ere uncovered, the jostling
and wrangling ceased, and order prevailed.

The judge, Lord Justice Gascoigne, entered and took his seat. He was a
grave, quiet man, but there was something in his look so dignified and
so firm, that it awed into respectful silence all within that place as
if by a spell. Then he said--"Bring hither the prisoner."

All eyes turned now to the door by which the officer of the court went
out to obey the order.

Presently it swung back, and there entered, between two jailors, a man
of dissipated appearance and reckless demeanour, whose flushed cheeks
and extravagant attire told only too plainly their own sad tale of
intemperance and debauchery.

He regarded with an indifferent look judge, jury, and the crowd which
his trial had drawn together, and took his place at the bar rather with
the air of a man harassed and ill-used than of one guilty and overawed.

The trial began. The story of the man's crime was a short and simple
one. He had been ringleader in a highway robbery lately committed, and
taken in the very act, with the booty upon his person. The evidence was
clear as daylight; no one attempted to dispute it or deny the
accusation.

Was this, then, all that had brought the assembly together? The man was
of a name known to comparatively few of those present. His crime was an
ordinary felony, and his defence appeared to be hopeless. It was
evidently something else than this for which these onlookers had crowded
into court, and it was not long before their curiosity was satisfied.

A witness stood forward to be questioned as to the associates of the
prisoner. He gave several names, and then stopped.

"Have no others joined him in these expeditions?" inquired the judge.

The witness hesitated.

"The law requires that you shall tell the whole truth," calmly said the
judge. "Have no others joined the prisoner in these expeditions?"

Then the truth came out.

"The Prince Henry of Wales has borne the prisoner company on divers
occasions."

What! A Prince of Wales, the coming King of England, implicated in a
disgraceful, discreditable highway robbery! Though the crowd had heard
of it already, a buzz of astonishment passed through their midst, as the
fact was thus clearly and indisputably established.

"Was the prince concerned in the robbery for which the prisoner is now
charged?"

Witness could not say.

In reply to further questions, however, it was stated that the pr