46380    'My dear sir,' cried Dr Mortimer, 'it is only mislaid.

46381    You will find it when you return to the hotel.

46382    What is the use of troubling Mr Holmes with trifles of this kind?'

46383    'Well, he asked me for anything outside the ordinary routine.'

46384    'Exactly,' said Holmes, 'however foolish the incident may seem.

46385    You have lost one of your boots, you say?'

46386    'Well, mislaid it, anyhow.

46387    I put them both outside my door last night, and there was only one in the morning.

46388    I could get no sense out of the chap who cleans them.

46389    The worst of it is that I only bought the pair last night in the Strand, and I have never had them on.'

46390    'If you have never worn them, why did you put them out to be cleaned?'

46391    'They were tan boots, and had never been varnished.

46392    That was why I put them out.'

46393    'Then I understand that on your arrival in London yesterday you went out at once and bought a pair of boots?'

46394    'I did a good deal of shopping.