New Britain herald., 1924-01-26
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY

\ glow Of hate hung in hlS eyes if he had had a weapon I should have suffered; indeed, his arm made 8
 movement as if to strike, but he
 realized that l had eight inches and
 40 or 50 pounds weight to spare. Sc the shoulder I held struggled. then subsided. In sulky tone he said: "I had to tell the cop tale. I don't see no arm in telling you l ain't a 'airdresser. I'm an engine cleaner"
 That's better. Well, what do you want with this lay figure, then? Are an engine?"
 No"
 "still, you're telling lies, and talk ing risks for it. You seem rather attached to it. You tell me you paid ten shillings for it?"
 Yes"
 That's cheap; at least suppose so, never having bought one myself What do you think it's worth?'
 "oh, dunno"
 Let's walk along and talk about it." We went toward the west. Think again, How much do you think it would cost new?"
 Couple of pounds"
 Would it indeed? Look here: I've taken a fancy to it, I'll give you five pounds for it as it stands" l "I ain't selling"
 You're not selling for five pounds thing you can buy new for two pounds Really this is very inter- esting. The police ."
 "oh, 'ang it. There you are, talk ing about the cops again." 1 Eve got to. You've stolen that thing You're thief" ! DO are you calling thief?" You" In low tone, added: "If yon tell me the truth I'll let you off. But, just one more lit, and I'll had you over." 'rr . 1 There was silence. Finally the little man cleared his throat, and in gentle tone said: "Look'ere, guv-nor, i you don't want to be ard on a pore worlingman. You say you want to buy the thing. Well, aint SO fond of it. l don't mind selling it. but l couldn't let 1t go for five pounds How much do you want?' say 'undred pounds" tt
 laughed: Now, my man, I'm afraid you've given yourself away. Tell mo why this figure's worth a hundred pounds. Otherwise, off we go to the police station"
 There was a struggle in the mans mind. He probably thought of bolt ing, for he moved toward the road, but stepped on the other side of m ho ,vf ka.@ .1, ,Is..f A.. trust me, for in a gloomy tone he murmured: You're gentleman" At last. with fine frankness, he said: I'll tell you all about it. But l cant do it ere. Someone might come along. I'll show you something. Let's go up that street. He nodded toward Inverness Terrace. "There'n be a garden or something" followed him in silence, until we reached an empty house. We were fortunate: the front garden was separated from the road by tall shrubs. Behind some Of these we established our selves. Again the sack was undone, the ghastly beauty exposed. looking strangely human and surprised.
 'J got some swag in ere" said the man. Pact is, a friend Of mine and me, VIC cracked little crib tonight. Do you know Charlie yill, the barber?"
 "Of course know CharIeville." Indeed this was the name Of the most fashionable hairdresser in Lon don, whose shop has stood at the corner Of Bond street for over half a century.
 "Wel it's like this: Charlie vill aint only a barber. He does a bit of business with the fashionable danes while he's doing their air: now and then one Of them gets into bit Of mess. cards, and champagne wine. all that sort of thing. You know" he vent on with a confiden- i tial smile. 50 they get short and want to raise a bit c money on some thing. That sort of woman. she don't want to be seen coming out ."
 'Uf a vnbroker's. under ! stand"
 You see what ! mean. They takes all sorts Of stuff to Charlie Win. jewery. gold plate. knick-knacks what ] they pinch in their own drawing and he lends them money on it. Oh, 'e's a fly customer. cent per cent, that's what he charges them"
 T follow. You and your friends indulged in little burglary at Charietille's tonight. But don't quite see why sou took this young lady away with you.T
 Well. it's like this. guv'nor. ex- pect you've 'ad no expereince of crib cracking. IT you 'ad. if you'd done a stretch. same as l have. all along O . being careless like. you'd know that } it don't do to go about London O nights carrying a sack full Of money, and things like that. You got to be carefui. So when we'd got all the stun togt ther. my mate and VIC didn't quite know what to do: there | was jewelry that's nothing: one can put that in ones pocket But there was lots Of other stuff: gold snuff boxes, silver sauce boats. combs all over diamonds. It would have broken my cart to leave it. So my mate. 'e' ad an idea. We got old Of two of these ere figures: the inside 0f the stand is empty. So we shared out. and we each put our half in lay figure. Then we put 'em into the,