5 

 5? 



THE THIEF AND POACHER. 91 



wliicli kindness and reward can be effective. I 

 shall not easily forget the indignation of an 

 lionest ^Har," then in the Preventive Service, 

 when, as he sat on the ste]3s of a bathing-machine 

 ^'look-out" glass in hand, a ^^Drusilla Clack 

 like lady, a miss, though old, and very much 

 amiss in the direction of her parochial preachings, 

 came suddenly upon him and thrust a little book 

 into his hand. The man-of-war's-man saw and 

 recognized the donor of the book, touched his 

 hat, and began to look it over for '^ the picters." 

 In doing so, the fly-leaf of the book escaped his 

 observation, till, having ascertained that there 

 were no '^picters,'' it caught his eye. On it, 

 in large characters, obtrusively written in the 

 lady's hand, were these words — ^^ Sinner , this is 

 for thee." 



His spell of duty being over, he shut up his 

 glass with an emphatic slap, and, sliding furiously 

 from the steps of the machine into the sand, he 

 strode, or rather rolled angrily away, direct for 

 the front door of the liouse whence this dis- 

 criminating philanthropist had emerged to per- 

 form her so-called Christian duties. Covert ap- 

 proaches and back doors were no longer to be 



