"That I have ceased to trust you," replied Otho boldly. "I cannot forget the part you have played in the flight of Nancy; or in your treatment of Roger Trevanion. It is well to have that matter settled. We trusted you, and you failed us; but for you Mistress Nancy would have been my wife ere this." "And you would have regretted it to your dying day. Think you I am a fool, Otho Killigrew?" "Why should I have regretted it?" asked Otho sullenly. "Time will show, my lad. He who weds a loveless wife must have sufficient reasons for doing so." "And were not my reasons sufficient?" "They were built upon thistledown, Otho Killigrew." "Why did you not tell me this?" "Because you chose to act without me, or rather to act against me. Have you not known me long enough to be sure I would do nothing without purpose. Bah! you thought you were very wise. You got Trevanion imprisoned, you tried to arouse suspicion concerning me, and then like a fool you visited him at Launceston Castle." "But that has done no harm. He has escaped." "True; but before he did so, you proved his innocence to Hugh Boscawen, and obtained a warrant for his liberty. Now we have no hold upon him. He hath gone, whither I know not. His whereabouts is as great a mystery as that of the maid Nancy herself." "Then you know not where she is?" "I know nothing. I have been busy doing other work, or I might have set to work to discover. I know Trevanion took her to Peter Trevisa's." "To Peter Trevisa's! Why?" "Because--well, Peter Trevisa knows more of Nancy Molesworth, aye, and of this very house and the lands surrounding it, than you do. Peter Trevisa holds everything like that!" "Ah!" cried Otho Killigrew. "Enough of this," cried old Colman Killigrew, "all that can wait now. More pressing matters come first." "I know it, Colman Killigrew," replied Uncle Anthony; "but this son of thine thinks he is very wise in suspecting me and in seeking to thwart my purposes. It is well to prove to him that he is a fool. He should learn to obey before he seeks to command." "Well, and the other matter; is all ready?" "It is. That is why I have ordered you here to-night. We must make this our centre. The house is isolated and practically uninhabited but for the man who obeys you implicitly. Here we can speak freely. There is a lonely road leading from the house to the sea; we can come and go without suspicion at least for three days." "Why three days?" asked Otho. "I say three days, because I do not know what is in Peter Trevisa's mind." "What of him? What hath he to do with it?" "I cannot tell yet; when Charles hath landed, and starts his march through Cornwall and Devonshire, I, the old hermit, may have time to think of other things." "You are right," replied old Colman. "And now there is work to do. The men must be gathered." "They are being gathered," replied Uncle Anthony. "And armed."