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Chapter 1 of The Hound of the 
Baskervilles by Sir, Arthur 

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Conan Doyle. 
This is a LibriVox recording all

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to volunteer. 

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Please, visit librivox.org 
recording by David Clarke, BG 

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David dot, wordpress.com and 
b.g. coffee dotnet based in 

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Dallas Fort Worth Texas. 
The Hound of the Baskervilles by

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chapter 
1, mr. 

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Sherlock Holmes. 
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was 

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usually very late in the 
mornings. 

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Save upon those, not infrequent 
occasions. 

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When he was up. 
All night was seated at the 

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breakfast-table. 
I stood upon the hearthrug and 

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picked up the stick, which our 
visitor had left behind him the 

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night before. 
It was a fine, thick piece of 

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wood bulbous, headed of the sort
which is known as a Penang 

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lawyer. 
Just under the head was a broad.

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Silver band, nearly an inch 
across. 

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To James Mortimer. 
Em RCS from his friends of the 

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CCH. 
Was engraved upon it with the 

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date 1884. 
It was just such a stick as the 

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old-fashioned family 
practitioner used to carry 

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dignified solid and reassuring. 
Well Watson. 

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What do you make of it? 
Holmes was sitting with his back

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to me and I had given him no 
sign of my occupation. 

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How did you know what I was 
doing? 

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I believe you have eyes in the 
back of your head. 

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I have at least a well-polished 
silver-plated coffee pot in 

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front of me said he but tell me 
what sun', what do you make of 

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our visitors stick? 
Since we have been so 

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unfortunate as to miss him and 
have no notion of his errand. 

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This accidental souvenir Becomes
of importance. 

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Let me hear you reconstruct the 
man by an examination of it. 

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I think said, I following as far
as I could the methods of my 

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companion. 
The dr. 

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Mortimer is a successful elderly
medical, man. 

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Well esteem, since those who 
know him, give him his Mark of 

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their appreciation. 
Good said Holmes. 

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Excellent. 
I think also that the 

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probability is in favor of his 
being a country practitioner who

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does a great deal of his 
visiting on foot. 

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Why? 
So, because this stick, they 

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were originally a very handsome 
one has been so knocked about 

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that. 
I can hardly imagine a town 

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practitioner carrying it, the 
thick iron for rule is worn 

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down, so it is evident that he's
done. 

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A great amount of walking with 
it perfectly sound said Holmes. 

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And then again, there is the 
friends of the CCH. 

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I should guess that to be the 
something hunt, the local Hunter

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whose members. 
He has possibly given some 

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surgical assistants and which 
has made him a small 

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presentation in return. 
Really Watson, you Excel 

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yourself said, Holmes, pushing 
back his chair and lighting. 

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A cigarette, I am bound to say 
that in all the accounts, which 

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you have been so good as to give
of my own small achievements, 

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you have habitually underrated 
your own abilities. 

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It may be that you are not 
yourself luminous, but you are a

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conductor of light, some people 
without possessing. 

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Genius, have a remarkable power 
of stimulating it. 

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I confess my dear fellow that I 
am Very much in your debt. 

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You never said as much before, 
and I must admit that his words 

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gave me Keen, pleasure for I had
often been piqued by his 

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indifference to my admiration 
and the attempts, which I had 

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made to give publicity to his 
methods. 

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I was proud to to think that I 
had so far mastered his system 

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as to apply it in a way which 
earned his approval. 

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He now took the stick from my 
hands and examine it for a few 

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minutes with his Naked Eyes. 
Then with an expression of 

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Interest, he laid down his 
cigarette and carrying the cane 

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to the window. 
He looked over it again with a 

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convex lens. 
Interesting though. 

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Elementary said he as he 
returned to his favorite corner 

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of the city, there are certainly
one or two indications upon the 

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stick. 
It gives us the basis for 

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several deductions as anything 
escaped me, I asked with some 

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self-importance I trust that 
there's nothing of consequence 

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which I've overlooked I am 
afraid, my dear Watson that the 

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most of your conclusions were 
erroneous. 

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When I said that, you stimulated
me, I meant to be frank. 

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As in noting, your fallacies I 
was occasionally guided towards 

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the truth. 
Not that you are entirely wrong 

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in this instance, the man is 
certainly a country practitioner

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and he walks a great deal. 
That I was right to that extent 

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but that was all. 
No no my dear Watson, not all by

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no means. 
All I would suggest. 

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For example that a presentation 
to a doctor is more likely to 

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come from a hospital than from a
hunt. 

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And at when initial CC are 
placed before that hospital the 

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words, Charing Cross very 
naturally suggest themselves. 

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You may be right. 
The probability lies in that 

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direction. 
And if we take this as a working

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hypothesis, we have a fresh 
basis from which to start our 

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construction of this unknown 
visitor. 

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Well then supposing that CCH 
does stand for Charing. 

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Cross Hospital. 
What? 

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Further inferences may we draw 
Do non suggest themselves, you 

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know my methods apply them. 
I can only think of the obvious 

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conclusion that the man is 
practiced in town before going 

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to the country. 
I think that we might venture a 

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little farther than this. 
Look at it in this light on What

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occasion would be. 
Most probable that such a 

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presentation would be made. 
When would his friends unite to 

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give him a pledge of their 
Goodwill? 

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Obviously, at the moment when 
dr. 

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Mortimer withdrew from the 
service of the hospital in order

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to start a practice for himself,
we know there has been a 

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presentation we believe there 
has been a change from a town. 

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Go to A Country Practice is it 
then stretching our inference 

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too far to say that the 
presentation was on the occasion

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of the change. 
It certainly seems probable. 

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Now, you will observe that he 
could not have been on the staff

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of the hospital since only. 
A man, well established in a 

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London. 
Practice could hold such a 

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position and such a one would 
not drift into the country. 

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What was he then? 
If he was in the hospital and 

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yet not on the staff, he could 
only have been a house-surgeon 

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or a house physician little more
than a senior student and he 

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left five years ago. 
The date is on the stick, so 

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your grave middle-aged family 
practitioner vanishes into thin 

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air. 
My dear Watson and there emerges

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a young fellow under 30 amiable 
unambitious absent-minded and 

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the possessor of a favor. 
Dog, which I should describe 

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roughly as being larger than a 
terrier and smaller than a 

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Mastiff. 
I laughed incredulously as 

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Sherlock Holmes leaned back in 
his City and blue little 

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wavering rings of smoke up to 
the ceiling. 

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As to the latter part, I have no
means of checking you said I but

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at least it is not difficult to 
find out a few particulars about

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the man's age and professional 
career. 

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From my small medical shelf, I 
took down the medical directory 

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and turned up the name. 
There were several mortimer's, 

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but only one could be our 
visitor, I read his record 

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allowed Mortimer. 
James M RCS 1882 grimpen 

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Dartmoor, Devon House surgeon 
from 1882 to 1884 at Charing, 

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Cross Hospital winner of the 
Jackson prize for comparative. 

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Pathology with essay entitled is
disease, a reversion 

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Corresponding member of the 
Swedish pathological Society, 

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author of some freaks of atavism
Lancet 1882. 

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Do we progress Journal of 
Psychology March 1883 medical 

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officer for the parishes of 
grimpen, thornsley and high 

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Barrow. 
No mention of that local hunt. 

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Watson said Holmes with a 
mischievous smile but a country 

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doctor as you very astutely 
observed I think that I am 

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fairly justified in my 
inferences as to the adjectives.

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I said if I remember right? 
Amiable unambitious and 

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absent-minded. 
It is my experience that it is 

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only an amiable man in this 
world who receives, testimonials

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only an unambitious one who the 
London career for the country 

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and only an absent-minded one 
who leaves his stick and not his

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visiting card after waiting an 
hour in your room, And the dog 

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has been in the habit of 
carrying this stick behind his 

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master. 
Being a heavy stick. 

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The dog has held it, tightly by 
the middle and the marks of his 

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teeth are very plainly visible. 
The dog's jaw as shown in the 

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space, between these marks is 
too broad, in my opinion, for a 

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terrier and not broad enough for
a Mastiff. 

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It may have been yes by jove. 
It is a curly-haired Spaniel. 

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He had risen and paste the room 
as he spoke. 

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Now, he halted in The Recess of 
the window there was such a ring

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of conviction in his voice that 
I glanced up in Surprise. 

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My dear fellow. 
How can you possibly be? 

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So sure of that. 
For the very simple reason that 

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I see the dog himself on our 
very doorstep and there is the 

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ring of its owner. 
Don't move, I beg you Watson. 

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He is a professional brother of 
yours and your presence may be 

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of assistance to me now is the 
dramatic moment of Fate Watson 

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when you hear a step upon the 
stair which is walking into your

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life. 
And, you know, not whether for 

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good or ill, what does dr. 
James Mortimer, the man of 

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science are Of Sherlock Holmes, 
The Specialist in crime, come in

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the appearance of our visitor, 
was a surprise to me, since I 

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had expected a typical country 
practitioner, he was a very tall

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thin man with a long nose, like 
a beak, which jutted out between

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two Keen gray, eyes set closely 
together and sparkling brightly 

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from behind a pair of 
gold-rimmed glasses. 

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He was clad in a professional 
but rather slovenly fashion for 

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his frock-coat was Dingy and his
trousers frayed though, young is

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long back, was already bowed and
he walked with a forward thrust 

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of his head and a general air of
peering benevolence. 

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As he entered his eyes fell upon
the stick in Holmes's hand and 

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he ran towards it with an 
exclamation of Joy. 

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I'm so very glad said he I was 
not so sure whether I'd left it 

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here or in the shipping office I
would not lose that stick for 

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the world. 
I presentation I see said 

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Holmes. 
Yes sir from Charing. 

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Cross Hospital from one or two 
friends there on the occasion of

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my marriage. 
Dear dear. 

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That's bad said Holmes shaking 
his head. 

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Dr. Mortimer blinked through his
glasses in mild astonishment. 

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Why was it bad only that you 
have disarranged? 

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Our little deductions, your 
marriage, you say? 

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Yes, sir, I married. 
I'm so left the hospital and 

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with it, all hopes of a 
Consulting practice, it was 

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necessary to make a home of my 
own. 

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Come. 
Come, we are not so far wrong 

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after all said Holmes. 
And now dr. 

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James Mortimer, mr. 
Sir. 

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Mr. A humble Mr. Cs and a man of
precise mind. 

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Evidently a dabbler in science. 
Mr. Holmes, a picture of a 

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shells on the shores of the 
great unknown ocean. 

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I presume that it is mr. 
Sherlock, Holmes, who I am 

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addressing and not know this is 
my friend, dr. 

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Watson, glad to meet you, sir. 
I have heard your name mentioned

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in connection with that of your 
friend. 

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You interest me very much mr. 
Holmes, I had hardly expected. 

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So doli, chose cephalic a skull 
of such well-marked supraorbital

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development? 
Would you have any objection to 

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my running my finger, along your
parietal? 

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Fisher, a cast of your skull 
sir, until the original is 

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available, would be an ornament 
to any anthropological Museum. 

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It is not my intention to be 
false. 

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Mmm, But I confess that I 
covered your skull Sherlock 

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Holmes. 
Waved our Strange visitor into a

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chair You are an Enthusiast in 
your line of thought. 

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I perceive sir. 
As I am in mine said he I 

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observed from your forefinger 
that you make your own 

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cigarettes. 
Have no hesitation in lighting 

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one. 
The man Drew out, paper and 

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tobacco and twirled the one up 
in the other with surprising 

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dexterity. 
He had long, quivering fingers, 

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as agile and Restless, as the 
antennae of an insect Holmes was

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silent. 
But his little darting glances 

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showed me the interest, which he
took in our curious companion. 

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I presume. 
Sir said he at last night, it 

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was not merely for the purpose 
of examining. 

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My skull that you have done me, 
the honor to call here last 

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night and again today. 
No sir, no, though. 

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I am happy to have had the 
opportunity of doing that as 

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well. 
I came to you, mr. 

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Holmes, because I recognize that
I am myself and unpractical man,

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and because I am suddenly 
confronted with a most serious 

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and extraordinary problem, 
Recognizing as I do that, you 

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are the second highest expert in
Europe. 

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Indeed sir may I inquire who has
the honor to be the first asked 

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Holmes with some asperity to the
man of precisely scientific 

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mind. 
The work of Monsieur Betty Ong. 

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Must always appeal strongly then
had you not better consult him. 

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I said sir to the precisely 
scientific mind but as a 

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practical man of Affairs it is 
Knowledge that you stand alone. 

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I trust sir that I have not 
inadvertently. 

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Just a little said, Holmes? 
I think dr. 

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Mortimer, you would do wisely. 
If without more Ado, you would 

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kindly tell me plainly. 
What the exact nature of the 

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problem is in which you demand 
my assistants. 

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End of chapter 1.