...one night- it was 20 of march, 1888- I was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice),when my way lead to me through Baker shreet. As I passed the well- remembered door, which must always associated 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 the extraordinary powers....

His rooms were brilliantly lit,and even as I looked up, I saw his tall spare figure pass twice in a dark sihouette 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 his work again. He had risen out of his drugcreated dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own.

His manner was not effusive. It seldom was ;but he was glad, I think ,to see me. with hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved to me an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.

..."Wedlock suits you", he remarked." I think, Watson, that you have put on seven and half pounds since I saw you"....

..."Seven!" I answered....

"Indeed , I should have thought a little more , just a trifle more , I 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 ,I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately ,and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl?"

"My dear Holmes ", said I," this is too much. You would certainly have been burned, had you live a few centuries ago. It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but has I 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 worked out."

...He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long , nervous hands together. ...

"It is simplicity itself", said he;" my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe,just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parellel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped the round edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot - slitting specimen of the London slavey.

As to your practice, if a gentleman man walks into my room smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, If I donot pronounce to be an active member of an medical profession".

......I couldn't help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction." When I hear you give your reasons ," I remarked,"the thing always appears to me to be ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe thaty eyes are good as yours".......

"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette , and throwing himself down into an armchair . " You see , but you donot observe. The distinction is clear.For example, you have seen frequently seen the steps which lead up from the to this room."

..."Frequently"....

..."How often ?"....

"Well, some hundreds of times."

" Then how many are there ?"

"How many? I don't know."

"Quite so ! you have not observed and yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps , because I have both seen and observed. By the way , since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this ".

He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table. " It came by the last post", said he. " Read it out aloud ".

"There will call upon you to night, at a quarter to eight o'Clock ", It Said, " a gentleman who desire to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask ."

" This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. " What do you imagine that it means?"

"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories , instead of theories to suit facts. But note itself.

What do you deduce from it ?"

I carefully examined the writing and the paper upon which it was written.

" The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. " Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff."

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"Peculiar- that is the very word ,"said Holmes. It is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to a light.

I did so, and saw a large" E" with a small " g",a "P", and a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.

"What do you make of that ?" asked Holmes.

"The name of the maker, no doubt or his monogram rather."

"Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for 'Gesellschaft', which is the German for 'company'. It is the customary contraction like our 'Co', 'p', of course stands for 'Papier'. Now for the 'Eg'. let us glance at our continental Gazetteer ." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves."Eglow, Eglonitz- here we are, Egria. It is an German speaking country - in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numberous glass factories and paper mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you make of that ?" His eyes sparkled and he sent up a great blue triumphant clouds from his cigarette.

"The paper was made in Bohemia", I said.

" Precisely. and the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence - 'This account of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore discover what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face and there he comes, If Iam not mistaken, to resolve all your doubts".

As he spoke there was a sharp sound of horses hoofs and grating wheels against the curb followed by a sharp pull at the bell . Holmes whistled.

"A pair by the sound," said he. " yes" he continued, glancing out of the window." A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece There's money in this case , Watson, if there is nothing else."

"I think I had better go, Holmes.

"Not a bit doctor, stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting.It would be pity to miss it."

..." But your client -"...

" Never mind him. I may want your help , and so may he.Here he comes, sit down in that armchair, doctor, give us your best attention".

A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was a loud and a authoritative trap.

"Come in !" said Holmes.

A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet inches in height, with the chest and limbs of Hercules. His dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, a looked upon a akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of Astrakhan were slashed across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with flame -coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch which consisted of a single flaming beryl.

...continued.....(ep-4)...