does wot he does about you, it's through me, and he'll sit
innercent like by the fire twiddlin' of his thumbs, and talkin'
of the weather. Master would be crafty as an old fox if he weren't
stupid as an owl. I can't think how he can have allowed himself to
get so much into Polly's power. It is so; and when he wants to do
a thing without her knowin', he has to do it underhand ways. Well,
he thort if he let our 'oss and trap go, as Polly'd be suspectin'
something, and Polly's terrible set against you. So he told me to
take a holiday and visit a dyin' aunt, and borrow old Clutch and a
trap from the Angel at Gorlmyn. Clutch have been there all along,
ever since your affair. There's no keepin' him away. So I came
here; and won'erful slow Clutch was. When I came to Kingston I put
up at the Sun, and sez I to the ostler: Be there a good lawyer
hereabouts, think you? 'Well,' sez he, 'I'm a stranger to Kingston.
I were born and bred at Cheam, but I was ostler first in Chertsey,
and then for six months at Twickenham. But there's a young woman
I'm courtin', I think she does the washin' for a soort of a lawyer
chap, and I'll ax she at my dinner time.' So he did, and he came
back and told me as the gal sed her master was a lawyer. She didn't
think much of the missus, she was mean about perquisates, but the
master was decent enough, and never came pokin into the kitchen
except when he wanted to have his socks dried. So I reckon he'll do
the job for you. Well, I gave that there ostler threepence, and
axed him to do me the favor of tellin' that there lawyer that I'd
be glad to stand him a glass o' ale if he'd step over to the bar
of the Angel. I'd got a bit of business I wanted to consult him
about. Well, he came, affable enough, and I told him all--as how I
wanted him to defend you, and get you out of this tidy hobble you
was in, and wot it 'ud cost. Then he thought a bit, and said that
he could get up the case, but must engage counsel. He was only a
turnkey, or some name like that; I sed, sed I, he was to manage
all, and he might take it or lump it on these terms: Five and
twenty pounds if he got you off clear, and if he didn't, and you
was hanged, then nuthin'."

Joe smiled and rubbed his hands in self-satisfaction. Then he
continued: "You know the master stands behind me. He'll find the
money, so long as Polly don't know; but he thort, and so does I,
as it could be done cheapest if I took it on me. So I sed to the
lawyer chap, who