Several overseas trips with the family have taught us that they can be rewarding, but you always have to be careful of pickpockets. On a lovely visit to Paris an encounter with a pickpocket gave the would-be thief a little more than he _  While walking down the famous Champs Elysee, I was astonished to feel someone unzip my handbag and remove my purse. I turned to glimpse a young man turning away and pretending to be absorbed in the mouth-watering contents on display in a bakery window. Being only a teenager at the time, I had no idea what to do. So I tapped the young man in question on the shoulder and said. "Excuse me can you please give me back my purse?" Of course the pickpocket had no idea what I was saying (and didn't want to know) and proceeded to shrug his shoulders and basically say (in French) "I don't speak English"? Meanwhile my Mother (a Scotswoman with a bad temper), came to see why I had stopped walking and what was going on. When I informed her of the situation she lost control and started yelling at the thief who still stood there making gestures in French while a crazy Scotswoman harangued  him. At this stage we were starting to attract onlookers, and when my Mother started hitting the young man with her handbag the would-be thief decided it was time to get away. Luckily, amid all the disorder the thief lost his control of my purse, and as he made a break-for-it, my purse dropped to the ground! I quickly snatched it up and for the rest of vacation we walked around with our handbags clutched against our chests! Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
The pickpocket didn't know English and had no idea what I was saying. His Mother tried to beat the thief so that he ran away immediately. It was the bad tempered mother that caused the thief to lose control of the purse. The author was old enough to deal with the case independently at the time.