As may be imagined, the sight of Otho Killigrew set me a-wondering much, for I knew he would not come to see me save for important reasons. Doubtless he fancied I was in possession of some knowledge which he hoped I might impart; but I hoped that by being careful I might lead him to betray more to me than I should communicate to him.

I therefore received him civilly, hard as it was to do so, but I saw that he lacked his usual self-possession. He spoke more quickly than was his wont, and his mouth twitched as though he were nervous and much wrought upon.

"Trevanion," he said, when we were presently left alone, "we have been fighting a battle which I have won."

"I thought so until I saw you coming towards me just now," was my reply as I watched him closely.

He flushed angrily, for he saw that I had divined his motives; but he stuck to his guns.

"Which I have won," he repeated. "When the assizes come off I shall have to appear against you. I have only to repeat the evidence I gave to Boscawen, and you will swing."

"Possibly yes, probably no," was my reply.

"What do you mean?"

"Look you," I said boldly; "when I set out for[Pg 268] Endellion I imagined the kind of men I had to contend with; when I entered your house I took the measure of your whole tribe. I knew that the Killigrews of Falmouth, before that branch of the family died out, were honest loyal gentlemen, but I saw that the Killigrews of Endellion were——" I stopped.

"What?" he asked.

"I will reserve my opinion," I replied; "but I can tell you this, I did not go like a lamb to the slaughter."

"It seems to me that you did," he replied with a sneer. "True, you seemed to win for a time, and you succeeded in taking away my affianced wife. But what is the result of it? You are in the county jail for treason, and the hangman's rope is dangling over your head."

"As far as that is concerned," I replied jauntily, for I determined to put a bold face on the matter, "my neck is as safe as yours, as you will find out in good time. As for the maid, she is where you will never get her."

"Do not be too sure," he replied; "we have not earned the title of sleuthhounds for nothing."

My breath came freer as he said this. I believed that he was ignorant of the maid Nancy's whereabouts. Probably he had come to me in order to obtain information.

"Moreover," he went on, "you are here on a very grave charge. Unless it is to my interest to do otherwise, I shall certainly give evidence against you at the assizes, and nothing can save you from death."

[Pg 269]

"Man alive," I replied, "you do not hold the destinies of the world in your hand. There be men born of women besides Otho Killigrew."

"But none that can save you."

"I have no doubt but that you are a clever fellow, Killigrew," I said; "but omniscience belongeth not to man."

"Well, who can save you?"

"Those who will save me at the proper time."

"Uncle Anthony cannot give evidence; he dare not show himself," replied Otho; "neither will Nancy. She would thereby frustrate all her desires."

Little as he might suspect it, he had by this answer revealed something of his mind to me. For one thing, Uncle Anthony was still at large, and it was evident that he thought the maid Nancy would sacrifice much by appearing in a public way.

"And what desires would she frustrate?" I asked with a laugh.

"Maybe you know, may be you do not. I will assume that you do not," was his answer.

I laughed again, for I saw what his answer might mean. Upon this he looked glum for some seconds, and seemed to hesitate as to what steps he should take.

"Look here," he cried presently. "I will admit you are a clever fellow, Trevanion. It is a compliment you paid me, and I will return it. I will not pretend that I came here out of pure desire to set you free. I did not. But I can set you free!"

[Pg 270]

"Undoubtedly."

"And I will—if you, that is, if you make it worth while."

"You wish to bargain with me, I know," was my answer; "why did you not say so at first? But a bargain assumes quid pro quo."

"Well, I'll give you as much as you give me."

"What will you give?"

"Your liberty."

"And what do you require?"

He hesitated a second, and then he spoke in his old measured way. "First, I require to know where Mistress Nancy Molesworth is now. Second, I wish you to tell me your reasons for taking her away from Endellion. Third, I desire to be informed of all you know concerning that lady."

It was in the last question that my interest particularly lay. For, as the readers of this history know, I myself was in almost total ignorance of the things he desired to know. It is true, if I told him of my conversation with Peter Trevisa and his son, he would form his own surmises concerning Peter's plans, but even then I doubted if I should impart the information he wanted.

"You must surely know more about Mistress Nancy than I," I replied evasively. "Did your father not take her at the death of her father? Did he not send her to France? Did you not receive her at Endellion a few months ago? What, then, should there be for me to impart?"

"You know," he answered; "be frank with me. You were with her alone for many hours, and she told you many things."

[Pg 271]

"True, she told me many things," I replied; "but concerning what do you wish me to speak?"

Again he hesitated. I saw that he was afraid lest he might betray himself, and this was what I desired him to do.

"What do you know of her parentage, her father and mother's marriage? What of her father's will?"

"Was there a will?" I said at a venture, because I saw that it was by an effort that he mentioned it.

His face turned pale. Evidently I had touched a sore spot. My heart gave a bound, for I connected his question with the remark the priest had let fall at Padstow and Peter Trevisa's desire to get the maid at Treviscoe.

"Come, Trevanion," he said again, "let us be frank."

"Yes," I replied; "let us be frank. At present it is you who ask all the questions, while you give no information yourself."

"I have offered to pay you for your information," he said. "I have offered you your liberty."

"True," I answered, "you have offered it; but what assurance have I that you would fulfil your promise? I would not trust you as far as I could throw a bull by the horns. You have asked me many questions. By answering them I should place a great deal of power in your hands. Directly I told you all that you desire to know, you would leave Launceston and act on the [Pg 272]information I have given; then when I am tried, what proof have I that you will tell the truth?"

"On my word of sacred honour, I will set you free."

"A snap of my finger for your sacred honour, Otho Killigrew," I cried, suiting the action to the word. "Indeed, I very much doubt if you dare to give such evidence as might set me free. Your family is too deeply implicated."

"Trust Otho Killigrew for that," he replied scornfully; "I always play to win."

"Look you," I said at length, "assuming that the charges you have brought against me are not shown to be worthless before the assizes, and reckoning that an order does not come from Hugh Boscawen to set me at liberty, I might on certain conditions be inclined to make a promise."

"What?" he cried eagerly.

"I expect that in the ordinary course of things my trial will come off in about a month," I said. "Well, if I am brought to trial, and you give such evidence as will set me free, then when I am out of all danger I might tell you what I know."

"You do not trust me?"

"Not a whit."

"Yet you expect me to trust you."

"A Trevanion never yet broke his word, while the promises of the Endellion Killigrews are as brittle as pie-crust."

I thought I was fairly safe in making this promise. I should in this case insure my liberty; at any rate, I should give Otho a great incentive to do his best to prove my innocence. Moreover,[Pg 273] I had but little to tell, even if I related all the suspicions to which I have referred, and which shall be set down in due order. And even if my information should be the means of placing the maid Nancy in Otho's power, I should be at liberty to act on her behalf.

"A month, a month," he said at length, as if musing.

"During which time I shall be within the boundary walls of Launceston Castle," I replied.

"But if I go to Hugh Boscawen, and prevail upon him to give an order for your release before the trial?"

"Of course the promise holds good," and I laughed inwardly as I thought how little I could tell him.

"You will tell me where Mistress Nancy Molesworth is?" he cried.

"I will tell you where I took her," I replied.

"And why you took her away from Endellion?"

"Yes."

For a few seconds he hesitated as if in doubt. "In three days I will return with an order for your release," he cried.

After he had gone, I almost repented for what I had done, for I felt afraid of Otho Killigrew. He played his cards in such a manner that I did not know what he held in his hand. I realized that by telling him who it was that employed me, I might give him an advantage, the full meaning of which I could not understand. True, I should be at liberty before telling him, and thus I had[Pg 274] fancied I should be free to take action in the maid's defence. But on consideration I could not but remember that his fertile brain might conceive a dozen things whereby, although I might be free from the charge of treason, I could still be made powerless to render service.

However, nothing could be accomplished without risk, and possibly the risk that I had taken was the least possible under the circumstances. I therefore tried to make plans of action which I might carry into effect the hour I regained my liberty. Presently the old thought of seeking to escape grew upon me. Supposing I could get away from the castle, I should at the end of the three days be free from pursuit, for once Hugh Boscawen's warrant were in Pyper's hands he could no longer be justified in searching for me. The difficulty was in getting away and then eluding my pursuers until such time as the governor should receive Falmouth's communication. I had many times considered the position of the Witch's Tower, which was not far from the boundary walls of the castle grounds. I saw that, in order to escape, I must first of all be able to either break down the door or squeeze my body through one of the slits in the walls of the tower. To do either of these things was not easy. The door was heavy and iron-studded, besides being carefully locked; the slits in the wall, which were really intended as windows, were very narrow, certainly not wide enough for a man of my build to squeeze himself through. But supposing this could be done, there were still the boundary walls of the castle grounds[Pg 275] which stood in the way of my escape. During the hours of daylight, when I had been allowed to walk around the prison grounds, I had carefully examined these, and I fancied I could manage to scale them in one or two places. But they were closely watched through the day, and at night I with the other prisoners was safely under lock and bolt.

Jenkins, the turnkey, was a man of average build and strength, and should a favourable opportunity occur I could doubtless easily gag him and take away his keys; but such an experiment was fraught with much danger. Throughout the whole of the night following Otho Killigrew's visit, during which time he was riding southward, I worked out my plans, and when morning came prepared to carry them into effect. Although I watched carefully through the whole of the morning no opportunity came, and when the afternoon drew to a close and I had not even begun to act, I felt exceedingly despondent.

Two days after Otho Killigrew's visit, about an hour before sunset, I saw Jenkins trying, as I thought, to catch my attention. He winked at me several times, and placed his forefinger on his lip as though he meditated on some secret thing. Lethbridge, however, was with him, and so there was no opportunity for me to ask him what he meant. After a while, however, seeing that Lethbridge had turned his back on us, he put a letter in my hand.

As may be imagined, as soon as I was able I broke the seal and read the contents. It was[Pg 276] written boldly in a man's hand. This was how it ran:

&n............