"No! by those who've entrapped you! You've long eluded our vigilance;
but we've caught you at last!"

"Damnation!" exclaimed the woollen-draper; "that I should be the dupe of
such a miserable artifice!"

"It's no use lamenting now, Captain! You ought rather to be obliged to
us for allowing you to pay this visit. We could have secured you when
you left the Mint. But we wished to ascertain whether Mrs. Wood's charms
equalled your description."

"Wretches!" screamed the lady; "don't dare to breathe your vile
insinuations against me! Oh! Mr. Kneebone, are these your French
noblemen?"

"Don't upbraid me!" rejoined the woollen-draper.

"Bring him along, Joe!" said Jackson, in a whisper to his comrade.

Smith obeyed. But he had scarcely advanced a step, when he was felled
to the ground by a blow from the powerful arm of Kneebone, who,
instantly possessing himself of a pistol, levelled it at Jackson's head.

"Begone! or I fire!" he cried.

"Mr. Wood," returned Jackson, with the utmost composure; "you're a
headborough, and a loyal subject of King George. I call upon you to
assist me in the apprehension of this person. You'll be answerable for
his escape."