you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to

gain.’ He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my assistant,

hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good fortune.


“Well, I 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 its object might be I could not imagine.

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. 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.

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 a good one, and suited me so

well, that I would not risk the loss of it.