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Page 40
"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. Murder 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."
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