Even the professional detectives, _blase_ as they were in every detail of crime, appeared to be keenly interested in the man's story.

When he finished we sat for some minutes in a stillness which was only broken by the scratching of Lestrade's pencil as he gave the finishing touches to his shorthand account.
"There is only one point on which I should like a little more information," Sherlock Holmes said at last.

"Who was your accomplice who came for the ring which I advertised ?" The prisoner winked at my friend jocosely.

"I can tell my own secrets," he said, "but I don't get other people into trouble.

I saw your advertisement, and I thought it might be a plant, or it might be the ring which I wanted.