Prisoner at large, as he was, in the Tower, escape proved not difficult.
A cart had entered the enclosure to bring wood to his apartment. On its
departure he followed it through the gates, unobserved by the warder.
His servant was left behind, with orders to keep all visitors from the
room, on pretence that his master was laid up with a raging toothache.
Reaching the river, the escaped prisoner found a man in his confidence
in waiting with a boat. He was rowed down the stream to Lee, where he
expected to find his Arabella in waiting. She was not there, but in the
distance was a vessel which he fancied might have her on board. He
hired a fisherman to take him out. Hailing the vessel, he inquired its
name, and to his grief learned that it was not the French ship which had
been hired for the lovers' flight. Fate had separated them. Filled with
despair, he took passage on a vessel from Newcastle, whose captain was
induced, for a fair consideration, to alter his course. In due time he
landed in Flanders, free, but alone. He was never to set eyes on
Arabella Stuart again.
Meanwhile, the escape of the lady from Highgate had become known, and
had aroused almost as much alarm as if some frightful calamity had
overtaken the State.
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