“Then, sir,” said the miller, “is my daughter in your keeping as a prisoner? I say as a prisoner, because such is the only mode by which she could be prevented from seeking her friends.”
“She is not, sir,” answered Blood.
“Did you or did you not take her from the house of Sir Richard Warbeck last night?”
“I did not, sir.”
“Did you cause her to be taken from thence?” said Sir Richard.
“Certainly not.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“I do not know where she is.”
Colonel Blood in this reply kept his word of honour by a piece of sophistry, rather than by downright candour, for he managed to place a slight emphasis on the word “know,” and told himself that he could not be said to know anything of what he had been only told by Simon, but of which he knew nothing.
There was now a pause of some few moments’ duration, after which the king said—