Go on with the pin and the
boy,' Arthur said haughtily.
'Mary Jane,' Peterkin continued, 'had a gold-headed shawl pin, with a
small diamond in the head--real, too, for I don't b'lieve in shams, and
haint sense the day I quit boatin' and hauled ther 'Liza Ann up inter my
back yard. Well, she left this pin stickin' in her shawl, and no one up
there but this boy of that Crawford gal's, and nobody knows who else.'
Something in Arthur's face and manner made Frank think of a tiger about
to pounce upon its prey, and he felt himself growing cold with suspense
and dread as he watched his brother, while Peterkin continued:
'When Mary Jane came to go home, her things wa'n't there, and the pin
was missin'; and Lucy, the girl, said she found the boy pullin' them
over by himself, when he had no call to be in there; and, sir, there
ain't a lawyer in the United States that would refuse a writ on that
evidence, and I'll get one of St. Claire afore to-morrow night. I told
'em so, the widder and the boy, who was as brassy as you please, and
faced me down and said he never seen the pin, nor knowed there was one;
while she--wall, I swow, if she didn't start round lively for a woman
with her leg bandaged up in vinegar and flannel. When I called the brat
a thief and said I'd have him arrested, she made for the door and
ordered me out--me, Joe Peterkin, of the 'Liza Ann! I'll make her smart,
though, wus than the rheumatiz.
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