It was a high ideal; something warred against it which he could not understand, and his patience brought forth no mutual love.
When six months had passed away, Toyner had gained with his neighbours a character for austerity in his personal habits and constant companionship with the rough and the poor.

The post of constable fell vacant; Toyner's father had been constable in his youth; Toyner was offered the post now, and he took it.
The constable in such villages as Fentown was merely a respectable man who could be called upon on rare occasions to arrest a criminal.

Crime was seldom perpetrated in Fentown, except when it was of a nature that could be winked at.

Toyner had no uniform; he was put in possession of a pair of hand-cuffs, which no one expected him to use; he was given a nominal income; and the name of "constable" was a public recognition that he was reformed.
Toyner had had many scruples of mind before he took this office.

The considerations which induced him to accept it were various.