"And you would have regretted it to your dying day. Think you I am a fool, Otho Killigrew?"
"Why should I have regretted it?" asked Otho sullenly.
"Time will show, my lad. He who weds a loveless wife must have sufficient reasons for doing so."
"And were not my reasons sufficient?"
"They were built upon thistledown, Otho Killigrew."
"Why did you not tell me this?"
"Because you chose to act without me, or rather to act against me. Have you not known me long enough to be sure I would do nothing without purpose. Bah! you thought you were very wise. You got Trevanion imprisoned, you tried to arouse suspicion concerning me, and then like a fool you visited him at Launceston Castle."
"But that has done no harm. He has escaped."
"True; but before he did so, you proved his innocence to Hugh Boscawen, and obtained a warrant for his liberty. Now we have no hold upon him. He hath gone, whither I know not. His whereabouts is as great a mystery as that of the maid Nancy herself."
"Then you know not where she is?"