iles away, he found Peter Godolphin
there before him; and because of Peter's presence Sir Oliver was
more deliberate and formal in his accusation of Sir John than he had
intended. He desired, in accusing Sir John, also to clear himself in
the eyes of Rosamund's brother, to make the latter realize how entirely
odious were the calumnies which Sir John had permitted himself, and how
basely prompted.

Sir John, however, came halfway to meet the quarrel. His rancour against
the Pirate of Penarrow--as he had come to dub Sir Oliver--endered him
almost as eager to engage as was his visitor.

They found a secluded corner of the deer-park for their business,
and there Sir John--a slim, sallow gentleman of some thirty years of
age--made an onslaught with sword and dagger upon Sir Oliver, full
worthy of the onslaught he had made earlier with his tongue. But his
impetuosity availed him less than nothing. Sir Oliver was come there
with a certain purpose, and it was his way that he never failed to carry
through a thing to which he set his hand.

In three minutes it was all over and Sir Oliver was carefully wiping his
blade, whilst Sir John lay coughing upon the turf tended by white-faced
Peter Godolphin and a scared groom who had been bidden thither to make
up the necessary tale of witnesses.

Sir Oliver sheathed his weapons and resumed his coat, then came to stand
over his fallen foe, considering him critically.

"I think I have silenced him for a little time only," he said. "And I
confess that I intended to do better. I hope, however, that the lesson
will suffice and that he will lie no more--at least concerning me."

"Do you mock a fallen man?" was Master Godolphin's angry protest.

"God forbid!" said Sir Oliver soberly. "There is no mockery in my heart.
There is, believe me, nothing but regret--regret that I should not have
done the thing more thoroughly. I will send assistance from the house as
I go. Give you good day, Master Peter."

From Arwenack he rode round by Penryn on his homeward way. But he did
not go straight home. He paused at the Gates of Godolphin Court, which
stood above Trefusis Point commanding the view of Carrick Roads. He
turned in under the old gateway and drew up in the courtyard. Leaping
to the kidney-stones that paved it, he announced himself a visitor to
Mistress Rosamund.

He found her in her bower--a light, turreted chamber on the mansion's
eastern side, with windows that looked out upon that lo