we could see the owner, to which the shop assistant pointed at a lean, darkhaired, middle-aged man sitting at a desk. The desk stood beside one of the display windows and was piled high with papers. We approached him.
‘I had the honour of receiving from you today a letter addressed to me at the Moscow Grand Hotel,’ said Sherlock Holmes with a bow.
The publisher immediately realized who we are. He shook us by the hand, asked us to wait a few moments and went into a back room.
‘My son will be here in a minute and I would ask you to wait for his arrival,’ he said when he returned. ‘This is not the place to talk about such matters. With your permission, we will adjourn elsewhere, where you will be told in detail everything concerning my request for your presence.’
Holmes bowed silently. Only a couple of minutes passed and a young man, wearing a school uniform, walked in and Maxim Vasilyevitch Kliukin handed him a set of keys, meanwhile asking us to follow.
We followed Kliukin for a couple of hundred steps along Mohovaya Street and found ourselves at the Peterhof tavern. Up the stairs we went and along a corridor with private rooms along it. We passed several doors and entered one of the larger rooms in which, to our great surprise, a fairly large number of people were already waiting. Several rose to meet us when we came in, and Mr Kliukin introduced us.
I don’t remember all their surnames, but I did remember Messrs Yefimoff, Karbasnikoff, Suvorin and others. All those present were either publishers or the owners of major book stores.
After the initial polite exchanges, Sherlock Holmes asked Mr Kliukin to come to the point without further ado.
‘This is what it is all about,’ Maxim Vasilyevitch Kliukin began. ‘I speak at the request and on behalf of all those present. We are ten publishers and store owners from which a considerable number of books have vanished this past year. We have searched and searched for them but, so far, to no avail. I accidentally heard of your presence in Moscow and decided to tempt fortune, to ask you for help.’
‘I am at your service,’ said Holmes.
‘You see,’ said Kliukin, ‘as I have already said, we have no direct evidence against anyone. Nevertheless, owing to certain considerations, we are led to suspect certain minor bookstore proprietors who are buying up goods stolen from us. So far, it is unclear to us who carried out the robberies and how, but we are able to give you the names of ten people who, we think, merit special attention.’
‘You will let me write down their names?’ asked Holmes and took out a notebook.
‘Of course,’ said Kliukin. He dictated the names of bookstores in various parts of town with their precise addresses.
‘And this is all you have for me?’ asked Holmes.
‘Alas, yes,’ said the publisher.
‘Another question.’
‘I am listening.’
‘Do you sell your books in complete form, i.e. including bindings?’
‘Of course, it would be strange if that were not the case,’ said the publisher in surprise.
We discussed a few more trivial details and, having carefully written down the addresses of the stores that had been robbed, we bade the company farewell and left the restaurant.
III
For the rest of the day and evening Holmes worked his way with painstaking care through a reference book, occasionally going downstairs to use the telephone. At the same time he called for a courier and told him to order notepaper with the heading ‘Ivan Ivanovitch Sergeyev, Publisher,’ and this was to be done as a matter of urgency.
Early the next morning the notepaper was delivered by the printer. Again, Holmes got to work on the telephone.
At the same time, I had to find out from all the publishers we had met the previous day what exactly they published and which books were principally stocked in their warehouses during the period of the robberies. A few hours of work and we had quite a list before us.
‘And now, Watson, we can get down to some real work,’ said Sherlock Holmes with a determined air.
Sitting down to our desk, we divided between us those book stores which the publishers had indicated as under suspicion.
We had four shops each. We each kept a copy of the list.
It is necessary to note that, at the request of Sherlock Holmes, the publishers who had been robbed were asked to give precise figures as to which books and what quantities had been ordered by those under suspicion. None of the figures was considerable. Each had ordered between one and three copies.
‘Remember, my dear Watson,’ said Sherlock Holmes, ‘we will have to visit all the shops and ask for precisely those books which have vanished at the same time. It goes without saying that, in every case, we will ask for a higher number of copies than those the firm ordered.’
I fully comprehended Holmes’s thinking. Indeed, this was the only way of coming across any trace.
At the same time, an error was possible and I couldn’t refrain from putting it before Holmes. ‘It might very well be that, despite the absence of the goods we ask for, the firm would tell us to wait a few minutes while they send a messenger to fetch them from the requisite publisher.’
‘Of course,’ answered Holmes, ‘your presupposition is more than possible. But we can always telephone the publisher and ask whether a messenger came, who sent him and how many copies he took.’
‘You are absolutely right!’ I had to agree.
‘So, let’s not waste any further time,’ said Holmes, reaching for his hat.
A few minutes later we had left our hotel and each set out on his route. We had to hurry. The day was slowly drawing to a close and the stores were going to shut in a couple of hours.
Having been to four stores, I returned tired and bad-tempered, with nothing to show for my efforts. In all four I got either a direct refusal or I was offered a lesser quantity than I had asked for, though I was told that if I cared to wait, my order would be filled in no time at all.
Moreover, the book store owners, when I told them that I was opening my own business, assured me that if they were to get the book from the very same publishers I would have to go to myself, I wouldn’t be a kopeck worse off. The reason was that they were old customers, were given a sizable discount and they would pass the books on to me leaving for themselves a very small profit. But I’d be getting the books for the same price I’d have to pay the publisher. No matter how cunningly I tried, I could find nothing suspicious that could cast any light on the offer. Upset by my lack of success, I returned to my hotel room, took off my coat and lay down on the couch awaiting Holmes.
Darkness fell.
Sherlock Holmes returned at about eight. He came in with a bold step and from the look on his face I immediately saw that he was satisfied with his excursion.
‘A man’s eyes and face reflect his inner state,’ he said, looking at me with a smile, ‘and, hence, I am certain that you are angry at your lack of success.’
He hung his coat up and turned to me, ‘But that’s how it always is, dear Watson, we look for some item in ten places. It doesn’t mean it is in all of them at one and the same time. It has to be somewhere in a single place, and if two or three people were to go in different directions, one of them will certainly find what has been lost, unless, of course, someone has moved it somewhere else.’
‘From what you say, I conclude that your excursion has been, in any case, more successful,’ I said, feeling better. ‘No, really, Holmes, you’re lucky. Luck, real luck, dogs your footsteps whichever way you go. I really get to feel jealous, just thinking of your successes. Now, then, isn’t it just chance that on this occasion I got the four stores which had nothing suspicious.’
Holmes shrugged indifferently, ‘In solving crimes, blind chance often plays a leading role.’
