s he
appeared! And, how handsome and composed he looked! Everybody wondered
that such a stripling could commit such desperate robberies. His
firmness never deserted him till his old master, Mr. Wood, was examined.
Then he _did_ give way a bit. And when Mr. Wood's daughter,--to whom,
I've heard tell, he was attached years ago,--was brought up, his courage
forsook him altogether, and he trembled, and could scarcely stand. Poor
young lady! _She_ trembled too, and was unable to give her evidence.
When sentence was passed there wasn't a dry eye in the court."

"Yes, there was one," observed Ireton.

"I guess who you mean," rejoined Shotbolt. "Mr. Wild's."

"Right," answered Ireton. "It's strange the antipathy he bears to
Sheppard. I was standing near Jack at that awful moment, and beheld the
look Wild fixed on him. It was like the grin of a fiend, and made my
flesh creep on my bones. When the prisoner was removed from the dock, we
met Jonathan as we passed through the yard. He stopped us, and,
addressing Jack in a taunting tone, said, 'Well, I've been as good as my
word!'--'True,' replied Sheppard; 'and I'll be as good as mine!' And so
they parted."

"And I hope he will, if it's anything to Jonathan's disadvantage,"
muttered Mrs. Spurling, half aside.

"I'm surprised Mr. Wild hasn't been to inquire after him to-day,"
observed Langley; "it's the first time he's missed doing so since the
trial."

"He's gone to Enfield after Blueskin, who has so long eluded his
vigilance," rejoined Austin. "Quilt Arnold called this morning to say
so. Certain information, it seems, has been received from a female, that
Blueskin would be at a flash-ken near the Chase at five o'clock to-day,
and they're all set out in the expectation of nabbing him."

"Mr. Wild had a narrow escape lately, in that affair of Captain
Darrell," observed Shotbolt.

"I don't exactly know the rights of that affair," rejoined Griffin, with
some curiosity.

"Nor any one else, I suspect," answered Ireton, winking significantly.
"It's a mysterious transaction altogether. But, as much as is known is
this: Captain Darrell, who resides with Mr. Wood at Dollis Hill, was
assaulted and half-killed by a party of ruffians, headed, he swore, by
Mr. Wild, and his uncle, Sir Rowland Trenchard. Mr. Wild, however,
proved, on the evidence of his own servants, that he was at the Old
Bailey at the time; and Sir Rowland proved that _he_ was in Manchester.
So the charge was dismis