"Ye know the commandments an' 'Thou shall not steal' as well as I do," said Jane.
"I forget them sometimes," said Honeybird; "besides, too, I niver stole it. It as near as ninepence walked up into my pinny."
"Where was it?" Mick asked.
"It was out walkin' on the road all by its lone," said Honeybird, "an' if I hadn't 'a' tuk it mebby somebuddy else would."
"Then ye niver seen no bad man with a baldy head at all?" Mick asked.
"No, I didn't," Honeybird confessed; "but I might 'a' seen him all the same."
"Luk here, me girl," said Jane, "you've just got to walk that bantam hen back to Father Ryan."
"I will not," said Honeybird.
"Then we'll tell Lull."
Honeybird began to cry. "If ye do I'll run away, an' niver, niver come home any more," she said. Jane was dumfounded.