BIT A POLICEMAN

Evening Star, Issue 23620, 5 July 1940, Page 2

BIT A POLICEMAN

YOUNG WAITRESS DENIES CHARGE Marie was as shy and as graceful «* any nymph of the woods. Her hair, hatless and brown, curled' demurely above the youthful oval of her face, and her eyes looked at the starkness of the court with a brown, shining wonder. She ;stood delicately' behind the bars of the Bow Street dock in London, and her hands were clasped in front of her in a gesture of timidity. Mr M'Kenna, on the Bench, regarded her with his unvarying air. of patient irony, and then turned to the constabio in the witness-box' “ You say she assaulted you in the street?” he asked. ”1 SEPARATED THEM.” “ That is so, sir,” said the “ And what did she do to you?” The constable drew a formal breath. “ I found her fighting with another girl, sir,” he intoned. “ I separated them, and she then bit roe on the right thumb.” That, then, was the wood-nymph's assault, and everybody in the court waited for Marie’s explanation. Sha elected, bluslnngly, to give it dii oath. She patted her brown curls, she tucked her little brown handbag beneath her arm, and she went to the witness-box as softly as if she were tiptoeing across ■a carpet of moss. “What are vou?” inquired Mr M'Konna. . . . .

“ I am a waitress, sir," she breathed, “ What about last night?” Her eyes widened, and, she addressed him gently. “ I was walking along the street last night,” she said, “•and this other girl came at me like a wild-cat, and 1 had to light her. The policeman tried to 1 separate us The other girl may have bitten him, but 1 didn’t. I wouldn’t think of biting a policeman.” Faint, worldly lines showed beside Mr M'Kenna’s eyes—the lines of a man who doubted everything, even woodnymphs. He directed a questioning look toward the constable. , “ It’s a question of which girl bit you,'apparently,” he remarked The constable’s -tone was unmoved, “ They were both on the ground, sir, pulling at each other’s hair.” “ But which of them bit you?” “ This girl, sir.” “ Any doubt?” “ No doubt whatever, sir.” Mr M'Kenna turned back to Marie. “ I think,” he said, ‘‘ I’ll remand you for a week and have some inquiries made about you. I’ll see you in seven davs’ time.” ' . Marie nodded shyly, clasped lifer 'handbag even more tightly beneath her slender broitn arm, and went with soundless steps toward the captivity of the cells.