The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 5 (1/2)
”'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 Birham; but this time I shall follow his advice Pray consider yourself definitely engaged”
”'What are reat 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 coham 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 theested
”'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 cooodbook under s in ed 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 ht, 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 coain On Wednesday it was still unfinished, so I haht 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 co, at seven, and leton Don't overwork yourself A couple of hours at Day's Music Hall in the evening would do you no harhed as he spoke, and I saith a thrill that his second tooth upon the left-hand side had been very badly stuffed with gold”
Sherlock Holht, 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 ti to Mawson's, I happened to notice that his tooth was stuffed in this very identical fashi+on The glint of the gold in each case caught ure being the saed 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 bowedwhether 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 ot there before me? And why had he written a letter froether too much for me, and I could make no sense of it And then suddenly it struck ht to Mr Sherlock Holht train to see hiham”
There was a pause after the stock-broker's clerk had concluded his surprising experience Then Sherlock Hol back on the cushi+ons with a pleased and yet critical face, like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a coe
”Rather fine, Watson, is it not?” said he ”There are points in it which please ree with me that an intervieith Mr Arthur Harry Pinner in the temporary offices of the Franco-Midland Hardware Co 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 beyou both round to thedirector?”
”Quite so, of course,” said Holentleame 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 , and we hardly drew another word from him until ere in New Street
At seven o'clock that evening alking, the three of us, down Corporation Street to the co 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 naestive,” remarked Holmes
”By Jove, I told you so!” cried the clerk ”That's he walking ahead of us there”
He pointed to a s the other side of the road As atched hi out the latest edition of the evening paper, and running over aht one froh a door-way
”There he goes!” cried Hall Pycroft ”These are the coone Come withhis 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 roole table sat thepaper 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 rief--of a horror such as colistened with perspiration, his cheeks were of the dull, dead white of a fish's belly, and his eyes ild 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 a obvious efforts to pull hi his dry lips before he spoke ”Who are these gentleht 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 entlemen of experience, but they have been out of a place for soht 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 so for you What is your particular line, Mr Harris?”
”I am an accountant,” said Hol 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 coo For God's sake leave me to h the constraint which he was evidently setting upon hilanced 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 ith you I will be entirely at your service in three ht 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 hi 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 e? There is so 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 shi+vers on hiested
”That's it,” cried Pycroft
Holmes shook his head ”He did not turn pale He was pale e 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