The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 50 (1/2)
It was dated fro, 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 overness 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 ation
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 rooht, quick face, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had her oay toyou, I areet her, ”but I have had a very strange experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort froht 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 fashi+on, and then coether, to listen to her story
”I have been a governess for five years,” said she, ”in the fao 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 an 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 ht suit me
Westaas the naed 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 reat heavy chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elboith a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who entered As I caave 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 seeether in theman that it was quite a pleasure to look at hi for a situation, overness?'
”'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 apassion 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such attractions and accomplishments?'
”'My accoine,' said I
'A little French, a little Ger--'