Quintessential Quote #13

"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”
-- Dr. James Mortimer, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 2, “The Curse of Baskservilles”

You didn’t really need to be told the name of the book, did you?

A Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati wrote recently in his weekly parish bulletin that "if you are into Sherlock Holmes" the above is "one of the great lines in literature." I'm not sure the qualifier was necessary!

Last week we considered an unforgettable opening sentence line. This is an equally memorable – and wonderfully dramatic – chapter-closing quote. I think it was John Dickson Carr who once noted that in our memory this climatic point in Dr. Mortimer’s narrative is recalled as being in italics, although it isn’t that way in the book.

It's a quote that never fails to thrill.

What's your favorite quote from the world of Sherlock Holmes?