The Birthright

by Joseph Hocking

"Certainly."

"And is this an asylum?"

"It's not for you to know."

"Still it would go hard with Richard Tresidder if his perfidy should come out."

"It can never come out. Yes, I know what is in your mind. Well, supposing you get well enough to be set at liberty? You would be taken to Pendennis Castle as mysteriously as you have been taken here. But where are you? You cannot tell. Are you in England, Ireland, or Scotland? You do not know."

"How long shall I be kept here, then?"

"Not, I should think, more than a week. You seem to be very much improved in your health."

Now this set me wondering greatly, for I did not expect such a revelation. Still I managed to remain calm.

"You know why I am here, then?"

"Certainly. You have been a madman; as such you have been a constant menace to Miss Naomi Penryn. She has been much afraid of you, and has dreaded the thought of your being at liberty."