 She
had been cheated, had she paid but a farthing for it; that she paid
her soul, and her child’s, argueth that she is mad; if she is mad she
knoweth not what she doth, therefore sinneth not.”

The elderly heads nodded recognition of Tom’s wisdom once more, and one
individual murmured, “An’ the King be mad himself, according to report,
then is it a madness of a sort that would improve the sanity of some I
wot of, if by the gentle providence of God they could but catch it.