othing.

A sudden thought struck him.

"Capital!" he said to himself, joyously. "Fifty men quietly introduced
by the secret passage, and led right into the house. Why, we could
surprise them all asleep, and the place would be taken without loss of
life. What a result to an accidental discovery!"

Then a damping thought occurred.

"No," he muttered; "Fred will have remembered it, and made all safe.
Perhaps let us get in, and trap us. He is too clever to leave that
place open. He has not had time to secure it yet. What a pity we two
are on opposite sides!"

As he thought this, he involuntarily raised his hand to his shortly cut
hair, and a look of vexation crossed his face.

"Forward!" he muttered, as if giving an order, and to put an end to his
musings; and at the word he was in the act of passing through the
doorway, and had taken a step into the corridor when there was a sharp
challenge from the sentry down in the hall. But the password was given,
and by the sounds it seemed to Scarlett that two armed men had begun to
ascend the stairs.

Yes, undoubtedly two, for one said something lightly, and he caught the
reply.

"We'll soon see about that."

The words were in a subdued tone of voice, and passing back into the
room, Scarlett drew the door after him, leaving a mere crack, so that he
could listen.

"Officers going to their quarters," he thought. "I wonder which room
they occupy."

He listened, and they reached the top of the stairs, turning to the
left, a movement which brought them towards him.

He would have closed the door entirely, but dreading a noise that might
betray him, he left it ajar, and stood waiting for them to pass, but
only to flush crimson with indignation as a sudden thought struck him in
answer to his wondering question.

"They would not dare!" he ejaculated in an angry whisper; and he turned
to flee into the farther room, where the servants had been, and where as
a rule his sister slept. But as he moved towards it quickly, it
occurred to him that there were no such voluminous curtains for hiding
behind, and, quick as thought, he darted to his old place of
concealment, only just having time to throw the heavy hangings round him
as the door was thrust back, and two men strode into the room.

"The cowardly, plundering villains!" muttered Scarlett, and his hands
involuntarily clenched, and he felt ready to rush out and face these
nocturnal marauders, but he checked the desir