Elementary!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the world-famous detective, Sherlock
Holmes, was not above telling tales about himself in which he was the
laughing-stock. Here is one of those stories. As he tells it, he was waiting
at a taxi-stand outside the railway station in Paris. When a taxi pulled
up, he put his suitcase in it and got in himself. As he was about to tell
the taxi-driver where he wanted to go, the driver asked him: "Where can I
take you, Mr. Doyle?" Doyle was flabbergasted. He asked the driver whether
he knew him by sight. The driver said: "No Sir, I have never seen you
before." The puzzled Doyle asked him what made him think that he was Conan
Doyle.
The driver replied: "This morning's paper had a story about you being
on vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi-stand where people who return
from Marseilles always come to. Your skin colour tells me you have been
on vacation. The ink-spot on your right index finger suggests to me that
you are a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French. Adding
up all those pieces of information, I deduce that you are Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle."
Doyle said: "This is truly amazing. You are a real-life counter-part
to my fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes.
"There is one other thing," the driver said.
"And what is that?"
"Your name is on your suitcase."
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