Much has been made of Holmes's assertion to Violet that the position is 'not one I would like to see a sister of mine apply for.' The phantom sisters - starting with Violet herself - are legion.

On the other hand, at least one contributor to the Annotated Sherlock Holmes interpret's Violet's behaviour toward Holmes as decidedly un-sisterly, and suggest she was deliberately throwing out all those extraneous details about her accomplishments, hair etc. in order to, um, impress him.