"She didn't deserve it.

Consarn it, a woman's always doin' something to spoil things." And so he fared forth with his badges and stars, bent on duty, but not accomplishment.

All the town soon knew that he was following a clew, but all the town was at sea concerning its character, origin, and plausibility.

A dozen persons saw him stop young Mrs.Perkins in front of Lamson's store, and the same spectators saw his feathers droop as she let loose her wrath upon his head and went away with her nose in the air and her cheeks far more scarlet than when Boreas kissed them, and all in response to a single remark volunteered by the faithful detective.

He entered Lamson's store a moment later, singularly abashed and red in the face.
"Doggone," he observed, seeing that an explanation was expected, "she might 'a' knowed I was only foolin'." A few minutes later he had Alf Reesling, the town sot, in a far corner of the store talking to him in a most peremptory fashion.