Conan Doyle, born Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, was a Scottish writer best known for creating Sherlock Holmes.
Conan Doyle
The Yellow Face
1893. Reprinted in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: the Celebrated Cases of Sherlock Holmes. Octopus Books, 1981.
Sherlock Holmes was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise's sake...One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spearheads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their fivefold leaves. For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most part, as befits two men who know each other intimately.
Dr. Watson notes that 'it was nearly five before we were back in Baker Street once more'.