“I have made it abundantly plain to her,” Sir John interrupted, almost vindictively.
The prisoner looked at her as if in surprise, his brows knit. Then with a shrug he turned to his judges again.
“In that case,” said he, “there’s no more to be said. But before you proceed, there is another matter upon which I desire an understanding.
“The terms of my surrender were that all others should be permitted to go free. You will remember, Sir John, that you pledged me your knightly word for that. Yet I find aboard here one who was lately with me upon my galeasse—a sometime English seaman, named Jasper Leigh, whom you hold a prisoner.”
“He killed Master Lionel Tressilian,” said Sir John coldly
“That may be, Sir John. But the blow was delivered before I made my terms with you, and you cannot violate these terms without hurt to your honour.”
“D’ye talk of honour, sir?” said Lord Henry.
“Of Sir John’s honour, my lord,” said the prisoner, with mock humility.
“You are here, sir, to take your trial,” Sir John reminded him.
“So I had supposed. It is a privilege for which you agreed to pay a certain price, and now it seems you have been guilty of filching something back. It seems so, I say. For I cannot think but that the arrest was inadvertently effected, and that it will suffice that I draw your attention to the matter of Master Leigh’s detention.”