Green then rose, and went round those to whom he had before spoken, addressing each of them again in the same order.

“I will meet you, Harry,” he said to the first, who had so readily made an affirmative answer, “in three quarters of an hour.  Don’t be longer, my good fellow, if you can help it.  Master Williamson,” he added, when he came up to the other, speaking in as low a tone as possible, “I think you would have given up your game at cards, if you had known what I had to tell you and Davis there, opposite.”

There was something dark and meaning in Green’s look as he spoke, a knitting of the brows, a drawing together of the eyelids, and a tight shutting of the mouth between every three or four words, which made the man turn a little white.

“Why, what is the matter, Colonel?” he said, in a much civiler tone than before.  “Cannot you tell me now?”

“Oh, yes,” replied Green, in the same low tone, “I can tell you now, if you like.  It is no great matter:  only that there are warrants out against you and Davis; and against Ingram there at the other table, for robbing the Earl of Peterborough last night in the Green Lane, behind Beaufort House.  They have got hold of Jimmy Law, poor fellow, already, and he will be hanged to a certainty.  It was discovered who you all were by Harry Brown, who was one of your party when you went, without my knowledge, to do business between Gravesend and Rochester.  He’s one of my Lord Peterborough’s led captains now, and was in the carriage with him, though you didn’t see him to know him.  He gave all your names, and they have sent down to the Green Dragon after you, and have also people on the Rochester road.  Tell Davis, and I will tell Ingram; for it is better you should all get out of the way for awhile.”

This was said in so low a tone, that none of those around could hear distinctly; but the worthy gentleman to whom the words were addressed did not seem near so cautious as the Colonel; for, after having suffered his eyes and his mouth to expand gradually with a look of increasing horror at every word, he started up from the table as Green concluded, exclaiming, “By—!” and dashed the cards down upon the board before him, scattering one half of them over the floor.  Green gave him one momentary look of sovereign contempt, and then proceeded to the opposite table, where he told the same story to the personage named Ingram, whose attention had been called by the vehement excitement of his comrade.  The effect now produced seemed fully as deep, though not quite so demonstrative; for Master Ingram sat in profound silence at the table for at least five minutes, with his face assuming various hues of purple and green, as he revolved the matter in his own mind.

It is probable, that very seldom any three men, except three sailors, have ever thought so much of a rope at the same moment; and before Green could finish his tour round the room and rejoin Wilton, those to whom he had spoken were all hastening up St. James’s Street as fast as they could go.  Green returned to the table where he had been seated, called the drawer to receive the money for the Burgundy, and then bowing his head to Wilton, with somewhat of a stiff’ air, he said, “Now, sir, if you please, I am ready to show you the way; and as I have not much time-”