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Page 39
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."
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