But though the shot took effect, as was evident from the stains on the ground, the villain escaped." "Your father did right," replied Jack, with some bitterness.

"But if he had not fired that shot, he might have saved Thames, and possessed himself of papers which would have established his birth, and his right to the estates of the Trenchard family." "Would you have had him spare my mother's murderer ?" cried Winifred.
"Ho, no," replied Jack.

"And yet--but it is only part of the chain of ill-luck that seems wound around me.

Listen to me, Winifred." And he hastily related the occurrences in Jonathan Wild's house.
The account of the discovery of Sir Rowland's murder filled Winifred with alarm; but when she learnt what had befallen Thames--how he had been stricken down by the thief-taker's bludgeon, and left for dead, she uttered a piercing scream, fainted, and would have fallen, if Jack had not caught her in his arms.
Jack had well-nigh fallen too.

The idea that he held in his arms the girl whom he had once so passionately loved, and for whom he still retained an ardent but hopeless attachment, almost overcame him.