"
"But your appearance, Holmes--your ghastly face?"
"Three days of absolute fast does not improve one's beauty,
Watson. For the rest, there is nothing which a sponge may not
cure. With vaseline upon one's forehead, belladonna in one's
eyes, rouge over the cheek-bones, and crusts of beeswax round
one's lips, a very satisfying effect can be produced.
Malingering is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of
writing a monograph. A little occasional talk about half-crowns,
oysters, or any other extraneous subject produces a pleasing
effect of delirium."
"But why would you not let me near you, since there was in truth
no infection?"
"Can you ask, my dear Watson? Do you imagine that I have no
respect for your medical talents? Could I fancy that your astute
judgment would pass a dying man who, however weak, had no rise of
pulse or temperature? At four yards, I could deceive you. If I
failed to do so, who would bring my Smith within my grasp? No,
Watson, I would not touch that box. You can just see if you look
at it sideways where the sharp spring like a viper's tooth
emerges as you open it. I dare say it was by some such device
that poor Savage, who stood between this monster and a reversion,
was done to death.
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