ously at the faces of the passers-by in the street, but
apparently the sounds were considerably softened by coming through two
closed doors, at all events nobody took any notice of the turmoil. If
only no more customers came to the shop all might be well; but Madge
could not help feeling that she was running a great risk of getting
mixed up in a really serious affair. Without knowing much about the
law, she understood very well that it was exceedingly unusual conduct,
to say the least of it, first to knock a strange lady down, and then
shut her into somebody else's back parlour. Of course, Madge had
rolled over at the same time as her prisoner, and indeed hurt her own
elbow rather severely against the wooden framework of the sofa, so that
the two girls had really fared very equally. In spite of this Madge
felt convinced that Miss Block would describe herself in the future as
having been violently assaulted. It might even turn out that, quite
unintentionally, Madge had broken the law, and now deserved to be
seized by the policeman with whom Miss Block had threatened her a few
minutes previously. Then, the very idea of being a fit object for the
attention of a policeman seemed absurd; but now Madge could not feel
quite as consciously innocent as she would have wished.

Until to-day it had never occurred to Madge that she could possibly
break the law except by trespassing on her neighbours' property. The
children were all terribly afraid of being caught doing that, because
old Barton had often told them warning stories of boys who had been
sent to prison for this offence. But now it seemed that it was much
easier to get into the clutches of the law than they had imagined.
Miss Block between her shrieks might be heard loudly requesting the
presence of a policeman, and it could hardly be expected that she would
go on much longer without attracting any attention.

On the whole, Madge's best chance of safety seemed to be in trying to
make friends with her late adversary. She stood close to the parlour
door, and seizing an opportunity when Miss Block's shrieks became a
little fainter (probably owing to loss of breath), she put her mouth
close to the key-hole and shouted:

"I am very sorry I was rough. Please listen, I have something to say."

Miss Block did not answer, but she did what was still better, she
stopped screaming for a minute.

"It was like this," continued Madge, still shouting through the
key-hole.