Dog and Bone, Lambeth, May 9th, 1797.
“Dear Jack,
“Hurrah, my boy! Safely anchored, though I had cut my cable, and run; but I have got into a friendly port, and my pursuers shan’t easily find me. Precious hard, though, Jack, after just finding out my girl, to have to tack and leave her. You might lend a hand now, just to serve an old friend. Margaret would make my present dull time a little lighter, if you could but find her up, and put her on the right road to find me. I think she would forgive me, if you could explain matters a little to her. Tell her we could get married here, and after a time all would be well. But, Jack, mum must be the order of the day. Don’t you fire a volley at me until she’s off to London. She must come incog, Jack; aye, in man’s clothes, if she can: you know why. A thought strikes me, which if you put it into her head, will just suit her, and me too. Persuade her to borrow the old pony of her master’s, from the pasture on the Woodbridge road, or to take it with French leave. It is worth nothing, and will never be inquired after; and if disposed of, will scarcely be missed. And if she was found out, it would only be treated as a good spree! So, Jack, try her; she has a spirit equal to the work, and we shall then be no more parted. Now, do this for
| "Your old friend, |
| Will Laud” |
Margaret read this letter with mingled feelings of pain and pleasure, but she implicitly believed every word of it, yet she did not like Laud’s plan. “Why not go and borrow the horse of old Teager,” said she, "if it must be so? I know he will lend it to me.”
“What, and tell him you want his stable-dress to ride to London in? Fine fun he’d make of it, would he not? No, no, Margaret, that will never do. We must take it with French leave, or let it alone.”
“I wish I could see him by some other means. I do not like his plan; and yet, perhaps, he has none other to offer,” said Margaret, as if pondering within herself.
“I can tell you he is not the man to offer it if he has,” said Cook. "Once put him off again, and it will be long enough before you ever see or hear of him again.”
Margaret felt that such would be the case, and yielded to the artful duplicity of this wicked man, and agreed to meet him the next night to put their wild plan in practice. But as heaven willed that she should have one more chance of escape from the evil which threatened her, the excitement which she suffered brought on an attack of fever that very night, and she was laid up for many days. The warning, however, was in vain; and so soon as she recovered, she agreed to put their plan in execution.
It was on the 23rd of May that Margaret met John Cook at the place before appointed, having previously bought herself a hat and a pair of boots. But now a new obstacle presented itself, which, like the one just alluded to, might have served as a warning, had any religious feelings found place in Margaret’s mind and heart. They went into the meadow, and for more than an hour tried to catch the horse. But it was all in vain; he would be caught by nobody but old Teager.