The moment was over and passed. Mr. Parker, with a movement forward, had covered my proceedings. I had been face to face with death years before, but I had never felt quite the same thrill. "This way, gentlemen, if you please," Mr. Cullen directed softly. "You will not object to my accompanying you?" I asked. "Certainly not," Mr. Cullen replied; "I, in fact, am not sure that it would not be my duty to ask you to come." "One moment!" I begged. Mr. Cullen paused. "The gentleman who made this charge," I went on, "seems to me to be in a very uncertain condition. Might I suggest that, before you commit yourself to taking these people to the police station, you just make sure he really has been robbed of his pocketbook?" "Had it here," the old gentleman declared; "right in this pocket! Look for yourself--gone!" "The old gentleman scarcely seems to me," I remarked, "to be in a fit condition to know which pocket it was in." Mr. Cullen, who had been walking carefully between him and the other two, smiled in a superior way. "Please feel in all your pockets," he told his accomplice. The old gentleman obeyed. Suddenly he stopped short. A blank expression came into his face. "What have you got there?" I asked. He brought it out with ill-concealed reluctance. It was, without doubt, the pocketbook. I shall never forget Mr. Cullen's face! He was bereft of words. He stared at it as though he had seen it come up through the floor. Mr. Moss simply stood with his mouth open. Mr. Parker alone appeared unmoved by any emotion of surprise. His manner was serious--almost dignified. "I want you to take this from me straight, Mr. Cullen," he said. "I am not a man who loses his temper easily, but you're trying us a bit high." Mr. Cullen remained for a moment or two speechless. He looked at me and drew a long breath. I knew perfectly well what he was thinking. He had had a man on either side of Mr. Parker and Mr. Moss. The only person who could have transferred that pocketbook was myself. I could see him readjusting his ideas as to my moral character. "Mr. Parker--gentlemen," he said, removing his hat, "pray accept my apologies. You are free to return to your seats whenever you choose. This gentleman was evidently mistaken," he added, speaking with withering sarcasm and turning sharply toward his coadjutor. "You oughtn't to come to these places in your present condition, sir. Take my advice and get along home at once." The bucolic gentleman, who had completely lost his appearance of inebriety, mumbled a few incoherent words and departed. After his departure Mr. Parker assumed a more genial attitude. "Well, well! I suppose you only did your duty, sir," he remarked, with a resigned sigh. "We were on our way to the bar. Will you join us, Mr. Cullen?"