Crown and Sceptre Part 7

Scarlett was silent.

"What are you thinking about!"

"Whether I oughtn't to tell father about that place."

"I suppose you ought," said Fred, after a pause; "but if you do, we shall have no more fun."

"I didn't see any fun in it," said Scarlett, slowly.

"Not then; but see what we could do with a secret place of our own to retreat to whenever we liked, and no one knowing where we had gone. I say, don't tell anybody."

"But I feel as if I ought to tell my father, as it's his place."

"Yes, I suppose you ought; but let's wait a bit first."

"Well, we might wait a little while. I say, Fred, what cowards we were!"

"But it was so dark, and I couldn't help thinking that we might never find our way out."

"Yes; that's just how I felt, and as if something was coming after us out of the darkness."

"And, of course, there couldn't be anything. You could see by the dust on the steps that n.o.body had been there for years and years."

There was a long silence here, during which the two lads looked out at the garden flooded with sunshine, where Nat was working very deliberately close by the sun-dial. And beyond him, at the lake, from which the sunbeams flashed whenever a fish or water-fowl disturbed the surface.

"I say," said Fred at last, "don't let's sit here any longer. You're as dull as if you had no tongue. What are you thinking about now?"

"I was wondering whether I shall be such a coward when I grow up to be a man."

"I say, Scar, don't keep on talking like that; it's just as if you kept on calling me a coward too."

"So you were."

"No, I was not; but it was enough to frighten anybody. It was all so dark and strange."

"Should you be afraid to go again?"

"No," said Fred, stoutly.

"Will you go, then?"

"What, alone?"

"No; both together."

"I'll go, if you will. When shall we go?"

"Now," said Scarlett, firmly.

"Now?"

"Yes. I want to know where that place leads to; and I don't like to feel that we were frightened because it was dark. Come along."

"What now--directly?"

"Yes; you're not afraid, are you?"

"No," cried Fred, starting up. "Get two candles this time, and we'll take one apiece."

The lights were obtained, the door at the end of the pa.s.sage bolted, and once more the two boys stood at the top of the staircase.

"Think we had better go now?" said Fred.

"Yes; we may not have such a chance again for ever so long. Do you feel afraid?"

"Not exactly afraid; only as if I didn't want to go. I'm not so brave as you are, Scar."

This last was said with a bit of a sneer, which made the boy wince, and then draw himself up proudly.

"I'm not brave," he said, "for I feel as if I'd give anything not to go; but it seems to me as if it would be very cowardly to give up, and I mean to go."

He seized the bal.u.s.trade as he spoke, gave it a wrench, the stair shot from its fastening, was pushed back, and without another word Scarlett thrust in his lighted candle, followed it, and Fred stood looking in as his companion gradually disappeared.

"Come along, Fred," came in m.u.f.fled tones from beneath the landing; and, uttering a sigh, Fred thrust in his candlestick and followed, to rise, after a slow horizontal progress, to a perpendicular position, behind his leader.

The way seemed far easier now, and in a very few minutes they were standing again in the chamber, where they paused for a few moments before Scarlett drew open the panelled door in the corner, and once more held the light above his head as he gazed down the mysterious stairs.

"Shall I go first?" asked Fred, in a voice which invited a refusal of his services.

"No; it's our place, and I'll lead," was the reply.

"Don't put the candle out again," said Fred, with a sigh of relief, and speaking in warning tones. "I say, Scar, perhaps there's a place like this at the Manor."

"We'll see, when we've found out all about this," replied Scarlett, as he began to descend, while Fred followed closely, the two lights making their task easier, while their confidence began now to increase as they encountered no danger.

The foot of the steps was reached in safety, the candle being held low down, so as to guard against any pitfall or fresh flight of stairs in the way.

But all was perfectly level as the boys went on along the narrow, arched-over pa.s.sage, their light footfalls sending on before them a curious series of reverberations, while their progress for quite a hundred yards was singularly monotonous and uneventful.

"Why, how far does it go?" said Fred at last, becoming bolder now, but feeling startled as he heard his words go whispering away.

"Very little farther. Look!"

The lights were held up, and they stopped short, for a few yards before them was a narrow, nail-studded door, very similar to the one leading into the chamber, but heavier looking, and with a great rusty bolt at top and bottom.

"That's the end of it, then," said Fred. "I say, I know what it is.

That's the vault where they used to bury the old Markhams."

"That it can't be, for they were all buried at the church."