"You'll do no such thing," her brother told her. "You're a girl, and you can't do anything to help us; you would only be in our way!"
Ruth looked grievously disappointed, for hitherto she had been her brother's sole companion during their summer holidays, and it seemed a little hard to be set aside for a newcomer. She pouted, and her eyes filled with tears. Dick felt so sorry for her that he spoke on her behalf, thereby earning her deep gratitude.
"Don't you think she might help us?" he asked Lionel. "There might be something she could do!"
"Well," was the relenting reply, "we'll see! But mind, Ruth, you must tell no one what we mean to do. Promise!"
"Oh, I promise! I promise!" Ruth cried delightedly.
"And you must do as we tell you," Lionel continued. "You mustn't want to go your own way as you generally do!"
"All right; I won't!" the little girl responded, ready to agree to anything.
"Now, we will all shake hands, and promise faithfully to stand by each other, and to do our very best to find the secret passage."
This was accordingly done with great solemnity. Then the young people put their heads together, and held a long discussion as to where and how the search should commence. They had not decided these points when they heard Susan Morecombe's voice calling to them to come and prepare for luncheon; so they scrambled down the ladder, left the stables, and went into the house by the back entrance.
Nero was stretched on the mat in front of the dining-room door. He gave Dick a warm welcome, much to the surprise of Ruth and Lionel, who were not on particularly cordial terms with him—the truth being that they had played tricks on him the previous summer, and he had too good a memory to forget their teasing ways.