"No, but you came as a Catholic. You came as one desirous of bringing a Catholic king on the throne. My father welcomes such as his own children. Otherwise you would not have been welcomed so warmly, nor would you have been asked to remain while Polperro sought to degrade us all. It is a weakness of my father to take to his heart all who belong to old Catholic families, and to trust them blindly----" "I am waiting for your mercy," I said. "You have done two things while in this house," said Otho: "you have pretended to side with my father in carrying out the great plan of his life, and as a consequence obtained secrets from him; and you have sought for, and obtained, an interview with my affianced wife. Either of these actions would justify us in dealing with you in a summary fashion. But we have decided on conditions to be merciful." "Explain." "I have discovered that you Trevanions never break a promise." "That must be strange to such as you." "If you will promise two things, we have decided to let you leave Endellion in no worse condition than you entered it." "You are very merciful." "Seeing that you have abused our hospitality, it is." "Well, about your conditions?" "Our conditions are very easily complied with. The first is, that you never breathe to any living soul anything which my father has divulged in relation to the cause he loves." "That is the whole of the first?" "It is. You see I am trusting you as a Trevanion. I know that if you make a promise you will keep it." "And the second?" "The second is different." And I saw that Otho Killigrew spoke not so easily. He lost that calm self-possession which characterized him when he spoke about the Catholic cause. The blood mounted to his cheek, and his hand trembled. "Tell me why you climbed the roof of the house!" he cried. "Tell me what happened there!" "I am waiting to hear the condition," was my answer. "Are you interested in Mistress Nancy Molesworth? Was that one of your reasons for coming here?" he asked eagerly. "Is she anything to you? Did you ever see her?" I saw that Otho Killigrew was scarcely master of himself as he spoke of the maid I had seen that night. I remarked also that Benet had an ugly look on his face as he listened. "I am still waiting to hear the second condition," I said, trying as well as I could to see my way through the business, and decide what steps to take. "It is this," cried Otho. "You promise not to interest yourself in any way with Mistress Molesworth; that you never speak of her within one month from this time; that you render no assistance in any way to those who seek to baulk me in my purposes." The last sentence came out seemingly against his will. As luck would have it, too, I turned my eyes in the direction of Benet at this time, and noted the gleam in his eyes. "If I mistake not," I said to myself, "Benet loveth not Otho, and it would take but little to make him lift his hand against his brother."