heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and shone on the white cloth
and glimmer of china and metal, for the table had not been cleared
yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning, dipping
continuously into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers
until at last, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged
in no very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.
"At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he had
sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "you can
hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of these cases
which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in, a fair
proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at all. The
small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King of Bohemia, the
singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the problem connected
with the man with the twisted lip, and the incident of the noble
bachelor, were all matters which are outside the pale of the law. But
in avoiding the sensational, I fear that you may have bordered on the
trivial."
"The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to
have been novel and of interest."
"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant
public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a compositor
by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of analysis and
deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial. I cannot blame you, for
the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at least criminal man,
has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little
practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering
lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from
boarding-schools. I think that I have touched bottom at last,
however. This note I had this morning marks my zero-point, I fancy.
Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across to me.
It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran
thus:
Dear Mr. Holmes:
I am very anxious to consult you as to whether I should or should not
accept a situation which has been offered to me as governess. I shall
call at half-past ten to-morrow if I do not inconvenience you.
Yours faithfully,
Violet Hunter.
"Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
"Not I."
"It is half-past ten now."
"Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."
"It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You remember
that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to be a mere
whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It may be so
in this case, also."
"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, for
here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. She
was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled
like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had
her own way to make in the world.
"You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my
companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange
experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from
whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be kind
enough to tell me what I should do."
"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that
I can to serve you."
I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner and
speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching
fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and his
finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the family of
Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel received an
appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his children over to
America with him, so that I found myself without a situation. I
advertised, and I answered advertisements, but without success. At
last the little money which I had saved began to run short, and I was
at my wit's end as to what I should do.
"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End called
Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in order to
see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway was
the name of the founder of the business, but it is really managed by
Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and the ladies who
are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and are then shown in one
by one, when she consults her ledgers and sees whether she has
anything which would suit them.
"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as
usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously
stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which
rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a
pair of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who
entered. As I came in he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned
quickly to Miss Stoper.
"'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better.
Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his hands
together in the most genial fashion. He was such a
comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at him.
"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.
"'Yes, sir.'
"'As governess?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"'And what salary do you ask?'
"'I had ? a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Munro.'
"'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his fat
hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling passion. 'How
could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such attractions
and accomplishments?'
"'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. 'A
little French, a little German, music, and drawing--'
"'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. The
point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment of a
lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are not fitted
for the rearing of a child who may some day play a considerable part
in the history of the country. But if you have why, then, how could
any gentleman ask you to condescend to accept anything under the
three figures? Your salary with me, madam, would commence at ?00 a
year.'
"You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, such an
offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, however,
seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, opened a
pocket-book and took out a note.
"'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant
fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the
white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies half their
salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little expenses of their
journey and their wardrobe.'
"It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so
thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the
advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something
unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know a
little more before I quite committed myself.
"'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.
"'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles on
the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dear
young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'
"'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would be.'
"'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if you
could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! smack!
smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in his chair
and laughed his eyes into his head again.
"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, but
the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was joking.
"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single
child?'
"'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cried.
'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would suggest, to
obey any little commands my wife might give, provided always that
they were such commands as a lady might with propriety obey. You see
no difficulty, heh?'
"'I should be happy to make myself useful.'
"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you
know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress
which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim.
Heh?'
"'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.
"'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to you?'
"'Oh, no.'
"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'
"I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, my
hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of
chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of
sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
"'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been
watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a shadow
pass over his face as I spoke.
"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a little
fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, ladies'
fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your hair?'
"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a pity,
because in other respects you would really have done very nicely. In
that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of your young
ladies.'
"The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers without a
word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so much
annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting that she had
lost a handsome commission through my refusal.
"'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.
"'If you please, Miss Stoper.'
"'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the most
excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You can hardly
expect us to exert ourselves to find another such opening for you.
Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong upon the table, and
I was shown out by the page.
"Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found little
enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the table. I
began to ask myself whether I had not done a very foolish thing.
After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience on
the most extraordinary matters, they were at least ready to pay for
their eccentricity. Very few governesses in England are getting ?00
a year. Besides, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved
by wearing it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next
day I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day
after I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to
go back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open
when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it
here and I will read it to you:
"'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester.
"'Dear Miss Hunter:
"'Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your address, and I write from
here to ask you whether you have reconsidered your decision. My wife
is very anxious that you should come, for she has been much attracted
by my description of you. We are willing to give ?0 a quarter, or
?20 a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience
which our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all.
My wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would like
you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need not,
however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one
belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which
would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting here or
there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that need cause
you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no doubt a pity,
especially as I could not help remarking its beauty during our short
interview, but I am afraid that I must remain firm upon this point,
and I only hope that the increased salary may recompense you for the
loss. Your duties, as far as the child is concerned, are very light.
Now do try to come, and I shall meet you with the dog-cart at
Winchester. Let me know your train.
"'Yours faithfully,
"'Jephro Rucastle.'
