St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-07-20
oPELoUsAs, LOUISIANA, SATURDAY, July 20, 1895.

you cannot say the same of mine.
can hardly imagine anything NOR
strange, more utterly inexplicable
than the situation in which find my
SELF
| Holmes rubbed his hands. and hi
eyes glistened. He leaned forward il
his chair with an expression of extraor
dinary concentration upon his clear
cut, hawk-like features. Estate Won
case, I" said he, in brisk, business tones
I felt that my position was an EN-
barrassing one. You will, am sure
excuse me-" I said, rising from m,
chair.
To my surprise the young lady hel,
up her gloved hand to detain me. ST
your friend, !" she said, would be gooe
enough to stop, he might be of inestim
| able service to me-
Irelapsed into my chair.
Briefly" she continued, 1.-The fact.
are these: My father was an officer in
an Indian regiment who sent me home
when was quite a child. My mother
was dead, and had no relative in Eng.
| land. | was placed, however, in a
comfortable boarding establishment at
Edinburgh, and there / remained until
| was seventeen years of age. In the
year 1878 my father, who was senior
captain of his regiment, obtained
twelve months leave and came home.
he telegraphed to me from London
that he had arrived all safe, and di-
rected me to come down at once, giving
the Langham hotel as his address. His
message, as remember, was full of
kindness and love. On reaching Lon
don / drove to the Langham, and was
informed that Capt. Morstan was stay
ing there, but that he had gone out the
night before and had not returned I
waited all day without news of him.
That night, on the advice of the man.
ager of the hotel, communicated with
the police. and next morning we adver-
tised in all the papers. Our inquiries
led to no result; and from that day to
this no word has ever been heard of
my unfortunate father. He came home
with his heart full Of hope, to find
some peace, some comfort, and in
stead" She put her hand to her
throat, and choking sob cut short the
sentence.
The date?" asked Holmes, opening
his notebook.
He disappeared upon the Sd of De-
cember, 1s7s-nearly ten years ago"
His luggage?''
Remained at the hotel There was
nothing in it to suggest clew-some
books, and a considerable number of
curiosities from the Andaman islands.
He had been one of the officers In
charge of the convict guard there"
Had he any friends in town?''
only one that we know of-Maj.
sholto, of his own regiment, the Thir-
ty-fourth Bombay infantry. The ma
jor had retired some little time before,
and lived at Upper Norwood. We COM
municated with. him, of course, but he
] 81
Reer was in England. !"
A singular case" remarked Holmes. |
II have not yet described to you the |
most singular part. About six years
ago-to be exact, upon the 4th of May,
Lss2-an advertisement appeared in the |
Times asking for the address of Miss |
Mary Morstan, and stating that it |
would be to her advantage to come for |
ward. There was no name or address
appended. / had at that time just en-
,ered the family of Mrs. Cecil Forester !
n the capacity of governess. BY her
ldvice published my address in the
advertisement column. The same day
here arrived through the post small
cardboard box addressed to me, which
found to contain very large and lus-
rous pearl. No word of writing was
Since then, every year, upon
he same date, there has always ap-
,eared similar box, containing sim
lar pearl, without any clew as TO the
ender. They have been pronounced
y an expert to be of rare variety and
# considerable value. You can see for
ourselves that they are very hand
omc." She opened fat box as she
poke, and showed me six of the finest
,earls that I had ever seen.
sYour statement is most interest
ng," said Sherlock Holmes. HAS any
hing else occurred to you?"
"Yes, and no later than to-day. That
) why have come to You. This morn
ng / received this letter, which you
vill perhaps read for yourself
Thank you," said Holmes. 1.-THE
nvelope, too, please. Postmark, Lon
on, S. W.; date, July 7. Hum! Mans
humbnark on corner-probably post
ian. Best quality paper. Envelopes
t sixpence packet. Particular man
! his stationery. No address BE at
he third pillar from the left outside
he Lyceum theater tonight at seven
clock If you are distrustfu1. bring
vo friends. You are a wronged wom-
n, and shall have justice. Do not
ring police. II you do, all will be in
ain. Your unknown friend Well, :,
sally, this is very pretty little mys-
Try. What do you intend to do, Miss
Lorstan?"
That is exactly what want to ask
ou..
Then we shall most certainly go.
ou and / and-yes, why, DIR. Watson ,
the very man. Your correspondent
Lys two friends. He and ! have
orked together before"
.tBut would he Gomez" she asked,
ith something appealing in her voice ,
Id expression.
81 should be proud and happy
id l, fervently, "if I can be of any j
rvice."