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I was relieved at this sudden descent from the general to the
particular. Holmes consulted his notes.
"Lady Frances," he continued, "is the sole survivor of the direct
family of the late Earl of Rufton. The estates went, as you may
remember, in the male line. She was left with limited means, but
with some very remarkable old Spanish jewellery of silver and
curiously cut diamonds to which she was fondly attached--too
attached, for she refused to leave them with her banker and
always carried them about with her. A rather pathetic figure,
the Lady Frances, a beautiful woman, still in fresh middle age,
and yet, by a strange change, the last derelict of what only
twenty years ago was a goodly fleet."
"What has happened to her, then?"
"Ah, what has happened to the Lady Frances? Is she alive or
dead? There is our problem. She is a lady of precise habits,
and for four years it has been her invariable custom to write
every second week to Miss Dobney, her old governess, who has long
retired and lives in Camberwell. It is this Miss Dobney who has
consulted me. Nearly five weeks have passed without a word. The
last letter was from the Hotel National at Lausanne. Lady Frances
seems to have left there and given no address. The family are
anxious, and as they are exceedingly wealthy no sum will be
spared if we can clear the matter up."
"Is Miss Dobney the only source of information? Surely she had
other correspondents?"
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