
126b was a passage between two large shops,
which led to a winding stone stair, from
which there were many flats, let as offices
to companies or professional men.
The names of the occupants were painted at
the bottom on the wall, but there was no
such name as the Franco-Midland Hardware
Company, Limited.
I stood for a few minutes with my heart in
my boots, wondering whether the whole thing
was an elaborate hoax or not, when up came
a man and addressed me.
He was very like the chap I had seen the
night before, the same figure and voice,
but he was clean shaven and his hair was
lighter.
"'Are you Mr. Hall Pycroft?' he asked.
"'Yes,' said I.
"'Oh! I was expecting you, but you are a
trifle before your time.
I had a note from my brother this morning
in which he sang your praises very loudly.'
"'I was just looking for the offices when
you came.
"'We have not got our name up yet, for we
only secured these temporary premises last
week.
Come up with me, and we will talk the
matter over.'
"I followed him to the top of a very lofty
stair, and there, right under the slates,
were a couple of empty, dusty little rooms,
uncarpeted and uncurtained, into which he
led me.
I had thought of a great office with
shining tables and rows of clerks, such as
I was used to, and I dare say I stared
rather straight at the two deal chairs and
one little table, which, with a ledger and
a waste paper basket, made up the whole
furniture.
"'Don't be disheartened, Mr. Pycroft,' said
my new acquaintance, seeing the length of
my face.
'Rome was not built in a day, and we have
lots of money at our backs, though we don't
cut much dash yet in offices.
Pray sit down, and let me have your
letter.'
"I gave it to him, and he read it over very
carefully.
"'You seem to have made a vast impression
upon my brother Arthur,' said he; 'and I
know that he is a pretty shrewd judge.
He swears by London, you know; and I by
Birmingham; but this time I shall follow
his advice.
Pray consider yourself definitely engaged."
"'What are my duties?'
I asked.
"'You will eventually manage the great
depot in Paris, which will pour a flood of
English crockery into the shops of a
hundred and thirty-four agents in France.
The purchase will be completed in a week,
and meanwhile you will remain in Birmingham
and make yourself useful.'
"'How?'
"For answer, he took a big red book out of
a drawer.
"'This is a directory of Paris,' said he,
'with the trades after the names of the
people.
I want you to take it home with you, and to
mark off all the hardware sellers, with
their addresses.
It would be of the greatest use to me to
have them.'
"'Surely there are classified lists?'
I suggested.
"'Not reliable ones.
Their system is different from ours.
Stick at it, and let me have the lists by
Monday, at twelve.
Good-day, Mr. Pycroft.
If you continue to show zeal and
intelligence you will find the company a
good master.'
"I went back to the hotel with the big book
under my arm, and with very conflicting
feelings in my breast.
On the one hand, I was definitely engaged
and had a hundred pounds in my pocket; on
the other, the look of the offices, the
absence of name on the wall, and other of
the points which would strike a business
man had left a bad impression as to the
position of my employers.
However, come what might, I had my money,
so I settled down to my task.
All Sunday I was kept hard at work, and yet
by Monday I had only got as far as H.
I went round to my employer, found him in
the same dismantled kind of room, and was
told to keep at it until Wednesday, and
then come again.
On Wednesday it was still unfinished, so I
hammered away until Friday--that is,
yesterday.
Then I brought it round to Mr. Harry
Pinner.
"'Thank you very much,' said he; 'I fear
that I underrated the difficulty of the
task.
This list will be of very material
assistance to me.'
"'It took some time,' said I.
"'And now,' said he, 'I want you to make a
list of the furniture shops, for they all
sell crockery.'
"'Very good.'
"'And you can come up to-morrow evening, at
seven, and let me know how you are getting
on.
Don't overwork yourself.
A couple of hours at Day's Music Hall in
the evening would do you no harm after your
labors.'
He laughed as he spoke, and I saw with a
thrill that his second tooth upon the left-
hand side had been very badly stuffed with
gold."
Sherlock Holmes rubbed his hands with
delight, and I stared with astonishment at
our client.
"You may well look surprised, Dr. Watson;
but it is this way," said he: "When I was
speaking to the other chap in London, at
the time that he laughed at my not going to
Mawson's, I happened to notice that his
tooth was stuffed in this very identical
fashion.
The glint of the gold in each case caught
my eye, you see.
When I put that with the voice and figure
being the same, and only those things
altered which might be changed by a razor
or a wig, I could not doubt that it was the
same man.
Of course you expect two brothers to be
alike, but not that they should have the
same tooth stuffed in the same way.
He bowed me out, and I found myself in the
street, hardly knowing whether I was on my
head or my heels.
Back I went to my hotel, put my head in a
basin of cold water, and tried to think it
out.
Why had he sent me from London to
Birmingham?
Why had he got there before me?
And why had he written a letter from
himself to himself?
It was altogether too much for me, and I
could make no sense of it.
And then suddenly it struck me that what
was dark to me might be very light to Mr.
Sherlock Holmes.
I had just time to get up to town by the
night train to see him this morning, and to
bring you both back with me to Birmingham."
There was a pause after the stock-broker's
clerk had concluded his surprising
experience.
Then Sherlock Holmes cocked his eye at me,
leaning back on the cushions with a pleased
and yet critical face, like a connoisseur
who has just taken his first sip of a comet
vintage.
"Rather fine, Watson, is it not?" said he.
"There are points in it which please me.
I think that you will agree with me that an
interview with Mr. Arthur Harry Pinner in
the temporary offices of the Franco-Midland
Hardware Company, Limited, would be a
rather interesting experience for both of
us."
"But how can we do it?"
I asked.
"Oh, easily enough," said Hall Pycroft,
cheerily.
"You are two friends of mine who are in
want of a billet, and what could be more
natural than that I should bring you both
round to the managing director?"
"Quite so, of course," said Holmes.
"I should like to have a look at the
gentleman, and see if I can make anything
of his little game.
What qualities have you, my friend, which
would make your services so valuable? or is
it possible that--" He began biting his
nails and staring blankly out of the
window, and we hardly drew another word
from him until we were in New Street.
At seven o'clock that evening we were
walking, the three of us, down Corporation
Street to the company's offices.
"It is no use our being at all before our
time," said our client.
"He only comes there to see me, apparently,
for the place is deserted up to the very
hour he names."
"That is suggestive," remarked Holmes.
"By Jove, I told you so!" cried the clerk.
"That's he walking ahead of us there."
He pointed to a smallish, dark, well-
dressed man who was bustling along the
other side of the road.
As we watched him he looked across at a boy
who was bawling out the latest edition of
the evening paper, and running over among
the cabs and busses, he bought one from
him.
Then, clutching it in his hand, he vanished
through a door-way.
"There he goes!" cried Hall Pycroft.
"These are the company's offices into which
he has gone.
Come with me, and I'll fix it up as easily
as possible."
Following his lead, we ascended five
stories, until we found ourselves outside a
half-opened door, at which our client
tapped.
A voice within bade us enter, and we
entered a bare, unfurnished room such as
Hall Pycroft had described.
At the single table sat the man whom we had
seen in the street, with his evening paper
spread out in front of him, and as he
looked up at us it seemed to me that I had
never looked upon a face which bore such
marks of grief, and of something beyond
grief--of a horror such as comes to few men
in a lifetime.
His brow glistened with perspiration, his
cheeks were of the dull, dead white of a
fish's belly, and his eyes were wild and
staring.
He looked at his clerk as though he failed
to recognize him, and I could see by the
astonishment depicted upon our conductor's
face that this was by no means the usual
appearance of his employer.
"You look ill, Mr. Pinner!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, I am not very well," answered the
other, making obvious efforts to pull
himself together, and licking his dry lips
before he spoke.
"Who are these gentlemen whom you have
brought with you?"
"One is Mr. Harris, of Bermondsey, and the
other is Mr. Price, of this town," said our
clerk, glibly.
"They are friends of mine and gentlemen of
experience, but they have been out of a
place for some little time, and they hoped
that perhaps you might find an opening for
them in the company's employment."
"Very possibly!
Very possibly!" cried Mr. Pinner with a
ghastly smile.
"Yes, I have no doubt that we shall be able
to do something for you.
What is your particular line, Mr. Harris?"
"I am an accountant," said Holmes.
"Ah yes, we shall want something of the
sort.
And you, Mr. Price?"
"A clerk," said I.
"I have every hope that the company may
accommodate you.
I will let you know about it as soon as we
come to any conclusion.
And now I beg that you will go.
For God's sake leave me to myself!"
These last words were shot out of him, as
though the constraint which he was
evidently setting upon himself had suddenly
and utterly burst asunder.
Holmes and I glanced at each other, and
Hall Pycroft took a step towards the table.
"You forget, Mr. Pinner, that I am here by
appointment to receive some directions from
you," said he.
"Certainly, Mr. Pycroft, certainly," the
other resumed in a calmer tone.
"You may wait here a moment; and there is
no reason why your friends should not wait
with you.
I will be entirely at your service in three
minutes, if I might trespass upon your
patience so far."
He rose with a very courteous air, and,
bowing to us, he passed out through a door
at the farther end of the room, which he
closed behind him.
"What now?" whispered Holmes.
"Is he giving us the slip?"
"Impossible," answered Pycroft.
"Why so?"
"That door leads into an inner room."
"There is no exit?"
"None."
"Is it furnished?"
"It was empty yesterday."
"Then what on earth can he be doing?
There is something which I don't understand
in this manner.
If ever a man was three parts mad with
terror, that man's name is Pinner.
What can have put the shivers on him?"
"He suspects that we are detectives," I
suggested.
"That's it," cried Pycroft.
Holmes shook his head.
"He did not turn pale.
He was pale when we entered the room," said
he.
"It is just possible that--"
His words were interrupted by a sharp rat-
tat from the direction of the inner door.
"What the deuce is he knocking at his own
door for?" cried the clerk.
Again and much louder came the rat-tat-tat.
We all gazed expectantly at the closed
door.
Glancing at Holmes, I saw his face turn
rigid, and he leaned forward in intense
excitement.
Then suddenly came a low guggling, gargling
sound, and a brisk drumming upon woodwork.
Holmes sprang frantically across the room
and pushed at the door.
It was fastened on the inner side.
Following his example, we threw ourselves
upon it with all our weight.
One hinge snapped, then the other, and down
came the door with a crash.
Rushing over it, we found ourselves in the
inner room.
It was empty.
But it was only for a moment that we were
at fault.
At one corner, the corner nearest the room
which we had left, there was a second door.
Holmes sprang to it and pulled it open.
A coat and waistcoat were lying on the
floor, and from a hook behind the door,
with his own braces round his neck, was
hanging the managing director of the
Franco-Midland Hardware Company.
His knees were drawn up, his head hung at a
dreadful angle to his body, and the clatter
of his heels against the door made the
noise which had broken in upon our
conversation.
In an instant I had caught him round the
waist, and held him up while Holmes and
Pycroft untied the elastic bands which had
disappeared between the livid creases of
skin.
Then we carried him into the other room,
where he lay with a clay-colored face,
puffing his purple lips in and out with
every breath--a dreadful wreck of all that
he had been but five minutes before.
"What do you think of him, Watson?" asked
Holmes.
I stooped over him and examined him.
His pulse was feeble and intermittent, but
his breathing grew longer, and there was a
little shivering of his eyelids, which
showed a thin white slit of ball beneath.
"It has been touch and go with him," said
I, "but he'll live now.
Just open that window, and hand me the
water carafe."
I undid his collar, poured the cold water
over his face, and raised and sank his arms
until he drew a long, natural breath.
"It's only a question of time now," said I,
as I turned away from him.
Holmes stood by the table, with his hands
deep in his trouser's pockets and his chin
upon his breast.
"I suppose we ought to call the police in
now," said he.
"And yet I confess that I'd like to give
them a complete case when they come."
"It's a blessed mystery to me," cried
Pycroft, scratching his head.
"Whatever they wanted to bring me all the
way up here for, and then--"
"Pooh!
All that is clear enough," said Holmes
impatiently.
"It is this last sudden move."
"You understand the rest, then?"
"I think that it is fairly obvious.
What do you say, Watson?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"I must confess that I am out of my
depths," said I.
"Oh surely if you consider the events at
first they can only point to one
conclusion."
"What do you make of them?"
"Well, the whole thing hinges upon two
points.
The first is the making of Pycroft write a
declaration by which he entered the service
of this preposterous company.
Do you not see how very suggestive that
is?"
"I am afraid I miss the point."
"Well, why did they want him to do it?
Not as a business matter, for these
arrangements are usually verbal, and there
was no earthly business reason why this
should be an exception.
Don't you see, my young friend, that they
were very anxious to obtain a specimen of
your handwriting, and had no other way of
doing it?"
"And why?"
"Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have
made some progress with our little problem.
Why? There can be only one adequate reason.
Some one wanted to learn to imitate your
writing, and had to procure a specimen of
it first.
And now if we pass on to the second point
we find that each throws light upon the
other.
That point is the request made by Pinner
that you should not resign your place, but
should leave the manager of this important
business in the full expectation that a Mr.
Hall Pycroft, whom he had never seen, was
about to enter the office upon the Monday
morning."
"My God!" cried our client, "what a blind
beetle I have been!"
"Now you see the point about the
handwriting.
Suppose that some one turned up in your
place who wrote a completely different hand
from that in which you had applied for the
vacancy, of course the game would have been
up.
But in the interval the rogue had learned
to imitate you, and his position was
therefore secure, as I presume that nobody
in the office had ever set eyes upon you."
"Not a soul," groaned Hall Pycroft.
"Very good.
Of course it was of the utmost importance
to prevent you from thinking better of it,
and also to keep you from coming into
contact with any one who might tell you
that your double was at work in Mawson's
office.
Therefore they gave you a handsome advance
on your salary, and ran you off to the
Midlands, where they gave you enough work
to do to prevent your going to London,
where you might have burst their little
game up.
That is all plain enough."
"But why should this man pretend to be his
own brother?"
"Well, that is pretty clear also.
There are evidently only two of them in it.
The other is impersonating you at the
office.
This one acted as your engager, and then
found that he could not find you an
employer without admitting a third person
into his plot.
That he was most unwilling to do.
He changed his appearance as far as he
could, and trusted that the likeness, which
you could not fail to observe, would be put
down to a family resemblance.
But for the happy chance of the gold
stuffing, your suspicions would probably
never have been aroused."
Hall Pycroft shook his clinched hands in
the air.
"Good Lord!" he cried, "while I have been
fooled in this way, what has this other
Hall Pycroft been doing at Mawson's?
What should we do, Mr. Holmes?
Tell me what to do."
"We must wire to Mawson's."
"They shut at twelve on Saturdays."
"Never mind.
There may be some door-keeper or attendant-
-"
"Ah yes, they keep a permanent guard there
on account of the value of the securities
that they hold.
I remember hearing it talked of in the
City."
"Very good; we shall wire to him, and see
if all is well, and if a clerk of your name
is working there.
That is clear enough; but what is not so
clear is why at sight of us one of the
rogues should instantly walk out of the
room and hang himself."
"The paper!" croaked a voice behind us.
The man was sitting up, blanched and
ghastly, with returning reason in his eyes,
and hands which rubbed nervously at the
broad red band which still encircled his
throat.
"The paper!
Of course!" yelled Holmes, in a paroxysm of
excitement.
"Idiot that I was!
I thought so much of our visit that the
paper never entered my head for an instant.
To be sure, the secret must be there."
He flattened it out upon the table, and a
cry of triumph burst from his lips.
"Look at this, Watson," he cried.
"It is a London paper, an early edition of
the Evening Standard.
Here is what we want.
Look at the headlines: 'Crime in the City.
*** at Mawson & Williams's.
Gigantic attempted Robbery.
Capture of the Criminal.'
Here, Watson, we are all equally anxious to
hear it, so kindly read it aloud to us."
It appeared from its position in the paper
to have been the one event of importance in
town, and the account of it ran in this
"A desperate attempt at robbery,
culminating in the death of one man and the
capture of the criminal, occurred this
afternoon in the City.
For some time back Mawson & Williams, the
famous financial house, have been the
guardians of securities which amount in the
aggregate to a sum of considerably over a
million sterling.
So conscious was the manager of the
responsibility which devolved upon him in
consequence of the great interests at stake
that safes of the very latest construction
have been employed, and an armed watchman
has been left day and night in the
building.
It appears that last week a new clerk named
Hall Pycroft was engaged by the firm.
This person appears to have been none other
that Beddington, the famous forger and
cracksman, who, with his brother, had only
recently emerged from a five years' spell
of penal servitude.
By some means, which are not yet clear, he
succeeded in winning, under a false name,
this official position in the office, which
he utilized in order to obtain moulding of
various locks, and a thorough knowledge of
the position of the strong room and the
safes.
"It is customary at Mawson's for the clerks
to leave at midday on Saturday.
Sergeant Tuson, of the City Police, was
somewhat surprised, therefore to see a
gentleman with a carpet bag come down the
steps at twenty minutes past one.
His suspicions being aroused, the sergeant
followed the man, and with the aid of
Constable *** succeeded, after a most
desperate resistance, in arresting him.
It was at once clear that a daring and
gigantic robbery had been committed.
Nearly a hundred thousand pounds' worth of
American railway bonds, with a large amount
of scrip in mines and other companies, was
discovered in the bag.
On examining the premises the body of the
unfortunate watchman was found doubled up
and thrust into the largest of the safes,
where it would not have been discovered
until Monday morning had it not been for
the prompt action of Sergeant Tuson.
The man's skull had been shattered by a
blow from a poker delivered from behind.
There could be no doubt that Beddington had
obtained entrance by pretending that he had
left something behind him, and having
murdered the watchman, rapidly rifled the
large safe, and then made off with his
***.
His brother, who usually works with him,
has not appeared in this job as far as can
at present be ascertained, although the
police are making energetic inquiries as to
his whereabouts."
"Well, we may save the police some little
trouble in that direction," said Holmes,
glancing at the haggard figure huddled up
by the window.
"Human nature is a strange mixture, Watson.
You see that even a villain and murderer
can inspire such affection that his brother
turns to suicide when he learns that his
neck is forfeited.
However, we have no choice as to our
action.
The doctor and I will remain on guard, Mr.
Pycroft, if you will have the kindness to
step out for the police."