Read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Page 5

gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than

  there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what

  to do with the money. If my hair would only change color, here's

  a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.'

  "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see. Mr. Holmes, I am a

  very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of

  my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting

  my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what

  was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.

  "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he

  asked with his eyes open.

  "'Never.'

  "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligibile yourself for one

  of the vacancies.'

  "'And what are they worth?' I asked.

  "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,

  and it need not interfere very much with one's other

  occupations.'

  "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears,

  for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an

  extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.

  "'Tell me all about it,' said I.

  "'Well ' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for

  yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address

  where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out,

  the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah

  Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself

  red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men;

  so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous

  fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the

  interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of

  that color. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to

  do.'

  "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who

  would apply.'

  "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is

  really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had

  started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the

  old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your

  applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but

  real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr.

  Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be

  worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a

  few hundred pounds.'

  "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves,

  that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed

  to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I

  stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent

  Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might

  prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for

  the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to

  have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for

  the address that was given us in the advertisement.

  "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From

  north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in

  his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement.

  Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court

  looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought

  there were so many in the whole country as were brought together

  by that single advertisement. Every shade of color they

  were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay;

  but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real

  vivid flame-colored tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I

  would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear

  of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and

  pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up

  to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream

  upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back

  dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found

  ourselves in the office."

  "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked

  Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge

  pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement."

  "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs

  and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that

  was even redder than mine. 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 a vacancy did not seem

  to be such 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, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he

  might have a private word with us.

  "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is

  willing to fill a vacancy in the League.'

  "'And he is admirably 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, cocked his head on one side, 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 taking an obvious precaution.'

  With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I

  yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as

  he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we

  have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and

  once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which

  would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the

  window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the

  vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below,

  and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there

  was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the

  manager.

  "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of

  the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are

  you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'

  "I answered that I had not.

  "His face fell immediately.

  "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am

  sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the

  propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their

  maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a

  bachelor.'

  "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was

  not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for

  a few minutes he said that it would be all right.

  "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be

  fatal, but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a

  head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to ent
er upon your

  new duties?'

  "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,'

  said I.

  "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding.

  'I should be able to look after that for you.'

  "'What would be the hours?' I asked.

  "'Ten to two.'

  "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.

  Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just

  before pay-day; 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 that turned up.

  "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'

  "'Is 4 pounds a week.'

  "'And the work?'

  "'Is purely nominal.'

  "'What do you call purely nominal?'

  "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the

  building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole

  position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You

  don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office

  during that time.'

  "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of 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.'

  "'And the work?'

  "'Is to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There is the first

  volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and

  blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be

  ready to-morrow?'

  "'Certainly,' I answered.

  "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you

  once more on the important position which you have been fortunate

  enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with

  my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased

  at my own good fortune.

  "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in

  low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the

  whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its

  object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past

  belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay

  such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying 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 determined to have a look

  at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a

  quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for

  Pope's Court.

  "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as

  possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross

  was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off

  upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from

  time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he

  bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had

  written, and locked the door of the office after me.

  "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the

  manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my

  week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week

  after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I

  left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only

  once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at

  all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an

  instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet

  was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk

  the loss of it.

  "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about

  Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and

  hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very

  long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly

  filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole

  business came to an end."

  "To an end?"

  "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as

  usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a

  little square of card-board hammered on to the middle of the

  panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."

  He held up a piece of white card-board about the size of a sheet

  of note-paper. It read in this fashion:

  THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE

  IS

  DISSOLVED.

  October 9, 1890.

  Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the

  rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so

  completely overtopped every other consideration that we both

  burst out into a roar of laughter.

  "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our

  client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can

  do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."

  "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from

  which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for

  the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you

  will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it.

  Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the

  door?"

  "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called

  at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything

  about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant

  living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me

  what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had

  never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan

  Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him.

  "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'

  "'What, the red-headed man?'

  "'Yes.'

  "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor

  and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new

  premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.'

  "'Where could I find him?'

  "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17

  King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'

  "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was

  a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever

  heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."

  "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.

  "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my

  assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say

  that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite

  good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place

  without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough

  to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right

  away to you."

  "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an

  exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look int
o it.

  From what you have told me I think that it is possible that

  graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear."

  "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four

  pound a week."

  "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do

  not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary

  league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some

  30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have

  gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have

  lost nothing by them."

  "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are,

  and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a

  prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it

  cost them two and thirty pounds."

  "We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, first,

  one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who

  first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he

  been with you?"

  "About a month then."

  "How did he come?"

  "In answer to an advertisement."

  "Was he the only applicant?"

  "No, I had a dozen."

  "Why did you pick him?"

  "Because he was handy and would come cheap."

  "At half-wages, in fact."

  "Yes."

  "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"

  "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,

  though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon

  his forehead."

  Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought

  as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are

  pierced for earrings?"

  "Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he

  was a lad."

  "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still

  with you?"

  "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."

  "And has your business been attended to in your absence?"

  "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a

  morning."

  "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an

  opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is

  Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."

  "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what

  do you make of it all?"

  "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most

  mysterious business."

  "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less

  mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless

  crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is

  the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this

  matter."

  "What are you going to do, then?" I asked.

  "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I

  beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled

  himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his

  hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his

  black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird.

  I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and

  indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his

  chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put

  his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.

  "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he

  remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare

  you for a few hours?"

  "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very

  absorbing."

  "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City

  first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that

  there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is

  rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is

  introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!"

  We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short