The two men in black seized Katrina roughly by the shoulders.
“Take this disobedient girl to the East Tower!” roared the angry uncle.
Katrina did not speak, but her blue eyes gleamed proudly as the guards led her away.
The East Tower was an old, unused part of the castle, a long distance from the part where the royal household lived. To reach the tower, the guards led Katrina through many rooms hung with spiders’ webs, over broken stone floors, and along dark passage-ways where rats scuttled.
“I am glad I wasn’t Katrina to have to go where there were rats!” exclaimed Alice.
“Don’t interrupt, Peggy!” cried Betty.
Miss Ruth smiled, and continued:
The old East Tower of the castle was almost forgotten. No one ever went there. Tall trees and bushes grew up around it, and a deep moat surrounded it.
“What is a moat?” asked Betty.
“A deep hollow, like a trench or a wide ditch, filled with water,” explained Miss Ruth, and Alice whispered—but very sweet-temperedly—to Betty: “Who’s interrupting now?” as Miss Ruth began again: