It was instantaneous, yet before either could move otherwise, or utter a word of explanation, a heavy footfall crunched along the walk, and a burly police officer, his star gleaming ominously in the dull light, rounded the corner a dozen feet away.

Neither of us stirred, staring into each other's bewildered faces, and before either fully realized the situation, the strong, suspicious hand of the law had gripped my shoulder.
"Here, now, an' what the hell are ye oop too, me fine buck ?" he questioned roughly, swinging me about into the light.

"Give an account o' yer-self moighty quick, 'er I 'll run ye in." Startled, recalling the money hidden in my pocket, the last injunction of Neale, I could think of no excuse, no explanation.

The girl, still staring blankly at me, must have perceived how I instinctively shrank back, my lips moving in an impotent effort at speech.

Some sudden impulse changed her fright into sympathy.