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.'

"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. 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.

"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. 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. Fleet Street was
choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court looked like a coster's
orange barrow. 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."

"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Holmes, as
his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of snuff.
"Pray continue your very interesting statement."

"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. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up,
and then he always managed to find some f