a hundred pounds in my pocket," he would say;
"I shall spend that, and then I shan't last long." And though I never
thought him serious, his prophecy came true enough. Only a few
months before the end we had visited Tyburn together. With his usual
carelessness, he passed the line of constables who were on guard.

"It is very proper," said he, in his jauntiest tone, "that I should be a
spectator on this melancholy occasion." And though none of the dullards
took his jest, they instantly made way for him. For my Jack was always
a gentleman, though he was bred to the stable, and his bitterest enemy
could not have denied that he was handsome. His open countenance was
as honest as the day, and the brown curls over his forehead were more
elegant than the smartest wig. Wherever he went the world did him
honour, and many a time my vanity was sorely wounded. I was a pretty
girl, mind you, though my travels have not improved my beauty; and I had
many admirers before ever I picked up Jack Rann at a masquerade. Why,
there was a Templar, with two thousand a year, who gave me a carriage
and servants while I still lived at the dressmaker's in Oxford Street,
and I was not out of my teens when the old Jew in St. Mary Axe took me
into keeping. But when Jack was by, I had no chance of admiration. All
the eyes were glued upon him, and his poor doxy had to be content with
a furtive look thrown over a stranger's shoulder. At Barnet races, the
year before they sent me across the sea, we were followed by a crowd
the livelong day; and truly Jack, in his blue satin waistcoat laced with
silver, might have been a peer. At any rate, he had not his equal on the
course, and it is small wonder that never for a moment were we left to
ourselves.

'But happiness does not last for ever; only too often we were gravelled
for lack of money, and Jack, finding his purse empty, could do naught
else than hire a hackney and take to the road again, while I used to lie
awake listening to the watchman's raucous voice, and praying God to
send back my warrior rich and scatheless. So times grew more and more
difficult. Jack would stay a whole night upon the heath, and come home
with an empty pocket or a beggarly half crown. And there was nothing,
after a shabby coat that he hated half so much as a sheriff's officer.
"Learn a lesson in politeness," he said to one of the wretches who
dragged him off to the Marshalsea. "When Sir John Fielding's people come
after me they