[SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to the Sherlock Holmes Bedtime Stories podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each episode is a section from a classic Sherlock Holmes story with relaxing music to help you fall asleep.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us this evening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now it's time to relax.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let your body fall into a comfortable position in your bed and drift gently into a state of total relaxation with tonight's story.
[SPEAKER_00]: The red headed league.
[SPEAKER_00]: Part one
[SPEAKER_00]: I had called upon my friend Mr. 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said cordially,
[SPEAKER_00]: I was afraid that you were engaged.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I am.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very much so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I can wait in the next room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also.
[SPEAKER_00]: The stout gentleman half-rows from his chair and gave a bob of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small, fat and circled eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Try the setee.
[SPEAKER_00]: Said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in judicial moods.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, my dear Watson.
[SPEAKER_00]: that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me, I observed.
[SPEAKER_00]: You will remember that I remarked the other day just before we went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations, we must go to life itself which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.
[SPEAKER_00]: A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.
[SPEAKER_00]: You did, Doctor.
[SPEAKER_00]: But nonetheless, you must come round to my view.
[SPEAKER_00]: For otherwise, I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you, until your reason breaks down unto them, and acknowledges me to be right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Mr. J. Bez 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have heard me remarked that the strangest and most unique things are very often connected, not with the larger, but with the smaller crimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And occasionally indeed, where there is room for doubt where there any positive crime has been committed.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as I have heard, it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the course of events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps Mr Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommend your narrative.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events, I'm able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are to the best of my belief, unique,
[SPEAKER_00]: The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride, and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his great coat.
[SPEAKER_00]: As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous and slow.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wore rather baggy gray shepherds check trousers, a not over-clean black-frock coat unbuttoned in the front and a drab-wase coat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament.
[SPEAKER_00]: Afraid top hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him.
[SPEAKER_00]: All together look as I would.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sherlock Holmes is quick eye took in my occupation and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.
[SPEAKER_00]: Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, that he takes enough that he is a free-mason that he has been in China and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Jay Bez Wilson started up in his chair with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
[SPEAKER_00]: How in the name of good fortune did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?
[SPEAKER_00]: He asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: How did you know, for example, that I did manual labor?
[SPEAKER_00]: It says true as gospel, for I began as a ship's carpenter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your hands, my dear sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your right hand is quite a size larger than your left.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the snuff then and the free masonry,
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, especially as rather against the strict rules of your order you use an arc and compass breast pin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, of course I forgot that, but the writing.
[SPEAKER_00]: What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rested upon the desk.
[SPEAKER_00]: well, but China.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject.
[SPEAKER_00]: That trick of staining the fish's scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China.
[SPEAKER_00]: When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch chain, the matter becomes even more simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. JBers Wilson laughed heavily.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I never said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it after all.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd begin to think Watson, said Holmes, that I make a mistake in explaining.
[SPEAKER_00]: Omni Ignotum Pro Magnifico, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I'm so candid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you not find the advertisement Mr. Wilson?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I have got it now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He answered with his thick red finger planted halfway down the column.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what began it all.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just read it for yourself, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: I took the paper from him and red as follows.
[SPEAKER_00]: to the red-headed league.
[SPEAKER_00]: On account of the request of the later Zikaia Hopkins of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA, there is now another vacancy open which entitles a member of the league to a salary of four pounds a week for purely nominal services.
[SPEAKER_00]: All red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years are eligible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apply in person on Monday at eleven o'clock to Duncan Ross at the offices of the league seven popes caught fleet street.
[SPEAKER_00]: What on earth does this mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes chuckled and riggled in his chair as was his habit when in high spirits.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now Mr Wilson off you go at scratch and tell us all about yourself your household and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes.
[SPEAKER_00]: You will first make a note, doctor of the paper and the date.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the morning chronicle of April twenty seventh, eighteen ninety, just two months ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very good, now Mr Wilson.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, said JB as Wilson, mopping his forehead.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a small porn broker's business at Coburg Square, near the city.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than just give me a living.
[SPEAKER_00]: I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is the name of this obliging youth?
[SPEAKER_00]: Us Sherlock Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Vincent Spalding and he's not such a youth either.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to say his age.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr. Holmes, and I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what I'm able to give him, but after all if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why indeed?
[SPEAKER_00]: You see most fortunate in having an employer who comes under the full market price.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not a common experience among employers in this age.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that your assistant is not as remarkable as your advertisement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he has his faults too," said Mr. Wilson.
[SPEAKER_00]: Never was such a fellow for photography, 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is his main fault, but on the hole he's a good worker, there's no vice in him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is still with you, I presume.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: He and a girl of fourteen,
[SPEAKER_00]: who does a bit of simple cooking and keeps the place clean.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all I have in the house for I am a widow or never had any family.
[SPEAKER_00]: We live very quietly so the three of us, and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our debts if we do nothing more.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing that put us out was that advertisement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Spalding, he came down into the office just this day eight weeks with this very paper in his hand and he says,
[SPEAKER_00]: I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I ask.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Says he.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's another vacancy on the league of the red-headed men.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: If my hair would only change color, here's a nice little crib already for me to step into.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why what is it then?
[SPEAKER_00]: I asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see Mr. Holmes I'm a very stay at home man.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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 dormant.
[SPEAKER_00]: In that way I didn't know much of what was going on outside and I was always glad of a bit of news.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you never heard of the league of the red-headed men he asked with his eyes open?
[SPEAKER_00]: Never.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies?
[SPEAKER_00]: And what are they worth, I asked?
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as I can make out, the league was founded by an American millionaire Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was himself red-headed and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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 birth to men whose hair is of that colour.
[SPEAKER_00]: From all I hear, it is splendid pay and very little to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, said I, there would be millions of red-headed men who would apply.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not so many, as you might think, he answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see it is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men.
[SPEAKER_00]: This American had started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old town a good turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then again, I have heard it is no use you're applying if your hair is light red or dark red or anything but real, bright, blazing, fiery red.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Vincent Sporting seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might prove useful.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day and to come right away with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: I never hoped to see such a site as that again, Mr. Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: From north, south, east and west, every man who had a shade of red in his hair had trapped into the city to answer the advertisement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk and popes caught, looked like a cost as orange barrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should not have thought there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single advertisement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every shade of color they were, straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish setter, liver, clay.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as Spalding said, there were not many who had the real vivid flame-coloured tint.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I saw how many were waiting I would have given it up in despair, but Spalding would not hear of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a double stream upon the stair some going up in hope and some coming back ejected.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves in the office.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your experience has been a most entertaining one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remarked homes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of snuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pray continue your very interesting statement.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a very easy matter after all.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, when our turn came the little man was much more favorable to me than to any of the others, and he closed the doors we entered so that he might have a private word with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Mr. Jay Bez Wilson, said my assistant, and he is willing to fill a vacancy in the league.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he is admirably suited for it, the other answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has every requirement.
[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be injustice to hesitate, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: You will, however, I am sure excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that, he seized my hair in both his hands and tugged until I yelled with the pain.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is water in your eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Said he as he released me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I perceived that all is as it should be.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we have to be careful for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax, which would discuss you with human nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: He stepped over to the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled.
[SPEAKER_00]: A grown of disappointment came up from below, and the focal troop to weigh in different directions until there was not a red head to be seen except my own and that of the manager.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name said he, is Mr Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you a married man, Mr. Wilson?
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you a family?
[SPEAKER_00]: I answered that I had not.
[SPEAKER_00]: His face fell immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dear me, he said gravely, that is very serious indeed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am sorry to hear you say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fund was of course for the propagation and spread of the redheads as well as for their maintenance.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the case of another, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: The objection might be fatal, but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head of hair as yours,
[SPEAKER_00]: When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it is a little awkward for I have a business already said I. I never mind about that Mr. Wilson said Vincent sporting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should be able to look after that for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: What would be the hours I asked?
[SPEAKER_00]: Ten to two.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now a porn broker's business is mostly done of an evening Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before payday.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man and that he would see to anything that turned up.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would suit me very well, said I, and the pay?
[SPEAKER_00]: His four pounds a week.
[SPEAKER_00]: and the work is purely nominal.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you call purely nominal?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you have to be in the office or at least in the building the whole time.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you leave, you forfeit your whole position forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: The will is very clear upon that point.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's only four hours a day and I should not think of leaving, said I. No excuse will avail, said Mr Duncan Ross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Neither sickness nor business nor anything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you must stay or you lose your billet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the work
[SPEAKER_00]: is to copy out the encyclopedia Britannica.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is the first volume of it in that press.
[SPEAKER_00]: You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting paper, but we provide this table and chair.
[SPEAKER_00]: Will you be ready tomorrow?
[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly, I answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, goodbye, Mr. JBers Wilson.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let me congratulate you once more on the important position, which you have been fortunate enough to gain.
[SPEAKER_00]: He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my assistant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good fortune.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I thought over the matter all day and by evening I was in low spirits again.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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 encyclopedia Britannica.
[SPEAKER_00]: Vincent Spalding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reason myself out of the whole thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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 fool's cap paper, I started off a pope's court.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, to my surprise and delight everything was as right as possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: The table was set out ready for me, and Mr Duncan Ross was there to see that I got fairly to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: He started me off upon the letter A, and then he left me.
[SPEAKER_00]: but he would drop in from time to time to see that all was right with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the same next week and the same the week after.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every morning I was there at ten and every afternoon I left at two.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an instant.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Eight weeks passed away like this and I had written about abbots and archery and armor and architecture and attica and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the bees before very long.
[SPEAKER_00]: It cost me something in fool's cap and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my writings.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then suddenly the whole business came to an end.
[SPEAKER_00]: To an end?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: And no later than this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went to my work as usual at Tenaclock but the door was shut and locked with a little square of cardboard hammered onto the middle of the panel with a tack.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here it is and you can read for yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of note paper.
[SPEAKER_00]: It read in this fashion.
[SPEAKER_00]: The red-headed league is dissolved.
[SPEAKER_00]: October, ninth, eighteen, ninety.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curtain announcement and the roofal 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot see that there is anything very funny cried our client flushing up to the roots of his flaming head.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which he had half-risen.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really wouldn't miss your case for the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is most refreshingly unusual.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is, if you will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the door?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was staggered so I did not know what to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I called at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said that he had never heard of any such body.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I asked him who Mr Duncan Ross was.
[SPEAKER_00]: He answered that the name was new to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, said I. The gentleman at number four,
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: The red headed man?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: His name was William Morris.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a solicitor and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises were ready.
[SPEAKER_00]: He moved out yesterday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where could I find him?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, at his new offices.
[SPEAKER_00]: He did tell me the address.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, seventeen King Edward Street near St.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul's.
[SPEAKER_00]: I started off Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address, it was a manufacturing of artificial kneecaps, and no one in it had ever heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what did you do then, asked Holmes,
[SPEAKER_00]: I went home to Saxcoberg Square and I took the advice of my assistant, but he could not help me in any way.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could only say that if I waited I should hear by post.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that was not quite good enough Mr. Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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 are in need of it, I came right away to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: and you did very wisely," said Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your case is an exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: From what you have told me, I think that it is possible that Gravea issues hang from it than might at first sight appear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Grave enough," said Mr. J. Bez Wilson.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why I have lost four pounds a week,
[SPEAKER_00]: as far as you are personally concerned, remarked homes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the contrary, you are, as I understand, rich are by some thirty 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: No sir, but I want to find out about them and who they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: and what their object was in playing this prank.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it was a prank, upon me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two and thirty pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you, and first, one or two questions Mr. Wilson.
[SPEAKER_00]: This assistant of yours who first called your attention to the advertisement, how long had he been with you?
[SPEAKER_00]: about a month then.
[SPEAKER_00]: How did he come?
[SPEAKER_00]: In answer to an advertisement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was he the only applicant?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I had a dozen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why did you pick him?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because he was handy and would come cheat.
[SPEAKER_00]: at half wages, in fact.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is he like this Vincent Spalding?
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Homes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement,
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought as much," said he.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced for earrings?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he was a lad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is still with you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have only just left him.
[SPEAKER_00]: and has your business been attended to in your absence?
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing to complain of, sir, there's never very much to do of a morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: That will do, Mr. Wilson.
[SPEAKER_00]: I shall be happy to give you an opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today is Saturday and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well Watson said homes when our visitor had left us.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you make of it all?
[SPEAKER_00]: I make nothing of it, I answered frankly.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a most mysterious business.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a rule, said Holmes.
[SPEAKER_00]: The more bizarre a thing is, the less mysterious it proves to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify, but I must be prompt over this matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you going to do then, I asked?
[SPEAKER_00]: To smoke, he answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped a sleep, 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sarasate plays at the same James's wholeness afternoon, he remarked, what do you think Watson?
[SPEAKER_00]: Could your patient spare you for a few hours
[SPEAKER_00]: I have nothing to do today, my practice is never very absorbing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then put on your hat and come.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going through the city first, and we can have some lunch on the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I observe that there is a good deal of German music on the program, which is rather more to my taste than Italian or French.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is introspective and I want to introspect come along.
[UNKNOWN]: you.
[UNKNOWN]: you