Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-10-09


Mr.. Sherlock Holmes was very busy
man. II is safe TO say that there was no
public case of any difficulty in which he
was not consulted during those eight
wears, and there were hundreds OF
private cases, some of them of the
most intricate and extraordinary char
acter, in which he played prominent
part. Many startling successes and a
few unavoidable failures were the
outcome of this long period of continuous
work. As have preserved very full
notes of all these cases, and was myself
personally engaged in many Of them, it
NAV be imagined that it is no easy
task to know which should select to lay
before the public. | shall, however,
preserve my former rule, and give the
preference to those cases which derive
their interest not so much from the
brutality of the crime as from the in
genuity 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 Charlington, and the curl
Gus sequel of our Investigation, which
eliminated IN unexpected tragedy. 1t is
true that the circumstance did not admit
of any striking illustration of those
powers for which my friend was famous,
but there were some points about, the
case which made it stand out IN those
long records of crime from which L
gather the material for these little MARIA
tives.
On referring to my notebook lot
the year 1895, l find that it was upon
Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we
first heard Of Miss Violet Smith. Her
visit was, | remember, extremely un-
welcome to Holmes, for he was immersed
at the moment in a very obStrude ana
complicated problem concerning the
peculiar persecution TO which John
Vincent Harden, the well-known to-
bacco millionaire, had been subjected.
My friend, who loved above all things
precision and concentration of thought,
resented anything which distracted his
attention from the matter In hand
And yet, without harshhess which
was foreign to his nature, 1T was I'M
possible to refuse to listen TO the story
Of the young and beautiful woman,
tall, graceful, and queenly. who pre-
sented herself at Baker street late IN
the evening, and >implored his assistance
and advice. 1t was vain to urge that has
time was already fully occupied, for the
young lady had come with the deter
mination to tell her story, hnd 1t was
evident that nothing short OF force
could get her out of the room until she
had done so. With a resigned air
and q somewhat weary smile, Holmes
begged the beautiful intruder to take
a scat, and to inform us what pit was that
was troubling her. -.
'At least il cannot be yohr health,
said he, as his keen eyes darteH over her:
80 ardent a bicyclist must be full OF
energy"
She glanced down in surprise at
her own feet, and | observed the shght
roughening Of the side of the sole caused
by the friction of the edge Of the pedal.
Eyes, 1 bicycle good deal, Mr..
Holmes. and that has something to
do with my visit to you today :,
MY friend took the lady ungloved
hand, and examined it with as close
an attention and as little sentiment
as scientist would show toia specimen.
you will excuse me, II am sure;
1t is my business said he Jas he dropped
it. Il nearly fell into TIE error of sup
posing that you were~fypewritng- Vi
course. it is obvious that it is music
You observe the spatulate fnger-ends
Watson, which is common to both pro-
LESSONS? There is a spirituality about
the face, however" gently turned
it towards the lght-'which the type
writer does not generate. This lady Is
musician"
Yes, Mr.. Holmes, teach music,
in the country, ! presume, iron
your complexion"
Yes, sir, near Farnham, on the
borders of Surrey"
"A beautiful neighborhood, and full
of the most interesting associations
You remember, Watson, that 1t was neal
there that we took Archie Stamford, the
forger. Now, Miss Violet, what has hap
pened to you, near Farnham, on tn.
borders Of Surrey"
The young lady, with great clear
ness and composure, made the followin!
curious statement:
MY father is dead, Mr.. Holmes
He was James Smith, who conducted
the orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre
My mother and ] were left withou
relation in the world except one uncle
Ralph Smith, who went to Afrlc:
twenty-five years ago, and we hav'
never had a word from him since. Whel
father died, we were left very poor, bu
one day we were told that there was al
advertisement in the Times, inquirin
for our whereabouts. You can imagin
how excited we were, for we though
that some one had left us a fortune. W
went at once 10 the lawyer whose nam
was given in the paper There we me
two gentlemen, Mr.. Carruthers and Nh
Woodley, who were home on visi
from South Africa. They said tina
my uncle was a friend Of theirs, tina
he had died some months before i
great poverty in johannesburg, an
that he had asked them with his las
breath to hunt up his relations, and Sc
that they were in no want. 1t SCENE