"That door leads into an inner room."
"There is no exit?"
"None."
"Is it furnished?"
"It was empty yesterday."
"Then what on earth can he be doing? There is something which I don'tunderstand in this manner. If ever a man was three parts mad withterror, that man's name is Pinner. What can have put the shivers onhim?"
"He suspects that we are detectives," I suggested.
"That's it," cried Pycroft.
Holmes shook his head. "He did not turn pale. He was pale when weentered the room," said he. "It is just possible that--"
His words were interrupted by a sharp rat-tat from the direction of theinner door.
"What the deuce is he knocking at his own door for?" cried the clerk.
Again and much louder came the rat-tat-tat. We all gazed expectantly atthe closed door. Glancing at Holmes, I saw his face turn rigid, and heleaned forward in intense excitement. Then suddenly came a low guggling,gargling sound, and a brisk drumming upon woodwork. Holmes sprangfrantically across the room and pushed at the door. It was fastened onthe inner side. Following his example, we threw ourselves upon it withall our weight. 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 one corner, thecorner 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 lyingon the floor, and from a hook behind the door, with his own bracesround his neck, was hanging the managing director of the Franco-MidlandHardware Company. His knees were drawn up, his head hung at a dreadfulangle to his body, and the clatter of his heels against the door madethe noise which had broken in upon our conversation. In an instant Ihad caught him round the waist, and held him up while Holmes and Pycroftuntied the elastic bands which had disappeared between the livid creasesof skin. Then we carried him into the other room, where he lay witha clay-colored face, puffing his purple lips in and out with everybreath--a dreadful wreck of all that he had been but five minutesbefore.
"What do you think of him, Watson?" asked Holmes.
I stooped over him and examined him. His pulse was feeble andintermittent, but his breathing grew longer, and there was a littleshivering 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. Justopen 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 untilhe drew a long, natural breath. "It's only a question of time now," saidI, as I turned away from him.
Holmes stood by the table, with his hands deep in his trouser's pocketsand his chin upon his breast.
"I suppose we ought to call the police in now," said he. "And yet Iconfess 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 thislast 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 toone conclusion."
"What do you make of them?"
"Well, the whole thing hinges upon two points. The first is the makingof Pycroft write a declaration by which he entered the service of thispreposterous 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, forthese arrangements are usually verbal, and there was no earthly businessreason 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 ourlittle problem. Why? There can be only one adequate reason. Some onewanted to learn to imitate your writing, and had to procure a specimenof it first. And now if we pass on to the second point we find that eachthrows light upon the other. That point is the request made by Pinnerthat you should not resign your place, but should leave the manager ofthis important business in the full expectation that a Mr. Hall Pycroft,whom he had never seen, was about to enter the office upon the Mondaymorning."