Noah's lanthorn
had fallen on Hamilton's face, and Frances had recognized the man of whom
she had been thinking and dreaming all day.

I did not know, however, till long afterwards that she had seen him, nor
did he suspect that she was in the coach.

When Hamilton and Churchill came up to the robbers, Hamilton asked:--

"What was the trouble?"

"The damned old fool in the coach shot at me," answered Crofts.

"How came he to do it?" asked Churchill, suspecting the truth.

"I do not know," returned Wentworth. "He must have taken us for
highwaymen, for he thrust his head out of the door and fired a pistol at
Crofts, who was nearest the coach."

"Yes," said Crofts. "And he was about to fire again, point blank at my
head, when I drew my sword and quieted him. Matters have come to a pretty
pass when gentlemen can't walk out on the public road without becoming a
target for every frightened fool that travels in a coach. I'll learn who
this fellow is, and will see that he becomes acquainted with the interior
of Newgate or dangles to a rope on Tyburn."

"Shall we declare the wager off?" asked Wentworth, turning to Churchill
and Hamilton.

"By all means," answered Churchill.

All being willing to return, they started back to London, Wentworth,
Berkeley, and Crofts falling behind. The story they had told was not
convincing, but when Hamilton expressed his doubts to Churchill and
intimated his belief that a robbery, if not a murder, had been committed,
Churchill answered cautiously:--

"Perhaps you are right, but the less we know or think or say about this
affair, the better it will be for you and me. As for myself, I shall
leave London for a while to avoid being called as a witness in case the
matter is investigated. If we try to bring these fellows to justice, they
may turn upon us and swear that we did the deed, in which case we might
hang, for they are three to two; a good preponderance of testimony. But
in any case the king would see that no evil befell his son and his
friends. Therefore if we are wise, we shall remain silent and take
ourselves out of the way for the time being."

The next day, as I afterwards learned, George made the mistake of
returning to France, not that he feared punishment for himself, but
because he did not want to speak the unavailing truth and thereby bring
upon himself the king's wrath, nor did he want to bear false witness to
protect the criminals.

Near the hour of ten o'clock that