13177 There was something that touched me as I read this letter, something pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes.
13178 So moved was I that, even if it had been a difficult matter, 'I should have tried it; but, of course, I knew well that Holmes loved his art so, that he was ever as ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it.
13179 My wife agreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the matter before him, and so, within an hour of breakfast-time, I found myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street.
13180 Holmes was seated at his side-table clad in his dressing-gown and working hard over a chemical investigation.
13181 A large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure.
13182 My friend hardly glanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation must be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited.
13183 He dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solution over to the table.
13184 In his right hand he had a slip of litmus-paper.
13185 'You come at a crisis, Watson,' said he.
13186 'If this paper remains blue, all is well.
13187 If it turns red, it means a man's life.'
13188 He dipped it into the test-tube, and it flushed at once into a dull, dirty crimson.