The Memoirs of Sherlock Homes

Shortly after my marriage I had bought a connection in the / Paddington district. Old Mr. Farquhar, from whom I purchased it, / had at one time an excellent general practice; but his age, and / an affliction of the nature of St. Vitus's dance from which he / suffered, had very much thinned it. The public not unnaturally / goes on the principle that he who would heal others must himself / be whole, and looks askance at the curative powers of the man / whose own case is beyond the reach of his drugs. Thus as my / predecessor weakened his practice declined, until when I / purchased it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred to little / more than three hundred a year. I had confidence, however, in my / own youth and energy, and was convinced that in a very few years / the concern would be as flourishing as ever.

For three months after taking over the practice I was kept very / closely at work, and saw little of my friend Sherlock Holmes, for / I was too busy to visit Baker Street, and he seldom went anywhere / himself save upon professional business. I was surprised, / therefore, when, one morning in June, as I sat reading the / _British Medical Journal_ after breakfast, I heard a ring at the / bell, followed by the high, somewhat strident tones of my old / companion's voice.