"Then I doubt you helped to carry the gibbet, and hang the effigy?"
"I didn't though," answered Tom.
"Who hurt your hand so, then? It must have been somebody in a great passion."
"No, 'twarnt; I got it done myself."
"Well, I wonder at your taste. I would always keep a whole skin, if I could."
Tom pulled his forelock respectfully, and went on with his work, his mother shaking her head, as if she thought his case desperate. Other people's leaving off speaking to him was the signal for M. Gaubion to begin.
"I think I saw you, Tom, the night of the riot." Tom looked up.
"Was it not you that cut the rope, and tried to drag the effigy away?"
Tom nodded.
"What did you do next? I was obliged to go from the window then."