eroom, the lackeys' waiting hall, the
grand guardroom--"

"All crowded with soldiers, factionaries, and attendants?--that will
never do for me, my lord;--have you no secret passage to the gate, as
you have to your dungeons? I have seen such in Germany."

"There is a passage through the chapel," said the Marquis, "opening from
my apartment."

"And what is the pass-word at the gate?"

"The sword of Levi," replied the Marquis; "but if you will receive my
pledge of honour, I will go with you, escort you through every guard,
and set you at full liberty with a passport."

"I might trust you, my lord, were your throat not already black with the
grasp of my fingers--as it is, BESO LOS MANOS A USTED, as the Spaniard
says. Yet you may grant me a passport;--are there writing materials in
your apartment?"

"Surely; and blank passports ready to be signed. I will attend you
there," said the Marquis, "instantly."

"It were too much honour for the like of me," said Dalgetty; "your
lordship shall remain under charge of mine honest friend Ranald MacEagh;
therefore, prithee let me drag you within reach of his chain.--Honest
Ranald, you see how matters stand with us. I shall find the means, I
doubt not, of setting you at freedom. Meantime, do as you see me do;
clap your hand thus on the weasand of this high and mighty prince, under
his ruff, and if he offer to struggle or cry out, fail not, my worthy
Ranald, to squeeze doughtily; and if it be AD DELIQUIUM, Ranald, that
is, till he swoon, there is no great matter, seeing he designed your
gullet and mine to still harder usage."

"If he offer at speech or struggle," said Ranald, "he dies by my hand."

"That is right, Ranald--very spirited:--A thorough-going friend that
understands a hint is worth a million!"

Thus resigning the charge of the Marquis to his new confederate,
Dalgetty pressed the spring, by which the secret door flew open,
though so well were its hinges polished and oiled, that it made not the
slightest noise in revolving. The opposite side of the door was secured
by very strong bolts and bars, beside which hung one or two keys,
designed apparently to undo fetterlocks. A narrow staircase, ascending
up through the thickness of the castle-wall, landed, as the Marquis had
truly informed him, behind the tapestry of his private apartment. Such
communications were frequent in old feudal castles, as they gave the
lord of the fortress, like a second Dionysius, the means of h