On the narrow street known as the Drimps lived a blind tallow maker who always slept with his shutters open. When Toke visited him the next morning, he was able to recall that, a little after second bell, he had heard half a dozen men moving with haste along the Drimps, and down Strangeway.

When Toke heard this, his eyes glittered. Strangeway was a crooked, covered alley which led all the way to the city wall, and emerged opposite a tavern called the Gray Mastiff.

The Gray Mastiff was famed throughout Mandelion for the quality of the “beast fights” held within its walls every fortnight. For some time, however, Mabwick Toke had suspected that the Gray Mastiff was also used secretly as a Locksmith meeting place and safe house. Several known Locksmiths had been seen to congregate there every time a beast fight was held, and Aramai Goshawk’s supercilious silhouette had been glimpsed at one of the upper windows.

“They’re not taking him to the Duke, after all. Not straightaway, anyway. This man Pertellis is hidden there, I’d stake my wig on it,” Toke muttered to himself as a sedan took him back to the Telling Word. “But how to tweak him out?”

Toke had no men who could pick a lock or scale a wall the way Goshawk’s underlings could. But did he need them? He had enough evidence to draw up a warrant for Pertellis’s arrest. Could he not send his men into the Gray Mastiff with the warrant and have them boldly arrest the man and walk out with him?

Toke’s eyes became sharp and hard as another idea occurred to him.

“The Duke wants to believe in a radical conspiracy against him, does he?” he murmured speculatively. “Well, let him! I shall make this Pertellis out to be the leader of the conspiracy, the owner of this demon printing press, and chief enemy of the Twin Queens, whether he is or isn’t. Then I shall have my men march in and arrest him on the night of the next beast fight, when the Locksmiths have their meeting in the Gray Mastiff. I’ll make sure my men bring a constable with them, so he’ll see the ‘radical leader’ ringed around with Locksmiths. Let’s see how much the Duke trusts Mr. Goshawk once he hears reports that the Locksmiths have been discovered hiding the leader of the radicals from the forces of justice . . .”

The Locksmiths would be disgraced but, importantly, they would not be arrested. None of them would be placed in danger, and so nobody could accuse Toke of breaking the Guildsmen’s Rules.