How he had to lurk in the shadow of the street during the end of a battle between the Buttons, in which the lodgers and a policeman had intervened.

How he had to wait--interminable hours--until the house was quiet.

How he had stumbled over things in the drunken disorder of the kitchen floor, dreading to arouse the four elder little Buttons who slept in the room.
How narrowly he had missed running into the arms of the policeman who had passed the door some seconds before he opened it.

How he had crouched on the pavement until the policeman turned the corner, and how he had fled in the opposite direction.
"And if yer mother had caught ye, what would she have done to yer ?" "Half-killed me," said Paul.
Barney Bill twisted his head on one side and looked at him out of his twinkling eyes.

Paul thought he resembled a grotesque bird.
"Wot did yer do it for ?" he asked.
"This," said Paul, holding out a grubby palm in which lay the precious cornelian heart.
His friend blinked at it.