"Now then," said Bill, "We are alone. Fire ahead."
Antony smoked thoughtfully for a little. Then he took his pipe
out of his mouth and turned to his friend.
"Are you prepared to be the complete Watson?" he asked.
"Watson?"
"Do-you-follow-me-Watson; that one. Are you prepared to have
quite obvious things explained to you, to ask futile questions,
to give me chances of scoring off you, to make brilliant
discoveries of your own two or three days after I have made them
myself all that kind of thing? Because it all helps."
"My dear Tony," said Bill delightedly, "need you ask?" Antony
said nothing, and Bill went on happily to himself, "I perceive
from the strawberry-mark on your shirt-front that you had
strawberries for dessert. Holmes, you astonish me. Tut, tut,
you know my methods. Where is the tobacco? The tobacco is in
the Persian slipper. Can I leave my practice for a week? I
can."
Antony smiled and went on smoking. After waiting hopefully for a
minute or two, Bill said in a firm voice:
"Well then, Holmes, I feel bound to ask you if you have deduced
anything.
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