The Adventure of the Red Circle

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle



"Well, Mrs. Warren, I cannot see that you have any particular
cause for uneasiness, nor do I understand why I, whose time is of
some value, should interfere in the matter. I really have other
things to engage me." So spoke Sherlock Holmes and turned back
to the great scrapbook in which he was arranging and indexing
some of his recent material.

But the landlady had the pertinacity and also the cunning of her
sex. She held her ground firmly.

"You arranged an affair for a lodger of mine last year," she
said--"Mr. Fairdale Hobbs."

"Ah, yes--a simple matter."

"But he would never cease talking of it--your kindness, sir, and
the way in which you brought light into the darkness. I
remembered his words when I was in doubt and darkness myself. I
know you could if you only would."

Holmes was accessible upon the side of flattery, and also, to do
him justice, upon the side of kindliness. The two forces made
him lay down his gum-brush with a sigh of resignation and push
back his chair.