A reward had been offered for the discovery and apprehension of the
miscreants concerned in the affair, and at first Tom had felt half
afraid to show his face in the streets by daylight. But after a few
days had passed by, and nothing had happened to arouse his
anxieties, he had taken heart of grace. Lord Claud's example of
nonchalance gave him coolness and courage; whilst the language and
behaviour of the fine folks with whom he came in contact helped to
dull and deaden any pangs of conscience which the wickedness of the
midnight raid might otherwise have occasioned him.
He saw perfectly well, from the glances of admiration and arch
reproof levelled at Lord Claud by the ladies in the gay company
which he kept, that his patron was suspected in many quarters of
being concerned in this recent robbery. Fine dames would tap him
with their fans, and ask him what he had been doing at St. Albans
on such and such days; and when he replied as to his whereabouts
with that easy grace of bearing which always characterized his
dealings with men and women alike, they would shake their heads,
flirt their fans, and call him by whimsical names incomprehensible
to Tom, but which he knew implied that he was suspected of being
concerned in very wild and lawless deeds.
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