catch his "pigeons"; she was the
well-dressed lady who ordered goods in London for her husband at
Canterbury, and paid half the price down, "which was all this letter
authorized her to do," and where a less beautiful or clever woman might
have failed, she succeeded. Her husband saw fortune before him,
and believed that, with common prudence, he might carry on his most
lucrative employment of "gentleman" until he chose to relinquish it.
Alas for human weakness! He one day did a foolish thing, and the law he
had so successfully defied got him in the simplest way imaginable.

Under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, John Rex and Sarah Purfoy
were living in quiet lodgings in the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury.
Their landlady was a respectable poor woman, and had a son who was a
constable. This son was given to talking, and, coming in to supper one
night, he told his mother that on the following evening an attack was
to be made on a gang of coiners in the Old Street Road. The mother,
dreaming all sorts of horrors during the night, came the next day to
Mrs. Skinner, in the parlour, and, under a pledge of profound secrecy,
told her of the dreadful expedition in which her son was engaged. John
Rex was out at a pigeon match with Lord Bellasis, and when he returned,
at nine o'clock, Sarah told him what she had heard.

Now, 4, Bank-place, Old Street Road, was the residence of a man named
Green, who had for some time carried on the lucrative but dangerous
trade of "counterfeiting". This man was one of the most daring of that
army of ruffians whose treasure chest and master of the mint was Blicks,
and his liberty was valuable. John Rex, eating his dinner more nervously
than usual, ruminated on the intelligence, and thought it would be
but wise to warn Green of his danger. Not that he cared much for
Green personally, but it was bad policy to miss doing a good turn to
a comrade, and, moreover, Green, if captured might wag his tongue too
freely. But how to do it? If he went to Blicks, it might be too late; he
would go himself. He went out--and was captured. When Sarah heard of the
calamity she set to work to help him. She collected all her money and
jewels, paid Mrs. Skinner's rent, went to see Rex, and arranged
his defence. Blicks was hopeful, but Green--who came very near
hanging--admitted that the man was an associate of his, and the
Recorder, being in a severe mood, transported him for seven years. Sarah
Purfoy vowed that she would f