The Red-Headed League Book

[After the concert, Sherlock Holmes announces that a serious crime is about to be committed, and asks Watson to meet him at his office at ten o'clock that night. Also present are two other men'a Scotland Yard detective named Inspector Peter Jones, and a Mr. Merryweather, who is a director of the "City and Suburban Bank", which is located next door to the pawnbroker's. Sherlock Holmes has asked them all to be there, as he suspects that the bank is to be a target for a daring robbery that very night. The bank is currently holding far more assets than usual, because they have taken delivery of some gold bullion'thirty thousand napoleons to be exact'from the Bank of France.

There follows a suspenseful hour or more, as the four men lay in wait in the vault of the City and Suburban Bank, in pitch black, and not making a sound. Sherlock Holmes has ascertained that they are about to meet John Clay, a notorious criminal: a "murderer, thief, smasher and forger." Furthermore, he says he:

"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. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next."

Sure enough, as Doctor Watson feels the tension must break, they notice a light shining through a crack in the floor.

"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 gash seemed to open and a hand appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing 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 Then it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again save the single lurid spark, which marked a chink between the stones."

A man with a boyish face emerges from a tunnel, pulling his accomplice after him. They are the aforementioned John Clay, and his helper Archie. Vincent Spaulding had been an alias for John Clay, and Archie played the part of Duncan Ross. Together they had cut a tunnel through into the vault's floor. Quickly Sherlock Holmes springs out and seizes the intruder, leaving the inspector to deal with Archie.

John Clay realises that he has no chance of escape but is still'ludicrously enough'keen to assert his superior social position:

"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands … 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.'"

Back at his house in Baker Streeet, Sherlock Holmes explains the missing parts of the story to a bewildered Doctor Watson. The preposterous Red-headed league had been an invention purely suggested by the coincidence of Archie's fiery hair colour matching the bright red of Jabez Wilson's, and the happy fact that the pawnbroker was in need of ready money'and "not over-bright". As soon as the tunnel had been completed, there was no more need for the pawnbroker to be got out of the way, in case he should hear the give-away sound of tunnelling, so the league was "dissolved". Although paying Wilson four pounds a week was expensive, it was a pittance compared with the huge amount of gold coins they were planning to steal.

Sherlock Holmes, and perhaps the reader, had realised from the beginning that the Red-headed League was simply too preposterous to be real, and that it must therefore have been a cunning ploy to get Wilson out of his shop for a few hours every day. Added to this was the suspicious fact that Vincent Spaulding was willing to work for so little money. He had also invented a hobby for himself of photography, which conveniently meant that he spent a lot of time alone in the cellar, developing his photos.

The final clue was that there was a bank nearby. The reason Sherlock Holmes had pounded on the pavement outside Jabez Wilson's shop, was to determine whether the ground was hollow underneath, because he suspected that Vincent Spaulding was digging a tunnel to the bank. He had knocked on the door, ostensibly for directions, but in truth so that he could see whether the knees of Victor Spaulding's trousers were dirty. The fact that time was of the essence was clear, because the league had been dissolved so suddenly. This could only mean that the robbery was imminent, so Sherlock Holmes set in motion his plan to capture John Clay in the act.

Sherlock Holmes finishes by expressing his regret, that such a fine creative mind had been wasted on criminal activity. (hide spoiler)]