"I can and will restore him to you if you but stay your hand.

That and much more will I do to repair the past." Unconsciously Crispin lowered his sword-arm, and for a full minute he stood and stared at Joseph.

His jaw was fallen and the grim firmness all gone from his face, and replaced by amazement, then unbelief followed by inquiry; then unbelief again.

The pallor of his cheeks seemed to intensify.

At last, however, he broke into a hard laugh.
"What lie is this you offer me?
Zounds, man, are you not afraid ?" "It is no lie," Joseph cried, in accents so earnest that some of the unbelief passed again from Galliard's face.