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He did not seeether and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair, like one who has a relish for conversation

"My ive ram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere I can dispense then with artificial stimulants But I abhor the dull routine of existence I crave for mental exaltation That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,--or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world"

"The only unofficial detective?" I said, raisingdetective," he answered "I ason or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depths--which, by the way, is their normal state--the matter is laid before me I examine the data, as an expert, and pronounce a specialist's opinion I claiures in no newspaper The work itself, the pleasure of finding a field for hest reward But you have yourself had some experience of my methods of work in the Jefferson Hope case"

"Yes, indeed," said I, cordially "I was never so struck by anything in my life I even embodied it in a small brochure with the somewhat fantastic title of 'A Study in Scarlet'"

He shook his head sadly "I glanced over it," said he "Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the sae it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid"

"But the romance was there," I remonstrated "I could not tamper with the facts"

"Some facts should be suppressed, or at least a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them The only point in the case which deservedfro it"

I was annoyed at this criticisned to please hiotism which seemed to demand that every line of s More than once during the years that I had lived with him in Baker Street I had observed that a small vanity underlay my companion's quiet and didactich it so, it ached wearily at every change of the weather