"And if he will not expound?"
"The deputy governor of the Tower will lend me a stone dungeon, and, if need be, the use of the brake to unlock the dotard's tongue."
"On what plea?"
"That Adam Warner is a wizard, in the pay of Lord Warwick, whom a more mighty master like myself alone can duly examine and defeat."
"And if I bring thee the sorcerer, what wilt thou teach me in return?"
"What desirest thou most?"
Graul mused, and said, "There is war in the wind. Graul follows the camp, her trooper gets gold and booty. But the trooper is stronger than Graul; and when the trooper sleeps it is with his knife by his side, and his sleep is light and broken, for he has wicked dreams. Give me a potion to make sleep deep, that his eyes may not open when Graul filches his gold, and his hand may be too heavy to draw the knife from its sheath!"
"Immunda, detestabilis! thine own paramour!"
"He hath beat me with his bridle rein, he hath given a silver broad piece to Grisell; Grisell hath sat on his knee; Graul never pardons!"
The friar, rogue as he was, shuddered. "I cannot help thee to murder,
I cannot give thee the potion; name some other reward."