DarqueDante/test2 · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 74
minutes he said that it would be all right.

"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be fatal,
but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a head of
hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?'

"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' said
I.

"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'I
should be able to look after that for you.'

"'What would be the hours?' I asked.

"'Ten to two.'

"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before
pay-day; so it would suit 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 would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'

"'Is £4 a week.'

"'And the work?'

"'Is purely nominal.'

"'What do you call purely nominal?'

"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building,
the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position
forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply
with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.'

"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'
said I.

"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor
business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your
billet.'

"'And the work?'

"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first
volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and
blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be
ready to-morrow?'

"'Certainly,' I answered.

"'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate 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 'Encyclopaedia 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.

"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots
and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with
diligence that I might get on to the B's before very long. It cost me
something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my
writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an end."

"To an end?"

"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual
at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little
square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a

minutes he said that it would be all right.

"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be fatal,

but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a head of

hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?'

"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' said

I.

"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'I

should be able to look after that for you.'

"'What would be the hours?' I asked.

"'Ten to two.'

"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.

Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before

pay-day; so it would suit 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 would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'

"'Is £4 a week.'

"'And the work?'

"'Is purely nominal.'

"'What do you call purely nominal?'

"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building,

the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position

forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply

with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.'

"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'

said I.

"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor

business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your

billet.'

"'And the work?'

"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first

volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and

blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be

ready to-morrow?'

"'Certainly,' I answered.

"'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate 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 'Encyclopaedia 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.

"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots

and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with

diligence that I might get on to the B's before very long. It cost me

something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my

writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an end."

"To an end?"

"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual

at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little

square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a