"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. Someone
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 someone
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 learnt 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 anyone 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 personating 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 have never been aroused."
Hall Pycroft shook his clenched 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 doorkeeper 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."
[Illustration: "PYCROFT SHOOK HIS CLENCHED HANDS IN THE AIR."]
"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 lie 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. Murder at Mawson and Williams'. 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 way:--
"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 and 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 than
Beddington, the famous forger and cracksman, who, with his brother, has
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 mouldings 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 Pollock 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 other mines and companies, were 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 booty. His brother, who
usually works with him, has not appeared in this job, so far as can at
present be ascertained, although the police are making energetic
inquiries as to his whereabouts."
[Illustration: "GLANCING AT THE HAGGARD FIGURE."]
"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 a 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."
_Beauties._
[Illustration: FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY MESSRS. ELLIOTT AND FRY, BAKER
STREET, W.]
[Illustration: Miss Webster