"What do you mean?"
"There is generally a tender spot in a woman somewhere, and Mistress
Lanison may chance to find it in Harriet Payne."
"Mistress Payne is to be trusted, Watson. I'll see to that."
"She would turn her wits against you, my lord, if she thought she were deceived. That's as sure as the coming of the Sabbath."
"Do you suppose, Watson, I throw away the skin before I have used all the fruit? Send the girl to me to-night."
The men saluted and turned.
"And Watson, you might put a little misery into your face and commiserate with Mistress Lanison on her position. It might interest her to hear the story of Alice Lisle of Winchester. She is high-spirited, and I would have that spirit broken."
"I will play Jeremiah, sir, like any Puritan."
"And Sayers, keep your eyes open in Dorchester. Crosby and this fiddler are too cunning not to be dangerous. I warrant they are not far away from Mistress Lanison. By Heaven! if you let her slip through your fingers now, you shall suffer for it!"
Bloody Assizes! Along West Street the name travelled to the "Anchor Inn," that hostelry of mean repute in Dorchester, and to a small upper room where three men sat. They leaned towards each other as they spoke.