lliam, William," she cried at the top of her lungs, "What has he
done, what can he have done? Constable, oh, leave him here; in all his
life he has never done anything wrong; he always goes straight to bed;
he does not drink, he never quarrels, he is always peaceable--oh, do
him no harm! Jesus, Mary, constable, dear constable, do the child no
harm!"

Her teeth chattered in fear and sobbing; she had let go the uniform and
tried now to release her son from the iron grasp. She probably did not
herself know that she was hitting and scratching.

The constable had no little difficulty in shaking off the woman,
especially when the prisoner, incited by the example of his mother,
also began to offer resistance. But finally a vigorous push disposed of
the old woman, and handcuffs, taken in a twinkling from his pocket,
fettered the culprit.

"To jail?--" The woman's outcry echoed from the dingy walls. She lay on
her knees and wrung her hands. "Nicholas, Nicholas, constable, God in
heaven, what has he done? I swear he is as innocent as a new-born
babe! He never cuts grass in other people's fields, he tears off no
branches in the wood--he never climbed the fence to steal the pastor's
apples--believe me, believe me, by my eternal salvation, he is a good
boy! He always sent me coffee and sugar, and a black apron to wear to
church on Sunday, and he had his photograph taken for his mother, and
every year he came to spend one day with me. Oh, he is so good, believe
me every word! I will die on the spot if I am not telling the simple
truth. Nicholas"--she turned beseechingly to the chairman--"Nicholas,
you have known me all the days of my life. Have I ever told you a lie?
Help me! Let him stay here!" She made a motion as if to embrace his
knees.

"Do not be too hasty, Katie," murmured the chairman as he drew back.
"Your William will soon be coming home again; it is only that he may
prove that he--hm--" In embarrassment he tried to avoid the woman's
anxiously penetrating look. "Hm, in order that we may find out--in
short, that it was not he who lighted all these fires."

"Fires? He--lighted the fire?" Utterly nonplussed the woman glared at
her own hearth. "No, I have always lighted the fire myself!"

"Nonsense!" The constable was becoming impatient; the idea had been to
arrest the fellow without further ado, and now the tumult had lasted so
long that soon the whole street would swarm with curious spectators.
"Stupid woman, we are no