e
lake of their mother's oft-told tale, and by instinct they both turned
to the right as they reached the margin of the water, and threaded their
way through the coarse and tangled sedges, decaying in the winter's
cold, till they reached a spot where brushwood grew down to the very
edge of the water, and the bank rose steep and high above their heads.

Gaston was a step in advance, Raymond following at his heels, both
keenly eager over the quest. An exclamation from the leader soon showed
that something had been discovered, and the next minute he had drawn
aside the sweeping branches of a great willow, and revealed a dark
opening in the bank, around which the giant roots seemed to form a
protecting arch.

"This is the place," he said, in a muffled whisper. "Raymond, hast thou
the wherewithal to kindle the torch?"

The boys had not come unprovided with such things as were likely to
prove needful for their search, and though it was a matter of some time
to obtain a light, they were skilful and well used to the process, and
soon their torch was kindled and they were treading with cautious steps
the intricacies of the long and tortuous passage which plainly led
straight to the house.

"We never should have found it but for our mother's story," said Gaston,
with exultation in his voice. "Raymond, methinks that this is the first
step in our career of vengeance. We have the key to Basildene in our
hands. It may be that upon another occasion we may use it with a
different purpose."

It seemed to the brothers that they had walked a great distance, when
their steps were arrested by what appeared in the first instance to be a
solid wall of stone. Had they not had some sort of clue in their heads,
they would certainly have believed that this natural tunnel ended here,
and that further progress was impossible. But as it was, they were
firmly convinced that this was but the door of masonry of which their
mother had told them in years gone by. Neither could recollect the story
save in fragments; but the numbers had clung to Gaston's tenacious
memory, and now he stood before the door saying again and again --
"Seven from the top, three from the bottom" -- scanning the wall in
front of him with the keenest glances all the while.

"Ha!" he exclaimed at length; "bring the torch nearer, Raymond. See
here. This is not one block of stone, as seems at first, but a mass of
masonry so cunningly joined together as to look like one solid p