the Countess's knowledge of the language of the Five Towns
that she instantly divined the meaning of even that phrase, "none so
dusty."

They swept into Crown Square grandly.

And then, with no warning, the mule suddenly applied all the automatic
brakes which a mule has, and stopped.

"Oh Lor!" sighed Denry. He knew the cause of that arresting.

A large squad of policemen, a perfect regiment of policemen, was moving
across the north side of the square in the direction of the Institute.
Nothing could have seemed more reassuring, less harmful, than that band
of policemen, off duty for the afternoon and collected together for the
purpose of giving a hearty and policemanly welcome to their benefactress
the Countess. But the mule had his own views about policemen. In the
early days of Denry's ownership of him he had nearly always shied at the
spectacle of a policemen. He would tolerate steam-rollers, and even
falling kites, but a policeman had ever been antipathetic to him. Denry,
by patience and punishment, had gradually brought him round almost to
the Countess's views of policemen--namely, that they were a courteous
and trustworthy body of public servants, not to be treated as scarecrows
or the dregs of society. At any rate, the mule had of late months
practically ceased to set his face against the policing of the Five
Towns. And when he was on his best behaviour he would ignore a policeman
completely.

But there were several hundreds of policemen in that squad, the majority
of all the policemen in the Five Towns. And clearly the mule considered
that Denry, in confronting him with several hundred policemen
simultaneously, had been presuming upon his good-nature.

The mule's ears were saying agitatedly:

"A line must be drawn somewhere, and I have drawn it where my forefeet
now are."

The mule's ears soon drew together a little crowd.

It occurred to Denry that if mules were so wonderful in the Apennines
the reason must be that there are no policemen in the Apennines. It also
occurred to him that something must be done to this mule.

"Well?" said the Countess, inquiringly.

It was a challenge to him to prove that he and not the mule was in
charge of the expedition.

He briefly explained the mule's idiosyncrasy, as it were apologising for
its bad taste in objecting to public servants whom the Countess
cherished.

"They'll be out of sight in a moment," said the Countess. And both she
and Demo tried to look as