”Youtoldmethatyouhadbachelorquartersforone，andIseethatyouhavenogentlemanvisitoratpresent。Yourhat-standproclaimsasmuch。””Ishallbedelightedifyouwillstay。””Thankyou。I’llfillthevacantpegthen。Sorrytoseethatyou’vehadtheBritishworkmaninthehouse。He’satokenofevil。Notthedrains，Ihope?””No，thegas。””Ah！Hehaslefttwonail-marksfromhisbootuponyourlinoleumjustwherethelightstrikesit。No，thankyou，IhadsomesupperatWaterloo，butI’llsmokeapipewithyouwithpleasure。”
Ihandedhimmypouch，andheseatedhimselfoppositetomeandsmokedforsometimeinsilence。Iwaswellawarethatnothingbutbusinessofimportancewouldhavebroughthimtomeatsuchanhour，soIwaitedpatientlyuntilheshouldcomeroundtoit。”Iseethatyouareprofessionallyratherbusyjustnow，”saidhe，glancingverykeenlyacrossatme。”Yes，I’vehadabusyday，”Ianswered。”Itmayseemveryfoolishinyoureyes，”Iadded，”butreallyI
don’tknowhowyoudeducedit。”
Holmeschuckledtohimself。”Ihavetheadvantageofknowingyourhabits，mydearWatson，”saidhe。”Whenyourroundisashortoneyouwalk，andwhenitisalongoneyouuseahansom。AsIperceivethatyourboots，althoughused，arebynomeansdirty，Icannotdoubtthatyouareatpresentbusyenoughtojustifythehansom。””Excellent！”Icried。”Elementary，”saidhe。”Itisoneofthoseinstanceswherethereasonercanproduceaneffectwhichseemsremarkabletohisneighbor，becausethelatterhasmissedtheonelittlepointwhichisthebasisofthededuction。Thesamemaybesaid，mydearfellow，fortheeffectofsomeoftheselittlesketchesofyour，whichisentirelymeretricious，dependingasitdoesuponyourretaininginyourownhandssomefactorsintheproblemwhichareneverimpartedtothereader。
Now，atpresentIaminthepositionofthesesamereaders，forIholdinthishandseveralthreadsofoneofthestrangestcaseswhicheverperplexedaman’sbrain，andyetIlacktheoneortwowhichareneedfultocompletemytheory。ButI’llhavethem，Watson，I’llhavethem！”Hiseyeskindledandaslightflushsprangintohisthincheeks。Foraninstantonly。WhenIglancedagainhisfacehadresumedthatred-Indiancomposurewhichhadmadesomanyregardhimasamachineratherthanaman。”Theproblempresentsfeaturesofinterest，”saidhe。”Imayevensayexceptionalfeaturesofinterest。I