Wilson,’ he said. ‘I can take care of that for you.’

“So I said I would work for Mr. Ross. I was to come to Fleet Street every day between ten and two. My job? Well, you are not going to believe this. All I had to do was to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica. That’s all. And for that I would be paid four pounds a week!

“I walked out of there feeling very pleased with myself. But not for long. Quite soon I began having second thoughts. This all had to be some kind of joke. I just couldn’t believe that story about Ezekiah Hopkins.

“But as my helper had said, I had nothing to lose. So I showed up at Fleet Street the next day at ten.

“To my surprise, everything went just as Mr. Ross had said it would. I went to Fleet Street every day. I copied the encyclopedia. Every Saturday Mr. Ross would come in and pay me four pounds.

“Things went on this way for eight weeks. I copied out all the facts about animals. About apples. About Africa. I began to get tired of the A’s. I hoped to finish soon and get on to the B’s. Then all at once the whole business came to an end.”

“What? To an end?” asked Sherlock Holmes.

“Yes, sir,” said Wilson. “It happened only this morning. I went to work at ten o’clock. When I got there I found this card on the door.”

The Red-headed League no longer exists.
October 9, 1890

Sherlock Holmes and I read this card. We looked at J. B. Wilson’s face.