We had entered by the public door, the king doubtless wishing to display himself as fully as possible to the people.  As we passed down the aisle to the bar, I caught the eyes of a man garbed as a Quaker.  He wore a thin gray beard, and his white hair hung almost to his shoulders.  His bearing and expression were truly sanctimonious, and had the gleam in his eyes been in keeping, I should not have taken a second glance at him.  But it was not, so as I came close to him I noticed him carefully and saw that he was observing me.  At once I thought of Hamilton, and although I was not at all sure of my ground, I dropped my hat near him, as an excuse for stopping, and, while bending toward him, whispered:—­

“Dark spectacles shade the eyes.”

If the man was not Hamilton, my remark would mean nothing; if he was, it would give him a valuable hint.

When the king and the duchess were seated, the judge spoke from the bench, calling the attention of the good people of London to the fact that his gracious Majesty had given to the court information which, it was hoped, would lead to the arrest of the man who had committed the heinous crime of robbing and killing Roger Wentworth on the king’s highway.  The judge said that his gracious Majesty, loving justice as perhaps no other king of England had ever loved it, had come in person to offer as a witness one of the fairest ladies of the court, by whose testimony it was expected the guilty man might be brought to justice.

During this speech, which was much longer than I have given it, I noticed that the king was restless, and I suspected that, in his heart, his Majesty was cursing the judge for a fool.

When the judge sat down, the Grand Jury was summoned, and in a few minutes the wheels of justice were ready to turn.  In proceedings of this nature, there is no prisoner at bar; therefore no one is in court save the crown by its counsel, the purpose being only to obtain information upon which a true bill or indictment may be found against some one suspected of the crime under investigation.

After all was ready, the sheriff escorted Frances to the witness stand, and the judge asked her to place her hand on the Bible.  She did so and made oath that she would true answers make to all questions that should be put to her touching her knowledge of the robbery and murder of one Roger Wentworth.

When she had made oath, the king’s counsel said:  “You may state to the court whether you were acquainted with one Roger Wentworth, a tanner of Sundridge, during his life.”  To which question Frances answered that she had known Roger since her childhood.

The king’s counsel then put several preliminary questions which led up to the time of Roger’s murder, after which he asked:—­

“You may state to the court whether you saw the faces of any of the highwaymen.”

“I did,” answered Frances.

“Are you acquainted with one George Hamilton?” asked the lawyer.