| In 1881, the (yet-unn amed) narrator is sent home to convalesce after being wounded in the shoulder in Afghanistan. In London, a mutual friend introduces the narrator to a potential flatmate. The two meet in the chemical lab of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, |
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 | I want you to meet my friend | |
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| Okay, sure. | |
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| where the man proceeds to astonish the narrator by deducing that he is a soldier recently returned from Afghanistan. Although the narrator warns the man that he sometimes screams in his sleep, the man humorously replies that he snores, is easily bored, is selfish, and sometimes uses the mantle for target practice. |
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| The two take up lodgings in Baker Street, where the narrator is intrigued by the constant flow of odd visitors that his flatmate receives. |
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