“Stop, James, for pity’s sake!” cried his wife, terrified. “That dress belongs to one of my customers. It would be stealing to take it!”
“She’s probably got plenty of others; she can spare it,” he said.
His wife hastened to him and tried to wrench the dress from his grasp, but holding it in one hand beyond her reach, he gripped her arm with the other so hard that she uttered a cry of pain.
At this moment the door was pushed open, and a new character appeared upon the scene in the person of a stalwart policeman.
“What’s all this?” he demanded, in a tone of authority. “Release that woman, or I’ll take you in.”
[CHAPTER XIV.
ON THE TRACK OF NUMBER 91.]
The policeman’s sudden appearance can be easily explained. He and his family occupied rooms in the same house with Mrs. Barclay, and he happened to be passing the door of her apartment when he heard the cry.
“What’s all this?” he demanded once more.