The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-24


 cancy in the League
 And he is admirably suited for it, the other answered. He has every re- quirement. 1 cannot recall when 1 have seen anything so fine He took step back. cooked his head on one side, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bash ful. Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me I warmly on my success.
 ." Tt would be injustice to hesitate, said he. You will however, l am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precau- tion. 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. per ceive 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 cobblers wax which would disgust you with human na- ture.' 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 l a red head to be seen except my own and that of the manager.
 :" My name said he, is MT. Duncan Ross, and 1 am myself one of the pen sioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you a married man. MT. Wilson? Have you a familyY T answered that I had not"
 His face fell immediately. Dear mel 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 mainten- l anee. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor My face heightened at this, Mir 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. " Tn the case of another said he. the objection might be fatal, but we must | stretch a point in favor of a man with such head of hair as yours When shall you be able to enter upon your | new duties?'
 "'Well, 1t is a little awkward, for I have a business already said I. "'Oh, never mind about that, MT Will sonl' said Vincent Spaulding. I shall be able to look after that for you " What would be the hours" I asked. "' Ten to two
 'Now a pawnbroker' business is most 1 ly done of an evening, MT. Holmes espe- cially 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 as- sistant was a good man, and that he would see to anything that turned up. That would suit me very we'll said | I. And '' pay?
 "1s a4 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 1 time. If you leave, you forfeit your ! xVb wi | clear upon that point. You don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.'
 "1t's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving said I.
 No excuse will avail,' said MT. Dun can Ross, neither sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, 1 or you lose your billet
 ".And the work?
 "'Is to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica There is the first volume l of 1t in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and plotting paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready tomorrow? | Certainly I answered Then goodbye, MT. Jabez Wilson, | and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to gain He l bowed me out of the room, and I went
 
 what to say or do, I was so pleased at | my own good fortune.
 | Well, l 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 It's object might be l could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that any one could make such a will, or that they would pay such sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bed time l had reasoned myself out or the whole thing. However in the morning I de- termined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with quill pen, and seven sheets of l foolscap paper I started off for Pope s Court.
 well, to my surprise and delight, ev- erything was right as possible. The table was set out ready for me, and MT. 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 compli- mented me upon the amount that I had written, and locked the door of the office | after me.
 This went on day after day, Mir. | Holmes, and on Saturday the manager | came in and planked down four golden | sovereigns for my weeks work. It was | the same the next week, and the same the week after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left l at two. By degrees MT. Duncan Ross 1 took to coming in only once of a morn | Ing, 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 good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the loss of 1t.
 1 Flight weeks passed away like this, | and l had written about Abbots and | Archery and Armor 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 morn ing. I went to my work as usual at ten 1 o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, | with a little square of card board ham mered on to the middle of the panel with a tack. Here 1t is, and you can read for yourself"
 He held up piece of white card board about the size of sheet of note paper. It read in this fashion:
 1 'The Red-headed League Dissolved. l October 9, 1890" 1 Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful face 1 behind it, until the comical side of the