 The Copper Beeches
A governess, VIOLET HUNTER, asks Holmes if she should take a position she’s been offered at a house called the Copper Beeches. The money is fantastic - but Violet must cut short her beautiful long hair, and agree to wear certain clothes when asked. Holmes tells her to take the position, and agrees to come immediately if she summons him.
Soon, Violet sends a telegram in which she claims that she is at her wits’ end. Meeting Holmes and Watson secretly, she fills them in on her situation. The job is satisfactory, although the child she’s been employed to teach is “ill-natured” and loves to torture insects and small animals. However, there are some creepy aspects to Violet’s employment. She has been asked to wear a blue dress, and to sit in the window whilst her employer MR RUCASTLE tells stories which make her laugh. Using a mirror, she has seen a young man in the road behind her, watching, on such occasions. She has also found a large coil of hair, identical to her own, in the drawer in her room. A large, starving hound is released at night and so she is unable to go out after dark. Also, one wing of the house appears uninhabited although Violet has seen TOLLER, the drunken butler, carrying a large linen bag there.
Deducing correctly that Violet has been hired to imitate the Rucastles’ daughter, ALICE, who was supposed to have gone to America (but who has been imprisoned by her father so that he can keep the money she’s entitled to), Holmes and Watson go to the Copper Beeches to set her free. However, Alice has already been freed by her lover, MR FOWLER (the man in the road). Rucastle releases the dog but it attacks him. Watson shoots it and saves Rucastle, but Alice has already made her escape and is safe with Mr Fowler. Watson hopes Holmes will now court Violet, with whom he seemed very taken, but he is not interested in her once her mystery is solved. |
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