UNIT 2
The Red-Headed League
Supplementary
Characters
Sherlock Holmes - the famous detective
Doctor Watson - a doctor and Sherlock’s friend
Jabez Wilson - a red-haired shopkeeper
Vincent Spaulding - Wilson’s assistant, also known as John Clay
Duncan Ross - Spaulding’s accomplice, a man with
red hair
Mr.Jones - a detective from Scotland Yard
Dr. Watson visits the apartment of his friend
Sherlock Holmes. He finds detective Holmes talking to a client with bright red
hair, Mr. Jabez Wilson. Holmes asks Dr. Watson to hear the unusual story of the
client.
Wilson says that he runs a pawnshop. One day in
his shop, his assistant, Vincent Spaulding, showed an advertisement in the
newspaper that announced an opening in the Red-Headed League. The announcement
promised a salary of four pounds a week. Spaulding urged Wilson to apply. The timid
red - haired pawnbroker did so. Wilson was accepted into the League by Mr.
Duncan Ross, the head of the League.
He learned that the nominal duties consisted
only of his coming to the office from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. each day and
copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica in longhand. This he did for eight
weeks until one day he arrived at the office to find it closed, with a notice
on the door that the Red-Headed League had been dissolved. He was so disturbed
by the thought that someone had been playing a practical joke on him that he
came to Holmes for a solution. Holmes promises to look into the case and Wilson
leaves. Holmes and Dr. Watson move to Wilson’s shop in Saxe-Coburg Square at
once.
Let’s read this play extract to know the happenings.
(Outside Wilson’s shop in Saxe-Coburg Square. Holmes is walking up and down. Now and then he
hits the ground outside the shop with his walking stick. Then he knocks on the
door of the shop. Spaulding opens the shop door. The legs of his trousers are
dirty.)
SCENE 1
Spaulding : Can I help you?
Holmes : Yes. How can I get to the Strand?
Spaulding : Third on the right, and fourth on the left. (He goes back into the shop and closes the door.)
Holmes : He’s a clever young man, Watson.
Watson : Is he? Why did you
ask about the Strand? You know London very well!
You wanted to see him.
Holmes : Did you notice his trousers?
Watson : His trousers? No. But I saw you hit the
ground with your stick?
Holmes : My dear Watson, this is not the time for
discussion. I must go and look
at the road behind
Saxe-Coburg Square. You had to go to work.
Watson : Yes, to the hospital.
Holmes : Right, but I want your help tonight. Come at ten o’clock.
SCENE 2
( The strong
room at a bank, with many boxes and crates in it. Holmes, Watson, Jones
and a policeman are on stage hiding behind some boxes.)
Holmes : Is everything ready upstairs, Mr. Jones?
Jones : My men are waiting at the front door of the
bank and near the shop.
Holmes : Good. Now we must be quiet and wait.
(He puts out the light. The strong room is dark, but we can see the
menwaiting behind the crates. Nothing happens.
Watson looks at his watch.)
Watson : (whispering) It’s 11.15, Holmes. When _____
Holmes : Sshh! Don’t spoil our investigation.
They
see a light coming through the stone floor. Suddenly the stones
give way. First a hand with a gun comes out of
the ground, then another hand; Spaulding comes out followed by Ross.)
Spaulding : (to Ross) Now, have you got________?
(With
his light, Holmes comes out from behind his box, and hits
Spaulding’s arm. Now the gun is on the ground.
Ross quickly gets back into the tunnel. Jones wants to stop
him, but he cannot.)
Holmes : You can’t get away, John Clay!
Spaulding : No. But Ross! My friend__________
Holmes : There are three men waiting for him at the other end.
Spaulding : You think of everything, Mr. Holmes. You’re very clever.
Holmes : So are you, John Clay! Your Red-Headed League was clever!
SCENE 3
( Sherlock Holmes’s study. Holmes and Watson
are sitting on chairs.)
Holmes
: There was never any red-headed league. The villains wanted Wilson
away from the shop for some hours every day. Then Clay saw the colour of Ross’s
hair and thought of a Red-Headed League! So when Wilson went to work in their
office every day, they had time to make their tunnel. Very clever!
Watson : So Spaulding is John Clay, the notorious
thief. When did you first know that?
Holmes : I suspected when Spaulding was happy to work for half-wages. ‘Why? I
thought. Spaulding often went down to the cellar.
‘What’s he doing down there?’ I thought. ‘Tunnels! Is Spaulding making a
tunnel?’ I thought. ‘To another building?’ Watson, you saw me hitting the
ground with my stick, outside the shop.
Watson : Yes… now I understand. You wanted to know if the cellar was in front
of the shop.
Holmes : Yes, I did. And it wasn’t. The cellar was behind the shop. Then I saw
the man ‘Spaulding.’ I recognized him
immediately. Did you see his trousers? They were dirty, Watson! Why? Because
making a tunnel is dirty work!
Watson : Very clever, Holmes!
Holmes : Then I went into the next street, at the back of the shop. And what
did I see? The Bank!
Watson : The bank, yes! Of course!
Holmes : ‘Why is that young man making a tunnel?’ I thought. To get into the
bank’s strong room, of course!
Watson : But why tonight? How did you know?
Holmes : Because they closed the offices of the Red-Headed League. ‘The tunnel
must be ready,’ I thought. And Saturday is a good day. The bank does not open
on Sunday. It would have given the thieves enough time to get away.
Watson : (laughing) But they didn’t get away, Holmes. You’re very
clever.
Holmes : (in a serious tone) That’s very true, Watson.
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