Артур Дойл - Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)
“He is still with you, I presume?”
“Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does simple cooking and keeps the place clean – that’s all I have in the house, for I am a widower. We live very quietly, sir, the three of us.
“Spaulding, he came into the office eight weeks ago, with this paper in his hand and said:
“‘I wish, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’
“‘Why?’ I asked.
“‘Here’s a vacancy on the League of the Red-headed Men,’ said he. ‘It’s worth a little fortune to any man who gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men.’
“‘Why, what is it?’ I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very stay-at-home man, and, as my business came to me instead of my going to it[35], I often stayed in for several weeks. So I didn’t know much of what was going on outside, and I was always glad of any news.
“‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he asked with his eyes open.
“‘Never.’
“‘Why, how strange, for you are eligibile yourself for one of the vacancies.’
“‘And what are they worth?’ I asked.
“‘Oh, a couple of hundred a year, but the work is easy, and you can do some other work at the same time.’
“Well, the business has not been very good for some years, and an extra couple of hundred would be very handy.
“‘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 can apply. As far as I know, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins. 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 with instructions to help men whose hair is of that colour. From all I hear it is good pay, and very little to do.’
“‘But,’ said I, ‘there are millions of red-headed men who can apply.’
“‘Not so many as you think,’ he answered. ‘They must be Londoners, and grown men. This American started from London when he was young. Then 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, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my hair is of that very colour, so it seemed to me that if there was any competition I had a good chance. Vincent Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I ordered him to come with me. So we shut the business up and started off for the address that was given us in the advertisement.
“I never hope to see anything like that again, Mr. Holmes. From north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his hair had come to answer the advertisement. Fleet Street was crowded with red-headed men. I had not thought there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that advertisement. Every shade of red they were; but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real blazing red. When I saw how many were waiting, I was in despair; but Spaulding got me through the crowd, and up to the steps which led to the office, and soon we found ourselves in the office.
“There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up, and then he always found some fault in them which would disqualify them [36]. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such an easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he might speak in private with us.
“‘This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,’ said my assistant, ‘and he wishes to fill a vacancy in the League.’
“‘And he suits us,’ the other answered. ‘I do not remember when I saw anything so fine.’ He took a step backward, and looked at my hair. Then suddenly he ran forward, shook my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.
“‘I am sure, you will excuse me for taking a precaution.’ With those words he seized my hair in both his hands, and pulled until I cried with pain. ‘I think 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,’ said he as he released me. He went to the window and shouted at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled.
“‘My name,’ said he, ‘is Mr. Duncan Ross. Are you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?’
“I answered that I had not.
“His face fell.
“‘Dear me[37]!’ he said, ‘that is very serious indeed! I am sorry to hear you say that. The league was founded for the propagation of the red-headed men. It is very bad that you are a bachelor.’
“My face fell at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I would not have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for a few minutes he said that it would be all right.
“‘We cannot lose a man with such a head of hair as yours. When will you be able to start work?’ said he.
“‘Well, I have a business already,’ said I.
“‘Oh, never mind about that[38], Mr. Wilson!’ said Vincent Spaulding. ‘I am able to look after that for you.’
“‘What will be the working hours?’ I asked.
“‘Ten to two.’
“A pawnbroker’s business is mostly done in the evening, Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before pay-day; so it suited me very well to earn a little in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that he would see to anything that turned up.
“‘That will suit me very well,’ said I. ‘And the pay?’
“‘It is 4 pounds a week.’
“‘And the work?’
“‘Very simple.’
“‘What do you call very simple?’
“‘Well, you have to be in the office the whole time. If you leave, you will lose your position.’
“‘It’s only four hours a day, and I shall not leave,’ said I.
“‘Neither sickness, nor business, nor anything else will excuse you,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross; ‘you must stay there, or you lose your position.’
“‘And the work?’
“‘You are to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. You must find your ink, pens, and paper, but we give you this table and chair. Will you be ready tomorrow?’
“‘Certainly,’ I answered.
“‘Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have received.’ He showed me out of the room and I went home with my assistant. I was so pleased at my good fortune.”
Exercises
1. Answer the questions:
1. What client called on Sherlock Holmes one day? What did he look like?
2. What did Sherlock Holmes tell Dr. Watson about Mr. Wilson’s case?
3. What did Sherlock Holmes guess about Mr. Wilson? What details helped him? Was Mr. Wilson impressed? Why (not)?
4. What did Mr. Wilson tell Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson about his business and household?
5. What did you learn about Mr. Wilson’s assistant?
6. How did Mr. Wilson learn about a vacancy on the Red-headed League?
7. Was Mr. Wilson enthusiastic about the vacancy? Why (not)?
8. Why did Mr. Wilson go to Fleet Street in the end?
9. Why did he take his assistant with him?
10. What did Mr. Wilson see in Fleet Street and in the office of the Red-headed League?
11. Whom did Mr. Wilson meet in the office? Did Mr. Ross employ him at once?
12. What was the work like?
2. Think and say if these statements are right or wrong. Correct the wrong ones, give your reasons.
1. Vincent Spaulding agreed to work for Mr. Wilson for half the wages to learn the business.
2. An American millionaire Ezekiah Hopkins left his enormous fortune to help and propagate red-headed men in London.
3. Mr. Wilson was sure that the whole affair of the Red-Headed League was a fraud and wanted Sherlock Holmes to explain to him what it was all about.
3. Find the following phrases in the text and reproduce situations from the text with them. Give Russian equivalents.
1. as far as (I have heard / I know)
2. used to do smth / didn’t use to do smth
3. to be going on
4. it’s no use (smb’s) doing smth
5. to find oneself in some place
6. to shout at the top of one’s voice
7. to see to smth / to see to it that
8. to turn up
4. Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences so as to use the phrases above.
1. As the teacher came into the classroom where all the children were fighting she asked: “What is happening here?”
2. Eliza’s neighbour promised her to take care of her cat while she was away.
3. If such a job comes your way, don’t hesitate to take it.
4. In the past there were high trees opposite my house but there aren’t any left.
5. It’s useless arguing with her. She just won’t listen.
6. I suddenly realized that I had arrived back at the hotel without knowing how I came there.
7. It was so noisy in the night club that we had to shout as loudly as we could to be heard.
5. Complete the sentences with the phrases above in the correct form (one gap for a phrase).
1. When the boys disappeared Aunt Polly was very anxious and made a lot of people look for them. But then the wise heads decided that the boys had gone off on the raft and would soon… at the next town down the river.
2. There’s something that makes her anxious and unhappy. I wonder what it is. – How do you know? – She often sits in front of the fire thinking of something and paying no attention to what… around her.
3… I know, he… be a good sportsman in his younger days, but I’m not sure if he plays any sports now.
4. I’m surprised to see you smoking, you didn’t… smoke.
5… complaining, they won’t do anything about it.
6. After the accident Ben… in hospital.
7. I looked out of the window to see two small boys… I thought they were quarrelling but they were just playing.
II
“Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again; for now I was sure that the whole affair must be some great fraud. It seemed very strange that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. However, in the morning I decided to have a look at it after all, so I bought a bottle of ink, and with a pen and seven sheets of paper, I started off for Fleet Street.
“Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was all right. The table was ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was there to see that I started work. He told me to start with the letter A, and then he left me; but he came from time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o’clock he said good-bye to me, 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 paid 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. Usually Mr. Duncan Ross came in the morning, but after a time, he stopped coming in at all. Still, of course, I never left the room for a moment, for I was not sure when he might come, and the position was so good, and suited me so well, that I did not want to risk losing it.
