Childermass resists the urge to roll his eyes himself. He is not one quite so easily played as Norrell himself, and he knows how a woman can use a couple well-timed tears to her advantage. He knows that there is a chance that she might be doing so now. But what he does not know is how to prove whether she is lying or not. Perhaps she cannot tell, for all her theatrics.

Childermass ignores the 'tears' and Mr Norrell's previous blustering (leading the witness indeed) and continues. "What is he after?" he asks, leaning forward again over the arm of her chair. "Who is this person to you, that you live in fear of him, so obliged to keep his secrets?" Tell me, every line of Childermass' person is nearly crying out with restrained force of will. He will find his answers, one way or another.