The Sign of the Four

nce of D

the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with inn

at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject, but there was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last m

th my lunch, or the additional exasperation produced by the extreme del

ay?" I asked,-"mo

volume which he had opened. "It is cocaine," he said,

tion has not got over the Afghan campaign yet. I

its influence is physically a bad one. I find it, however, so transcendently stimulat

at last leave a permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle. Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of

inger-tips together and leaned his elbows on the arms o

sis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I cra

detective?" I said,

he way, is their normal state-the matter is laid before me. I examine the data, as an expert, and pronounce a specialist's opinion. I claim no credit in such cases. My name figures in no newsp

anything in my life. I even embodied it in a small brochur

be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romant

" I remonstrated. "I could

erved in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curi

d be devoted to his own special doings. More than once during the years that I had lived with him in Baker Street I had observed that a small vanity underlay my companion's quiet and didactic manner. I

in the wide range of exact knowledge which is essential to the higher developments of his art. The case was concerned with a will, and possessed some features of interest. I was able to refer him to two parallel cases, the one at Riga in 1857, and the other at St. Louis in 1871, which have suggested to him the true solution. Here

pupil to his m

ses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective. He has the power of observation and that of ded

r wo

igar-, cigarette-, and pipe-tobacco, with colored plates illustrating the difference in the ash. It is a point which is continually turning up in criminal trials, and which is sometimes of supreme importance as a clue. If you can say definitely, for example, that some m

dinary genius for mi

us little work upon the influence of a trade upon the form of the hand, with lithotypes of the hands of slaters, sailors, corkcutters, compositors, weavers, and diamond-polishers. That i

nce I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it. But you spo

wreaths from his pipe. "For example, observation shows me that you have been to the Wigmore Stree

hat I don't see how you arrived at it. It was a sudden

on tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. Just opposite the Seymour Street Office they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth which lies in such a way that it is

id you deduce

our open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of post-cards. What could you go into the p

"The thing, however, is, as you say, of the simplest. Would you thin

m taking a second dose of cocaine. I should be delighted

dividuality upon it in such a way that a trained observer might read it. Now, I have here a watch which has recently come

the somewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed. He balanced the watch in his hand, gazed hard at the dial, opened the back, and examined the works, first wi

"The watch has been recently cleaned, wh

heart I accused my companion of putting forward a most lame and impotent ex

up at the ceiling with dreamy, lack-lustre eyes. "Subject to your correction, I should

o doubt, from the H

: so it was made for the last generation. Jewelry usually descends to the eldest son, and he is most likely to have the same name as

r," said I. "

s, but he threw away his chances, lived for some time in poverty with occasional short i

impatiently about the room with co

s into the history of my unhappy brother, and you now pretend to deduce this knowledge in some fanciful way. You cannot expect me

ract problem, I had forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you. I assure

derful did you get these facts? They are

what was the balance of probability. I

not mere g

ting that your brother was careless. When you observe the lower part of that watch-case you notice that it is not only dinted in two places, but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects, such as coins or keys, in the same pocke

w that I followe

ible to my lens on the inside of this case. Inference,-that your brother was often at low water. Secondary inference,-that he had occasional bursts of prosperity, or he could not have redeemed the pledge. Finally, I ask you to look at the inner plate, which contains the key-hole. Look at th

h I did you. I should have had more faith in your marvellous faculty.

w the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-colored houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, doctor,

de, when with a crisp knock our landlady en

, sir," she said, add

ion of the name. Ask the young lady to step up, Mrs. Hu