Then go and wait for me at the place
they call Apple Blossom Court. I
don't know where it is, but I am
going there. I want to hear how
you came to this. Will you come?"
The thief lurched away from the
wall and toward him. He stared up
into his eyes through the fog. The
tears had smeared his cheekbones.
"God!" he said. "Will I come?
Look and see if I'll come." Dart
looked.
"Yes, you 'll come," he answered,
and he gave him the money. "I 'm
going back to the coffee-stand."
The thief stood staring after him
as he went out of the court. Dart
was speaking to himself.
"I don't know why I did it," he
said. "But the thing had to be
done."
In the street he turned into he
came upon the robbed girl, running,
panting, and crying. She uttered a
shout and flung herself upon him,
clutching his coat.
"Gawd!" she sobbed hysterically,
"I thort I'd lost yer! I thort I'd
lost all of it, I did! Strewth! I 'm
glad I've found yer--" and she
stopped, choking with her sobs and
sniffs, rubbing her face in her sack.
"Here is your sovereign," Dart
said, handing it to her.
She dropped the corner of the
sack and looked up with a queer
laugh.
"Did yer find a copper? Did yer
give him in charge?"
"No," answered Dart. "He was
worse off than you. He was starving.
I took this from him; but I gave
him some money and told him to
meet us at Apple Blossom Court."
She stopped short and drew back
a pace to stare up at him.
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