Again and much louder came the rat-tat-tat. We all gazedexpectantly at the closed door. Glancing at Holmes, I saw hisface turn rigid, and he leaned forward in intense excitement.
Then suddenly came a low guggling, gargling sound, and a briskdrumming upon woodwork. Holmes sprang frantically across theroom and pushed at the door. It was fastened on the inner side.
Following his example, we threw ourselves upon it with all ourweight. One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came thedoor with a crash. Rushing over it, we found ourselves in the innerroom. It was empty.
But it was only for a moment that we were at fault. At onecorner, the corner nearest the room which we had left, there wasa second door. Holmes sprang to it and pulled it open. A coatand waistcoat were lying on the floor, and from a hook behindthe door, with his own braces round his neck, was hanging themanaging director of the Franco-Midland Hardware Company.
His knees were drawn up, his head hung at a dreadful angle to hisbody, and the clatter of his heels against the door made the noisewhich had broken in upon our conversation. In an instant I hadcaught him round the waist, and held him up while Holmes andPycroft untied the elastic bands which had disappeared betweenthe 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 andout with every breath—a dreadful wreck of all that he had beenbut five minutes before.
“What do you think of him, Watson?” asked Holmes.
I stooped over him and examined him. His pulse was feebleand intermittent, but his breathing grew longer, and there was alittle shivering of his eyelids, which showed a thin white slit of ballbeneath.
“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 hiscollar, poured the cold water over his face, and raised and sank hisarms until he drew a long, natural breath. “It’s only a question oftime now,” said I, as I turned away from him.
Holmes stood by the table, with his hands deep in his trouser’spockets and his chin upon his breast.
“I suppose we ought to call the police in now,” said he. “Andyet I confess that I’d like to give them a complete case when theycome.”
“It’s a blessed mystery to me,” cried Pycroft, scratching hishead. “Whatever they wanted to bring me all the way up here for,and then——”
“Pooh! All that is clear enough,” said Holmes impatiently. “It isthis 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 mydepths,” said I.
“Oh surely if you consider the events at first they can only pointto one conclusion.”
“What do you make of them?”
“Well, the whole thing hinges upon two points. The first is themaking of Pycroft write a declaration by which he entered theservice of this preposterous company. Do you not see how verysuggestive 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 earthlybusiness reason why this should be an exception. Don’t you see,my young friend, that they were very anxious to obtain a specimenof your handwriting, and had no other way of doing it?”
“And why?”
“Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have made someprogress with our little problem. Why? There can be only oneadequate reason. Someone wanted to learn to imitate your writing,and had to procure a specimen of it first. And now if we pass onto the second point we find that each throws light upon the other.
That point is the request made by Pinner that you should not resignyour place, but should leave the manager of this important businessin the full expectation that a Mr. Hall Pycroft, whom he had neverseen, 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 thatsome one turned up in your place who wrote a completely differenthand from that in which you had applied for the vacancy, of coursethe game would have been up. But in the interval the rogue hadlearned to imitate you, and his position was therefore secure, as Ipresume 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 toprevent you from thinking better of it, and also to keep you fromcoming into contact with any one who might tell you that yourdouble was at work in Mawson’s office. Therefore they gave you ahandsome advance on your salary, and ran you off to the Midlands,where they gave you enough work to do to prevent your going toLondon, where you might have burst their little game up. That isall plain enough.”
“But why should this man pretend to be his own brother?”
“Well, that is pretty clear also. There are evidently only two ofthem in it. The other is impersonating you at the office. This oneacted as your engager, and then found that he could not find youan employer without admitting a third person into his plot. Thathe was most unwilling to do. He changed his appearance as far ashe could, and trusted that the likeness, which you could not fail toobserve, would be put down to a family resemblance. But for thehappy chance of the gold stuffing, your suspicions would probablynever 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 otherHall 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 thevalue of the securities that they hold. I remember hearing it talkedof in the City.”