ressed; risk run for the sake of those
who would never be able to repay; the deed done for its own sake, not in
the hope of any praise or reward. Surely this thing might be the first
step in a career of true knightliness, albeit such humble deeds might
never win the golden spurs of which men thought so much.

Gaston's eyes had been scanning the whole place with hawk-like gaze. Now
he turned to his brother and spoke in rapid whispers.

"Entrance will be none too easy here. The narrow windows, with their
stone mullions, will scarce admit the passage of a human body, and I can
see that iron bars protect many of them still farther. The doors are
doubtless strong, and heavily bolted. The old sorcerer has no wish to be
interrupted in his nefarious occupations, nor does he trust alone to
ghostly terrors to protect his house. Methinks we had better skirt round
the house, and seek that other entrance of which we have heard. Raymond,
did not our mother tell us oft a story of a revolving stone door to an
underground passage, and the trick by which it might be opened from
within and without? I remember well that it was by a secret spring
cleverly hidden -- seven from above, three from below, those were the
numbers. Can it be that it was of Basildene she was thinking all that
time? It seems not unlikely. Seven from the top, three from the bottom
-- those were certainly the numbers, though I cannot recollect to what
they referred. Canst thou remember the story, Raymond? Dost thou think
it was of Basildene she spoke?"

"Ay, verily I do!" cried the other quickly, a light coming into his
face. "Why had I not thought of it before? I remember well she spoke of
dark water which lay upon the outside of the house hard by the entrance
to the underground way. Rememberest thou not the boat moored in the lake
to carry the fugitive across to the other side, and the oars so muffled
that none might hear? And did not Mistress Joan say that the secret way
into Basildene was hard by the fish ponds on the west side of the house?
It can be nothing else but this. Let us go seek them at once. Methinks
we have in our hands the clue by which we may obtain entrance into
Basildene."

Cautiously, as though their foes were at hand, the brothers slipped
round the crumbling walls of the house, marking well as they did so that
despite the half-ruinous aspect of much of the building, there was no
ready or easy method of access. Every gap in the masonry was caref