The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-01

important, you understand, without being
 interesting. Indeed, l have found that
 It Is usually in unimportant matters that
 there Is field for the observation, and
 for the quick analysis of cause and effect
 which gives the charm to an investiga-
 ton The larger crimes apt % be the simpler, for the bigger the crime the
 more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intri- cate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any features of interest
 It Is possible, however, that I may have
 something better before very many min utes are over, for this is one of my clients, or l am much mistaken"
 He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds, gag ing down into the dull, neutral-tinted London street Looking over his should CT, l saw that on the pavement opposite
 there stood large woman with heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curl ing red feather in a broad -brimmed hat
 which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess | of-Devonshre fashion over her ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in nervous, hesitatirg fashion at our windows while her body oscillated back
 ward and forward, and her fingers fdget- ted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, of the swimmer who leaves the bank. she hurried across the I road. and we heard the sharp clang of
 the bell.
 q have seen those symptoms before" said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affare de coeur She would like advice, but is not sure that 1 the matter is not too delicate for com cunication And yet even here we may discriminate. When woman has been seriously wronged by a man she no long
 CT oscillates, and the usual symptom is broken bell wire. Here we may take ] Ii that there is a love matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as per- /, plexed or grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts" As he spoke there was tap at the
 door, and the boy in buttons entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland. while the lady herself loomed behind his small black figure like a full-salled merchant | man behind a tiny pilot boat Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and having closed the door and bowed her Into an arm chair, he looked her
 over fin a minute, and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him. Do you not find," he said. that with
 your short sight it is little trying to
 do so much typewrltng?'
 l T did at first" she answered. "but : now I know where the letters are with
 
 the full purport of his words, she gave violent start and looked up, with fear and astonshment upon her broad, good humored face You've heard about
 me, MT. Holmes,' she cried, "else how
 could you know all 2hat?"
 Never mind" said Holmes, laughing; 'it is my business to know things. Per haps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?"
 "I came to see you, sir, because
 heard of you from Mrs. Etherege. whose husband you found so easy when the police and every one had given him up for dead. Oh, MT. Holmes. I wish you would do as much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year In my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and I would give it all | to Know what has become of Mr. HosS1er Angel"
 "Why did you come away to consult 1 me in such hurry?" asked Sherlock | his eyes to the ceiling.
 l Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Mary l Sutherland. ''Yes, I did bang opt of the house, she said. flor 1t made me angry to see the easy way in which MT Wind ibank-that is, my father-took 1t all. He would not go to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing, and kept on saying that there was no harm done, 1t made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to you."