kind, somewhere about the place, Alicia?" asked Robert.

"To be sure!" cried Miss Audley, with a vehemence that startled her
cousin; "of course. Why didn't I think of it before? How stupid of me,
to be sure!"

"Why stupid?"

"Because, if you don't mind crawling upon your hands and knees, you can
see my lady's apartments, for that passage communicates with her
dressing-room. She doesn't know of it herself, I believe. How astonished
she'd be if some black-visored burglar, with a dark-lantern, were to
rise through the floor some night as she sat before her looking-glass,
having her hair dressed for a party!"

"Shall we try the secret passage, George?" asked Mr. Audley.

"Yes, if you wish it."

Alicia led them into the room which had once been her nursery. It was
now disused, except on very rare occasions when the house was full of
company.

Robert Audley lifted a corner of the carpet, according to his cousin's
directions, and disclosed a rudely-cut trap-door in the oak flooring.

"Now listen to me," said Alicia. "You must let yourself down by the
hands into the passage, which is about four feet high; stoop your head,
walk straight along it till you come to a sharp turn which will take you
to the left, and at the extreme end of it you will find a short ladder