With a great effort he forced himself to speak.
"Lock him up instantly. This matter must be fully inquired into. And do be careful of that parcel, constable. Where do you take him? To the Bridewell station? I will follow you in a cab in five minutes."
So Philip, handcuffed, was marched down the stairs past the gratified office boy and out into the street.
As for Isaacstein, he required brandy, and not a little, before he felt able to follow.
CHAPTER V.
Perplexing a Magistrate.
In after years Philip never forgot the shame of that march through the staring streets. The everlasting idlers of London's busiest thoroughfares gathered around the policeman and his prisoner with grinning callousness.
"Wot's 'e bin a-doin' of?"
"Nicked a lydy's purse, eh?"