y indignant at what he heard, and sorry too, for
even he admired little Margery, and he at once proposed sending to
London for a detective officer. "One of those sharp-witted gentlemen is
far more likely than are we thick-headed country-folks to discover how
she little girl has been spirited away," he observed. "Of one thing I
am certain, that the smugglers are at the bottom of it, and of another,
that if they have not a confederate in the house--and old Tom and Becky
look honest enough--they have the means of getting in unknown to us. I
will write for the officer, and then you and Stephen shall ride over
with me and we will look into the matter."

Captain Askew was very grateful to Mr Ludlow for coming over so
speedily, but though they again made a thorough examination, as they
supposed, of the whole tower, they could not throw any fresh light on
the mysterious subject.

"The detective officer, when he arrives, will soon ferret out the truth,
however, depend on that," observed Mr Ludlow, as he and Stephen mounted
their horses to ride back. But neither the captain nor Charley were
inclined to wait till the said detective should arrive to win back what
they valued so much. Charley thought again and again over the subject,
and talked to Tom about the light, and the groan, and the dear little
slipper, and suddenly Tom slapped his leg and said that he remembered
when the Tower was being put in order that one of the workmen had told
him that there was a vault or cellar under a part of it, from which a
passage was said to lead down to the seashore. He was not certain
whether the captain had heard the account, at all events he did not
appear to have believed it, and of course had forgotten it altogether.
Tom confessed that he was very stupid not to have thought of it before,
though he was not even then much inclined to believe in the truth of the
story.

Charley thought differently, and resolved at once to search for the
opening--if such existed--to the vault. He charged Tom not to tell the
captain, as it would be a disappointment to him should they fail to make
the discovery they hoped for. At that very juncture blind Peter, having
heard a rumour of the supposed abduction of Miss Margery, came to the
Tower to learn whether or not the story was true.

Charley immediately took him into his counsels. Peter thought over the
subject. Yes, he had heard the account of the vault under the Tower,
and what was more, he kn