Sherlock Holmes complete collection by sir arthur conan doyle

A Study In Scarlet: CHAPTER I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES

IN THE YEAR 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the

University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the courseprescribed for surgeons in the Army. Having completed my studies there,I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as assistantsurgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before Icould join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing atBombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, andwas already deep in the enemy's country. I followed, however, with manyother officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded inreaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at onceentered upon my new duties.The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me ithad nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigadeand attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle ofMaiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, whichshattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have falleninto the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotionand courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a packhorse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I hadundergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to thebase hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so faras to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon theveranda, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indianpossessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I cameto myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that amedical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending meback to England. I was despatched, accordingly, in the troopship Orontes,and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievablyruined, but with permission from a paternal government to spend the nextnine months in attempting to improve it.I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air-oras free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit aman to be. Under such circumstances I naturally gravitated to London,that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire areirresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in theStrand, leading a comfortless, [16] meaningless existence, and spendingsuch money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarmingdid the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must eitherleave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that Imust make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latteralternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and take upmy quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile. On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing atthe Criterion Bar, when someone tapped me on the shoulder, and turninground I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me atBart's. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is apleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had neverbeen a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm,and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberanceof my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we startedoff together in a hansom."Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson?" he asked inundisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets."You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut."I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concludedit by the time that we reached our destination."Poor devil!" he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to mymisfortunes. "What are you up to now?""Looking for lodgings," I answered. "Trying to solve the problem as towhether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price.""That's a strange thing," remarked my companion; "you are the secondman to-day that has used that expression to me.""And who was the first?" I asked."A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital.He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not getsomeone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found,and which were too much for his purse.""By Jove!" I cried; "if he really wants someone to share the rooms andthe expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partnerto being alone."Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wineglass."You don't know Sherlock Holmes yet," he said; "perhaps you would notcare for him as a constant companion.""Why, what is there against him?""Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer inhis ideas-an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know heis a decent fellow enough.""A medical student, I suppose?" said I."No-I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well upin anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he hasnever taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are verydesultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the-wayknowledge which would astonish his professors.""Did you never ask him what he was going in for?" I asked."No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can becommunicative enough when the fancy seizes him.""I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am to lodge with anyone, Ishould [17] prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strongenough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both inAfghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. Howcould I meet this friend of yours?"
"He is sure to be at the laboratory," returned my companion. "He eitheravoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning till night.If you like, we will drive round together after luncheon.""Certainly," I answered, and the conversation drifted away into otherchannels.As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn,Stamford gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom Iproposed to take as a fellow-lodger."You mustn't blame me if you don't get on with him," he said; "I knownothing more of him than I have learned from meeting him occasionallyin the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not holdme responsible.""If we don't get on it will be easy to part company," I answered. "Itseems to me, Stamford," I added, looking hard at my companion, "thatyou have some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is thisfellow's temper so formidable, or what is it? Don't be mealymouthedabout it.""It is not easy to express the inexpressible," he answered with a laugh."Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes-it approaches to coldbloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latestvegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simplyout of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects.To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the samereadiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge.""Very right too.""Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating thesubjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather abizarre shape.""Beating the subjects!""Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw himat it with my own eyes.""And yet you say he is not a medical student?""No. Heaven knows what the objects of his studies are. But here weare, and you must form your own impressions about him." As he spoke,we turned down a narrow lane and passed through a small side-door,which opened into a wing of the great hospital. It was familiar ground tome, and I needed no guiding as we ascended the bleak stone staircase andmade our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed walland dun-coloured doors. Near the farther end a low arched passagebranched away from it and led to the chemical laboratory.This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles.Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, testtubes, and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames. Therewas only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant tableabsorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round andsprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure. "I've found it! I've found it," heshouted to my companion, running towards us with a test-tube in hishand. "I have found a re-agent which is precipitated by haemoglobin, andby nothing else." Had he discovered a gold mine, greater delight could not have shone upon his features.