t part, as befits two men who know
each other intimately. It was nearly five before we were back in Baker
Street once more.

"Beg pardon, sir," said our page-boy, as he opened the door; "there's
been a gentleman here asking for you, sir."

Holmes glanced reproachfully at me. "So much for afternoon walks!" said
he. "Has this gentleman gone, then?"

"Yes, sir."

"Didn't you ask him in?"

"Yes, sir; he came in."

"How long did he wait?"

"Half an hour, sir. He was a very restless gentleman, sir, a-walkin' and
a-stampin' all the time he was here. I was waitin' outside the door,
sir, and I could hear him. At last he goes out into the passage and he
cries: 'Is that man never goin' to come?' Those were his very words,
sir. 'You'll only need to wait a little longer,' says I. 'Then I'll wait
in the open air, for I feel half choked,' says he. 'I'll be back before
long,' and with that he ups and he outs, and all I could say wouldn't
hold him back."

"Well, well, you did your best," said Holmes, as we walked into our
room. "It's very annoying though, Watson. I was badly in need of a case,
and this looks, from the man's impatience, as if it were of importance.
Halloa! that's not your pipe on the table! He must have left his behind
him. A nice old briar, with a good long stem of what the tobacconists
call amber. I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces there are in
London. Some people think a fly in it is a sign. Why, it is quite a
branch of trade the putting of sham flies into the sham amber. Well, he
must have been disturbed in his mind to leave a pipe behind him which he
evidently values highly."

"How do you know that he values it highly?" I asked.

"Well, I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven-and-sixpence.
Now it has, you see, been twice mended: once in the wooden stem and once
in the amber. Each of these mends, done, as you observe, with silver
bands, must have cost more than the pipe did originally. The man must
value the pipe highly when he prefers to patch it up rather than buy a
new one with the same money."

[Illustration: "HE HELD IT UP."]

"Anything else?" I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about in his
hand and staring at it in his peculiar, pensive way.

He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin forefinger as a
professor might who was lecturing on a bone.

"Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest," said he. "Nothing
has more individuality save, perhaps, watches a