"What do you want to see that for?" he asked shortly.

"I want to see who have been taken," his wife said. "There is no secret about it, I suppose?"

"No, there is no secret," the mayor replied. "According to the act of parliament and the request of her majesty's minister I drew up a list of fifty of the most useless and disreputable of the inhabitants of this town, and I rejoice to say that the place is rid of them all. The respectable citizens are all grateful to me for the manner in which I have fulfilled the task laid upon me, and as to the clamor of a few angry women, it causes me not a moment's annoyance."

"I don't know why you are telling me all this, Richard," his wife said calmly. "I did not cast any reflections as to the manner in which you made your choice. I only said I wished to see the list."

"I do not see that the list concerns you," the mayor said. "Why do you wish to see it?"

"I wish to see it, Richard, because I suspect that the name of my Cousin Jack Stilwell is upon it."