“The people take pity on him, and treat him kindly; but all he thinks of is revenge for the injuries he has received.
“Last night he was sitting in a public-house by the roadside, about two miles this side of Darlington, when who should stop to bait his horse but a person very much like the man who stabbed him on the bridge the night Ellen Harmer was carried away.
“Directly he entered the parlour, poor Andrew began to rave, and the stranger laughed at him.
“Poor Andrew began, as usual, to tell the stranger his troubles, like he does to all who will listen to him; but still the stranger laughed, and began to mock him.
“With eyes glistening like two burning coals, Andrew peered closely into the stranger’s face, but made up his mind that, though very much like, he could not be the man who had so cruelly wronged him.
“The stranger pretended to be ignorant of the country he was passing through.
“Yet, at the same time, the landlord says he spoke of Sir Richard Warbeck, and of Wildfire Ned’s famous doings, as if he had been acquainted with them for years.
“He knew all about old Bertram’s murder, and whatever had happened to Ellen Harmer, who, he said, was safe and sound in London.
“He had plenty of money, and said he was sent down from London on a secret mission to capture one Captain Jack, a famous rogue, who was supposed to be hiding somewhere thereabouts.
“He pulled out rolls of notes and a bag of money, and made such a display of it that the landlord begged him to be very careful, for it might excite the passions of those around.