"Did he give you a shilling?"
"Eh?" said Martin, opening the till hastily, and taking out the coin. "Is it bad?" And he rang it on the counter. "Sounds all right," he added with a sigh of relief, "and there doesn't seem anything the matter with it. But one is never safe with these young sharks."
He held the coin up to the light, turning it round and round, and examining it attentively.
"Good enough," he decided, and was about to put it back, when something again arrested his attention.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed, "some one has scratched a circle and star here. Looks like a private mark." And he handed it to Dick.
The boy was in such a state of excitement that he could hardly see. What was the meaning of this? Had Mr. Broad, suspecting something wrong, laid a trap for Jim? It seemed very much like it. But if he had marked one coin he had probably marked others.
The very notion made Dick shudder. He felt sure that Curly had passed some money to Jim. Suppose it happened to be marked too! "Good gracious!" he thought in despair; "they'll take him to prison like a common thief! The disgrace will kill his mother!"
Noticing the agitation which Dick could not conceal, the shopkeeper said,—
"What's it all about, Dicky? I hope you haven't got mixed up in anything wrong?"
"No," answered the boy. "But trust me; I'll tell you all about it to-morrow. I must be off now; and, I say, Mr. Martin, keep that shilling by itself, will you? I shouldn't be surprised if the police want to see it."