"Back where?" asked Hunter.
"Back on the plateau. Watching the fellows from the boats."
"I was not there. I did not come back."
The assertion sounded like a false one in the teeth of recollection. Mary Anne broke the silence, her low tone rather an impatient one.
"I saw you there, Robert--I and Anna Chester. We were coming up to speak to you, and got as far as the Round Tower--"
"What was worse, I saw you," hoarsely broke in Richard. "After what had passed between us, and your solemn oath to me, I felt shocked at your want of faith. I was maddened by your bad feeling, your obstinate determination to spy upon and betray us; and I stood by that same Round Tower and shot you down."
"I do not know what you are talking of," returned. Robert Hunter. "I tell you I never came back; never for one moment I got to Jutpoint by half-past ten or a quarter to eleven, so you may judge that I stepped out well."
"Did Cyril go there with you?"
"Cyril! Of course not. He left me soon after we passed the village. He only came as far as the wherry. I have been looking for Cyril while dodging about in this churchyard. I'd rather have seen him than you. He would not have been violent, you know, and would have carried you my message."
"We have never seen Cyril since that night," said Miss Thornycroft.