"I might or I might not. But if you speak the truth your life is safe. Until I leave these dangerous coasts I may have to keep you prisoner, but you will be well treated. Come now," Kyles rapped on the table, "tell me all."
Thus compelled, Gowrie, shivering with dread, related all that he knew concerning the case, from the time of Herries' arrest, down to his digging in the garden in search of what Mrs. Narby had hidden. The Captain kept his sinister eyes on the wrinkled old face before him, and made sure that the tutor was speaking the truth. Gowrie never considered that he might be betraying Herries to the enemy. All he wanted was to save his life, and escape from the gaze of those eyes which probed into his guilty old soul. When he ended the Captain flung himself back in the chair and laughed.
"You old villain," said he sneeringly, "no wonder I intend to keep you a prisoner."
"What?" cried Gowrie in dismay.
"For the time being. You have been so ready to betray your son-in-law, that you would have no hesitation in betraying me. You will stop here."
"For how long, Captain Kyles?"
"Until the murderer of Sir Simon is arrested."
"Mistress Narby?"
"Perhaps. It looks as though the woman was guilty, and yet----" his brows wrinkled themselves perplexedly, and he shook his head, "I do not quite see how to----" here he fell into a brown study.
"See to do what?" ventured Gowrie.