Victorians - Mary Morstan

Mary Watson, née Morstan, is the wife of Dr. Watson. She is first introduced in The Sign of the Four, where she and Watson tentatively become attracted to each other, but only when the case is resolved is he able to propose to her. She is described as a blonde with pale skin. At the time she hires Holmes she had been making a living as a governess. The main treasure is lost - rather to Watson's relief, since if she had been a rich heiress his proposing to her might have been considered the act of a fortune hunter. She does receive six pearls from a chaplet of the Agra Treasure. Her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, was a senior captain of an Indian regiment and later stationed near the Andaman Islands. He disappeared in 1878 under mysterious circumstances that would later be proven to be related to the mystery, The Sign of the Four. Her mother died sometime before 1878 and she had no other relatives in England, although she was educated there (in accordance with the received wisdom of the time about European children in British-ruled India) until the age of seventeen. Shortly afterward her father disappeared and she found work as a governess. Watson and Mary married in 1889. Mary Morstan is mentioned in passing in "The Adventure of the Crooked Man" and "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", but by the time of "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" (after Holmes's return) Mary Morstan has died and Watson has returned to his former lodgings in Baker Street. Her cause of death is never mentioned.