him in the secret chamber when the enemy arrived to search the
house.

Little daunted, the lady, with great presence of mind, made no
objection whatever--indeed, facilitated their operations by
personally conducting them over the mansion. Here, as in so many
other instances, the secret room was entered from the principal
bedroom, and in inspecting the latter the suspicion of the Roundheads
was in some way or another aroused, so here they determined to
remain for the rest of the night.

An ample supper and a good store of wine (which, by the way, had
been carefully drugged) was sent up to the unwelcome visitors,
and in due course the drink effected its purpose--its victims
dropped off one by one, until the whole party lay like logs upon
the floor. Mrs. Arthur Jones then crept in, having even to step
over the bodies of the inanimate Roundheads, released her husband,
and a fresh horse being in readiness, by the time the effects
of the wine had worn off the Royalist captain was far beyond
their reach.

The secret room is located in the front of the building, and has
now been converted into a very, comfortable little dressing-room,
preserving its original oak panelling, and otherwise but little
altered, with the exception of the entry to it, which is now
an ordinary door.

Chastleton is the beau ideal of an ancestral hall. The grand
old gabled house, with its lofty square towers, its Jacobean
entrance gateway and dovecote, and the fantastically clipped