or promotion; but I'm perfectly satisfied.
I'm not one of those ambitious sort. Why, I wouldn't know at all what to
do with myself if they made me a sergeant."

"You deserve it, anyway," said Mrs. Wiseman.

"I don't deserve anything I don't want," said Mr. Wiseman loftily. "I've
learned a few things, too, but I've never made use of what's come to me
officially to get me pushed along. You'll hear something in a day or
two," he said mysteriously, "and in high life, too, in a manner of
speaking--that is, if you can call old Minute high life, which I very
much doubt."

"You don't say so!" said Mrs. Wiseman, appropriately amazed.

Her husband nodded his head.

"There's trouble up there," he said. "From certain information I've
received, there has been a big row between young Mr. Merrill and the old
man, and the C. I. D. people have been down about it. What's more," he
said, "I could tell a thing or two. I've seen that boy look at the old
man as though he'd like to kill him. You wouldn't believe it, would you,
but I know, and it didn't happen so long ago either. He was always
snubbing him when young Merrill was down here acting as his secretary,
and as good as called him a fool in front of my face when I served him
with that summons for having his lights up. You'll hear something one
of these days."

Constable Wiseman was an excellent prophet, vague as his prophecy was.

He went out of the cottage to his duty in a complacent frame of mind,
which was not unusual, for Constable Wiseman was nothing if not
satisfied with his fate. His complacency continued until a little after
seven o'clock that evening.

It so happened that Constable Wiseman, no less than every other member
of the force on duty that night, had much to think about, much that was
at once exciting and absorbing. It had been whispered before the evening
parade that Sergeant Smith was to leave the force. There was some talk
of his being dismissed, but it was clear that he had been given the
opportunity of resigning, for he was still doing duty, which would not
have been the case had he been forcibly removed.

Sergeant Smith's mien and attitude had confirmed the rumor. Nobody was
surprised, since this dour officer had been in trouble before. Twice
had he been before the deputy chief constable for neglect of, and being
drunk while on, duty. On the earlier occasions he had had remarkable
escapes. Some people talked of influence, but it is more likely that the