The Irish standard., 1895-04-27
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mp her gloved hand to detain me. If
Jour friend" che said, 'swould be good
enough to stop, The might be Of inestt1n-
able service to me. i"
/. #. X re1apsed into my chair,
Ss -. 81 Briefly" she continued, s.the facts
are these: lfy father was an officer in
an Indian regiment who sent me home
when was quite child. My mother
was dead, and had no relative in Eng
land. + was placed, however, in q
comfortable boarding esta blishment at
Edinburgh, and there remained until
IS + was eventeen years Of age. In the
! year 1878 my father, who YVES senior
captain Of his regiment, obtained
: twelve months leave and came home.
He .telegrnphed to me from London
that he had arrived all safe, and di-
srected me to come down at once, giving
the Langham hotel us his address. His
message, as / remember, was full Of
kindness and love. On reaching Lon
donI drove to the Langhan, 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. I 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 and
some peace, some comfort, and in~
stead-7---'". She put her hand to her
throat, and choking sob cut short the
sentence.
!: 'sThe 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 considerable number Of
curiosities from the Andaman islands.
He had beer one of the officers in
charge Of the convict guard there"
.'Had he any friends In town?''
a.'Only one that we know of-Maj.
.Sholto, of his own regiment, the Thir-.
ty-fourth Bombay infantry. The ma
jort had retired some little time before,
and lived at Upper Norwood. We COM
municated with, him, Of course, but he
did not even know that his brother Of
acer WIS 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 het advantage to come for
ward. There was no name or address
appended. I had at that time just en-
tered the family Of Mrs. Cecil Forester
in the capacity Of goyerness. BY her
advice published my: address in the
advertisement column. The same day
there arrived through the post a. small
cardboard box addressed to me, which
I found to contain very large and lus-
trous pearl. No word Of writing was
inclosed. Since then, every year, upon
the same date, there has always ap-
peared a similar box, ontaining SIM
liar pearl, without any clcw as to the
sender. They have been pronounced
by an expert to be Of a rare variety and
Of considerable value. You can see for
yourselves that they are very hand
some.'''. She opened a fat box as she
spoke, and showed me six of the finest
pearls that / had ever SEEM
Your statement is most interest
ing,'' said Sherlock Holmes. HAS any
thing else occurred to your"
Eyes, and no later than to-day. That
is why have come to you. This morn
ing I. received this letter, which You
will perhaps read for yourself
Thank you said Holmes. 1.-THE
envelope, too. please. Postmark, Lon
don, s. w.; date, July7. Hum! Mans
thumbmark on corher-probably post
man. Best quality paper. Envelopes
at sixpence packet. Particular man
in his stationery. No address. BE at
the third pillar from the left outside
the Lyceum theater tonight at seven
o'clock. If you. are distrustful, bring
TWO friends. You are g. wronged wom-
an, and shall have justice. Do not
bring police:" If you do, all will be in
vain. Your unknown friend Well,
really, this is q very pretty little mys45s
:tery: ;What,do you intend to do, Miss
Morstan?'f :: ~: t-g:& % q:
.,'That is exactly what want to ask
you; ;''fi-:;' -. -
''Tken. we shall most certainly co.!
You and I and7yes, why, DR.. Watson
is the very man. Your correspondent
says two friends. He and / have
worked together before"
'ssBut would he Gomez" she asked,
with something appealing in her voice
and expression: &%
<s''1 should be proud and happy
said l, feryently, 'if can be of any.
service" = =
3. ..You are both very kind" she an.
sweted. 81 have led retired life, and
have no friends whom /. could appeal
to. III am here at six 1t will do, I sup.
pose?' s.. .a
..You must not be later said
Holmes. There is one other point.
Is this handwriting the same as that
npon the pearl-box addresses.
81 have them here" she answered,
producing half dozen pieces Of paper.
ttYon are certainly model client
You have the correct intuition. Let
us see, now" He spread out the paper
upon the table, and gave little darting.
g1ances from one to the other. ''They
are disguised hands, except the letter. =
he. said. r,resertly ssbut there can be no