 The Red-Headed League from the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sandy. The Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventure 2 The Red-Headed League. I had called upon my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, floret-faced, elderly gentleman with fierce sea-red hair. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me. You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson, he said cordially. I was afraid that you were engaged, so I am, very much so. Then I can wait in the next room. Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases. And I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of greeting with a quick little questioning glance from his small, fat encircled eyes. Try the setty, said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in judicial moods. I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which is prompted you to chronicle and if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures. Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me, I observed. You will remember that I remarked the other day just before we went into the very simple problem presented by Ms. Mary Sutherland that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination, a proposition which I took the liberty of doubting. You did doctor, but nonetheless you must come round to my view for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right. Now Mr. Jabez Wilson, here has been good enough to call upon me this morning and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and the most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes and occasionally indeed where there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not but the course of events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to commence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule when I have heard some slight indication of course of events I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are to the best of my belief unique. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his great coat. As I glanced down the advertisement column with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavored after the fashion of my companion to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. I did not gain very much however by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous and slow. He wore rather baggy grey shepherds check trousers, not an overclean black frock coat unbuttoned in the front and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head and the expression of extreme charging and discontent upon his features. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. And the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freeman's son, that he has been in China and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair with his forefinger upon the paper but his eyes upon my companion. How in the name of good fortune did you know all that Mr. Holmes, he asked. How did you know for example that I did manual labour? It is as true as gospel for I began as a ship's carpenter, your hands my dear sir, your right hand is quite a size larger than your left, you have worked with it and the muscles are more developed. Well, the snuff, then and the Freemancery, I would not insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, especially as rather against the strict rules of your order you use an arc and compass breast pen. Ah, of course I forgot that, but the writing, what else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for 5 inches and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rested upon the desk. Well, but China, the fish that you tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes scale of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When in addition I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch chain, the matter becomes even more simple. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily, well I never said he. I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it after all. I begin to think Watson said Holmes, that I make a mistake in explaining Omnignotum Pro Magnifico, you know and my poor little reputation such as it is will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement Mr. Wilson? Yes, I have got it now he answered with a thick red finger planted half way down the column. Here it is, this is what began it all. You just read it for yourself sir, I took the paper from him and read as follows. To the red headed league on account of the bequest of the late Eskia Hopkins of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA, there is now another vacancy open which entitles a member of the league to a salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All red headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of 21 years are eligible. Apply in person on Monday at 11 o'clock to Duncan Ross at the offices of the league, 7 Popes Court, Fleet Street. What on earth does this mean? I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair as was his habit when in high spirits. It is a little off the beaten track isn't it said he? And now Mr. Wilson off you go at scratch and tell us all about yourself, your household and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note doctor of the paper and the date. It is the morning chronicle of April 27, 1890, just two months ago. Very good. Now Mr. Wilson, well it is just as I have been telling you Mr. Sherlock Holmes said Jabez Wilson mopping his forehead. I have a small pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square near the city. It is not a very large affair and of late years it is not done more than just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants but now I only keep one. And I would have a job to pay him and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the business. What is the name of this obliging youth are Sherlock Holmes. His name is Vincent Spaulding and he is not such a youth either. It is hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant Mr. Holmes and I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But after all if he is satisfied why should I put ideas in his head? Why indeed? You see most fortunate in having an employee who comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience among employers in this age. I do not know that your assistant is not as remarkable as your advertisement. Oh he has his faults too said Mr. Wilson. Never was such a fellow for photography. Snapping away with the camera when he ought to be improving in his mind and then diving down into the cellar like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his main fault. But on the whole he is a good worker. There is no wise in him. He is still with you I presume. Yes sir he and a girl of 14 who does a bit of simple cooking and keeps the place clean. That is all I have in the house for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly sir the three of us and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our debts if we do nothing more. The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding he came down into the office just this day eight weeks with this very paper in his hand and he says, I wish to the Lord Mr. Wilson that I was a red headed man. Why that? I ask. Why? Says he. Here is another vacancy on the league of the red headed men. It is worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men. So that the trustees are at the wits end what to do with the money. If my hair would only change color here is a nice little crib all ready for me to step into. Why? What is it then? I asked. You see Mr. Holmes I am a very stay at home man and as my business came to me instead of my having to go to it I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over the door mat. In that way I did not know much of what was going on outside and I was always glad of a bit of news. Have you never heard of the league of red headed men? He asked with his eyes open. Never. Why? Under at that for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies. And what are they worth? I asked. Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year but the work is slight and it need not interfere very much with one's other occupations. Well you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears for the business had not been over good for some years and an extra couple hundred would have been very handy. Tell me all about it said I well said he showing me the advertisement. You can see for yourself that the league has a vacancy and there is the address where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out the league was founded by an American millionaire Ezekiah Hopkins who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red headed and he had great sympathy for all red headed men. So when he died it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees with instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy births to men whose hair is of that color. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to do. But said I there would be millions of red headed men who would apply. Not so many as you might think he answered. You see it is really confined to Londoners and to grown men. This American had started from London when he was young and he wanted to do the old town a good turn. Then again I have heard it is no use you are applying if your hair is light red or dark red or anything but real bright blazing fury red. Now if you cared to apply Mr. Wilson you would just walk in but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds. Now it is a fact gentlemen as you may see for yourselves that my hair is a very full and rich tint so that it seemed to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I stood a good chance as any man as I had ever met. Vincent's balding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might prove useful so I just ordered him to put the shutters for the day and to come right away with me. He was willing to have a holiday so we shut the business up and started off for the address that was given to us in the advertisement. I never hoped to see such a sight as that again Mr. Holmes. From north, south, east and west every man who had a shade of red in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk and Pope's court looked like a coasters orange burrow. I should not have thought that there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single advertisement. Every shade of color they were straw, lemon, orange, brick, irish setter, liver, clay but as balding said there were not many who had the real vivid flame colored tint. When I saw how many were waiting I would have given it up in despair but spalding would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine but he pushed and pulled and buttered until he got me through the crowd and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream upon the stair some going up in hope and some coming back dejected but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves in the office. Your experience has to be a most entertaining one remarked Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of snuff. Pray continue your very interesting statement. There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a deal table behind which sat a small man with a head that was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would disqualify them. Being a vacancy did not seem to be such a very easy matter after all. However when our turn came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the others as he closed the door as we entered so that he might have a private word with us. This is Mr. Jabez Wilson said my assistant and he is willing to fill a vacancy in the league and he is admirably suited for it the other answered. He has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine. He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand and congratulated me warmly on my success. It would be injustice to hesitate said he. You will however I am sure excuse me for taking an obvious precaution. With that he seized my hair in both hands and tugged until I yelled with pain. There is water in your eyes said he as he released. I perceived that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell your tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you with human nature. He stepped over to the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there was not a red head to be seen except my own and that of the manager. My name said he is Mr. Duncan Ross and I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you a married man Mr. Wilson? Have you a family? I answered that I had not. His face fell immediately. Dear me he said gravely that is very serious indeed. I am sorry to hear you say that. The fund was of course for the propagation and spread of the red heads as well as for their maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor. My face lengthened at this Mr. Holmes for I thought that I was not to have the vacancy after all. But after thinking it over for few minutes he said that it would be alright. In the case of another said he the objection might be fatal but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties? Well it is a little awkward for I have a business already said I. Oh never mind about that Mr. Wilson said Vincent's pauling. I should be able to look after that for you. What would be the hours? I asked 10 to 2. Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening Mr. Holmes especially Thursday and Friday evening which is just before payday. So it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings. Besides I knew that my assistant was a good man and that he would see to anything that turned up. That would suit me very well said I and the pay it is 4 pounds a week and the work is purely nominal. What do you call purely nominal? Well you have to be in the office or at least in the building the whole time. If you leave you forfeit your whole position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time. It's only 4 hours a day and I should not think of leaving said I. No excuse will avail said Mr. Duncan Ross neither sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay or you lose your billet and the work is to copy out the Encyclopedia Britannica. There is the first volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens and blotting paper but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready tomorrow? Certainly I answered. Then goodbye Mr. Jabez Wilson and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to gain. He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do. I was so pleased at my own good fortune. Well, I thought over the matter all day and by evening I was in low spirits again. For I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud. Though what its object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that anyone could make such a will or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopedia Britannica. Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow. So I bought a penny bottle of ink and with a quill pen and seven sheets of fullscape paper I started off for Pope's Court. Well, to my surprise and delight everything was as right as possible. The table was set out ready for me and Mr. Duncan Ross was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon the letter A and then he left me but he would drop in from time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he bade me goodbye, complimented me upon the amount that I had written and locked the door of the office after me. This went on day after day Mr. Holmes and on Saturday the manager came in and planned down four golden sovereigns for my week's work. It was the same next week and the same the week after. Every morning I was there at ten and every afternoon I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning and then after a time he did not come in at all. Still of course I never dared to leave the room for an instant for I was not sure when he might come and the billet was such a good one and suited me so well that I would not risk the loss of it. Eight weeks passed away like this and I had written about Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the bees before very long. It cost me something in full scrap and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf of my writings and then suddenly the whole business came to an end. To an end? Yes sir and no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual at ten o'clock but the door was shut and locked with a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a tack. Here it is you can read it for yourself. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of note paper. It read in this fashion. The red-headed leak is dissolved October 9, 1890. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed the skirt announcement and the ruleful face behind it until the comical side of the affair so completely overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar of laughter. I cannot see that there is anything very funny cried our client flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. If you can do nothing better than laugh at me I can go elsewhere. Oh no cried Holmes shoving him back into the chair from which he had half risen. I really wouldn't miss your case for the world. It is most refreshingly unusual but there is if you will excuse my saying so something just a little funny about it. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the door? I was staggered sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at the officers round but none of them seemed to know anything about it. Finally I went to the landlord who is an accountant living on the ground floor and I asked him if he could tell me what had become of the red-headed leak. He said that he had never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. Well said I, the gentleman at number 4. What the red-headed man? Yes. Oh said he. His name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premise was ready. He moved out yesterday. Where could I find him? Oh at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes 17 King Edward Street near St. Paul's. I started off Mr. Holmes but when I got to that address it was a manufactory of artificial kneecaps and no one in it had ever heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross. What did you do then? Asked Holmes. I went home to Sachs-Koberg Square and I took the advice of my assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite good enough Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without a struggle. So as I had heard that you were good enough to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away to you. And you did very wisely said Holmes. Your case is an exceedingly remarkable one and I shall be happy to look into it. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that graver issues hung from it then might at first sight appear. Grave enough said Mr. Jabez Wilson. Why? You have lost 4 pound a week as far as you are personally concerned remarked Holmes. I do not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary leak. On the contrary you are as I understand richer by some 30 pounds to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have lost nothing by them. No sir but I want to find out about them and who they are and what their object was in playing this prank if it was a prank upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them for it cost them 230 pounds. We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And first one or two questions Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who first called your attention to the advertisement. How long had he been with you? About a month then how did he come? In answer to an advertisement was he the only applicant? No, I had a dozen. Why did you pick him? Because he was handy and would come cheap at half wages in fact. Yes, what is he like? This Vincent's folding, small, stout built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face though he is not short of 30. He has a white splash of acid upon his forehead. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. I thought as much said he. Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced of earrings? Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he was a lad, said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. He is still with you? Oh yes sir, I have only just left him. And has your business been attended to in your absence? Nothing to complain of sir. There is never very much to do of a morning. That will do Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. Today is Saturday. I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion. Well, Watson said Holmes when our visitor had left us. What do you make of it all? I make nothing of it, I answered frankly. It is a most mysterious business. As a rule said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is, the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling. Just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter. What are you going to do then? I asked. To smoke he answered. It is quite a three pipe problem. I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes. He curled himself up in his chair with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk like nose and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep and indeed was nodding myself when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man who had made up his mind and put his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. Sarasate plays at the St. James Hall this afternoon. He remarked, What do you think Watson? Could your patience spare you for a few hours? I have nothing to do today. My practice is never very absorbing. Then put your hat and come. I am going through the city first and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is good deal of German music on the program which is rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective and I want to introspect. Come along. We travelled by the underground as far as Alder's Gate and a short walk took us to Saxcow Burb Square, the scene of the singular story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a pokey little shabby, gentle place where four lines of dingy two storied brick houses looked out into a small railed enclosure where a lawn of beady grass and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes made a hard fight against a smoke laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Jabez Wilson in white letters upon a corner house announced the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Shallow combs stopped in front of it with his head on one side and looked it all over with his eyes shining brightly between puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street and then down again to the corner still looking keenly at the houses. Finally he returned to the pawnbrokers and having thumped vigorously upon the pavement with a stick two or three times he went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a bright looking clean shaven young fellow who asked him to step in. Thank you said Holmes. I only wish to ask you how you would go from here to the stand. Third right, fourth left answered the assistant promptly closing the door. Smart fellow that observed Holmes as we walked away. He is in my judgement the fourth smartest man in London and for daring I am not sure that he has not a claim to be the third. I have known something of him before. Evidently said I, Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good deal in this mystery of the red-headed leak. I am sure that you enquired your way merely in order that you might see him. Not him. What then? The knees of his trousers. And what did you see? What I expected to see? Why did you beat the pavement? My dear doctor, this is a time for observation not for talk. We are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Sachs-Korberg square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner from the retired Sachs-Korberg square presented as great a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the city to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward while the footpaths were black with a hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was difficult to realize as we looked at the line of fine shops and stately business premises that they really abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square which we had just quitted. Let me see said Holmes standing at the corner and glancing along the line. I should like just to remember the order of the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is Mott Mears, the Tobaconist, the little newspaper shop, the Koburg branch of the city and Subhubbun bank, the vegetarian restaurant, the McFarlane's carriage building depot that carries us right on the other block. And now doctor we have done our work so it is time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee and then off to violin land where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony and there is no red headed clients to vex us with their conundrums. My friend was an enthusiastic musician being himself not a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness gently waving his long thin fingers in time to the music while his gently smiling face and his languid dreamy eyes where as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth hound, Holmes the relentless keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent and it was possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature alternately asserted itself and his extreme exactness and astute-ness represented as I have often thought the reaction against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from extreme languor to devouring energy and as I knew well he was never so truly formidable as when for days on end he had been lounging in his arm chair amid his improvisations and his black letter editions. Then it was that lust of the chase which would come upon him suddenly and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the level of intuition until those who were unacquainted with his methods would look ascends at him as on a man whose knowledge was not that of other models. When I saw him that afternoon so unwrapped in the music at St. James Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down. If you want to go home no doubt doctor he remarked as we emerged yes it would be as well and I have some business to do which will take some hours. This business at Cowbrook Square is serious. Why serious? A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to believe that we shall be in time to stop it but today being Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help tonight. At what time? 10 will be early enough. I shall be at Baker Street at 10. Very well and I say doctor there may be some little danger so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket. He waved his hand turned on his heel and disappeared in an instant among the crowd. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors but I was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard. I had seen what he had seen and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to happen while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought over it all from the extraordinary story of the red-headed copier of the encyclopedia down to the visit to Sacks Cowbrook Square and the ominous words with which he had parted me from me. What was this nocturnal expedition and why should I go armed? Where were we going and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes that a smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a formidable man, a man who might play a deep game. I tried to puzzle it out but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside until night should bring an explanation. It was quarter past nine when I started from home and made my way across the park and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two handsoms were standing at the door. As I entered the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering the room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognized as Peter Jones, the official police agent while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man with a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock coat. Ha! Our party is complete said Holmes, buttoning up his P-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones of Scotland Yard. Let me introduce you to Mr. Mary Wether who is to be our companion in tonight's adventure. We are hunting in couples again doctor, you see said Jones in his consequential way. Our friend here is a wonderful man for starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the running down. I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase, observed Mr. Mary Wether crumily. You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, said the police agent loftily. He has his own little methods which are, if you won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is not too much to say that once or twice as in that business of the Shalto murder and the Agra treasure he has been more nearly correct than the official force. Oh! If you say so Mr. Jones, it is alright, said the stranger with deference. Still I confess that I miss my rubber. This is the first Saturday night for 7 and 20 years that I have not had my rubber. I think you will find such yellow combs that you will play for a higher stake tonight than you have ever done yet and that the play will be more exciting. For you Mr. Mary Wether, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds and for you Jones it will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands. John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher and forger. He is a young man Mr. Mary Wether, but he is at the head of his profession and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in London. He is a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke and he himself has been to Etton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He will crack a crib in Scotland one week and we are raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I have been on his track for years and I have never set eyes on him yet. I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you tonight. I have had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay and I agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past ten however and quite time that we started. If you two will take the first handsome, Watson and I will follow in the second. Shallow combs was not very communicative during the long drive and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gaslit streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. We are close there now my friend remarked. This fellow Mary Wether is a bank director and personally interested in the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is not a bad fellow though an absolute imbecile in his profession. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we are and they are waiting for us. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed and following the guidance of Mr. Mary Wether we passed down a narrow passage and through a side door which he opened for us. Within there was a small corridor which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also was opened and let down a flight of winding stone steps which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Mary Wether stopped to light a lantern and then conducted us down a dark earth smelling passage and so after opening a third door into a huge vault or cellar which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes. You are not very vulnerable from above, Holmes remarked as he held up the lantern and gazed about him. Nor from below said Mr. Mary Wether striking his stick upon the flags which lined the floor. Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow, he remarked, looking up in surprise. I must really ask you to be a little more quiet, said Holmes severely. You have already imperiled the whole success of our expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit down upon one of those boxes and not to interfere? The solemn Mr. Mary Wether perched himself upon a crate with a very injured expression upon his face. While Holmes fell upon his knees upon the floor and with the lantern and a magnifying lens began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few seconds sufficed to satisfy him for he sprang up to his feet again and put his glass in his pocket. We have at least an hour before us, he remarked, for they can hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Then they will not lose a moment, for the sooner they do their work, the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at present doctor, as no doubt you have divine in the cellar of the city branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Mary Wether is the chairman of directors and he will explain to you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take a considerable interest in the cellar at present. It is our French gold, whispered the director. We have had several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it. Your French gold? Yes, we had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 Napoleon's from the Bank of France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to unpack the money and that it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which I sit contains 2000 Napoleon's packed between layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullions is much larger at present than is usually kept in a single branch office and the directors have had misgivings upon the subject which were very well justified observed homes and now it is time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Mary Wether we must put the screen over the dark lantern and sit in the dark. I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket and I thought that as we were party curry you might have your rubber after all but I see that the enemy's preparations have gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And first of all we must choose our positions. These are daring men and though we shall take them at a disadvantage they may do us some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate and you do conceal yourselves behind those. Then when I flash a light upon them close in swiftly if they fire Watson have no compunction about shooting them down. I placed my revolver cocked upon the top of the wooden case behind which I was crouched. Some shot the slide across the front of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness such an absolute darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained to assure us that the light was still there ready to flash out at a moment's notice. To me with my nerves worked up to pitch of expectancy there was something depressing and subduing in the sudden bloom and in the cold dank air of the world. They have but one retreat whispered Holmes that is back through the house into Saks Kerberg Square. I hope that you have done what I asked you Jones. I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door. Then we have stopped all the holds and now we must be silent and wait. Not a time it seemed. From comparing notes afterwards it was but an hour and a quarter yet it appeared to me that the night must have almost gone and the dawn be breaking upon us. My limbs were very in stiff for I feared to change my position yet my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension and my hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my companions but I could distinguish the deeper heavier in breath of the bulky Jones from the thin sighing note of the band director. From my position I could look over the case in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it lengthened out until it became a yellow line and then without any warning or sound a cache seemed to open and a hand appeared a white almost womanly hand which felt about in the center of the little area of light. For a minute or more the hand with its breathing fingers protruded out of the floor. Then it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared and all was dark again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the stones. Its disappearance however was but momentary with a rending tearing sound one of the boards white stones turned over upon its side and left a square gaping hole through which streamed the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean cut boyish face which looked keenly about it and then with a hand on either side of the aperture drew itself shoulder high and waist high until one knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after him a companion lithe and small like himself with a pale face and a shock of very red hair. It's all clear he whispered have you the chisel and the bats great Scott jump archie jump and I'll swing for it. Shallow combs had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole and I heard the sound of rendering cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver but Holmes hunting crop came down on the man's wrist and the pistol clinked upon the stone wall. There is no use John Clay said Holmes blandly you have no chance at all. So I see the other answered with the utmost coolness. I fancy that my pal is alright though I see you've got his coat tails. There are three men waiting for him at the door said Holmes. Oh indeed you seem to have done the thing very completely 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. Just hold out while I fix the derbies. I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands remarked a 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. Alright said Jones with a stare and a snigger. 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. He made a sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective. Really Mr. Holmes said Mr. Meriwether as we followed them from the cellar. I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience. I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. John Clay said Mr. Holmes. I have been at some small expense over this matter which I shall expect the bank to refund. But beyond that I am amply repaid by having 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 early hours of the morning as we sat over a glass of whiskey and soda in Baker Street. It was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the league and the copying of the encyclopedia must be to get this not over bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours everyday. It was a curious way of managing it but really it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplices hair. The four pound 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 securing the situation. But how could you guess what was the motive had there been women in the house I should have suspected a mere vulgar intrigue. That however was out of the question. The man's business was a small one and there was nothing in his house which could account for such elaborate preparations and such an expenditure as they were at. It must then be something out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's fondness for photography and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar. There was the end of the tangled clue. Then I made enquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in London. He was doing something in the cellar something which took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be once more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to some other building. So far I had got 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. We have had some skirmishes but we had never set eyes upon each other before. 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. They spoke of those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were burrowing for. I walked around the corner saw the city and suburban bank aborted in 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 upon the chairman of the bank directors with the result that you have seen. And how could you tell that they would make their attempts tonight? I asked. Well, they closed their league offices that was a sign that they cared no longer about Mr Jabez Wilson's presence. In other words they had completed their tunnel. It was essential that they should use it soon as it might be discovered or the bullion might be removed. 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. You reasoned it out beautifully I explained in unfaithful admiration. It is so long a chain and yet every link rings true. It saved me from a new eye he answered yawning. Alas I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the common places of existence. These little problems help me do so and you are a benefactor of the race said I. He shrugged his shoulders. Well, perhaps after all it is of some little use he remarked. Lahom says strain, Louvre says doubt. As Gustav Flauberg wrote to George Sand, end of the Red-Headed League. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Today's reading by Tom Hackett, djhackett.newgrounds.com. The Perloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe. Bill Sapientiae Odeosius Acumenai Nimeo, Seneca. At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and Mirsch album and company with my friend, C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library or book closet, Outre-Sémée, number 33, Rue-Dunot-Hauberg-Saint-Germain. For an hour at least, we had maintained a profound silence, while each, too many casual observer, might have seemed intently and exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally discussing certain topics which had formed a matter of conversation between us at an earlier period of the evening, I mean the affair of the Rue-Morgue and the mystery attending the murder of Marie-Roget. I looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when the door of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old acquaintance, Montreux-G, the prefect of the Parisian police. We gave him a hearty welcome, for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible that the man, and we had not seen him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now arose for the purpose of lighting the lamp, but sat down again without doing so, upon G saying that he had called to consult us, or rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business which had occasioned a great deal of trouble. If it is any point requiring reflection, observed Dupin, as he forebore to incendre the wick, we shall examine it to better purpose in the dark. That is another of your odd notions, said the prefect, through the fashion of calling everything odd that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of oddities. Very true, said Dupin, as he supplied his visitor with a pipe and rode toward him a comfortable chair. And what is the difficulty now, I asked, nothing more in the assassination way, I hope. Oh, no, nothing of that nature. The fact is, the business is very simple indeed, and I make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently well ourselves. But then I thought Dupin would like to hear the details of it, because it is so excessively odd, simple and odd, said Dupin. Why, yes, and not exactly that either. The fact is, we have all been a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, and yet battles us all together. Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at fault, said my friend. What nonsense you do talk, replied the prefect, laughing heartily. Perhaps the mystery is just a little too plain, said Dupin. Oh, good heavens, whoever heard of such an idea. A little too... self-evident. Oh, raw, dark visitor, profoundly amused. Oh, Dupin, you will be the death of me yet. And what, after all, is the matter on hand, I asked? Why, I will tell you, replied the prefect, because he gave a long and steady, uncontemplated putt and settled himself in his chair. He will tell you in a few words. But before I begin, let me caution you that this is an affair that man may be greatest secrecy, and that I should most probably lose the position I now hold, were it known that I confided it to anyone? Proceed, said I. Oh, not, said you, Pin. Well then, I have received personal information from a very high quarter, that the certain document of the last importance has been perloined from the royal apartments. The individual who perloined it is known, this beyond a doubt, you seem to take it. It is known also that it still remains in his possession. How is this known, asked to Pin? It is clearly inferred, replied the Prefect, from the nature of the document, and from the non-appearance of certain results which would once arise when it is passing out of the robber's possession. That is to say, from his employing it as he must design in the end to employ it. Be a little more explicit, I said. Well, I may venture so far as to say that the paper gives a toll there is certain power in a certain quarter where such power is immensely valuable. The Prefect was fond of the count of diplomacy. Still I do not quite understand, said Pin. No? Well, the disclosure of the document to a third person who shall be nameless would bring in question the honor of a personage of most exalted station, and this fact gives the honor holder of the document an ascendancy over the illustrious personage whose honor and peace are so jeopardized. But this ascendancy, I interspose, would depend upon the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. Who would dare, the thief, said G, to the minister D, who dares all things, those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the third was not disingenious and bold. The document in question, a letter, to be frank, had been received by the personage robber while alone in the Royal Boudoir. The unit for use was she was suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the other exalted personage from whom especially it was her wish to conceal it. After a hurried and vain endeavor to thrust it in the drawer, she was forced to place it open as it was upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost, and the contents thus unexposed the letter escape notice. At this juncture enters the minister D. His link sigh immediately perceives the paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms a secret. After some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the other. Then he converses for some fifteen minutes upon the public affairs, and lengthen taking leave, he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim. It's right for owner saw, but, of course, dare not call attention to the act, in the presence of the third personage who stood at her elbow. The minister decombed, leaving his own letter, one of no importance, upon the table. Here, then, said Dupin to me, you have precisely which you demand to make the ascendancy complete. The robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. Yes, replied the preacher, and the power thus attained has, for some months past, been welded for political purposes to a very dangerous extent. The personage robbers more thoroughly convinced every day of the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But this, of course, cannot be done openly, and fine, driven to despair, she has committed the matter to me. Then whom, said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke? No more sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired or even imagined. You flatter me, replied the preacher, but it is possible that some such opinion may have been entertained. It is clear, said I, as you observe, that the letter is still in the possession of the minister, since it is this possession, and not any employment of the other, which bestows the power. With the employment, the power departs. True, said she, and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first care was to make thorough search at the minister's hotel, and hear my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his knowledge. Beyond all things, I had been warned of the danger which would result from giving him reason to suspect our design. But, said I, you are quite off-the-tail in these investigations. The Parisian police have done this thing often before. Oh, yes, and for this reason I did not despair. The habits of the minister gave me, too, a great advantage. He is frequently absent from home all night. His servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at a distance from their master's apartment, and, being chiefly neapolitans, are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with which I can open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months, a night has not passed, during the greater part of which I have not been engaged personally, and ransacking the deep hotel. My honour is interested, and to mention a great secret, the reward is enormous. So I did not abandon the search until I had become fully satisfied that the thief was a more astute man than myself. I fancy that I investigated every nook and corner of the premises in which it is possible that the paper can be concealed. But is it not possible, I suggest him, that although the letter may be in possession of the minister, as it in question of the is, he may have concealed it elsewhere than upon his own premises? This is barely possible, Sir Dupren. The present peculiar condition of affairs at court, and especially of those entries in which he is known to be involved, would render the instant availability of the document. Its susceptibility of being produced at a moment's notice. A point of nearly equal importance with its possession. Its susceptibility of being produced, Sir Dupren. That is to say, of being destroyed. Sir Dupren. True, I observe. The paper is clearly then upon the premises. As for its being upon the person of the minister, we may consider that as out of the question. Entirely, Sir Dupren. It has been twice where it has if by footpaths, and its person rigidly certs under my own inspection. You might have spared yourself this trouble, Sir Dupren. The, I presume, is not altogether a fool. And if not, must have anticipated these waylains as a matter of course. Not altogether a fool, Sir Dupren is a poet, which I take to be only one removed from a fool. True, said Dupren, after a long and thoughtful width from his meershawm, although I have been guilty of a certain doger or myself. Suppose you detail, said I, the particulars of your search. Why, the fact is, we took our time, and we searched everywhere. I have had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building, room by room, devoting the nights of a whole week to each. We examined first the furniture of each apartment. We opened every possible drawer. I presume you know that to a properly trained police agent. Such a thing as a secret drawer is impossible. Any man as adult who permits a secret drawer to escape them in a search of this kind. The thing is so plain. There is a certain amount of bulk of space to be accounted for in every cabinet. Then we have accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a line could not escape us. After the cabinets, we took the chairs. The cushions we brought with the fine long needles you have seen me employ. From the tables, we removed the tops. Why so? Sometimes the top of a table or other similarly arranged piece of furniture is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article. Then the leg is excavated. The article deposited within the cavity. And the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedpost are employed in the same way. But could not the cavity be detected by sounding, I asked, by no means. If, when the article is deposited, sufficient wadding of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we are obliged to proceed without noise. But you could not have removed. You could not have taken pieces all articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to make a deposit in the manner you mentioned. A letter may be compressed into a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a large knitting needle. And in this form, it might be inserted into the rank of a chair, for example. You did not take the pieces all the chairs. Certainly not, but we did better. We examined the rungs of every chair in the hotel. And indeed, the joinings of every description of furniture by the aid of the most powerful microscope. Had there been any traces of recent disturbance, we should not have failed to detect it instantly. A single grain of gimlet dust, for example, would have been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the gluing, any unusual gap in the joints, would have suffice to ensure detection. I presume you look to the mirrors between the boards and the plates, and you probe the beds and the bedclothes, as well as the curtains and carpets. That, of course. And when we had absolutely completed every particle of the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so that none might be missed. Then we scrutinized each individual square and throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately adjoining with the microscope as before. The two houses adjoining, I exclaimed. You must have had a great deal of trouble. We had, but the reward offered is prodigious. You include the grounds above the houses. All the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks and found it undisturbed. You looked among these papers, of course, and into the books of the library? Certainly. We opened every package and parcel. We not only opened every book, but we turned over every leaf and every value. Not contenting ourselves with mere shake according to the fashion of some of our police officers. We also measured the thickness of every book cover with the most accurate measurement and supplied to each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the bindings been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly impossible that the facts should have escaped observation. Some five or six volumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, longitudinally, with the needles. You explored the floors beneath the carpets. Beyond doubt, we removed every carpet and examined the boards with the microscope. And the paper on the walls, yes. You looked into the cellars. We did. Then, I said, you have been making a miscalculation. The letter is not upon the premises as you suppose. I fear you are right there, said the prefect. And now, Dupin, what would you advise me to do? To make a thorough research of the premises. That is absolutely needless, replied Gee. I am not more sure than I breathe than I am that the letter is not at the hotel. I have no better advice to give you, said Dupin. You have, of course, an accurate description of the letter. Oh, yes. And here, the prefect, producing a memorandum book, proceeded to read aloud a minute account of the internal and especially of the external, appearance of the missing document. Soon after finishing the puzzle of this description, he took his departure, more entirely depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. And about a month afterward, he paid us another visit and found us occupied very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair and entered into some ordinary conversation. At length I said, well, but Gee, what are the purloined letter? I presume you have at last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the minister. Confound him, say I. Yes, I made the re-examination, however, as Dupin suggested, but it was all labor lost as I knew it would be. How much was the reward offered, did you say? Asked Dupin. Why, very great deal, a very liberal reward. I don't like to say how much precisely, but one thing I will say, that I wouldn't mind giving my individual check for 50,000 francs to anyone who could obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming more and more important every day and the reward has been lately doubled. Of it were trebled, however, I could do no more than I have done. Why, yes, said Dupin, drawing me between the whiffs of his mere charm. I really think, Gee, you have not exerted yourself to the utmost in this matter. You might do a little more, I think, eh. How, in what way? Why, you might employ counsel in the matter, eh. Do you remember the story they tell of Abinethy? No, hang Abinethy. To be sure, hang him and welcome, but once upon a time, a certain rich miser conceived the design of sponging upon this Abinethy for a medical opinion. Getting up, for this purpose, an ordinary conversation in a private company, he insinuated his case to the physician as that of an imaginary individual. We will suppose, said the miser, that his symptoms are such and such. Now, doctor, what would you have directed him to take? Said Abinethy, why, take advice to be sure. But, said the prefect, a little discomposed, I am perfectly willing to take advice and to pay for it. I would really give 50,000 francs to anyone who would aid me in a matter. In that case, replied Dupin, opening a draw and producing a checkbook. You may as well fill me up a check for the amount mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter. I was astounded. The prefect appeared absolutely thunderstruck. For some minutes, he remained speechless and motionless, looking incredulously at my friend with open mouth and eyes that seemed starting from their sockets. Then, apparently recovering himself in some measure, he seized a pen and after several pauses in vacant stares, finally filled up and signed a check for 50,000 francs and handed it across the table to Dupin. The letter examined it carefully and deposited it in his pocketbook. Then, unlocking an escritoire, he took thence a letter and gave it to the prefect. This functionary grasped it in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with a trembling hand, cast a rapid glance at its contents, and then, scrambling and struggling to the door, rusted length unceremoniously from the room and from the house without having uttered a syllable since Dupin had requested him to fill up the check. When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanations. The Parisian police, he said, are exceedingly able in their way. They are persevering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly versed in the knowledge which in their duties seemed chiefly to demand. Thus, when G detailed to us his mode of searching the premises of the hotel D, I felt entire confidence in his having made a satisfactory investigation, so far as his labor's extended. So far as his labor's extended, said I. Yes, said Dupin. The measures adopted were not only the best of their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter been deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, beyond a question, have found it. I merely laughed, but he seemed quite serious in all that he said. The measures, then, he continued, were good in their kind and well executed, their defect delay in their being inapplicable to the case and to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the prefect, a sort of pro-Christian bed to which he forcibly adapts his designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow for the matter in hand, and many as schoolboys a better reason than he. I knew one about eight years of age who success at guessing in the game of even and odd attracted universal admiration. This game is simple and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a number of these toys in the minds of another, whether that number is even or odd. The guess is right. The guesser wins one, if wrong. He loses one. The boy to whom I elude won all the marbles of the school. Of course, he had some principle of guessing, and this lay in mere observation and a measurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For example, an errand simpleton is his opponent, and holding up his closed hand asks, are they even or odd? Our schoolboy replies, odd and loses, but upon the second trial he wins, for he then says to himself, the simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon the second. I will therefore guess odd. He guesses odd and wins. Now, with a simpleton degree above the first, he would have reasoned thus. This fellow finds that in the first instance I guessed odd, and in the second he will propose to himself upon the first impulse a simple variation from even to odd, as did the first simpleton, but then a second thought was just that this is too simple a variation, and finally he will decide upon putting it even as before. I will therefore guess even. He guesses even and wins. Now, this mode of reasoning in the schoolboy, whom his fellows termed lucky, what, in its last analysis, is it? It is merely, I said, an identification of the reasoners interact with that of his opponent. It is, said Dupin, an upon inquiring of the boy by what means he affected the third or identification in which his success consisted. I received answer as follows. When I wished to find out how wise, or how stupid, or how good, or how wicked is anyone, or what are his thoughts at the moment, I fashioned the expression of my face as accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, and then we'd to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression. This response of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the spurious profundity which has been attributed to Rocco for called Pula Brea to Machiavelli and to Campanella. And the identification, I said, of the reasoners interact with that of his opponent depends, if I understand you are right, upon the accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is unmeasured. For its practical value, it depends upon this, replied Dupin, and the prefix and his cohort fail so frequently, first by default of this identification and secondly by a led measurement or rather through non-ed measurement of the intellect with which they are engaged. They consider only their own ideas of ingenuity and in searching for anything hidden, advert only to the modes in which they would have hidden it. They are right in this much that their own ingenuity is a faithful representative of that of the mass. But when the cunning of the individual felon is diverse in character from their own, the felon foils them, of course. This always happens when it is above their own and very usually when it is below. They have no variation of principle than their investigations, at best, when urged by some unusual emergency, by some extraordinary reward. They extend or exaggerate their old modes of practice without touching their principles. What, for example, in this case of D, has been done to vary the principle of action. What is all this boring and probing and sounding and scrutinizing the microscope and dividing the surface of the building into registered square inches? What is it all but an exaggeration of the application of the one principle or set of principles of search, which are based upon the one set of notions regarding human ingenuity, to which the prefect, the long routine of his duty, has been accustomed. Do you not see, as taken it for granted, that all men proceed to conceal a letter, not exactly in a gimlet hole, bored in a chair leg, but at least in some out-of-the-way hole or corner suggested by the same tenor thought which would urge a man to secrete a letter in a gimlet hole, bored in a chair leg? And do you not see also that such nooks for concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions and would be adapted only by ordinary intellects? For, in all cases of concealment, a disposal of the article concealed, the dispose of it in this manner is, in the very first instance, presumable and presumed. And thus its discovery depends not at all upon the acumen, but altogether upon the mere care, patience and determination of the seekers, and whether cases of importance or what amounts to the same thing in the political eyes, when the reward is of magnitude, the qualities in question have never been known to fail. You will now understand what I meant in suggesting that, had the purloined letter been hidden anywhere within the limits of the prefect's examination, in other words, had the principle that its concealment been comprehended within the principles of the prefect, its discovery would have been a matter altogether beyond question. This function area, however, has been thoroughly mystified, and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition that the minister is a fool because he is quite renowned as a poet. All fools are poets, this the prefect feels, and he is merely guilty of a nondisturbator mid-eye, in this inferring that all poets are fools. But is this really the poet? I asked. There are two brothers, I know, and both have attained reputation in letters. The minister, I believe, has written learnedly on the differential calculus. He is a mathematician and no poet. You are mistaken. I know him well. He is both. As poet and mathematician, he would reason well. As mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all, and thus would have been at the mercy of the prefect. You surprised me, I said, by these opinions, which have been contradicted by the voice of the world. You do not mean to set it not a well-digested idea of centuries? A mathematical reason has long been regarded as the reason par excellence. Iria apéria, replied Dupin, quoting from Shampoet. Here to the idea public, to take convention recue, as then so to say, c'est à l'inconvénuable plus grand nombre. The mathematicians, I grant you, have done their best to promulgate the popular error to which you allude, which is nonetheless an error for its promulgation as truth. With an art worthy of better cause, for example, they even sinuated the term analysis into application to algebra. The French are the originators of this particular deception, but if a term is of any importance, its words derive any value from applicability that analysis conveys algebra about as much as in Latin, ambitus, implies ambition, religio, religion, or hominus, honest I, a set of honorable men. You have a quarrel on hand, I see, said I, for some of the algebra is to Paris, but proceed. I dispute the availability and thus the value of that reason which is cultivated in any special form other than the abstractly logical. I dispute, in particular, the reason adhered by mathematical study. The mathematics are the science of form and quantity. Mathematical reasoning is merely logic applied to observation upon form and quantity. The great error lies in supposing that even the truths of what is called pure algebra are abstract or general truths. And this error is so egregious that I am confounded at the universitality with which it has been received. Mathematical axioms are not axioms of general truth. What is true of relation of form and quantity is often grossly false in regard to morals, for example. In this latter science it is very usually untrue that the aggregated parts are equal to the whole. In chemistry, also, the axiom fails. In the consideration of motive, it fails. For two motives, each of a given value have not necessarily a value when united equals to the sum other values apart. There are numerous other mathematical truths which are only truths within the limits of relation. But the mathematician argues from his funny truths who have it as if they were of an absolutely general applicability, as the world indeed imagines them to be. Bryant and his very learned mythology mentions an analogous source of error when he says that although the pagan fables are not believed, yet we forget ourselves continually and make inferences from them as existing realities. The algebraist, however, who are pagans themselves, the pagan fables are believed and the inferences are made, not so much through lapse of memory as through an unaccountable addling of the brains. In short, I never yet encountered the mere mathematician who could be trusted out of equal roots, or one who did not clandestinely hold it as a point of his faith that x squared plus px was absolutely and unconditionally equal to q. Say to one of these gentlemen who, by way of experiment, if you please, that do you believe occasions may occur where x squared plus px is not altogether equal to q, and having made him understand what you mean, get out of his reach as speedily as convenient, for beyond doubt he will endeavor to knock you down. I mean to say, continued to pin what I merely laughed at his last observations, that if the minister had been no more than a mathematician, the prefect would have been under no necessity of giving me this check. I knew him, however, as both mathematician and poet, and my measures were adapted to his capacity with reference to the circumstances by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a coach here, too, and as a bold, intriguing, such a man, I considered, could not fail to be aware of the ordinary political modes of action. He could not have failed to anticipate, and events approved that he did not fail to anticipate, the way lanes to which he was subjected. You must have foreseen, I reflected, the secret investigations of his premises, his frequent absences from home at night, which were heard by the prefect of certain aids to his excess. I regarded only his ruses to afford opportunity for thorough search to the police, and thus the sooner to impress them with the conviction to which G. in fact had finally arrived, the conviction that the letter was not upon the premises. I felt also that the whole train of thought, which I was at some pains in detailing to you just now, concerning the invariable principle of political action in searches for articles concealed, I felt that this whole train of thought would necessarily pass through the mind of the minister, would imperatively lead him to despise all the ordinary nooks of concealment. Could not, I reflected, be so weak as not to see that the most intricate and remote recess of his hotel would be as open as his commonest closets to the eyes, to the probes, to the gimlets, and to the microscopes of the prefect. I saw in fine that he would be driven, as a matter of course, to simplicity, if not deliberately induced to it as a matter of choice. You will remember, perhaps, how desperately the prefect laughed when he suggested, upon our first interview, that it was just possible this mystery troubled him so much, and accounted for its being so very self-evident. Yes, said I, I remember his merriment well. I really thought he would have fallen under convulsions. The material world continued to pin a balance with very strict analogies to the immaterial, and thus some color of truth has been given to the rhetorical dogma that metaphor or simony may be made to strengthen an argument as well as to embellish a description. The principle of the inertia, for example, seems to be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more true in the former that a large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty that it is in the latter that intellects of the vast capacity were more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress. Again, have you ever noticed which of the street signs over the shop doors are the most attractive of attention? I have never given the matter of thought, I said. There is a game of puzzles, he resumed, which is played upon a map. One party playing requires another to find a given word, the name of town, river, state, or empire. Any word, in short, upon the motley and public surface of the chart. Another similar game generally seeks to embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely better names, but the adepts selects such words as stretch and large characters from one end of the chart to the other. These, like the over largely that it signs in placards of the street, escape observation by them to being excessively obvious. And here, the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral and apprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably self-evident. But this is a point, it appears, somewhat above or beneath the understanding of the prefect. He never once thought it probable or possible that the minister deposited the letter immediately beneath the nose of a whole world by way of best preventing any portion of that world from perceiving it. But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing and discriminating ingenuity of thee, upon the fact that the document must always have been at hand if he intended to use it for good purpose, and upon the decisive evidence obtained by the prefect that it was not hidden within the limits of that dignitary's ordinary search, the more satisfied I became to conceal this letter the minister had resorted to the comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not attempting to conceal it at all. Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of green spectacles and called one fine morning quite by accident at the ministerial hotel. I found thee at home, yawning, lounging and dawdling as usual, pretending to be in the last extremity of NUI. He is, perhaps, the most really energetic human being now alive, but that is only when nobody sees him. To be even with him, I complained of my weak eyes and lamented the necessity of the spectacles and the cover of which I cautiously and thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment, while seaming the intent only upon the conversation of my host. I paid a special attention to a large writing table near which he sat, and upon which lay confusedly some miscellaneous letters and other papers with one or two musical instruments and a few books. Here, however, after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing to excite particular suspicion. I blinked my eyes and go in the circle of the room, fell upon a trumpet-pilligree-card rack of pasteboard that hung banglin' by a dirty blue ribbon from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of the mantelpiece. In this rack, who chaired three or four compartments, were five or six visiting cards on a solitary letter. This last was much soiled and crumpled. It was torn nearly into a cross in the middle, as if a design, in the first instance, deuterred entirely up as worthless, had been altered or stayed in the second. It had a large black seal bearing the D cipher very conspicuously and was addressed in a diminutive female hand to D, the minister himself. It was thrust carelessly and even, as it seemed, contemptuously, the one of the uppermost divisions of the rack. No sooner had I glanced at this letter than I concluded it to be that of which I was in search. To be sure it was, to all appearance, radically different from the one of which the prefect had read a so minute description. Here the seal was large and black with the D cipher. There it was small and red with the duquel arms of the ass family. Here the address to the minister was diminutive and feminine. There the superscription to a certain royal personage was markedly bold and decided the size alone from the point of correspondence. But then the radicalness of these differences, which was excessive, the dirt, the soiled and torn condition of the paper, so inconsistent with the true article habits of D, and so suggestive of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of the worthlessness of the document. These things together with the hyper-obtrusive situation of this document will in the view of every visitor, and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions to which I had previously arrived. These things, I say, were strongly corroborative of suspicion in one who came with the intention to suspect. I protracted my visit as long as possible and, while I maintained the most animated discussion with the minister upon a topic which I knew well, had never failed to interest and excite him, I kept my attention really riveted upon the letter. In this examination, I committed to memory its external appearance and arrangement in Iraq and also fell at length upon a discovery which said at rest whatever trivial doubt I might have entertained. And scrutinizing the edges of the paper, I observed them to be more chaffed than seemed necessary. They presented the broken appearance which is manifested when a stiff paper, having been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded in a reverse direction in the same creases or edges which had formed the original fold. This discovery was sufficient. It was clear to me that the letter had been turned as a glove inside out, redirected and resealed. I bade the minister good morning and took my departure at once, leaving a gold snuff box upon the table. The next morning, I called for the snuff box when we resumed quite eagerly the conversation of the preceding day. While this engaged, however, a loud report as if of a pistol was heard immediately beneath the windows of the hotel and was succeeded by a series of fearful screams and the shoutings of a terrified mob. The rush to a casement drew it open and looked out. In the meantime, I stepped to the card rack and took the letter, put it in my pocket and replaced it by a facsimile, so far as regards externals, which I had carefully prepared at my lodging, imitating the decipher very readily by means of a seal formed of bread. The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of women and children. It proved, however, to have been without a ball and the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When he had gone, D came from the window wither I had followed him immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterward, I bade him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay. But what purpose had you? I asked, replacing the letter by a facsimile. Would it not have been better at the first visit to have seized it openly and departed? D replied, dupin. He's a desperate man and a man of nerve. His hotel, too, was not without a tendency devoted to his interests. And I made the wild attempt to suggest I might never have left the ministerial presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard of me no more. But I had an object apart from these considerations. You know my political prepossessions. In this matter, I act as a partisan of the lady concerned. For 18 months, the minister has had her in his power. She has now him in hers since being unaware that the letter is not in his possession. He will proceed with his exactions as it was. Thus will he inevitably commit himself at once to his political destruction. His downfall, too, will not be more precipitated than awkward. It is all very well to talk about the facilist, the censor, Savani. But in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani said of singing, this far more easy to get up than to come down. In the present instance, I have no sympathy, at least no pity for him who descends. He is that monstrum horrendum, an unprincipled man of genius. I confess, however, that I should like very well to know the precise character or thoughts when being defied by her whom the prefect terms is certain personage. He is reduced to opening the letter which I left for him in the card rack. How? Did you put anything particular in it? Why did not seem altogether right to leave the interior blank? That would have been insulting. Di, at the Vienna once, did me an evil turn, which I told him quite good humor be that I should remember. So as I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of the person who had outwitted him, I thought it a pity not to give him a clue. He is well acquainted with my MS, and I just copied into the middle of the blank sheet the words, on the sin si fornes de, si onnes dignes di atre, as dignes di thais de. They ought to be found in Trebillion's atre. End of The Perloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe. Read by Tom Hackett, djhackett.newgrounds.com.