“I only demand your silence,” said Edmund, “till I call for your evidence; and then, you must speak all you know, and all you suspect.”
“Oh,” said Joseph, “that I may but live to see that day, and I shall have lived long enough!”
“Come,” said Edmund, “let us return up stairs, and we will consult further how I shall proceed.”
So saying, he went out of the closet, and they followed him. He locked the door, and took the key out--“I will keep this,” said he, “till I have power to use it to purpose, lest any one should presume to pry into the secret of this closet. I will always carry it about me, to remind me of what I have undertaken.”
Upon this, they returned up stairs into the bed-chamber; all was still, and they heard nothing more to disturb them. “How,” said Edmund, “is it possible that I should be the son of Lord Lovel? for, however circumstances have seemed to encourage such a notion, what reason have I to believe it?”
“I am strangely puzzled about it,” said Oswald. “It seems unlikely that so good a man as Lord Lovel should corrupt the wife of a peasant, his vassal; and, especially, being so lately married to a lady with whom he was passionately in love.”
“Hold there!” said Joseph; “my lord was incapable of such an action; If Master Edmund is the son of my lord, he is also the son of my lady.”
“I don’t know how,” said Joseph; “but there is a person who can tell if she will; I mean Margery Twyford, who calls herself your mother.”
“You meet my thoughts,” said Edmund; “I had resolved, before you spoke, to visit her, and to interrogate her on the subject; I will ask my Lord’s permission to go this very day.”
“That is right,” said Oswald; “but be cautious and prudent in your enquiries.”
“If you,” said Edmund, “would bear me company, I should do better; she might think herself obliged to answer your questions; and, being less interested in the event, you would be more discreet in your interrogations.”
“That I will most readily,” said he; “and I will ask my lord’s permission for us both.”
“This point is well determined,” said Joseph; “I am impatient for the result; and I believe my feet will carry me to meet you whether I consent or not.”
“I am as impatient as you,” said Oswald; “but let us be silent as the grave, and let not a word or look indicate any thing knowing or mysterious.”