Appreciatingthedistinguishedandgoodfriendofhiswife，andhimself，inthatway，theAssistantCommissionerbecamealarmedattheconvictMichaelis’spossiblefate。Oncearrestedonsuspicionofbeinginsomeway，howeverremote，apartytothisoutrage，themancouldhardlyescapebeingsentbacktofinishhissentenceatleast。Andthatwouldkillhim;hewouldnevercomeoutalive。TheAssistantCommissionermadeareflectionextremelyunbecominghisofficialpositionwithoutbeingreallycreditabletohishumanity。
`Ifthefellowislaidholdofagain，’hethought，`shewillneverforgiveme。’
Thefranknessofsuchasecretlyoutspokenthoughtcouldnotgowithoutsomederisiveself—criticism。Nomanengagedinaworkhedoesnotlikecanpreservemanysavingillusionsabouthimself。Thedistaste，theabsenceofglamour，extendfromtheoccupationtothepersonality。Itisonlywhenourappointedactivitiesseembyaluckyaccidenttoobeytheparticularearnestnessofourtemperamentthatwecantastethecomfortofcompleteself—deception。TheAssistantCommissionerdidnotlikehisworkathome。
Thepoliceworkhehadbeenengagedoninadistantpartoftheglobehadthesavingcharacterofanirregularsortofwarfareoratleasttheriskandexcitementofopen—airsport。Hisrealabilities，whichweremainlyofanadministrativeorder，werecombinedwithanadventurousdisposition。
Chainedtoadeskinthethickoffourmillionsofmen，heconsideredhimselfthevictimofanironicfate—thesame，nodoubt，whichhadbroughtabouthismarriagewithawomanexceptionallysensitiveinthematterofcolonialclimate，besidesotherlimitationstestifyingtothedelicacyofhernature—andhertastes。Thoughhejudgedhisalarmsardonicallyhedidnotdismisstheimproperthoughtfromhismind。