Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

Chapter 1 opens with the narrator, Mary Russell dressing. Mary's 21st birthday is one week away. Mary lives with her aunt, who is Mary's legal guardian. Mary mentions she is going to be working with her mentor and tutor, Sherlock Holmes. It appears as if the Mary dresses as a man, rather than a woman, to go visit and work with Holmes. When Mary arrives at Sherlock Holmes's house, he is not there, but his servant Mrs. Hudson is there doing needlepoint in front of the fire. Mary leaves Holmes's house for London to try to find Holmes at the place he would rent a carriage if he is pretending to be a taxi driver. The carriage house owner says Holmes did rent out a horse and carriage to Basil Josephs, which is the alias that Sherlock Holmes uses. Mary waits on...