Gideon's Vote [antikvár]

DISSOLUTION! iTheoretically a policeman, like a priest, should be above politics, or at least untouched by party politics, yet it is the policeman who is responsible for enforcing the laws made byIj-' .the politicians. Gideon, politically a middle-of-the-road man, 11' ^ who did not always agree with middle-of-the-road politicians, felt that the law which made civil servants political neuters was good in principle but as it affected the individual, quite i \ intolerable. In the course of most years, he could have made !i. half-a-dozen vigorously uncomplimentary speeches saying: , ,what he thought of members of Parliament and membersof the Government; when he did make them, however, it was'within the privacy of his home. His colleagues at New Scotland Yard might guess what he felt and how he would vote, but none of them could be sure.The Headquarters of the Metropolitan Police was, among ^ other things, a spawning ground for rumors. When Gideon reached his office just after nine o'clock on a clear, crisp October morning, the gleam in the bright eyes of Superintendent Lemaitre, his chief assistant and good friend, told of rumor or sensation."Morning, Lem." Gideon hung his gray trilby on a peg of the hatstand, eased his collar, and stepped across to the window. A sight of the Thames in sunshine always did him good, and this morning the stream of cars and people going over Westminster Bridge looked bright and eager and shiny in the sun. "Nice one, too.""If this is how you like 'em," said Lemaitre. He was a tall, angular man, almost scraggy about the neck, with thin fair hair brushed carefully to hide as much pate as possible, a bony nose and chin, a taste for bright ties and color in clothes. This morning his greeny-brown jacket hung on a hanger on the hatstand, his silk bow tie was made of green-and-white spots, and his white shirt could have been used as an example of perfection by any detergent manufacturer, Gideon turned to study him. 'mat's up, Lem?" "Haven't you heard?"