"Found, A Purse.--Owner may have it by giving description and paying the cost of this advertisement.--Apply to 25, Bangley Gardens, S.W."
"It's too vague," objected the constable.
"I purposely made it as vague as I could, thinking that if I left all the details to be filled in I should render it certain that it could only be claimed by the actual owner, and, to make sure it should be claimed by him, I had it inserted in all the morning papers."
The constable smiled the smile of superiority.
"If you had let me know what you had done I'd have sent my men down in time to protect you. A vague advertisement like that appearing in all the papers is bound to attract the attention of half the riffraff of London, who are always ready for a little game of trying it on, not to speak of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who are losing their purses every day."
"I have discovered that fact--a day after the affair."
"You ought to have taken it at once to a police-station. Everyone ought to take the things they find. It would save them a lot of bother."
"That, also, I perceive too late. I was under a different impression at first. I know better now. Perhaps you will allow me to repair my error and confide it to your keeping at this, the eleventh hour. Then I shall have pleasure in referring all further applicants to you."
As he placed the purse in the inside pocket of his tunic the sergeant grinned.
"Don't think you'll get rid of them by giving it to me now, because you won't. Look at the street. There's a pretty sight for you."