First of all, it's dated 1880 so it's very old-style, but it's not just that. Even compared to other old books I've read, dated maybe 1901 or 1908, this "a strange disappearance" is very old-fashion. I want to quote two little passages, that will explain better what I mean, but they can be a bit of a spoiler maybe, but not too much anyway.
Quote 1: "will you crown all your other acts of devotion with a pardon that will restore me to my manhood and that place in your esteem which I covet above every other earthly good?"
Quote 2: "the men with a dogged air from which the bravado had however fled, turned and looked from one to the other of us in a fearful, inquiring way that duly confessed to the force of the impression made by these words upon their slow but not unimaginative minds"
Conclusion, it wasn't bad but not exciting either, and rather too old for me.
Now to the story:
the protagonist is a detective, but he is known only as Q., his full name is not disclosed. He seems to be talking to some friends, and he wants to tell them the story of a strange disappearance that happened but of which they knew nothing.
He starts from the day Mrs Daniels went to the police station to report the kidnapping of a girl. A sewing girl by the name of Emily had been taken away from the house by some unknown men. They both work for rich bachelor Mr Holman Blake, who doesn't know a thing about this Emily and doesn't even care. Mrs Daniels however is awfully worried and keeps repeating "she must be found".
Q. investigates with some help from senior detective Mr Gryce. Q. starts following Blake around, during his wanderings in the poor and dangerous places of the city, and even during a journey that came out to be to the house of two escaped convicts.
At last he's forced to say the truth (I admit it really annoyed me his air of superiority and his 'you dare' to the police, as if he was above everyone else and not just a human being like all other men, just more lucky :-/)
He tells them a long story: he had been in love with his cousin Evelyn Blake, but his father would not have it. He strongly opposed marriage between cousins, so Holman went away to try and forget about her. Once on his way to meet a friend, he was surprised by a bad storm and took refuge inside an Inn run by a father with his son and daughter. During the night, the girl Luttra woke him up and urged him to leave; unfortunately her father and brother were not asleep but at the door ready to stop her. Luttra was brave and smart enough to win this round and gain their escape. Once safely away, she explains to him that she had overheard them; their greed for money was about to lead them into killing him to rob him, and she wouldn't have it.
As a thank you, he had her admitted to a good school to give her an education, "a course of three years" , but apparently she only stayed there for two years...
Holman had gone back to loving Evelyn, until his father had enough of it and gave him an ultimatum. He had to get married (not to a cousin!) or he would lose his inheritance, and he only had a month to do it!
He thought of Luttra, and she agreed to marry him. When he met her, his father was most pleased and welcomed her without any questions about who she was but with open arms calling her 'daughter'. Once Luttra had left the room Holman told his old man that he did not love Luttra and was therefore going away, and Luttra heard it all. She was shocked and hurt because she unlike him she did love him and had married him out of love, not realizing he had never spoken of love to her.
Luttra could not stand Holman having to leave his own home, so she went away instead, leaving him free. However, very soon she came back with a black wig to conceal her blonde/red hair, for she could not live in a house that was not her husband's. Only Mrs Daniels knew about her real identity, Holman never knew or even suspected. A year went by this way. Now Holman's feelings had drastically changed after Evelyn's marriage to a Count. Although the Count died and Evelyn was now free again, Holman could not forgive her because she married for money more than love, although this was exactly what he had done himself. No, actually he had done even worse because he had deceived Luttra and had let her go alone, but what do you know, since he was a man the fact was not so vile in his eyes, but she was a woman and had to act superior and blah blah blah, it made me sick.
So, he now loved Luttra and was trying to find her everywhere, not knowing that she was right there in his own house.
Now that the police have all the facts, our detectives find her. Her father and brother got a room opposite Blake's house, that they could watch him and plan something against him; Q designed a way to rescue her and arrest them.
He had Mrs Daniels write a note in French so that Luttra could understand it but her family won't be able to (wow, two years in school and she knows everything now). She had to come out of the room and hide, while Q would wear her shawl and go in pretending to be her. It was a success, they arrested the father, then waited for the brother to come back and arrested him too. The detectives blackmailed the convicts in order to secure their silence over their relationship with Luttra, that nobody will have to suspect any connection between them.
Blake came to confess his love for her, and she was happy, but still firm in her decision to go away to spare him the humiliation, the shame, the uneasiness of her position and family. She was very stubborn and her altruism very annoying, as if Blake was some kind of God she was sacrificing herself to. Mrs Daniels was called and she too asked Luttra to stay but as I said: stubborn. The Countess came as well, welcoming her into her family, but this changed nothing, so Mrs Daniels had no other choice but to show them all the secret will of the late Mr Blake. He had suffered to see her go, so he decided that either Holman got her back in a year's time, or all his money would go to her, his daughter-in-law, and not to his son.
Now she can't stand of course to leave him penny-less, so she agrees to stay. Holman knew nothing about it though.
They have a big party when they sort of re-marry, and the Countess gives a big party for them and helps them answering all people's curious questions about Luttra without actually giving away any information at all, and Luttra gave Q all her gratitude for his help.
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