While still laughing he moved on; but he did not laugh long.

It was a sad-faced, miserable little man who emerged from the narrow passage into the bustle of the broad thoroughfare.

He walked with the nerveless gait of a tramp going on, still going on, indifferent to rain or sun in a sinister detachment from the aspects of sky and earth.

Chief Inspector Heat, on the other hand, after watching him for a while, stepped out with the purposeful briskness of a man disregarding indeed the inclemencies of the weather, but conscious of having an authorised mission on this earth and the moral support of his kind.

All the inhabitants of the immense town, the population of the whole country, and even the teeming millions struggling upon the planet, were with him--down to the very thieves and mendicants.
Yes, the thieves themselves were sure to be with him in his present work.
The consciousness of universal support in his general activity heartened him to grapple with the particular problem.
The problem immediately before the Chief Inspector was that of managing the Assistant Commissioner of his department, his immediate superior.
This is the perennial problem of trusty and loyal servants; anarchism gave it its particular complexion, but nothing more.