But I was not to be trifled with. I caught him and held him fast.
"You have made me desperate," I said; "I must know all now. Who told you that she was dead? What do you mean by calling her your Naomi? I must know everything."
"I dare not!" he cried, distractedly—"I dare not, I am afraid."
"Afraid of whom?"
"Richard Tresidder. He will be master of—" He stopped, and then he wept bitterly.
My hands dropped from him, for my strength had gone.
"Tell me," I said—"tell me, Jonathan, all you know."
He kept sobbing, and this made me pity him, but no tears came to my own eyes. My heart became cold and seemed as hard as a stone.
"She did not wed Master Nicholas Tresidder," he said; "and—and, oh, God forgive me, but since then she has died."
For a time I could not collect my thoughts, the news seemed to have unhinged my mind, but presently I remembered. I thought of what I had heard Richard Tresidder say, and many wild thoughts came into my mind.