"Rosanna Spearman is simply an instrument in the hands of another person, and Rosanna Spearman will be held harmless for that other person's sake." He spoke like a man in earnest--there was no denying that.

Still, I felt something stirring uneasily against him in my mind.

"Can't you give that other person a name ?" I said.
"Can't you, Mr.Betteredge ?" "No." Sergeant Cuff stood stock still, and surveyed me with a look of melancholy interest.
"It's always a pleasure to me to be tender towards human infirmity," he said.

"I feel particularly tender at the present moment, Mr.Betteredge, towards you.

And you, with the same excellent motive, feel particularly tender towards Rosanna Spearman, don't you?
Do you happen to know whether she has had a new outfit of linen lately ?" What he meant by slipping in this extraordinary question unawares, I was at a total loss to imagine.