He hated Robert, and this was a good way to get rid of him.

Often the cavalier had declared: "Marry! he is a merry rogue.

He will yet ornament the gibbet." His predictions seemed on the verge of realization.

Berkeley, grown petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert on suspicion.
One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three or four persons coming down the street.

Their manner might have excited the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he relied wholly on his innocence.