"You will tell me where Mistress Nancy Molesworth is?" he cried.
"I will tell you where I took her," I replied.
"And why you took her away from Endellion?"
"Yes."
For a few seconds he hesitated as if in doubt. "In three days I will return with an order for your release," he cried.
After he had gone, I almost repented for what I had done, for I felt afraid of Otho Killigrew. He played his cards in such a manner that I did not know what he held in his hand. I realized that by telling him who it was that employed me, I might give him an advantage, the full meaning of which I could not understand. True, I should be at liberty before telling him, and thus I had fancied I should be free to take action in the maid's defence. But on consideration I could not but remember that his fertile brain might conceive a dozen things whereby, although I might be free from the charge of treason, I could still be made powerless to render service.
However, nothing could be accomplished without risk, and possibly the risk that I had taken was the least possible under the circumstances. I therefore tried to make plans of action which I might carry into effect the hour I regained my liberty. Presently the old thought of seeking to escape grew upon me. Supposing I could get away from the castle, I should at the end of the three days be free from pursuit, for once Hugh Boscawen's warrant were in Pyper's hands he could no longer be justified in searching for me. The difficulty was in getting away and then eluding my pursuers until such time as the governor should receive Falmouth's communication. I had many times considered the position of the Witch's Tower, which was not far from the boundary walls of the castle grounds. I saw that, in order to escape, I must first of all be able to either break down the door or squeeze my body through one of the slits in the walls of the tower. To do either of these things was not easy. The door was heavy and iron-studded, besides being carefully locked; the slits in the wall, which were really intended as windows, were very narrow, certainly not wide enough for a man of my build to squeeze himself through. But supposing this could be done, there were still the boundary walls of the castle grounds which stood in the way of my escape. During the hours of daylight, when I had been allowed to walk around the prison grounds, I had carefully examined these, and I fancied I could manage to scale them in one or two places. But they were closely watched through the day, and at night I with the other prisoners was safely under lock and bolt.
Jenkins, the turnkey, was a man of average build and strength, and should a favourable opportunity occur I could doubtless easily gag him and take away his keys; but such an experiment was fraught with much danger. Throughout the whole of the night following Otho Killigrew's visit, during which time he was riding southward, I worked out my plans, and when morning came prepared to carry them into effect. Although I watched carefully through the whole of the morning no opportunity came, and when the afternoon drew to a close and I had not even begun to act, I felt exceedingly despondent.
Two days after Otho Killigrew's visit, about an hour before sunset, I saw Jenkins trying, as I thought, to catch my attention. He winked at me several times, and placed his forefinger on his lip as though he meditated on some secret thing. Lethbridge, however, was with him, and so there was no opportunity for me to ask him what he meant. After a while, however, seeing that Lethbridge had turned his back on us, he put a letter in my hand.
As may be imagined, as soon as I was able I broke the seal and read the contents. It was written boldly in a man's hand. This was how it ran: