"

"Still it would go hard with Richard Tresidder if his perfidy should
come out."

"It can never come out. Yes, I know what is in your mind. Well,
supposing you get well enough to be set at liberty? You would be taken
to Pendennis Castle as mysteriously as you have been taken here. But
where are you? You cannot tell. Are you in England, Ireland, or
Scotland? You do not know."

"How long shall I be kept here, then?"

"Not, I should think, more than a week. You seem to be very much
improved in your health."

Now this set me wondering greatly, for I did not expect such a
revelation. Still I managed to remain calm.

"You know why I am here, then?"

"Certainly. You have been a madman; as such you have been a constant
menace to Miss Naomi Penryn. She has been much afraid of you, and has
dreaded the thought of your being at liberty."

"Little man," I said, "you know this is a lie."

"I wish it were. I have nothing whatever against you; on the contrary, I
rather like you."

He spoke this kindly, and I detected, as I thought, a friendly look in
his face, so acting on the impulse of the moment I said to him, "Will
you listen to what I have to tell you?"

"Yes," he said, "I will listen."

Then I told him briefly all I thought necessary to tell, and yet I felt
that I had not the power to tell the truth well.

"Your history seems very plausible, young man," he said, "but I have
been warned against you."

"But Miss Naomi Penryn knows that I am not a madman, neither have I
annoyed her in any way."

"You lie. I myself received a letter from her before you were brought
here."

"Let me see that letter."

"No. Enough that I have told the truth. She fears you; she pleaded that
you might be guarded until such time as it should be safe for you to be
at liberty."

"Are you sure the letter was written by her own hand? Do you know her
handwriting?"

"Know her handwriting! Why?" Then he added, quietly, "Yes, I know her
handwriting."

"But why do you think I shall be set at liberty in a week?"

"Because she will have a protector."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that to-day she is being married to Master Nicholas Tresidder."

"To-day?"

"Yes, to-day."

"Go away," I said--"go away, for the sake of God. I want to be alone to
think."

He looked at me I thought pitifully and kindly; then he heaved a sigh
and went away.

When he was gone I lay for hours like one stunned. Food was brought to
me, but I took no no