"Oal gone to slaip, sur. They've been braave and noisy, but they be oal right now."
"You have an empty cell?"
"Iss, Mr. Lethbridge, there es wawn."
"Open it."
A few seconds later I had entered an evil-smelling hole, which as far as I could see was about eight feet square and five feet high. On one side was a heap of straw, in another a bench.
"Are you hungry?" asked the man called Lethbridge.
"I was before I entered this hole," I replied. "I cannot eat here."
"There have been as good as you who have eaten there," he replied. Then, after hesitating a second, he went on, "You would like to pay for a decent supper I expect."
"For the whole lot of you if we can have a clean place," was my answer.