Nevertheless, he sneered.
"I ask for proofs, man, not oaths.

What proofs can you afford me ?" "There are the man and the woman whom the lad was reared by." "And where shall I find them ?" Joseph opened his lips to answer, then closed them again.

In his eagerness he had almost parted with the information which he now proposed to make the price of his life.

He regained confidence at Crispin's tone and questions, gathering from both that the knight was willing to believe if proof were set before him.

He rose to his feet, and when next he spoke his voice had won back much of its habitual calm deliberateness.
"That," said he, "I will tell you when you have promised to go hence, leaving Gregory and me unharmed.