? ? ? ? "I have in my pocket a manuscript," said Dr. James Mortimer.
? ? ? ? "I observed it as you entered the room," said Holmes.
? ? ? ? "It is an old manuscript."
? ? ? ? "Early eighteenth century, unless it is a forgery."
? ? ? ? "How can you say that, sir?"
? ? ? ? "You have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking. It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that at 1730."
? ? ? ? "The exact date is 1742." Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast-pocket. "This family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant. He was a strong-minded man, sir, shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am myself.
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