As I turned my heart seemed to stand still, for I saw Naomi Penryn, but when for a moment her eyes met mine it started thumping against my side as though it had been set at liberty from bondage. I saw, too, that Richard Tresidder was as surprised as I, and I was afraid lest my love should be taken to task for what she had done. For a few minutes everything seemed to swim before my eyes, and my head whirled so that I thought I was going to faint; but presently as I heard Naomi in sweet, steady tones answering questions my strength came back to me again.
"You say," said Admiral Trefry, "that Jasper Pennington was in Pennington kitchen at midnight last Wednesday?"
"He was," replied Naomi, clearly.
After that a lawyer asked her concerning many things. So impudent was he that I had a difficulty in keeping myself from jumping from the place where I stood and throttling him on the spot.
"Were you alone in the kitchen?" asked this lawyer.
"I was not."
"Who was with you?"
"Tryphena, the cook."
"How do you know it was midnight?"