towards the King himself. His majesty promised this person
not to bring him forward in the business at all, and has refused to
give up his name, even to me. But his conviction of the truth of all
that was told was so strong, that the previous informer was sent for
last night at one o'clock to the palace at Kensington, to which place
I also had been summoned. The whole facts, the names, the designs of
everybody concerned, were then completely discovered, and I have been
busying myself ever since I rose, in adopting the proper measures for
arresting and punishing the persons directly implicated. Having
explained to you these views, I must now put my question again. Did
you see any one amongst these conspirators with whose person you were
acquainted? I only ask for my own satisfaction, and on every account
shall abstain from bringing your name forward, in the slightest
degree."
"There was only one person, my lord," replied Wilton, who had
listened with deep interest to this long detail; "there was only one
person, my lord, that I had ever knowingly seen before, and that was
Sir John Fenwick."
"I signed a warrant for his arrest half an hour ago," rejoined the
Earl, "and there are two Messengers seeking him at this moment. I
think you said you saw Sir George Barkley?"
"I cannot absolutely say that, my lord," replied Wilton; "but I
certainly saw a gentleman whom I believed, and most firmly do still
believe, to be him: he was a tall, thin, sinister-looking man, of a
somewhat saturnine complexion, with a deep scar on his cheek."
"The same, the same," said the Earl, "undoubtedly the same. Listen,
if you know any of these names;" and he read from a list--"Sir
William Parkyns, Captain Rookwood, Captain Lowick, Sir John Friend,
Charnock, Cranburne, the Earl of Aylesbury--"
"The Earl certainly was not there, my lord," replied Wilton; "for I
know him well by sight, and I saw no one, I can assure you, whom I
knew, but Sir John Fenwick."
"And this Plessis, at whose house you saw them," continued the
Earl--"did he seem to be taking a share in the business with them? He
is an old friend of mine, this Master Plessis; and obtains for me
some of the best information that I ever get from abroad. I do not
know what I should do without Plessis. He is the most useful man in
the world. We must let him off, at all events; but it will be no bad
thing to have a rope round his neck, either."
"I cannot say, my lord," replied Wilton, "that he took any part
whatsoever in the busi