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Fat and Thin [Lean and Fat]. A Slander [The Slanderer]. Surgery [The Dental Surgeon]. What Is To Be Done? A Dissertation on Drama. In an Hotel [In a Hotel]. The Head of the Family. In a Strange Land. Marriage in Years' Time. My Talk with Edison Tchekov and Edison. An Actor's End [Death of an Actor]. A Story Without an End. The Little Joke A Joke. A Day in the Country. At a Summer Villa. A Trifle from Life. Who Was to Blame? Champagne A Wayfarer's Story. A Drama A Play. The Reed-Pipe The Pipe. The Lion and The Sun Text.
In Trouble [A Misfortune]. Stapleton, a mutual friend who was much concerned at his state of health, was of the same opinion. At the last instant came this terrible catastrophe. But one false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. But I did—some little distance off, but fresh and clear. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered.
Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound! Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. The walk in the centre is about eight feet across. Mortimer—and this is important—the marks which you saw were on the path and not on the grass? Was the wicket- gate closed? Did no one examine? Sir Charles had evidently stood there for five or ten minutes. This is a colleague, Watson, after our own heart.
I could discern no others. That gravel page upon which I might have read so much has been long ere this smudged by the rain and defaced by the clogs of curious peas-ants. Mortimer, to think that you should not have called me in! You have indeed much to answer for. Holmes, without disclosing these facts to the world, and I have already given my reasons for not wishing to do so. Besides, besides—" "Why do you hesitate? Holmes, there have come to my ears several incidents which are hard to reconcile with the settled order of Nature.
They all agreed that it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district, and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night. Yet you must admit that the footmark is material. Mortimer, tell me this. If you hold these views why have you come to consult me at all? Mortimer looked at his watch—"in exactly one hour and a quarter. On the death of Sir Charles we inquired for this young gentleman and found that he had been farming in Canada. From the accounts which have reached us he is an excellent fellow in every way.
The only other kinsman whom we have been able to trace was Rodger Baskerville, the youngest of three brothers of whom poor Sir Charles was the elder. The second brother, who died young, is the father of this lad Henry. The third, Rodger, was the black sheep of the family. He came of the old masterful Baskerville strain and was the very image, they tell me, of the family picture of old Hugo. He made England too hot to hold him, fled to Central America, and died there in of yellow fever. Henry is the last of the Baskervilles. In one hour and five minutes I meet him at Waterloo Station.
I have had a wire that he arrived at Southampton this morning. Holmes, what would you advise me to do with him? And yet, consider that every Baskerville who goes there meets with an evil fate.
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I feel sure that if Sir Charles could have spoken with me before his death he would have warned me against bringing this, the last of the old race, and the heir to great wealth, to that deadly place. And yet it cannot be denied that the prosperity of the whole poor, bleak countryside depends upon his presence. All the good work which has been done by Sir Charles will crash to the ground if there is no tenant of the Hall. I fear lest I should be swayed too much by my own obvious interest in the matter, and that is why I bring the case before you and ask for your advice.
But surely, if your supernatural theory be correct, it could work the young man evil in London as easily as in Devon-shire. A devil with merely local powers like a parish vestry would be too inconceivable a thing. Holmes, than you would probably do if you were brought into personal contact with these things. Your advice, then, as I understand it, is that the young man will be as safe in Devonshire as in London. He comes in fifty minutes. What would you recommend?
Mortimer, I will be much obliged to you if you will call upon me here, and it will be of help to me in my plans for the future if you will bring Sir Henry Baskerville with you. Holmes stopped him at the head of the stair. But this is splendid, really unique from some points of view. When you pass Bradley's, would you ask him to send up a pound of the strongest shag tobacco? It would be as well if you could make it convenient not to return before evening. Then I should be very glad to compare impressions as to this most interesting problem which has been submitted to us this morning.
I therefore spent the day at my club and did not return to Baker Street until evening. It was nearly nine o'clock when I found myself in the sitting-room once more. My first impression as I opened the door was that a fire had broken out, for the room was so filled with smoke that the light of the lamp upon the table was blurred by it. As I entered, however, my fears were set at rest, for it was the acrid fumes of strong coarse tobacco which took me by the throat and set me coughing.
Through the haze I had a vague vision of Holmes in his dressing-gown coiled up in an armchair with his black clay pipe between his lips. Several rolls of paper lay around him. You have been at your club all day, I perceive. A gentleman goes forth on a showery and miry day. He returns immaculate in the evening with the gloss still on his hat and his boots.
He has been a fixture therefore all day. He is not a man with intimate friends. Where, then, could he have been? Is it not obvious? Where do you think that I have been? My body has remained in this armchair and has, I regret to observe, consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee and an incredible amount of tobacco. After you left I sent down to Stamford's for the Ordnance map of this portion of the moor, and my spirit has hovered over it all day.
I flatter myself that I could find my way about. That is Bask- erville Hall in the middle. I fancy the yew alley, though not marked under that name, must stretch along this line, with the moor, as you per-ceive, upon the right of it. This small clump of buildings here is the hamlet of Grimpen, where our friend Dr. Mortimer has his headquarters. Within a radius of five miles there are, as you see, only a very few scattered dwellings. Here is Lafter Hall, which was mentioned in the narrative. Here are two moorland farmhouses, High Tor and Foulmire.
Then fourteen miles away the great convict prison of Princetown. Between and around these scattered points extends the desolate, lifeless moor. This, then, is the stage upon which tragedy has been played, and upon which we may help to play it again. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men—" "Then you are yourself inclining to the supernatural explanation. There are two questions waiting for us at the outset. The one is whether any crime has been committed at all; the second is, what is the crime and how was it committed?
Of course, if Dr. It is a singular thing, but I find that a concentrated atmosphere helps a concentration of thought. I have not pushed it to the length of getting into a box to think, but that is the logical outcome of my convictions. Have you turned the case over in your mind? There are points of distinction about it. That change in the footprints, for example. What do you make of that? Why should a man walk on tiptoe down the alley? There are indications that the man was crazed with fear before ever he began to run. If that were so, and it seems most probable only a man who had lost his wits would have run from the house instead of towards it.
Then, again, whom was he waiting for that night, and why was he waiting for him in the yew alley rather than in his own house? We can understand his tak-ing an evening stroll, but the ground was damp and the night inclement. Is it natural that he should stand for five or ten minutes, as Dr. Mortimer, with more practical sense than I should have given him credit for, deduced from the cigar ash? On the contrary, the evidence is that he avoided the moor.
That night he waited there. It was the night before he made his departure for London. Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville in the morning. Our clients were punctual to their appointment, for the clock had just struck ten when Dr. Mortimer was shown up, followed by the young bar-onet. The latter was a small, alert, dark-eyed man about thirty years of age, very sturdily built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious face. He wore a ruddy-tinted tweed suit and had the weather-beaten appearance of one who has spent most of his time in the open air, and yet there was something in his steady eye and the quiet assurance of his bearing which indicated the gentleman.
Sherlock Holmes, that if my friend here had not proposed coming round to you this morning I should have come on my own account. I understand that you think out little puzzles, and I've had one this morning which wants more thinking out than I am able to give it. Do I understand you to say that you have yourself had some remarkable experience since you arrived in London? Only a joke, as like as not. It was this letter, if you can call it a letter, which reached me this morning. It was of common quality, grayish in colour. The address, "Sir Henry Baskerville, Northumberland Hotel," was printed in rough characters; the post-mark "Charing Cross," and the date of posting the preceding evening.
We only decided after I met Dr. Mortimer was no doubt already stopping there? Someone seems to be very deeply interested in your movements. This he opened and spread flat upon the table. Across the middle of it a single sentence had been formed by the expedient of pasting printed words upon it. As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor. The word "moor" only was printed in ink. Holmes, what in thunder is the meaning of that, and who it is that takes so much interest in my affairs? You must allow that there is nothing supernatural about this, at any rate?
I promise you that," said Sherlock Holmes. Permit me to give you an extract from it. Mortimer looked at Holmes with an air of professional in-terest, and Sir Henry Baskerville turned a pair of puzzled dark eyes upon me. Watson here knows more about my methods than you do, but I fear that even he has not quite grasped the significance of this sentence. Holmes, this exceeds anything which I could have imagined," said Dr.
Mortimer, gazing at my friend in amazement. How did you do it? The differences are obvi-ous. The supra-orbital crest, the facial angle, the maxillary curve, the—" "But this is my special hobby, and the differences are equally obvious. There is as much difference to my eyes between the leaded bourgeois type of a Times article and the slovenly print of an evening half-penny paper as there could be between your negro and your Esquimau.
The detection of types is one of the most elementary branches of knowledge to the special expert in crime, though I confess that once when I was very young I confused the Leeds Mercury with the Western Morning News. But a Times leader is entirely distinctive, and these words could have been taken from nothing else.
Holmes," said Sir Henry Baskerville, "someone cut out this message with a scissors—" "Nail-scissors," said Holmes. Someone, then, cut out the message with a pair of short-bladed scissors, pasted it with paste—" "Gum," said Holmes. The address, you observe is printed in rough characters. But the Times is a paper which is seldom found in any hands but those of the highly educated.
We may take it, therefore, that the letter was composed by an educated man who wished to pose as an uneducated one, and his effort to conceal his own writing suggests that that writing might be known, or come to be known, by you. Again, you will observe that the words are not gummed on in an accurate line, but that some are much higher than others. On the whole I incline to the latter view, since the matter was evidently important, and it is unlikely that the composer of such a letter would be careless. If he were in a hurry it opens up the interesting question why he should be in a hurry, since any letter posted up to early morning would reach Sir Henry before he would leave his hotel.
Did the composer fear an in- terruption—and from whom? It is the scientific use of the imagin-ation, but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation. Now, you would call it a guess, no doubt, but I am almost certain that this address has been written in a hotel. The pen has spluttered twice in a single word and has run dry three times in a short address, showing that there was very little ink in the bottle.
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Now, a private pen or ink-bottle is seldom allowed to be in such a state, and the combination of the two must be quite rare. But you know the hotel ink and the hotel pen, where it is rare to get anything else. Yes, I have very little hesitation in saying that could we examine the waste-paper baskets of the hotels around Charing Cross until we found the remains of the mutilated Times leader we could lay our hands straight upon the person who sent this singular message.
I think we have drawn as much as we can from this curious letter; and now, Sir Henry, has anything else of interest happened to you since you have been in London? You have nothing else to report to us before we go into this matter? But I hope that to lose one of your boots is not part of the ordinary routine of life over here. Mortimer, "it is only mislaid. You will find it when you return to the hotel. Holmes with trifles of this kind? You have lost one of your boots, you say? I put them both outside my door last night, and there was only one in the morning.
I could get no sense out of the chap who cleans them. The worst of it is that I only bought the pair last night in the Strand, and I have never had them on. That was why I put them out. Mortimer here went round with me. You see, if I am to be squire down there I must dress the part, and it may be that I have got a little careless in my ways out West. Among other things I bought these brown boots— gave six dollars for them—and had one stolen before ever I had them on my feet. It is time that you kept your promise and gave me a full account of what we are all driving at. Mortimer, I think you could not do better than to tell your story as you told it to us.
Sir Henry Baskerville listened with the deepest attention and with an occasional exclamation of surprise. I suppose that fits into its place. I am very much in-debted to you, Dr. Mortimer, for introducing me to a problem which presents several interesting alternatives. There is no devil in hell, Mr.
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Holmes, and there is no man upon earth who can prevent me from going to the home of my own people, and you may take that to be my final answer. It was evident that the fiery temper of the Baskervilles was not extinct in this their last representative. I should like to have a quiet hour by myself to make up my mind. Now, look here, Mr. Suppose you and your friend, Dr. Watson, come round and lunch with us at two.
Shall I have a cab called? Au revoir, and good-morning! In an instant Holmes had changed from the languid dreamer to the man of action. Not a moment to lose! We hurried together down the stairs and into the street. Mortimer and Bask- erville were still visible about two hundred yards ahead of us in the direction of Oxford Street.
I am perfectly satisfied with your company if you will tolerate mine. Our friends are wise, for it is certainly a very fine morning for a walk. Then, still keeping a hundred yards behind, we followed into Oxford Street and so down Regent Street. Once our friends stopped and stared into a shop window, upon which Holmes did the same. An instant after-wards he gave a little cry of satisfaction, and, following the dir-ection of his eager eyes, I saw that a hansom cab with a man inside which had halted on the other side of the street was now proceeding slowly onward again.
We'll have a good look at him, if we can do no more. Holmes looked eagerly round for another, but no empty one was in sight. Then he dashed in wild pursuit amid the stream of the traffic, but the start was too great, and already the cab was out of sight. How else could it be known so quickly that it was the Northumberland Hotel which he had chosen?
If they had followed him the first day I argued that they would follow him also the second. You may have observed that I twice strolled over to the window while Dr. Mortimer was reading his legend. We are dealing with a clever man, Watson.
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This matter cuts very deep, and though I have not finally made up my mind whether it is a benevolent or a malevolent agency which is in touch with us, I am conscious always of power and design. When our friends left I at once followed them in the hopes of marking down their invisible attendant.
So wily was he that he had not trusted himself upon foot, but he had availed himself of a cab so that he could loiter behind or dash past them and so escape their notice. His method had the additional advantage that if they were to take a cab he was all ready to follow them. It has, however, one obvious disadvantage. But that is no use to us for the moment.
I should then at my leisure have hired a second cab and followed the first at a respectful dis-tance, or, better still, have driven to the Northumberland Hotel and waited there. When our unknown had followed Baskerville home we should have had the opportunity of playing his own game upon himself and seeing where he made for. As it is, by an indiscreet eagerness, which was taken advantage of with extraordinary quickness and energy by our opponent, we have betrayed ourselves and lost our man. Mortimer, with his companion, had long vanished in front of us.
Could you swear to that man's face within the cab? A clever man upon so delicate an errand has no use for a beard save to conceal his features. Come in here, Watson! You saved my good name, and perhaps my life. I have some recollection, Wilson, that you had among your boys a lad named Cartwright, who showed some ability during the investigation. And I should be glad to have change of this five-pound note. He stood now gazing with great rev-erence at the famous detective.
Now, Cartwright, there are the names of twenty-three hotels here, all in the immediate neighbourhood of Charing Cross. Here are twenty-three shillings. You will say that an important telegram has miscar-ried and that you are looking for it. Here is a copy of the Times. It is this page. You could easily recognize it, could you not? You will then learn in possibly twenty cases out of the twenty-three that the waste of the day before has been burned or removed. In the three other cases you will be shown a heap of paper and you will look for this page of the Times among it.
The odds are enormously against your finding it. There are ten shillings over in case of emergencies. Let me have a report by wire at Baker Street before evening. And now, Watson, it only remains for us to find out by wire the identity of the cabman, No. He would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudest ideas, from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at the Northumberland Hotel.
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One was Theophilus Johnson and family, of New-castle; the other Mrs. Oldmore and maid, of High Lodge, Alton. Johnson, the coal-owner, a very active gentleman, not older than yourself. Oldmore, too; I seem to remember the name. Excuse my curiosity, but often in calling upon one friend one finds another. Her husband was once mayor of Gloucester. She always comes to us when she is in town. We have established a most important fact by these questions, Watson," he continued in a low voice as we went upstairs to-gether.
That means that while they are, as we have seen, very anxious to watch him, they are equally anxious that he should not see them. Now, this is a most suggestive fact. His face was flushed with anger, and he held an old and dusty boot in one of his hands. By thunder, if that chap can't find my missing boot there will be trouble. I can take a joke with the best, Mr. Holmes, but they've got a bit over the mark this time. And now it's an old black one. Last night they took one of my brown ones, and today they have sneaked one of the black. Well, have you got it?
Speak out, man, and don't stand staring! It seems the very maddest, queerest thing that ever happened to me. This case of yours is very complex, Sir Henry. When taken in conjunction with your uncle's death I am not sure that of all the five hundred cases of capital importance which I have handled there is one which cuts so deep. But we hold several threads in our hands, and the odds are that one or other of them guides us to the truth.
It was in the private sitting-room to which we afterwards repaired that Holmes asked Baskerville what were his intentions. I have ample evidence that you are being dogged in London, and amid the millions of this great city it is difficult to discover who these people are or what their object can be. If their intentions are evil they might do you a mischief, and we should be powerless to prevent it. You did not know, Dr. Have you among your neighbours or acquaintances on Dartmoor any man with a black, full beard? What is the nearest telegraph-office? Very good, we will send a second wire to the postmaster, Grimpen: Barrymore to be delivered into his own hand.
Mortimer, who is this Barrymore, anyhow?
They have looked after the Hall for four generations now. So far as I know, he and his wife are as respectable a couple as any in the county. Did they know that they would receive this? Mortimer, "that you do not look with suspi-cious eyes upon everyone who received a legacy from Sir Charles, for I also had a thousand pounds left to me. The residue all went to Sir Henry. The total value of the estate was close on to a million. It is a stake for which a man might well play a des-perate game. And one more question, Dr. These details are all of great interest.
Have you met Mr. He is a man of venerable appearance and of saintly life. I remember that he refused to accept any settlement from Sir Charles, though he pressed it upon him. He would also be the heir to the money unless it were willed otherwise by the present owner, who can, of course, do what he likes with it. Holmes, I have not. But in any case I feel that the money should go with the title and estate. How is the owner going to restore the glories of the Baskervilles if he has not money enough to keep up the property?
House, land, and dollars must go together. Well, Sir Henry, I am of one mind with you as to the advisability of your going down to Devonshire without delay. There is only one provision which I must make. Mortimer returns with me. Mortimer has his practice to attend to, and his house is miles away from yours. With all the goodwill in the world he may be unable to help you.
No, Sir Henry, you must take with you someone, a trusty man, who will be always by your side. At the present instant one of the most revered names in England is being besmirched by a blackmailer, and only I can stop a disastrous scandal. You will see how impossible it is for me to go to Dartmoor.
I suppose that by Saturday all might be ready? Another item had been added to that constant and apparently purposeless series of small mysteries which had succeeded each other so rapidly. All afternoon and late into the evening he sat lost in tobacco and thought. Just before dinner two telegrams were handed in. Have just heard that Barrymore is at the Hall. Visited twenty-three hotels as directed, but sorry, to report unable to trace cut sheet of Times.
There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you. We must cast round for another scent. I had wired to get his name and address from the Official Registry. I came here straight from the Yard to ask you to your face what you had against me. You say that your fare told you that he was a detective? What was the name that he mentioned? For an instant he sat in silent amazement. Then he burst into a hearty laugh. He got home upon me very prettily that time.
So his name was Sherlock Holmes, was it?
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Tell me where you picked him up and all that occurred. He said that he was a detective, and he offered me two guineas if I would do exactly what he wanted all day and ask no questions. I was glad enough to agree. First we drove down to the Northumberland Hotel and waited there until two gentlemen came out and took a cab from the rank. We followed their cab until it pulled up somewhere near here.
We pulled up halfway down the street and waited an hour and a half. Then my gentleman threw up the trap, and he cried that I should drive right away to Waterloo Station as hard as I could go. I whipped up the mare and we were there under the ten minutes. Only just as he was leaving he turned round and he said: And you saw no more of him? He was dressed like a toff, and he had a black beard, cut square at the end, and a pale face. He knew our number, knew that Sir Henry Baskerville had consulted me, spotted who I was in Regent Street, conjectured that I had got the number of the cab and would lay my hands on the driver, and so sent back this audacious message.
I tell you, Watson, this time we have got a foeman who is worthy of our steel. I can only wish you better luck in Devonshire. Yes my dear fellow, you may laugh, but I give you my word that I shall be very glad to have you back safe and sound in Baker Street once more. The Red-Headed League General field: Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
Wilson, has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some time.
You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to.
Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique. As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavored, after the fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
Your right hand is quite a size larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed. I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple.
Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. This is what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir. All red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years, are eligible. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Doctor, of the paper and the date. Just two months ago.
I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the business. I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head? You seem most fortunate in having an employee who comes under the full market price.
It is not a common experience among employers in this age. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. We live very quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: Wilson, that I was a red-headed man. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine. Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.