The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. Page: 1
The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Sign of the Four
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Posting Date: November 19, 2008 [EBook #2097] Release Date: March, 2000 [This file last updated November 6, 2010]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SIGN OF THE FOUR ***
The Sign of the Four
By
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Chapter I
The Science of Deduction
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.
Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to pr