Second, I might apply again
to Robbie. Or, third, I might dare everything, go to the Assembly
Ball, and speak with Flora under the eyes of all Edinburgh. This
last alternative, involving as it did the most horrid risks, and
the delay of forty-eight hours, I did but glance at with an averted
head, and turned again to the consideration of the others. It was
the likeliest thing in the world that Robbie had been warned to
have no more to do with me. The whole policy of the Gilchrists was
in the hands of Chevenix; and I thought this was a precaution so
elementary that he was certain to have taken it. If he had not, of
course I was all right: Robbie would manage to communicate with
Flora; and by four o'clock I might be on the south road and, I was
going to say, a free man. Lastly, I must assure myself with my own
eyes whether the bank in George Street were beleaguered.
I called to Rowley and questioned him tightly as to the appearance
of the Bow Street officer.
'What sort of looking man is he, Rowley?' I asked, as I began to
dress.
'Wot sort of a looking man he is?' repeated Rowley. 'Well, I don't
very well know wot you would say, Mr. Anne. He ain't a beauty,
any'ow.'
'Is he tall?'
'Tall? Well, no, I shouldn't say TALL Mr. Anne.'
'Well, then, is he short?'
'Short? No, I don't think I would say he was what you would call
SHORT.
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