A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes 1)

A STUDY IN SCARLET.

PART I.

(_Being a reprint from the reminiscences of_ JOHN H. WATSON, M.D., _lateof the Army Medical Department._) [2]

CHAPTER I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.

IN the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of theUniversity 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 beforeI could 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 succeededin reaching 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 it hadnothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade andattached 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 havefallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for thedevotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across apack-horse, 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, tothe base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improvedso far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a littleupon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curseof our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, andwhen at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak andemaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lostin sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in thetroopship "Orontes," and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, withmy health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternalgovernment to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.

I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free asair--or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day willpermit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated toLondon, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers ofthe Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time ata private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaninglessexistence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freelythan I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, thatI soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticatesomewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration inmy style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by makingup my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some lesspretentious and less expensive domicile.

On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing atthe Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turninground I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me atBarts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London isa pleasant 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 theexuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, andwe started off 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 concluded itby 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." [3] I answered. "Trying to solve the problemas to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonableprice."

"That's a strange thing," remarked my companion; "you are the second manto-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 get someoneto go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and whichwere 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 wine-glass. "Youdon't know Sherlock Holmes yet," he said; "perhaps you would not carefor 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 queerin his ideas--an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as Iknow he is 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 wellup in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know,he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies arevery desultory 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 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 tonight. If you like, we shall 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, Stamfordgave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed totake 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 occasionally inthe laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not hold meresponsible."

"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, "that youhave some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow'stemper so formidable, or what is it? Don't be mealy-mouthed about it."