And Ames, the faithful Ames, no doubt he will stretch a point for me.

All my lines of thought lead me back invariably to the one basic question--why should an athletic man develop his frame upon so unnatural an instrument as a single dumb-bell ?" It was late that night when Holmes returned from his solitary excursion.
We slept in a double-bedded room, which was the best that the little country inn could do for us.

I was already asleep when I was partly awakened by his entrance.
"Well, Holmes," I murmured, "have you found anything out ?" He stood beside me in silence, his candle in his hand.

Then the tall, lean figure inclined towards me.

"I say, Watson," he whispered, "would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip ?" "Not in the least," I answered in astonishment.
"Ah, that's lucky," he said, and not another word would he utter that night..