Part 16 (2/2)
”You mean me? Oh, well, you are not the first; and no doubt it is best so. The less you understand, the better we shall get along, Major; the only question being, will you obey my orders?”
”Had I inclination otherwise I fear I should find it impossible.”
”I hardly know whether that remark be complimentary or not. You might mean that no other course was left you.”
”Which I suspect is true, although if it proved so I should willingly trust myself to your guidance, because of my faith in you.”
”That is much better,” her eyes laughing, yet as swiftly sobering again.
”But it is foolish of us to waste time in such silly speeches. There is too much waiting attention. Fortunately this house is not without its secrets, for when built by my grandfather this was the frontier.”
”But does not Grant know?” I asked soberly. ”I understood he played here as a boy, and there is not much a lad fails to learn.”
”He is not without knowledge, surely, but here is something he never discovered. I would never have trusted him with the secret, and yet, as short a time as I have known you, I have no hesitancy. Isn't that a frank confession, sir?”
”One I mean you shall never regret.”
”I am sure of that; yet I shall not betray everything even to you. Please face about with eyes to the front window. Yes, so; now do not look around until I tell you.”
I heard her cross the room, her skirts rustling slightly, and then the faint clicking of some delicately adjusted mechanism. As this sound ceased, her voice again spoke.
”Now, Major, the way is opened for a safe retreat. Behold what has been accomplished by the genii of the lamp.”
She was standing at one side of what had been the fireplace, but now the entire lower portion of the great chimney had been swung aside, revealing an opening amply large enough for the entrance of a man. I took one step forward to where I could perceive the beginning of a narrow winding stair leading down into intense blackness. Then I glanced aside into her eyes.
”The concealment was perfect,” I exclaimed in admiration. ”Where does the staircase lead?”
”To a very comfortable room underground. It had not been used for a generation until this war began. Eric and I learned of its existence by accident, while rummaging over some of our grandfather's old papers. I was about sixteen then, and shall never forget our first exploration. We found nothing down there then but a rough bunk, an old lanthorn, and the leathern scabbard of a sword. But since then Eric has been compelled to hide there twice to escape capture, and we have made the room below more comfortable. You will be obliged to grope your way down the stairs, but at the bottom will discover flint and steel, and a lantern with ample supply of candles. Peter will bring you food, if you need remain there for long!”
”Peter! Then he is in the secret?”
”Peter is in all secrets,” she confessed. ”From him nothing is hid, at least so far as may concern the Mortimer family. You have yet to learn the deep subtlety of Peter, Major Lawrence. He sees all things, retains all things, and reveals nothing.”
”A discovery already made.”
”No, barely glimpsed; no short acquaintance such as yours has been could ever serve to reveal the character of Peter. Since babyhood he has been my monitor and guide, and still he remains to me a silent mystery.”
”An old servant?”
”Yes, born to the position, his father serving before him. There is no doubt in my mind but what he knew of this secret pa.s.sage before Eric and I were born. Not that he has ever confessed as much, yet I am convinced our discovery of it brought no surprise to Peter. What do you suppose his age to be?”
My mind reverted to that expressionless face without a wrinkle in it, to that totally bald head, and my answer was the merest guess.
”Oh, possibly fifty.”
”I told you you were far from knowing Peter,” she laughed. ”He is seventy-two, and, would you believe it, until this war came, was never ten miles from this spot.”
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