did, it was so mixed up with my dreams that
it was .'mother long period before 1 became
thoroughly conscious that there was anybody
knocking. As I sleep lower down in the
house than anyone eke, I was luckily the
only person disturbed. So I shuffled on a
dressing-gown and tottered down stairs,
trembling all over with cold and fear. My
brother had been out that night, assisting at
a call party of a very old iriend who had just
done eating his way to the Bar, so I was
dreadfully alarmed lest some accident should
have happened to him, and ran down without
a light to open the door. When I saw the
policeman's glazed hat and his enormous
figure (he was such a very tall policeman) I
felt at once that it was no matter in which
my brother was concerned, and asked, as
quickly as I could, whether it was a fire or
thieves.

"Don't be alarmed," said the tall policeman,
whose gigantic figure had darkened the
doorway, but who was now standing on the
mat, " Don't be alarmed, ma'am," he said,
reassuring me by those words which are
always so soothing and quieting, " I called to
mention that my mate, who is on duty in
Backwood Square, saw a party letting
himself into this house with a false key at a
quarter past one o'clock this morning."

"That was my brother," I said, thanking
the officer for the trouble he had taken.

The tall policeman did not seem satisfied,
and asked me to go upstairs and see if it
really was my brother. This, however, I
would not do, for I knew how valuable sleep
was to one who worked so hard as dear
Columbus. Besides, it occurred to me that
as it was then a quarter to three, and the
incident of the false key had happened at a
quarter past one, the danger (supposing there
had ever been any) would be over now. So,
as I expressed my perfect conviction that
everything was safe, and declined to call up
the cook that she might go over the house
with the tall policeman who seemed quite
anxious that I should do this he went away.
I remember that he seemed quite reluctant
to leave us unprotected, and that the poor
fellow, as he was lingering at the door, said
that it was a dreadful cold morning, and that
the cold always settled upon his stomach
like ice.

"Do, for goodness gracious sake, get yourself
a cup of hot coffee," I said, as I ran into
the parlour, and taking a shilling off the
chimney-piece, put it into his hand. Poor
man! How I pitied him. And I had plenty
of time to do so, for I had had such a fright
that I could not get to sleep again, and laid
awake till daylight.

I was relating this little anecdote, as
illustration of the vigilance and fidelity of the
police, to Mr. and Mrs. Dunny, on the evening
when the conversation which I have already
reported took place, and we were all agreeing
as to its being a very comforting and
reassuring instance of the care taken of us by
this watchful force, when my brother
suddenly broke out again.

"I am very sorry, my dear Bridget," he
said, " that you did not mention this to me
before, as I would most certainly— if it was
only for the sake of others—have represented
the whole thing to the Commissioners of
Police, who, I must say, are always ready to
attend to one's complaints, and to make
inquiry into the cause of them. The wits of
police constables are singularly sharpened in
the matter of discerning causes for a night
alarm. They will call one up to fasten the
lock of some window which it would take a
scaffolding to get near, or find, wherever they
can, some equally shallow pretext for
disturbing a household, that they may have a
little change in the tediousness of their night
patrol — that they may show their importance,
hear themselves talk, and haply retire, after
a little comfortable gossip, with a glass of
brandy and water in their stomachs, or the
shilling which represents it, in their pockets.
I have a poor opinion of these gentlemen..
They are continually to be found at night in.
very safe and public places in knots of three
or four together, talking; they are very slow
to interfere in cases of cruelty or danger, but
are heroic in driving about small boys and
orange-women. It is never a wise or safe
proceeding to put arbitrary authority and
power in the hands of the lower classes: and
it is my opinion that the great source of all
the defects which characterise our police
system lies in the manner in which they are
officered. It seems to me, after careful
consideration of the subject, that the plan
adopted in the army in this matter should be
tried in reference to the police, nor can I see
any earthly obstacle to this. You have
already in this force a number of sergeants
and inspectors— an admirable arrangement
as far as it goes—but it does not go far
enough. These are but what the
non-cornmissioued officers are in the army and navy.
It is, I repeat it,  not enough. I think we
shall never have a well administered police
system till gentlemen hold commissions in
the police as they do in the army. And why
not ? I am. at a loss for words to express
how firmly I believe what I said just now,
that it is unsafe to put power into the hands
of uneducated men. Of course, in the case
of the police this cannot, to a certain extent,
be helped; but you may infinitely decrease
the inevitable faults of the system by the
plan I have mentioned. Once let the men
feel that an officer of a class and rank
altogether removed from their own may come
upon them, in making his rounds, at any
moment, and from that time I believe that
you would find a great change for the better
in the Metropolitan Police Force. I believe
too, that these commissions would soon be
eagerly coveted by young gentlemen who
were entering life, and that it would very