Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me. «I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street,» he said, «which would suit us down to the ground. You don’t mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?»
«I always smoke «ship’s’ myself,» I answered.
«That’s good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments. Would that annoy you?»
«By no means.»
«Let me see – what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at times, and don’t open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I’ll soon be right. What have you to confess now? It’s just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together.»
I laughed at this cross-examination. «I keep a bull pup,» I said, «and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I’m well, but those are the principal ones at present.»
«Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?» he asked, anxiously.
«It depends on the player,» I answered. «A well-played violin is a treat for the gods – a badly-played one – —»
«Oh, that’s all right,» he cried, with a merry laugh. «I think we may consider the thing as settled – that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you.»
«When shall we see them?»
«Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we’ll go together and settle everything,» he answered.
«All right – noon exactly,» said I, shaking his hand.
We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel.
«By the way,» I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford, «how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?»
My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. «That’s just his little peculiarity,» he said. «A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out.»
«Oh! a mystery is it?» I cried, rubbing my hands. «This is very piquant. I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. „The proper study of mankind is man,“ you know.»
«You must study him, then,» Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye. «You’ll find him a knotty problem, though. I’ll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good-bye.»
«Good-bye,» I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance.
CHAPTER 1.2. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION
WE met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bed-rooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession.
That very evening I moved my things round from the hotel, and on the following morning Sherlock Holmes followed me with several boxes and portmanteaus. For a day or two we were busily employed in unpacking and laying out our property to the best advantage. That done, we gradually began to settle down and to accommodate ourselves to our new surroundings.
Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City.
Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision.
His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.
The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered, how objectless was my life, and how little there was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who