.”
Irelapsedintomychair.
“Briefly,”shecontinued,“thefactsarethese.MyfatherwasanofficerinanIndianregimentwhosentmehomewhenIwasquiteachild.Mymotherwasdead,andIhadnorelativeinEngland.Iwasplaced,however,inacomfortableboardingestablishmentatEdinburgh,andthereIremaineduntilIwasseventeenyearsofage.Intheyear1878myfather,whowasseniorcaptainofhisregiment,obtainedtwelvemonths’leaveandcamehome.HetelegraphedtomefromLondonthathehadarrivedallsafe,anddirectedmetocomedownatonce,givingtheLanghamHotelashisaddress.Hismessage,asIremember,wasfullofkindnessandlove.OnreachingLondonIdrovetotheLangham,andwasinformedthatCaptainMorstanwasstayingthere,butthathehadgoneoutthenightbeforeandhadnotyetreturned.Iwaitedalldaywithoutnewsofhim.Thatnight,ontheadviceofthemanagerofthehotel,Icommunicatedwiththepolice,andnextmorningweadvertisedinallthepapers.Ourinquiriesledtonoresultandfromthatdaytothisnowordhaseverbeenheardofmyunfortunatefather.Hecamehomewithhisheartfullofhope,tofindsomepeace,somecomfort,andinstead—”Sheputherhandtoherthroat,andachokingsobcutshortthesentence.
“Thedate?”askedHolmes,openinghisnote-book.
“Hedisappeareduponthe3rdofDecember,1878,—nearlytenyearsago.”
“Hisluggage?”
“Remainedatthehotel.Therewasnothinginittosuggestaclue,—someclothes,somebooks,andaconsiderablenumberofcuriositiesfromtheAndamanIslands.Hehadbeenoneoftheofficersinchargeoftheconvict-guardthere.”
“Hadheanyfriendsintown?”
“Onlyonethatweknowof,—MajorSholto,ofhisownregiment,the34thBombayInfantry.Themajorhadretiredsomelittletimebefore,andlivedatUpperNorwood.Wecommunicatedwithhim,ofcourse,buthedidnotevenknowthathisbrotherofficerwasinEngland.”
“Asingularcase,”remarkedHolmes.
“Ihavenotyetdescribedtoyouthemostsingularpart.Aboutsixyears