3 pages into a study in scarlet. and YES ITS ABOUT SHERLOCK. its the first time john sees him. 

a page before, john describes seeing stamford for the first time in years: “The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom.”

let the record show arthur doyle himself wrote johns first impression of sherlock as a poetic reflection on how happy he looked ON DELIGHT ‘SHINING’ UPON HIS FEATURES HOW GAY 

I HONESTLY CANT BELIEVE YOU’RE DOING THIS TO ME RN

(via thejohntent)