It cost me
something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my
writings
And then suddenly the whole business came to an end.”

“To an end?”

“Yes, sir
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, and you can read 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 LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED
“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.”

“No, 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
Then I called at the
offices 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 League
He said that he had never heard of any such
body
He answered that the
name was new to him
“‘Well,’ said I, ‘the gentleman at No
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 premises
were ready
He moved out yesterday.’

“‘Where could I find him?’

“‘Oh, at his new offices
Yes, 17 King
Edward Street, near St
Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a
manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever heard of
either Mr
Duncan Ross.”

“And what did you do then?” asked Holmes
“I went home to Saxe-Coburg 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
“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 hang from
it than might at first sight appear.”

“Grave enough!” said Mr
“Why, I have lost four pound a
week.”

“As far as you are personally concerned,” remarked Holmes, “I do not
see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league
On
the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some £ 30, 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 two and thirty
pounds.”

“We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you
And, first, one
or two questions, Mr
Has a white splash of acid upon his
forehead.”

Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement
“Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced for
earrings?”

“Yes, sir
He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he was a
lad.”

“Hum!” 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’s never very much to do of a
morning.”

“That will do, Mr
I shall be happy to give you an opinion upon
the subject in the course of a day or two
“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
James’s Hall this afternoon,” he remarked
Could your patients spare you for a few
hours?”

“I have nothing to do to-day
My practice is never very absorbing.”

“Then put on 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 a good deal
of German music on the programme, 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 Aldersgate; and a short walk
took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story which we
had listened to in the morning