‘It’s nothing of the kind.’
‘I say it is.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘D’you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that went to the “Alpha” were town bred.’
‘You’ll never persuade me to believe that.’
‘Will you bet, then?’
‘It’s merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But I’ll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be obstinate.’
The salesman chuckled grimly. ‘Bring me the books, Bill,’ said he.
The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lamp.
‘Now then, Mr Cocksure,’ said the salesman, ‘I thought that I was out of geese, but before I finish you’ll find that there is still one left in my shop. You see this little book?’
‘Well?’
‘That’s the list of the folk from whom I buy. D’you see? Well, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name, Just read it out to me.’
‘Mrs Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road—249,’ read Holmes.
‘Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger.’
Holmes turned to the page indicated. ‘Here you are, “Mrs Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.” ’
‘Now, then, what’s the last entry?’
‘ “December 22. Twenty-four geese at 7s 6d.” ’
‘Quite so. There you are. And underneath?’
‘ “Sold to Mr Windigate of the ‘Alpha’ at 12s.” ’
‘What have you say now?’
Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off he stopped under a lamp-post, and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was peculiar to him.
‘When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the “Pink ’Un” protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet,’ said he. ‘I dare say that if I had put a hundred pounds down in front of him that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is whether we should go on to this Mrs Oakshott tonight, or whether