A Red-Headed League Continued...
“Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate to have such a hard-working and inexpensive employee. Your assistant seems just as amazing as this advertisement of yours.”
“Oh, he has his problems,” said Mr. Wilson. “No one has ever loved photography more. He’s always taking pictures and then going down into the cellar to develop them when he should be improving his mind. That is his only shortcoming. I really can’t complain.”
“He is still working with you, I guess?”
“Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen. She does a bit of simple cooking and keeps the place clean. That’s all I have in the house because I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly, sir, the three of us. The first thing that excited us was that advertisement. Spaulding came down into the office eight weeks ago, with this very newspaper in his hand, and he said:
“ ‘I wish, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’
“ ‘Why is that?’ I asked.
“ ‘Why,’ he said, ‘there’s an opening in the League of the Red-headed Men. It’s worth quite a bit of money to any man who gets it. If my hair would only change color.’
“ ‘Why then?’ I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very stay-at-home man, and I often went several weeks in a row without leaving the house. In that way, I didn’t know much of what was going on outside, and I was always happy for a bit of news.
“ ‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he asked with his eyes open.
“ ‘Never.’
“ ‘I wish I could benefit from it.’
“ ‘And what is it worth?’ I asked.
“ ‘Oh, just a couple of hundred a year, but the work is simple, and it doesn’t need to interfere very much with one’s other business.’
“Well, that got me interested, for my business has not been good for some years, and an extra couple of hundred would be very nice.” So, I asked him to tell me about it.
“ ‘Well,’ he said, showing me the advertisement, ‘you can see for yourself that the League has an opening, and there is the address where you can apply. As far as I can tell, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very odd. He had red hair himself, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died, he left his enormous fortune with instructions to give the money to his fellow red-headed men. From what I hear it is great pay and very little work.’
“ ‘But,’ I said, ‘there will be millions of red-headed men who will apply.’
“ ‘But, your hair is so perfectly red. It’s exactly what they want.’
“Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my hair is very full and rich, so it seemed to me that I had a good chance. Vincent Spaulding and I went together to apply. I thought he might be useful since he knew so much about this organization. When we arrived, there were hundreds of men with red hair. Some light, some dark, but none as fiery as mine. In the office, there was nothing but a couple of wooden chairs and a small table. A short man with hair that was very red sat in the room. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would disqualify them. Getting the money did not seem to be a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came, the little man was much more favorable to me than to any of the others.
“ ‘This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,’ said my assistant, ‘and he is willing to fill the position in the League.’
“ ‘And he is well suited for it,’ the other answered. ‘He has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine.’ He took a step backward and gazed at my hair until I felt quite embarrassed. Then suddenly he shook my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.
He asked, ‘When will you be able to start?’
“ ‘Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,’ I said.
“ ‘Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!’ said Vincent Spaulding. ‘I should be able to look after that for you.’
“ ‘When would I need to work?’ I asked.
“ ‘Ten to two.’
“Now my shop business is mostly done in the evening, Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that he would see to anything in the shop.
“ ‘That would suit me very well,’ I said. ‘And the pay?’
“ ‘Is £4 a week.’
“ ‘And the work?’
“ ‘It is very simple.’
“ ‘What do you mean very simple?’
“ ‘Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building, the whole time. If you leave, you lose the position forever.’
“ ‘It’s only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,’ I said.
“ ‘We can’t accept any excuses,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross; ‘not sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your position.’
“ ‘And the work?’
“ ‘You will copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Here is the first book. You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready tomorrow?’
“ ‘Certainly,’ I answered.
“ ‘Then, goodbye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you again on getting this position.’ I went home with my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I felt so lucky.
“Well, I thought about it all day, and by evening I was depressed again because I had convinced myself that the whole position must be a trick. It seemed impossible that someone had left so much money to red-headed men, or that they would pay such cash for simply writing out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning I decided to have a look at it anyhow. After buying a small bottle of ink, a pen, and seven sheets of paper, I headed to the office of the Red-headed League.
“Oh, he has his problems,” said Mr. Wilson. “No one has ever loved photography more. He’s always taking pictures and then going down into the cellar to develop them when he should be improving his mind. That is his only shortcoming. I really can’t complain.”
“He is still working with you, I guess?”
“Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen. She does a bit of simple cooking and keeps the place clean. That’s all I have in the house because I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly, sir, the three of us. The first thing that excited us was that advertisement. Spaulding came down into the office eight weeks ago, with this very newspaper in his hand, and he said:
“ ‘I wish, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’
“ ‘Why is that?’ I asked.
“ ‘Why,’ he said, ‘there’s an opening in the League of the Red-headed Men. It’s worth quite a bit of money to any man who gets it. If my hair would only change color.’
“ ‘Why then?’ I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very stay-at-home man, and I often went several weeks in a row without leaving the house. In that way, I didn’t know much of what was going on outside, and I was always happy for a bit of news.
“ ‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he asked with his eyes open.
“ ‘Never.’
“ ‘I wish I could benefit from it.’
“ ‘And what is it worth?’ I asked.
“ ‘Oh, just a couple of hundred a year, but the work is simple, and it doesn’t need to interfere very much with one’s other business.’
“Well, that got me interested, for my business has not been good for some years, and an extra couple of hundred would be very nice.” So, I asked him to tell me about it.
“ ‘Well,’ he said, showing me the advertisement, ‘you can see for yourself that the League has an opening, and there is the address where you can apply. As far as I can tell, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very odd. He had red hair himself, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died, he left his enormous fortune with instructions to give the money to his fellow red-headed men. From what I hear it is great pay and very little work.’
“ ‘But,’ I said, ‘there will be millions of red-headed men who will apply.’
“ ‘But, your hair is so perfectly red. It’s exactly what they want.’
“Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my hair is very full and rich, so it seemed to me that I had a good chance. Vincent Spaulding and I went together to apply. I thought he might be useful since he knew so much about this organization. When we arrived, there were hundreds of men with red hair. Some light, some dark, but none as fiery as mine. In the office, there was nothing but a couple of wooden chairs and a small table. A short man with hair that was very red sat in the room. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would disqualify them. Getting the money did not seem to be a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came, the little man was much more favorable to me than to any of the others.
“ ‘This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,’ said my assistant, ‘and he is willing to fill the position in the League.’
“ ‘And he is well suited for it,’ the other answered. ‘He has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine.’ He took a step backward and gazed at my hair until I felt quite embarrassed. Then suddenly he shook my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.
He asked, ‘When will you be able to start?’
“ ‘Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,’ I said.
“ ‘Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!’ said Vincent Spaulding. ‘I should be able to look after that for you.’
“ ‘When would I need to work?’ I asked.
“ ‘Ten to two.’
“Now my shop business is mostly done in the evening, Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that he would see to anything in the shop.
“ ‘That would suit me very well,’ I said. ‘And the pay?’
“ ‘Is £4 a week.’
“ ‘And the work?’
“ ‘It is very simple.’
“ ‘What do you mean very simple?’
“ ‘Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building, the whole time. If you leave, you lose the position forever.’
“ ‘It’s only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,’ I said.
“ ‘We can’t accept any excuses,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross; ‘not sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your position.’
“ ‘And the work?’
“ ‘You will copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Here is the first book. You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready tomorrow?’
“ ‘Certainly,’ I answered.
“ ‘Then, goodbye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you again on getting this position.’ I went home with my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I felt so lucky.
“Well, I thought about it all day, and by evening I was depressed again because I had convinced myself that the whole position must be a trick. It seemed impossible that someone had left so much money to red-headed men, or that they would pay such cash for simply writing out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning I decided to have a look at it anyhow. After buying a small bottle of ink, a pen, and seven sheets of paper, I headed to the office of the Red-headed League.