Violet Smith
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mrs. Woodley)
Fictional character.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories
aka Mrs. Woodley (for a short time)
- Violet Smith was the daughter of James Smith and niece of Ralph Smith (SOLI 34).
- She was a young music teacher (SOLI 25), engaged to Cyril Morton (SOLI 49).
- She took a post as a music teacher at Chiltern Grange near Farnham and rode each weekend to the station — hence "the solitary cyclist of Charlington" (SOLI 55).
- A man on a bicycle shadowed her on that lonely road; he's later revealed to be Bob Carruthers (her employer) in disguise, secretly following to protect her (SOLI 72).
- Jack Woodley and Williamson (a defrocked clergyman) plotted to seize her for her uncle's money (SOLI 290). On her final Saturday, she was abducted from her dog-cart; the groom is clubbed; she was taken into the Charlington grounds and gagged. In a glade, Williamson had just performed a sham "marriage" to Jack Woodley when Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Bob Carruthers rushed in (SOLI 361). Carruthers shot Woodley (non-fatal). Sherlock Holmes detained the men and declared the forced ceremony invalid (SOLI 419).
- Violet married Cyril Morton after The Solitary Cyclist case (SOLI 502).
