Why Did Holmes Want To Look At The Hotel Register, And What Did He Find?

David Burke as Watson, Jeremy Brett as Holmes and Natasha Richardson as Violet Hunter in a screenshot from the 1985 Granada TV adaptation of "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches".

"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by the British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It first appeared in impress in the issue of The Strand magazine for June 1892. It would be published once more in October of the aforementioned year as part of the anthology The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

In the story, a young woman named Violet Hunter seeks the communication of the vivid consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. A homo named Jephro Rucastle has offered Miss Hunter a job equally governess to his son. The position is an extremely well paid one. Yet, in gild to get the task, Miss Hunter has to concord to some highly unusual conditions, which Mr. Rucastle claims are his wife's ideas. Miss Hunter wants Holmes' communication as to whether she should accept the job or not. Although Holmes advises her not to, Violet Hunter decides to work for the Rucastles. She is reassured when Holmes says that she tin can contact him if she finds herself in trouble. Shortly afterwards, Violet Hunter contacts Holmes once again. She is disturbed by her employers' strange beliefs and past the strange things which they enquire her to practice. Holmes realizes that Violet Hunter is beingness made to impersonate someone else and comes to the conclusion that Jephro Rucastle is a wicked and dangerous homo.

The story has been adapted for radio, picture show and goggle box.

Plot

Sherlock Holmes complains that many of his recent cases, which Dr. Watson has recorded as "A Scandal in Bohemia", "A Case of Identity", "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and "The Take chances of the Noble Bachelor" have not involved any offense for which anybody could exist prosecuted. He laments that his detective business, "seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from boarding schools". He shows Watson a letter of the alphabet which he says represents a new low in his investigative career. The letter is from a young woman who is due to arrive at Holmes' apartment soon. Her name is Violet Hunter and she wants to ask Holmes' advice equally to whether or not she should accept a job offer. Watson points out that the case which he recorded equally "The Hazard of the Blueish Carbuncle" appeared at first to exist a very trivial affair just became an investigation into a serious crime. He tells Holmes that the aforementioned might be true in the case which Violet Hunter is bringing to him.

Violet Hunter speaks to Holmes and watson. 1892 illustration past Sidney Paget.

Violet Hunter explains that she had been the governess to the children of Colonel Spence Munro for v years but lost her job when the colonel and his family moved to Canada. She soon began to run out of money and had to look for another job. She often went to an employment agency for governesses managed past a woman called Mrs. Stoper. She would usually exist called into an part where Mrs. Stoper, seated alone, would look through her files to try to discover a suitable position. One day, she was called into the part and constitute a cheerful looking human being with Mrs. Stoper. The man is afterwards revealed to be Mr. Jephro Rucastle who lives in a house called the Copper Beeches in the Hampshire countryside nearly Winchester. Every bit soon as he saw Violet Hunter, Mr. Rucastle declared that she would be perfect for the job. He offered to pay her one hundred pounds a year, more than double her previous salary, and to give her one-half of that in advance. He explained that she would simply accept to look after one child, his six-year-one-time son, but that she would too have to obey any commands that his wife might give. Mr. Rucastle went on to say that Violet hunter would demand to accept her hair cutting very short in lodge to get the job. Since she could not bear the thought of having her long hair cutting curt, Violet Hunter turned downwards the job offer. Mrs. Stoper remarked that she could not bring herself to make much endeavor to discover another job for Miss Hunter after she had turned downwardly an fantabulous i.

Violet Hunter leaves the apartment of Holmes and Watson. 1892 analogy by Sidney Paget.

Soon afterwards, having little food and niggling coin with which to buy any more, Violet Hunter began to regret her decision. She was most to render to the bureau and ask if the job vacancy was nonetheless open up when she received a letter of the alphabet from Mr. Rucastle. In the letter, Mr. Rucastle offers to pay her a hundred and twenty pounds a year. She is told that she volition still be obliged to have her hair cut short and that she volition be asked to put on a dress of electric blue, Mrs. Rucastle'southward favorite colour.

Violet Hunter tells Holmes that she has decided to accept the task. Holmes comments that he would non be happy if a sister of his accepted information technology. The fact that the job is well paid is what troubles him most. The Rucastles clearly have some motive for offering Miss Hunter 3 times the usual bacon of a governess but Holmes does non know what that motive is. He thinks that Violet Hunter's theory that Mrs. Rucastle is insane and that Mr. Rucastle is trying to encompass that fact up is possible. He has the feeling that Miss Hunter is in danger of some kind. He tells her that she can transport him a telegram if she needs his help again.

A few weeks afterward, Holmes and Watson receive a telegram from Miss Hunter. She tells them she is at her wit'due south finish and asks them to meet her at the Black Swan hotel in Winchester the following day. When Holmes and Watson go far at the hotel, Violet Hunter explains that she will have to return to the Copper Beeches at iii o'clock in the afternoon because the Rucastles are going out and she volition have to take care of their son. She comments that Mrs. Rucastle is not mad, although she finds her lacking in personality. However, she is deeply troubled by the Rucastles' behavior which she does not understand.

The Rucastles have been married for seven years. Jephro Rucastle was a widower and has i daughter, Alice, from his start marriage. Alice is said to have emigrated to Philadelphia. The Rucastles' young son Edward is an extremely unpleasant child. He delights in torturing and killing small animals. The Rucastles accept merely two servants, Mr. and Mrs. Toller. Mr. Toller constantly smells of alcohol and Violet Hunter has seen him drunkard on more than i occasion. On the twenty-four hours that Violet Hunter arrived at the Copper Beeches, Jephro Rucastle showed Miss Hunter that he kept a large mastiff. The dog is kept in a kennel during the day and let out at dark. It is kept half starved so that it will bite any trespassers. Mr. Toller is the only person who can control the dog.

Two days after she arrived at the Copper Beeches, Violet Hunter was told to put on the electric bluish dress which had been laid out on her bed. The dress had conspicuously previously been worn past someone else simply it fit Miss Hunter perfectly. She was so asked to come into the house's large living room and to sit down with her dorsum to a large window which looked out onto the main road. Jephro Rucastle proceeded to tell several very funny stories and violet Hunter could not aid laughing when she heard them. After an hr, she was told to change her apparel and attend to Edward. Two days later, she was once again told to put on the electric bluish dress and sit down in the same chair in the living room. Over again, Jephro Rucastle told funny stories which made Miss Hunter laugh. She was then asked to read aloud from a novel for ten minutes. Violet Hunter did not understand why she was asked to put on the dress and sit down in the living room but she noticed that the Rucastles did not want her to wait out of the window backside her.

On the third occasion on which Violet Hunter was asked to put on the dress and sit down in front of the big window in the living room, she concealed a piece of broken mirror in her handkerchief. When she laughed, she put the handkerchief to her heart. in the piece of mirror, she could see that a human was standing in the road and looking at the firm. Although she did not say anything near the piece of mirror, Mrs. Rucastle appeared to notice what Violet Hunter was doing. She told her husband that in that location was a man in the route staring at Miss Hunter. Mr. Rucastle told Miss Hunter to make a sign to shoo the man away. At the same fourth dimension, Mrs. Rucastle pulled down the blind. Violet Hunter was not asked to put on the electric bluish dress and sit down in front end of the window over again.

Violet Hunter thinks she has found her ain hair in a locked drawer. 1892 illustration by Sidney Paget.

Violet Hunter had her pilus cut short before she came to the Copper Beeches. She took the pilus that had been cut off with her, placing it at the bottom of her trunk. Ane evening, she found that 1 drawer in her dresser was locked simply that she had a key to open information technology. When she opened the drawer, she was surprised to find her hair inside it. Still, when she looked in the bottom of her torso, she constitute that her pilus was nevertheless there. The hair in the drawer was not hers, although it was of exactly the same color and texture.

Miss Hunter noticed that nobody ever went to one wing of the Copper Beeches. Three windows of that wing could be seen from the outside. Two of them were dirty and ane of them was boarded up. The only door which led to that part of the business firm was commonly kept locked. I day, Miss Hunter was surprised to see Jephro Rucastle come out of that door. He later explained that he had a dark room for developing photographs in that office of the business firm but Miss Hunter did not believe him. She felt that she needed to detect out what was behind the locked door.

Jephro Rucastle sees that Violet Hunter has been in the restricted function of his house. 1892 illustration by Sidney Paget.

On the evening earlier Holmes and Watson met her in Winchester, Miss Hunter noticed that Mr. Toller had gone into that part of the house and, considering he was very boozer, he left the key in the door. Violet Hunter found that at that place were iii rooms. Two of the rooms had doors which were unlocked and were empty. The door of the room in the middle, the room with the boarded up window, was locked and had an iron bar across it. Some calorie-free coming from underneath the door indicated that the room had a skylight. Mr. Rucastle saw Miss Hunter and told her that he would throw her to the mastiff if he ever caught her in that part of the business firm again. Violet Hunter was able to go out and send a telegram to Holmes. She knew that Mr. Toller would have been too drunk to remember to release the mastiff that night.

Sherlock Holmes says that Violet Hunter is obviously beingness made to impersonate someone else. That person must exist Alice Rucastle, who must take had her long hair cut brusque as function of treatment for a disease. Jephro Rucastle has lied virtually her having emigrated to America and is keeping her prisoner in the room with the boarded upwardly window. The homo who was looking at the house from the road was either a friend of Alice Rucastle or her fiancé. Violet Hunter was made to laugh to create the impression that Alice Rucastle was happy without that man in her life.The mastiff is intended to prevent that homo from getting near to the house at night. Holmes is certain that the Rucastles are unsafe people, last that the roughshod nature of young Edward Rucastle is the true nature of his parents.

Jephro Rucastle accuses Holmes of abducting his daughter. 1892 analogy by Sidney Paget.

Holmes sees an opportunity to rescue Alice Rucastle that evening, since Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle will exist out and Mr. Toller has been in a drunken stupor all day. Then that Mrs. Toller will not interfere with the rescue mission, he tells Violet Hunter to send her to the wine cellar on some pretext and then lock her inside. Holmes and Watson arrive at the Copper Beeches at seven o'clock in the evening. Violet Hunter leads them to the room with the boarded up window. The two men intermission the door downward but find the room empty. Looking out of the skylight, Holmes sees that there is a ladder side by side to it. Violet Hunter says that the ladder was not there when Jephro Rucastle left that evening.

Jephro Rucastle appears. He accuses Holmes of having abducted his girl and goes to get the mastiff. The canis familiaris, which has not been fed for two days, can exist heard attacking its master. The sound makes Mr. Toller sober upwardly immediately. He, Holmes and Watson become out to rescue Mr. Rucastle. Watson shoots the dog dead. Mr. Rucastle is carried into the living room where Watson tends to him.

Watson shoots the mastiff while information technology is attacking Jephro Rucastle. 1892 illustration past Sidney Paget.

Mrs. Toller, who was freed from the wine cellar when Mr. Rucastle came abode, says that she would have gladly helped Miss Hunter, Holmes and Watson. She explains that Alice Rucastle had her own inheritance which made her independently wealthy. She immune her male parent to keep that money but he was agape that he would lose information technology if she got married. After she barbarous in love with a seaman named Fowler, Jephro Rucastle tried to persuade her to sign some papers which would allow him to keep the money fifty-fifty after she got married. The constant pressure that she was put nether to sign the papers made Alice sick with a brain fever. As role of her handling for the affliction, Alice Rucastle was obliged to have her long hair cut, although Mr. Fowler continued to love her. Mrs. Toller confirms that Violet Hunter was hired because she looks very similar to Alice Rucastle. Jephro Rucastle wanted to persuade Mr. Fowler that Alice was happy without him so that he would not marry her. By offer them money and alcohol, Mr. Fowler was able to have the Tollers into his confidence and get them to aid him. Mr. Toller agreed to have a long ladder ready whenever the Rucastles went out. Mr. Fowler had used it to rescue Alice that evening.

Mr. Rucastle is left an invalid after having been attacked by his ain mastiff. The Rucastles continue to keep the Tollers on as their servants, probably to prevent them from telling the police what they know. Alice Rucastle and Mr. Fowler marry and move to Mauritius. Miss Hunter becomes the headmistress of a private school in cardinal England and Holmes loses all interest in her afterwards her case is solved.

Adaptations

A short silent film adaptation of the story, starring Georges Trévaille as Holmes, was released in 1912. The Copper Beeches is one of eight Anglo-French Sherlock Holmes films which were made in the early on 20th century under the supervision of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. Information technology is, still, the but ane of those eight films to have survived. The film is a rather loose accommodation of the story. The characters of Mrs. Rucastle, Mr. and Mrs. Toller and Dr. Watson are omitted. There is also no mastiff in the movie. Every bit in the short story, Jephro Rucastle wants to fool Mr. Fowler into thinking that Violet Hunter is his daughter but his motivation for doing so is different. He plans to lure Fowler to the business firm so that he can kill him.

A second silent picture show adaptation, starring Ellie Norwood as Holmes, was released in the Uk in 1921.

"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" was adjusted equally the third episode of the BBC Boob tube series Sherlock Holmes , starring Douglas Wilmer as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. Information technology was first shown in the Britain on March six, 1965.

The 8th episode of the Granada Boob tube series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and David Shush every bit Watson, is an adaptation of "The Risk of the Copper Beeches". Information technology showtime aired on the ITV network in the Uk on Baronial 25, 1985. Violet Hunter is played past Natasha Richardson and Jephro Rucastle is played past Joss Ackland.

A radio adaptation, starring Clive Merrison every bit Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson, was first circulate on BBC Radio iv in the Britain on February half-dozen, 1991. Violet Hunter is played by Imogen Stubbs.

Encounter also

Sound file of public domain aufiobook of "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" from LibriVox
Video of the 1912 silent moving-picture show The Copper Beeches