His enthusiasm thoroughly aroused, Win examined volume after volume, lingering over the quaint bookplates. Finally he took down a book unlettered on the back, but with a rubbed leather binding that showed marks of use. It proved a very old copy of the Psalms, a book that some one had once read often, for its pages were worn not only by time but by constant turning.
Opening to the front, Win searched for a bookplate. There was none, but in fine handwriting appeared: "Richard Lisle His Valued Book." As Win replaced the volume a paper slipped from its pages.
Picking it up, he glanced idly at the single sheet which seemed a page perhaps lost from some letter written long before, possibly a leaf from a diary. The penmanship was like the autograph in the Psalter, the ink, though faded, perfectly legible on the yellowed paper.
The extract began in the middle of a sentence. Win, who started to decipher it from mere curiosity, ended by reading it five or six times. It ran as follows:
"having fed my Prince and Eased him after his hard Flight we took Counsel anent his Refuge.
"That he should lye at ye Manor looked not wise. Ye Castel seemed ye better Place.
"Lest he be curiously viewed of Many we did furnishe Other garb and a
Strong Bigge Cloake. And those who knew did safely lead him through ye
Towne.
"Ye honoured Relicks my Sonne and I did place in ye Spanish Chest and convey by Lantern light to that safe Place beyond ye Walls. So shall they Reste till happier Times shall Dawne.
"Strange that this Day should bring such Honour to Mine House."
Win's eyes grew interested and excited as he studied this message from the past. For whom was it meant and why had it lain all these years in the old Psalter? Did the Manor family know of its existence? The prince, the castle, the town, mentioned by a Lisle of Laurel Manor, must refer to events of island history.