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Introduction
A translator in London has witnessed what he believes is the kidnapping of a Greek man. Sherlock Holmes is frustrated by the lack of data, so he takes Dr Watson to see his brother Mycroft at the exclusive Diogenes Club. Mycroft, Sherlock claims, is an even better detective than he is.
THE two sat down together in the bow-window of the club. “To any one who wishes to study mankind this is the spot,” said Mycroft. “Look at the magnificent types! Look at these two men who are coming towards us, for example.”
“The billiard-marker and the other?”*
“Precisely. What do you make of the other?”
The two men had stopped opposite the window. Some chalk marks over the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of billiards which I could see in one of them. The other was a very small, dark fellow, with his hat pushed back and several packages under his arm.
“An old soldier, I perceive,” said Sherlock.
“And very recently discharged,” remarked the brother.
“Served in India, I see.”
“And a non-commissioned officer.”
“Royal Artillery, I fancy,” said Sherlock.
“And a widower.”
“But with a child.”
“Children, my dear boy, children.”
“Come,” said I, laughing, “this is a little too much.”
An employee of a billiard room, who kept the score and refereed the game. We are left to wonder how the Holmes brother knew this man was a billiard-marker, and not a recent player.
Non-commissioned officers such as corporals, lance corporals, bombardiers and sergeants, are lower-ranking officers typically promoted from enlisted men. Commissioned officers are so called because their authority derives from a commission from the Monarch, following training at a military academy. Enlisted men can of course receive a commission, though in Sir Arthur’s day it was less common than it is now. The purchasing of commissions, familiar from the novels of Jane Austen, had been abolished under the Cardwell Reforms of 1871.
Précis
Sherlock Holmes took Dr Watson to see his brother, claiming that the hitherto unknown Mycroft was an even more observant detective that he was himself. Watson was doubtful, and when the two brothers demonstrated with an analysis of a widowed soldier seen through the windows of a London club, he began to think they were pulling his leg. (58 / 60 words)
Sherlock Holmes took Dr Watson to see his brother, claiming that the hitherto unknown Mycroft was an even more observant detective that he was himself. Watson was doubtful, and when the two brothers demonstrated with an analysis of a widowed soldier seen through the windows of a London club, he began to think they were pulling his leg.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, must, or, ought, since, until, whether, who.
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