Bemis: ‘One of them pulled me violently over on my back—’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘Edward’s put his arm round his neck and choked him.’
Mrs. Crashaw: ‘Agnes!’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘I know he did, Aunt Mary.’
Bemis: ‘And the other tore my watch out of my pocket.’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘Edward’s—’
Mrs. Crashaw: ‘Agnes, I’m thoroughly ashamed of you. Will you stop interrupting?’
Bemis: ‘And left me lying in the snow.’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘And then he ran after them, and snatched his watch away again in spite of them all; and he didn’t call for the police, or anything, because it was their first offence, and he couldn’t bear to think of their suffering families.’
Bemis, with a stare of profound astonishment: ‘Who?’