John Tyrrell in kingdom
come if I do. My present plan, therefore, if it meets your concurrence,
would be to introduce your honour as the parson, and for you to receive
the confession, which, indeed, you might take down in writing. This
plan, I candidly confess, is not without great difficulty and some
danger; for I have not only to impose you upon Dawson as a priest, but
also upon Brimstone Bess as one of our jolly boys; for I need not tell
you that any real parson might knock a long time at her door before it
could be opened to him. You must, therefore, be as mum as a mole, unless
she cants to you, and your answers must then be such as I shall dictate,
otherwise she may detect you, and, should any of the true men be in the
house, we should both come off worse than we went in."

"My dear Mr. Job," replied I, "there appears to me to be a much easier
plan than all this; and that is, simply to tell the Bow-street officers
where Dawson may be found, and I think they would be able to carry him
away from the arms of Mrs. Brimstone Bess without any great difficulty
or danger."

Jonson smiled.

"I should not long enjoy my annuity, your honour, if I were to set the
runners upon our best hive. I should be stung to death before the week
was out. Even you, should you accompany me to-night, will never know
where the spot is situated, nor would you discover it again if you
searched all London, with the whole police at your back. Besides, Dawson
is not the only person in the house for whom the law is hunting--there
are a score others whom I have no desire to give up to the gallows--hid
among the odds and ends of the house, as snug as plums in a pudding. God
forbid that I should betray them, and for nothing too! No, your honour,
the only plan I can think of is the one I proposed; if you do not
approve of it, and it certainly is open to exception, I must devise some
other: but that may require delay."

"No, my good Job," replied I, "I am ready to attend you: but could
we not manage to release Dawson, as well as take his deposition?--his
personal evidence is worth all the written ones in the world."

"Very true," answered Job, "and if it be possible to give Bess the slip,
we will. However, let us not lose what we may get by grasping at what we
may not; let us have the confession first, and we'll try for the release
afterwards. I have another reason for this, Sir, which, if you knew as
much of penitent prigs as I do, you would easil