torture me by
suggesting a mystery you will not explain.'

"He looked very indifferent.

"'It is nothing,' he declared, 'only I know of an inn--at least it is
used for an inn now--which has in its interior a secret chamber so
deftly hidden away in the very heart of the house that I doubt if even
its present owner could find it without the minutest directions from the
man who saw it built. I knew that man. He was an Englishman, and he had
a fancy to make his fortune through the aid of smuggled goods. He did
it; and though always suspected, was never convicted, owing to the fact
that he kept all his goods in this hidden room. The place is sold now,
but the room remains. I wonder if any forgotten treasures lie in it.
Imagination could easily run riot over the supposition, do you not think
so, sir?'

"I certainly did, especially as I imagined myself to detect in every
line of his able and crafty face that he bore a closer relation to the
Englishman than he would have me believe. I did not betray my feelings,
however, but urged him to tell me how in a modern house, a room, or even
a closet, could be so concealed as not to awaken any one's suspicion. He
answered by taking out pencil and paper, and showing me, by a few lines,
the secret of its construction. Then seeing me deeply interested, he
went on to say:

"'We find what we have been told to search for; but here is a case where
the secret has been so well kept that in all possibility the question of
this room's existence has never arisen. It is just as well.'

"Meantime I was studying the plan.

"'The hidden chamber lies,' said I, 'between this room,' designating one
with my forefinger, 'and these two others. From which is it entered?'

"He pointed at the one I had first indicated.

"'From this,' he affirmed. 'And a quaint, old-fashioned room it is, too,
with a wainscoting of oak all around it as high as a man's head. It used
to be called the oak parlor, and many a time has its floor rung to the
tread of the king's soldiers, who, disappointed in their search for
hidden goods, consented to take a drink at their host's expense, little
recking that, but a few feet away, behind the carven chimneypiece upon
which they doubtless set down their glasses, there lay heaps and heaps
of the richest goods, only awaiting their own departure to be scattered
through the length and breadth of the land.'

"'And this house is now an inn?' I remarked.

"'Yes.'

"'Curious. I sho