Cambridge police yesterday arrested a 28-year-old Boston man for allegedly stealing two silk shirts from a Dunster Street clothing store, after the store's owner pursued the suspect and found him in a health food store a block away.

The suspect, Norman Stewart, was booked for "larceny over $100" and will probably face trial Monday, Detective William Maher of the Cambridge Police Department said yesterday.

The owner of the clothing store-Rogers of Harvard Square, on 20 Dunster St.-said yesterday that at about 2 p.m., she noticed two $74 silk shirts missing from the store's racks and suspected that the customer leaving the store at the time had stolen them. After calling the police, she ran out of the store, but could not find the customer, so she ran a block east to Holyoke Street, Where she spotted him on the corner of Mr. Auburn Street.

The store owner, who would not reveal her name, said she called the police a second time from the Andover Shop, a clothing store on 22 Holyoke Street. While she was on the phone, she saw the customer enter the General Nutrition Center (GNC) across Holyoke Street.

Within five minutes, the owner said, the police arrived at the GNC and apprehended the suspect. The actual arrest was delayed, the manager of the GNC said, because the suspect did not have the two stolen shirts in his possession.

Minutes later, however, the manager found them stuffed behind a stack of egg cartons.