"Do you say the Tresidders have taken Trevose from the—the maid you love?"
"I am afraid they have. I believe they have."
"But where is she?"
"It is naught to you. She is away from all danger. When I have taken this treasure to a place of safety I shall go to her. I shall buy back Pennington and take her to my home."
"No, Jasper Pennington, this must not be. Naomi Penryn must never live in a home bought with the price of crime. But you are sure she is safe?"
He spoke like a man demented, and yet his earnestness, his evident hatred of crime made me patient. Moreover, he had come upon me at a critical time, and was to an extent a sharer in my secret.
"Look you, Esau, or Cain, or whatever else you may call yourself," I said, "these are but idle words of yours—idle words. I have committed no crime, I hurt no man, I am poor, I have been robbed of my rights, my home. Here, I trust, is my power to win back my home and give it to my love, who is dearer to me than my life."
"There is no need, Jasper Pennington, I tell you there is no need! Throw this thing to the Hell's Mouth, by which it has been lying. Take me to your love; let me see her face, and then—well, I will not promise what, but it shall be well with you," and he laughed like a man from whose life a great fear had gone.
I looked at him, and he presented a strange appearance in the light of the moon on that lonely island. I could not let the treasure slip from my hands at his bidding, for what was the promise of such as he, whose every action told me he was mad?