"Ah? Good morning to you, sir," answered Tregarthen, clearly surprised, but showing no sign of guilt or confusion.
"You have heard the news?"
"No, sir."
"The Lord Proprietor is missing."
"Missing?" Tregarthen set down his faggots and stared at the Commandant.
"He has been missing since yesterday at dusk. I understand that you were in his company shortly before then, on Carn Coppa?"
"That is so, sir. I left him and Sam Leggo standing together there at the top of the field."
"A few minutes later he sent Leggo to the farmhouse to fetch a lantern. Leggo declares that on his way back he heard a gun fired."
Tregarthen nodded. "That's right. I heard the shot, too, and reckoned that the man had let fly at a rabbit. He carried a gun."
"You don't speak too respectfully of the Lord Proprietor, my friend."