The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-05-21
4 SCANDAL In BOHEMIA
BY Sir A. Conan Doyle.

him mention her under any other
name. In his eyes she eclipses and
predominates the whole of her sex.
It was not that he felt any emotion
akin to love for Irene Adler. All
emotions, and that one particularly
we're abhorrent to his cold, precise
but admirably balanced mind. He
was, take it, the most perfect reas-
oning and observing machine that the
world has seen; but as lover, he
would have played himself in false
position. He never spoke of the soft
er passions, save with a gibe and a
sneer. They were admirable things
for the observer excellent for draw
ing the veil from mems motives and
actions. But for the trained reason
er to admit such intrusions into his
own delicate and finely adjusted tenn.
permanent was to introduce distract
ing factor which might throw a
doubt upon all his mental results,
Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a
crack in one of his own high-power
lenses, would not be more disturbing
than a strong emotion in a nature
such as his. And yet there was but
one woman to him, and that woman
was the late Irene Adler, Of dubious
and questionable memory.
Fhad seen little of Holmes lately.
Ny marriage had drifted US away
from each other. Ny own complete
happiness, and the home-centered in
terests which rise up around the man
who first finds himself master of his
own establishment, were sufficient
to absorb all my attention; while
Holmes, who loathed every form OF
society with his whole Bohemian soul
remained in our lodgings in Baker
Street, buried among his old books,
and alternating from week to week
between cocaine and ambition, the
drowsiness of the drug and the fierce
energy of his own keen nature. He
was still, as ever, deeply attracted by
the study Of crime, and occupied his
immense faculties and extraordinary
powers of observation in following
out those clews, and clearing up the
mysteries, which had been abandoned
as hopeless by the official police
From time to time I heard some
vague account of his doings; of his
summons to Odessa in the case Of the
Trepof murder, of his clearing up the
singular tragedy Of the Atkinson
brothers at Trincomalee, and finally
of the mission which he had accom-
plished so delicately and successfully
for the reigning family Of Holland
Beyond these signs Of activity, how
ever, which I merely shared with all
the readers of the daily press, I knew
little Of my former friend and COM
panion.
One night-n was on the goth OF
March, 1881 was returning from a
journey to patient (for had now
returned to civil practice), when my
way led me through Baker Street
AS I passed the well-remembered
door. which must always be asso-
ciated in my mind with my wooing,
and with the dark incidents Of the
Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a
keen desire to see Holmes again, and
to know how he was employing his
extraordinary powers. His rooms
were brilliantly lighted, and even as
I looked up, I saw his tall, spare fig
ure pass twice in a dark silhouette
against the blind. He was pacing the
room swiftly, eagerly, with his head
sunk upon his chest, and his hands
clasped behind him. To me, who
knew his every mood and habit, his
attitude and manner told their own
story. He was at work again. He
had risen out of his drug-created
dreams, and was hot upon the scent
of some new problem. I rang the
bell, and was shown up to the cham
Der which had formerly been in part
of my own.
His manner was not effusive. It
seldom was; but he was glad,
think to see me. With hardly a
word spoken, but with kindly eye,
he waved NE to an armchair, threw
across his case Of cigars, and indicat-
ed a spirit case and a gasogene in
the corner. Then he stood before the
fire, and looked me over in his sim
gular fashion.
"Wedlock suits you," he remark
ed. 'I think, Watson, that you have
put on seven and a half pounds since
/ saw you
Seven" I answered.
Indeed, I should have thought a
little more. Just trife more, /
fancy, Watson. And in practice again,
I observe. You did not tell me that
you intended to go into harness"
"Then how do you know?"
"I see it, deduce it. How do I
know that you have been getting
yourself very wet lately, and that you
have a most clumsy and careless ser
want girl?"
"My dear Holmes" said /, "this
is too much. You would certainly
have been burned had you lived a
few centuries ago. 1t is true that I
had a country walk on Thursday and
came home in a dreadful mess; but
as 1 have changed my clothes, I can't
imagine how you deduce it. AS to
Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and
my wife has given her notice; but
there again I fail to see how you
work it out"
He chuckled to himself and rubbed
bis long nervous hands tagether.
'It is simplicity ITSELF" said he;
"my eyes tell me that on the inside
Of your left shoe. just where the fire.
light strikes it, the leather is scored
by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously