"Yes, there are stories, there are legends, there are mysteries, and they are true."
I thought at first that he was joking, but he continued:
"Yes, there is truth in the wildest story afloat, not perhaps in the exact way that the ignorant clowns think; but, sir——"
He stopped again for a second, as if making up his mind upon some point. Evidently, his lonely mode of living caused him to act differently from the conventional society man.
"We Trewinions are an old race, sir, and some of my ancestors have been very violent," he continued.
"That is not to be wondered at," I replied. "Life here, a century ago, must have been far different from the life of to-day, while earlier still, when smugglers sought the caves around, and pirates sailed the seas, it must have been almost impossible for anyone to live in such a neighbourhood as this without leading a strange life."
"You are interested in mysterious stories and legends, are you not?" he said.
I told him that I had almost a passion for the supernatural, the mysterious, and the occult.
He looked at me again, long and steadily.
"I have read some things you have written," he said at length. "You dabbled a little in the mysterious in them; but I have in my possession a history——"