nd I think, although the little room had a
bed and a chair, he had stood upright in it all day, touching nothing.

But when I had him down to dinner, he touched a good deal, and told me,
in explanation, that the meal I gave him last night had been the first
for three days, and that, then, he was too eager for news to take all he
might.

When I told him of the hue and cry, and how near the watch was on the
scent, he turned to me and said:

"Where shall we go, Humphrey?"

Which meant, that wherever he went, he counted on me to follow. So I
told him of my errand to Rochelle, and of the _Misericorde_, which lay
below the Bridge. Then his face brightened.

"That is well," said he. "It matters not whether we go to France or the
Pole, so I breathe some freer air than this of England. Let us start
now. We must not go together. I will take the wherry while you go by
land."

"First," said I, "put on this cast-off suit of mine, which I thought to
give away to a beggar man, once; but thank Heaven I did not."

"You give it to a beggar now," said he, "and I thank you, Humphrey, for
a gift I never expected to take from you."

Then we hid the dead carter's clothes in the river; and, not long after,
a skiff put out from shore with a big 'prentice lad in it, who rowed
lazily Bridgewards.

I stood watching him, when, suddenly, the outer door opened, and a
company of the watch trooped in.

"Good e'en to you, Master Dexter," said the leader of them, whose head I
had once chanced to break, and who had been monstrous civil to me ever
since. "We must search this house, by your leave."

"What for?" I asked.

"For villains and lurchers," said he, "and if you keep any such in
hiding, you had best speak and save trouble."

"Wert thou not on a good service," said I, blustering, "I would knock
some of your heads together for supposing I harboured villains. The
only villains in this place are some of you, sirs. What do you take me
for?"

"Nevertheless," said the leader, "we must look round. And, if there be
naught to find, there is naught for thee to fear, Master Humphrey."

"You must bring twice your number before I shake in my shoes at you,"
said I. "Come, look where you will, and, when you have found them, I
pray you let me have a sight of the rogues." And I went on with my
printing.

Of course they found naught. But I, as I stood at the press, could see
from the window far down the river a boat lolling on the st