“Armed! I never thought of such a thing! Though, to be sure, for anything I know you may be meaning to murder me in that cavern!” said Stornaway, flustered into unwise speech.
“Why should I?” asked John.
Thrown into worse confusion, Stornaway tied himself up in a muddle of half-sentences, while John reflected that so loose a tongue must effectually have warned him that mischief was intended, had he not been already well aware of it. Stornaway seemed to be incapable of keeping anything to himself; and it was not long before he had presented John with one of the few pieces of information that could interest him. “You should not call me Mr. Stornaway,” he told him. “I am Sir Henry Stornaway now, you know!”
“I felicitate you,” said John dryly. “May I know when this happened?”
“Oh, about five o’clock, I fancy! My grandfather’s man—an insolent fellow!—did not fetch me, so I’ve no very precise knowledge. The thing is that I’m master at Kellands now, as several people will precious soon discover!”
It seemed to be so much in keeping with his character that he should be looking forward to an easy triumph over his grandfather’s servants that the Captain was scarcely angry. He returned an indifferent answer; and the rest of the way was beguiled by Henry’s rambling exposition of what he meant to do at the Manor, as soon as his grandfather was buried.
This diverted his mind from his present anxieties, but when he led John off the lane, towards the cavern, these returned to him, and he grew markedly silent, while the fretting behaviour of his horse betrayed unmistakeably how much his nerves were on the jump.
The fence was securely tied across the mouth of the cavern, and the withered gorse bushes almost wholly concealed it. While Stornaway lit his lantern, John stood with his head up, listening intently. He heard no sound of horse’s hooves, but he could not suppose that Coate was far behind, and reflected that once he left the lane the rough turf would muffle the noise of his approach.
“Have you no lantern?” demanded Stornaway, still on one knee before his own.
The Captain glanced down at him, slightly shaking his head, a glint in his eyes.