Big Ben, the beef-eater, with his arms behind him, and in a very thoughtful mood, came pacing slowly along.
As Mrs. Oakley said afterwards, her heart, at that moment, was in her mouth.
She could not dissemble an instant longer with Lupin, but with a loud shriek that echoed far and wide in the streets, she suddenly sprang from him, crying—
"Ben, Ben, dear strong Ben, seize this man! He is a murderer!"
"D—n! Done at last!" cried Lupin.
He turned to fly, but treading upon a piece of cabbage-leaf that was upon the pavement, down he fell.
"Easy does it," said Ben, and he flung himself upon the top of Lupin, spreading out his arms and legs, and holding him by sheer weight as firmly to the pavement as though he had been nailed there.
"Help, help, help! Murder! help!" shouted Mrs. Oakley. "Murder, murder, murder!"
People began to flock to them from all parts. Lupin succeeded in getting a knife from his pocket, but Mrs. Oakley held him by the wrist with both hands, and in a minute more he was in the grasp of two strong men, one of whom was a police-officer, and who gloried in the job.