The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-19
THE COPPER BEECHES
copyright, 1907. by the Authorl
pApT

rake. remarked Sherlock Holmes, tossing
aside the advertisement sheet Of the Daily
telegraph, sit is frequently in its least i'm
portan; and lowliest manifestations that
the keenest pleasure is 10 be derived. It Is
pleasant to rne TO observe that you have go
Ear grasped this truth that in these little
records Of our cases which you have been
good enough to draw up, and, / am bound
10 say, occasionally to emDeiiish, you
given prominence not 50 much TO the
many causes ceIebres' and sensational
trials in which have figured, but rather
10 those incidents which may have been
trivial in themselves, but which may have
given room for those faculties of deduc-
ton and Of logical synthesis which have
made my special province"
And yet" said /. smiling, 81 cannot
quite hold myself absoived from the
charge OF sensatioDalism 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 70 replace his clay
when he was In disputatious, rather than
O meditative mood. ''You have erred.
perhaps, in attempting 70 put color and
life into each of your statements, instead
OF combining yourself to the task OF placing
upon record that severe reasoning from
cause to effect which Is really the only
notable feature abou. the thing"
at seems to me that | have done you
frl! Justice in the matter" / remarked
with some GOODNESS, for l was repealed by
the egotism which 1 had more than once
observed to be q strong factor in my
friends singular character.
''So, it is not selEshness nor conceit,
said he, answering, as was his wont, my
thoughts rather than my words. IF
claim full justice for my art, IT Is because
&. Is an Irnpersonai thing-a thing beyond
myself Crime IL common. Logic is rare.
Therefore /. is upon the logic rather than
gpon the crime that you should dwell.
You have degraded what should have
been course of lectures into series of
tales"
1t was a cold morning ofthe early spring
and we sat after breakfast on either side Of
o CHEEKY fire in the old room at Baker
street. A thick fog rolled down between
The lines of dun-colored houses and the
opposing windows doomed like dark shape
less burs through the heavy yellow
wreaths Our gas was lit and shone on the
white cloth and gimmer of china and
metal, for the table had not been cleared
yet. Sherlock Holmes had been very
quiet all morning, dipping continuously
into the advertisement column OF success
sion Of papers, until at last, having ap-
parently given up his search. he had
emerged in no very sweet temper to lee
ture me upon my literary shortcomings.
"At the same time he remarked, after
long pause during which he had sat
putting 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, fair proportion do
not treat of crime in its legal sense at all.
The small matter in which i endeavored
10 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 out
aide the pale of the law. But in avoiding
the sensational fear that you may have
bordered on the trivial"
''The end may have been So" / an
swered. but the methods | hold to have
been novel and OF interest"
"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the
public, the great unobservant public, who
could hardly tell weaver by his tooth or
O compositor by his left thumb, care
about the finer shades of analysis and de-
duction, But indeed if you are trivial.
cannot blame you, for the days Of 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 10 young ladies
from boarding / think that l
have touched bottom at last however
This note had this morning marks my
zero point. / fancy. Read it" He tossed
q crumpled letter across 10 me.
IL was dated from Montague place upon
the preceding evening, and ran thus:
Dear Hr. Holfses: am very anxious to con-
suit you as to whether should or should not
accept situation which has been offered 10 me
rs governess. shall call a, half past ten To-
morrow, if do not Inconvenience you. Yours
faithfully, VIOLET HUNTER.
''Do you know the young lady7" /
asked.
Not l."
ait is hsif-past 10 now"
Eyes, and / have no doubt that is her
ring"
lit may turn out TO be Of more interest
than you think. You remember that the
affair of the blue carbuncle. which ap-
peared TO be mere within at first, deyel-
oped into serious investigation. 1t 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 ques-
ton"
As he spoke the door opened and
young lady entered the room. She was
plainly but neatly dressed. with a bright.
quick face, freckied like plover's egg, and
with the brisk manner of a woman who
has had her Own way 10 make In the
world.
"You will excuse my troubling you,
en- sure" said she, as my companion rose
20 greet her but | have had a very
strange experience. and as l have no
parents or relatives of any sort from whom
] could ask advice thought that perhaps
you would he kind enough 10 tell me what
: shoul d do. "
- Pray AXE a seat. Miss Hunter. shall
be happy 10 do anything | car 10 serve
you" / could see that Holmes was
fayorably impressed by the manner and
speech OF his new client. lie looked her
over in mis- searching fashion and then
composed hiTnsely with his lids dropping
and his !ngeg-iirs together % listen 10 her
''any; bean .o,..,s.. .,
said she. IN the family OF Colonel spence
Munro, bus two months sEo t6e colonel
received an appointment Al Halifax. in
Nova Scotia, ana took hls children over t.
America with him. 50 that l found myself
without situation. ! advertised and
answered advertisements, but without
success. At last the little money y hich
had saved began 20 run short. and | was
al nay wits end a. - wha: l should do.
There is a Sell-known agency for gov
ernesses in the Yves; End called West
Always, and there / used 10 call about once
n week III order 20 see whether ANYTHING
had turned up which might suit ne
Nestsway was the name % the founder of
the business. bat u i really managed hy
Miss STOPPER. She sits in her own little
office and the ladies' who are seeking en-
rioymtnt Nalt ~ an anteroom and are