pocket!" yelled
Holmes.

CHAPTER XII

I locked the door at once, put the key in my pocket, and then stood
with my back up against it, while Holmes stood in the center of the
room, facing the flushed and uncomfortable Tooter, who remained by the
window, with his left hand clutching the mysterious little package in
his pocket.

"Now then, Tooter, I've got the goods on you, both figuratively and
literally, so you might as well come across with it," urged Holmes. "I
don't want to resort to forcible methods unless I am compelled to."

"I'm sorry, Holmes. I'd like to oblige you, but if this gets out about
me carrying it around with me, I'm a goner."

"I guess you _will_ be a goner. The idea of a man of your standing
stooping to such a trick as that! You can't plead any lack of funds as
an excuse for your regrettable error, either, as you are known to be
well heeled."

"But think of the resulting notoriety, Holmes. I could never again be
received in the best circles of London society, and I'm sure the King
would cut me dead!"

"Well, I suppose it _would_ hurt your standing there, Tooter; but
you've got to take the consequences of your act. You're considerably
old enough to know what you're doing, you know. Come on, now, give it
up peaceably, or I'll forget myself and try jiu-jitsu on you."

But Uncle Tooter still refused to give up the little package, and
Holmes, losing his patience, walked over to him and grabbed his left
arm, while Tooter doggedly tried to wriggle out of his grasp. In a
moment, Holmes, by a quick turn of his wrist, had forced the little
package out of Tooter's hand, and it fell on the floor. Holmes
immediately pounced on it, picked it up, and started to open it, but
suddenly his jaw dropped, his face showed deep disappointment, and he
angrily confronted Tooter.

"Say, what in thunder are you trying to pull off here, anyhow? This is
a sample package of your confounded 'Tooter's Best Teas, Imported From
Ceylon.' It's not one of the diamond cuff-buttons at all!" he cried.

"Well, who said it was, you elongated chump?" shouted the aroused
Tooter. "I don't know anything about the Earl's cuff-buttons. You've
been hanging around here nearly two days now, and you haven't found
any yet; and then you have the nerve to steal my tea sample!"

"Why, I just recovered two of the cuff-buttons a little while ago, one
from Yensen, and one from Thorneycroft, and I supposed I was about to
get back the thi