Знак чотирьох
II. The Statement of the Case
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.Aboutsixyearsago—tobeexact,uponthe4thofMay,1882—anadvertisementappearedintheTimesaskingfortheaddressofMissMaryMorstanandstatingthatitwouldbetoheradvantagetocomeforward.Therewasnonameoraddressappended.IhadatthattimejustenteredthefamilyofMrs.CecilForresterinthecapacityofgoverness.ByheradviceIpublishedmyaddressintheadvertisementcolumn.Thesamedaytherearrivedthroughthepostasmallcard-boardboxaddressedtome,whichIfoundtocontainaverylargeandlustrouspearl.Nowordofwritingwasenclosed.
