One morning last spring I visited Sherlock Holmes. We were having some coffee when a visitor arrived. She was a pretty young woman. Her name was Violet Hunter.
“Please forgive me, Mr Holmes,” she said, “I know that you are a busy man. But I would like your help with a rather strange situation,”
“Please sit down, Miss Hunter,” said Holmes. “I shall be happy to help you. What can I do for you?” I could see that Holmes liked his visitor.
“I am a teacher,” she said. “I worked for a Mr Munro for almost five years, teaching his children. But he went abroad two months ago and rock took the children with him. So I lost my job. I looked for a new one but I could not find one. I often visited an office in London which finds jobs for teachers. The business belongs to a woman called Miss Stoper. I went there once a week, but Miss Stoper did not have anything until last week. When I went in a fat man was with her. He looked at me and turned to Miss Stoper.
“ ‘This young woman is just right,’ he said. ‘Are you looking for a job?” he asked me.
“ ‘Yes,’ I replied.
“ ‘In my last job I had four pounds a month,’ I said.
“ ‘That isn’t much,’ he cried. ‘If you come and teach my son, I’ll pay you a hundred pounds a year.”
“Well, Mr Holmes, I had no money and he was offering me a hundred pounds a year. It was a very good offer. Her saw that I was surprised. Then he took some money from his pocket.
“ ‘Here are fifty pounds,’ he said. ‘You probably need some clothes. You can buy them with this.”