Mrs. Roberts: ‘Don’t speak, Edward! I know there were two. On the Common. Not half an hour ago. As he was going to get me some rosebuds. In the midst of this terrible storm.’
Mrs. Crashaw: ‘Is this true, Edward?’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘Don’t answer, Edward! One of the band threw his arm round Edward’s neck—so.’ She illustrates by garotting Mrs. Crashaw, who disengages herself with difficulty.
Mrs. Crashaw: ‘Mercy, child! What are you doing to my lace?’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘And the other one snatched his watch, and ran as fast as he could.’
Mrs. Crashaw: ‘Willis’s watch? Why, he’s got it on.’
Mrs. Roberts, with proud delight: ‘Exactly what I said when he told me.’ Then, very solemnly: ‘And do you know why he’s got it on?—’Sh, Edward! I will tell! Because he ran after them and took it back again.’
Mrs. Crashaw: ‘Why, they might have killed him!’
Mrs. Roberts: ‘Of course they might. But Edward didn’t care. The idea of being robbed at six o’clock on the Common made him so furious that he scorned to cry out for help, or call the police, or anything; but he just ran after them—’
Roberts: ‘Agnes! Agnes! There was only one.’