'Well, you see, that Probus pulls the strings and sets Merridew's arms and legs at work, and Merridew has all the rogues under his thumb. Now you understand why the position is serious.' She considered for a few minutes. 'Will,' she said, 'for sure they will talk it over at the Black Jack. When anything is arranged it is generally done in the kitchen and in the morning.' She looked at the clock. 'It is now nearly one. If I were to go round!' She considered again. 'Doll will be there. They may be there too. But this time they must not recognise me. Wait a bit, Will.' She left me and presently came back dressed, not as an Orange Girl, but as a common person, such as one may see anywhere in St. Giles's. She had on a linsey woolsey frock: a dirty white apron all in holes: a kerchief round her neck: another over her head tied under her chin: a straw hat also tied under her chin: and woollen mittens on her hands. One cheek was smudged as by a coal, and her left eye was blackened: no one would have recognised her. On her arm she carried a basket carefully covered up. 'Now,' she said, 'I'm a woman with a basket full of stolen goods for Mother Wilmot.' I let her out by the garden-door which opened on to Hog's Lane. Presently she returned: from what she told me, this was what passed. She found her mother nodding over knitting, and her sister Doll busy with the slate. The kitchen was well-nigh empty because most of the frequenters were abroad picking up their living. Like the sparrows they pick it up as they can from pockets and doorways and from shop bulks. 'Doll,' she whispered. 'Pretend not to know me. Turn over the things in the basket.' 'What is it, Jenny?' She looked round the room. There were only two or three sitting by the fire. 'No one who knows me,' she said. 'Tell me, Doll. Has Mr. Merridew been here--and when?' 'Why, he's only just gone. Him and the Bishop--and the Captain--and another one--a gentleman he looked like. All in black.' 'All in black? Was he tall and thin and stooping? So?' 'Yes. They've been talking over it all the morning.' 'What is it, Doll? You've got ears like gimlets. I sometimes think it must be pleasant to be able to hear so much that goes on.' 'I can hear a thing if I like. The Bishop don't like it, Jenny.' She dropped her voice. 'It's business for getting a man out of the way. They'll have to give evidence at the Old Bailey, and he's afraid.' 'How is the man to be put out of the way?' 'I don't know. There's money on it. But they're afraid.' 'Why are they afraid?' 'Because they're going to make a man swing. If he doesn't swing, they will.' 'I suppose it's an innocent man, Doll.'