Watson. Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.

The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action I can recall in our association. I was alone.

I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake.

- Watson

It was all love on my side, and all good comradeship and friendship on hers. When we parted she was a free woman, but I could never again be a free man.

For strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.

As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.