"Then tell it if you care; tell it."
But she was silent. She remembered that a recital of the scene would give me pain, and spoke no word.
"I will tell it, my lord," I said; "the time hath come when it should be told. I did a base thing, I made a bargain with this man. He has told you how he became sole possessor of Trevanion, but, as Mistress Nancy has declared, there is more to tell. This man bade me come here, and he promised me that if I would bring Mistress Nancy Molesworth here he would give me back the deeds of the estate and forgive half the sum I owed him."
"But what was his purpose in proposing this?"
"I knew not at the time, my lord. I was reckless, foolish, extravagant; and to my eternal shame I made a bargain with him. After much difficulty I brought her here, but not until I had besought her not to come. You see she had made me so ashamed of myself that I loathed the mission I had undertaken. I told her the history of what I had done, and in spite of all my advice she insisted on coming."
"I see. Then you can claim your own."
"I offered it, my lord, offered it before an attorney, but he refused, he—he would not take it."
"Is that true, Trevanion?"
"It is, my lord. I—I could not take the price of my base deed."
Hugh Boscawen looked at me steadily; he was a gentleman, and understood that which was in my heart.