The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

became a certainty.

  "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently,

  for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must

  feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your

  circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir

  George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil

  reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots

  and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur

  had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was

  safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his

  own family.

  "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took

  next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house,

  managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that

  his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at

  the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of

  his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and

  saw that they exactly fitted the tracks."

  "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening,"

  said Mr. Holder.

  "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home

  and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to

  play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert

  scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our

  hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of

  course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every

  particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a

  life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I

  clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he

  became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give

  him a price for the stones he held 1000 pounds apiece. That

  brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why,

  dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the

  three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had

  them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I

  set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000

  pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all

  was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after

  what I may call a really hard day's work."

  "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said

  the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but

  you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your

  skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I

  must fly to my dear boy to apologize to him for the wrong which I

  have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my

  very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now."

  "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is

  wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that

  whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than

  sufficient punishment."

  ADVENTURE XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES

  "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock

  Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily

  Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest

  manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is

  pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped

  this truth that in these little records of our cases which you

  have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say,

  occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much

  to the many causes celebres and sensational trials in which I

  have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been

  trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those

  faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made

  my special province."

  "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved

  from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my

  records."

  "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing

  cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood

  pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a

  disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred

  perhaps in attempting to put color and life into each of your

  statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing

  upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is

  really the only notable feature about the thing."

  "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,"

  I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism

  which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my

  friend's singular character.

  "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as

  was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full

  justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a

  thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it

  is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should

  dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of

  lectures into a series of tales."

  It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after

  breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at

  Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of

  dun-colored houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark,

  shapeless blurs through the 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 endeavored 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 favorably 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 4 pounds 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 fined 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 100 pounds 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.'

  "'Q
uite 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 100 pounds 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 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds 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