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
Sherlock
Holmes 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 pawnbroker’s,
and, having thumped vigorously upon the pavement with his 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 wished to ask you how you would go
from here to the Strand.”

“Third right, fourth left,” answered the assistant promptly, closing
the door
“Smart fellow, that,” observed Holmes as we walked away
“He is, in my
judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I am not
sure that he has not a claim to be 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 League
We are
spies in an enemy’s country
We know something of Saxe-Coburg Square
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
the hurrying swarm of pedestrians
“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
Mortimer’s, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg
branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and
McFarlane’s carriage-building depot
That carries us right on to the
other block
And now, Doctor, we’ve done our work, so it’s time we had
some play
When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St
James’s Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom
he had set himself to hunt down
“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 Coburg 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 to-day being Saturday
rather complicates matters
I shall want your help to-night.”

“At what time?”

“Ten will be early enough.”

“I shall be at Baker Street at ten.”

“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 neighbours, but I was always
oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock
Holmes
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 this 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 a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my way
across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street
Two
hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the passage I heard
the sound of voices from above
Our party is complete,” said Holmes, buttoning up his pea-jacket
and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack
Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to-night’s adventure.”

“We’re 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
“You may place considerable confidence in Mr
Holmes, sir,” said the
police agent loftily
“He has his own little methods, which are, if he
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 Sholto murder and the
Agra treasure, he has been more nearly correct than the official
force.”

“Oh, if you say so, Mr
Jones, it is all right,” said the stranger with
deference
“Still, I confess that I miss my rubber
Merryweather, the stake will be
some £ 30,000; 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
Merryweather, 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’s a
remarkable man, is young John Clay
His grandfather was a royal duke,
and he himself has been to Eton 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