Chapter 1 .
Mr. Sherlock Holmes Mr. Sherlock Holmes , who was usually very late in the mornings , save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night , was seated at the breakfast table .
I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before .
It was a fine , thick piece of wood , bulbous-headed , of the sort which is known as a “ Penang lawyer . ”
Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across .
“ To James Mortimer , M.R.C.S. , from his friends of the C.C.H. , ” was engraved upon it , with the date “ 1884 . ”
It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry -- dignified , solid , and reassuring .
“ Well , Watson , what do you make of it ? ”
Holmes was sitting with his back to me , and I had given him no sign of my occupation .
“ How did you know what I was doing ?
I believe you have eyes in the back of your head . ”
“ I have , at least , a well-polished , silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me , ” said he .
“ But , tell me , Watson , what do you make of our visitor ’s stick ?
Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand , this accidental souvenir becomes of importance .
Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it . ”
“ I think , ” said I , following as far as I could the methods of my companion , “ that Dr. Mortimer is a successful , elderly medical man , well-esteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation . ”
“ Good ! ” said Holmes .
“ Excellent ! ”
“ I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot . ”
“ Why so ? ”
“ Because this stick , though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it .
The thick-iron ferrule is worn down , so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it . ”
“ Perfectly sound ! ” said Holmes .
“ And then again , there is the ‘ friends of the C.C.H. ’ I should guess that to be the Something Hunt , the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance , and which has made him a small presentation in return . ”
“ Really , Watson , you excel yourself , ” said Holmes , pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette .
“ I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities .
It may be that you are not yourself luminous , but you are a conductor of light .
Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it .
I confess , my dear fellow , that I am very much in your debt . ”
He had never said as much before , and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure , for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods .
I was proud , too , to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval .
He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes .
Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette , and carrying the cane to the window , he looked over it again with a convex lens .
“ Interesting , though elementary , ” said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee .
“ There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick .
It gives us the basis for several deductions . ”
“ Has anything escaped me ? ”
I asked with some self-importance .
“ I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked ? ”
“ I am afraid , my dear Watson , that most of your conclusions were erroneous .
When I said that you stimulated me I meant , to be frank , that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth .
Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance .
The man is certainly a country practitioner .
And he walks a good deal . ”
“ Then I was right . ”
“ To that extent . ”
“ But that was all . ”
“ No , no , my dear Watson , not all -- by no means all .
I would suggest , for example , that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt , and that when the initials ‘ C.C. ’ are placed before that hospital the words ‘ Charing Cross ’ very naturally suggest themselves . ”
“ You may be right . ”
“ The probability lies in that direction .
And if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor . ”
“ Well , then , supposing that ‘ C.C.H. ’ does stand for ‘ Charing Cross Hospital , ’ what further inferences may we draw ? ”
“ Do none suggest themselves ?
You know my methods .
Apply them ! ”
“ I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in town before going to the country . ”
“ I think that we might venture a little farther than this .
Look at it in this light .
On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made ?
When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good will ?
Obviously at the moment when Dr. Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order to start a practice for himself .
We know there has been a presentation .
We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to a country practice .
Is it , then , stretching our inference too far to say that the presentation was on the occasion of the change ? ”
“ It certainly seems probable . ”
“ Now , you will observe that he could not have been on the staff of the hospital , since only a man well-established in a London practice could hold such a position , and such a one would not drift into the country .
What was he , then ?
If he was in the hospital and yet not on the staff he could only have been a house-surgeon or a house-physician -- little more than a senior student .
And he left five years ago -- the date is on the stick .
So your grave , middle-aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air , my dear Watson , and there emerges a young fellow under thirty , amiable , unambitious , absent-minded , and the possessor of a favourite dog , which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff . ”
I laughed incredulously as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his settee and blew little wavering rings of smoke up to the ceiling .
“ As to the latter part , I have no means of checking you , ” said I , “ but at least it is not difficult to find out a few particulars about the man ’s age and professional career . ”
From my small medical shelf I took down the Medical Directory and turned up the name .
There were several Mortimers , but only one who could be our visitor .
I read his record aloud .
“ Mortimer , James , M.R.C.S. , 1882 , Grimpen , Dartmoor , Devon .
House-surgeon , from 1882 to 1884 , at Charing Cross Hospital .
Winner of the Jackson prize for Comparative Pathology , with essay entitled ‘ Is Disease a Reversion ? ’
Corresponding member of the Swedish Pathological Society .
Author of ‘ Some Freaks of Atavism ’ ( Lancet 1882 ) .
‘ Do We Progress ? ’
( Journal of Psychology , March , 1883 ) .
Medical Officer for the parishes of Grimpen , Thorsley , and High Barrow . ”
“ No mention of that local hunt , Watson , ” said Holmes with a mischievous smile , “ but a country doctor , as you very astutely observed .
I think that I am fairly justified in my inferences .
As to the adjectives , I said , if I remember right , amiable , unambitious , and absent-minded .
It is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials , only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country , and only an absent-minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in your room . ”
“ And the dog ? ”
“ Has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master .
Being a heavy stick the dog has held it tightly by the middle , and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible .
The dog ’s jaw , as shown in the space between these marks , is too broad in my opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff .
It may have been -- yes , by Jove , it is a curly-haired spaniel . ”
He had risen and paced the room as he spoke .
Now he halted in the recess of the window .
There was such a ring of conviction in his voice that I glanced up in surprise .
“ My dear fellow , how can you possibly be so sure of that ? ”
“ For the very simple reason that I see the dog himself on our very door-step , and there is the ring of its owner .
Do n’t move , I beg you , Watson .
He is a professional brother of yours , and your presence may be of assistance to me .
Now is the dramatic moment of fate , Watson , when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life , and you know not whether for good or ill .
What does Dr. James Mortimer , the man of science , ask of Sherlock Holmes , the specialist in crime ?
Come in ! ”
The appearance of our visitor was a surprise to me , since I had expected a typical country practitioner .
He was a very tall , thin man , with a long nose like a beak , which jutted out between two keen , gray eyes , set closely together and sparkling brightly from behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses .
He was clad in a professional but rather slovenly fashion , for his frock-coat was dingy and his trousers frayed .
Though young , his long back was already bowed , and he walked with a forward thrust of his head and a general air of peering benevolence .
As he entered his eyes fell upon the stick in Holmes ’s hand , and he ran towards it with an exclamation of joy .
“ I am so very glad , ” said he .
“ I was not sure whether I had left it here or in the Shipping Office .
I would not lose that stick for the world . ”