? ? ? ? Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation I had tossed aside the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair I fell into a brown study. Suddenly my companion's voice broke in upon my thoughts:
? ? ? ? "You are right, Watson," said he. "It does seem a most preposterous way of settling a dispute."
? ? ? ? "Most preposterous!" I exclaimed, and then suddenly realizing how he had echoed the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank amazement.
? ? ? ? "What is this, Holmes?" I cried. "This is beyond anything which I could have imagined."
? ? ? ? He laughed heartily at my perplexity.
? ? ? ? "You remember," said he, "that some little time ago when I read you the passage in one of Poe's sketches in which a close reasoner follows the unspoken thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour-de-force of the author. On my remarking that I was constantly in the habit of doing the same thing you expressed incredulity."
? ? ? ? "Oh, no!"
? ? ? ? "Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with your eyebrows. So when I saw you throw down your paper and enter upon a train of thought, I was very happy to have the oportunity of reading it off, and eventually of breaking into it, as a proof that I had been in rapport with you.
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