'Ah! there lies our problem. There is one rather obvious line of investigation.' He took down the great book in which, day by day, he filed the agony columns of the various London journals. 'Dear me!' he said, turning over the pages, 'what a rag-bag of singular happenings! But surely the most valuable hunting-ground that ever was given to a student of the unusual! ... Here are the Daily Gazette extracts of the last fortnight. "Lady with a black boa at Prince's Skating Club" - that we may pass. "Surely Jimmy will not break his mother's heart" - that appears to be irrelevant. "If the lady who fainted in the Brixton bus" - she does not interest me. "Every day my heart longs --" Bleat, Watson - unmitigated bleat! Ah! this is a little more possible. Listen to this: "Be patient. Will find some sure means of communication. Meanwhile, this column. - G."'
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The adventure of the Red Circle', His Last Bow, 1917