Of all those mentioned only one fish had been netted, and it was certain that even he could not be brought to land. At the trial of Atkins the Attorney-General darkly hinted that had it not been for the conviction on the previous day, the prisoner would have been indicted as a principal in Godfrey’s murder, and would probably have been condemned.[216] But it may be doubted that this was more than a piece of bravado. The evidence of Captain Atkins was worth nothing; that of Bedloe little more. If the informers had expanded and defined their information to an extent unparalleled even in the history of the Popish Plot, where such things were not rare, it would hardly have produced much effect. The evidence produced for Atkins’ alibi was too strong to be seriously shaken. By the middle of November the investigation into the murder had thus come to a halt. Proclamations were out for the rest of the men accused by Bedloe, but there seemed to be every probability that they would escape. If Atkins were brought to trial and acquitted, consequences which would be serious to the policy of the Whigs on the committees of secrecy might ensue. Consequences almost as serious were to be expected in the event of his being released without a trial. In either one case or the other the failure to obtain a conviction for the murder of Godfrey would be damaging to their cause. They had staked much on the cards, and it seemed as if the game was going against them. Unless fortune came to their aid, the murder of which there had been so much talk would go unpunished, and the sensation which it created would die down.