She glanced quickly around the store, and as she did so her eyes fell upon the woman she had so recently seen appropriating articles from the counter.
“There goes the woman who did it,” she declared, pointing.
Mabel looked and nodded her head.
The woman was coming directly toward them, pushing her way through the crowd vigorously. Shirley stepped forward and barred her progress.
At the same moment Shirley raised her voice and called out:
“That man is innocent, Mr. Floorwalker. Here is the shop-lifter.”
The woman again tried to push by Shirley, but the latter maneuvered so as to be directly in front of her at every step.
Shirley’s words caused a commotion. Willing hands darted out and seized the woman, and she was taken before the man who still grasped young Bristow by the arm.
Shirley and Mabel pushed their way forward.
“I saw this woman steal a bolt of silk and some laces,” declared Shirley. “I would have said nothing about it had not Mr. Bristow, whom I know, been accused.”