the watches and other plunder in
your bedroom--or whether you escape trial for these offences. You
may be wanted for other, similar affairs."

"Yes, sir," Tony put in. "Now I see him, he answers exactly to the
description of a man the officers have been in search of, for a
long time. He goes by the name of Dick Cureton, and has been
engaged in at least a dozen highway robberies, to my knowledge."

"You see," Charlie went on, "there is no doubt whatever what will
happen, if we hand you over to the officers. You will be hung at
Tyburn, to a moral certainty. There is no getting out of that.

"Now, on the other hand, you have the alternative of making a clean
breast of your dealings with John Dormay, of how he put you at
Lynnwood to act as a spy, how you hid those two letters he gave you
in my father's cabinet, and how he taught you the lying story you
afterwards told before the magistrates at Lancaster. After having
this story written down, you will sign it in the presence of this
officer and his wife, and you will also repeat that story before
any tribunal before which you may be brought.

"I don't know whether this is a hanging matter, but, at any rate, I
can promise that you shall not be hung for it. The Duke of
Marlborough has taken the matter in hand, and will, I have no
doubt, be able to obtain for you some lesser punishment, if you
make a clean breast of it. I don't say that you will be let free.
You are too dangerous a man for that. But, at any rate, your
punishment will not be a heavy one--perhaps nothing worse than
agreeing to serve in the army. You understand that, in that case,
nothing whatever will be said as to your being Dick Cureton, or of
your connection with these last coach robberies. You will appear
before the court simply as Robert Nicholson, who, having met
Captain Jervoise and myself, felt constrained to confess the
grievous wrong he did to our fathers, and other gentlemen, at the
bidding of, and for money received from, John Dormay."

"I do not need any time to make up my mind," the highwayman said.
"I am certainly not going to be hung for the advantage of John
Dormay, who has paid me poorly enough, considering that it was
through me that he came into a fine estate. I take it that you give
me your word of honour, that if I make a clean breast of it, and
stick to my story afterwards, this other business shall not be
brought up against me."

"Yes, we both promise that on our word of honour."