Great Scenes from Great Novels
Great Scenes from Great Novels - Mr. Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle (Abridged and Simplified)
Great Scenes from Great Novels -Mr. Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle
(Abridged and Simplified)
Mr. Sherlock Holmes was seated at the breakfast table. Watson stood upon the hearthrug and picked up the stick which their visitor had left behind Sherlock Holmes the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood. 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., 1884" was engraved on it. 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 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 Watson, following so far as he could the methods of his companion, "that Mortimer is a successful elderly medical man, well esteemed, since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation.
"Good!" Said Holmes.
'I think also that he is probably 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 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. He now took the stick from Watson's hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. 'Interesting, though elementary said he, as he seated himself. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis of several deductions".
"Has anything escaped me? "Watson 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 errneous. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal. The presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt. The initials C-C-H stand for "charing cross Hospital" "Well, then, supposing that 'CC-H' does stand for "charing cross Hospital", what further inferences may we draw?"8816
"You have known my methods; apply them!".
"I can only think we might venture a little farther than this. On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? Obviously the walking stick was a present to Dr. Mortimer on his departure from the hospital as a house - surgeon to set up practice in the countryside. "It certainly seems probable" "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".
There emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, and absent - minded. He has a favourite dog, which is larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff".
To verify the accuracy of Holme's observations Watson looked up the Medical Directory and read Dr. Mortimer's 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 Grumpier, 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"
"And the dog?"
"Has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master. Being heavy stick the dog held it tightly by middle, and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible".
At this very moment Dr. Mortimer was announced. He entered, followed by his dog. It was a curly - haired spaniel. Dr. Mortimer was a very tall, thin man, with a long nose like a beak. He walked with a forward thrust of his head. He had a general air of peering benevolence.
He was overjoyed at finding the walking stick. "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".
"A presentation, I see, "said Holmes “Yes, sir".
"From one or two friends there on the occasion of my marriage". "Dear, that's bad!” said Holmes, shaking his head. Dr. Mortimer blinked through his glasses in mild astonishment. "Why was it bad?"
"Only that you have disarranged our little deductions. Your marriage, you say?".
"Yes, sir, I married, and left the hospital. It was necessary to make a home of my own"
"Come, come, we are not so far wrong after all," said Holmes.
Dr. Mortimer then told Holmes that he had come there to consult the detective about a problem that had been troubling him.
"Well, 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 Watson, following so far as he could the methods of his companion, "that Mortimer is a successful elderly medical man, well esteemed, since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation.
"Good!" Said Holmes.
'I think also that he is probably 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 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. He now took the stick from Watson's hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. 'Interesting, though elementary said he, as he seated himself. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis of several deductions".
"Has anything escaped me? "Watson 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 errneous. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal. The presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt. The initials C-C-H stand for "charing cross Hospital" "Well, then, supposing that 'CC-H' does stand for "charing cross Hospital", what further inferences may we draw?"8816
"You have known my methods; apply them!".
"I can only think we might venture a little farther than this. On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? Obviously the walking stick was a present to Dr. Mortimer on his departure from the hospital as a house - surgeon to set up practice in the countryside. "It certainly seems probable" "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".
There emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, and absent - minded. He has a favourite dog, which is larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff".
To verify the accuracy of Holme's observations Watson looked up the Medical Directory and read Dr. Mortimer's 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 Grumpier, 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"
"And the dog?"
"Has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master. Being heavy stick the dog held it tightly by middle, and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible".
At this very moment Dr. Mortimer was announced. He entered, followed by his dog. It was a curly - haired spaniel. Dr. Mortimer was a very tall, thin man, with a long nose like a beak. He walked with a forward thrust of his head. He had a general air of peering benevolence.
He was overjoyed at finding the walking stick. "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".
"A presentation, I see, "said Holmes “Yes, sir".
"From one or two friends there on the occasion of my marriage". "Dear, that's bad!” said Holmes, shaking his head. Dr. Mortimer blinked through his glasses in mild astonishment. "Why was it bad?"
"Only that you have disarranged our little deductions. Your marriage, you say?".
"Yes, sir, I married, and left the hospital. It was necessary to make a home of my own"
"Come, come, we are not so far wrong after all," said Holmes.
Dr. Mortimer then told Holmes that he had come there to consult the detective about a problem that had been troubling him.
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