"Bless yer! I never knows nothing about it till a young gentleman says to me, 'They're after you,' says he; 'scuttle off.' So I scuttled off.

Bless you, sir, I didn't know I was doing harm." Under this thunderbolt Dick almost collapsed.

Fortunately, Tom's short memory kept him from recognising him in the matter any more than the other occupants of the seat.

He nodded generally to the young gentlemen as a body--a most compromising nod, and one which included all five in it meaning.
One of the magistrates who saw it looked up and asked genially:-- "You don't mean to say it was one of those young gentlemen, prisoner ?" "Bless you, sir, likely as not.

They young gentlemen, sir, always spare a trifle for a honest--" "Yes, yes; we don't want all that! If you have no more questions to ask the constable, the constable may stand down." The constable stood down, and a brief consultation again ensued between the Bench and the clerk which Dick, firmly believing that it referred to him, watched with terrible interest.
"Yes," said the magistrate, looking up, "we remand the case for a week." Dick breathed again.