The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-03-29

not consulted during those eight years,
and there were hundreds of private
cases, some of them Of the most in
tricate and extraordinary character,
in which lie played prominent part.
AS have preserved very full notes of
all these cases and was myself person
ally engaged in many of them, it may
he imagined that it is no easy task to
know which should select to lay be
fore the public. shall. however. pre-
serve my former rule and give the pref
erence to those ca ;..s which derive their
interest not so much from the brutality
Of the crime as from the ingenuity and
dramatic quality of the solution. For
this reason will now lay before the
reader the facts connected with Miss
Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist Of
Chsrlington, and the curious sequel of
our Investigation. which eliminated in
unexpected tragedy.
On referring to my notebook for the
year 1895 find that 1t was upon Sat
urday, the 23d of April, that we first
heard of Miss Violet Smith. Her visit
was. l remember, extremely unwel-
come to Holmes, for he was immersed
at the moment in Il very abstruse and
complicated problem concerning the
peculiar persecution to which John Vim
cent Harden, the well known tobacco
millionaire. had been subjected. My
friend, who loved above all things pre-
cision and concentration Of thought, re-
scented anything which distracted his
attention from the matter in hand.
And yet, without harshness which
was foreign to his nature, it was i'm
possible to refuse to listen to the story
Of the young and beautiful woman, tall
graceful and queenly, who presented
herself at Baker street late in the
and advice. 1t was. vain to urge that
his time was already fully occupied,
for the young lady had come with the
determination to tell her story and it
was evident that nothing short of force
could get her out of the room until She
had done so. With resigned air and
a somewhat weary smile, Holmes beg
ged the beautiful intruder to take Il
seat and to inform us what it was that
was troubling her
cat least it cannot be your health, y
said he as his keen eyes darted over
her $50 ardent Il bicyclist must be
full Of energy
She glanced down In surprise at her
.-awll- feet and y observed the slight
roughening of the side of the sole caus-
ed by the friction of the edge of the
pedal.
Eyes. bicycle good deal, Mr..
Holmes, and that has something to do
with my visit to you today"
My friend took the lady's ungloved
hand and examined it with as close an
attention and as little sentiment as a
scientist would show to a specimen.
"You will excuse me. am sure. II
is my business" said he as he dropped
it. II nearly fell into the error of sup
posing that YOU were typewriting. OF
course it Is obvious that 1T Is music
You observe the spatulate finger ends
Watson, which is common to both pro
fessions? There is a spirituality about
the face, however'-she gently turned
1t toward tue light-"which the type
musician"
''Yes, MIR. Holmes, teach music"
I'm the country, l presume, from
your complexion"
'Yes. sir; near Farnham, on the Dor
ders of Surrey"
"Now, Miss Violet, what has happen
ed to you near Farnham. on the Dor
ders of Surrey?'
The young lady, with great clearnes
and composure, made the followin:
curious statement:
"Aly father is dead, Mr.. Holmes. H
was James Smith. who conducted tn
orchestra at the old Imperial theate,
My mother and | were left without
relation i'll the world except one III
Gle, Ralph Smith, who went to Afric
twenty years ago, and we hav
never had word from him since
When father died we We're left YER
poor, but one day we We're told tina
there was an advertisement in tn
Times inuuiring for our whereabouts
You can imagine how excited we were
for we thought that some one had lef
us fortune. We went at once to til
lawyer whose name was given in TIL
paper There we met two gentlemen
Mr.. Carruthers and Mr.. Woodley, VIII
were home OH visit from South Afr
ca They said that my uncle was
friend of theirs, that he had died som
months before in great poverty in ],
hannesburg, and that he had aske
them with mis- last breath to hunt II
his relations and see that they We're
no want. 1t seemed strange to us til;
Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of I
when he was alive, should be so car
full to look after us when he was dea'
but Mr.. Carruthers explained that IL
reason wa that my uncle had jul
heard Of the death Of his brother an
so felt responsible for our fate"
Excuse me-" said Holmes. "Whe
was this Interview"
"Last December-four months ago
"Pray proceed"
stNIr WoOdley seemed tO mo tn no