"
"Good! Then we may have an hour's peace. The town's astir, Rosmore;
there'll be great doings in Dorchester. Do you hear what that wag
Jeffreys has done? He has had the court hung with scarlet to mark the
occasion. He does not mean his lesson to die quickly out of the memory."
"That is what they mean, then, by 'Bloody Assizes.' I heard the name
whispered as I entered the town."
"Oh, they were quick enough to see that this was no ordinary
dispensation of law," laughed Marriott. "The dogs are sleepless and
trembling to-night, I warrant."
"Aye, it is certainly the King's turn now, and I would he were making
better use of his opportunity."
"What a glutton you are, Rosmore. There are over three hundred prisoners
in Dorchester alone."
"And most of them might be released," was the answer. "Such clemency
would do more for the King" than will be accomplished by this revengeful
spirit."
"Since when have you turned sentimental?"
"I think I was born with a horror of wholesale injustice."
Marriott laughed, then grew serious.
"We are old friends, Rosmore, and there is no danger in free speech
between us, but it would not be wise to say such things in the hearing
of Jeffreys.
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