55755 '"I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a redheaded man."
55756 '"Why that?" I asks.
55757 '"Why," says he, "here's another vacancy on the League of the Red-headed Men.
55758 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.
55759 If my hair would only change colour, here's a nice little crib all ready for me to step into."
55760 '"Why, what is it, then?" I asked.
55761 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.
55762 In that way I didn't know much of what was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
55763 '"Have you never heard of the League of the Redheaded Men?" he asked, with his eyes open.
55764 '"Never."
55765 '"Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies."
55766 '"And what are they worth?" I asked.
55767 '"Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and it need not interfere much with one's other occupations."
55768 '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.