Sit down and tell me how you came alive out of that dreadful chasm."
He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant manner.
He was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book merchant, but the rest of that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old books upon the table.
Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of old, but there was a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told me that his life recently had not been a healthy one.
"I am glad to stretch myself, Watson," said he.
"It is no joke when a tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end.
Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, if I may ask for your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night's work in front of us.
Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the whole situation when that work is finished."
"I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now."
"You'll come with me to-night?"