t back. By the by, how are we to get out
of this place?"

Ah! How to go back?--that was the question! The trapdoor had shut itself
high above their heads.

"I expect if we stand on one of the boxes, we can push it up!" said
Lindsay.

With much difficulty they dragged a heavy chest across the floor and
climbed upon it. It was a fruitless effort. However hard they might try,
the trapdoor would not budge an inch.

"There may be a secret spring," faltered Cicely, feeling in every
direction to find some bolt or knob, but all in vain. Then the horrible
truth broke upon them. They were locked up as securely as the legacy!

"What are we to do?"

Lindsay's pink cheeks were white with alarm.

"Let us call. Perhaps the girls are hunting for us still in the passage,
and they may hear."

Both shouted until they were hoarse, yet there was no reply. This was
indeed hide-and-seek with a vengeance. Their game had turned out more
than they had bargained for.

"I'll bang on the ceiling. It may sound louder than calling," said
Lindsay. "The girls must have given us up, and gone downstairs, for
nobody seems to hear," she continued, after belabouring the trapdoor for
several minutes.

"Perhaps they're at tea," suggested Cicely.

They examined the little window in the corner, but the fastenings were
so rusty from long disuse that, tug as they would, they could not open
it. They wiped away the dust and cobwebs from it, and peeped out.

"If it overlooks the garden, we could smash the glass and wave a
handkerchief, at any rate," proposed Lindsay. "Scott would be almost
sure to notice it, even if nobody else were out in the rain."

Alas! the window appeared to be securely hidden away among the gables,
and absolutely out of sight from below.

"Would it be possible to crawl on to the roof?"

Lindsay shook her head in reply. The frame was too small for even the
slim Cicely to squeeze through. The girls sat down and surveyed the
piles of treasure around them with dismay. If they had required a sermon
on the vanity of riches, it was there without any need of words.

"We can't eat bank notes, nor sleep on beds of sovereigns," remarked
Lindsay at last.

"We may be shut up here for days and days before they find us," said
Cicely blankly.

"They'll miss us directly, of course; but they won't know where to look.
Even if they peeped inside the settle, they wouldn't be any the wiser."

"Do you remember the piece of poetry we read las