"And I hope Maister Dick bean't either," said Tonkin.
"Not a bit. He'll be as well as ever after a night's rest. Jake should learn to swim, you know."
"And I woll, if Maister Dick'll larn me," said Jake suddenly.
"Well, I don't know about that," said the Squire, with a slight reserve in his manner. "You see, there has been some feeling lately——"
"See now, Squire," interrupted Tonkin bluntly, "answer me a plain question, man to man. Did you, or anybody belongin' to 'ee, ever spy or inform on we honest free-traders?"
"That's a question you ought to be ashamed to put to me," said the Squire warmly. "Do you think a Trevanion would ever do such a thing?"
"Well, no, I didn' think so till—— Howsomever, I'll say no more o' that. I axe yer pardon, and I hope ye'll let bygones be bygones, and that's said honest."
"With all my heart." The Squire extended his hand to the smuggler, whose grip made him wince.
"That's brave and comf'able," said Tonkin. "And now I wish 'ee well, sir, and you, ma'am, and if so be as Maister Dick 'll larn Jake to swim, I'll be proud, and so will he."
The Squire showed the three men out, and they returned home well satisfied with their interview. Tonkin was soon the centre of a group of his particular friends in the parlour of the Five Pilchards, to whom, after announcing that he would believe no more "'nation gammut," as he put it, about the Squire and his son, proceeded to relate the issue of his visit to Roscoff.