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Read these lines: "I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the business. I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what I am able to give him." What in the quoted lines should make a reader suspicious?
AThat the shop had once employed two assistants
BThat the owner cannot afford a second assistant
CThat a man worth double takes half the going rate
DThat the assistant hopes to learn the trade well
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. That a man worth double takes half the going rate
1. The owner says the assistant works for half wages.
2. He also says the same man could earn twice what he is paid elsewhere.
3. Put together, the assistant is giving up a great deal of money to stay where he is.
4. People rarely do that without a reason, and no reason is offered beyond learning a trade he could already leave for.
5. So the odd fact is the gap between what the man is worth and what he accepts, option C.
6. Options A and B are ordinary facts about a small shop and carry nothing strange.
7. Option D is the excuse given rather than the thing that does not add up.
_Source: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Red-Headed League_
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