Meantime, Fenella had taken the jailer into the drawing-room and closed the door behind them.
"Mr. Vondy," she said in a low voice, "you can trust me. Nothing you may say in this room will ever be repeated. Did not somebody come to Castle Rushen last night after I left it?"
The old man tried in vain to look into the big moist eyes that were on him, but at length he dropped his own and said,
"It is no use, miss. There will be no rest on me in the night unless I tell the truth to somebody. There can be no harm telling it to you neither—going to be the man's wife soon they're saying. It's truth enough, miss—somebody did come."
"Was it the Deemster?"
"It was that," said the jailer, and then he told her everything that had happened.
Fenella's head became giddy and her cheeks blushed crimson. In a flash she saw what had happened. Victor had deceived the jailer. Did the old man know it? Lowering her eyes she said,
"You didn't say this when the Governor questioned you—had you a reason for not doing so?"
"I had. The Deemster made me promise to say nothing."
And then came the other and still more degrading story—the story of the intimidation Stowell had put upon the jailer to keep his visit secret.