A Study in Scarlet (Serial Edition Cover) — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

26 A STUDY IN SCARLET. well-known detective. He got himself into a fog re- cently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here.” “And these other people P ” “They are mostly sent out by private inquiry agen- cies. ‘They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.” “But do you mean to say,” I said, “that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves? ” “Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You see, I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. Those rules of deduc- _ tion laid down in that article which aroused your scorn are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation, with me, is second nature. You appeared to be sur- prised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan.” “You were told, no doubt.” “Nothing of the sort. I 2new you came from Af- ghanistan. From long habit the train of thought ran so swiftly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran: ‘Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the Gomicboo <SaG