Chapter I. I See the Eyes

"Good evening, sir. A bit gusty?"

"Very much so, sergeant," I replied. "I think I will step into your hut for a moment and light my pipe if I may."

"Certainly, sir. Matches are too scarce nowadays to take risks with ‘em. But it looks as if the storm had blown over."

"I‘m not sorry," said I, entering the little hut like a sentry-box which stands at the entrance to this old village high street for accommodation of the officer on point duty at that spot. "I have a longish walk before me."

"Yes. Your place is right off the beat, isn‘t it?" mused my acquaintance, as sheltered from the keen wind I began to load my briar. "Very inconvenient I‘ve always thought it for a gentleman who gets about as much as you do."

"That‘s why I like it," I explained. "If I lived anywhere accessible I should never get a moment‘s peace, you see. At the same time I have to be within an hour‘s journey of Fleet Street."

I often stopped for a ch

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