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 moustache. 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 cla.s.s who have been labelled c.o.c.kneys, 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 in a first-cla.s.s 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 outre outre features which are as dear to you as they are to me. Now, Mr. Pycroft, I shall not interrupt you again." 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 Johnny 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 c.o.xon & Woodhouse"s, of Draper Gardens, but they were let in early in the spring through the Venezuelan loan, as no doubt you remember, and came a nasty cropper.el I have been with them five years, and old c.o.xon 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 c.o.xon"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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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. I have been with them five years, and old c.o.xon 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 c.o.xon"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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 stockbroking firm in Lombard Street. I dare say E. C.em is not much in your line, but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in London. The advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 c.o.xon"s. is not much in your line, but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in London. The advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 c.o.xon"s.
"And now I come to the queer 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.en He had a brisk kind of way with him and spoke sharply, like a man who knew the value of time. 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 c.o.xon & 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 c.o.xon"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 l26B 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 grat.i.tude, 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 500." "
"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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage 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 daresay 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 cla.s.sified 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 a.s.sistance 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 labours." 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 c.o.c.ked 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 buses, he bought one from him. Then, clutching it in his hand, he vanished through a doorway.
"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 stones, 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 G.o.d"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.