'The Prime Minister's personal order, sir, is warrant enough for me.'
'You may think so, but even Prime Ministers are not entitled to order an arbitrary arrest I demand that you take me to him.'
To that the Captain made no reply so, after a moment, Roger said:
'Inform me, at least, of the charge made against me.'
'I have no idea. Moreover my orders are to hold no discourse with you.'
While Roger seethed with silent rage the coach bowled along. For a few minutes he contemplated an attempt to open the door and throw himself out: but he was silting on the back seat and the two officers were sitting facing him so it was certain that at his first movement they would lean forward and grab his arms. As the blinds of the coach were down he could not sec the route it was taking but by that time, he judged that it was probably in the Strand and approaching Temple Bar. Being aware of the ancient City privilege that no troops might enter it without the permission of the Lord Mayor he thought it just possible that, when they reached the Bar, there might occur a hold-up of which he could take advantage; but another ten minutes passed without the carriage being halted, so the chance of a Beadle opening the door and seeing the uniforms of his companions had by then gone.
When it did halt, the door was opened by a Guards sergeant at the entrance to the Tower. The Captain gave the password of the day then, as the coach clattered over the drawbridge, he put up the blinds. Roger caught a glimpse of the arches of the Middle and Byward Towers as he passed beneath them, and of Water Lane until, opposite Traitor's Gate, the carriage turned left up a steep slope and drew up in the square beyond it outside the King's House, in which the Mayor of the Tower had his residence.
After a short wait the Mayor, Colonel Matthew Smith, received them in his office and the Captain handed him a letter. Roger at once began a heated protest about his arbitrary arrest, but Colonel Smith sat down at his desk and, ignoring him, read through the despatch, then he said:
'Mr. Brook, this is an order from the Prime Minister to me to detain you here during His Majesty's pleasure. No reason for so doing is given and it is not for me to ask for one or to take notice of the protest you have just made. I am instructed to provide you with comfortable quarters and to feed you from my table; but you are not to be allowed to write to anyone and are to be held incommunicado; so your warders will receive orders not to enter into conversation with you.'
After a moment he went on. 'Enclosed is a letter which you are required to copy in your own hand. It concerns the collecting and bringing here of your personal belongings.' He then handed Roger the letter. It was addressed to Lord Edward Fitz-Deverel, and read:
'Dear Ned,
Unforeseen circumstances have caused me to change my plans. Be good enough to have my belongings packed and handed to the hearer of this note. I will explain matters when next we meet. In the meantime my thanks for your hospitality.'
While the Colonel pulled up a chair for him and produced pen and paper Roger's mind was racing. His arrest had been so managed that no-one had witnessed it. And no-one, other than Droopy Ned, would be aware of his disappearance so set enquiries on foot about him. If he copied the letter, that would put Droopy's mind at rest, so it appeared evident that it had been designed for that purpose. Quickly he shook his head:
'No, sir. I'll not copy that letter and become a party to concealing Mr. Pitt's illegal and most extraordinary treatment of me. If I fail to appear at Amesbury House at latest by tomorrow Lord Edward will have the town scoured for me. There is a chance that he may learn the truth, and should he do so he'll raise all hell to get me out of here.'
The Colonel shrugged, 'I cannot" force you to put pen to paper, Mr. Brook; but there is another passage in the Prime Minister's letter of which I have not yet informed you. Should you refuse his request his instructions are that I should put you in an unfurnished cell and your fare is to be bread and water.'
Roger's face went pale with rage, and he cried indignantly, 'By God. this is intolerable! He cannot keep me here indefinitely, and when I get free I'll see to it that he never hears the last of this. The stink made in Parliament when Captain Jenkins produced his car that the Spaniards had lopped off will be nothing to the stench I'll raise.'
'With what you may do in the future, Mr. Brook. I am not concerned. We are speaking of the present. And I must warn you, do you prove adamant you will find life here as His Majesty's guest most uncomfortable.'
Fighting down his fury, Roger let his judgment get the better of his urge to resist further. As he had been spirited away without trace, even if Droopy did raise a hue and cry for him the odds were all against his whereabouts being discovered. Realizing that he snapped 'Very well,' and plumping himself down at the desk scrawled a copy of the letter. Then, pushing it towards the Colonel, he said;
'And now, sir, I demand that you send for an attorney, in order that he may issue a writ of Habeas Corpus on my behalf."
Colonel Smith shook his head. ‘I have already informed you that you are to be held incommunicado, in any case, owing to the riots in the industrial centres brought about by agitators infected by the pestilence of the French Revolution, the right to issue writs of Habeas Corpus was among those suspended by the Government some considerable time ago.'
Picking up a hand bell on his desk he rang it loudly. A Sergeant of the Yeomen of the Guard entered. Clicking the butt of his pike sharply on the floor he stood stiffly at attention while the Mayor said to him, 'You are to take this prisoner to cell five in the Lamthorn Tower, and he will be known by that number. If he mentions his name it is not to be repeated. He is to send or receive no letters or messages and no-one is to enter into conversation with him.'
Realizing that the Mayor and officers had only been doing their duty, Roger bowed to them and said. ‘Gentlemen, I pray you pardon me for my rudeness towards you. It was caused by my having become somewhat overwrought from the shock of learning that my arrest had been ordered, for I know not what reason, by one whom I have always accounted a friend.'
All three returned his bow and Colonel Smith replied,
'You have my sympathy, sir, and may rest assured that I will do my best to make your stay here as little disagreeable as possible. 'The two officers then saluted and took their leave; after which Roger followed the Sergeant out and, escorted by two other Yeomen who were waiting in the hall, was taken to the Lamthorn Tower.
The chamber into which he was locked was lofty, spacious and reasonably well-equipped with oak furniture of a considerable age, most of the pieces having the names or initials of past prisoners carved on them. The early winter dusk had already fallen and three candles and a tinder box had been left for him. He lit two of them but the light they gave made only a pool in the centre of the gloomy room and, as he moved about, threw grotesque shadows of himself on the bare walls. On examining the bed he found it far from soft but he had slept on worse ones when in camps or passing a night at poor inns. Lying down on it, he stared up at the vaulting of the stone ceiling and considered his position.
When he had declared that he did not know the reason for his arrest he had been telling the truth; but, while silting silent in the semi-darkness of the carriage on the way to the Tower, he had already made a fair guess at it for, preposterous as it seemed, he could think of no other. It was that Mr. Pitt looked on his decision to follow a career in France as one of Bonaparte's staff officers as so fraught with danger to the interests of England that he had resolved to detain him forcibly. In one sense it was a compliment, but in another a gross slander on his loyalty to the country of his birth; and he resented it intensely.