Cheetham lowered his voice. “I've had hell inside me ever since. I thought I was a man, but they made a mouse of me. If you know any way to beat them, I'll go in with you.”
“Well, sir, there is a key to every lock.”
“That is well said, and I believe it; but one can't always find the key.”
“I almost think I have, sir.”
“See nobody is listening. Where is Bayne? He is due.”
“Oh, he is not very well, sir; and I was to ask you for an hour's absence.”
“Let him have the whole afternoon. I'll not have a soul in this but us two. Now come close, and tell me.”
They sat opposite each other, and put their heads together over the table, and the following dialogue passed almost in a whisper. To see them, you would have thought they were conspiring against the law, instead of combining to hide a lawful act from the violaters of the law.
“I can forge the blades a dozen miles from Hillsborough.”
“Not you; you will be told of. That won't do.”