"Be 'ee the Dook's man?" a cracked voice whispered.
Alastair puzzled, till he remembered that an hour back he had claimed to be Queensberry's agent. So he nodded.
The little man thrust a packet into his hands.
"This be for 'ee," he said, and was departing, when Alastair plucked his arm.
"From whom?" he asked.
"I worn't to say, but 'ee knows." Then he thrust forward a toothless mouth to the other's ear. "From Brother Gilly," he whispered.
"And to whom were you sent?"
"To 'ee. To the Dook's man at the Dog and Gun. I wor to ask at the landlord, but 'e ain't forthcoming, and one I knows and trusts points me to 'ee."
Alastair realised that he was mistaken for Mr Nicholas Kyd, now posting south; and, since the two were on the same business, he felt justified in acting as Mr Kyd's deputy. He pocketed the package and gave the messenger a shilling. At that moment Mr Johnson came out of his reverie. His brow was clouded.
"At my lord Cornbury's house there was a tall man with a florid face. He treated me with little politeness and laughed out of season. He had a servant, too, a rough Scot who attended to my horse. I have seen that servant in these parts."