"They tell me Ruth is a perfect hoyden," Sir Richard proceeded, "and Lionel a domineering, high-spirited boy. But they do not interfere with me when they are here; their mother manages to keep them in order whilst in my presence, at any rate, though Susan Morecombe declares she spoils them. I hope you will see as much of your cousins as you can; the society of children about your own age will be beneficial for you. Mind you hold your own with Lionel; and remember you have as much right—nay, more right—in this house than he has."
Dick looked decidedly mystified, seeing which, his grandfather explained what he meant.
"This will be your home one day," he said earnestly; "your father will inherit the property from me, and you will inherit it from him. Look around and try to think what that means. Everything you see will one day belong to you. You will be the master here."
Dick did not appear so greatly impressed with this information as his grandfather thought he would be. He sat silently turning the matter over in his young mind, growing more and more puzzled.
"Well," cried Sir Richard at length, rather testily. "Are you not pleased? I should have thought you would have been delighted at the idea of being a person of some importance. To think that your father has brought you up in ignorance of your true position! And yet he always professed to love his home! I have heard him say there was no place so dear to him as the Manor House! I remember when he was a little lad no bigger than you, he used to find endless amusement in looking for the secret passage, and—"
"What is that?" Dick asked, his face showing greater interest than it had done when his grandfather had tried to raise his enthusiasm in his prospects in life.
"There is said to be a tunnel—a secret passage—leading from this house to the sea-shore," Sir Richard explained. "It may have been made at the time the house was built, or later, during the civil wars when the Gidleys sided with the king. There is a very aged man living in the village called Granfer Cole, who has often told me he remembers when he was a boy hearing his father speak of the secret passage—it was then used by smugglers for the concealment of contraband goods."
"What are contraband goods?" Dick asked.
"Goods brought from foreign countries which have never had taxes paid on them. A hundred years ago a great deal of smuggling was carried on along this coast; silk, wine, brandy, and many other commodities were landed here by stealth under cover of darkness, in order to escape payment of the custom-house duties. That was cheating the revenue; but even gentlemen then were not above lending a helping hand to do that, and the master of this house was doubtless among those who deliberately winked at the smuggler's doings. The secret passage must have been a capital place of concealment for the smugglers and their treasures. Granfer Cole says he can remember the time when there was not a household in Holton, however humble, but kept a supply of best French brandy; it was obtained at a cheap rate, for every one was hand and glove with the smugglers."
"Were smugglers good sort of men?" Dick inquired.