He was therefore kept in gaol; and it seemed likely that his confinement would end only with his life.

[115] Over the room which he occupied in the King's Bench prison lodged another offender whose character well deserves to be studied.

This was Hugh Speke, a young man of good family, but of a singularly base and depraved nature.

His love of mischief and of dark and crooked ways amounted almost to madness.

To cause confusion without being found out was his business and his pastime; and he had a rare skill in using honest enthusiasts as the instruments of his coldblooded malice.