55867    It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my writings.

55868    And then suddenly the whole business came to an end.'

55869    'To an end?'

55870    'Yes, sir.

55871    And no later than this morning.

55872    I went to my work as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a tack.

55873    Here it is, and you can read for yourself.'

55874    He held up a piece of white cardboard, about the size of a sheet of note-paper.

55875    It read in this fashion:

55876    'THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED.

55877    OCT. 9, 1890.'

55878    Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely over-topped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar of laughter.

55879    'I cannot see that there is anything very funny,' cried our client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head.

55880    'If you can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere.'

55881    'No, no,' cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which he had half risen.