received a second blow in the eye during the course of his interview on
the road with Mike, was not feeling himself. Mistaking the other for an
enemy, he proceeded to smite him in the parts about the jaw. He had
just upset him, when a stern official voice observed, ''Ere, now,
what's all this?'

There is no more unfailing corrective to a scene of strife than the
'What's all this?' of the London policeman. Bill abandoned his
intention of stamping on the prostrate one, and the latter, sitting up,
blinked and was silent.

'What's all this?' asked the policeman again. Psmith, adjusting his hat
at the correct angle again, undertook the explanations.

'A distressing scene, officer,' he said. 'A case of that unbridled
brawling which is, alas, but too common in our London streets. These
two, possibly till now the closest friends, fall out over some point,
probably of the most trivial nature, and what happens? They brawl.
They--'

'He 'it me,' said the long youth, dabbing at his face with a
handkerchief and pointing an accusing finger at Psmith, who regarded
him through his eyeglass with a look in which pity and censure were
nicely blended.

Bill, meanwhile, circling round restlessly, in the apparent hope of
getting past the Law and having another encounter with Mike, expressed
himself in a stream of language which drew stern reproof from the
shocked constable.