? ? ? ? "I suppose it is pretty thick, now that you mention it."
? ? ? ? "Thick! It is intolerable."
? ? ? ? "Open the window, then! You have been at your club all day, I perceive."
? ? ? ? "My dear Holmes!"
? ? ? ? "Am I right?"
? ? ? ? "Certainly, but how?"
? ? ? ? He laughed at my bewildered expression.
? ? ? ? "There is a delightful freshness about you, Watson, which makes it a pleasure to exercise any small powers which I possess at your expense. A gentleman goes forth on a showery and miry day. He returns immaculate in the evening with the gloss still on his hat and his boots. He has been a fixture therefore all day. He is not a man with intimate friends. Where, then, could he have been? Is it not obvious?"
? ? ? ? "Well, it is rather obvious."
? ? ? ? "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. Where do you think that I have been?"
? ? ? ? "A fixture also."
? ? ? ? "On the contrary, I have been to Devonshire."
? ? ? ? "In spirit?"
? ? ? ? "Exactly. My body has remained in this armchair and has, I regret to observe, consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee and an incredible amount of tobacco.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51