The Washington times., 1905-06-04
Copyright. A Conan Doyle, 1880
Copyright, Harper & Bro, lS94.)

Copyright, A. Conan Doyle, 1880
Copyright, Harper & Bro, 1S94)
~ URING my long ana intimate
I acquaintance with Mr. Sher-
lock Holmes had never heard
him refer TO his relations, and
hardly ever to his own early life. This
reticenee upon his part had increased
the somewhat inhuman effect which he
produced upon me, until sometimes I
found myself regarding him as an iso-
lated phenomenon, a brain without
heart. as deficient in human sympathy
as he was pre-erninent in intelligence
His aversion TO women and his disin-
clination to form new friendships were
both typical of his Unconditional charae-
ter, but not more so than his complete
suppression of every reference to his
own people. 1 had come to believe that
he was an orphan with no relatives liv-
ing: but one day. TO my very great sur
prise, he began to talk to me about his
brother.
1t was after tea on a summer evening,
and the converse ton, which had roamed
Into desultory, spasu1odic fashion from
gclf clubs TO the causes of the change
in the obiiquity of the ecIiptic, came
round at last TO the question of atav-
ism and hereditary aptitudes. The point
under discussion was how far any sin
gular gift in an individual was due to
his ancestry and how far to his own
early training
I'm your own case said I, from all
that you have told me, it seems obvious
that your faculty of observation and
your peculiar facility for deduction are
due to your own systematic training" "
thoughtfully. MY ancestors were coun-
try squires. who appear TO have led
much the same life as is natural to their
class. But, none the less. my turn that
way is in my veins, and may have come
with my grandmother. who was the sis
ter OF Vernet. the French artist. Art
In the blood is liable to take the strang-
est forms
But how do you know that it is
hereditary"
Because my brother Mycroft pos
sesses it IN a larger degree than I do.
This was news 70 me, indeed II
there were another man with sucE
singular powers IN England, how was
It that neither police nor public had
heard of him? put the question,
with a hint that it was my companion s
modesty which made him acknowledge
his brother as his superior. Holmes
laughed at my suggestion
my dear Watson" said he. 'I cannot
agree with those who rank modesty
among the virtues. To the logician
all things should be seen exactly as
they are, and to underestimate ones
self is as much a departure from truth
as to exaggerate ones own powers.
When I say. therefore. that Mycroft
has better powers CT observation than
L YOU may take IL that I am speaking
the exact and literal truth
rs he your junior
Seven years my senior"
How comes il that he is unknown?"
.Gh, he is very well known his own
circle"
where, then?"
We'll. in 1he Diogenes Club. for ex-
ample
I had never heard OF the institution.
and my face must have proclaimed as
much, for Sherlock Holmes pulled out
his watch.
'@rhe Diogenes Club is the Gueerest
club in London. and AIyeroft one Of the
Gueerest men. He's always there from
quarter TO five to twenty TO eight. It's
six now, so II you care to stroll this
beautiful evening I shall be very happy
10 introduce you to two curiostties-"
Five minutes later we were in the
street. walking toward Regents circus
You wonder, said my companion.
why IL is that MycrCft does not use
his powers for detective work He is
inca pable of it,
but / thought you said
Il said that he was my superior in
observation and deduction. If the art of
the detective began and ended in
er would be the greatest criminal agent
that ever lived. But he has ambition
and no energy. He viii not even go cut
of his way TO verify his own solutions,
and would rather be considered wrong
than take the trouble 40 prove himself
right. Again and again ] have taken
q problem 10 him, and have received
an explanation which has afterward
nroyed TO be the correct one, And yet
he was absolutely incapable Of working
OUT the practical points which must be
gone into before a case could be laid
before a Judge or jury
ut is not his profession, then ?"
..By no means What !s 70 me
,nsans of livelihood is to him the merest
hobhv of a dilettante. He has an extra
ovdinarv faculty for figures, and audits
fha books IN some OF the government
denartments. Mycreft lodges in Pail
Mali and he walks round the corner
into whitehall every morning and back
every evening From years end to
wears end he takes no other exercise.
and is seen nowhere else, except only in
the Diogenes Club. which IS just oppo-
site his rooms.
~ cannot recall the name"
VERY likely not. There arc many
men ir, London, you know. who. some
from shyness, some from misanthropy.
have no wish for the company of their
fellows. Yet they are not averse to
comfortable chairs and the latest peri
odicals It is for the convenience of
these that the Diegenes Club was start
- - :. ,,o,x contains the most nm