“That he has, sir,” said Evans, grinning out in return. “Bless you, his reverence is not the one to ask a poor man to stand any pain he daren't face himself.”
“There, there, we don't want to hear about his reverence,” said his reverence very sharply. “Mr. Hawes says it is not torture, and therefore he won't face it. 'It is too laughable and painless for me,' says slippery Mr. Hawes. 'It is torture, and therefore I won't face it,' says the more logical Mr. Evans. But we can cut this knot for you, Mr. Lacy. There are in this dungeon a large body of men so steeped in misery, so used to torture for their daily food, that they will not be so nice as Messrs. Hawes and Evans. 'Fiat experimentum in corpore vili.' Follow me, sir; and as we go pray cast your eyes over the prison rules, and see whether you can find 'a punishment-jacket.' No, sir, you will not find even a Spanish collar, or a pillory, or a cross, far less a punishment-jacket which combines those several horrors.”
Mr. Hawes hung back and begged a word with the justices. “Gentlemen, you have always been good friends to me—give me a word of advice, or at least let me know your pleasure. Shall I resign—shall I fling my commission in this man's face who comes here to usurp your office and authority?”
“Resign! Nonsense!” said Mr. Williams. “Stand firm. We will stand by you, and who can hurt you then?”
“You are very good, sirs. Without you I couldn't put up with any more of this—to be baited and badgered in my own prison, after serving my queen so many years by sea and land.”
“Poor fellow!” said Mr. Woodcock.
“And how can I make head against such a man as Eden—a lawyer in a parson's skin, an orator too that has a hundred words to say to my one?”
“Let him talk till he is hoarse, we will not let him hurt you.”
“Thank you, gentlemen, thank you. Your wishes have always been my law. You bid me endure all this insolence; honored by your good opinion, and supported by your promise to stand by me, I will endure it.” And Mr. Hawes was seen to throw off the uneasiness he had put on to bind the magistrates to his defense.
“They are coming back again.”