”’Really，sir！’Icried。”’Quiteright！That’sallright！ButIwasboundtoask。Withallthesequalities，whyareyounotinpractice?’”Ishruggedmyshoulders。”’Come，come！’saidhe，inhisbustlingway。’It’stheoldstory。Moreinyourbrainsthaninyourpocket，eh?WhatwouldyousayifIweretostartyouinBrookStreet?’”Istaredathiminastonishment。”’Oh，it’sformysake，notforyours，’hecried。’I’llbeperfectlyfrankwithyou，andifitsuitsyouitwillsuitmeverywell。Ihaveafewthousandstoinvest，d’yesee，andIthinkI’llsinktheminyou。’”’Butwhy?’Igasped。”’Well，it’sjustlikeanyotherspeculation，andsaferthanmost。’”’WhatamItodo，then?’”’I’lltellyou。I’lltakethehouse，furnishit，paythemaids，andrunthewholeplace。Allyouhavetodoisjusttowearoutyourchairintheconsulting-room。I’llletyouhavepocket-moneyandeverything。Thenyouhandovertomethreequartersofwhatyouearn，andyoukeeptheotherquarterforyourself。’”Thiswasthestrangeproposal，Mr。Holmes，withwhichthemanBlessingtonapproachedme。Iwon’twearyyouwiththeaccountofhowwebargainedandnegotiated。
ItendedinmymovingintothehousenextLady-day，andstartinginpracticeonverymuchthesameconditionsashehadsuggested。Hecamhimselftolivewithmeinthecharacterofaresidentpatient。
Hisheartwasweak，itappears，andheneededconstantmedicalsupervision。Heturnedthetwobestroomsofthefirstfloorintoasitting-roomandbedroomforhimself。Hewasamanofsingularhabits，shunningcompanyandveryseldomgoingout。Hislifewasirregular，butinonerespecthewasregularityitself。Everyevening，atthesamehour，hewalkedintotheconsulting-room，examinedthebooks，putdownfiveandthree-penceforeveryguineathatIhadearned，andcarriedtherestofftothestrong-boxinhisownroom。”Imaysaywithconfidencethatheneverhadoccasiontoregrethisspeculation。Fromthefirstitwasasuccess。AfewgoodcasesandthereputationwhichI
hadwoninthehospitalbroughtmerapidlytothefront，andduringthelastfewyearsIhavemadehimarichman。”Somuch，Mr。Holmes，formypasthistoryandmyrelationswithMr。Blessington。Itonlyremainsformenowtotellyouwhathasoccurredtobringmeherto-night。”SomeweeksagoMr。Blessingtoncamedowntomein，asitseemedtome，astateofconsiderableagitation。
Hespokeofsomeburglarywhich，hesaid，hadbeencommittedintheWestEnd，andheappeared，I