There were six people in the room. Richard Tresidder's mother was there, the woman whom my grandfather had married, and who had been the cause of all our trouble. She was an old woman, but evidently strong and agile. I could not help noticing even then how brightly her eyes shone, and how grimly her lips were pressed together. Richard Tresidder was there, too, looking, I thought, much worried and careworn, while young Nick stood by his side, his face very pale, and his arm in a sling. The other three men I did not know, although I fancied I had seen one of them before. Richard Tresidder turned to us as if to tell us something, then seeing me, he cried out angrily, and with great astonishment. Now, not until that moment did I realise that we had come into a place of danger. Instinctively I measured the men who stood before us. Leaving out Nick Tresidder, we were but two to four, besides which we were in the house of a man who had servants to do his bidding. Still I feared nothing; nay, rather a great joy came into my heart that at last I should meet the Tresidders in this way face to face. "Jasper Pennington!" cried Richard Tresidder, and then both Nick and his grandmother started up as though they had been attacked by a great evil. "And John Penryn." This Naomi's father said. "What?" "John Penryn. Do you remember me, Dick Tresidder?" "No, no. John Penryn committed suicide. He killed his wife and committed suicide." It was my grandfather's second wife who spoke. "He did not kill his wife, he did not commit suicide," replied John Penryn quietly. "True, I struck my wife in a fit of madness. Of the provocation I will say nothing. I thought I had killed her, and then, like a coward, I ran away from my home, afraid to face what would follow. But in the mercy of God I did not kill her. In the mercy of God, too, a child was born to us; and you became her guardian, Richard Tresidder. Where is she now?" For a moment silence fell upon the company. All awaited the outcome of the strange scene. I watched Richard Tresidder's face, and saw how frightened he was. I was sure, too, that his mind was seeking some way out of the difficulty in which he was placed. "You are an impostor. We cannot speak to you. Leave the house!" Again it was my grandfather's second wife who spoke. "If you wish," replied Naomi's father, "it shall be taken to a court of law. It would be painful for me to have the past recalled, but it shall be so if you will. You are my daughter's legal guardian, and until my identity is established you can exercise a certain amount of control. But remember this, if my past is made public, so will yours be. I shall want many things explained which will not be creditable to you, neither will you be free from the law's just punishment. My child will be placed in the witness-box, and she will have to tell many things which, I should judge, will not be pleasant to you."