Felix-Williams. Old Canon Kempe shrugged his shoulders; Admiral
Trewbody turned the pages of the Home Secretary's letter. They sat at
the baize-covered table in the Magistrates' Room--the last of the
Visiting Justices who met, under the old _regime_, to receive the
Governor's report and look after the welfare of the prisoners in
Tregarrick County Gaol.

"But why, in the name of common-sense?" Sir Felix persisted.

"I suppose," hazarded the Admiral, "it helps the police in identifying
criminals."

"But the letter says '_all_ the prisoners.' You don't seriously tell me
that anyone wants a photograph to identify Poacher Tresize, whom I've
committed a score of times if I've committed him once? And perhaps
you'll explain to me this further demand for a 'Composite Photograph' of
all the prisoners, male and female. A 'Composite Photograph!'--have you
ever seen one?"

"No," the Admiral mused; "but I see what the Home Office is driving at.
Someone has been persuading them to test these new theories in
criminology the doctors are so busy with, especially in Italy."

"In Italy!" pish'd Sir Felix Felix-Williams.

"My dear Sir Felix, science has no nationality." The Admiral was a
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and kept a microscope to amuse
his leisure.

"It has _some_ proper limits, I should hope," Sir Felix retorted.