Part 16 (1/2)
”How did you get these plans, Mr. Eckenrod?”
”The present owner of the building let me have them to study at the time I planned to buy the property. He would have sold the place to me too if that soft-talking fellow who calls himself Father Benedict hadn't come along!”
”Vernon, you mustn't speak that way of him!” reprimanded his wife in a shocked tone. ”I'm sure he's a good, kind man of religion. Just because you had a quarrel with his servant--”
”Father Benedict has less religion than I've got in my little finger!”
the artist growled. ”You said yourself only last night that something's wrong at the place! What of those screams we heard?”
”It was explained to me that a simple-minded woman named Julia works at the monastery,” Penny volunteered. ”She is supposed to be easily upset.”
”Humph!” muttered Mr. Eckenrod. ”All I can say is, Father Benedict surrounds himself with mighty queer people.”
”It's really none of our affair, Vernon,” said his wife mildly.
”What goes on there is my business until the paintings are finished! But Father Benedict and ten hunchbacks can't keep me away! With these plans I can always outwit them!”
”What do they show?” Penny could not make much from the dim lines.
”The building is built on the pattern of Sherborne in England,” Mr.
Eckenrod explained. He pointed out the main part of the church with nave, south and north transepts, choir and chapel. ”This section is a ruin now, but could be restored. Unfortunately, the roof has caved in and all paintings and statues were long ago destroyed.”
”Show me the cloister,” requested Penny.
”Here it is.” The artist pointed with a stubby thumb. ”Pa.s.sages radiate from it. One leads to the old chapter house. North of the cloister is the refectory, used as a dining room. Behind is the abbey's kitchen.”
”The sleeping rooms?”
”They're above the refectory and also to the west of the cloister. Under the refectory are the cellars. They also extend beneath the old chapel.”
”Have you ever visited them, Mr. Eckenrod?”
”The cellars? I have. Also the burial crypt. A few of the old tombs remain in fairly good state of preservation.”
”But where is the secret pa.s.sageway?” asked Penny.
”Through the crypt. It leads into the churchyard to the west of the building.”
”Do many people know about it?”
”I rather think I'm the only one. The building owner never bothered to study the plans, because he wasn't interested. Father Benedict may have learned the secret, but if so, he stumbled onto it by accident.”
”Is the pa.s.sageway well hidden?”
”Very cleverly. From the churchyard, one enters an empty tomb above ground. A pa.s.sageway leads down to the crypt beneath the old chapel.”
”Not a very pleasant way to enter or leave a building,” said Penny with a shudder.
”But convenient in a pinch,” chuckled Mr. Eckenrod. ”If Father Benedict is stubborn about allowing me inside, I'll bide my time and slip in to finish my paintings one of these days when he is away.”
Poring intently over the plans, Penny remarked that she would like to explore the pa.s.sageway sometime.