The calling in of a policeman seemed at the moment a pantomime touch.
But when it became manifest that Mr. Garvace was in a fury of
vindictiveness, the affair took on a different complexion. The way in
which the policeman made a note of everything and aspirated nothing
impressed the sensitive mind of Polly profoundly. Polly presently
found himself straightening up ties to the refrain of "'E then 'It you
on the 'Ed and----"

In the dormitory that night Parsons had become heroic. He sat on the
edge of the bed with his head bandaged, packing very slowly and
insisting over and again: "He ought to have left my window alone, O'
Man. He didn't ought to have touched my window."

Polly was to go to the police court in the morning as a witness. The
terror of that ordeal almost overshadowed the tragic fact that Parsons
was not only summoned for assault, but "swapped," and packing his box.
Polly knew himself well enough to know he would make a bad witness. He
felt sure of one fact only, namely, that "'E then 'It 'Im on the 'Ed
and--" All the rest danced about in his mind now, and how it would
dance about on the morrow Heaven only knew. Would there be a
cross-examination? Is it perjoocery to make a slip? People did
sometimes perjuice themselves. Serious offence.

Platt was doing his best to help Parsons, and inciting public opinion
against Morrison. But Parsons would not hear of anything against
Morrison. "He was all right, O' Man--according to his lights," said
Parsons. "It isn't him I complain of."

He speculated on the morrow. "I shall '_ave_ to pay a fine," he said.
"No good trying to get out of it. It's true I hit him. I hit him"--he