or the public good have cost us a
lot of money at times. You see, the exploiter is always ready to pay
his servants, which is more than can be said of the public. But where
no real principle is involved we try to be friendly to our friends."

With these fresh viewpoints on his profession Dave entered upon his
work the following day chastened but determined. Almost immediately he
found the need of acquaintanceships. The isolation of his boyhood had
bred in him qualities of aloofness which had now to be overcome. He
was not naturally a good "mixer;" he preferred his own company, but his
own company would not bring him much news. So he set about
deliberately to cultivate acquaintance with the members of the police
force and the fire brigade, and the clerks in the hotels. And he had
in his character a quality of sincerity which gave him almost instant
admission into their friendships. He had not suspected the charm of
his own personality, and its discovery, feeding upon his new-born
enthusiasm for friendships, still further enriched the charm.

As his acquaintance with the work of the police force increased Dave
found his attitude toward moral principles in need of frequent
re-adjustment. By no means a Puritan, he had, nevertheless, two
sterling qualities which so far had saved him from any very serious
misstep. He practised absolute honesty in all his relationships. His
father, drunken although he was in his later years, had never quite
lost his sense of commercial uprightness, and Dave had inherited the
quality in full degree. And Reenie Hardy had come into his life just
when he needed a girl like Reenie Hardy to come into his life . . . He
often thought of Reenie Hardy, and of her compact with him, and
wondered what the end would be. And meanwhile he found the need of
frequent readjustments. He became aware of the fact that in every
community there are two communities; one on the surface, respectable,
discreet, conventional; and one beneath the surface, to which these
terms would not apply. He found that the province of the police was
not to enforce morality, but to prevent immorality becoming obnoxious.
Anything, almost, might go on so long as its effects were confined to
the voluntary participants. Underneath the sham of good behaviour was
a world, known to the police and the newspaper men and a few others,
which refused to accept standard conventions and lived according to its
own impulse. And this