as hal had predicted , the printers had got hold of ffoulkes 's french family connexions and unearthed the hints of unsavory conspiracy ; ffoulkes 's wife had fled the country and was presumably in france ; another conspirator , a lawyer named jeffords , had been arrested and was to be tried along with captain bates and harrison otway on a variety of charges ranging from lewd conduct to sodomy , conspiracy to commit unnatural acts , and , as a definite afterthought , conspiracy to assassinate various justices and ministers-presumably those who had been most outspoken about the need to crush this abominable vice .