the kitchen?" asked this lawyer.

"I was not."

"Who was with you?"

"Tryphena, the cook."

"How do you know it was midnight?"

"I heard the kitchen clock strike."

"What did Jasper Pennington say to you?"

"You need not answer that question," remarked Admiral Trefry.

"Why did Jasper Pennington come into the house that night?" again
queried the lawyer.

"Need I answer that?" asked Naomi.

"No," answered the Admiral, and I saw that he was anxious to save Naomi
from awkward questions, for which I blessed him. "All we want to know is
whether you are sure Jasper Pennington was at Pennington on the night in
question at the time you state. We have nothing to do as to why he was
there or what was said."

I saw, too, that Richard Tresidder did not wish the lawyer to ask any
more questions, although I was sure the poor girl would suffer when she
returned to Pennington, and I wondered then how I could save her from
pain.

And so very few questions were asked after that, and a little later I
was a free man; for it was clear that if I was at Pennington I could not
be rushing along the headland by the Lizard, and so it must have been
some other man that the Preventive men had chased, and I had been
captured by mistake.

It all seemed so wonderful to me that I could hardly believe that my
danger was past; at the same time I longed greatly to speak to Naomi and
thank her for what she had done. But nowhere could I see her.

As I walked down Falmouth Street I seemed to be treading on air. If I
had loved my love before, it seemed to have increased a thousandfold
now; besides, I knew that she must care for me, or she would not have
braved so much to save me from danger. I had difficulty in keeping from
shouting aloud, so great was my joy. I felt that my strength had come
back to me, and I cared no more for the threats of Cap'n Jack than for
the anger of a puling child. I knew that Israel Barnicoat was somewhere
lying in wait to do me harm, but I was not afraid. I saw this, too:
Richard Tresidder would desire to have as little as possible said about
my visit to Pennington, especially as he hoped that Naomi Penryn would
be his son's wife. I was sure he would seek other means to harm me, but
not in a public way; if I was struck it would be in the dark; but, as I
said, I was not afraid, for had not my love come boldly to my aid, and
saved me from the enmity of evil men?

I had got nearly to the end of the crooked street w