A brougham and pair of greys
under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door.
"It's been out three hours," said Holmes; "started at half-past
six, and here it is back again. That gives a radius of ten or
twelve miles, and he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day."
"No unusual thing for a doctor in practice."
"But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice. He is a
lecturer and a consultant, but he does not care for general
practice, which distracts him from his literary work.
Why, then, does he make these long journeys, which must be
exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?"
"His coachman ----"
"My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I
first applied? I do not know whether it came from his own innate
depravity or from the promptings of his master, but he was rude
enough to set a dog at me. Neither dog nor man liked the look of
my stick, however, and the matter fell through. Relations were
strained after that, and further inquiries out of the question.
All that I have learned I got from a friendly native in the yard
of our own inn. It was he who told me of the doctor's habits and
of his daily journey.
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