The Red-Headed League: A Change of Occupation

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Red-headed League (plus bonus Naval Treaty)
Title: A Change of Occupation
Author: mundungus42
Word Count: 60
Rating: G
Note: As Mr. Thomas L. Strix has pointed out ("Concerning 'The Red-Headed League'"): "The Encyclopaedia Britannica - the 1875 edition, which is the one that must have been used- has 928 pages in Volume One, and doesn't reach the article on Attica until page 794 of Volume Two. Now, the average page of the Brittancia has 3,728 words. The calculation is simple. The pawnbroker says that he copied 6,419,616 words in eight weeks, working only four hours a day. That, gentlemen, is at the rate of 33,435 words per hour, of 557.25 words per minute. --from William S. Baring-Gould's The Annotated Sherlock Holmes

Two days after Dr. Watson's account of my adventure was published, a gentleman I didn't know entered my shop.

“Is it true, what was in The Strand?”

“Yes, milord,” I said.

He laid a sheaf of papers before me. “I would have ten copies by tomorrow morning.”

“Where should I send them?”

“Lord Holdhurst, Downing Street.”

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Clearly Jabez Wilson had missed his calling as a pawnbroker!

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Clearly the man has other talents! :D My pet theory is that it was his late wife's father's business, which is why he keeps it running despite not being terribly good at it.

[tripleransom.livejournal.com]

Good luck, Mr Wilson!

I'm always fascinated by how people pick such different aspects of the stories to do the 60s on.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, me too! It's great fun to see where people go with these!

Hee, I feel slightly bad sending Jabez to work for Holdhurst knowing that he may be thrown over for Holdhurst's less-skilled nephew around the time of The Naval Treaty :D

[debriswoman]

Such a great calculation and a possible change of career:-p

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

The Baker Street Irregulars may be an old boy's club, but they bring me a lot of vicarious fun through verifying and/or refuting details in canon, as well as inspiration! :D

If Jabez can copy that fast, he can definitely be making better money elsewhere!

[vaysh]

I always thought that Wilson having to copy the Encyclopaedia Britannica was the weakest part of the whole ploy. But here you come and convince me that there is some sense in the task, still. :) Very clever, and nice touch to have Lord Holdhurst appear.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I love that Holmes counts Wilson's new knowledge of subjects that start with A as partial payment from the League, and I couldn't resist turning something of a bug (the impossibly fast rate of copying speed) in the story into a feature :D

And all that painstaking copying put me in mind of the other copying scene we have in canon, namely Percy Phelps unable to focus on copying the Naval Treaty, so it seemed perfectly natural to link the two. Thank you so much for your kind words!

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Do you know, I read this and thought: well, that's quite clever but... And then I looked again at the "plus bonus Naval Treaty" bit, and I got it ^__^ Brilliant ^^

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Oh squee! Thank you! Wilson's earnest (and blazing!) copying stood in stark contrast to poor old Tadpole Phelps's less successful efforts in The Naval Treaty, so it seemed like the two needed to meet somewhere.

I do hope that Holdhurst continues to employ Wilson, clearly the superior copyist, even after he gives Phelps a leg up.

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

It looks like Jabez Wilson finally found his calling. I'm sure he'll make more money than he knows what to do with at that copying speed!

Delightful 60, and I love the tie-in with "The Naval Treaty". :)

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I wondered why Watson described Wilson as "elderly" when he still has blazing red hair and had such ungenerous things to say about his appearance, and in retrospect, it's obvious that Watson is terribly envious of Wilson's speed! I'm certain Holdhurst will give him work far better suited to his talents than panwbroking.

Thank you so much for your kind words! Canon story crossovers are absolutely my cup of tea, and I'm glad you enjoyed this, too!

[mistyzeo.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha brilliant!

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad you liked this- thank you for your kind words!