The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-13
= uRING my long and intimate

- URING my long and intimate
acquaintance with Mr.. Sher-
lock Holmes l had never heard
him refer to his relations. M hardly
ever TO his own early life. This reti-
: cence upon his part had increased the
somewhat inhuman effect which he
! produced upon me. until sometimes J
found myself regarding him as an iso-
lated phenomenon, a brain without a
heart. as deficient in human sympathy
as he was pre-eminent in intelligence,
His aversion to women and his disin-
e~lination to form neW friendships were
both typical of his Unconditional charae-
ter. but not mere so than his COM
plete suppression of every reference to
his W people. I had come to believe
that he was an orphan with no rela-
tives living, but one day, to my very
great surprise, he hogan to talk to ms
about his brother.
1t was after tea on a hummer even
ing, and the conversation. which had
roaned in . desultory. spasmodic fash
ion from goif clubs to the causes OF
the change ie the ohliquity of the
ecliptic, came round at last to the ques-
ton Of atavlsm ard hereditary apti-
tudes. The point under discussion was
how far any singular gift in an indi-
vidual was due to his ancestry anc
how far to his own early training.
Ia yeur own case said I, from all
that You have told me, it seems OBJ
Vious that your faculty of observation
and Your peculiar facility for deduction
are due to your own systematic train
ing"
ITO some extent he answered
th%oughtfnlly. "My ancestors were coun
try squires, who appear to have leo
much the same life as is natural tC
their class. But, none the less, my turn
that way Is in my veins, and may have
come with my grandmother, who wa:
the sister of VeTnst, tho French artist
Art in the blood is liable to take Tho
strangest FORMS"
But how do you know that it is he
reditary9s
because my brother Mycroft pos.
sesses II in a larger degree thar l do"
This was news to me indeed. Il
there were another man with such sin
Sular powers in England, how was i
that neither police nor public had heard
OF him? ] put the question. with
hint that 1t was my companions mod.
/ tbls AiAAll iAdit Hlti htlQW ifLFC III
brother his superior. Holmes laughed
at my suggestion.
my dear Watson" said he, II can,
not agree with those who rank mod
esty among the virtues. To the logiciar
AL things should be seen exactly al
they are, and to underestimate one
self is as much a departure from trutl
as 20 e~xaggerate ones own powers
When l say. therefore. that Myorof
Fhas better powers of observation tina
], you may lake 1t that / am speakin
the exact and literal truth
rs he your junior?'
Seven years my senior"
How it hat he is unknown :?
'Ch, he is very we'll known in hi
own circle"
"Wbere. hen"
"Well, in the Diogenes Club, for ex
ample.''
/ had never heard of the institution
and my race must have proclaimed a
much, for Sherlock Holmes pulled on
his watch.
The Diogenes Club is the queeres
club in london. and Mycroft one OF til
queerest Of men. He's always Their
from quarter to 8 to twenty to s. It
6 now, SO IT you care for a stroll thi
beautiful evening l shall be very happ,
TO introduce you to two euriosities."
Five minutes later we were in tn
street. walking towards Regents Cir
Gus.
You wonder said my companion
why it is that Myeroft does not us
his powers for detective work. He i
} incapable of it."
Put | thought you said--h
"I said that he was my superior i