"Sergeant Watters!" Mr Beaumont grasped Watters"s hand. "Thank God you"ve come, man. It"s Amy!"
Beaumont was dishevelled, with no tie at his neck and his waistcoat incorrectly buttoned. He held a bandana handkerchief in his hand, which he alternately squeezed and wrapped around his knuckles.
"Is she badly hurt?" Watters asked. "Where is she?" Watters instinctively fingered his neck for there was a great spate of garrotting attacks across the country. It was common practice for a pair of assailants to approach their victim from behind, and while one slipped a noose around his or her neck, the other would bludgeon them into submission.
"I sent her to her bed, Mr Watters, as soon as she arrived, and she lies there still, all a-swoon; I shouldn"t wonder. Oh dear Lord, I wish her mother was
