“Yes.”

“Did you not, when he would have stayed your lawless flight, lay violent hands upon a nobleman high in the King’s favor, and, overpowering him with numbers, carry him out of the King’s realm?”

“Yes.”

“Did you not seduce from her duty to the King, and force to fly with you, his Majesty’s ward, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh?”

“No,” I said. “There was with me only my wife, who chose to follow the fortunes of her husband.”

He frowned, and my lord swore beneath his breath. “Did you not, falling in with a pirate ship, cast in your lot with the scoundrels upon it, and yourself turn pirate?”