The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 4 (1/2)
Shortly after ton district Old Mr Farquhar, froeneral practice; but his age, and an affliction of the nature of St Vitus's dance from which he suffered, had very oes on the principle that he ould heal others must himself be whole, and looks askance at the curative powers of the s Thus as my predecessor weakened his practice declined, until when I purchased it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred to little more than three hundred a year I had confidence, however, in y, and was convinced that in a very few years the concern would be as flourishi+ng as ever
For threeover the practice I was kept very closely at work, and saw little of my friend Sherlock Holmes, for I was too busy to visit Baker Street, and he seldom went anywhere himself save upon professional business I was surprised, therefore, when, onethe British Medical Journal after breakfast, I heard a ring at the bell, followed by the high, somewhat strident tones of my old co into the roohted to see you! I trust that Mrs Watson has entirely recovered from all the little exciten of Four”
”Thank you, we are both very well,” said I, shaking him warmly by the hand
”And I hope, also,” he continued, sitting down in the rocking-chair, ”that the cares of medical practice have not entirely obliterated the interest which you used to take in our little deductive problems”
”On the contrary,” I answered, ”it was only last night that I was looking oversome of our past results”
”I trust that you don't consider your collection closed”
”Not at all I should wish nothing better than to have some more of such experiences”
”To-day, for example?”
”Yes, to-day, if you like”
”And as far off as Birham?”
”Certainly, if you wish it”
”And the practice?”
”I do oes He is always ready to work off the debt”
”Ha! Nothing could be better,” said Hol keenly at me from under his half closed lids ”I perceive that you have been unwell lately Su”
”I was confined to the house by a severe chill for three days last week I thought, however, that I had cast off every trace of it”
”So you have You look remarkably robust”
”How, then, did you know of it?”
”My dear fellow, you know my methods”
”You deduced it, then?”
”Certainly”
”And frolanced down at the new patent leathers which I earing ”How on earth--” I began, but Holmes answered my question before it was asked
”Your slippers are new,” he said ”You could not have had them more than a feeeks The soles which you are at this htly scorched For a ot wet and been burned in the drying But near the instep there is a slyphics upon it Damp would of course have re with your feet outstretched to the fire, which a man would hardly do even in so wet a June as this if he were in his full health”
Like all Hol seemed siht upon e of bitterness
”I aive myself ahen I explain,” said he ”Results without causes are ham, then?”
”Certainly What is the case?”
”You shall hear it all in the train My client is outside in a four-wheeler Can you come at once?”
”In an instant” I scribbled a note to hbor, rushed upstairs to explain the matter to my wife, and joined Holhbor is a doctor,” said he, nodding at the brass plate
”Yes; he bought a practice as I did”
”An old-established one?”
”Just the same as mine Both have been ever since the houses were built”
”Ah! Then you got hold of the best of the two”
”I think I did But how do you know?”
”By the steps, my boy Yours are worn three inches deeper than his But this gentleman in the cab is my client, Mr Hall Pycroft Allow me to introduce you to him Whip your horse up, cabby, for we have only just time to catch our train”
Thewas a well built, fresh-coht, crisp, yellow mustache He wore a very shi+ny top hat and a neat suit of sober black, whichCity man, of the class who have been labeled cockneys, but who give us our crack volunteer regiments, and who turn out more fine athletes and sportsmen than any body of men in these islands His round, ruddy face was naturally full of cheeriness, but the corners of his mouth seemed to me to be pulled down in a half-comical distress It was not, however, until ere all in a first-class carriage and well started upon our journey to Birham that I was able to learn what the trouble hich had driven him to Sherlock Holmes
”We have a clear run here of seventy minutes,” Holmes remarked ”I want you, Mr Hall Pycroft, to tellexperience exactly as you have told it to me, or with more detail if possible It will be of use to ain It is a case, Watson, whichin it, or , but which, at least, presents those unusual and outre features which are as dear to you as they are to ain”
Our young companion looked at me with a twinkle in his eye
”The worst of the story is,” said he, ”that I show myself up as such a confounded fool Of course it ht, and I don't see that I could have done otherwise; but if I have lost e I shall feel what a soft Johnnie I have been I' a story, Dr Watson, but it is like this with me: ”I used to have a billet at coxon & Woodhouse's, of Draper's Gardens, but they were let in early in the spring through the Venezuelan loan, as no doubt you remember, and came a nasty cropper I had been with theood testimonial when the smash came, but of course we clerks were all turned adrift, the twenty-seven of us I tried here and tried there, but there were lots of other chaps on the sa ti three pounds a week at coxon's, and I had saved about seventy of theh that and out at the other end I was fairly at the end of my tether at last, and could hardly find the stamps to answer the advertisements or the envelopes to stick the up office stairs, and I see a billet as ever
”At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson & Willia firm in Lombard Street I dare say E C Is not much in your line, but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in London The advertisement was to be answered by letter only I sent in my testi it Back ca that if I would appear next Monday I ht take over my new duties at once, provided that s are worked Soes his hand into the heap and takes the first that cos that time, and I don't ever wish to feel better pleased The screas a pound a week rise, and the duties just about the same as at coxon's
”And now I cos out Ha a s after I had been promised the appointment, when up came ent,' printed upon it I had never heard the naine what he wanted with me; but, of course, I asked her to show him up In he walked, a middle-sized, dark-haired, dark-eyed, black-bearded man, with a touch of the Sheeny about his nose He had a brisk kind of ith him and spoke sharply, like a man who knew the value of time”
”'Mr Hall Pycroft, I believe?'” said he
”'Yes, sir,' I answered, pushi+ng a chair towards hied at coxon & Woodhouse's?'
”'Yes, sir'
”'And now on the staff of Mawson's'
”'Quite so'
”'Well,' said he, 'the fact is that I have heard some really extraordinary stories about your financial ability You reer? He can never say enough about it'