“Now,” said the Marquis, “let the officer stand back.  I want to ask what the Baron really did say when he let this man out on bail.”

“My lord,” answered the witness, “his lordship said as how he looked upon the whole lot as a gang of thieves.”

“You’ve got it now,” said Rodwell.

“And so have you,” said I.  “You should not have objected, and then you would have got the answer he has just given.”

CHAPTER VIII.

A DANGEROUS SITUATION—­A FORGOTTEN PRISONER.

I had been to Paris in the summer of 18—­ for a little holiday, and was returning in the evening after some races had taken place near that city.  I had not attended them, and was, in fact, not aware that they were being held; but I soon discovered the fact from finding myself in the midst of the motley Crowds which always throng railway stations on such occasions, only on this particular day they were a little worse than usual.  The race meeting had brought together the roughs of all nations, and especially from England.  As it seemed to me, my fellow-countrymen always took the lead in this kind of competition.

I was endeavouring to get to the booking-office amongst the rest of the crowd, and there was far more pushing and struggling than was at all necessary for that purpose.  Presently a burly ruffian, with a low East End face of the slum pattern and complexion, rolled out a volley of oaths at me.  He asked where the ——­ I was pushing and what game I was up to, as though I were a professional pickpocket like himself.  He had the advantage of me in being surrounded by a gang of the most loathsome blackguards you could imagine, while I was without a friend.  I spoke, therefore, very civilly, and said the crowd was pushing behind and forcing me forward.  The brute was annoyed at my coolness, and irritated all the more.

Hitherto his language had not been strong enough to frighten me, so he improved its strength by some tremendous epithets, considerably above proof.  I think he must have enjoyed the exclusive copyright, for I never knew his superlatives imitated.  He finished the harangue by saying that he would knock my head off if I said another word.

To this I replied, with a look stronger than all his language, “No, you won’t.”

My look must have been strong, because the countenances of the bystanders were subdued.

“Why won’t I, muster?” he asked.

“For two reasons,” I said:  “first, because you won’t try; and secondly, because you could not if you did.”

He was somewhat tamed, and then I lifted my hat, so that he could see my close-cropped hair, which was as short as his own, only not for the same reason.  “You don’t seem to know who I am,” I added, hoping he would now take me for a member of the prize-ring.  But my appearance did not frighten him.  I had nothing but my short-cropped hair to rely on; so in self-defence I had to devise