This fellow-voyager proved to be no less a person than the parish
constable. It had occurred to me that in a district which was so
little populous and so well wooded, a criminal of any intelligence
might play hide-and-seek with the authorities for months; and this
idea was strengthened by the aspect of the portly constable as he
walked by my side with deliberate dignity and turned-out toes. But a
few minutes' converse set my heart at rest. These rural criminals
are very tame birds, it appeared. If my informant did not
immediately lay his hand on an offender, he was content to wait; some
evening after nightfall there would come a tap at his door, and the
outlaw, weary of outlawry, would give himself quietly up to undergo
sentence, and resume his position in the life of the country-side.
Married men caused him no disquietude whatever; he had them fast by
the foot. Sooner or later they would come back to see their wives, a
peeping neighbour would pass the word, and my portly constable would
walk quietly over and take the bird sitting. And if there were a few
who had no particular ties in the neighbourhood, and preferred to
shift into another county when they fell into trouble, their
departure moved the placid constable in no degree.
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