"The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sherlock Holmes sends Dr. Watson to Lausanne to investigate Lady Frances Carfax's disappearance since he himself is too busy in London.

Lady Frances is a lone, unwed woman denied a rich inheritance on account of her sex.

Her last two bank transactions were cheques, one to pay her hotel bill, and another for £50 to her maid, Miss Marie Devine.

In Switzerland, Watson finds out that Lady Frances stayed at the Hôtel National for several weeks, but then suddenly left in a hurry one day.

Watson finds out where Lady Frances went, and inquires at the Englischer Hof in Baden-Baden, Germany.

She stayed there for a fortnight and met a couple described as Dr. Shlessinger, a convalescent missionary and biblical scholar from South America, and his wife.

Now that he has made his fortune in South Africa, he hopes she will see him differently, but he is still rather churlish and clearly Lady Frances is unwilling.

This confirms Holmes's suspicion that Dr. Shlessinger is in fact "Holy" Henry Peters, a vicious rascal from Australia (his earlobe was chewed away in a bar brawl).

He beguiles young women by playing to their religious beliefs, as Shlessinger did with Lady Frances.

Then, a pawnshop reports that someone matching Shlessinger's description has pawned a pendant very much like one owned by Lady Frances.

He has Philip Green wait in the pawnshop, knowing that Henry Peters will want to pawn more jewellery.

Once inside, in the absence of a warrant, Holmes is obliged to resort to force to search Peters's house.

Nothing suspicious can be found about the household, no warrant arrives, and Holmes and Watson go back to Baker Street.