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
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
Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the
pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor
Have you a family?’

“I answered that I had not
“‘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 favour of a man with such a head of hair as
yours
When shall you be able to enter 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 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 _Encyclopædia 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
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 _Encyclopædia 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
Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning, and then, after a
time, he did not come in at all
“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
