"What did he say to him?"

"He called him his son, and told him to hold me fast."

"Before he took your pocket-book from you?"

"No; afterwards, while he was looking to see what was in it."

"This is not the way robberies are usually committed," added the sergeant. "I never heard of one robber holding a man down while the other looked to see what the pocket-book contained."

"Did Farringford call you his son?" asked Mr. Gray, turning to me.

"Yes, sir, he did; but not while I held Lynch down. It was while we were in Plum Street," I replied.

"What trick were you engaged in?" demanded Mr. Gray, rather sternly. "Why did he call you his son?"

"I am his son. He is my father," I answered.

Farringford looked at me with an expression of disapproval, as if to reproach me for the falsehood he believed I had uttered.