Yes, there are in me the makings of a very fine loafer, and also of a pretty spry sort of fellow. I often think of those lines of old Goethe: 'Schade, daß die Natur nur einen Menschen aus dir schuf; Denn zum würdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff.'

He had maintained a platonic relationship with Jean while his first wife was still alive out of loyalty to her. A sequel to A Study in Scarlet was commissioned and The Sign of the Four appeared in Lippincott's Magazine in February 1890 under agreement with the Ward Lock company. Conan Doyle fathered five children.

He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories plays romances poetry non-fiction and historical novels.