“ ‘Precisely what I don’t want you to do. I had a row over you with Mawson’s manager. I had gone up to ask him about you, and he was very offensive; accused me of coaxing you away from the service of the firm, and that sort of thing. At last I fairly lost my temper. “If you want good men you should pay them a good price,” said I.’
“ ‘He would rather have our small price than your big one,’ said he.
“ ‘I’ll lay you a fiver,’ said I, ‘that when he has my offer you’ll never so much as hear from him again.’
“ ‘Done!’ said he. ‘We picked him out of the gutter, and he won’t leave us so easily.’ Those were his very words.”
“ ‘The impudent scoundrel!’ I cried. ‘I’ve never so much as seen him in my life. Why should I consider him in any way? I shall certainly not write if you would rather I didn’t.’
“ ‘Good! That’s a promise,’ said he, rising from his chair. ‘Well, I’m delighted to have got so good a man for my brother. Here’s your advance of a hundred pounds, and here is the letter. Make a note of the address, 126b Corporation Street, and remember that one o’clock tomorrow is your appointment. Good night; and may you have all the fortune that you deserve!’
“That’s just about all that passed between us, as near as I can remember. You can imagine, Dr. Watson, how pleased I was at such an extraordinary bit of good fortune. I sat up half the night hugging myself over it, and next day I was off to Birmingham in a train that would take me in plenty time for my appointment. I took my things to a hotel in New Street, and then I made my way to the address which had been given me.
“It was a quarter of an hour before my time, but I thought that would make no difference. 126b was a passage between two large shops, which