Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches 

In The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, Violet Hunter asks Holmes, whether she should accept a job with very strange conditions. She has been offered 120 pounds per year as a governess, but only if she will cut her long hair short. This is only one of many peculiar conditions to which she must agree. The employer, Jephro Rucastle, seems pleasant enough, yet Miss Hunter obviously has her suspicions. After a fortnight, Miss Hunter beseeches Holmes to come and see her in Winchester, as the situation has become even stranger. This is the last of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.