required reading

Holmes made a detailed study of many of the objects littering the lounge, giving particular attention to the arrangement of cushions on the sofa nearest the window, and a novel resting on the arm of the aforesaid item of furniture, balancing it in his hands, and examining the spine and corners of the pages.

"There are hardly any data here, Watson, but I can provide you with some particulars of our subject. I can inform you that she is female, with blonde hair, which she wears up infrequently. She is evidently not of a serious disposition, though she may show some taste and discernment in her choice of lighthearted pursuits. She almost certainly has a tired, weary air about her."

I sprang from my chair. "But Holmes, how can you tell all of this? You are correct in every particular."

"Watson, it is very simple. The evidence is everywhere before you!"

"But there is no portrait of the lady in question in the room, no headed stationery or other item that might disclose her identity. How can you possibly ascertain that the lady is tired? Surely that is guesswork!"

"Not at all Watson. I can deduce that we are dealing with a lady due to this long hair that I have found on the sofa. It is blonde, and has a small kink in it, indicating to me that the hair has been tied back. However, if the hair had been tied whilst the lady was in this state of repose it would not have fallen. I would posit that our subject only ties her hair back when she is exercising, or when she is attempting to prevent her hair getting wet whilst she is bathing. I say that the lady in question is not serious; that may be deduced easily from her reading matter: detective stories. Whilst she is not a scholar, she does so some quality in choosing to read about the finest sleuth of the Victorian era. No doubt her husband will have selected the novel for her."

I nodded to show that I followed his reasoning.

"I ascertained that the lady may be uncommonly tired and even a little nervous from close examination of the reading matter. You will observe that the corners of a few pages are folded down."

"Yes, very few; perhaps three pages" I said, after handling the book in question.

"The lady evidently turns down a corner of a page to mark her place when she abandons her novel for a time - a vulgar habit, though common. You will note that the pages between each manipulated corner number 100 at the very least. From a knowledge of average reading speeds we can be sure that the lady has been reading her novel for hours at a time. She has almost certainly become engrossed in the story. It is not far-fetched to suggest that as she is of the fairer sex she will not show the self-restraint that we might expect of a man. She has almost certainly been reading past bedtime, and given the sensational subject matter of the novel coupled with her feminine constitution, she probably has trouble getting to sleep at night. This leads me to suggest that she will appear tired, with discernable bags under her eyes. She is suffering from an Overexcited Imagination".

"Wonderful, Holmes!" I cried, as Holmes strode over to the mantelpiece, took up the little bottle he had placed there, and removed his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case, before sinking onto the sofa with a sigh.