taken of this by a man, who
hoped to profit largely by their ruin, especially by that of my
father. In order to bring this about, he recommended this fellow we
are in search of to my father, who happened, at the time, to be in
want of a servant.

"The fellow undoubtedly acted as a spy, for I once caught him at
it. But spying alone would have been of no use, for there was
nothing at any time said that would have brought harm upon them.
They simply discussed what thousands of other people have
discussed, the measures that should be taken on behalf of the
Stuarts, if one of them came over from France supported by a French
force. The fellow, however, swore that the object of these meetings
was to arrange for an assassination of William. He gave full
details of the supposed plot, and in order to give substance to his
statements, he hid, in a cabinet of my father's, a number of
compromising papers, professing to be letters from abroad.

"These were found by the officers sent to arrest my father. He and
his five friends managed to escape, but their estates were
forfeited. Of course, what we want to prove is the connection
between this spy and his employer, who, for his services in
bringing this supposed plot to light, received as a reward my
father's estates. There is no way of doing this, unless this man
can be brought to confess his own villainy in the matter of the
letters, and to denounce the scoundrel whose agent he was.
Probably, by this time, he has got nearly all he can expect from
his employer, and will at least feel no scruples in exposing him,
if by so doing he can save his own neck.

"Now, we have not only discovered the man, but have found out that
he is a notorious highwayman, and the leader of a gang; but more, I
have found out the day and hour on which he proposes to stop and
rob the North coach."

"Well, Mr. Carstairs, if you have done that," the man said, "you
have done marvels. That you should find the man might be a piece of
good luck, but that you should have learned all this about him
seems to me wonderful."

"It was a lucky accident, altogether. We saw him, watched him, and
managed to overhear a conversation from which we gathered these
facts. It was all simple enough. Of course, our idea is that we
should, if possible, catch him in the act of robbing the coach,
bind and take charge of him, saying that we should hand him over to
justice, when the coachman and passengers would, of course, appear