“I had no difficulty on my way up to London.  I avoided the main road till I got to Colchester, and after that walked boldly on, having money to pay for victuals.  When I got to town, I changed another of my louis at a money changer’s.  He asked me where I had got it, and when I said that it was no business of his, but that it had been paid me by a French Huguenot gentleman, who had lately arrived, and for whom I had been doing some work; and as there are many of these Huguenots in London, he was satisfied, and changed it for me.

“I then fell across the Irish porter I told you of.  He told me whereabouts I could get lodgings, and advised me to apply to one of the men who let out a number of sedan chairs, to hire one out to me by the week.

“Well, your honour, once I had taken the lodging, I thought no more of the chair, but went about the business for which I had come to London.  I had not been an hour in the town before I made the acquaintance of half a dozen, at least, of my countrymen, and found out which was the prison in which you were kept.  At first, I thought of going there and giving myself up, on condition that I might be employed as your servant.  Then I thought, perhaps they would not keep their word to me, but would send me back to Harwich; and then the thought struck me that I might, some way or other, get your honours out of prison.

“When I first saw the place, it seemed to me that it was impossible.  The place was mighty strong, the windows all barred, and I had no means of finding out where you were lodged.  I spent a whole day in prowling round and round the jail, but sorra an idea came into my thick head, though I bate it wid my fists till it was sore; for, says I to myself, there is no lock so strong but it can be picked, if you do but know the right way.  It was the second day, when I espied a little bit of white stuff at one of the windows.  It might be a signal, or it might not, and even if it was, there was no reason why it should be yours, except that, I said to myself: 

“’Mr. Kennedy is not the boy to sit quiet in prison, if he can see any possible way of slipping out of it.  His head is crammed full of ideas.  So I will walk near and investigate the matter.’

“As I came close, I could make out that there was someone behind the bars, but I could not see who it was.  Of course, I did not come straight to the spot, but went about promiscuously.

“For anything I could tell, there might be someone in the towers watching me.  Then I saw a hand drop a little white parcel, and I found it without much trouble and went off with it.  It was as much as I could do, to keep myself from running like a madman, for I felt somehow sure that it was you who had dropped it, but of course, it was not until I got it read for me that I was certain.