To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner.
Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion. Just a trifle more, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell me that you intended to go into harness. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl? You would certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you deduce it.
As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it out. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey.
As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession.
And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room. I don't know.
You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this.
Your recent services to one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
But the note itself. What do you deduce from it? It is peculiarly strong and stiff. Hold it up to the light. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company. It is in a German-speaking country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad.
And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of you we have from all quarters received.
It is the German who is so uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts.
Holmes whistled. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this case, Watson, if there is nothing else. Your Rating:. Your Comment:.
Read Online Download. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes category: classics, mystery, fiction, short stories, mystery, crime Formats: ePUB Android , audible mp3, audiobook and kindle. Great book, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes pdf is enough to raise the goose bumps alone. The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The Valley of Fear. A Scandal in Bohemia. The Red-Headed League. A Case of Identity. The Boscombe Valley Mystery. The Five Orange Pips. The Man with the Twisted Lip. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. The Adventure of the Speckled Band. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches. Silver Blaze. Yellow Face. The Stockbroker's Clerk. The Musgrave Ritual. The Reigate Puzzle.
The Crooked Man. The Resident Patient. The Greek Interpreter. The Naval Treaty. The Final Problem. The Empty House.
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