fancy that my pal is all right.”
“There are three men waiting for him at the door,” said Holmes.
“Oh, indeed. I must compliment you.”
“And I you,” Holmes answered. “Your red-headed idea was very new and effective.”
“You’ll see your pal again presently,” said Jones. “He’s quicker at climbing down holes than I am.”
“I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,” remarked our prisoner, as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. “You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness also when you address me always to say ’sir’ and ’please.’”
“All right,” said Jones. “Well, would you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry your Highness to the police-station?”
“That is better,” said John Clay, serenely.
“Really, Mr. Holmes,” said Mr. Merryweather, as we followed them from the cellar, “I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you.”
“I have been at some small expense over this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund,” said Holmes, “but beyond that I am repaid by having had an experience which is in many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the Red-headed League.”
“You see, Watson,” he explained in the morning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, “it was perfectly obvious from the beginning that the only possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the copying of the ’Encyclopaedia,’ must be to get this pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The four pounds a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive for it.”
“But how could you guess what the motive was?”
“I thought of the assistant’s fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this clue. He was doing something in the cellar-something which took many hours a day. What could it be? Of course, he was running a tunnel to some other building.
“When we went to visit the scene of action, I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the assistant answered it. I hardly looked at his face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. I walked round the corner, saw that the City and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend’s premises, and felt that I had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I called upon Scotland Yard.”
“And how could you tell that they would make their attempt tonight?” I asked.
“Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson’s presence, in other words, that they had completed their tunnel. Saturday would suit them better than any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. For all these reasons I expected them to come tonight.”
“It is so long a chain!” I exclaimed in admiration.
“It saved me from ennui,” he answered, yawning. “These little problems help me to do so. Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some little use.”
Союз рыжих
В один осенний день в прошлом году я зашёл проведать своего друга мистера Шерлока Холмса и обнаружил, что он погружён в беседу с очень полным пожилым огненно-рыжим джентльменом. Холмс резко втащил меня в комнату и закрыл за мной дверь.
– Вы пришли как нельзя более кстати, мой дорогой Уотсон, – приветливо сказал он.
– Я боялся, что вы заняты.
– Так и есть. И даже очень.
– Тогда я могу подождать в соседней комнате.
– Вовсе нет. Мистер Уилсон, этот джентльмен был моим партнёром и помощником во многих моих самых успешных делах.
Полный джентльмен поднялся со стула и поприветствовал меня быстрым вопросительным взглядом своих маленьких глазок.
Складывая пальцы вместе, Холмс сказал:
– Послушайте, мой дорогой Уотсон. Мистер Джейбез Уилсон удостоил меня визитом сегодня утром, чтобы рассказать удивительную историю. Мистер Уилсон, пожалуйста, повторите её для нашего друга. Как правило, когда я слышу такие рассказы, я могу перечислить тысячи подобных случаев, которые приходят мне на память. Однако в этот раз я вынужден признать, что факты просто уникальны.
Клиент вытащил из внутреннего кармана пальто грязную, скомканную газету. Я внимательно его разглядывал. Однако наблюдения ничего не дали. Наш посетитель казался обычным, средней руки британским торговцем: тучным, самодовольным и медлительным. На нём были довольно мешковатые серые брюки, чёрный расстёгнутый сверху сюртук и серый жилет с массивной медной цепью, на которой в качестве украшения болтался просверленный насквозь четырёхугольный кусочек металла. Поношенный цилиндр и выцветшее бурое пальто
