No mere street-guard, the Kingsman was outfitted in armor and girded with a sword, and over every leather strap and belt the words of the law were pressed. The idea was to remind any who might harbor certain ideas that when a Kingsman became involved, he was girded with the law and the steel to back it up.

Still guttersnipes liked to joke that the Kingsmen were so staid and rulebound that they needed a dictionary to get dressed in the morning.

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