It was not till after Salmon had come to the Tower, that the connection
between Salmon and Tamar was discovered by the old woman; and it was at
this time that she contrived to meet Tamar, and to convey the notion to
her, that she was of a gipsy family; fearing lest she should, by any
means, be led to an explanation with Salmon, before her nephew and his
gang had made sure of the treasure. Harefoot had supposed that he and
his gang were the only persons who knew of the secret passage; and the
reason why they had not made the attempt of robbing Salmon by that
passage sooner, was simply this, that Harefoot, having been detected in
some small offence in some distant county, had been confined several
weeks in a house of correction, from which he had not been set free
many days before he came to the moor, and took upon himself the conduct
of the plot for robbing Salmon.
What Jacob and Rebecca's plans were did not appear, or wherefore they
had not only fallen in with, but promoted the settlement of their master
in the Tower; but that their object was a selfish one cannot be doubted.
Had other confirmation been wanting, after the mark on Tamar's shoulder
had been acknowledged, the vagrant added it, by producing a clasp of one
armlet, which she had retained, and carried about with her in a leathern
bag, amongst sundry other heterogeneous relics; and she accounted for
having preserved it, from the fear she had of exposing a cypher wrought
on a precious stone, which might, she thought, lead to detection.
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