2o 4 MR. FARRANCE. 



one of the barges into the river at the wharf, and 

 wants a change of things; but,' he added, 'don't tell 

 Mrs. Wagstaff, or it may frighten her.' 



But Mrs. Wagstaff, catching part of what was said, 

 came quickly forward, and asked the man if he was 

 quite sure her husband was not hurt. 



' Not a bit, ma'am,' was the reply. 



So she went hastily upstairs, and brought the 

 things down, and gave them to him; when, looking 

 her straight in the face, he coolly said : 



' Don't you think, ma'am, they would look better 

 if you tied them up in a nice silk handkerchief ?' so 

 confidently, indeed, that she actually went and fetched 

 him one. 



When Mr. Wagstaff came home, it was soon dis- 

 covered that she had been duped ; but, strange to say, 

 the police traced and reovered the stolen property, 

 and the thief was tried and convicted. 



But if, in the pursuit of their delicate profession, 

 these experts can outwit a publican, what shall we say 

 of their robbing even a judge on the bench? Yet this 

 has happened. When the late Alderman Cubitt (who 

 was twice Lord Mayor of London town) was trying 

 a case of some importance at the Mansion House, he 

 was not quite satisfied with the evidence of a witness, 

 and though not thinking it exactly improbable, re- 

 quested him to be very careful. 



' For,' said his lordship, ' when I arose this morning 

 I could have sworn that I put my watch into my 



