my memory whatever you may mention."

"The house is very old--probably the first house of some sort that stood
there was in the time of the Romans. This was probably renewed--perhaps
several times at later periods. The house stands, or, rather, used to
stand here when Mercia was a kingdom--I do not suppose that the basement
can be later than the Norman Conquest. Some years ago, when I was
President of the Mercian Archaeological Society, I went all over it very
carefully. This was when it was purchased by Captain March. The house
had then been done up, so as to be suitable for the bride. The basement
is very strong,--almost as strong and as heavy as if it had been intended
as a fortress. There are a whole series of rooms deep underground. One
of them in particular struck me. The room itself is of considerable
size, but the masonry is more than massive. In the middle of the room is
a sunk well, built up to floor level and evidently going deep
underground. There is no windlass nor any trace of there ever having
been any--no rope--nothing. Now, we know that the Romans had wells of
immense depth, from which the water was lifted by the 'old rag rope';
that at Woodhull used to be nearly a thousand feet. Here, then, we have
simply an enormously deep well-hole. The door of the room was massive,
and was fastened with a lock nearly a foot square. It was evidently
intended for some kind of protection to someone or something; but no one
in those days had ever heard of anyone having been allowed even to see
the room. All this is _a propos_ of a suggestion on my part that the
well-hole was a way by which the White Worm (whatever it was) went and
came. At that time I would have had a search made--even excavation if
necessary--at my own expense, but all suggestions were met with a prompt
and explicit negative. So, of course, I took no further step in the
matter. Then it died out of recollection--even of mine."