The constable was an imposing figure of a man, with a handsome stupid face, and a stolid deliberation of word and deed which gave an impression of artless but indefatigable vigilance. In reality the fellow had few inferiors in the parish. "For me?" and Carlton held out his hand as the other produced a paper. "For you an' me," said the constable, winking as he kept the paper to himself. And in an impressive voice he read out a warrant for the apprehension of the Reverend Robert Carlton, Clerk in Holy Orders, on a charge of unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to the parish church of Long Stow, in the County of Suffolk, on the night of the 24th or the morning of the 25th June, in the year of grace 1882; the warrant was signed by two justices--Sir Wilton Gleed of Long Stow Hall, and Canon Wilders of Lakenhall. "Like to see it for yourself?" inquired Frost. "No, thank you; that's quite enough for me. Well, upon my word!" And Carlton stood staring into space, a glitter in his eyes, a smile upon his lips, incapable of unmixed indignation: really, Sir Wilton was a better fighter than he had supposed. "You will have to come with me to Lakenhall," said the constable's voice. Carlton realised the situation. "To-night?" "At once, sir, if _you_ please. They've sent a trap for us from Lakenhall. That's waiting at the gate." The mason's axe was still in his hand, the unfinished stone at his feet. Carlton looked wistfully from one to the other, and thence in appeal to the officer of the law. "I say, Frost, is there any hurry for a quarter of an hour? I'd--I'd give a sovereign to finish this stone!" Virtue blazed in the constable's face. "You don't bribe _me_, sir!" he cried. "I'm ashamed of you, I am, for tryin' that on! No, Mr. Carlton, you've got to come straight away." "But surely I may change first?" "You'll have to be quick, and I'll have to come with you." "Is that necessary?" asked Carlton with some heat, as he flung his tools under cover. "That's left to me, sir, and I don't trust no gentleman in his dressing-room. My orders are to take you alive, Mr. Carlton." Carlton was upon him in two strides. "Very well," said he, "you shall; and you shall come upstairs and see me change. But address another word to me at your peril!" A small crowd had collected at the gate; a Lakenhall policeman was waiting in the trap. Carlton came down the drive with his long coat flying and his head thrown back. Somehow he was allowed to depart without a groan. On the way he never spoke, and something kept the constables from speaking before him. They had a slow horse; it was nearly an hour before Carlton saw the inside of a police-station for the first time in his life. Here he was formally charged by a portly inspector with whom he had some slight acquaintance; the charge concluded with the usual warning that anything he said might be given in evidence against him. "I hear," said Carlton. "And now?" The inspector shrugged his personal regret.