intimated his belief that a robbery, if not a murder, had been committed,
Churchill answered cautiously:--

"Perhaps you are right, but the less we know or think or say about this
affair, the better it will be for you and me. As for myself, I shall
leave London for a while to avoid being called as a witness in case the
matter is investigated. If we try to bring these fellows to justice, they
may turn upon us and swear that we did the deed, in which case we might
hang, for they are three to two; a good preponderance of testimony. But
in any case the king would see that no evil befell his son and his
friends. Therefore if we are wise, we shall remain silent and take
ourselves out of the way for the time being."

The next day, as I afterwards learned, George made the mistake of
returning to France, not that he feared punishment for himself, but
because he did not want to speak the unavailing truth and thereby bring
upon himself the king's wrath, nor did he want to bear false witness to
protect the criminals.

Near the hour of ten o'clock that night, Noah drew up the fat panting
horses before Sir William's house. The porter, who had been watching all
day, opened the gate, the coach entered the courtyard, Noah uttered a
hoarse "Whoa!" and almost fell off the box to the ground. As soon as he
could get on his feet again, he went to the coach door, spoke to Frances,
ran to Sir William, who was waiting at the top of the house steps, candle
in hand, to welcome Roger, and spoke but one word: "Dead!"

Frances hurriedly came from the coach, and Sir William went to meet her.
Holding out her hands to him, she cried:--