His duty! To send another magistrate's wife to prison! Guv, I'm only a boy, but I know what professional etiquette is! Come along! Which is the police station? MR. POSKET. Mulberry Street. CIS. Who's the magistrate? MR. POSKET. I am! CIS. You! [_Seizing MR. POSKET by the collar and shaking him._] You dare to lock up my mother! Come with me and get her out! [_He is dragging MR. POSKET towards the door, when MR. BULLAMY enters breathlessly._ MR. BULLAMY. My dear Posket! CIS. [_Seizing MR. BULLAMY and dragging him with MR. POSKET to the door._] Come with me and get my mother out. MR. BULLAMY. Leave me alone, sir! She _is_ out! I managed it. MR. POSKET AND CIS. [_Together._] How? MR. BULLAMY. Wormington sent to me when you were taken ill. When I arrived at the Court, he had discovered, from your man-servant, Mrs. Posket's awful position. CIS. You leave my mother alone! Go on! MR. BULLAMY. Said I to myself, "This won't do, I must extricate these people somehow!" [_To MR. POSKET._] I'm not so damned conscientious as you are, Posket. CIS. Bravo! Go on! MR. BULLAMY. [_Producing his jujube box._] The first thing I did was to take a jujube. CIS. [_Snatching the jujube box from him._] Will you make haste? MR. BULLAMY. Then said I to Wormington, "Posket was _non compos mentis_ when he heard this case--I'm going to re-open the matter!" CIS. Hurrah! MR. BULLAMY. And I did! And what do you think I found out from the proprietor of the hotel! MR. POSKET AND CIS. What? MR. BULLAMY. That this young scamp, Mr. Cecil Farringdon, hires a room at the "Hotel des Princes." CIS. I know that. MR. BULLAMY. And that Mr. Farringdon was there last night with some low stockbroker of the name of Skinner. CIS. Go on--go on! [_Offering him the jujube box._] Take a jujube! MR. BULLAMY. [_Taking a jujube._] Now the law, which seems to me quite perfect, allows a man who rents a little apartment at an inn to eat and drink with his friends all night long. CIS. Well? MR. BULLAMY. So said I from the bench, "These ladies and gentlemen appear to be friends or relatives of a certain lodger in the 'Hotel des Princes.' " CIS. So they are! MR. BULLAMY. "They were all discovered in one room." MR. POSKET. So we were--I mean, so they were! MR. BULLAMY. "And I shall adjourn the case for a week to give Mr. Farringdon an opportunity of claiming these people as his guests." CIS. Three cheers for Bullamy. MR. BULLAMY. So I censured the police for their interference and released the ladies on their own recognisances. MR. POSKET. [_Taking MR. BULLAMY'S hand._] And the men? MR. BULLAMY. Well, unfortunately, Wormington took upon himself to despatch the men to the House of Correction before I arrived. MR. POSKET. I'm glad of it! They are dissolute villains! I'm glad of it. _POPHAM enters._ POPHAM. Oh, sir! Here's the missis and Miss Verrinder! In such a plight! CIS. The mater! Guv, you explain!