It had been hanging in the dining-room of Sneyd Castle about sixteen
months, when Lady Dain told her husband that it would ultimately drive
her into the lunatic asylum.

'Don't be silly, wife,' said Sir Jee. 'I wouldn't part with that
portrait for ten times what it cost.'

This was, to speak bluntly, a downright lie. Sir Jee secretly hated the
portrait more than anyone hated it. He would have been almost ready to
burn down Sneyd Castle in order to get rid of the thing. But it
happened that on the previous evening, in the conversation with the
magistrates' clerk, his receptive brain had been visited by a less
expensive scheme than burning down the castle.

Lady Dain sighed.

'Are you going to town early?' she inquired.

'Yes,' he replied. 'I'm on the rota today.'

He was chairman of the borough Bench of magistrates. As he drove into
town he revolved his scheme and thought it wild and dangerous, but
still feasible.

II

On the Bench that morning Sir Jee shocked Mr Sherratt, the magistrates'
clerk, and he utterly disgusted Mr Bourne, superintendent of the
borough police. (I do not intend to name the name of the
borough--whether Bursley, Hanbridge, Knype, Longshaw, or Turnhill. The
inhabitants of the Five Towns will know without being told; the rest of
the world has no right to know.) There had recently occurred a somewhat
thrilling series of burglaries in the district, and the burglars (a
gang of them was presumed) had escaped the solicitous attentions of the
police. But on the previous afternoon an underling of Mr Bourne's had
caught a man who was generally believed to be wholly or partly
responsible for the burglaries. The Five Towns breathed with relief and
congratulated Mr Bourne; and Mr Bourne was well pleased with himself.
The Staffordshire Signal headed the item of news, 'Smart Capture of a
Supposed Burglar'. The supposed burglar gave his name as William Smith,
and otherwise behaved in an extremely suspicious manner.

Now, Sir Jee, sitting as chief magistrate in the police-court, actually
dismissed the charge against the man! Overruling his sole colleague on
the Bench that morning, Alderman Easton, he dismissed the charge
against William Smith, holding that the evidence for the prosecution
was insufficient to justify even a remand. No wonder that Mr Bourne was
discouraged, not to say angry. No wonder that that pillar of the law,
Mr Sherratt, was pained and shocked. At the conclusion of the case Si