“You were not told the truth, my lord. Captain Tremayne says that he didn’t, and if he says so it is so.”
“Oh, of course, Miss Armytage!” He was a man of unparalleled valour and boldness, yet so fierce was she in that moment that for the life of him he dared not have contradicted her.
“Captain Tremayne is the most honourable man I know,” she continued, “and if he had killed Samoval he would never have denied it; he would have proclaimed it to all the world.”
“There is no need for all this heat, my dear,” he reassured her. “The point is not one that can remain in doubt. The seconds of the duel will be forthcoming; and they will tell us who were the principals.”
“There were no seconds,” she informed him.
“No seconds!” he cried in horror. “D’ ye mean they just fought a rough and tumble fight?”
“I mean they never fought at all. As for this tale of a duel, I ask your lordship: Had Captain Tremayne desired a secret meeting with Count Samoval, would he have chosen this of all places in which to hold it?”
“This?”
“This. The fight—whoever fought it—took place in the quadrangle there at midnight.”
He was overcome with astonishment, and he showed it.