He looked over it again with a convex lens

Sidney Paget

1891

Photographic reproduction of ink or watercolor on paper

Illustration for Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” p. 344.

Passage illustrated: “He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.

"'Interesting, though elementary,' said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. 'There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions.'

"'Has anything escaped me?' I asked with some self-importance. "I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?".

"'I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal.'"

Formatting and text by George P. Landow.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]