It is well to prove an alibi, if you
know what that is, good Tom. The honest folks where we come from
will swear that we and our steeds were abed all night over yonder;
but even if that should not be enough, there will be many who will
declare that if we did not leave St. Albans till past ten, we could
never be at the spot I am aiming for and back again before break of
day; and I shall take care to call mine host up betimes, so that
there will be plenty of evidence that I have not been abroad this
night."
Tom had heard often enough of the good understanding existing
between innkeepers and the highway robbers who infested the roads,
and now he began to see the workings of it, and to understand how
easy it made some of these excursions, and how difficult it must
afterwards be to obtain evidence against the freebooters. Lord
Claud's handsome person, his freedom of speech, and his
lavishly-spent gold, made him a favourite everywhere; and now he
seemed about to employ his fascinations of mind and body for other
purposes. Tom was to see how they served him in a different sort of
life.
The rapid pace at which they were travelling hindered conversation.
Tom would not easily have believed it possible to travel so fast by
night, but he trusted himself implicitly to the guidance of his
comrade; and the strong, mettlesome, sure-footed horse he rode
seemed to make nothing either of his solid weight, or of the
distance they had to go.
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