found
they were against a wall straight in front of them, and could go no
further. The passage was too narrow for them to turn round and come out,
the top of it was so low it nearly touched their heads as they crawled
along. The air was oppressive, and suffocation almost overpowered them,
but they could still hear the voice which seemed nearer. Feeling the
walls carefully with their hands, they found that a sharp turn to the
right, led along in a direct line toward the sound. This passage was
also dark, and as narrow almost as a coffin. They continued crawling for
several yards more, sometime cutting their arms with the broken stones
which covered the bottom, and sometimes placing one of their hands upon
some cold substance which moved and felt as if it might be a lizard or a
sleeping snake. They neither called nor spoke, for they feared someone
might have the child, who would run away with her, if warned of their
approach, so they determined to come upon them suddenly. They were
greatly exhausted, but they struggled on.

At length daylight appeared at the end of the subterranean passage, and
in another moment they emerged from it and stood in a large stone hall,
amply lighted from above by open iron gratings and loopholes in the
walls; through one of the latter, a bright gleam of light fell like a
halo upon the sweet, fair face and the golden head of the child, who was
sitting on the floor, with a portion of her little white dress folded
around a kitten, which she was rocking in her arms and talking to. Happy
as was her wont and all unconscious of the flight of time and the
anxiety that she had caused, she seemed to have made some little
exploration of her own since she had been there and wanted to show her
discovery, just the same as Mrs. Carleton and Miss Vyvyan were always
doing to one another.

"Come," said she, getting up from the floor and taking her mother's
hand, "funny sing down dare; Anna too," she continued, and stretching
out her other hand, she caught hold of the folds of Miss Vyvyan's dress,
and drew her along also, leading them both across the hall to a large
gate of iron bars. It was locked, and closed the entrance to a broad
stone passage.

"Down dare, funny sing," she went on, pointing to a skeleton, which lay
just inside, and so near to the gate that one hand had been thrust out
between the bars and the bones of it were lying close to their feet. A
great quantity of long black hair still remained