"The escaped nun?" said the man. "Yes, sir. She was carried from the carriage to the snuggery. She's there now."
"Is she ill?"
"No, sir. She's kept quiet, that is all, sir."
"Thank you. Take us to your master."
The servant led the way without a word, and a few seconds later we stood in the library, the servant closing the door behind us.
There were six people in the room. Richard Tresidder's mother was there, the woman whom my grandfather had married, and who had been the cause of all our trouble. She was an old woman, but evidently strong and agile. I could not help noticing even then how brightly her eyes shone, and how grimly her lips were pressed together. Richard Tresidder was there, too, looking, I thought, much worried and careworn, while young Nick stood by his side, his face very pale, and his arm in a sling. The other three men I did not know, although I fancied I had seen one of them before. Richard Tresidder turned to us as if to tell us something, then seeing me, he cried out angrily, and with great astonishment.
Now, not until that moment did I realise that we had come into a place of danger. Instinctively I measured the men who stood before us. Leaving out Nick Tresidder, we were but two to four, besides which we were in the house of a man who had servants to do his bidding. Still I feared nothing; nay, rather a great joy came into my heart that at last I should meet the Tresidders in this way face to face.
"Jasper Pennington!" cried Richard Tresidder, and then both Nick and his grandmother started up as though they had been attacked by a great evil.
"And John Penryn." This Naomi's father said.