She would return at a fixed hour. The attendant could
wait for her at an appointed place.
This credulous servant, led astray, doubtless, by sympathy with the
loving couple, not only consented to the request, but assisted the lady
in assuming an elaborate disguise.
"She drew," we are told, "a pair of large French-fashioned hose or
trousers over her petticoats, put on a man's doublet or coat, a peruke
such as men wore, whose long locks covered her own ringlets, a black
hat, a black coat, russet boots with red tops, and a rapier by her side.
Thus accoutred, the Lady Arabella stole out with a gentleman about three
o'clock in the afternoon. She had only proceeded a mile and a half when
they stopped at a post-inn, where one of her confederates was waiting
with horses; yet she was so sick and faint that the hostler who held her
stirrup observed that the gentleman could hardly hold out to London."
But the "gentleman" grew stronger as she proceeded. The exercise of
riding gave her new spirit. Her pale face grew rosy; her strength
increased; by six o'clock she reached Blackwall, where a boat and
servants were waiting. The plot had been well devised and all the
necessary preparations made.
The boatmen were bidden to row to Woolwich.
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