The unexpected has happened so continually in my life that it has ceased to deserve the name.

I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air -- or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.

Steel True, Blade Straight.

It is a fool's plan to teach a man to be a cur in peace, and think that he will be a lion in war.

It's quite exciting," said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn.

Keep your revolver near you night and day, and never relax your precautions.

The setting is a worthy one, if the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men.