rld," quietly remarked
Molly, with a curl of her pretty lip.

"Ah! Molly, dear, you are unjust. It is true I go to Scotland for an
illustration, but didn't I come to England for a wife? Now, don't go
frowning at that hole as if it couldn't be bridged over."

"It is the worst hole you ever made," said the despairing wife, holding
it up to view.

"You make a worsted hole of it then, Moll, and it'll be all right.
Besides, you don't speak truth, for I once made a worse hole in your
heart."

"You never did, sir. Go on with your stupid illustrations," said Molly.

"Well, then, let me see--where was I?"

"In Scotland, of course!"

"Ah, yes. The population of all Scotland is under four millions, and
that of London--that is, of the area embraced in the Metropolitan Police
District, is estimated at above four million seven hundred thousand--in
round numbers. Of course I give it you all in round numbers."

"I don't mind how round the numbers are, Giles, so long as they're all
square," remarked the little wife with much simplicity.

"Well, just think of that number for our army to watch over; and that
population--not all of it, you know, but part of it--succeeds--in spite
of us in committing, during one year, no fewer than 25,000 `Principal'
offences such as murders, burglaries, robberies, thefts, and such-like.
What they would accomplish if we were not ever on the watch I leave you
to guess.

"Last year, for instance, 470 burglaries, as we style house-breaking by
night, were committed in London. The wonder is that there are not more,
when you consider the fact that the number of doors and windows found
open by us at night during the twelve months was nearly 26,000. The
total loss of property by theft during the year is estimated at about
100,000 pounds. Besides endeavouring to check crime of such magnitude,
we had to search after above 15,000 persons who were reported lost and
missing during the year, about 12,000 of whom were children."

"Oh! the _poor_ darlings," said Molly, twisting her sympathetic
eyebrows.

"Ay, and we found 7523 of these darlings," continued the practical
Giles, "and 720 of the adults. Of the rest some returned home or were
found by their friends, but 154 adults and 23 children have been lost
altogether. Then, we found within the twelve months 54 dead bodies
which we had to take care of and have photographed for identification.
During the same period, (and remember that the record o