alone,
and where he writes his letters and transacts business, and that he
observed him, more than once, peruse attentively papers that seemed
to be of importance, for, after reading them, he would lay them
down and walk, as if disturbed or doubtful in mind, up and down the
room; and these papers he placed, when he had done with them, in
the bottom drawer of a desk in his cabinet, the said desk being
always carefully locked by him.

"That is all that I learnt from Lancaster, save that instructions
have been given that no pains should be spared to secure the
persons of those engaged in the plot, and that a special watch was
to be set at the northern ports, lest they should, finding their
guilt discovered, try to escape from the kingdom. So you see that
your good father, Sir Marmaduke, is in a state of sore peril, and
that the rest of us, including yourself, will be in a like strait
if they can lay hands on us."

"But it is all false!" Charlie exclaimed. "It is a lie from
beginning to end."

"That is so, but we cannot prove it. The matter is so cunningly
laid, I see no way to pick a hole in it. We are Jacobites, and as
such long regarded as objects of suspicion by the Whig magistrates
and others. There have been other plots against William's life, in
which men of seeming reputation have been concerned. This man's
story will be confirmed by the man who set him on, and by other
hidden papers, if necessary. As to the discovery of the documents,
we may know well enough that the fellow himself put them there, but
we have no manner of proof of it. It is evident that there is
nothing for us but to leave the country, and to await the time when
the king shall have his own again. My other friends, who were with
me this afternoon when the news came from Lancaster, all agreed
that it would be throwing away our lives to stay here. We all have
money by us, for each has, for years, laid by something for the
time when money will be required to aid the king on his arrival.

"Having agreed to take this course, we drew up a document, which we
all signed, and which will be sent in when we have got clear away.
In it we declare that being informed that accusations of being
concerned in a plot against the life of William of Orange have been
brought against us, we declare solemnly before God that we, and
also Sir Marmaduke Carstairs and his son, are wholly innocent of
the charge, and that, although we do not hesitate to declare that
we co