oom, and was rewarded in a
moment by the appearance at the door of that excellent man.

It did not take many words for me to explain to him our intentions. We
were going to search for a secret chamber which we had been told opened
into the room in which we then found ourselves. As I did not wish to
make any mystery of the affair, and as I naturally had my doubts as to
what the room might disclose, I asked the support of his presence.

He was gratified--the doctor always is gratified at any token of
appreciation--and perceiving that I had no further reason for delay, I
motioned to Mr. Tamworth to proceed.

[Illustration]

How he discovered the one movable panel in that old-fashioned
wainscoting, I have never inquired. When I saw him turn toward the
fireplace and lay his ear to the wall, I withdrew in haste to the
window, feeling as if I could not bear to watch him, or be the first to
catch a glimpse of the mysterious depths which in another moment must
open before his touch. What I feared I cannot say. As far as I could
reason on the subject, I had no cause to fear anything; and yet my
shaking frame and unevenly throbbing heart were but the too sure tokens
of an excessive and uncontrollable agitation. The view from the window
increased it. Before me lay the river from whose banks sand and stone
had been taken sixteen years before to replace--what? I knew no more
this minute than I did then. I might know in the next. By the faint
tapping that came to my ears I must--and it was this thought that sent a
chill through me, and made it so difficult for me to stand. And yet why
should it? Was not that old theory of ours, that the Urquharts had
brought treasure in their great box, still a plausible one? Nay, more,
was it not even a probable one, since we had discovered that the house
held so excellent a hiding place, unknown to the world at large, but
known to this man, as Mr. Tamworth's story so plainly showed? Yes; and
yet I started with uncontrollable forebodings, when I heard an
exclamation of satisfaction behind me, and hardly found courage to turn
around, even when I knew that an opening had been effected, and that
they were only waiting for my approach to enter it.

And it took courage, both on my part and on theirs; for the air which
rushed from the high and narrow slit of darkness before us was stifling
and almost deadly. But in a few minutes, after one or two experiments
with a lighted candle, Dr. Kenyon stepped t