It seemed to compress bone and sinew as in a
vice; the arm between them was as a bar of iron. Richard felt powerless
as a child, and could have cried like a child--not from pain, though he
was in great pain, but from vexation and rage. It was maddening to find
himself thus physically subjugated by one whom he so utterly despised.
"Keep a civil tongue in your head, cock-sparrow," growled the giant,
"lest I wring your neck. You're a nice one to talk of lying; you, with
your tales of son and heirship to the Squire, and your offers of
copper-mines for the asking! Who told me how I had been fooled? Why,
Carew himself! You thought I should write to the parson, eh?"
Richard certainly had thought that he would have written to the parson,
but he strove to look as calm and free from disappointment as he could,
as he replied: "It was quite indifferent to me to whom you wrote, Mr.
Trevethick. There was only one account to give of my affairs; and it was
the same I had already given to you. I told you that my father did not
choose to acknowledge me for the present, and I have no doubt that your
questioning him upon the matter has made him very bitter against me; the
more so because he is well aware that he is fighting against the truth;
he knows that he was married to my mother in a lawful way, and that I am
the issue of that marriage.
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