Later that night on their way to the rendezvous Miss Morstan tells Holmes that Sholto and her father were in charge of the convict guard at the Andaman Islands. The anonymous sender permits her to bring two friends as long as they are not police. Miss Morstan has now received a letter which urges her to meet with the sender that night. Since then she has received one pearl a year for the last six years.

Upon the advice of her employer she did so and that same day she received a valuable pearl in the post. Sholto had retired from service at that time and claimed not to have even known that Morstan was in the country.Ī few years after this disappearance an advertisement appeared in a paper asking for Miss Morstan to reveal her address. Major Sholto was Morstan's only known friend in London, the two had been in the same regiment together. Inquiries at the time produced no result. Whilst the hotel confirmed that he was staying there they informed Miss Morstan that he had gone out and not returned. He had obtained twelve months leave from his Indian regiment and sent word to her to meet him at his hotel.

Her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, disappeared some years previously under suspicious circumstances. However, Holmes explains that the drug stimulates and clarifies his mind and that, without work to challenge his mental faculties, he becomes bored with day-to-day life.Ī young lady named Mary Morstan comes to consult Holmes upon a case which she assures him is very unusual. Watson's reluctance to oppose Holmes is finally overcome and he confronts his friend about the potential ill effects of this prolonged usage. At the outset of the novel Doctor Watson states that he has been watching Holmes takes cocaine three times a day for many months.

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