whole window. There was no chance,
now, of being seen from the street, or from my uncle's house. Candlish
entered carrying a candle.

The others followed at his heels.

"A boy. Eh?" he said.

"What do you do here?" the Duke asked, staring hard at me.

"He's frightened out of his wits, sir," said Lane. "We aren't going to
hurt you, boy, if you'll only tell the truth."

"Why," said Mr. Jermyn. "It's Martin Hyde, nephew to old Hyde across the
way."

"But he's overheard us," put in Falk. "He's overheard us."

"Come on downstairs. Bring him with you," said the Duke. Lane took me by
one arm. Mr. Jermyn took me by the other. They marched me downstairs to
the council-room.

"Here, boy," said Candlish, not unkindly. "Drink this wine." He made
me swallow a glass of Burgundy, which certainly did me a great deal of
good. I was able to speak after drinking it.

"Now, Mr. Hyde," said Mr. Jermyn. "How do you come to be in this house?"

"Take your time, boy," said Lane.

"He's not a London boy?" said the Duke to Mr. Jermyn.

"No, sir," he answered in a whisper. "Just come here from the country."

"Please, your Majesty," I began.

"So you're a young rebel," said the Duke. "That shows he overheard us,"
said Falk.

"Let him alone, Falk," the Duke said.

"He'll tell the truth. No use in frightening him."

"Please, your Majesty," I said again, "I was locked up in my room for
taking my uncle's boat this afternoon." One of two of them smiled when I
said this: it gave me confidence.

"But how did you get into this house?" Mr. Jermyn asked.

"Please, sir," I answered, "I saw your upper window open. So I laid a
couple of planks across the lane from my window. Then I just straddled
across, sir."

"Are you used to burglary, may I ask?" said the Duke.

"No, your Majesty. But I saw the ghosts. I wanted to see how they were
made."

"Well. That's one for you, Jermyn," said Lane. "Your ghosts haven't
frightened this one."

"Sir," I answered. "They frightened me horribly. I wanted to be revenged
for that. But after a bit I was sure they were only clockwork. I wanted
to stop them. I did stop the devil upstairs, sir."

"So you stopped the devil upstairs," the Duke said. "What did you do
then?"

"I came down to this room, sir. I looked at the owl. But I couldn't
see how to stop the owl, sir. I saw you all sitting round the room. I'm
afraid I listened, sir."

"That was not a gentlemanly thing to do," said Lane. "Was it no