The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 7 (1/2)
”'Well, it is a little aard, for I have a business already,'
said I
”'Oh, never
'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 , Mr
Hol, which is just before pay-day; so it would suit s Besides, I knew that oodthat turned up
”'That would suit me very well,' said I 'And the pay?'
”'Is 4 pounds 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 co 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 ”Encyclopaedia Britannica” There is the first volume of it in that press You -paper, but we provide this table and chair Will you be ready to-ood-bye, Mr Jabez Wilson, and let ratulate you once more on the iain' He bowed me out of the roo what to say or do, I was so pleased at ht over the ain; for I had quite persuaded reat hoax or fraud, though what its object ether past belief that anyone couldanything so si out the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedti However, in the ht 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 ht as possible The table was set out ready for ot fairly to work He started me off upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in froht with ood-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 Holer cans for my week's work It was the sa I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two By degrees Mr Duncan Ross took to co, and then, after a time, he did not come in at all Still, of course, I never dared to leave the rooht coood one, and suited ht weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots and Archery and Arence that Iin foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with s And then suddenly the whole business came to an end”
”To an end?”
”Yes, sir And no later than thisI went to my work as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a tack Here it is, and you can read for yourself”