2 The Odd Job

Chapter 2 The Odd Job Wilson paused to sip some tea and mop his forehead with a handkerchief. "Your story is one of the strangest I've heard in a long time," remarked Sherlock Holmes. "It gets stranger, sir," said Wilson. "As we stood waiting to go into the office, I saw the dejected faces of all the men coming out and my heart sank. I didn't believe I stood a chance. Finally, we were admitted. A man was seated there behind a desk with hair even redder than my own. "When he saw me, he sprang to his feet. 'Well, well,' he said, and he gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then he seized it with both hands and tugged, causing me to yelp with pain. 'There's water in your eyes,' he observed. 'I'm sorry, but we have to be careful. People have tried to deceive us with wigs and even red paint, would you believe? But yours, I see, is genuine

and of a truly magnificent shade. I know already that we won't find a better candidate today.' "He shook my hand and congratulated me. Then he stepped over to the window and shouted at the top of his voice that the vacancy had been filled. I could hear the groans of disappointment from the street below. "The man introduced himself as Mr. Duncan Ross. He asked if I could start work tomorrow. I explained I had a business to run, but Spaulding told me not to worry about that. He could look

after the shop while I did this other job. Then Mr. Ross explained what the job involved. "I was to come to the office each day from ten o'clock until two and I had to stay there the whole time. Mr. Ross was very strict on this point. If I left the office even briefly during those four hours, I would lose the job. I asked him what work I had to do, and he said I had to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica. I was to supply my own ink, pens, and blotting paper, and the League would provide me with a table and chair."

"And for this they'd pay you how much?" I asked. "Four pounds a week," said Wilson. "But that's more than two hundred pounds a year!" I exclaimed. "One could live very handsomely on such a sum. And all for copying an encyclopedia?" "At first I suspected it was some sort of joke," said Wilson. "Yet when I arrived at the office the next day, there was the table set out for me with the encyclopedia all ready. So I began copying it, starting with all the entries beginning with A. Mr. Ross was there to let me in and see me out, and at the end of the day he complimented me on how much I had written. The same thing happened the following day and the day after that. I came in at ten each morning and left at two, and on Saturday I received four pounds in gold sovereigns. As the days went by, Mr. Ross came in less and less until eventually he didn't come in at all. Eight weeks passed like this. I wrote about Abbots, Archery, Architecture, and Australia, and I was looking forward to getting

onto the B's. But then this morning, the whole thing suddenly stopped." "Stopped?" said Holmes, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, sir. I went to the office as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked. A notice had been nailed to it. I've brought it with me." He showed us a cardboard sign reading: "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE HAS BEEN CLOSED DOWN. October 9, 1890."

Sherlock Holmes and I took one look at this sign and at the mournful face behind it and couldn't help bursting into laughter. "I cannot see what's so funny!" cried Wilson, his face turning almost as red as his hair. "If all you can do is laugh at me, I shall take my business elsewhere."