Wow, Doyle just jumps right in, doesn't he? Not even so much as Hope saying "Let me tell you my story" (which is what I remember from the BBC audio adaptation). It's a good thing that this story wasn't presented serially - can you imagine the number of people complaining that their detective story was somehow replaced with some excerpt from a western? Back in the day, I'd probably have been leafing through Beetons thinking there had been a misprint with another story.