"Yes" said D'Ascoyne. "She came up before me and my fellow Justices in Quarter Sessions. Was stealing clothes from her mistress. I offered her the choice of participating in an experiment or being held over for Assizes. Judge Palliser."
Dashwood raised an eyebrow. "Palliser, eh? I've heard some of my less respectable associates call him 'the hangman's friend.'"
D'Ascoyne chuckled. "Apparently his reputation precedes him among thieving maidservants as well. She couldn't wait to agree to the experiment."
Dashwood ordered the manservant to bring her in. "Good lord, she's ugly" he remarked aside to D'Ascoyne, not bothering to lower his voice.
D'Ascoyne smirked. "Well. I was hardly going to waste a pretty one, was I? There are other uses for them."
"My lord" said the girl "What's going to happen to me?"
Dashwood grinned. "We like it to be a surprise. But don't worry, if all goes well, you should be moving up in the world."