Quote by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
You will, I am sure, agree with me that... if page 534 only finds us in the second chapter, the length of the first one must have been really intolerable.
Summary
This quote is a playful and humorous way of expressing the idea that the first chapter of a book must have been excessively long if, by page 534, the reader has only reached the second chapter. The author suggests that the length of the first chapter was so unbearable that it took a significant amount of reading to finally get to the next chapter. It highlights the notion that a long-winded start can be deemed tedious or insufferable by some readers.