A long silence was broken by a sudden exclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a cupboard, from which he emerged with a second yellow-covered volume in his hand.
"We pay the price, Watson, for being too up-to-date!" he cried.

"We are before our time, and suffer the usual penalties.

Being the seventh of January, we have very properly laid in the new almanac.

It is more than likely that Porlock took his message from the old one.

No doubt he would have told us so had his letter of explanation been written.