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. That is his main fault;
but on the whole, he's a good worker. There's no vice in him."

"He is still with you, I presume?"

"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
cooking, and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the house,
for I am a widower, and never had any family. We live very quietly,
sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads, and pay our
debts, if we do nothing more.

"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding, he
came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very
paper in his hand, and he says:--

"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'

"'Why that?' I asks.

"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the
Red-Headed Men. 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.
If my hair would only change color, here's a nice little crib all
ready for me to step into.'

"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very
stay-at-home man, 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
door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what was going on
outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.

"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-Headed Men?' he asked,
with his eyes open.

"'Never.'

"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the
vacancies.'

"'And what are they worth?' I asked.

"'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.'

"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.

"'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. As far as I can make out, the League
was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very
peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had a great
sympathy for al