“It is a lie, a lie. It is all lies,” he exclaimed furiously.
“Well then, why have you kept Miralda in the toils? If Sampayo lied, what is the truth?”
That roused Inez again, and another altercation followed, fiercer even and more prolonged than the first. He had evidently tried to answer the question with fifty subtle pretexts, but Inez was jealous and knew too much not to be able to see that there was no reason except the true one.
In their anger they let out other valuable facts. The plot to abduct the king had not been discovered, and Miralda had been prevented from flying on the pretext that no discovery was likely to be made and that she would be wanted for the next scheme which might be hatched. My arrival with the news that I could reveal the whole conspiracy and meant to do so had cut even this ground from under Barosa’s feet, and then my repetition to Inez of Sampayo’s story had completed his discomfiture.
I was delighted to find that Inez was now as anxious as I was that Miralda should fly the country; and instead of making her my enemy, as she had declared, she was resolved that I should take Miralda away.
Barosa was equally determined that I should do nothing of the kind, and hence the bitterness of both and the impasse to which matters were brought.
Another result of the quarrel was that it gave me time to recover my strength, and as that increased, I began to see whether I could not take advantage of the position to escape. I was more than a match for Barosa even after my experiences in that room. It was probable that he had a revolver on him, and if I could get that, I could soon put a different complexion on matters.
But he and Inez had crossed to the other end of the room, she had closed the door lest the sound of their angry voices should be heard by others in the house; and I could not get to him, however quick my rush, before he would have time to draw his weapon.
In his present frenzy he would shoot me the instant he drew, and things were going too favourably for me to take that risk.
I waited therefore in the hope that he would return to my end of the room and give me the chance I sought.