“Neither had I. ’Twas most surprisingly easy. The birds had no more fight in them than sparrows. Two men in a coach⁠—one a bullying rascal of a merchant, the other his clerk. Gad! but I was sorry for that little man!” He paused, his hand on the rouge pot.

Salter looked an inquiry.

“Yes,” nodded Carstares. “Very sorry. The fat man would appear to bully and browbeat him after the manner of his kind; he even blamed him for my advent, the greasy coward! Yes, Jim, you are right⁠—he did not appeal to me, ce M. Fudby . So⁠—” ingenuously, “I relieved him of his cashbox and two hundred guineas. A present for the poor of Lewes.”

Jim jerked his shoulder, frowning.

“If ye give away all ye get, sir, why do ye rob at all?” he asked bluntly.