Page:Edgar Wallace - The Man who Knew.djvu/23

 Smith every week serves a double purpose. It is an opiate and a prophy—"

"Prophylactic," suggested the other.

"That 's the word," said John Minute. "I was never a whale at the long uns; when I was twelve I could n't write my own name, and when I was nineteen I used to spell it with two n's."

He chuckled again.

"Opiate and prophylactic," he repeated, nodding his head. "That 's Sergeant Smith. He is a dangerous devil because he is a rascal."

"Constable Wiseman—" began Jasper.

"Constable Wiseman," snapped John Minute, rubbing his hand through his rumpled gray hair, "is a dangerous devil because he 's a fool. What has Constable Wiseman been here about?"

"He did n't come here," smiled Jasper. "I met him on the road and had a little talk with him."

"You might have been better employed," said John Minute gruffly. "That silly ass has