"Now," said the man, "now! My master is coming just behind the King, on this side. Step forward with me as he passes, and give him the letter. I will tell him who you are."
Lakyn looked down the street, and, at the distance of about thirty yards beheld a somewhat corpulent and heavy-looking man, on horseback, riding with a slouching and uneasy air, coarse in feature, clumsy in person, with his broad lips partly open, and the tip of his tongue visible beneath his teeth. He had a small cap or bonnet on his head, and a long feather, clasped by a large jewel. His dress was of a bright, and somewhat glaring green; a hunting-horn hung at his side, and a long knife, but no sword; and ever and anon, as the people shouted, "God save the King! God save King James!" he bowed his head with a sidelong inclination, which was anything but graceful, though he seemed by his self-satisfied look to fancy it very gracious. Behind him came a crowd of gentlemen, amongst the first of whom appeared a personage, who, though slightly deformed, displayed the dignified carriage of an English gentleman, and sat his fiery horse with ease and grace. Lakyn immediately recognised Cecil, and was in the act of stepping forward to speak to him, when, putting his hand to the black velvet pouch, which, suspended by a belt over his shoulder, contained the important letter, he found the fingers of a stranger, armed with a knife, busily employed in cutting it away from his side.
Turning suddenly round, the old man caught the cut-purse by the throat, instantly recognising the black-browed Master Slingsby. Sir Robert Cecil's servant threw himself upon him also, having been watching quietly for the last half minute the man's proceedings in regard to his companion, Lakyn. Slingsby endeavoured to cast off his opponents and make his escape, while the people gathered round, exclaiming, "A cut-purse!--a cut-purse!--Away with him to prison, away with him!"
The tumult thus occasioned right in the King's path could not fail to attract his attention as he rode on; and, though several of the officers of the court hurried up to see what was the matter, and to remove the obstruction by driving back the crowd, in not the most ceremonious or temperate manner, the King himself rode forward, exclaiming, "What is it they cry? what is it?--A cut-purse?--Let the man be brought before us: we are the best judge of such matters."
These words were pronounced with a strong Scottish accent, and many an interjection peculiar to the monarch himself; but albeit we are not ourselves without drops of Scottish blood in our veins, we do not possess the tongue in sufficient purity to venture upon giving the monarch's expressions in their original dialect.
"Hold him fast," continued the King, "hold him fast; and let him be brought before us, with the witnesses against him. We will inquire into the case ourselves at nine o'clock this night, after we have had time to repose ourselves, and take some necessary sustenance."
Plenty of hands were ready to secure the unfortunate Master Slingsby, who, seeing that he was detected in the fact, affected to treat the matter as a jest, acknowledging that he cut the strap of the man's pouch, but only for the purpose of seeing what it contained. He was hurried away to prison, notwithstanding; and Sir Robert Cecil's servant remained in the midst of the crowd with Lakyn, answering the innumerable inquiries of the multitude, which were as vague and wide of the point as usual.
One man demanded, in a serious tone, if the culprit did not wear a brown beaver; and, on receiving a reply in the affirmative, shook his head ruefully, exclaiming, "Ah, the villain!"
Another made particular inquiries as to his beard; and a third was sure he had seen him somewhere, but could not tell where. A fourth wished to know whether he had cut the strap with a knife or a pair of shears, and opined that it would make a great difference in the judgment of the King.
Drawing his friend away from the mob as soon as he could, Sir Harry West's messenger asked in a doubtful tone, "Do you think the King will really examine him himself?"