Now, Miss Violet, what has
happened to you near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey?"
The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the
following curious statement:--
"My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He was James Smith, who
conducted the orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre. My mother
and I were left without a relation in the world except one
uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to Africa twenty-five years ago,
and we have never had a word from him since. When father died
we were left very poor, but one day we were told that there was
an advertisement in the TIMES inquiring for our whereabouts. You
can imagine how excited we were, for we thought that someone had
left us a fortune. We went at once to the lawyer whose name was
given in the paper. There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers
and Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South Africa.
They said that my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died
some months before in great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he
had asked them with his last breath to hunt up his relations and
see that they were in no want. It seemed strange to us that
Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of us when he was alive, should
be so careful to look after us when he was dead; but Mr.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154