"You knew of this when I arrived at Dover?"
"Yes, sire."
"And when you went to the place again?"
"It was gone as I have told you, sire."
"You believe the old man hath it?"
"Yes, sire."
"And you have a suspicion where he is now?"
At this I was silent, for what could I say. I believed that he was at Goodlands, the house of John Leslie, and that his discovery would mean the discovery of Constance's sister, the sister whom she was ready to shield with her own life. Therefore, in spite of all the king's commands, I held my peace, never by so much as a word or a suggestion making known my thoughts.
Again the king grew angry, and he threatened not the wife of Sir Charles Denman, but Constance with a doom at which any honest woman must shudder, but even then I could not speak, for if ever a woman's eyes had commanded a man to be silent Constance's had commanded me. Besides, I had no faith in the man before me. The promises he made to-day would be broken at the very moment it pleased his fancy.
And yet I believed that the king was not altogether displeased with me, for even as he gave his commands concerning me he said—