‘Please, sir, I’d only just picked it up to give it back to the lady,’ Diamond Jubilee was whimpering. ‘She’d dropped it on the ground, please sir.’
‘There’s no use telling any lies about it,’ said the policeman, ‘for I saw you take the handkerchief out of the lady’s pocket with my own eyes. You’ll just come along of me—and you too,’ he added, suddenly using his free hand to seize hold of the astonished Micky.
‘It’s all a mistake,’ gasped Micky. ‘On my word and honour as a gentleman we weren’t doing anything—I mean we were only turning coach-wheels—at least——’
‘Yes, I saw you turning coach-wheels to take off attention from what your friend was doing,’ was the gruff answer. ‘I know the dodge. It’s just the way you little thieves always work.’
Micky’s face turned very white under its dirt.
‘We’re not thieves!’ he began hotly, but suddenly broke off. He could not say truthfully that Diamond Jubilee was not a thief, and it would be sneakish to stand up for himself at Diamond Jubilee’s expense. So Micky pressed his lips tightly together, and tried hard to keep them from quivering. He was not going to cry like a baby before all these people.
‘I shall have to take down your name and address, ma’am,’ said the policeman to a frightened-looking lady who was standing near, and whom Micky now noticed for the first time, ‘for you’ll be wanted to prosecute these boys.’
‘Oh, I don’t want to be hard on such children, especially as I’ve got the handkerchief back,’ she answered nervously.
‘It will be the best possible thing for them,’ he answered in a low voice; ‘they belong to a regular thieves’ school, and we’ve been watching long enough for an opportunity of breaking it up. Will you kindly hold the boys while I write the address?’ he added aloud to a stout young man.
The stout young man came forward willingly enough and took hold of an arm of each boy with a firm grip from which Diamond Jubilee tried vainly to wriggle away. As for Micky, he stood as still as a little statue, and held his head high.