The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (86 page)

19
.
Any attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless
: A claim which doesn't really fit in with the nature of the falls, below which the Aare becomes reasonably calm before flowing into Lake Brienz. A corpse could well be washed up in the lake, or in one of the streams, as indeed the bodies of unsuccessful climbers often are.

20
.
the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known
: Watson's last words are reminiscent of Phaedo's on the death of Socrates in Plato's
Phaedo
: ‘Such was the end, Echecrates, of our comrade, who was, as we may say, of all those whom we knew in our time, the best and wisest and most upright man.'