"Look, Jasper Pennington," he said presently, "anything got through evil, through bloodshed, through murder carries a curse with it. I've had the curse of Cain upon me now for many a year. I have been a wanderer on the face of the earth, but I have kept my eyes open. Everywhere it has been the same. Blood money, hate money, money evilly got, always carries a curse. Don't touch it, don't touch it! It does not burn the hands--oh, but it burns the heart, the soul! Oh, I have seen! I know!" "But supposing your father had his home stolen from him by lies, treachery, fraud--suppose your father said to you with his dying breath, 'Get back that land; it is yours, it is your birthright, your true possession,' what would you do?" "Jasper Pennington, there be other birthrights than those of law--there be those of God. There is the birthright of clean, bloodless hands and a pure heart; there is the birthright of an easy conscience, and the power to pray! It is more than money." "You do not know everything," I said, "or you would speak differently." "I not know!" he cried; "I not know! My God! my God!" For a few seconds I thought him mad again, but presently he became calm. "The food is ready," he said; "we will eat of it. I got it from a cottage yonder. After we have eaten you may like to tell me all about yourself. Perchance I could help you; perchance, too, I am not what I seem." Something about the man charmed me. As I have mentioned, he spoke correctly, and in spite of his strange attire he looked like a gentleman. So when I had eaten I told him my story. "Is that all?" he said, when I had finished. "There is something else. Your eyes would never shine so at the thought of being robbed of lands." "Yes, there is more," I cried, for I had not told him of my love; and then--and I wondered at myself as I did so--I told him of my love for Naomi, but only in barest outline. I did not tell her name, I did not speak of her as coming from Trevose, I did not relate how Richard Tresidder hoped through her to gain Trevose. When I had finished he sat for many minutes looking steadfastly into the fire, while his eyes grew as red as the red coals into which he looked. "You have not told me all yet, Jasper Pennington," he said; "there is much behind. Why do you think they have ill-treated if not killed the fair maid you love? Why should they seek to put her into the convent? Ay, more, how and by what right were you taken to yon house on the cliffs? Tell me that, Jasper Pennington." He spoke slowly, but with terrible intensity, and for a moment a feeling which I cannot describe passed through my heart. "There is something else, Jasper Pennington," he continued. "What is the name of the fair maid you love, and whose child is she?" On saying this he caught my hand with a hard, tight grasp, and looked eagerly into my eyes. CHAPTER XVIII HOW I LEFT BEDRUTHEN STEPS AND, AFTER MEETING TAMSIN TRUSCOTT, SOUGHT FOR NAOMI