2*8 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
kt 1 WANT YOU TO TAKE TWENTY POUNDS JUST FOR WRITING ME A LETTER AND SAYING YOU 
ARE GOING TO AUSTRALIA.’’ 
“ Oh ] ” .said Emily Hopkins. u Tilbury's 
•ah, Tilbury’s isn’t such an easy place as il 
used to be. They've got some blighted 
smart ’uns there now. Oh, you do have to 
be nippy there. But what about this young 
lady ? v 
“ She was arrested/' said Smith. ^ for 
stealing a purse, so they say, and two of 
Tilbury's people swear she took it. The 
e video eo is strong, although it’s all a mistake, 
and. curiously enough, it happens she's very 
like you. Miss ILopkins-a jolly handsome 
girl/* 
Now that's very remarkable/' said Miss 
TTopkins, much pleased with the implied 
i nmpliment. 
u What’s remarkable ? M asked Smith. 
<l Her bein' like me/’ said Miss Hopkins, 
“ and me bein' at Tilbury's yesterday/ 1 
“ Get anything there ? asked Smith, with 
an air of pleased expectation. 
*' Oh, somethin'. Just enough for the 
trouble/* said Miss Hopkins. ‘‘ My last 
racket, it was. 1 said, * I’ll just go and 
do Tilbury's in the eye once more, and 
then T’ll never touch another thing so long 
as X live that I don't pay for, or my young 
man don’t pay lor, or ain’t given to me 
straight / ” 
“ What did you do at Tilbury’s yester- 
day ? ” asked the solicitor. 
Just a bit of lace,” said Miss Hopkins. 
“ Good stuff, too. Oh. I know lace when I 
see it -T don’t believe there’s anybody in 
I.ondon knows it better Lhan I do. But 
about this young lady — what d’ypu want me 
to do ? ” 
“ Why,” said Smith, u l want you to write 
a letter to Mr. Chisholm and say that you were 
in Tilbury’s yesterday/' 
“ Oh. Chisholm ? — rum old boy/' said Miss 
Hopkins. “ Not a bad old sort, although he 
did send me up.” 
“ I want you to write and say vou were at 
Tilbury’s > 
Well, so 1 was,” said Miss Hopkins. 
And you must say that you took a purse/' 
" Oh, no. T never took a purse,” said Miss 
Hopkins. 44 Didn’t 1 tell you it was lace? " 
k * That doesn’t matter/’ said Mr. Smith. 
I want you to say you took a purse, and that 
you understand that this young lady is very 
like you, and that it was quite easy for her to 
have been mistaken for you. And you can 
