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I never hoped to see such a sight as that again,Mr. Holmes.
From north, south, east, and west every man whohad a shade of red in his hair had tramped intothe city to answer the advertisement.
Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, andPope's Court looked like a costar's orange barrow.
I should not have thought there were so many inthe whole country as were brought together by thatsingle advertisement.
Every shade of color they were, straw, lemon,orange, brick, Irish setter, liver, clay, but, asSpalding said, there were not many who had thereal vivid flame-colored tint.
When I saw how many were waiting, I would havegiven it up in despair, but Spalding would nothear of it.
How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushedand pulled and butted until he got me through thecrowd, and right up to the steps which led to theoffice.
There was a double stream upon the stair, somegoing up in hope, and some coming back dejected,but we wedged in as well as we could and soonfound ourselves in the office.
Your experience has been a most entertaining one,remarked Holmes as his client paused and refreshedhis memory with a huge pinch of snuff.
Pray continue your very interesting statement.
There was nothing in the office but a couple ofwooden chairs and a deal table, behind which sat asmall man with a head that was even redder thanmine.
He said a few words to each candidate as he cameup, and then he always managed to find some faultin them which would disqualify them.
Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a veryeasy matter, after all.
However, when our turn came the little man wasmuch more favorable to me than to any of theothers, and he closed the door as we entered, sothat he might have a private word with us.
This is Mr. Jabez Wilson, said my assistant, andhe is willing to fill a vacancy in the league.
And he is admirably suited for it, the otheranswered.
He has every requirement. I cannot recall when Ihave seen anything so fine.
He took a step backward, cocked his head on oneside, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful.
Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand,and congratulated me warmly on my success.
It would be injustice to hesitate, said he.
You will, however, I am sure, excuse me for takingan obvious precaution.
With that he seized my hair in both his hands, andtugged until I yelled with the pain.
There is water in your eyes, said he as hereleased me.
I perceive that all is as it should be. But wehave to be careful, for we have twice beendeceived by wigs and once by paint.
I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax whichwould disgust you with human nature.
He stepped over to the window and shouted throughit at the top of his voice that the vacancy wasfilled.
A groan of disappointment came up from below, andthe folk all trooped away in different directionsuntil there was not a redhead to be seen except myown and that of the manager.
03:03
My name, said he, is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I ammyself one of the pensioners upon the fund left byour noble benefactor.
Are you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you afamily?
I answered that I had not. His face fellimmediately.
Dear me! He said gravely, that is very seriousindeed. I am sorry to hear you say that.
The fund was, of course, for the propagation andspread of the redheads as well as for theirmaintenance.
It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be abachelor.
My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for Ithought that I was not to have the vacancy afterall, but after thinking it over for a few minuteshe said that it would be all right.
In the case of another, said he, the objectionmight be fatal, but we must stretch a point infavour of a man with such a head of hair as yours.
When shall you be able to enter upon your newduties?
Well, it is a little awkward, for I have abusiness already, said I.
Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson! saidVincent Spalding. I should be able to look afterthat for you.
What would be the hours? I asked.
Ten to two. Now a pawnbroker's business is mostlydone of an evening, Mr. Holmes, especiallyThursday and Friday evening, which is just beforepayday, so it would suit me very well to earn alittle in the mornings.
Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man,and that he would see to anything that turned up.
That would suit me very well, said I. And the pay?Is four pounds a week. And the work? Is purelynominal.
What do you call purely nominal?
Well, you have to be in the office, or at least inthe building, the whole time. If you leave, youforfeit your whole position forever.
The will is very clear upon that point. You don'tcomply with the conditions if you budge from theoffice during that time.
It's only four hours a day, and I should not thinkof leaving, said I.
No excuse will avail, said Mr. Duncan Ross,neither sickness nor business nor anything else.There you must stay, or you lose your billet. Andthe work?
Is to copy out the Encyclopædia Britannica. Thereis the first volume of it in that press. You mustfind your own ink, pens, and blotting paper, butwe provide this table and chair. Will you be readytomorrow?
Certainly, I answered.
Then, goodbye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let mecongratulate you once more on the importantposition which you have been fortunate enough togain.
He bowed me out of the room and I went home withmy assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, Iwas so pleased at my own good fortune.
Well, I thought over the matter all day, and byevening I was in low spirits again, for I hadquite persuaded myself that the whole affair mustbe some great hoax or fraud, though what itsobject might be I could not imagine.
It seemed altogether past belief that anyone couldmake such a will, or that they would pay such asum for doing anything so simple as copying outthe Encyclopædia Britannica.
Vincent Spalding did what he could to cheer me up,but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of thewhole thing.
06:04
However, in the morning I determined to have alook at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle ofink, and with a quill pen, and seven sheets offoolscap paper, I started off for Pope's Court.
Well, to my surprise and delight, everything wasas right as possible.
The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. DuncanRoss was there to see that I got fairly to work.
He started me off upon the letter A, and then heleft me, but he would drop in from time to time tosee that all was right with me.
At two o'clock he bade me good day, complimentedme upon the amount that I had written, and lockedthe door of the office after me.
This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and onSaturday the manager came in and planked down fourgolden sovereigns for my week's work.
It was the same next week, and the same the weekafter.
Every morning I was there at ten, and everyafternoon I left at two.
By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in onlyonce of a morning, and then, after a time, he didnot come in at all.
Still, of course, I never dared to leave the roomfor an instant, for I was not sure when he mightcome,
and the billet was such a good one, and suited meso well, that I would not risk the loss of it.
Eight weeks passed away like this, and I hadwritten about abbots and archery and armour andarchitecture and Attica,
and hoped with diligence that I might get on tothe B's before very long.
It cost me something in foolscap, and I had prettynearly filled a shelf with my writings.
And then suddenly the whole business came to anend.
To an end?
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